Getting Restless

The empire is getting restless. It's principal ally and war criminal in the Middle East, Netanyahu, is facing arrest by the International Criminal Court. The International Court of Justice has studied the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza and identified it as a genocide. Next comes an international embargo by the vast majority of countries in the world that know apartheid and crimes against humanity when they see them.

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

 My letter to the Freeman -

I want to respond to the comment by Maish Freedman in your article on the Rhinebeck dueling protests of yesterday, May 5. 
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.

 

Maddy

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:

I am a Jewish woman who is appalled at the killing of 40,000 in Gaza by Israel, and the deliberate destruction of universities, homes, hospitals, food and water supplies. I am also appalled at the lack of humanity of the Jewish Community of Rhinebeck. As Jews, they seem to demand sympathy for Hamas' killing of civilians on October 7. Yet they express no sympathy for a Palestinian-American business owner who is heatbroken at the mass killing of his people, most of whom are women and children. Not content with the destruction of Gaza, they seek to destroy a man's business. These Jews do not speak for me.

Sincerely,

Marcy London

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.  

As the German Shepherd barked and snarled next to the demonstrators, the police attacked the students and began brutally ripping them from the circle and dragging them to the side where two or three officers would violently hold them down and cuff them.  (will try to  send video seperately)  It was a nightmare!  There were screams and shouts as students were assaulted.  While the circle was being assaulted the police had formed a line across Parker Quad and would not permit anyone to pass (including students who lived in the dorm next to the Quad).  

Throughout this encampment the students have been peaceful and non-violent and actually complied with the  college’s one demand which was to take down the tents.  I have been involved in protests like this  for over fifty years and have never witnessed the kind of enthusiasm and intensity displayed by   the police when  attacking and brutalizing the students.  It was horrifying.  For days the students were so optimistic and committed to their demands for divestment and accountability by the college.  Their peaceful encampment and demands were all focused on ending the occupation and genocide being committed by Israel on Palestine.  

Witnessing the attack of innocent students by  militarized, state sponsored thugs draws clear parallels with the encampment known as Gaza and the West Bank - where Palestinians for seventy-five years have been subjected to violent militarized attacks sponsored by the Zionist State of Israel and paid for with your tax dollars.   My prayers go out to those courageous students and community members who took a stand last night and I pray that their injuries are not permanent.  I am including numbers and emails of SUNY New Paltz administrators.   Please call and write them.  Also consider joining New Paltz Women In Black tomorrow from 12:30-1:30 in front of the Elting Library in New Paltz.  

with love,

Eli

I am an alumnus of NYU

Dear President:

I am an alumnus of NYU (Masters of Public Health 1984). I am appalled at the decision to arrest students who are peacefully protesting the mass killing in Gaza and the West Bank.

There is a genocide taking place in Gaza. Ethnic cleansing and murder is taking place in the West Bank. In Gaza, over 34,000 people (mostly women and children) have been killed, and over 8,000 are missing--likely buried under rubble. Almost 80,000 people--again, mostly women and children--have been wounded. Bombs and weapons paid for by US taxpayers and tuition money from your students are facilitating this genocide.

As a Jew whose relatives were murdered in the holocaust I cannot stand by while genocide is committed. Students who cannot be silent should be commended, not arrested.

As an alumnus subject to fundraising calls from NYU, I demand an answer to the following questions:

1. How much money does NYU invest in Israel?

2. How much money does NYU invest in arms manufacturers whose weapons go to Israel?

3. Why is NYU Tel Aviv allowed to continue while it uses racial criteria for attendees (no Palestinians from Gaza and elsewhere in the Arab world)?

Sincerely,

Marcy London