From Next Door

Merle—I love all you do for the community, especially Family of Woodstock. But I think you are way off base here. As an American Jew I believed Israel was a wasteland filled with lazy Arabs until I went then in 2006 and 2007. As a youth I bought lots of $2 trees to make Israel green. However, during my three times of doing human rights work with International Women’s Peace Service, I saw that the trees were used to obliterate thriving Palestinian villages once 750,000 Arabs were driven out of the new country of Israel. I saw homes demolished, children injured and gassed, school kids terrorized by Israeli Army Jeeps outside their classrooms, teens sent to prison for throwing a rock at a tank and so forth. 

An IWPS volunteer from South Africa said apartheid in Israel was worse than in her own country. It was a shock to see how Palestinians had to use sub-standard back roads while Israelis sped by on highways, how Israelis drove right through checkpoints while Palestinians sometimes waited 3-6 hours to pass through.  I personally know a pregnant woman who lost her baby because she was held up for his hours at a checkpoint. I interviewed a man in Nablus whose 6 year old son was shot by an Israeli soldier as he sat on his home’s stoop eating a snack after kindergarten. 

Sometimes it’s hard to face the truth but I hope you will soon realize that the Israeli army commits human rights abuses daily.

Paula Silbey

To the Editor:

Unfortunately,  Israel has become a rogue nation and a pariah state to much of  the international community.  Human rights abuses,  military occupation, illegal settlements, home demolitions, brutal invasions and bombings (resulting in the deaths of  hundreds of children), and a cruel  blockade that deliberately causes food, water, and medical supply  shortages  for more than a million Palestinians all contribute to Israel’s isolation in the world.   

Israel needs to be criticized and Israel needs to change.  Any government (whether it be China, Saudi Arabia, Hondouras, or the US)  needs to be criticized  when  repeatedly violating  human rights  and inflicting humiliation and suffering on innocent peoples.  The state of Israel could not commit any of these abuses without the $3.5 Billion of US taxpayers dollars that go to Israel  every year.  

Clearly,  it is not anti-semitic to criticize the policies of the government of  Israel.  The sad truth is that Israel’s policies and actions have generated a worldwide backlash of antagonism and hatred towards Israel. And tragically, Israel’s policies and actions incite, provoke, and abet  those who are genuinely  anti-semitic.  

I would encourage Americans  who truly  care about the future of Israel to advocate  for changes in Israeli policy that  would promote real peace and justice for all.  The future is indeed bleak for an Israel bent on maintaining an apartheid, colonial, settler state.  The future  Israel may not look like a Zionist dream, but hopefully, it will be a  peaceful and just nation inhabited by both Jews and Arabs. 

Eli Kassirer

A false and dangerous claim

I’ve been disturbed by recent letters repeating the false and dangerous claim that BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) is anti-Semitic — and that any criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic.

It is all too easy to stifle criticism by smearing it as anti-Semitic. No decent person wants to be labeled an anti- Semite. But, tragically, this smear gives cover to the real anti-Semites by conflating hateful prejudice with le- gitimate, peacefully expressed concerns about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

Israel is impervious to international law, under which it is illegal to colonize occupied territory. It is impervi- ous to moral condemnation for its brutality. When Palestinians fight back, they are crushed by Israel’s mas- sive firepower — lavishly funded by your tax dollars and mine. But when they call for peaceful protest in the form of BDS, Palestinians and their supporters are reviled and suppressed as being anti-Semitic.

Boycotting is a time-honored and effective form of protest. As the National Coalition Against Censorship says, “Boycotts are a form of speech that is protected by the First Amendment.” Pro-Israel lobbying groups don’t care about the First Amendment, instead pressuring state and federal legislators to pass bills penalizing or even outlawing BDS.

Like many who advocate BDS, I myself have a Jewish background. I am fully aware of the horrors of anti- Semitism and I understand the deep fear that the Holocaust could happen again — a fear that is cynically ex- ploited by the Israeli government’s rhetoric. But it is both cruel and irrational to project that fear onto the Palestinians — who had nothing to do with the Holocaust — and use it to fuel appalling injustice.

BDS calls on people of conscience to take a non-violent stand against entrenched oppression. I will continue to support it.

Jo Salas

Three Cheers for Ben & Jerry's

 8/4/2021 Letters to the editor (8/4/21) - Hudson Valley One

Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop selling its ice cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territories was courageous and definitely not anti-Zionist. I am an American Jew who supports Israel’s right of existence and ability to flour- ish. However, I do not support its apartheid actions. I do not hate Israel and I am definitely not an anti-Semite. But I do hate its human rights abuses, especially against children and the people of Gaza.

Fifteen years ago, I did human rights work in the West Bank/occupied Palestinian territories with In- ternational Women’s Peace Service and was shocked to see how many apartheid rules are in place. Today re- strictions and abuse are even more rampant. Let’s hope that other companies will follow Ben & Jerry’s coura- geous example.

Paula Silbey

US should not support abuse of children

It is unacceptable that our government has two primary constructs for justice when it comes to Israel/Pa- lestine: one where Israel is reflexively supported to deny human rights and justice for Palestinians in the name of “security,” and an equally false construct where Palestinian resistance to ongoing occupation and de- nial of their basic human rights is delegitimized as “terrorist.”

As someone who has worked for decades to end the illegal occupation of Palestine, I am often asked, “Where are the Palestinian organizations who seek justice through peaceful democratic means?”

My answer: “They are routinely silenced by the Israeli government and the US media, or harassed and even killed by the Israeli military.”

Here are examples from just this week alone:

On July 29, Israel’s paramilitary raided the headquarters in Ramallah of a nonprofit children’s rights organiza- tion without any warrant or explanation. This organization, Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), is an independent, is a local Palestinian child rights organization dedicated to promoting the rights of children living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Computers and client files were seized with no warrant, no reason and no receipt for the materials confiscated.

On July 28, an 11-year-old boy was shot and killed in Hebron in his father’s car at a checkpoint. On July 24, a 17-year-old boy was shot and killed when his village was overtaken by Israeli forces.

Palestinian children are routinely arrested and imprisoned without trial for throwing stones or for other forms of protest. The Israeli military intentionally uses lethal force, which cannot be justified by international law, while our government defends Israeli “security.” Security can never be secured when an entire popula- tion is denied basic human rights.

Sadly, our own representative, Antonio Delgado, is complicit in this denial of justice. I urge others to sign this open letter: http://chng.it/vtSpBJnz6h in support of HR 2407 (now HR 2590). And call Representative Delgado’s office to co- sponsor this bill which prohibits US foreign aid to go towards the abuse of children.

Cheryl Qamar

I support Ben and Jerry’s

The fracas over the pullout from Israeli settlements in the West Bank by Ben and Jerry’s ice cream is still on my mind, as I find myself enjoying Tom and Jerry’s ‘Chocolate Therapy’ ice cream. As I lick my spoon, I, however, find it difficult to comprehend why the loss of commercial ice cream should be such a big deal.  Isn’t it fun to make homemade ice cream?  And wouldn’t that be a great activity for the children in the settlements?!  Forget brands!  Make your own. I’m going to heed my very words and make ice cream with my grandchildren!  

Meanwhile, I find it difficult to comprehend why the pullout of ice cream should constitute such a terrible offense compared to the pulling up of 1000 year- old olive trees in the occupied West Bank to make room for those settlements, for privileged roads for those settlers to and from their settlements on stolen land.  More than 100,000 Palestinian olive trees had been uprooted by Israeli authorities and settlers since 1967.  Palestinian farmers and their families along with international friends who help safeguard the olive-pickers have been violently threatened and harmed by settlers. Why do they do this?  Olive oil constitutes a major source of vital nourishing food – so I would like to see those who criticize the pullout of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream from the Israeli settlements also strongly criticize the pulling- up of the olive trees that Palestinians have always depended on for their health and essential well-being!   I think it takes years for a newly-planted olive tree to bear fruit (and only a few hours to make homemade ice cream) and so I’ll never be able to share with my grandchildren and carry on that age-old tradition – that vital link with the earth – of indigenous people. Pity!  That’s a real loss to shout out about!  I support Ben and Jerry’s action!  

Jane Toby

Ice cream and children go together. But should ice cream be sold in a country that treats some children like vermin? A country that routinely murders children in Gaza and the West Bank? A country that holds its 5 million Palestinians in the vicious grip of apartheid? 

Ben and Jerry don't think so. The founders of that famous ice cream company have drawn the line at selling their products in Israel's illegal settlements. But isn't boycotting an act of antisemitism? Quite the contrary say the two impresarios of frozen desserts. "That we support the company’s decision is not a contradiction nor is it anti-Semitic. In fact, we believe this act can and should be seen as advancing the concepts of justice and human rights, core tenets of Judaism."

Somewhere during the seventy years of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, the country of Israel lost track of these core tenets. In fact, Israel has always shown itself to be the antithesis of justice and human rights for Arabs living in the Holy Land. Starting with the Nakba in 1948, when three quarters of a million Palestinians were driven into exile, the state of Israel has always stood for violent Jewish supremacy, not for justice and human rights.

We know from our own history that Jews have always been there to oppose racism in America. Many Jews, like Ben and Jerry, now oppose racism in Israel as well. Have a Ben & Jerry's cone this weekend to celebrate this return to Jewish values.  

Fred Nagel