The Israeli government is refusing to help administer COVID vaccinations to Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza territories. Israel should help vaccinate everyone in Israel, including Palestinians - on a humanitarian, medical and legal basis. I’m asking for your assistance to encourage Israel to help vaccinate everyone.
Israel defends its refusal citing the Oslo Peace Accords, which put Palestinian authorities in charge of healthcare in the West Bank and Gaza, home to 5 million people. Some aid groups say Israel and the Palestinian Authority both share responsibility. But Palestinian authorities are facing obstacles in launching their own vaccine campaign, including a shortage of money, lack of access to vaccines and lack of infrastructure to distribute a vaccine. The vaccine also needs to be stored at minus-94 degrees Fahrenheit, which is nearly impossible in Gaza and the West Bank as residents often go for hours each day without electricity.
In order to reach herd immunity from the virus, it’s in Israel’s interest to have Palestinians in the territories be vaccinated, as this is a densely populated area with much interaction between both groups. Tens of thousands of Palestinian workers cross into Israel from the West Bank for work on a daily basis. Meanwhile, the infection rate keeps rising.
Physicians for Human Rights recently said, quote, “Israel bears moral and humanitarian responsibility for vaccinating the Palestinian population under its control,” unquote. Israel is vaccinating Jewish settlers living in the West Bank, yet even Palestinian medical personnel facing high-risk on the frontlines of care have not yet been vaccinated.
Amnesty International is calling on Israel to “stop ignoring its international obligations as an occupying power and immediately act to ensure that Covid-19 vaccines are equally and fairly provided to Palestinians living under its occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”
Additionally, hundreds of rabbis from multiple denominations, organized by Rabbis for Human Rights, have signed a letter arguing that Israel has a moral imperative to deliver vaccines to Palestinians, especially in Gaza.
Israel receives some $3 Billion in support of our U.S. tax dollars each year. This money should be used to help all of the people in Israel, including the Palestinian territories.
There has already been so much suffering and hardship due to this pandemic.
Please do what you can to help save lives and avert catastrophe by ensuring everyone in Israel and the Palestinian territories gets vaccinated. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Tom Midgley
Dear (Rep. Maloney / Sen. Gillibrand / Sen. Schumer)
The radical right sees Israel as a kindred state
It is so disturbing to witness this latest "lynching" of a Black candidate, all in the name of fighting antisemitism. This time it is the Democratic senatorial candidate, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, who dared to bring up the suffering of the Palestinians.
His words spoken at a sermon in 2018 bear repeating. "We saw the government of Israel shoot down unarmed Palestinian sisters and brothers like birds of prey. And I don’t care who does it, it is wrong. It is wrong to shoot down God’s children like they don’t matter at all. And it’s no more anti-Semitic for me to say that than it is anti-white for me to say that black lives matter. Palestinian lives matter.”
Why is the Israel Lobby attacking Rev. Warnock for words like these? Doesn't the Lobby know how important his race in Georgia is to controlling the US Senate? Would the Lobby prefer a white supremacist over a candidate of color?
Part of the explanation is the deep ties that the Israel Lobby has with racist movements in America. For example, the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) has been funding attacks on Black movements and the left for decades. More recently according to the Boston Review, the ADL has been pushing high school and university boards "to characterize Palestinian human rights demands as violations of American Jews' civil rights."
But there are other reasons as well. Israel is a racist state, built on the ethnic and religious concept of Jewish supremacy. White Christian nationalists want the same freedom to marginalize and terrorize people of the wrong faith and ethnicity here in the US. The radical right sees Israel as a kindred state, and the Israel Lobby has come to the same conclusion.
Fred Nagel
Sleepless nights
Another sleepless night worrying that this white supremacist president of ours will forever poison race relations in the US? Not to worry; race relations in this country have always been toxic, and politicians have always used fear and hatred to win elections.
Worried that the working class will end up losing everything, as our nation's richest people become kings and queens? That's been happening for 40 years, as corporations have taken control of almost every aspect of our government. The millions that businesses and the very rich give to politicians used to be called bribery. Thanks to recent Supreme Court decisions, such gifts are now considered freedom of speech.
We see that all the reforms that most working people really want are routinely rejected, like taxing the rich, universal healthcare, free college tuition, an end to wars in the Middle East, and holding Israel accountable for the occupation of Palestine. There is no real money behind any of these ideas, so even though most people favor them, they have no chance of being considered, even in the Democratic Platform.
The only reason to worry about Trump is that he represents the culmination of neoliberalism, the destruction of the common good by the huge corporations that rule us. Whether our next president is this dangerously unhinged demagogue, or a sleepy corporate shill, they will both serve the same plutocracy.
Yet change is happening in the streets, be it for LGBTQ, African American, or women's rights. The pressure for change always comes from below.
Fred Nagel
Worried that the working class will end up losing everything, as our nation's richest people become kings and queens? That's been happening for 40 years, as corporations have taken control of almost every aspect of our government. The millions that businesses and the very rich give to politicians used to be called bribery. Thanks to recent Supreme Court decisions, such gifts are now considered freedom of speech.
We see that all the reforms that most working people really want are routinely rejected, like taxing the rich, universal healthcare, free college tuition, an end to wars in the Middle East, and holding Israel accountable for the occupation of Palestine. There is no real money behind any of these ideas, so even though most people favor them, they have no chance of being considered, even in the Democratic Platform.
The only reason to worry about Trump is that he represents the culmination of neoliberalism, the destruction of the common good by the huge corporations that rule us. Whether our next president is this dangerously unhinged demagogue, or a sleepy corporate shill, they will both serve the same plutocracy.
Yet change is happening in the streets, be it for LGBTQ, African American, or women's rights. The pressure for change always comes from below.
Fred Nagel
Blue coated minions
Just one more reminder of how inadequate our system is: "Much of the Protective Gear FEMA Sent Nursing Homes is Just Useless." This NY Times article would be high comedy if it appeared in a publication like The Onion. But the lunacy of our broken society eliminates any possibility of satire.
With just four percent of the population, the world's richest country now accounts for 23% of the world's COVID deaths. Non existent planning, cronyism, attacks on public health scientists, and pure ignorance at the top has made us number one in the killing of our own citizens.
Neoliberalism isn't just a Trump problem. The concept of a minimalist government has been with us since the Reagan Era. The idea of there even being a "public good" seems incomprehensible to our governmental leaders, awash in corporate money and toasted by their armies of corporate lobbyists.
We can't have things that every other developed country has implemented long ago, like a public health system, and free college education, daycare facilities, and nursing homes. The big lobby groups like the weapons makers, pharmaceuticals, oil companies, and insurance firms are so good at sucking up our money that there is simply nothing left. And the people who own these behemoth business are riding a wave of wealth that is simply beyond our comprehension.
There is another wave, and this one is in the streets. We demand an end to racism, exploitation and the rule of the very rich with their blue coated minions.
Fred Nagel
To the Editor
Greasing the Skids
Today, July 21st, Democrat Delgado and 324 other congress misrepresentatives voted against a pathetic 10% cut in the already bloated military budget.
Can someone explain to me the difference between a democrat like Delgado and a republican? I’m looking real hard but they look very much the same to me. 93 democrats voted for the cut. In them I can see some difference, slight in most of them, but visible.
But when I look closer at the Delgado dems, they actually look worse to me than the republicans. At least one knows exactly where most republicans stand, they’re very direct in their fascist leanings but democrats like Delgado, besides being just as damaging as the republicans also have the additional factor of being deceptive. Comfortable so-called progressive liberals, I have noticed over the years, take comfort from the fantasy that dems are just a little better and that their privileges might be slightly more protected.
Actually the democrats are worse. They grease the skids that the country is riding the hand-basket to hell on.
I’m really open to changing my views if someone can indeed show me some real positive difference. Start with Delgado.
Today, July 21st, Democrat Delgado and 324 other congress misrepresentatives voted against a pathetic 10% cut in the already bloated military budget.
Can someone explain to me the difference between a democrat like Delgado and a republican? I’m looking real hard but they look very much the same to me. 93 democrats voted for the cut. In them I can see some difference, slight in most of them, but visible.
But when I look closer at the Delgado dems, they actually look worse to me than the republicans. At least one knows exactly where most republicans stand, they’re very direct in their fascist leanings but democrats like Delgado, besides being just as damaging as the republicans also have the additional factor of being deceptive. Comfortable so-called progressive liberals, I have noticed over the years, take comfort from the fantasy that dems are just a little better and that their privileges might be slightly more protected.
Actually the democrats are worse. They grease the skids that the country is riding the hand-basket to hell on.
I’m really open to changing my views if someone can indeed show me some real positive difference. Start with Delgado.
Tarak Kauff
for the Daily Freeman
An Israeli soldier’s story
You all know I’ve been to Palestine twice with other VFP members, and have long been very interested in the Israeli/Palestinian situation. Some years ago, I had dinner with a former IDF soldier, Eran Efrati in NYC at a friend’s house. She wanted us to meet. That same friend just sent me this link to a talk Eran gave on March 3, 2014 in Denver. It’s 40 minutes. I can sincerely say I have never, ever seen or heard or read anything about Palestine so powerfully delivered and that so related six years ago to what is happening in Portland these past 60 days. His talk is very intense. I was close to crying a few times from the emotional impact .. . and there is, as you almost always find from Israeli anti-zionists, humor as well. I’d say it’s something everyone should watch. You’ll see what I mean. His ending (don’’t skip to it) is surprising.
The 40 minutes went by timelessly. I was not aware of time passing. That’s how powerful and pertinent it is.
Tarak Kauff
Dear Congressman Delgado
Dear Congressman Delgado,
Thank you for your reply. I doubt a two state solution is a viable possibility given the vast extent of Israeli's settlement activity in the West Bank. However, that is a decision best left to Palestinians and Israelis. What I do know is that H.Res. 326 is a toothless response by Congress and will have no real effect on the outcome. If you need evidence of that, I would just remind you that similar resolutions were introduced, with broad Democratic support, in 2019. They had no deterrent effect. I would urge you to support Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez' resolution barring the use of US taxpayer funds to support Israel's annexation of Palestinian lands. Anything less is hand-wringing at best. How can we provide Israel with more aid than any other country in the world and do not more than plaintively complain when it uses those funds to violate international law?
Sincerely,
Felice Gelman
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