(JTA) — The South Dakota branch of the World Affairs Council canceled a talk by Alison Weir, an anti-Israel activist who in her writings has validated anti-Jewish myths.
Weir, who directs the Council on the American Interest, a group that advocates degrading the U.S.-Israel relationship and ending funding to Israel, was to have spoken Wednesday in Sioux Falls under the auspices of the state branch of the World Affairs Councils of America, a nonpartisan group that educates Americans on foreign policy.
The Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported this week that the South Dakota World Affairs Council withdrew its backing and said that Weir will now appear at the event, at a local library, under the auspices of CNI, the group she directs.
Weir, who is on a South Dakota tour, still has events scheduled this week at the University of South Dakota and at the Democratic Forum.
JTA’s email request for comment from the local Democratic Party was not returned.
Weir has advanced theories that what she describes as Israel’s brutal practices are rooted in secret Talmudic precepts and called for more research into the myth that Jews use the blood of Christians in making Passover matzah.
She also has suggested that “organ harvesting” at times may have been an official Israeli policy.
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