Highlights of the march, part 4: disagreeing with what they say; defending their right to say it

One of the more interesting and bizarre events connected to the Tel Aviv March for International Human Rights occurred just one day before the event. Im Tirzu, a far-right group that has spearheaded the campaign against Israeli human rights groups over the past year, sent out a press release announcing their intention to participate in the march, under the slogan “A Jew has human rights too.”

Im Tirzu led scurrilous campaigns against Israeli human rights groups, trying to intimidate and de-fund them. The most infamous case was that of Prof. Naomi Hazan, director of the New Israel Fund, whom they caricatured, threatened and vilified. ACRI was also a target of Im Tirzu’s campaign, which seemed to be well-coordinated with a number of similar organizations.

And so Im Tirzu’s announcement seemed bizarre, to put it mildly. Here was an organization that had for over a year devoted its energies to undermining and attacking the human rights community, announcing its intention to march with them on International Human Rights Day. Was this a joke? How did they feel their human rights had been violated?

In the spirit of its mandate and its ethos, ACRI’s response to Im Tirzu was something along the lines of the great Enlightenment figure Voltaire’s famous saying, “I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

And in the end, only a few dozen Im Tirzu supporters showed up at the march, and the police kept them separate, treating them as counter-demonstrators. There was no violence – not even of an exchange of verbal violence.

The fabulous satirical site The Onion once published a piece entitled, ACLU defends Nazis’ rights to burn down ACLU headquarters. Money quote:

Making the case all the more controversial is the neo-Nazis’ demand that the ACLU’s entire 315-person staff be in the building at the time of the blaze. Strongly opposing the request are New York City police commissioner William Bratton, fire chief Ed Holm and mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who said that all 315 will die if trapped in the 47-story building during the blaze. ACLU attorneys responded that they will request a federal appeals hearing if the City of New York attempts to stop them and their fellow ACLU employees from perishing in the Nov. 25 blaze.

The Onion piece is funny because it is a wild exaggeration; if it were closer to the truth, it would not be funny. And if we are going to talk about who is confused, I would direct your attention to the photograph below, taken by photographer Mati Milstein (click here to view more of his amazing photos). I’ve posted Mati’s description of the photo, as well.

Mati’s description:

The far-right Im Tirzu movement prepares to participate in the International Human Rights Day march in Tel Aviv. The activist on the right, who wears both a Jewish skullcap and a Palestinian keffiyeh, holds a sign reading “A Jew also has human rights.”