The genocide is not over

In these terrible times of ramped up political violence, including the murder of a protester in Minneapolis, it's extraordinary to open HVI and see a letter that seems to threaten lethal violence against the Women in Black who stand outside the library each Saturday. This letter is in line with the verbal and physical bullying carried out by the pro-Israel counter-protesters across the street--obvious to any observer, and serious enough that WIB has had to request police protection.

The claim that WIB does not protest wars other than Israel's is manifestly untrue. An example: last week's vigil included signs protesting the bombing and kidnapping in Venezuela and demanding an end to this reckless aggression.

Over the years WIB has stood against injustice on many different fronts including climate breakdown and reproductive rights. Since October 2023 the group has focused on the carnage in Gaza and the West Bank because the US is bankrolling it, making US taxpayers directly complicit in these horrendous massacres (not the case, for example, in Ukraine or Sudan). It is our responsibility--yours and mine--to do all we can to end it.

And no, the genocide is not over: as of early January over 400 people have been killed in Israeli bombings since the so-called ceasefire, including at least 70 children. Hundreds more have died from starvation, exposure, and disease. The numbers grow daily.

Jo

To the Editor:

 

As a 78 year old Jewish man I find “Ava Lowle’s” letter which states  that  “Someone is going to get killed…in New Paltz”  extremely disturbing and frightening.  In the past, I have received face-to-face death threats from pro-Israel Zionist demonstrators who  threatened me with,  “I will kill you!” accompanied with  throat cutting gestures.  And yes,  I did report this to the nearby  police and the officer did have a conversation with the Zionist who threatened me, but no further action was taken.  This is not the only death threat that I (and others) have received while peacefully demonstrating  to end the ongoing Israeli genocide and war crimes  in Gaza.  

The police and district attorney need to immediately and thoroughly investigate “Ava Lowle”  and her apparent call for a “public tragedy”  where “Someone is going to get killed.”  I have also witnessed pro-Israel Zionist demonstrators verbally attacking and threatening passing cars.  In some cases the Zionists actually ran into oncoming  traffic,  literally chasing cars and  screaming  and taunting  drivers to “get out of their cars!”  “Ava Lowle”  asks,  “What will make this stop?”  Good question.  A  good beginning would be a thorough investigation by the police and the district attorney.  

As long as we still have our rights of free speech and assembly,  “Ava Lowle” is welcome to organize and demonstrate about Ukraine, Africa, Venezuela,  Minneapolis or anywhere else where people are suffering.  Of course,  the pro-Israel Zionist supremacists are desperate to curb any speech that exposes Israel’s criminal genocide, starvation of children, land theft, and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.  For Zionists, only pro-Israel propaganda (hasbara) is allowed.  In a desperate attempt to silence free speech and  criticism of Israel, the Zionist billionaire Larry Ellison (at the urging of Prime Minister Netanyahu)  purchased Tic-Tok and CBS  to try to repair Israel’s image and regain control of the narrative.  But it’s too late,  Americans have come to realize that Israel is a racist,  rogue nation and a  pariah state doomed to failure and collapse.  

Eli Kassirer

The Empire and Its Ruling Class

 
The United States is in a time of transition, from democracy to imperial rule. Of course, the overthrow of Venezuela was a long time coming. Trump wasn't the only president to shred international law and proclaim that anything the empire wants is fair game. No, our two party, one military industrial complex has been waging illegal wars for years.

Trump's overthrow of yet another country, however, is without the usual nuance or pretense. Perhaps he doesn't have the vocabulary to say things in more than one way. The US wants all the world's oil, so it is willing to destroy the Middle East to get it. Israel is our partner in crime, and no slaughter of the Palestinians is too much. No subterfuge here.

One change in US imperialism is the level of profiteering that our president is willing to take part in. He will be building gambling casinos on the bones of six million Palestinian people. A Gilded Age charnel house.   

Another aspect of this different direction seems even more dramatic. The rest of the world has come to expect naked imperialism from our country, so there is little change in their expectations. The "land of the free" will continue taking what it wants. No, this transition is about who runs the empire once it has committed itself to crimes against humanity. Like various authoritarian regimes in the past, the US will now be run by its billionaire class, freed from all the complexities of representative democracy. Welcome to a fascist America.

Fred Nagel