Dear President Bradley (signed by 57 community members)

Middle East Crisis Response

PO Box 614

Shady, NY 12409

December 3, 2019

Elizabeth H. Bradley, President

Vassar College

124 Raymond Ave.

Poughkeepsie, NY 12604

Dear President Bradley,

As a community organization, Middle East Crisis Response has been active in protecting human rights, both here in the Hudson Valley and abroad. We were founded sixteen years ago by Joel Kovel, noted environmentalist and professor at Bard College. His seminal book, "Overcoming Zionism" was dropped by his American publisher and he was forced to retire from the college. Things were different back then. Any mention of Palestinian rights ended a writer's academic career, even if he was Jewish. 

Human rights have made some impressive gains since then. Black Lives, Immigrant Defense, LGBTQ and Muslim rights have begun to assert themselves locally. The same is true with Palestinian rights. We now have a Hudson Valley Jewish Voice for Peace (in Westchester, Kingston and Albany), a Palestinian Support Project, and a J Street all acting locally, along with strong organizations at several colleges. 

None of these human rights organizations confuse a fair criticism of Israel with antisemitism. Jewish Voice for Peace, while strongly condemning antisemitism, rejects that charge when used to cover up ethnic cleansing and apartheid in Palestine. 

Your recent statements branding a Vassar Students for Justice in Palestine action as antisemitic is a good example. You have decided that the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is an antisemitic declaration, a threat to the Jewish community on campus. 

Left out of your analysis is the fact that Jewish students are members of SJP and JVP. Are you deciding for Jewish students what is antisemitic? Maybe young Jews don't want you to define what their Jewishness means. That was the message of JVP's National Director of JVP, Rebecca Vilkomerson, when she spoke at Vassar in 2011. She strongly refuted the idea that all Jewish people support Zionism, and stated that many young Jews do not want to have their ethnic identity or religion tied to a racist and apartheid state in the Middle East.  

The chant lends itself to simplistic assumptions. According to a story about Vassar in the New York Daily News (Dahl, Ziva. "Vassar’s education on anti-Semitism" 20 Nov. 2019), "This rallying cry, first used by the terrorist group Hamas, calls for the annihilation of Israel. It is as racist as was the 'Jews will not replace us' chant by white supremacists in Charlottesville in 2017."  

The New York Times had a different and more nuanced take on these words. "David Kimche, who was director general of Israel's foreign ministry in the 1980's, noted: 'The old Zionist nationalists' anthem was a state on the two banks of the River Jordan.' When that became impractical, we talked about 'greater Israel,' from the Jordan to the sea. But people now realize that this, too, is something we won't be able to achieve.' " (Bronner, Ethan. "Why 'Greater Israel' Never Came to Be" 14 Aug. 2005)

It looks like your interpretation of the chant follows the reasoning of the Daily News article, written by an employee of the Haym Salomon Center, a Zionist propaganda organization with a troubling Islamophobic reputation. 

We are asking you not to discipline any students for chanting about freedom for Palestinians, whether it be from the Jordan to the sea, or anywhere else. We know there are risks to be faced in siding with human rights for Palestinians. But Vassar is a highly respected college, and should be free from the influences of Zionist donors, tabloid newspapers and rightwing hate groups. 

Adding nationalism to a religion

Does adding nationalism to a religion make it more compelling or immune to criticism? 

It is an old trick, of course. The Byzantines attacked the the Zoroastrian Persians in 629, all in the name of defending Christianity. 

Soon after, Mohammad, the great warrior who founded Islam, experienced a vision that he was the last prophet. His armies swept all before them, including Persians, Jews, Christians, and Turks. 

The Crusades were organized on the same concept, sending Christian soldiers to fight the heathens. For hundreds of years starting in 1096, armies from Europe were sent to recapture the Holy Land from the followers of Islam. 

The fourteen-hundreds saw the mass expulsion of Jews from Spain as well as the conquest of the New World, where fifty-five million indigenous people would eventually be sacrificed to the Lamb of God. 

Zionists added nationalism to Judaism in the early years of the twentieth century. Ever since that marriage of convenience, we have been told that criticizing Israel's military expansion and occupation is antisemitic, no matter how many millions of Palestinians have been dislocated or murdered. 

In truth, all religions have been used at some point in history to justify slaughter and territorial expansion. That doesn't make it right. And beginning with the Enlightenment, we have come to question some of the more malevolent of religious dogmas. 

"The arc of the moral universe is long," said Martin Luther King, "but it bends toward justice." Justice for all peoples facing oppression. Even the Palestinians.  

Fred Nagel

The Real Assault on Democracy

The New York Times quotes Alexander Hamilton to support the impeachment of Donald Trump. Hamilton wrote that a president who fosters “the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils” is betraying our trust. First is was Trump colluding with Russia, and now it is with Ukraine. 

Yet there is one country that has gained almost unlimited power in the U.S. government, and that country is Israel. Its extraordinary influence hardly ever makes it onto the pages of the NYT. 

There is little written about links between Trump and his largest campaign donor, the Israeli/American and radical Zionist, Sheldon Adelson. Trump benefited greatly from the 100 million Adelson gave to the Republicans in 2016, and quickly rewarded Israel by moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli, and pulling out of the Iran nuclear agreement. 

In fact, Israel has dominated American foreign policy since its lobby funded Truman's famous whistle-stop tour. Once elected, Truman recognized the state of Israel just minutes after it was declared in 1948. 

John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, in their groundbreaking book "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" cites the lobby as a major factor in the invasion of Iraq, a misadventure that has cost taxpayers over a trillion dollars. Now Israel insists that we spend another trillion attacking Iran.

When will Americans start seeing this insidious Israeli influence for what it is, a well planned and funded assault on our democracy.

Fred Nagel

The wrong side of history

Germany has come out swinging in its recent support of Israel, condemning the boycott of Israeli products and cultural events as antisemitic. Criticizing antisemitism would have changed the course of history 90 years ago. Is this just a case of bad timing?

Today, it is not Israeli Jews facing racism, violence and the systematic erasure of their culture; it is the Palestinians. Jews in Israel don't need protection any more than the Nazis did during the Third Reich. What the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians is almost exactly what was done to Jews in the 1930's.

Maybe Germany just doesn't get that human rights are for all people, not just for those in power. In the years up to WW II, all the Germans could talk about was racial purity and how they needed other people's lands, about the same things being demanded by Israelis today. 

In fact, Germany and Israel have agreed on human rights issues before. Both countries opposed the boycott of apartheid South Africa, and both considered Nelson Mandela a terrorist. Human rights for Black South Africans was about the last thing that either country cared about when it mattered the most.

Germans may think that aligning with Israel will somehow erase the horrors of the Holocaust. It's a cheap fix. Germany is abandoning the Palestinians now for short term commercial and geopolitical gain. Once again, the Germans are on the wrong side of history; they have learned so very little.

Fred Nagel

My right and my moral responsibility

Now that the House of Representatives has decided that boycotting Israel is antisemitic, it is time that I confess my various crimes. 

I have indeed been boycotting products. I refuse to do business with Airbnb because the company makes money renting apartments and houses in the illegal settlements. Palestinian homes get demolished and Jewish only settlement blocks are built, then rented out by Airbnb. 

I also would never buy or sell my house using RE/MAX, another company profiting from the settlements. RE/MAX buys and sells apartments and homes there, but of course not to everyone. Only to those with the right ethnic and religious backgrounds need apply.

I refuse to buy a Volvo because the car company makes heavy equipment used to destroy Palestinian homes. HP will never get my business because of the work they do computerizing the checkpoints and surveillance systems in the West Bank. I wouldn't use HSBC Bank because it loans money to companies that arm the occupation. 

If I were a gambler, I would boycott the Sands Hotels because they are owned by Israeli/American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who buys support for Israel by donating tens of millions to Trump and the Republican Party. If I had young children, I wouldn't let them watch Fox Kids or Power Rangers because they belong to Israeli/American billionaire Haim Saban, who ensures support for the occupation by paying millions in bribes to the Democratic Party. 

Boycotting is both my right and my moral responsibility. 

Fred Nagel

Needed to bring a just and lasting peace

Following is the LTE by Joey Naham and Jim Brown published Sunday, August 25th in Newsday,  concerning the BDS Issue:

Letter to the Editor, Newsday, published August 25, 2019.

"The controversy over Israel’s refusal to allow an official visit by two members of Congress highlights the negative effects of a misguided bipartisan attempt by representatives of both major political parties to attack and smear the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for Palestinian rights and freedom. By an overwhelming margin in July, the House of Representatives passed a nonbinding resolution to condemn the BDS movement and to endorse an Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution. Legislatures in more than two dozen U.S. states have passed measures condemning the BDS movement or banning contracts with businesses involved with it.

Such undemocratic action is divisive and violates free-speech rights. It is outrageous that lawmakers have supported legislation to penalize or vilify anyone who advocates a boycott of Israel for its oppressive treatment of Palestinians under a decades-old occupation.
BDS is a peaceful approach to change — part of the process of negotiation, now stalled — that is desperately needed to bring a just and lasting peace to Israel and Palestine."
Joseph Naham and Jim Brown,

Editor’s note: The writers are chair and secretary, respectively, of the Green Party of Nassau County.

Last night I had the strangest dream

Last night I had the strangest dream. My country had turned into a Christian nation, and everybody who wasn't part of the church, lost most of their rights. 

Suddenly, only Christians could drive on our nation's major highways. Only Christians could buy property. Our legal system had split into two forms of justice, one for Christians and one for the nonbelievers. In fact, nonbelievers were put under military justice, with few rights and long prison terms for being another religion. Even their children were routinely rounded up and sent to jail.

Some of the prisons for the nonbelievers were immense open air camps behind barbed wire. Christians could shoot into such camps at will, often killing men, women and children. Their fields were destroyed and we cut their food supply to keep them all at the brink of starvation. We didn't let them fish in international waters and routinely shot at their boats. Life for millions of non-Christians was made short and brutish, a sort of punishment for not being of the right faith. 

A funny thing had happened to my Christianity. I knew my religion was full of wise teachings, but I couldn't remember any of them. Now my beliefs were nothing but love for my country and hatred for all non-Christians. I didn't allow anyone to challenge my beliefs either. To me, anyone who questioned what my country had become were simply anti-Christians. 

Last night I dreamed my country had turned into Israel. 

Fred Nagel

BDS will end Israeli apartheid

To the Editor:

Israel is a rogue nation which repeatedly violates international law,  UN resolutions, and the human rights of Palestinians and Bedouins.   This outlaw and criminal  behavior  would not be possible without the  support of the United States and our taxpayer dollars ( $3.8 billion per year).  Since 1967 Israel has demolished 55,000 Palestinian homes - in 1948 Israel demolished 60,000 homes and terrorized  850,000 Palestinians into abandoning their land and homes.  Since 1967 the Israeli army (IDF) has militarily occupied  Gaza and the West Bank, and imposed a brutal blockade on Gaza,  intentionally causing shortages of food, water, electricity, and medical supplies.  This  year peaceful, non-violent  border protests by desperate Palestinians  were met with Israeli army sniper fire that killed over 200 Palestinians  including journalists,  medics, and  disabled demonstrators  in wheelchairs - IDF snipers  severely wounded  more than 20,000 protesters! 

With the relentless, violent and illegal theft of occupied Palestinian lands, homes, and farms  to build apartheid, Jewish only settlements  there are now over 500,000 Jewish settlers occupying over 200 settlements, outposts, and neighborhoods.   Israel has been condemned widely by the international community for it’s brutal ethnic cleansing and creation of an apartheid state where only Jews have full citizenship and rights.  

The non-violent BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions)  movement is attempting to pressure Israel to end it’s military occupation, secure equal rights for all (Jews and Arabs), and to allow Palestinians to return to their  stolen lands.  A boycott ended South African apartheid - hopefully, BDS will end Israeli apartheid. 

Eli Kassirer

New Paltz, NY

Comments to the Dutchess County Legislature

Greetings to the Dutchess County Legislature.  I’m Gregory DeSylva from Clinton. My comments are about the County partnering with Israel.  I’m leaving copies with documentation here for you.

In 1944, Palestinian Arabs were 69% of the population of the Holy Land [1] and they owned 9 times more of the land than Jews [2].  

This changed radically around 1948, when the creators of the Jewish state ethnically cleansed 711,000 [3] Arabs from the 78% of the Holy Land that became Israel.   According to Ilan Pappe, Israeli Historian, they achieved this through at least 31 massacres of Arabs [4] – sometimes including women and children - terrorizing hundreds of thousands more into fleeing their villages. They then destroyed 418 of these villages [5] to keep the Arabs from returning to them and shot dead a great number unarmed Arabs who still tried to return home [6].

Due to this ethnic cleansing, in 1949 the new Jewish state contained only 14% Arabs [7].  Today, about 20% of Israelis are Arabs, but they’re second-class in terms of where they can own property, education, jobs, and in other regards.

In 1967, Israel extended its reach to the last 22% of the Holy Land through its military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, where many of the 1948 refugees had taken refuge.  Subsequently, it has destroyed 49,320 Arab houses [8] and other structures in the West Bank, creating over 300,000 more refugees [9].  Quickly, Israel began colonizing these remnants of the Holy Land in defiance of international law [10].  Today, over 600,000 Jewish settlers illegally live there [11], and Israel keeps building settlements for more.  To make room, it destroys the homes and livelihoods of the remaining Palestinians, squeezes them into virtual ghettos, and dominates them with an iron fist. Yes, apartheid has come to the Holy Land! 

Dutchess County should not ignore these gross injustices. It should not put business before human rights. It should not partner with Israel until the Palestinians have equal rights to, and in, the Holy Land.

[1] based on Survey of Palestine, Chapter VI, Table 1    

[2] based on The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, by Ilan Pappe, Table 1, p. 295

[3] United Nations Conciliation Commission Report of Oct. 23, 1950

[4] The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, p. 258

[5] Palestinian Refugees: The Right of Return, by Naseer Aruji, p. 50.

[6] Foreign Affairs, Vol. 32, July 1954, p. 556 

[7] Israeli Central Bur. Of Statistics “Statistical Abstract of Israel No. 55”2004

[8] ICAHD.org home page: estimate based on UN OCHA data.

[9] Palestinian Refugees: Mythology, Identity & the Search for Peace, by Robert Bowker  

[10] 4^th Geneva Convention Article 49: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” 

[11] Human Rights Watch.org “Israel and Palestine Events 2018”

U.S. Vets Expose Irish Govt Complicity In War Crimes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlOioJoxO9o


Tarak Kauff and Ken Mayers are two US Army Veterans and members of US Vets for Peace who felt called to come to Ireland to help expose the Irish Governments complicity in US led war crimes in the Middle East and North Africa. They were imprisoned for 13 days without bail and their passports were taken off them affectively holding them hostage in Ireland pending a trial. This legal action is in stark contrast to the treatment Clare Daly and Mick Wallace TD's got for essentially the same crime (both spending only 2 hours in a cell). Please show solidarity and help to spread the word about this hypocrisy. Go to www.afri.ie or www.shannonwatch.org for more information about upcoming fund raising events, trial dates or vigils.

Israel is a rogue nation

To the Editor:

Israel is a rogue nation which repeatedly violates international law, UN resolutions, and the human rights of Palestinians and Bedouins. This outlaw and criminal behavior would not be possible without the support of the United States and our taxpayer dollars ( $3.8 billion per year). Since 1967 Israel has demolished 55,000 Palestinian homes - in 1948 Israel demolished 60,000 homes and terrorized 850,000 Palestinians into abandoning their land and homes. Since 1967 the Israeli army (IDF) has militarily occupied Gaza and the West Bank, and imposed a brutal blockade on Gaza, intentionally causing shortages of food, water, electricity, and medical supplies. This year peaceful, non-violent border protests by desperate Palestinians were met with Israeli army sniper fire that killed over 200 Palestinians including journalists, medics, and disabled demonstrators in wheelchairs - IDF snipers severely wounded more than 20,000 protesters! 

With the relentless, violent and illegal theft of occupied Palestinian lands, homes, and farms to build apartheid, Jewish only settlements there are now over 500,000 Jewish settlers occupying over 200 settlements, outposts, and neighborhoods. Israel has been condemned widely by the international community for it’s brutal ethnic cleansing and creation of an apartheid state where only Jews have full citizenship and rights.  

The non-violent BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) movement is attempting to pressure Israel to end it’s military occupation, secure equal rights for all (Jews and Arabs), and to allow Palestinians to return to their stolen lands. A boycott ended South African apartheid - hopefully, BDS will end Israeli apartheid. 

Eli Kassirer

The thrill of being overlords in the Promised Land

It is a bright new day in Dutchess County. Some of our most important leaders are joining forces to link the county and its educational institutions to the "only democracy" in the Middle East, Israel.

Important things happen when great minds get together. The president of Vassar College seems to have discussed plans with the Deputy Consul General during her trip to Israel. Now, many more leaders on on board, including our county executive, and decision makers at the Culinary Institute and IBM. Here are some suggestions for how this visionary group might partner with the apartheid state.

Israel already trains many U.S. police forces in military tactics and weaponry. Maybe the police in Poughkeepsie and Beacon could patrol in armored vehicles rather than on bikes. Checkpoint technology might also benefit these communities. People of the wrong color or religion could be made to wait in long lines and be inspected before they travel out of their areas. Israel's high tech surveillance industry could be used to track goings on within these inner city ghettos.  

On a cheerier note, Dutchess County could benefit from all the Israeli products that support the occupation, like Jaffa oranges, Ahava cosmetics, Sabra hummus and Psagot wines. Nothing like the taste and feel of products that come from appropriated territories. The Culinary Institute could even create a "settlement restaurant" where diners could experience the thrill of being overlords in the Promised Land. 

You would have to be a real anti-semite not to be enthused. 

Fred Nagel

Sitting in a foreign jail

Some veterans talk about serving their country by flying the flag and buying a red poppy. Nothing wrong with that approach. 

Others end up sitting in a foreign jail so America's youths don't get chewed up fighting in this country's endless wars for oil. 

Tarak Kauff, local Army veteran and member of Veterans For Peace, is in the second category. Tarak and a Vietnam veteran, Ken Mayers, were holding up a banner at Shannon Airport when they were arrested and later denied bail. They now share a cell in Limerick Jail. 

Their banner reads: "U.S. Veterans say Respect Irish Neutrality. U.S. War Machine out of Shannon Airport - Veterans For Peace." Shannon is a refueling stop for planes flying young GI's to the Middle East. 

After centuries of ruthless British rule, one might think that Ireland would be more sympathetic to the victims of American's endless wars abroad. Why is Ireland helping to send U.S. troops to Iraq and Afghanistan? And why is Ireland locking up U.S. veterans protesting occupation in the Middle East?

Why don't you ask the Irish Embassy why? Call: 202 462 3939 and leave a recorded message.

Fred Nagel

Support of the U.S. - Israel relationship gives us pause

Dear Representative Delgado:

Thanks for your below letter regarding H. Res. 183. We're ok with your position on that and strongly agree that criticism of Israel isn't anti-Semitism.

Your strong general support of the U.S. - Israel relationship gives us pause, however.  Please take a few minutes to peruse this abstract of a Harvard Kennedy School article concerning "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt: 

https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/it-love-or-lobby-explaining-americas-special-relationship-israel  

Please note especially the authors' conclusion that "...the special [U.S.] relationship [with Israel] is now harmful to the U.S. and Israel alike..." and that a more normal relationship would be better for both countries.  

In case you're not familiar with it, this book is an excellent introduction to the Israel lobby - especially AIPAC - that all U.S. politicians eventually have to deal with.

With best wishes for your new career,

Gregory and Nancy DeSylva

I support Rep Ilhan Omar 100%

As a strong Jewish Democrat I am outraged that my Party is taking a stand against the only person, a Muslim, who is speaking the truth about Israel's treatment of Palestine and its inordinate power over the US Congress. Rep Ilhan Omar stated that Israel's control of Congress is through money, "the Benjamins". Nothing could be more obvious, and yet she was attacked. Instead of standing up for her the Democratic Party is, once again, eating its own.

Equally egregious is your conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism thus demeaning the real and growing anti-Semitism in this country and beyond. Omar's comments were anti-Zionist, they were not anti-Semitic. The real anti-Semitism in this country is coming from the Right. If you really cared about growing anti-Semitism, you’d be leading the charge against white supremacy that’s publicly fueled by members of Congress like Rep. Jim Jordan, and slamming those who put a poster up linking Rep. Omar to the 9/11 attacks. In a time of the rise of actual anti-Semitism, exploiting anti-Semitism to shut down debate about Israel is infuriating. It serves no one, least of all Jews and Democrats. I am Jewish, pro-Semitic, anti-Zionist (as are MANY others) and I support Rep Ilhan Omar 100%.

Judith Simon 

Combatants for Peace

Renouncing Violence

By Tarak Kauff

It was November 2013, in a quiet restaurant in East Jerusalem, when a small delegation of Veterans For Peace (VFP) met with some  remarkable Israeli and Palestinian activists from Combatants for Peace. We sat at a big table across from each other, four U.S. military veterans and six Israeli and Palestinian former combatants, all who had renounced violence to work together for peace. We heard heart-wrenching stories on both sides of loss, forgiveness and a commitment away from violence. We shared a common goal of working nonviolently for peace and social justice regardless of what hostilities our governments promoted. We witnessed solidarity and brotherly love between these former adversaries that in itself set a vivid example of what we all hoped to see one day. 

Combatants for Peace was founded In 2006 when Israeli and Palestinian former combatants, people who had taken an active role in the conflict, laid down their weapons and joined forces to break the cycle of violence. The organization works to both transform and resolve the conflict by ending the occupation, resisting all forms of violence between the two sides, and building a peaceful future for both peoples.

One of the founding Palestinian members of Combatants for Peace, Bassam Aramin, was at the dinner.  In 2007, a year after Combatants for Peace was formed, he lost his 10-year old daughter, Abir to a rubber bullet fired by an Israeli border policeman as she was carrying her books home from school. She was known as a model student. Bassam, once a militant, was devastated but renounced the desire for revenge to seek a nonviolent justice. 

Three years later he, his grief stricken wife and Abir’s memory were justified when an Israeli judge, after the initial denial by the Israeli Police, declared, "Abir and her friends were walking down a street where there were no rock-throwers, therefore there was no reason to shoot in their direction. It is clear that Abir's death, caused by a rubber bullet shot by border guards, was due to negligence..."

The author, standing, second from left, Bassam Aramin third from left.  Photo: Mike Hastie

On Friday, March 8th at the Woodstock Community Center from 7 to 9:00 pm, and also on Saturday, March 9th, 7 to 9:00 pm at the Episcopal Church of Messiah, 6436 Montgomery St, Rhinebeck, two former combatants, one Israeli and one Palestinian, will share their personal stories of transformation from violence to nonviolence. The program will include a short clip of the award-winning documentary: Disturbing the Peace. 

Palestinian Osama Elewat, one of the speakers says, “I know that we can only heal this situation if we work together. We can only end this conflict, and heal the sorrow and pain of both our nations, if we work together cooperatively and peacefully. Peace cannot come through war. Freedom will only come when we break out of the chains that bind us: the chains of hatred, of violence and of revenge. Love truly is the strongest force on this earth. A revolution of love is the only thing that can save us.”

Michal Hochberg, the other speaker, says after she met Palestinians and heard “their stories and the daily suffering they were experiencing, I could no longer keep my eyes closed.” 

**Update: A few days ago the Palestinian speaker, Osama Elewat, was turned back at JFK airport, after being interrogated for 13 hours. No reason was given for this action by the immigration authorities. 

Organizers are hoping to arrange an audio-visual link to enable Elewat to participate in the panel remotely from the West Bank - but questions are being raised as to why a visitor here to tour the country with a message of peace was turned away. In Woodstock and Rhinebeck, Elik Elhanan, one of the original founders of Combatant for Peace, now a professor at City College will also speak. 

Organizers have decided to continue with the speaking tour.

Tarak Kauff is a paratrooper veteran of the U.S. Army. He served on the Veterans For Peace (VFP) board of directors for six years and is now the managing editor of VFP’s 24-page quarterly newspaper, Peace in Our Times. 

Tarak Kauf

Even mentioning the Palestinian People is antisemitic

Ilhan Omar, one of two Muslim women elected to Congress, has gone over the line in suggesting that politicians are influenced by money they get from the Israel Lobby. It is OK to say that our leaders are paid off by Big Oil, Big Pharma, and Wall Street. But it is antisemitic to imply that the Israel Lobby would do such things.

There should be a law making it illegal to reveal how much Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer get from the Israel Lobby. It is antisemitic to report that the two of them met recently with multibillionaires Haim Saban and Sheldon Adelson and promised an extensive list of "pro-Israel lawmakers" be appointed to important committees.

Boycotts, although they have a long history of being used against slave owners, Nazis, Jim Crow racists, and homophobes, are simply antisemitic when used against apartheid Israel and should be illegal. In fact, even mentioning the Palestinian People is an attempt to deny that Israel is a Jewish state. Talking about the occupation is antisemitic as well. Why not talk about human rights abuses in Darfur?

The effort to stop antisemitism has to start with the First Amendment. How dare our Founding Fathers promise freedom of speech and press without some qualifiers! Sure, citizens should be able to criticize politicians and foreign countries, but not a country that claims to be a religion, like Israel. No U.S. citizen should ever have the right to say that Israel has enormous power over our government.

Fred Nagel

An Example to be Followed

An Example to be Followed

Recently, I was excited to learn that members of Combatants for Peace (CfP) would be in the area, along with a clip from the award-winning movie, Disturbing the Peace.  Combatant for Peace, composed of former Israeli soldiers and former Palestinian fighters, had a message of peace that could resonate across lines usually not crossed. They have set an example to be followed – former enemies, laying down their weapons and their hostility, to work together as comrades  – for peace. 

My work in Veterans For Peace (VFP) had occasioned meeting with members of CfP numbers of times, both in East Jerusalem, and in the U.S. and I was always impressed with their commitment to end the occupation and achieve a just peace, but also, beyond that, the obvious friendship and even love that had developed between Palestinians and Israelis, both sharing the same mission, both caring deeply for the other. 

Here in our small town of Woodstock, known for peace and music, we’ll have yet another opportunity to hear about and witness real peace-making with two members of  Combatants for Peace, one Palestinian and one Israeli, on Friday, 7:00 PM,  March 8th, at the Community Center. They will also show a clip from the movie. I expect it to be a very interesting and inspiring evening.

VFP is honored to be a sponsor of the event. My old pal, Jay Wenk, would have been delighted. 

Tarak Kauff
Veterans For Peace

Not the Monster I thought You Were

Letter to the Editor February 20, 2019

In 2013, I completed a 10-year art project that offered a hypothetical world in which people would put themselves in the shoes of their so-called enemies and would learn to see from inside the “other’s” story - thereby opening space for a world without war. During the making of this project I received the Dutchess County Executive Arts Award to an Individual Artist, and was happy for the recognition this brought to an idea I strongly believe in.

My hypothetical, it turns out, was a reality somewhere on the planet. In Israel/Palestine there is a young, small, strong and committed organization composed of former enemies who put down their weapons, renounced the violence that permeated their lives, and now work very much together toward making peace in a land that has seen little of it. Combatants for Peace was founded by Israeli and Palestinian fighters who each made the huge mental and emotional journey out of their own life story, enabling them to listen to the “other.” Now they work together in nonviolent resistance to the complicated forces that preclude peace on their land. They stand against home demolitions, they protect Bedouin shepherds grazing their flocks, they bring solar power and playgrounds to villages living on the verge. They bring together Palestinian and Israeli families who grieve for all those they lost. This alone is moving beyond belief. They put up their hands against the growing crack in the dam, behind which is a future of war.

I love these people. Come hear them speak. March 8 Woodstock. March 9 Rhinebeck. http://afcfp.org/press-release-woodstock/ 

Madeleine Segall-Marx, sculptor Hyde Park, NY and New York CIty

Renouncing Violence

Renouncing Violence

By Tarak Kauff

It was November 2013, in a quiet restaurant in East Jerusalem, when a small delegation of Veterans For Peace (VFP) met with some  remarkable Israeli and Palestinian activists from Combatants for Peace. We sat at a big table across from each other, four U.S. military veterans and six Israeli and Palestinian former combatants, all who had renounced violence to work together for peace. We heard heart-wrenching stories on both sides of loss, forgiveness and a commitment away from violence. We shared a common goal of working nonviolently for peace and social justice regardless of what hostilities our governments promoted. We witnessed solidarity and brotherly love between these former adversaries that in itself set a vivid example of what we all hoped to see one day. 

Combatants for Peace was founded In 2006 when Israeli and Palestinian former combatants, people who had taken an active role in the conflict, laid down their weapons and joined forces to break the cycle of violence. The organization works to both transform and resolve the conflict by ending the occupation, resisting all forms of violence between the two sides, and building a peaceful future for both peoples.

One of the founding Palestinian members of Combatants for Peace, Bassam Aramin, was at the dinner.  In 2007, a year after Combatants for Peace was formed, he lost his 10-year old daughter, Abir to a rubber bullet fired by an Israeli policeman as she was carrying her books home from school. She was known as a model student. Bassam, once a Fatah militant, was devastated but renounced the desire for revenge to seek a nonviolent justice. 

Three years later he, his grief stricken wife and Abir’s memory were justified when an Israeli judge, after the initial denial by the Israeli Police, declared, "Abir and her friends were walking down a street where there were no rock-throwers, therefore there was no reason to shoot in their direction. It is clear that Abir's death, caused by a rubber bullet shot by border guards, was due to negligence..."

The author, standing, second from left, Bassam Aramin third from left.  Photo: Mike Hastie

On Friday, March 8th at the Mountain View Studio from 7 to 9:00 pm, two Combatants, one Israeli and one Palestinian, will share their personal stories of transformation from violence to nonviolence. The program will include a short clip of the award-winning documentary: Disturbing the Peace. 

Palestinian, Osama Elewat, one of the speakers says, “I know that we can only heal this situation if we work together. We can only end this conflict, and heal the sorrow and pain of both our nations, if we work together cooperatively and peacefully. Peace cannot come through war. Freedom will only come when we break out of the chains that bind us: the chains of hatred, of violence and of revenge. Love truly is the strongest force on this earth. A revolution of love is the only thing that can save us.”

Michal Hochberg, the other speaker, says after she met Palestinians and heard “their stories and the daily suffering they were experiencing, I could no longer keep my eyes closed.” their stories and the daily suffering they