A video of the mass displacement of Palestinians from the north under threat of fire. We watch the struggling, exhausted women and children and elderly herded by a relentless military. Shooting stragglers or those who refuse to leave.
Where have we seen this?
In Zamosc, Poland, there were four "aktions" (the euphemistic term for the herding of Jews to death camps). The first was in April 1942, the last and final one in October 1942. In the first 3 aktions, Jews were forced onto trains, 100 people or more squeezed into freight cars made to carry no more than 40 people. Those slow to move, or who refused, were shot. Many died of suffocation or heat in the packed cars. The 'survivors' arrived at Belzec or Sobibor where they were gassed. During the final aktion, which took place in October 1942, for some reason there were no trains available. So the remaining Jews were marched to the town of Izbica, where there was a transit camp, 11 kilometers away. Those who lagged behind were shot. One well known citizen of Zamosc, Bronislawa Spiegelglass, a physician, slipped away to the side of a church (pointed out to me by Polish historians), and injected her 11 year old son and herself with a fatal dose of morphine.
My grandmother's niece, husband, and 4 year old daughter were rounded up for an earlier aktion. Her husband said to the Nazi guarding them: "You're going to kill us anyway. We're not leaving our home". They were told to stand against a wall, and all three were shot. Her husband and child died instantly, but she did not, and survived a few days with a bullet wound to her head.
This is happening right now in in Gaza. A family has said: "We can go no further" and been shot. Children have been shot. Babies have been shot. Old people, handicapped people, sick people, shot. People attached to IVs bombed, burned to death. Forced to keep moving. To where? To certain death. Only in a different place. A transit camp.
From above a line of human beings looks like ants. If one of the ants is felled, so what? What does it matter to the ubermenschen. What if a giant foot comes down and steps on the entire column? Well, the world leaders will say, the ants should have been following orders.
This heinous travesty. This massive war crime we're all funding.
This insane specter of "antisemitism" raised again and again to any who dare protest it. To silence us. I will tell you what is antisemitic. Associating being Jewish with Israel, with this horrific marauding entity which learned nothing, nothing at all from the holocaust, except how to perpetrate one.
Marcy
Where have we seen this
Review of film at the African Roots Library in Kingston
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/from-the-river-to-the-sea-and-all-around-the-world-warm-welcome-home-for-freedom-flotilla-crew/
Their pain but hopefulness and commitment with calls for others to do the same is in contrast to the Palestine film "Wanted" that I went to see yesterday as the African Roots Library in Kingston. That film had a light vein throughout as the cows were presented in living cartoon
characters as well as their real selves. The film mirrors the Freedom Flotilla's point the Palestinians made about being freer than their Israeli occupiers. The film portrayed the incredible creativity of the town's people based on the unity they had amongst themselves. No matter what the Israeli tactics to destroy this push back the people always found a way to resist. But a point of hope at the end of the film was marred for me by one of the men, a boy when this episode with the cows was occurring, was a sad note on which they ended the film.
The Oslo Accords ramped up the Occupation killing one of the towns leaders, a young man. The result for this man was a sense of defeat, betrayal in fact. The film would have been so much more powerful if it ended with a man who kept looking for the one cow that was set free to ensure survival of the cows (people) with hope to see that it survived in hiding. One cannot be or feel free when allowing repressive forces to destroy hope and resilience. It is one form of power the people can always have no matter the repressive efforts to destroy that hope and resilience.
It is what spurs revolutionary movements the strength to continue the struggle for freedom and peace. FYI, the cows were a symbol of the push for freedom. The town people were fed up with being forced to be dependent on Israel for all their services and supplies. They went to Israel and bought a few cows to provide milk for their children. A seemingly small effort on their part raised the ire of Israel and the IDF which continued to destroy this one very small effort at free choice, independence and self-esteem. The IDF waged a fight of increasing threats and repression with the people finding more ways to withstand the sanctions and lockdowns and even imprisonment. It reminded me of how the Black community in particular used the prisons to educate others incarcerated, studying and planning ways to resist the repression. The cows were eventually taken/destroyed with one small one let loose to try and survive for the community.
It a lighter way than is common, this film was very moving providing many lessons for those who need to learn them and others to be reminded of the power of unity and resistance.
Genocide Blue, Genocide Red, or Neither
Meanwhile, in the local Congressional races, Dem Pat Ryan who has long boasted about his military role in the unjust invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan under GOP Bush/Cheney, has allied himself in Congress with Q-Anon GOP Marjorie Taylor Greene, in order to censure Dem Rashida Tlaib for objecting to the US funding (with our taxes) Israel’s genocide of its native population. Ryan has consistently pushed for more and more tens of billions for US funding for Israel’s weapons of genocide, even opposing the short-lived “pauses” that even Biden had recommended. The other local Dem Congressional candidate Josh Riley views other countries as our enemies, rather than as our neighbors, and seems a good bet to follow in Pat Ryan’s violent and costly footsteps.
So I have a question for our local Dem luminaries, such as Ulster County Exec Jen Metzger, and Ulster County legislator Manna Jo Greene, and for local Dem committees. You all supporting these people, who make genocide and planeticide realities?
For voters who favor atrocities and planetcide, just pick your favorite color, Red or Blue. For NYS voters who aren’t thrilled with crimes against humanity and the planet, you will have to do write-ins (thanks to the so-called Democrats who control the voting regulations in NYS). Two presidential tickets with excellent and detailed platforms for peace and planet (in sharp contrast to the Red and Blue ones) are Jill Stein/Butch Ware and Cornel West/Melina Abdullah. Pick one ticket and write them in. For Congress, you can pick a decent local person and write in their name, if enabling genocide and planetcide disgusts you.
Barbara Kidney
Is your money that good?
There is very little left. Two million refugees are huddled under makeshift tents, waiting for food that never comes. Yet our sweet land of liberty keeps sending billions in military aid to keep the Palestinian genocide going. What perverse monster could think of doing such a thing to other human beings? What government bureaucrat would carry out such murderous orders?
The ongoing extermination of two million Palestinians is Gaza isn't hidden very well. Skeletal children are holding out their metal pots for any little scrap of food. They have to drink contaminated water because the electricity is gone and the pipes all destroyed. School for these children is just a memory of long ago. There are no school buildings left, nor any colleges. Nothing but rubble as the Palestinian people prepare their children to die.
I don't want to be a citizen of a country that does that to millions. Our pro-Zionist Congressional representatives get hundreds of thousands from the insanely rich Israel Lobby. That just makes people like Pat Ryan nothing but hired killers. He has already gotten over $163,000 this year in Israeli bribes. (opensecrets.org)
"Let me ask you one question. Is your money that good? Will it buy you forgiveness, do you think that it could?" -Bob Dylan
How to describe Israel’s latest horror?
“For years now, I’ve been aware of Palestine’s ongoing struggle for freedom. But today, everything feels different, heavier. I’ve survived so much already—the war in Syria, being kidnapped by militias in Lebanon, living in terror of politicians, and being hunted by the Syrian regime. Each of these events left a deep mark on me, but somehow, I made it through.
Now, I'm dealing with the consequences. Doctors give me different labels—PTSD, complex trauma, depression—but none of these words truly capture the weight I carry. Every morning I wake up feeling scared, suffocated, and in pain. The nightmares never let me go.
I'm trying to make sense of my life, to understand the world around me, but what’s happening today in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria—it’s overwhelming. It’s terrifying.
They are killing us. Erasing us. Wiping our existence from the land that belongs to us. And no matter how much I’ve survived, this is something I can't comprehend. The fear is all-consuming, and I don't know how much more I can endure.”
Another Lebanese friend, a mother of young children, writes: “Oh scared is the word that says it all, resilience is tiring! What happened yesterday and today is beyond our minds to understand, the kids are no longer coming near their phones and tablets in fear of explosions.”
Our taxes fund this escalating catastrophe. We citizens must demand that the US immediately halt the flow of money and weapons to Israel’s murderous regime. We are responsible.
To the Editor:
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian families are trapped, terrified, and homeless due to relentless bombing (much of it with US supplied bombs). There is no safe place in Gaza and children are dying from planned starvation, dehydration, and disease. Our government supports and funds these atrocities with your tax dollars. If any of this bothers you maybe it’s time to call the White House: 202-456-1111 or Pat Ryan:202-225-5614 and say, “No U.S. weapons or money to fund Israeli genocide.”
Eli
Motives for the attacks
Greetings, friends and acquaintances, on the upcoming 23rd anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks on America. Despite over two decades having passed, there is little public understanding of why those attacks occurred. Even the 9/11 Commission avoided or deflected questions leading to the heart of the matter. The attached 2010 video, Why 9/11? (which I worked on with Deir Yassin Remembered, Inc.,) addresses this question directly through carefully documented research. Its findings are at variance with U.S. government and mainstream media explanations of the motives for the attacks, leading to suppression (de facto censorship, really) of this video by Google as containing “inaccurate and exaggerated claims.” Thus, only people with YouTube accounts can view the video, and Google will not allow us to advertise it. Consequently, viewership is negligible and the wider public has been denied the opportunity to consider the findings of Why 9/11? and the abundant evidence supporting those conclusions.
However, by clicking this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCzIwtCUXf4&t=529s (which I personally guarantee is safe and secure), you can view what private interests like Google - and the U.S. government - would rather you didn’t. (Please note: the video does not start at the beginning – you will have to drag the time line leftward to the beginning, and you may wish to view it in full screen). We would welcome your comments and criticisms on it, provided you’re willing to consider the evidence with an open mind.
Warm regards,
Gregory DeSylva
Lke a bad parent
My country is like a bad parent who never really changes his abusive habits. He sent me off to war in 1967, only to have all the lies come back to haunt him. He killed two million Vietnamese along with 58,000 US troops, and never even said he was sorry.
In the 1980s, he was training death squads in Central America, and arming them to commit atrocities in Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador. And after all that bloodletting, he never whispered a word of remorse.
The invasion of Iraq was another inexcusable moment for my American family. The invasion was all based on his lies about weapons of mass destruction, and again we murdered millions of innocent people. But our media hid most of the slaughter from us, and neither political party thought to condemn his obvious war crimes.
Now our parent is paying for and perpetuating the worst genocide of the 21st century. True to form, he never bothers to look at the torture, the starvation, the endless bombing of hospitals and schools in Gaza. The charnel house of US wars reminds us once again of how criminal our parent really is. And how dangerous. His wars abroad are based on carnage, and that is what our shameless parent is very good at. He sees some strategic goal in the eradication of the Palestinian people and there is nothing that can stop him. Not even the slaughter of 20,000 children.
Our murderous parent will bring our American family down one day.
Fred Nagel
Please consider standing with Women In Black
Dear friends,
The Zionist project continues it’s genocide of unspeakable violence and cruelty. Slaughtering and wantonly exterminating women, men, children, babies, and killing, wounding and maiming anything that breathes - like donkeys, horses, dogs and cats. There are truly no words. It is all being done before our very eyes. There have been genocides before, but never seen in real time with real images on screens in our hands or on our laps. Please consider standing with Women In Black on Saturdays from 12:30-1:30 in front of the Elting library in New Paltz. Also, having been inspiried by Rev. Dr. Muenther Issac from Palestine, I am planning on visiting local churches to distribute the new flyer below. If you would like to join me please send me an email - ekassirer@aol.com or call or text - 845-591-4925. Hope you are all well. with love and prayers,
Eli
Justice for Palestinians Under Siege
And mine: Justice for Palestinians Under Siege
Editors:
Recently your front page coverage has included the death of Bob Barker, the modernization of Cairo, and Trump’s latest lies, yet in the West Bank, Palestinians have been under attack by settlers and the IDF for months. Where are reports on Israel’s escalation of its genocide in Gaza to Ramallah, Jenin, Tulkarm, and other cities, an escalation silently enabled by the US and loudly condemned by the ICJ, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, humanitarian groups like Amnesty International, and millions around the world? Doesn’t the murders of 652 Palestinians, including 150 children, in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem since October 7 qualify as front page news? While the Times buries reports of West Bank violence, if it covers them at all, Israel’s foreign minister boasts of a major military operation to “thwart Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructure,” an operation that will surely perpetuate, not end, this atrocity.
Lisa
Here's my LTE to NYT:
Encouraged by the world’s failure to stop its genocidal rampage in Gaza, Israel is now spreading the carnage to the West Bank with overnight raids and aerial bombardment. They are “allowing” Palestinians to “safely leave the area.” We can see where this is going. Who can doubt at this point that the goal is the elimination of the Palestinian population, by death or forced emigration? Israel is counting on the US to keep up the support in the form of armaments, rhetoric, and billions of dollars-- a reasonable assumption based on the US’s stance so far. Those who can witness these horrors without opposing them have abandoned their humanity.
Jo Salas
NOT Jewish arrogance
To the Editor:
The Zionist entity called Israel is doomed. The economy is in free fall - GDP down by 20%, Intel cancelled it’s $26 Billion project, international shipping (thanks to the Houthis) has ceased, 46,000 small businesses have closed (mostly due to owners and employees drafted into military service).
Airlines refuse to fly to Israel. Militarily, Israel has lost. Hezbollah strikes in the north have caused hundreds of thousands of Israelis to flee. The Houthis have crippled Israeli ports. Hamas continues to defeat the IDF. (Jon Elmer, Resistance Reports at electronicintifada.net). Israel admits running out of tanks because Hamas is destroying them so fast.
IDF casualties are in the thousands and the army now needs to draft Orthodox Jews. Morally and ethically Israel has descended to depths of depravity hard to comprehend. Genocide, starvation, torture (including rape), weaponizing disease, bombing, maiming, incinerating, and burying alive helpless women, children, and men. Latest estimate of civilian Palestinian deaths 186,000. This ghastly tragedy is the direct result of Zionist (let’s be clear, NOT Jewish) arrogance, and settler/colonialist racism which are used to justify Zionist theft of farms, land, and homes from Palestinians and then to brutally occupy , abuse, humiliate, and oppress them for 75 years. The Zionist state of Israel, and her supporters, have made the world more dangerous for Jews. Sadly, the Zionists don’t seem to care about the fate of Jews. Zionism is collapsing. Hopefully, the Arabs and Jews will be able to create a new Palestine where Jews and Arabs can live together peacefully as they have done for hundreds of years prior to the disastrous appearance of Zionism.
Eli Kassirer
The children eat animal feed
In the past, such things would be hidden from us. We were mostly spared what our military machine did to children in Korea or Viet Nam. In both invasions and occupations, the US killed millions and bombed whole countries to rubble. Many citizens suspected what was going on, but didn't have to face it. This time, there is no end to pictures of desperate children. Their bowls will remain empty, and we will eventually see their small bodies curled up somewhere in the blasted concrete.
I would like to forget feeding Joe Biden for a couple of days, just so he knows what it's like. I would like to shut off water to the Pentagon so they have to drink from their toilets. I wish I could take all the money that Rep. Pat Ryan gets from the criminal pro-Israel Lobby and spend it on bread for Gaza. I would like to burn my tax dollars so that they don't buy missiles and bombs for those monsters who kill the children in God's name.
Our Military Industrial Complex is the most sinister organization in the world. They plan how to enrich themselves by butchering civilians in the Third World.
"Let me ask you one question, Is your money that good? Will it buy you forgiveness, Do you think that it could?" -Bob Dylan
Fred Nagel
Poster boy for this massacre of the innocents
How does one go on as normal? 20,000 children face starvation in Gaza. It is not the result of some natural disaster, but a calculated step in ethnically cleansing all Palestinians from a greater Israel. We know who gives the orders: Netanyahu, who has the honor of speaking to the US Congress this week. We know who is paying billions to keep the genocide going, and that is you and I. We even know who is blocking any effective action by the United Nations: our venal Congress, stuffed to the gills with bribes from the Israel Lobby and the all powerful US weapons makers. Finally, we know how this starvation is kept under wraps by our state controlled media. The inhumanity and butchery of the US/Israeli genocidal alliance is seldom covered.
That is why we seldom see their collapsed little bodies and swollen bellies. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have already been killed. There are no hospitals and schools, all bombed out by US supplied planes and bombs. There is no shelter because Gaza is nothing but pulverized rubble. There is no potable water or sewage systems, all Israeli targets in the worst genocide of this century. And the children are eating grass and dying in droves.
Our Representative Pat Ryan, with ties to the US weapons industry and recipient of over $213,000 in pro-Israel bribes this year alone (opensecrets.org), could be the poster boy for this massacre of the innocents. Why don't you tell him?
(845) 443-2930
Fred Nagel
8 Clay Ct.
Rhinebeck, NY 12572
845 430 4676
Enablers of another holocaust
What can one do when our government provides the bombs and the bullets for the Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people? The current slaughter in Gaza is much worse than the Nakba of 1948, when Israel killed a few thousand while pushing three quarters of a million Palestinians from their ancestral homeland. In Gaza, Israel is just murdering as many Palestinians as it can. It is just an extermination.
Perhaps this slaughter is occurring because the US has encouraged such bloodletting in the past. Our country has always been there to support the worst of Israeli excesses. So machine gunning a long line of starving Palestinians waiting for food trucks is just another step in the moral depravity that our country has learned to live with.
Israel is the wayward child of the American Empire. It is the serial killer that the US has always coddled and protected, no matter what the body count has been. The horror of exterminating 12,000 children makes us all despair. Our country's parenting has created this killing machine, and all we can do is watch the children be bombed, shot and starved to death.
We can point to villains, of course. Like Senators Gillibrand and Schumer, who have grown rich from supporting Israel. We can embarrass Representative Pat Ryan for his huge, pro-Israel bribes. But that is not enough to save our souls. We are the enablers of another holocaust, and the mark of Cain will remain, even after our empire crumbles into dust.
Fred Nagel
Rhinebeck
They don't mind how much blood is lost
The children are starving in Gaza. Tens of thousands of them. Their hunger and suffering is part of the purposeful extermination of Palestinians by Israel and the United States. It is just another of the crimes against humanity, planned and implemented by the American Axis of Evil in the Middle East.
Our recent presidential debate reveals how little our political elite care about war crimes. There is Biden, who just can't stop sending billions in ammunition and bombs to Israel. There is Trump, who openly states that he will eradicate the people of Gaza even faster. Then there is Worm Hole Kennedy, a born again Zionist. To make sure that no candidate in the debate dares question the use of starvation as a war tactic, two right wing, Zionist CNN commentators were chosen as moderators.
That would be five lovers of apartheid debating just how many more need to die in Gaza. How many more shot, bombed or starved to death by the unholy alliance, the last, great Judeo-Christian crusade to capture the Holy Land for their Gods: Big Oil and the Military Industrial Complex.
In 1968 we had an election between "Tricky Dick" Nixon, and "Dump the Hump" Hubert Humphrey, both solidly behind a continuation of the US war crimes in Vietnam. 35,000 young Americans were to die from that election. So would a million Vietnamese.
The billionaire elites are stacking our election again. They want their money, and don't mind how much blood is lost. Just vote and keep your mouth shut!
Fred Nagel
Conflicts are proxy wars
It is easy to criticize violence and bloodshed, whether it be in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, or Palestine. There are always women and children being killed, and thousands more buried alive in the rubble. And the barbarism always feeds upon itself. As Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind."
That doesn't mean that there is no one to blame. Most of these conflicts are proxy wars, with the major powers (China, Russia, and the United States) confronting one another by laying waste to some Third World country. The United States is the most aggressive of the three, with 800 military bases around the globe. Of course, our country talks about freedom and human rights, but these wars aren't really about that at all.
England and the US created Israel as a colony in the Middle East. At the end of the WW I, Jews made up just 8% of the population in Palestine. WW II changed all that, with a huge influx of Jewish settlers who were not welcome in England or the US. In 1948, Jewish militias used terrorist tactics to clear 750,000 Arabs from the land they had lived on for centuries. The colonizers, looked the other way.
Israel has been using terror and ethnic cleansing ever since. There are now about 6 million Jews and 6 million Palestinians in the Holy Land. England and the US must undo their colony's apartheid and make peace, like England finally did in South Africa and Northern Ireland.
Fred Nagel
Resist the Witchhunt
During the 1950s, careers and reputations were ruined when Americans “soft on communism” were branded enemies of the state. I never thought I would see the same poisonous attacks on citizens doing much-needed work for their communities, but it’s happening across the nation and here in Ulster County.
Here’s an example: New Paltz Deputy Mayor Alexandria Wojcik reposted calls for a ceasefire and end to the violence in Gaza written by SUNY New Paltz student groups. On May 28, the Jewish Congregation of New Paltz sent a letter objecting to “the antisemitic tone of the language” which “made our families feel unsafe.” Though the posts are long gone and Wojcik has 20 years of community service to her credit, the backlash has escalated with calls by the Jewish Federation of Ulster Co. for her resignation. Language is important, especially on this sensitive issue, but the abuse of language by JFUC President RonDavid Gold— “supports Hamas”, “outrageous attacks on Jews,” “violence against our people”— is meant to enflame and destroy. It’s the language of a witchhunt, hungry for power and victims. Reason and fairness are the only standards Wojcik should be judged by. No one deserves to be flayed by rumor and innuendo.
College demonstrations helped raise awareness
Neil Yetwin’s June 1 letter, (“What did protesters really accomplish?”) asserted the university campus protests concerning the Israeli war accomplished nothing.
What has the Israeli-U.S. genocide in Gaza accomplished? Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, including 15,000 children and 10,000 women, more than 80,000 injured, and thousands buried in the rubble. Nearly all Gaza residents are terrorized, traumatized, homeless, exhausted and malnourished.
The entire world is watching Israel starve and bomb children to death. Israeli leaders have never looked worse, and they say the Gaza war may continue until next winter.
Israeli belligerence and violence in what remains of the Palestinian West Bank has risen sharply since 2023 as have Palestinian fatalities.
Almost 1,800 Israelis were killed and at least 3,500 wounded.
Billions now know what a Palestinian flag looks like. New, powerful, anti-war movements exist in the United States and other nations. Millions of Americans have been educated via the campus protests and many ceasefire resolutions enacted by local governments, labor unions, and civil society groups. Widening divisions exist among U.S. Jews. Anti-Zionist Jewish groups are much stronger. The war has stimulated antisemitism, decreasing Jewish safety.
Israel is more isolated internationally. The International Criminal Court may soon indict Israeli and Hamas leaders. Israel, with U.S. support, defies an International Court of Justice order.
United Nations agencies and structures are seen as ineffective. The 19-year-old Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign targeting Israel is stronger. Many now believe the international community will have to rein in Israel.
Tom Ellis
The term antisemitism
Zionism is fascism, with all the trademarks of its violence, racism and nationalism. Zionists want control over what's discussed in our colleges and non profit organizations. That has always been a critical step in the fascist agenda.
Another step is the targeting of businesses based on ethnicity and religion, like the recent Zionist attack on the Petit Bistro, a Palestinian owned restaurant in Rhinebeck. Such assaults resemble Nazis tactics in 1938. In fact, the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza is similar to the wholesale extermination of Jews and Gypsies that occurred during the Third Reich.
We must come together as a country and demand that this current fascist Zionist movement not destroy our democracy or our basic humanity.
Fred Nagel
Donors tell a story
To the editor:
HV1’s recent article about Sarahana Shrestha and her opponent, Gabi Madden, includes lists of their top ten contributors. This little detail tells quite a story. Madden’s donors all contributed $3000, the maximum allowed. Two couples each contributed $3K ($6000 from those households). Almost all are venture capitalists or bankers. Most notably, not a single person on the list is from our district.
In contrast, six of Sarahana's ten highest contributors live in our district. Their average donation is $930.
Sarahana will not accept donations from corporations, CEOs, or corporate lobbyists. Madden will. She is also supported by Solidarity PAC, a political advocacy group opposing candidates who have called for a ceasefire in Gaza--a position shared by a majority of Americans.
Sarahana Shrestha has done extraordinary work on our behalf, including her key role in passing the historic Build Public Renewables Act. She has spent two years doing the essential groundwork to pass legislation that will make life better for ordinary people, not just the wealthy and big business. This takes time. It is in our own interests to make sure she has another term to bring that work to fulfillment.
Kingston spends $347,753 to support Israel’s military budget.
he Kingston Common Council has been considering a resolution endorsing an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and divestment from Israel. It’s time to vote for it.
As our federal government continues arming Israel’s genocidal attacks on Palestinians, with a death toll almost certainly exceeding 40,000, and famine impending, our electeds need to listen to the majority public sentiment demanding an end to the carnage. Our local governments may be the only place voters can actually be heard without lobbyists and political contributions swaying the outcome.
Some have argued it’s not the council’s business. However, it is our taxes that are paying for Israel’s war. Every year, city of Kingston residents contribute $347,753 to support Israel’s military budget. This year, that sum is more than $1,500,000. I think that makes it our business.
Some have argued the resolution is “divisive.” It’s hard to imagine why a resolution in favor of peace and an end to killing is divisive. Those who are afraid of calling for an end to a genocide should ask themselves why.
— Felice Gelman
Yet Another War Crime
Israel is a deranged sect
President Biden talks about American "red lines," that protect Palestinians from an ongoing extermination. But these red lines are just another blatant lie; there is no pause in the US support for genocide.
It turns out that people have their own red lines. For me, Israel's recent threats to the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is my limit. Not only did Israel threaten at least two prosecutors, but its secret intelligence agency also menaced their families. So much for Israel's respect for international justice.
Israel's starving tens of thousands of children in Gaza and its incessant bombing of their refugee camps have shown the state of Israel to be a world pariah. Its entire reason for being is racist violence and murder. That explains Israel's fascist alliance with the ultra right wing in our own country. Zionism is the poison that will bring down both our democracies.
And I don't care what religion Israel claims to be. No religion on earth can justify its endless war crimes and crimes against humanity. At times Israel seems more like a deranged sect, hell bound for self destruction. And we may all end up having to sip its cool-aid. Israel is a nuclear power run by a madman.
We have a new generation that understands what Israel is: the unhinged colony of a crumbling empire. It is not a legitimate state, just like Apartheid South Africa was not worthy of existence. Time to delegitimize the racist and fascist state of Israel.
Fred Nagel
To The White House
To The White House
6/7/24Joe,
You warned Israel about attacking Rafah and implied that US policy toward Israel would depend upon whether Israel protected civilians. Israel has responded by bombing a civilian tent camp, killing scores, killing World Central Kitchen workers, and now by bombing a crowded UNRWA school. Incredibly, you do nothing, sticking to your blind, cowardly "unshakable" support of the Zionist entity, taking the word of those liars that these incidents were just regrettable mistakes, etc. You bark a lot, but your bite is toothless, old man! No wonder Hunter turned out like he did.
I'm glad this message is being archived. Someday it and others like it may be available to document your moral dereliction in the genocide against the Palestinian people.
Gregory DeSylva
Nothing to apologize for
New Paltz Women in Black support deputy mayor Alexandria Wojcik and reject attacks on her for reposting statements from the SUNY student encampment about Zionism.
Zionism is a 19th-century philosophy from the Age of Colonialism, offering a Jewish homeland at the expense of the indigenous Palestinians who already had a thriving civilization in that region. Palestine was NEVER a land without people for people without a land. Early Zionists — and even today’s Zionist leaders — were quite frank about the need to remove the native population from the land in order to secure it for Jews only.
Just as Netanyahu and his government and the “extremist” Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and the Israeli army with its snipers and bulldozers, are forcing Palestinians off their land every day — killing them, burning their homes, uprooting their olive trees, scattering their flocks — in just that way Israel is trying to destroy as much Palestinian life and culture as possible in its war on Gaza. Israel has not just aimed at Hamas fighters; it has destroyed every school and university in Gaza, every hospital and clinic, every library, theater and community center. Every market. And 60 percent of the homes.
This is why many, many Jews around the world and in the United States — and in New Paltz — have stood up and said: “NO! These war crimes will not be committed in my name as a Jew! Genocide is not a Jewish value! A Palestinian life is just as valuable as a Jewish life! And this is what the SUNY students were saying, Jews and non-Jews, in their encampment last month.
So Alexandra has nothing to apologize for. Nothing in her posts, nor in the posts of student activists, was an attack on Jews. We honor her. May she sail on to preside over many, many more spectacular gay pride parades in years to come.
Naomi Allen, on behalf of New Paltz Women in Black for Peace and Justice
P.S. It’s just plain racism that fears a word because it’s in Arabic. “Intifada” simply means “uprising.”
The Israel Federation does not speak for me
Women in Black support Deputy Mayor Alexandria Wojcik
Profoundly offended by your betrayal of a devoted employee for expressing her humanity
As a citizen, a person of conscience, and a graduate of NYU, I am writing to protest NYU-Langone's cowardly decision to fire Hesen Jabr, RN, honored for her outstanding work with bereaved mothers.
The highest court in the world, the International Court of Justice, has determined that according to the Genocide Convention--ratified by the US--the current slaughter in Gaza is plausibly genocide. The UN Special Rapporteur said in March that there are "reasonable grounds" to believe that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Countless people in the US and elsewhere have also concluded that what we are witnessing constitutes genocide.
What arrogance, then, for you to shame and punish Ms. Jabr for using the word, ostensibly because "some people" were offended by it. Who are those people? Why do you listen to them? Why do their sensibilities matter more than the sensibilities of people who are grieving and outraged by the massive destruction of Gazan lives and society?
I am profoundly offended by Israel's genocide. And I am profoundly offended by your betrayal of a devoted employee for expressing her humanity.
I call on you to reverse the decision. I call on you to apologize to Hesn Jabr and to reinstate her employment.
Sincerely,
Jo Salas
Why do they fear us?
Come join us; stand with New Paltz Women in Black this and every Saturday between 12:30 and 1:30PM in front of the Elting Library.
Why do they fear us? It’s because they have lost the battle of ideas. Attempts at smearing the movement for a free Palestine as being anti-semitic is no longer a viable trope because this multiethnic, international movement is being lead by Jews with a proud history of fighting injustice.
Now the occupation forces are attacking Rafah, the last possible place for the masses of displaced Palestinians to go. It was supposed to be a safe zone, but It looks more like the rogue state’s “final solution.” It was supposed to have been Biden’s redline. But the genocide continues.. People are being burned alive in their tents. Meanwhile the White House spokespersons, barely able to maintain a straight face, try to tell us otherwise as the flow of weapons continue.
Here in this country, in coordinated attacks, in full military regalia, the full power of the state is on display as police beat and arrest our students. The level of brutality is outrageous. Our children who are the conscience of our society are brutalized by the police. They beat us to silence us. They fire us from our jobs for speaking up for the children being burned alive with white phosphorus and being blown apart with 2000 pound bombs. They drag cowardly college presidents before McCarthyite tribunals. They have lost the battle of ideas so they try to stop the conversation with lies and repression. If you want to know what you would have done during the Nazi genocide, just look at what you are doing now!
The International Criminal Court (ICC) should be and hopefully soon will be including in their prosecution, the war criminals in Washington enabling this genocide: members of our own government which has been funding, arming and giving diplomatic cover to the murderous Zionist regime. As US president Biden has famously stated, “if there were no Israel we would have had to invent one”…it’s like a giant aircraft carrier in that oil-rich region. We, as working people have no interest in the ongoing financing of this racist ethnostate. Our money can be better spent here at home.
Like Naziism and South African Apartheid, Zionism is a cancer. It is a stain on humanity. It is an ideology of hate, of white-supremacy, of ethnic cleansing. And as we watch, live-streamed on our cell phones, GENOCIDE. The Zionist ethnostate is a colonial project that must be and will be defeated and dismantled. And just as the world, collectively, defeated Naziism and Apartheid, we will defeat the hatred that is Zionism, through our collective efforts, which include Boycott, Divestment and Sanctioning (BDS) as well as pressuring and exposing our elected representatives, educating our neighbors and building a sustainable movement to combat this and other hateful ideologies and militarism.
Naomi
I am appalled at NYU's decision to terminate employment of Hesen Jabr.
To The Newshour:
In her 5/27/24 interview by Amna Nawaz, retired Israeli Col. Pnina Baruch stated that Hamas is opposed to peace and that “…if it remains in power [there] would never be a peaceful resolution to the conflict.” However, in 2006 Khaled Meshal, political leader of Hamas, stated that, “…if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders [between Israel and the Palestinian territories], there could be peace and security in the region…” (“Hamas sets out conditions for peace,” The Guardian 2/8/2006).
According to “Israel’s Insane War” by Patrick Seale (The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 2009), Meshal reiterated Hamas’ willingness to accept this solution (which implies acceptance of Israel). And in 2017 Hamas again reconfirmed its willingness to do so. (“Hamas accepts Palestinian State With 1967 borders,” Aljazeera.com 5/2/2017. Netanyahu, however, rejected these overtures, claiming Hamas was trying to “fool the world.”
Perhaps it was too much to expect Nawaz to point out Hamas’ peace proposals to Col. Baruch. But it behooves The Newshour to promptly make its viewers aware of them.
Sincerely,
Gregory DeSylva
Getting Restless
The empire and Israel were the last two countries in the world supporting Apartheid South Africa. It's a familiar story, two nations willing to commit wanton acts of wholesale murder in the pursuit of military domination and wartime profits.
But the empire is coming apart at the seams. It's newest generation is disgusted at the charnel house of Gaza and is ready to march against racism and colonialism. Two thirds of Americans now side with the victims of Israel's killing machine. Are the times, in fact, a-changing?
New laws are being passed stripping not for profit status from any organization critical of Israel. Churches, colleges and unions could be destroyed for talking about Palestinian human rights. And that's not all. Other laws are being passed identifying all criticism of Israel as antisemitic. The empire will destroy our freedom of speech to keep the slaughter going.
Will America finally wrap itself in the cloak of the Holocaust to silence its worldwide critics. The Zionist billionaires and the white nationalists will have us all goose stepping into this dystopian future. Rise up, fight back!
Fred Nagel
My letter to the Freeman
He says:
“Jews have given so much to this country as a people,” “We have been at the forefront and at the front lines of the civil rights movement, the LGBT movement, women’s rights.”
Yes. That is right. And that describes the Jews who were saying "Not in Our Name" and who were defending the owner of Le Petit Bistro. And they were not there just to support his First Amendment Rights. They were there to support his statement, which is their statement, that the destruction in Gaza is horrific, immoral and not worthy of the tenets of Judaism. Questioning the movement of Zionism, breaking out of the tight web of story built around Zionism, IS NOT ANTISEMITIC. It is not anti-Jewish. The kind of Jews that Freedman refers to above are davka Not self-hating Jews, but Jews who say "wait a minute! What kind of suffering has the State of Israel caused another people - a people who had nothing to do with the holocaust - for more that 75 years?" And when I say suffering - it's unimaginable, horrific suffering. Shame.
Israel is perpetrating a genocidal slaughter
Israel is perpetrating a genocidal slaughter on tens of thousands of Palestinians, including babies and children. The InternationalCourtofJustice (ICJ) is considering genocide charges and arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. Israel’s economy is in free fall and thousands of Israeli soldiers have disabling injuries. Many Israelis are fleeing Israel. The glorious narratives about Israel are crumbling. The true nature of Israel has been revealed. Israel is an apartheid state according to former President Carter, Bishop Tutu and numerous human rights organizations.
Israel’s propaganda industry(“hasbara”) spews lies, distortions, and mis-information about beheaded babies, mass sexual assaults and babies in ovens. All these deceptions, and countless others, have been proven to be calculated, inflammatory lies.(thegrayzone.com).
Israel, with our tax dollars and support, has become a desperate pariah state. The peaceful, non-violent BDS(boycott, divest, sanctions) movement is pressuring Israel to: 1. End the brutal decades long military occupation of Gaza/West Bank. 2. Allow Palestinians to return to their stolen land, homes, and farms. 3. Treat Israelis and Palestinians equally. Israeli leaders like Finance Minister Smotrich are calling for the extermination of all Palestinians. Very much like the Nazis called for the extermination of all Jews. I pray that Israel will stop this criminal genocide and sit down with Palestinians and negotiate a true and just peace. The Zionist State of Israel is bankrupt financially and morally and has been defeated militarily by Hamas. Hopefully, something positive for Israelis and Palestinians can result from this current heartbreaking catastrophe.
Eli Kassirer
These Jews do not speak for me
Dear Editors:
How SUNY New Paltz Commemorated the Kent State
Letter to the Editor: How SUNY New Paltz Commemorated the Kent State Massacre
Like many, I am absolutely appalled that, on the eve of the anniversary of the Kent State massacre, Darrell Wheeler, President of SUNY New Paltz, called in, at great waste of tax dollars, State and Town police and the County Sheriff’s office, who then committed felonies against students peacefully assembled to protest college investment in the genocidal regime of Israel. Tents had been removed, and students were quietly sitting on a quad on their own campus, which they and their families have paid for them to attend.
This corruption, of police committing crimes, is untenable. I hope that these students who were the targets of these police crimes will press criminal charges and also sue the pants off every official who was involved in that travesty. I’m also greatly troubled by Mayor Tim Rogers making clear to WAMC news that members of SUNY New Paltz get to have academic freedom solely restricted to mouthing the half-baked disinformation that Mayor Rogers evidently has in his head about US foreign policy and world affairs.
All this indicates how terribly mistaken voters are when they vote Dem/WF thinking that such candidates will support citizens’ unalienable rights. Nope, Dem office-holders, be they Rogers or Biden, are fully capable of gaslighting and using/excusing physical violence, to deny human rights and, being insidious, are often more effective than their GOP counterparts in so doing. Citizens who care about human and planet rights would be wise to ditch such politicians.
Barbara Kidney
Students and community members who took a stand last night
Dear friends,
Last night peaceful, non-violent SUNY New Paltz students were brutally set upon and violently assaulted by the NY State Police. This attack by the troopers began around 11pm and was led by a snarling, ferocious German Shepherd who was lunging towards students while the trooper handler tried to hold him back. There were at least three drones hovering above and a police helicopter shining a spotlight on the assembled students and community members. A phalanx of police carrying riot clubs approached the students who were sitting peacefully on the ground in a large circle.I am an alumnus of NYU
Dear President: