Jewish Summer Camp Draws Fire After Flying Palestinian Flag

A Palestinian flag waves in the breeze. Image by flickr

By Nathan Guttman July 31, 2017

What was meant to be a symbolic goodwill gesture toward visiting Palestinian campers ended up causing major conflict, drawing anger from Jewish families and from outside right-wing groups.

Haaretz reported that Kids4Peace, an Israeli-based program aimed at encouraging Israeli-Palestinian co-existence, took Christian, Jewish and Muslim campers to visit Camp Solomon Schechter in Washington State. Camp directors decided to greet the visitors by flying the Palestinian flag over the camp’s mast, alongside flags of the U.S., Canada, and Israel.

The response, described later by the camp as one of “sadness and anger,” led directors to take down the flag, but that did not end the controversy.

Anti-Muslim activist Pamela Geller said the move was “akin to flying the Nazi flag.” The New York City chapter of the New Jewish Defense League added that “our our young Jews are indoctrinated to be self hating Jews.”

On Sunday, the camp issued a statement expressing its “sincere apology” and stating that the camp is “a proud Zionist and pro-Israel camp. We honor the Israeli Army and Israeli people on a daily basis.”

Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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