This woman walked over to the ISM-Chicago table spitting and swearing at those who would dare point out that Palestinians are human beings and are entitled to human rights and dignity.
Unfortunately, I didn't know that when I went to leaflet the crowd with a pretty tame list of facts of life under the occupation.
After handing this woman and who I perceive to be her daughter (pictured to her right in the second photo) fact sheets, she tugged at my shirt as I moved on, so I turned around to see if she wanted to discuss the leaflet. At that point she got about six inches from my face and spat directly into my eye.
I didn't know quite what to do and was a little shocked, so I ended up just yelling at her and asking why she would spit in the eye of someone who universally supports human rights. All I got in return was obscenities.
I walked away and collected my thoughts. How should I respond? Should I respond?
After talking with some friends, I decided I should respond, by pressing battery charges and forcing her to be tested for diseases spread through saliva.
As most people reading this can probably already guess, the cops would have nothing of it. I spoke with four different officers and one commander, asking them to at least get her name so I could press charges later. They refused. They kept telling me to go to the station and file charges, but when asked how I would identify her, they'd just shrug their shoulders.
I walked over, took her picture, and walked away. I ended up making a sign that said "This woman spat in my eye" with an arrow to point at her, but when I returned she was gone.

Anyhow, I'm interested to hear how others would have responded to this. Ultimately, I ended up doing nothing.