Something is rotten in the Girl Scouts movement. And I am not talking about the cookies that they sell.
Jewish Girl Scouts in New York, who were warned by the national Girl Scouts against marching in uniform at the annual Israel Day Parade because it would be “insensitive to Arab Scouts,” have at the last minute received an okay, a troop leader told The Jerusalem Post.
The troop of 11-13-year-old girls in Scarsdale, who recently launched a pen-pal project with Palestinians, was dumbfounded by the initial admonition.
Uniformed Girl Scouts in the US, with the strong endorsement of Scout officials, join such festivals as Mexican pride, Hispanic heritage, and Asian New Year. They have also been encouraged to become “honorary Irish” for the St. Patrick’s Day parade, which is overseen by clerics who prohibit the participation of Irish groups that do not observe Catholic ideology, including homosexuals and lesbians.
Though the national Girl Scouts urge its scouts to join parades of other cultures as a gesture of solidarity, it has told Jewish troops in the past that a parade for Israel is different because it is political and other parades are ethnic.
Critics argued that most parades have a political element, like the socialist affiliation of the Mexican celebration, and that the Girl Scouts do not consider the political issues of any other country before determining if Scouts should march in its parade.
Interesting that the Girl Scouts movement was so concerned about “insensitivity to Arab Scouts,” that they were willing to be insensitive to the Jewish ones. This seems to be a microcosm of the international arena, which seems to be more concerned with “insensitivity to Arab scouts terrorists,” than the victims of the terror.
