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By Scott Zoback It's a damning accusation. When a letter to the editor appeared in Worcester Magazine in June accusing City Council candidate Grace Ross of anti-Semitism (Letters / "Disappointed," June 21), Ross was obviously perturbed. A few weeks earlier, a news story in these pages had laid out charges that Ross's Green-Rainbow Party and Ross herself held controversial positions on Darfur; in 2006, Ross faced similar criticism for the Green-Rainbow Party's position on Israel and Palestine. Now, Ross is responding to those charges. The Darfur accusations were most vocally leveled by local political asylum attorney Lisa Weinberg, a longtime activist in the "Save Darfur" movement. In May, she called statements on the Green-Rainbow Party Web site "patently offensive." Those Green-Rainbow Party writings claimed that calling the situation in Darfur "genocide" is "a racist mischaracterization." And Ross herself once came under fire in August 2006 for calling for "an immediate cessation of Israeli attacks of all kinds on Lebanon and Gaza, widely recognized as war crimes." Her article generated controversy in some circles for drawing a comparison between the "emotionally abused and socially ostracized ... young killers in Columbine High School" and a "Jewish people" with "a long history of oppression ... including U.S. exclusion of refugees from Nazi Germany." Despite those statements, Ross has always been reticent to connect her stances or the party's positions on national issues to local politics. In May, she told us that her position on Darfur is irrelevant to the City Council race, and questioned whether mainstream politicians were being questioned on every position in their own party platforms. It's three months later, but in a letter to Worcester Magazine, Ross is responding. The timing is certainly interesting — not only have three months passed since the initial allegations (which Ross was admittedly reluctant to respond to in-depth at the time), it's the week of the Jewish high holy days (Ross closes her letter with "L'Shana Tova," the Hebrew New Year greeting) — and she's in the middle of an election season. The text of the letter follows: In June, a letter to this paper labeled me anti-Semitic; I was profoundly disturbed by this serious allegation. Please forgive the time taken to find the right response. (I address elsewhere the confusion about my foreign policy positions). I am deeply committed to backing the Jewish community against discrimination or exclusion in Worcester to the best of my ability, like all the communities of our wonderfully culturally and spiritually rich city. Not being raised Jewish, my grasp of anti-Semitism is inherently somewhat limited. I was however raised in New York amid a strong Jewish community. My family took explicit actions against anti-Semitic discrimination and instilled great respect for Jewish traditions. Jewish values around justice, righteousness and atonement heavily influenced me. I still learn and am nourished by Passover and Yom Kippur observances and increase my understanding of Jewish life. Whether supporting my co-workers' right to various religious holidays, joining celebrations or publicly denouncing anti-Semitic graffiti and other outrages, I always strive to serve and lead. Well-being and respect for those of us who are Jewish remains central to me as does the well-being of every person: no one is expendable on my watch. o
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