Group calls off counterprotest

San Francisco Voice for Israel–Stand With Us has canceled a counterprotest scheduled for Saturday, March 20. On that day, there will be an International ANSWER rally in San Francisco; ANSWER stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism.

“Over the past year, ANSWER has attracted fewer and fewer people to their events … and the news media have basically stopped paying attention to them,” Dr. Michael Harris wrote in an e-mail to S.F. Voice for Israel members.

The note continued: “We have decided that it’s not even worth our effort to counter such a fringe group and thereby give them the attention that they so desperately crave.”

This is not a change in the group’s tactics, Harris said, but simply a decision about one event.