"Peace activist" unplugged

There has been a bit of attention given recently to a group of people, mostly from the ISM, who call themselves "Free Gaza." Their gimmick is to sail a ship from Cyprus to Gaza with hearing aids for Gazan children, in order to either break the Israeli blockade or to video themselves getting stopped by those vicious IDF patrols. If they're lucky, there will be violence. Either way, they win.

The leader of this group is a longtime Israel basher named Greta Berlin. I just saw an interesting letter written about her to Daniel Pipes' website - from her former-stepdaughter:

Having read about the incident at UCLA I must admit that I was appalled by Ms. Berlin's behavior, but not at all surprised. I should know, she is after all my ex-stepmother...

After reading your article, I went on to research some of the links that your site provided and found it rather difficult to comprehend some of the titles that are now associated with Ms. Berlin's name. The title of "Peace Activist" is the one I find particularly hypocritical.

On numerous occasions I heard Greta launch the insults "the god damned Israelis, and those F****** Jews" at the dinner table in front of my father (a Jew) and the few Israeli friends and relatives who ventured to visit. Additionally, any rational debate attempted by anyone with an opposing view to Greta's, was immediately terminated with the responses: "Shut up" or "You don't know what the hell you're talking about." The rebuttal usually presented in screaming form.

These comments in juxtaposition to her role as "Peace Activist" I find hard to rectify. It prompts me to ask what should be an obvious question; "At what point did terms of hate and bigotry become synonymous with Peace?"

I was always under the strange impression that the road to peace laid in the arms of those who were tolerant, compassionate, and vehement in their will to understand and to promote understanding. God help us all if this is the role model that we hold up as an embodiment of those ideals!

Sincerely,
Ava E. Berlin

Could it be possible that some supposed supporters of Palestinian Arab rights are rabidly anti-semitic? Naaaaaah....