Former IDF Commander Says Anti-Israel Activists Laughed as He Described Coming Out

A former Israel Defense Forces commander told the Washington Free Beacon anti-Israel activists at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) laughed at him as he gave a talk describing coming out of the closet as gay.

Hen Mazzig, who has been on the pro-Israel campus speaking circuit for seven years, said Monday was the first time he has ever been mocked while revealing "my very personal story to a room of strangers."

"One student told me I'm ‘pinkwashing,'" said Mazzig, a term referring to Israelis hiding behind the country's equal rights for LGBTQ individuals to redirect attention from human rights violations. "They told me that I'm pushing propaganda, because I'm not talking about the conflict, but about my personal life. So, I can't talk about being gay because I'm Israeli."

The student activists were affiliated with the UIUC chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), said Mazzig.

SJP UIUC is currently holding "Trans Awareness Week," and on Wednesday hosted a talk with the far-left Jewish Voice for Peace purporting to explain the face of modern day anti-Semitism, and how Israel is divorced form that issue.

Mazzig often faces protesters, but he said he has rarely faced the level of "disrespect and hatred" that he found at UIUC.

"I talk about how my grandfather was killed in Iraq in 1951 after being accused of being a Zionist spy, just because he was Jewish. My grandmother found the body," said Mazzig. "While I was telling the story, SJP was laughing."

When Mazzig discussed the need for greater, organized support for the LGBTQ community being oppressed in Gaza and the West Bank by Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, the activists began to chant for Mazzig to get out.

Holding signs reading, "Fascists off our campus, " and "Israel Occupation Forces," the approximately one dozen activists chanted "Free Palestine" for an extended period, before finally marching out.

"This was not just anti-Semitism—which, unfortunately, people don't really seem to care about when it happens—but it was homophobic, too," said Mazzig, who added that he heard a student make a homophobic slur.

He called on the university to respond, saying "silence is unacceptable."

A UIUC spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.


http://freebeacon.com/culture/former-idf-commander-says-anti-israel-activists-laughed-described-coming/

Like many ethnic groups who have had to band together upon coming to America, for self-protection and survival, there is in the Jewish neighborhoods a streak of xenophobia toward those different "from us".  Even blacks, who should understand and reject bigotry, are often bigots toward the gay community.

I am hopeful that as we Americans become a more homogenized community, we will move on from this.

Original Quill wrote:Like many ethnic groups who have had to band together upon coming to America for self-protection and survival, there is in the Jewish neighborhoods a streak of xenophobia toward those different "from us".  Even blacks, who should understand and reject bigotry, are often bigots toward the gay community.

I am hopeful that as we Americans become a more homogenized community, we will move on from this.

Eh?

This was in israel

A former IDF soldier, part of breaking the silence, actually stated his crime

They investigated and found he lied

His supposed victim conirmed his lies

Thank you though for admitting your anitisemitism

That you hold "jews" with a view to see you as different from you. Based on what evidence?

You even look to blame them

What can i say

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is not in Israel. The address of the graduate school is as follows:

The Graduate College
110 Coble Hall, MC-322,
801 S. Wright Street
Champaign, IL 61820
USA