Critics of Pamela Geller, organizer of the "Draw the Prophet" event in Garland, Texas last Sunday, should realize that while she may have intended to provoke a negative reaction from extreme Islamists, she shares something in common with civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., says Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz.
"I don't want to make any comparisons morally or legally, but from a constitutional law point of view, there's no difference," Dershowitz said Thursday on Fox News Channel's
"The Kelly File."
King purposely picked some of the cities he led protests in precisely in order to bring out the racists and show what kind of violent people they are, Dershowitz said
"It's part of the American tradition to provoke so that the world can see," he said.
Two radicalized Muslims showed up with assault rifles at Sunday's event, but were quickly shot to death by police. Critics have said Geller put people in danger needlessly because she knew jihadists would attempt to kill someone over the drawings of Muhammad, considered blasphemous in Islam.
National Review editor Rich Lowry said critics are comparing Geller to the Islamic State (ISIS) rather than the assailants, who actually were spurred to the attack by an ISIS sympathizer.
"The left in this country has taught us you should push the envelope in your art and commentary and literally trample on every single piety except for this one," Lowry said.
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