Intent to destroy… a national, ethnical, racial or religious group

Subject: Re: Letter to the Editor

To: Saugerties Times

Countering the opinions of Susan Puretz in her Oct 8 letter, I will refer to Jewish Israeli writers, researchers, journalists, and organizations.

Puretz writes: “Arab citizens, a minority in the State of Israel, just like their majority Jewish counterparts, enjoy full and complete citizenship rights.”

Nurit Peled-Elhanan, Faculty of Education, Hebrew University Jerusalem and member of Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Parents for Peace, writes in Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education that in spite of Israel’s success advertising its regime as a Democracy, researchers define it as an ‘Ethnocracy’ or ‘ethnic Democracy’ because ethnicity and not citizenship is the main determinant in Israel for the allocation of rights, power and resources.  Jews who are citizens of other nations and Jewish settlers outside state borders have full citizenship rights while Arab citizens inside state borders don’t and Palestinians from the occupied West Bank are ‘state-less.’

Haaretz columnist Bradley Burston writes (Aug 15, 2015) “It’s time to admit it, Israeli policy is: Apartheid.” “… I used to be one of those people who took issue with the label of apartheid as applied to Israel… I’m not any more … Not after terrorists firebombed a West Bank Palestinian home, annihilating a family…—only to have Israel’s government rule the family ineligible for financial support and compensation granted Israeli victims of terrorism, settlers included… Not after Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, declaring stone-throwing terrorism, passed a bill holding stone-throwers liable to up to 20 years imprisonment… one week later, pro-settlement Jews hurled rocks, furniture, bottles… at Israeli soldiers and police at a West Bank settlement; in response Netanyahu rewarded the Jewish stone-throwers with a pledge to build hundreds of new settlement houses... This is what has become of the rule of law. Two sets of books. One for us, one for them. Apartheid… We are what we turn a blind eye to.”

Regarding the Occupation: Read reporters of Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, Haaretz,:  Gideon Levy, Amira Hass.  Hass reports from Ramallah, West Bank: “Palestinians Are Fighting for Their Lives; Israel Is Fighting for the Occupation—That we notice there’s a war on only when Jews are murdered does not cancel out the fact that Palestinians are being killed all the time.” Look up Jeff Halpern’s work with ICAHD, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, “a human rights/peace organization dedicated to ending the prolonged Israeli occupation over the Palestinians.”

The international legal definition of “genocide” is not as simplistic as Puretz poses. This definition includes “intent to destroy… a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” and “killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to group members; inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction …” Here, I recommend Israeli historian Ilan Pappe’s The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.

For statistics -- on Fatalities, Detainees and prisoners, Destruction of property, Demolition of houses, East Jerusalem, the Separation Barrier, Settlements, Residence (Deportation,) Restrictions on movement (Checkpoints and roadblocks, unemployment and poverty, Death following restrictions on movement) and water crisis data -- check out B’tselem - The Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.

Jane Toby

Attempts to silence free speech

After the Gideon Levy talk in Greenburgh I asked the police chief why the disrupters were not removed after repeated and extensive disruptions.  We all know that when we disrupt we are promptly removed by the police.  In any case,  he felt that they were simply exercising their right to free speech.  Yesterday I sent the following letter to three Greenburgh newspapers.  It was good to see all the mecr friends at the talk. (I would have included the names of the other speakers, but I don't remember them. Sorry)

To the Editor:
Israeli journalist Gideon Levy recently spoke at the Greenburgh Town Hall regarding the sad and disturbing truth about Israel's brutal and oppressive forty year military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. The truth about Israels' criminal behavior and human rights violations are coming to light despite mighty efforts to repress these truths. American taxpayers pay over $3 Billion a year to support Israels' occupation and grinding dehumanization of the Palestinian people.

The local (and loco) loudmouths who shouted and screamed at Mr. Levy were not exercising free speech. The local Greenburgh police need to recognize that these screaming opponents of the non-violent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)  movement, which is trying to non-violently end Israels'  military occupation, were not exercising free speech. They were, in fact,  attempting to intimidate, inhibit, and silence free speech. Thank you to WESPAC for inviting Mr. Levy to speak.  Hopefullly, the Greenburgh police will learn to recognize the difference between exercising free speech and actions which attempt to silence free speech.

Eli Kassirer

Susan Peretz defends extremist theocracy

Susan Peretz is determined to keep Israel's image pristine by smearing anyone who would call attention to facts like the recent slaughter of 547 Palestinian children in Gaza, or the nearly 65 years of illegal Israeli occupation. 

These aren't actions of a principled regime, but of an extremist theocracy determined to ethnically cleanse all Palestinians from land it claims God has given it two thousand years ago.

Fortunately, there are many Israelis who value international law and human rights over religious dogma. One such Israeli will be in Saugerties (Inquiring Mind Bookstore) on Saturday, Oct 24, starting at 7 pm. Author Noga Kadman will talk about her new book, “Erased from Space and Consciousness: Israel and the Depopulated Palestinian Villages of 1948."

Israel doesn't have to be an apartheid nation, an outcast in the world community. But things won't change until the US decides it doesn't need a military colony in the Middle East. Not only is this colony incredibly expensive for America to maintain, but it destroys our image of a country committed to justice and human rights for all peoples of the world. Apartheid South Africa remade itself; so can Israel.

Fred Nagel

Welcome to the Israel Lobby

Welcome to the Israel Lobby, a heretofore hidden organization that almost pushed our country into a war with Iran. Yes, the Lobby is immensely powerful, especially in its almost complete control of Congress. And yes, it follows the dictates of the right wing in Israel, rather than representing the interests Jewish people in the United States. 

In fact, most Jews under 40 do not want a war with Iran, and Jewish organizations like J Street and Jewish Voice for Peace played a significant role in thwarting the Lobby's schemes. For a younger generation of American Jews, having their identity as well as their religion tied to a warlike, apartheid state in the Middle East has become increasingly repugnant. 

But it was more than the US peace movement that stopped our country from committing another "war of aggression" - the supreme international crime according to the Nuremberg Tribunal. The rest of the world simply said "no" to Israel and the United States, leaving both countries completely isolated in the community of nations. Representatives of China, Russia, Europe and the Third World declared peace with Iran and moved forward to open trade links and establish embassies. Had our country rejected the peace treaty and proceeded with its aggression, we would have become a pariah state, just like Israel.

Senator Schumer should resign from Congress for siding with Netanyahu rather than representing the American people. And the US must stop sending billions each year to pay for Israel's genocidal treatment of the Palestinian people.

Fred Nagel

8 Clay Ct.

Rhinebeck, NY 12572

845 876-7906

word count 250

As Jewish Americans

To the Editor:

As Jewish Americans, representing five New York chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), we are dismayed at Senator Schumer’s decision to oppose the nuclear deal with Iran that US and other world diplomats worked tirelessly to negotiate.

A majority of both the American public and American Jews support the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as do the United Nations Security Council and the governments of most of our allies.

It has been the stated policy of all U.S. administrations to resolve the Iran nuclear question through diplomacy. Unlike the mythic deal that Senator Schumer and other opponents pretend is possible, diplomacy requires compromise. It defies belief that the Senator is prepared to risk war to thwart this singular accomplishment of international diplomacy.

Natalie Kabasakalian, New Rochelle, NY
representing Jewish Voice for Peace Chapters in NYC, Westchester, Ithaca, Rochester and Albany

The letter to Schumer will be sent early this coming week with a representative name from each NY chapter and the final text communicated to you.  

Alana also facilitated the conference call on Friday and submitted the following notes summarizing the discussion/decisions.  I have elaborated very briefly at points to make them more comprehensible to non-participants.

Billionaires spreading the cancer of Zionism

America's politicians love Israel, and support this apartheid state no matter what human rights abuses it commits against the millions of Palestinians under its domination. 

The embrace is all about money. "Leading mega-donors" as reported by "The Jewish Daily Forward" are buying their way into candidates' hearts. Gambling king Sheldon Adelson, property developer Adam Milstein, car dealer magnate Norman Braman, and Hollywood mogul Haim Saban, multibillionaires all, are eagerly scooping up politicians of both parties (Saban is a major Democratic donor with close ties to the Clintons).

Money talks. Several state legislatures are passing bills that limit the right of Americans to criticize Israel's human rights abuses, labeling such free speech as anti-Semitic. Trade bills now being considered in Congress would outlaw boycotts of Israeli products, and even impose penalties on companies refusing to sell products in the illegal Jewish settlements. Secretly funded websites have sprung up to ruin college students' job prospects if they speak out about Israeli racism. University professors are being pressured not to say anything "hostile to the Jewish state." And the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinates with a national Jewish group to sue food co-ops that boycott Israeli settlement products. 

Democracy is under even greater attack in Israel, where Sheldon Adelson runs the largest newspaper and bankrolls Netanyahu. Organizations like Rabbis for Human Rights and Physicians for Human Rights are delegitimized in favor of extremist groups that call for the ethnic cleansing of all Palestinians. 

Billionaires spreading the cancer of Zionism.

Fred Nagel

Defender of Israel

Our US Senator and self proclaimed "Defender of Israel" may be the most dangerous man in America.

There has always been a problem with Schumer's love affair with an apartheid state. His determined efforts to support Israel's continuing slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza have always made him look more like a religious extremist than a representative of the American people. Only a fanatic could wax eloquent about bombing schools and murdering 500 children.

And then there is all that US aid our government sends to Israel, three to four billion dollars a year while our infrastructure collapses and our public schools run out of money. Clearly Senator Schumer knows that he is robbing the American people to feed the growing militarism of his favorite theocracy in the Middle East.   

None of this, of course, makes Schumer truly dangerous to the American people. Supporting ethnic cleansing and racism is despicable behavior and certainly calls into question his belief in what we think of as American values. But it is his support of the rightwing warmongers in our country that presents a clear danger to us all. 

Israel wants the US to attack another country in the Middle East, and is prepared to pay tens of millions to our Congressional representatives to get its way. We have seen how effective Israel was in getting the US to invade Iraq. Now Schumer is leading the charge for war against Iran, again putting religious extremism above the interests of the American people.

Fred Nagel