Sam Woodward, former member of Atomwaffen Division, was arrested in 2018 for murder of gay, Jewish pre-med student

Six years after his arrest, a former member of the Atomwaffen Division will face trial in a southern California courtroom over the killing of his former high school classmate – a murder that rocketed the neo-Nazi group to international notoriety and highlighted the wave of violence by far-right American extremists during the presidency of Donald Trump.

Sam Woodward was arrested on 15 January 2018 and charged with the murder of Blaze Bernstein, a former fellow student at the Orange County School of the Arts. Bernstein, a gay and Jewish pre-med student, had been missing for a week before his body was discovered in a shallow grave.

On the night of 10 January 2018, the two men met at Borrego Park in the Orange county city of Lake Forest, according to Orange county sheriff’s reports. Bernstein was home from the University of Pennsylvania on winter break, and re-established contact with his former high school classmate through Tinder, where the two had previously connected.

Bernstein did not hide his identity as a gay man. Although Woodward was not open about his, while in high school he made passes at more than one of his male classmates, according to reporting in Mother Jones.

Bernstein’s body was found with 19 stab wounds. Investigators’ attention quickly turned to Woodward, the well-off son of an observant, conservative Catholic family from Newport Beach.

  • otp
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    8 months ago

    I think the problem is that your initial comment sounded like plain old intolerance.

    “Deport them”…and what if they’re citizens?

    Why bring up Palestine at all, as if it were some sort of gotcha?

    There’s a genocide happening in the world, and people are protesting it. That’s a good thing to protest.

    I’ve heard some of the chants, and they’re mostly stuff about freeing Palestine. Not about genociding back. Some protesters are marching with Jewish people who condemn the acts of Israel.

    I’ve even seen plenty of individuals, shared graphics, etc. of people clarifying that they do not hate Jewish people, but they hate the Israeli government and its actions.

    If you cherry-pick the people who are racist, then sure. But your comment almost makes it seem like you’re suggesting they’re the majority in those protests.

    • iopq@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I posted a video of a Muslim just talking about how Jews killed Jesus. This goes beyond Gaza, it’s anti-Semitism. These people hate the Jews and people are downvoting me for pointing it out

      • Glytch@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        That guy in the video you posted certainly hates Jewish people, it’s not hard to find individuals full of hate. The problem (and the downvotes) comes when you make blanket statements talking about everyone in a particular ethnic group or religion such as “these people hate the Jews”. Just because you found one member of such a group who spews antisemitic vitriol doesn’t mean everyone in that group does the same.

        For example I wouldn’t say that everyone you associate with is Islamophobic just because you are.

      • otp
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        8 months ago

        I posted a video of a Muslim […]

        These people hate the Jews

        …lol

        • iopq@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          These fake Palestinian supporters that are really anti-Semites, not all Muslims

          • otp
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            8 months ago

            Ok, so you shared a video of someone who is intolerant. We should be intolerant of that intolerance.

            It doesn’t really have anything to do with the post, but I guess it’s good to find other examples? Lol

            • iopq@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              My point was people here will give anti-semites a free pass if they happen to support a cause they also support

              But it’s a huge mistake and will backfire

              • otp
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                8 months ago

                Which person here was giving anti-Semites a free pass? Lol

                • iopq@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  It’s out on the streets where nobody confronts these people for celebrating deaths of Israelis, supporting Houthis who regularly execute LGBT people, supporting Iranian terrorism.

                  So many people think these allies on the Palestinian issue, but they are actually coopting the movement to spread absolute bullshit

                  • otp
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                    8 months ago

                    You said “people here”.

                    “Out on the streets” is something very different.

                    It seems like you brought up a local (to yourself) issue that’s only tangentially related to the topic at hand so you could get up on your soapbox, and wondered why you were getting downvoted. You also did it in a way that made it sound like you were being intolerant of a group of people by brushing them with broad strokes.