The New Liberal Movement is concerned by reports that an American terrorist is planning to speak at an Israeli high school.

By Maayana Miskin

8/22/2012

A charismatic American terrorist is planning to speak at an Israeli high school, the New Liberal Movement warned Tuesday. The movement turned to Education Minister Gidon Saar and asked him to address the issue.

The speaker in question is Gary Yourofsky of the Animal Liberation Front, a group that has been labeled a terrorist movement by the U.S. Department of Defense. Yourofsky has been barred from entering Britain and Canada due to his extremist views and criminal background.

The New Liberal Movement noted that Yourofsky has been convicted of vandalism on several occasions, and has caused damage costing as much as $500,000. He has also been convicted for "threatening a Detroit city worker, destruction of property, tying his neck to property (several times) and similar crimes," the group said.

The group expressed particular concern over Yourofsky's "extremist ideology." The letter to Saar quoted a 1997 article by Yourofsky, titled "Empathy, Education and Violence: A Time for Everything" in which he wrote, "Given the choice of apathy or someone liberating mink, burning down a research torture-laboratory, or killing a vivisectionist or other DIRECT murderer of animals, I will choose the aforesaid actions over apathy any day of the week."

In the same article, he also said, "since violence is an essential part of activism, even if an abuser of animals perished during a fire or other form of direct action, I would unequivocally support that, too."

He has not expressed regret for those statements, the movement said.

Yourofsky's planned visit is part of a series of attacks by extremist activists against the medical industry in Israel, the letter stated. It argued that anti-research activists use "lies and half truths" to get support.

"The Movement supports freedom of speech, and Yourofsky has every right to express his warped opinions about 'complete animal freedom' in public," it continued. "But on the other hand, the movement vigorously opposes exposing high school students to the teachings of a (charismatic) terrorist who holds a violent, extremist ideology as part of the curriculum… We hope that the above is just a mistake, and that Mr. Yourofsky was never scheduled to speak in a public high school.

"However, due to the potential damage and the seriousness of the matter -- I ask that you look into it," the letter concluded.