Jewish activist disgusted by anti-Semitic Seattle event

“I was surprised that this was coming back to haunt us again.”

Randy Kessler, director of the local chapter of Stand With Us, says he was recently at an event where Councilmember Kshama Sawant, the LGBTQ Commission, and the Commission for People with disAbilities screened the documentary “Pinkwashing Exposed: Seattle Fights Back!” which claims Israel promotes itself as gay-friendly, to hide “terrible human rights violations.”

“This was a very difficult episode in Seattle history,” Kessler told KTTH’s Jason Rantz on Thursday.

Kshama Sawant, Seattle LGBTQ Commission host anti-Semitic event

“What I watched absolutely shocked me,” Kessler went on to say. “This was billed as an event to increase dialogue and discussion and it had none of that.”

Kessler said his organization, Stand With Us, which fights anti-Semitism, was attacked with lies. In fact, he said Sawant, in a letter, called the group a ‘right-wing anti-Palestinian group.’ He said nothing could be further from the truth.

Just because the director of the film is Jewish, doesn’t mean the film isn’t anti-Semitic, Kessler explained.

“Anti-Semitic is not a function of your genetics,” he said. “It’s a function of how you carry yourself, of how you speak and how you express yourself.”

Kessler thinks the event in Seattle was definitely anti-Semitic.

“It specifically demonized Israel and it also used a double standard for Israel,” he said.

As for anti-Semitism in the Puget Sound region, Kessler says it’s bad and there are pockets of it on both sides of the political aisle.

And as for the commissions that screened the movie, they should be focused on Seattle communities. If they find it necessary to concern themselves with international communities, Kessler said “they should be looking at Iran, where gays are hung; they should look at the Palestinian Authority, where it’s a very difficult place to be gay in. Palestinians commonly escape the Palestinian Authority and come into Israel where they can live openly with their partners.”

Kessler took some video of the event. Below is a snippet:

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