Congratulations to Gavin Gross, our latest Watchdog of the Week, for getting a letter published in the New York Times. Gavin is a former businessman (commodities trader) in New York and London who also served as a director of the UK’s Zionist Federation. He moved to Israel in 2008 and is an HonestReporting subscriber as well as volunteering his time on our charitable oversight committee in Israel.
Gavin attended a rally in Tel Aviv to protest the appalling events at Jerusalem’s gay pride parade and the shocking murder of a Palestinian infant in a firebomb attack. Drawing upon his personal experience, he was driven to write to the New York Times after an opinion piece by Etgar Keret questioned whether Israelis really cared about justice.
Here’s Gavin’s letter in full:
I live in Israel and also attended the Tel Aviv rally in Rabin Square against incitement and violence. Contrary to Mr. Keret’s argument that Israelis didn’t care about the killing of an Israeli teenager and a Palestinian toddler because only “thousands” turned up at the rally, the entire country was in fact convulsed by anger and emotion. A Tel Aviv protest later that night organized by the city’s gay community drew a reported 10,000 people, while rallies were also held in several other major cities. And there was an outpouring of horror and outrage on Israeli social media.
Leaders from across the spectrum also condemned the attacks in the strongest possible terms, calling it “Jewish terrorism.” President Reuven Rivlin said he was “ashamed, ridden with dread for the power of hatred,” while the Orthodox rabbi Benny Lau told the Jerusalem rally that Jewish tradition must be reclaimed from the “people of darkness.” The cabinet swiftly approved new measures to give the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, expanded powers to detain suspected Jewish extremists.
Finally, Mr. Keret wondered why there weren’t any “skullcaps” at the Tel Aviv rally. He might not have understood that because the event was organized to begin on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., nearly a full hour before the end of the Sabbath, religiously observant Jews were prevented from attending.
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