Out comes the sun, and the anti-Semites, in honor of the New Orleans GA

[Behind the Aegis]

Any major gathering of Jewish organizations in the U.S. can be expected to flush out one or two demonstrations, predictably vehemently for or against Israel, but this year's Jewish Federations General Assembly in New Orleans brought forth the cream of protesters, in the form of the Westboro Baptist Church.

These good people, with their strong homophobic message, are known in the U.S. for their fondness for picketing funerals of fallen American soldiers and gay murder victims.

But the Jews are also in their crosshairs, and so they turned out in force on the Christian day of rest, sandwiching their protest between the Sheraton and Marriott hotels, where most of the GA events are taking place, a short time before U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was due to speak.

The church is the brainchild of one Fred Phelps, and primarily comprises his kith and kin. Widely reviled, they have been featured in the mainstream U.S. media and even targeted by leftist crusader Michael Moore.

And lo, on this sunny Sunday afternoon, brandishing banners accusing Jews of killing Christ, citing New Testament verses and proclaiming that God hates Israel, they donned blood-spattered American and Israeli flags, using more of the same as impromptu carpets reminiscent of some of the more extreme demonstrations in the Arab world.

more...

[Philly219]

1. these cockroaches need to start praying if

they want to call themselves "a church". All I see is hatred. Maybe its time for the media to ignore them - they're probably thriving on the publicity.

[madrchsod]

2. so the aryan nation folks decide not to be seen with freddie...?

[Chulanowa]

7. Even the Klan vehemently denied any association with the WBC

[madmom]

3. If they hate this country so much, why are they still here?

[LeftishBrit]

4. Ugh. Phelps and family are prize haters.

There was a programme on British television a few years ago, where Louis Theroux spent some time with them and interviewed them (amazingly, he apparently survived with his sanity intact). One bit that I remember was when Theroux was talking to Phelps' daughter Shirley and said something with which she disagreed; to which that middle-aged church lady replied in a matter-of-fact voice: 'Not a chance, pooh-pooh pants!' As though she was in the primary school playground! The depressing thing is that people actually take them seriously and are influenced by all the antisemitism, homophobia, and general all-round hate.

[Behind the Aegis]

5. I missed this.

I wish I had paid more attention to the local news or Ha'aretz because I would have gone down to take pics. The thing took place 11 blocks from my house. I faced that vile man at the March on DC in '93. I even got into an argument with him and only found out later who he was. Almost the entire family is NUTS.

[LeftishBrit]

6. Phelps is on the list of people banned from visiting the UK...

Due to his general hatemongering, and no doubt because he has written a lot of anti-British stuff on his site, among other things saying that we deserved the 2005 London bombs (because we are too soft on teh gays).

[pacalo]

8. They call themselves Christians while holding signs that say

"Your rabbi is a whore" & "Thank God for oil spills"

How
n
i
c
e
.
.
.

:nuke:

[DavidDvorkin]

9. Christians have been saying terrible things about Jews for a very long time

Those are the real Christians. They're as real as the nice ones, and throughout most of history they were the more numerous kind. I suspect they still are.

[struggle4progress]

10. They don't worry me as much as some of their better-connected fellow travelers

I suspect Westboro is in it mainly for themselves and the attention they get. They might be too crazy to do much direct harm themselves, though their antics probably embolden some other wackos