BOCA RATON — The group that loves to hate is planning a whirlwind tour of South Florida next week.
Westboro Baptist Church, a Kansas group known for picketing soldiers' funerals and staging inflammatory demonstrations, has targeted Jewish organizations, including ones in West Palm Beach, Loxahatchee, Palm Beach Gardens and suburban Boca Raton on its three-day campaign beginning Monday.
They will be matched by a foe they know well, Bob Kunst, who heads the Miami-based Sholom International and Defend Jerusalem groups and has made it his personal quest to counter-demonstrate. Kunst plans to be at the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County on Tuesday morning, his eighth confrontation with Westboro.
The Anti-Defamation League, on its page about hate groups, calls Westboro "a small, virulently homophobic, anti-Semitic hate group."
Andrew Rosenkrantz, ADL Florida regional director, was blunt about the group, noting that it was not associated with any known mainstream religious organization.
"Their message is disgusting and reprehensible," he said.
The Westboro demonstration at the Jewish Federation is scheduled for Tuesday morning, when parents are dropping off children at school on the federation campus.
"We will ignore them," said Bill Bernstein, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County.
Bernstein said he has been told by law-enforcement officials that the Westboro group will demonstrate on the sidewalk at the corner of U.S. 441 and Central Park Boulevard, about a quarter-mile from the federation entrance.
Kunst is controversial as well, having called U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler a "Jewish sellout." He has held demonstrations in the area against "a divided Jerusalem."
Asked for his opinion of Kunst's group, Rosenkrantz said, "We don't affiliate with him."
Representatives of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office were not available for comment. Palm Beach Gardens police chief William Brandt said he would assign officers "to observe and maintain the public peace. We only expect a small number of demonstrators."
Westboro representatives did not respond to an interview request, but had this message for any
"Buddhists, Hindus or Christ-rejecting Jews" who called them: "You are all heads of the exact same monster. God hates you all and you are all headed to the same hell."Reporter Bill DiPaolo contributed to this story.
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