by Tyler O’Neil in The Daily Signal

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s labor union has taken a public stance on the war Hamas started by invading Israel, slaughtering civilians, and taking hostages—even while the SPLC itself has remained silent on the issue and on some Americans’ apparent support for Hamas slaughtering Jews.

The SPLC Union implicitly criticized its members’ employer by taking a firm stance against Israel’s right to self-defense. The SPLC Union characterized Israel’s response to the Hamas terrorism—but not the slaughter of Jews in the Jewish state—as “genocide.”

While the SPLC itself has remained silent, even amid large anti-Israel protests on American campuses that arguably pose a threat to Jewish students, the SPLC Union released a statement Wednesday.

“A message from SPLC Union officers and stewards: SPLC Union is and will always be rooted in the legacy of anti-oppression and decolonization led by Black and Indigenous leaders. With that in mind, SPLC Union stands strongly in solidarity with the Palestinian people,” the union posted on X, formerly Twitter.

“What we see in Gaza is the violent imperialist desecration of a people—the beginnings of a genocide,” the union declared, apparently oblivious to the fact that Hamas began the war by perpetrating the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

The union also sent an implicit rebuke to the SPLC, claiming that the Hamas-Israel war has sparked attacks against religious minorities in the U.S.—exactly the kind of hate and extremism SPLC claims to monitor.

“Already, the horrors of Gaza have fueled aggression in our own country in the forms of attacks against Muslims and Sikhs, and outbursts of antisemitism,” the union wrote.

The union concluded with a litany of statements focused on Palestine without a mention of Israel.

“Palestinian Lives Matter,” the union wrote. “Palestinian families matter. Palestinian histories matter.”

“We support the ongoing call for a ceasefire and an end to the occupation,” it added. “There is a way beyond occupation. There is a way beyond apartheid. There is a way beyond bombings. We hope to move toward peace and freedom.”

A message from SPLC Union officers and stewards:

SPLC Union is and will always be rooted in the legacy of anti-oppression and decolonization led by Black and Indigenous leaders.

With that in mind, SPLC Union stands strongly in solidarity with the Palestinian people. (1/4)

— SPLC Union (@SPLCUnion) October 18, 2023

The statement noticeably omits any mention of the 1,400 Israelis slaughtered, or the roughly 200 taken hostage or the 32 Americans among the dead.

The Hamas terrorist attack occurred on the last day of a Jewish festival and the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. The terrorists slaughtered about 250 civilians at a music festival, and an Israel Defense Forces commander told journalists that soldiers found beheaded babies in the carnage of Hamas’ attack.

The SPLC Union called for a cease-fire while Hamas still holds captives.

An organization that represents 2,500 Orthodox Jewish rabbis condemned the SPLC Union statement.

“The SPLC Union, in line with SPLC itself, is laced through with antisemitic bigotry, to judge from this statement,” Rabbi Yaakov Menken, managing director of the Coalition for Jewish Values, told The Daily Signal in a statement Sunday. “They mention attacks on Muslims and Sikhs, as if those were common, and then mention ‘outbursts’ of antisemitism, occurring across the country, as an afterthought.”

“Most importantly, they claim it is Gaza experiencing a genocide after terrorists from Gaza massacred over 1,400 people for simply being Jews,” the rabbi added. “SPLC Union is comprised of people who justify rape and beheading while disguising genocidal hatred.”

“That’s not a group I would go to were I looking for a decent human being,” Menken concluded.

See the full article in The Daily Signal

Photo Credit: Takver on Wikimedia Commona