The ADL, Chief Sargent, and Terrorism
The Anti Defamation League (ADL) has granted the City of Worcester money to send its police chief, Steven Sargent, to Israel purportedly to study “counterterrorism”. It also paid for officials from other New England communities to Israeli seminar as well.
I am against individualistic acts of terror and I have spent a large part of my adult life opposing the tactics of the Weather Unground and fascist groups.
The value of Chief Sargent’s trip is questionable in terms of preventing so called terrorist attacks in Worcester. The situations and material conditions in Worcester are significantly dissimilar than those found in Israel. Israel has militarily occupied Palestine and is blockading Gaza. The Palestinians live under military rule without some basic human and civil rights.
In Worcester there is a significant demographic change from a mostly White population to a mostly dark skin and immigrant population. Legally everyone in Worcester is protected by the U.S. Constitution. There are no known credible threats of mass killing or terrorism.
Reports from the Justice Department are that there is a greater threat of killings by Nazis and other White supremacists than by Al Qaeda or ISIS. Despite this fact the City of Worcester does not have a policy for making known to the public incidents of so called Hate crimes. The Chief, the City Manager, and the City Council have all ignored the demands of the public for such information.
It would be a reasonable request that the Chief and the City follow its own policy of “See something: say something” and seek the input of public hearings based on an annual report about Hate crime incidents.
Although I do not think it intentional, it seems to be the case that the Police Chief and the City has been played by the ADL. The ADL has been criticized for it blind support of the Israeli government. It has been criticized for its abandonment of civil rights issues in the United States.
The ADL has been something of an ally in the fight against Nazism, especially when it concerns Jewish people. I welcome its help in the fight against Fascism in the United States. Nonetheless I expect some to play the race card and call me anti-Semitic.
Given the condemnation of the Trump administration anti-Palestinian policies, has the ADL cynically colluded with the President to involve the City of Worcester and others on the wrong side of an international dispute? The City of Worcester has a policy which it refuses to involve itself with anything that does not directly affect the City. For example it refused to allow a vote on the Iraq War even though residents of Worcester were killed and the City lost tax revenues.
This might be the time for the City to review its policy on Hate crimes and on accepting money from what some would say is agents of a foreign government. Public Hearing on Hate crimses is long overdue.
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