On Wednesday, November 29, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) delivered a landmark speech on American antisemitism, inspired by the fact that protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza after the October 7 attack by Hamas have descended into an embrace of Hamas’s stated goal of the complete destruction of Israel. From there it has, for some people, been a short step to attacking Jewish people in general.
But we must try. Those carried away by the trouble makers may well take pause and hear this message. A very inspired speech in my view. I too want to be hopeful that many will hear it. It’s often a ripple effect, like s stone dropped into water.
I suspect that significant amounts of misinformation and fomentation come from Russian, Chinese, and Iranian sources. They have at least two goals: to distract us from Ukraine and to divide us, to set us against each other so we can not accomplish anything.
As are the republican extremists of today. This is a multi-pronged problem that we must deal with and educate people. Chuck Schumer speaking out like this is very educational for those who need to utilize Critical Thinking Skills around the world and not allow gaslighting, a totalitarian tactic to divide, to be thrust upon us.
Thank you, Sophia. My sentiments exactly. One can state this idea without supporting Hamas or Bibi and those in Israel who knew a year before about this attack and dismiss with what can be only called hubris.
There is something vile about all extremists on all sides. Just as there is a rise in anti-Semitism there is an increase in sentiment against Arabs. Hamas wants to wipe out Israel and the Israeli government wants to obliterate Hamas and each side has its reasons.
As far as knowing a year in advance and dismissing it as fantasy, I don't buy it. How can you be one of the world's most sophisticated intelligence agencies and poo-poo this information about your gravest threat. I think they knew that Hamas was going to attack, as they regularly do, but that it wasn't going to be as bad, then seize Hamas's attack as the reason to destroy Gaza.
The Palestinian and Jewish people get along with each other. To watch the destructions those in charge are creating is truly hard to digest....
Attacking people for no other reason than who the are. It is a sad reality around the world for many peoples.
Of course, before one can get people to do that to eachother, they establish that BEING the reviled person puts him or her into a category of persons deserving of our hatred. Inherently « vermin, » as one of our erstwhile leaders recently said of people who disagree with him.
Once you get people to think every single individual in a group is the same as every other, you have established the basis for bigotry.
The little boy who was stabbed by his landlord was killed for being a member of a group, not for any other reason. Attacked simply for being who he was. Bigotry.
If I disagree with how Israel has long been treating Palestinians, especially under Netanyahu, that is legitimate, but it is a political opinion. So many Jews in Israel themselves disapprove of and resist that treatment. One cannot hold all Jews, in Israel or anywhere, accountable for the Netanyahu policies.
How I judge Netanyahu.and the ultra-right, anti-Palestinian behavior in Israel has no bearing on how I judge Hamas, which has shown itself to be inhumanly cruel and monstrous. NOT a friend of the Palestinian people, but a predator, using them for sick power. The October attack was against innocents, not against the leadership,or the militant forces in Israel. It was against all Jews, and children and nonJews, in retaliation for the policies of some in the govenment.… bigotry, and collective punishment. Sick.
It brought retaliation against all Palestinians, including children and nonPalestinians in Gaza, and Hamas continued to use its own people as shields. Sick and wrong!
As is the utter devastation unleashed on Gaza, with Israel’s excuse that it is « self-defense. » The collective punishment of innocents in Gaza is not OK.
The Israeli military must go after Hamas, not innocent Palestinians.
Innocent children are never legitimate to attack. If Hamas were using innocent Israeli children for shields, would Netanyahu bomb their hospital?
I asked a prominent Israeli peace activist if Netanyahu even wanted the hostages back, since his bombing had been relentless for weeks. He said yes, if only to save Netanyahu’s own skin.
I take offense at the actions of and longterm policies of Netanyahu and his cronies. I am heartbroken by the pain and destruction and blood they have spilled in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Gaza even before this « war. »
I am disgusted and completely reject radicalized, vicious Islamist factions like ISIS and Hamas, every bit as much.
As a dear friend had said to,me long ago, when Israelii Jews and Palestinians were talking to each other and trying to draw close to a way for all to live in peace on the land between the river snd the sea, People need to resist bigotry, always. And they must be careful not to circle their wagons when things get tough, shutting out their friends as well as their enemies.
I personally am pro-Jewish and Pro-Palestinian. I want desperately for peace, security and decency for so many deserving people!!!
Divide and conquer has been a military strategy for centuries.
Current application: Encourage Americans to turn against their Jewish countrymen. Spread conspiracy myths (Jews control banks and therefore the economy, etc) to fan flames of distrust and resentment. Don't support gun regulations after a radical shoots up a synagogue.
Agree with Stanley Goodman. Goal is to distract and divide us. We cannot allow that to happen.
Misinformation can be homegrown as well. It is for all who see the opportunity in crisis. The whole world sees these events differently, which is why it’s so easy to manipulate.
JaneDough56, agreed, different people see events differently. My point is that some are intentionally manipulating us for their own ends, and we should be aware.
I would encourage us to not use the the softening idea of "misinformation." In American it is pure, intentional propaganda and gaslighting of vulnerable American people who now are in a cult. We need to use the correct words to describe this authoritarian/cult/fascist tactic and work hard to prove it is meant to sow chaos, fear, division and brainwashing. That is very different than just some "misinformation" in my book. The far right extremists know exactly what they are doing and are often funded by hostile domestic and foreign entities who want our democracy to fail. It is all about manipulation, power and control.
I agree. The assault on our democratic system is intentional. This is accomplished by suckering in the gullible who have no ability, or very little, to think critically so that they can realize that they are being used. Trump's success at grifting is proof of this naivete.
Today, the entity which ‘controls everything’ is the corporate community, the corporations. Taxpayers who are bolting both political parties are angry at corporations. Taxpayers bailed corporations out of bankruptcy under Presidents Bush2, Obama1 & 2, the indicted (potentially treasonous) former 45th president, and Biden1. Quantitatively, America’s corporations get a free ride; it’s called “free enterprise” & ‘free trade’. The new 15% corporate minimum income tax bill hasn’t moved in the Senate, which we are reminded is completely controlled by Dems. Again, I quote Dr. John Dewey who stumbled across the problem, “Government is the shadow cast by big business.” I add, “Both political parties provide the ‘shadow’. There is a solution. Study how Finland has revisi
I understand what power that corporations have and how they do get a free ride. I don't agree with that at all. I stated what long has been a belief about Jews, stemming perhaps from the time in Europe where only they could be bankers. I stated that it was a false idea. We are not Finland and right now we have a great big problem called death star and his minions. They have to be stopped and if we don't, we won't have a chance for any Finland like reforms.
When I was a kid growing up in Texas, I thought that the hatred of Jews by Christians is because the Jews killed Christ. Actually, in Acts 5:30, it was the Sanhedrin that killed Jesus by hanging him on a tree. [That's one of the ways the Jewish religious officials killed heretics and apostates, along with stoning.] At this point in my life, I simply don't get it, the antisemitism. I truly don't.
Yes, the Jewish elite religious officials using the Romans as cover. I did a long paper on anti Jewish sentiment from the Romans to the First Crusade. The Romans were tolerant and gave Jews special privileges and the Jews rebelled anyway, the one thing Romans did not tolerate. Enter Titus and the destruction of the Temple and sending Jews elsewhere. Both Christians and Muslims expected Jews to convert and they didn't. There were large communities of both Christians and Jews in Saudi Arabia at the time of Mohammed and what the Jewish communities offered was criticism. But for a while Islam was much easier on Jews than Christians. Jews were isolated in European cities and often these areas were prosperous because Jews could be bankers and Christians couldn't. They also made excellent scapegoats for rulers or when things were not going well. Mobs went in and destroyed and looted Jewish areas. During the First Crusade, when the crusaders got to Germany, they told Jews to convert or die and were surprised when some (many?) chose to die. Then there were their most Christian majesties, Ferdinand and Isabella, who triumphed over Muslims and then threw Jews out. Any Jew who had converted to Christianity was also suspect.
Actually, the Sanhedrin was the Jewish "show" court that the Romans allowed to function so that commerce, etc, could continue under their (Roman's) occupation. It is my understanding Jesus was crucified, which is a Roman form of punishment. I don't suppose we will ever know what really happened.
Fair enough but America has its own sources of disinformation and hatred. Every minority group has been attacked and denigrated by Americans over the last 7 or 8 years. Republicans refuse to condemn it and in fact support it by at least failing to speak out. A big percentage of American say they are going to vote for a man with a rich history of prejudice while complaining about being a victim. Being fair is not that hard but we seem incapable. My heart breaks.
🙏🏼 Hope. However, Inmate # P01135809 the bloviator of lies, is not really human, he is purely a soul-less corporation and wannabe dictator and proven cult figure. Americans, we have seen, are mesmerized by the rich and famous, who can get away with any kind of despicable behavior and still be voted (rather "installed") as POTUS. Capitalism is out of control and we do need to rein it in. We have the power How and Where We Choose To or Not to Spend Our Money.
What it means is that we need to be involved as never before and donate more money as never before. We can't let this be our Waterloo. We need activism at all levels, letter writing, texting, canvassing, voter registration, phone calling and more.
The Atlantic has an article that I received today: Roge Karma's article, "Why Americans abandoned the greatest economy in history," 12/3/2023 is an excellent read, but it ignores a core reason as to why our economy now is what it is: the propaganda campaign launched by the ultra-conservative think tanks in league with the oligarchs such as the Koch Brothers. This phenomenon of the oligarchs' use of the media that spewed volumes of propaganda using wedge issues such as abortion, gay rights, immigration and civil rights issue to manipulate the white Christian Protestants to vote against their own best economic and social issues is well covered in Thomas Frank's book, "What's the Matter with Kansas," published in 2004. The validity of this position is verified in the study by two Univ. of Kansas professors, David Norman Smith and Eric Hanley, entitled "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?" published in the February 2018 issue of Critical Sociology, a peer-reviewed journal. Their findings? Trump's voters support him because he shares their prejudices: racism, misogyny, antisemitism, homophobia and xenophobia, to name several. These people continue to support Republican politicians who keep supporting the ultra wealthy to their own detriment. Their feelings and support are so intense that they continue to support Trump even though he is a criminally indicted dishonest grifter who will destroy what rights they have left if he is given another chance.
We are, in fact, involved in a second Civil War, with the Oligarchs using racism, etc. to increase their already substantial power and control.
He’s certainly effective with his audience, but I suspect he’d flop if Fox and others hadn’t build huge news echo chambers and propaganda systems hosting Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and other content. There used to be enforcement of laws limiting the reach of media owners. A trusted Hispanic news network, Univision, was taken over by a MAGA associate of Jared Kushner; now it’s a pro-Trump source shifting Hispanic voters across the US.
Due respect to you, Joanne, for your understandable lament, I agree with Pat that we must try. So I'm going to do my best by posting Heather's newsletter in as many Twitter and FB accounts as I can. I'm also going to find someone on Tik Tok to get this out to the younger folks. Thank you Heather for already doing the leg work!
Hi Chaplain Terry Nicholetti--Also with respect, my lament that Schumer's message won't be heard and understood by the people who need to hear it the most, in no way was meant to imply that we shouldn't try to make them hear it. Many of us having been dedicated to spreading the this message long before his recent speech--and we continue to do so. I don't see any disagreement!
I don't either, Joanne, and I'm so happy to hear from you. I wouldn't be able to "post outside the choir box," (Quoting Pensa_VT below,) if I didn't know there was a solid community within to nurture and sustain all of us workers!
And all of us are messengers of one sort or another – for better or worse, positivity or negativity. UNITY is the priority now, based on common values and messages, or ‘divide and conquer’ strategies will continue to be effective and Democracy will fall.
I’m sorry- is this a democracy? Really? When you tell us we can only vote for Biden? When the Florida Democratic Party has decided that NO ONE ELSE gets to primary against Biden under the democrats? Reeeaallly? Tell me about this democracy we live in.
I’ll tell you about the democracy we live in. We are allowed to love and legally marry someone of our own sex, to take birth control, to get an abortion, to read undoctored history, to fight for our beliefs, to advance ourselves economically, to be a Jew, Brown, Black, White, Muslim, Christian, and so forth. Biden is the choice if you want to keep it.
Well said, Susan. Biden is my choice, no one else comes close to what he and his administration have been able to accomplish for this country or democracy.
But what about the vast number of misinformed and misguided Americans who do not want other Americans, as you put it, to be "allowed to love and legally marry someone of our own sex, to take birth control, to get an abortion, to read undoctored history, to fight for our beliefs, to advance ourselves economically, to be a Jew, Brown, Black, White, Muslim, Christian, and so forth."? The great flaw in democracy is that such people have a voice, and as the continued existence of the Republican Party proves, a vote as well. But alternative systems are worse, history shows. That is our problem and our challenge.
And here you are proving my point- telling me who to vote for. That wasn’t my question, my question was how is it democratic to not allow anyone to primary? Because you’re afraid that Joe might loose and whoever clenches the nomination will loose to Trump. I understand your logic. Please stop insulting people’s intelligence by trying to tell us how to vote. Maybe educate yourself on the issue which is why is the Democratic Party cheering on an active genocide?
You’re in complete control on who you choose to vote for. We do still have the freedom of speech to point out the likely consequences of a Republican getting more votes than Joe Biden. If Biden loses in 2024, tffg has told us they will either kill us “vermin” or lock us up. People didn’t believe tffg when he said he could kill someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it. Then he did kill people on Capitol Hill, and years later we’re still waiting to see if he’ll get away with it. Your false and persistent accusations that folks here are bullying you to vote a certain way are very troll-like.
But who knows maybe you actually don’t hear what is actually being said to you again and again, because you have your firmly fixed belief that you are being persecuted simply because people disagree with you.
The political parties have the right, as private organizations, to field the candidates they want. That said, if you want to vote for Dean Phillips (or Bullwinkle, for that matter), write him in. And in claiming that the Dems are "cheering on...genocide" you are deliberately ignoring about 20 pounds of nuance.
You may vote for anyone you would like to...that is democracy but to judge the Democratic party as a whole based on the state of Florida may be a mistake. In 70's, 80's and 90's Ralph Nader ran for president. People had the right to vote for him. He had NO chance of winning, only disrupting in the name of a cause. Was the cause just, perhaps. But the point is that in our present system and place where we are with a clear and present danger being the front runner on the GQP side, what would be the upside of Biden debating anyone in Florida?
To state that the Democratic Party cheering on active genocide is just incorrect and when words like "genocide" are used, it gets people's dander up!
I agree with Susan, you are throwing a tantrum. If you are going to toss veiled insults like "maybe educate yourself" then I'd suggest that you open your dictionary and look up the difference between "loose" and "lose" to start.
I know that sounds rude, which is not the intention. Generally, people on this forum are pretty civil. However, I do believe you crossed the line in the sand and I believe it is best to gently point that out to you.
What's wrong with someone expressing who they want people to vote for? Am I insulting people's intelligence by placing a sign in my front yard declaring my chosen candidate?
Nope Not telling you to vote for Biden or anyone else for that matter. What people are presenting is what will happen if death star and the Rs somehow prevail. They have said very clearly what their intent is. For me that is enough.
No one is telling you who to vote for. Or even requiring you to vote. This isn't Afghanistan, where you have to dip your index finger in indelible purple dye.
Cue the dramatics. If you don't want to vote for the Democratic candidate, then vote for the other guy. Or stay home. Either is a viable option. But stop crying victim.
The Democratic Party decided that Biden is its standard-bearer. It has that right. If you want to vote for someone else, form your own party and nominate a candidate. America gives you the freedom to do that.
"Active genocide," my ass. If Israel wanted to genocide Palestinians, it would have dropped 50 thermobaric bombs on Gaza on Day One and killed everything including the grass. Or dynamited the Mediterranean Sea into the Hamas tunnels, drowning everyone below and collapsing millions of Gazas above into the mud to die. Genocide would have been the far faster and easier choice.
Instead, we're at Day 58, with Israeli farmers and accountants called into military service to move inch by inch through those tunnels, risking their lives because Israel chose NOT to genocide Palestinians.
Voting for Biden is our best strategy to keep our democracy. Please don’t confuse it with anything other than that. But it’s also the best choice by far than anyone else in this moment in time.
GUH. How many times must we repeat that voting for a candidate is a chess move, not a Valentine (Rebecca Solnit, thank you for this slogan, which has really caught on). Look at the board, people!!!
I say that because in my long life I have learned that the priority is to keep the vermin out. Yes, I said vermin, because he who calls others that is the worst example himself.
tricia, OF COURSE you can vote for someone else!; even write-in a name! THAT is what democracy is about. The issue remains how to get your vote to count and what you want to accomplish with that vote?
You are able to vote alone and in private - who you vote for is YOUR business - no one is forcing you in any way - THATS democracy! We all have our own opinions - who we CHOOSE to select is our own business. THATS democracy.
Please explain. I think I'm missing what you consider a democracy -- what would have to change in order for the U.S. to become a democracy, in your opinion? (I'm not attacking you, trish, I'm really curious.)
I don’t disagree with you, tricia, but my concern is this: If a majority of Americans choose accuracy of definitions (or any other point of accuracy) over unity, the democracy we have now will likely become a dictatorship under a political party that wishes to more ‘permanently’ control us. ‘Divide and conquer’ is a very effective strategy. It’s effectively working against us. The only way to counter it is to unify into a supermajority with one focus — “Save Democracy”. Once that’s accomplished, improvement of democracy can - and should, happen too.
Yes. The 2024 Election is the least choice we have had in this country. And that choice is really simple because of one fact. A party of extremists have gone totally rogue and want to destroy our democracy and our rights.
If you are educated to the serious crisis we are in here in America today, the choice is to vote for Democracy (Biden) or Fascism (Inmate # P01135809 or whomever they decide to install). If one chooses to vote for Fascism, it could likely be the last vote you will ever have in your lifetime and our democracy will fail.
But you are free to vote this year! Many of us here would encourage Everyone to really take 2024 seriously and vote as if your life depends upon it. I encourage people who just want to waste time debating to use critical thinking skills rather than engaging in mental masturbation of whether or not this is a democracy. It will not matter one iota if you cannot keep it in 2024. Choose well, I say.
Tricia: democracy is on the line. President Biden, a person of obvious good will, with the confidence of Europe and beyond and the diplomatic experience of years is our best possibility of retaining it both here in America and in Europe. Democracy is an idea, held by some people and some countries. As Christine Todd Whitman, former cabinet member and Republican Governor, is saying: there is no longer a Republican Party, it’s a cult, and it is President Biden is holding the country together.
Democracy is not perfect. So, what’s new? Politics is the art of the possible. Elections are hardly ever choices between good and evil (although next November looks likely to be one of those rare cases). The choice is more often between the lesser of two evils (although, again, 2024 looks to be an exception). If you are looking for a perfect candidate or perfect democracy, you’ll never go to the polls again, no matter how long you live.
Churchill for sure. I think it was something like "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all others that have been tried," but you've got the essence.
Where did I say that I expect perfection? Where?I asked how it is democratic to refuse other people an opportunity to primary against Joe. Why would you respond with democracy isn’t perfect? That’s such an odd take away. Why not- gee why does Florida get to decide who I want to primary?
What criteria do you think the Democratic Party of Florida should use to determine who is on their primary ballot? I can think of a few myself, I was just wondering what you might like.
i feel a big hurdle us to address is our knee jerk reaction that an issue is black/white (no pun intended) Sure it may be annoying that FL (and others) may be keeping other Dems off the ballot. Annoying as it may be, in this moment in time, the best plan is to limit the options to Biden. Now, think beyond that about the implications of dividing the vote against the other opposition candidate. The RNC, Russia, China and many others who wish to weaken the USA are happy to contribute to the disarray. When we get frustrated and even angry - EYES ON THE PRIZE.
I don’t disagree with you, tricia, but my concern is this: If a majority of Americans choose accuracy of definitions (or any other point of accuracy) over unity, the democracy we have now will likely become a dictatorship under a political party that wishes to more ‘permanently’ control us. ‘Divide and conquer’ is a very effective strategy. It’s effectively working against us. The only way to counter it is to unify into a supermajority with one focus — “Save Democracy”. Once that’s accomplished, improvement of democracy can - and should, happen too.
I do understand that and we did get Joe elected in 20 with that hope yet, one by one our rights are stripped away and now Joe is fully embracing Zionism which is actually an extension of white supremacy. Unfortunately we have turns into the country where the political leaders think they know best and have convinced the middle of that as well.
I hear you, tricia, and I agree with you in part and disagree with you in part. (That’s an unmatched benefit of democracy.) But none of that is of the highest priority right now. It may feel good in the here and now to argue and vent about differing convictions, but that approach is feeding the ‘divide and conquer’ strategy.
Saving Democracy is the highest priority. Arguing and venting about an increasing myriad of issues is, at this point, feeding the ‘divide and conquer’ cancer.
Each of us makes a choice, in every interaction we have with others — will we choose to spread the cancer or stop feeding it?
Tricia, please re read the speech given by Senator Schumer and referenced in today’s letter from HCR. This is a crisis for the American Jewish Community. They hear the thundering echoes of their entire history - flight , death and destruction. We should have risen up in disgust and scorn and banishment when, after those cretins marched in Charlottesville with their tiki torches from Walmart, chanting “ the Jews will not replace us “.and the duly elected President of the United States said that there were good people on both sides . And he may be coming again . I am frightened and I am not Jewish.
Something like 61% of the Jews in Israel are Mizrachi--roots in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. This is not white supremacy. You've shown yourself for what you are. An anti-semite.
Not engaging with you any more. You're not worth my time.
We tell you that voting for Biden is the only way to save our democratic institutions from autocracy in 2024. That is freedom of speech. You are entirely free to choose who you vote for and that is democracy. Successful people work with what they have to create what they want, keeping in mind that they are only one of over 300,000,000 million souls. It’s a delusion that you can create something out of thin air. The people that make up the Democratic Party have been working it for a very long time, like Joe Biden, a lifetime.
This has been the case forever has it not? The incumbent if he/she desires to continue, unless there are extraordinary circumstances, is going to be the nominee. The DNC has made mistakes in the past - I don't deny it. And it might be that a better candidate is out there. But the DNC recognizes, as we all should, that there are only two choices that matter in the upcoming election. One - do we want to continue the democracy? And two - do we want to risk that democracy to a would-be dictator? Squabbling among Democrats about how to conduct our world view pales in comparison to those two choices. Given that, who gives our party the best odds at winning the election. Most feel it is the current Biden/Harris administration. Hard to argue otherwise.
This is an important point you raise that I hope Heather will address. There is no democratic electoral process right now. Biden running unopposed seems to be the official Democratic Party line. Media follows suit. That's why Marianne Williamson gets no air time. So thank you for raising this. Your comment below about Palestine is another matter. That statement is not a call to end occupation but a call for the obliteration of Israel. The Jews are not colonizers.
I’m sorry but you have to educate yourself from the people who are actually using it not what the Zionist agenda wants you to believe. Israel actually calls for the destruction of Palestine, daily.
I have been using Florida as an example for this as well. They are banning books about the truth- about the real history of this country. It is the same thing Israel did to the Palestinians, they destroy the Palestinian narrative and turn them into “human animals” so they can justify genocide. It’s not opinion it’s fact. Please read books by real historians, like Ilan Pape or Rashid Khalidi even listen to what Gabor Mate a Holocaust survivor, has to say. Just listen and put aside that this is about destroying Jews. Because it’s not. Palestine has the right to exist and we have to atone for our part upholding a racist ideology- that’s what Zionism is- at the expense of the indigenous people of Palestine.
Please go educate yourselves on Zionism- tell me it’s not racist.
Tricia, I doubt you are sorry. Your tone is patronizing, though. Again, these antisemitic tropes and pat blanket statements are dangerous. As Chuck Schumer said in his historic speech, we must call them out when we hear them. To be honest with you, they terrify me. And I’m not being hyperbolic. Before 10/7 and the response of many who I thought were allies, I could not fully grasp what my holocaust survivor relatives and friends have tried to convey about their experiences. I bore witness and thought, I’m so relieved that can’t happen again. Now I feel the weight of their experiences in a new way. Or an old way.
For space, I’m going to keep this simple. Too simple, yes, as the Middle East is a most complicated place. Maybe we can agree that Netanyahu and his ilk have not helped matters and he should probably be in prison (I say probably because he deserves his day in court). Seeing your reading list, you might broaden your scope.
Israel doesn’t call for the destruction of Palestine daily. Israel is not a monolith. There are many voices. Some of the voices for peaceful co-existence with Palestine were slaughtered, tortured, raped, kidnapped and whose horror was gleefully videotaped and sent to their families to augment the savagery. And then there has been the justification - the celebration of this barbarity in American streets and harassment of American Jews. Where is your outrage? Do you think Hamas is an armed resistance organization and Israel bears full responsibility for what happened on 10/7?
Zionism is not a racist ideology. It is one of the most successful liberation and self-determination movements the world has ever seen. After nearly half of the world Jewish population was murdered, a haven was established from the periodic persecution, expulsion and extermination Jews have experienced over millennia, the modern state of Israel. An Arab country was also to be established but rather than accept shared land with 2 states, 5 surrounding nations invaded the nascent Israel. What ensued was war and war is hell. It is heartbreaking and awful that Palestinians, Armenians and others fled or were expelled from their homes.
Of course, the Palestinians have a right to self-determination and a homeland. Their leadership does a lot to prevent this. Mousa Abu Marzouk says the tunnels are there to protect Hamas fighters, not civilians. He says the UN is meant to protect the civilians, refugees, as he calls them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ry8V4ppJBk
This is the liberation movement of the Palestinian People? Why are the Palestinians of Gaza refugees? Gaza was ‘liberated’ of Jews in 2005. Why hasn’t Hamas cared for its citizenry with the billions of dollars it’s received and built a country rather than tunnels? What’s been more important to Hamas?
Lastly, when I hear college students ask why don’t the Jews go back where they came from, I wonder... shall my son’s Iranian Jewish friend from day school go back there? Ask Talia Dror.
Shall my Yemeni Jewish friends go ‘home?’ Or Libyan Jews, should they identify as eternal refugees, longing to return? Why aren’t these questions you ask yourself? The Arab world is effectively judenrein. Why?
Israel’s existence is essential to Jewish survival. Comments like yours just drive that home for me.
Tell that to the Palestinians that live in the West Bank who have lost their land and access to their crops by people who have been allowed to settle there and take the land. It reminds me of what happened to the Native Americans.
I share your concerns about some of the settlement building in the disputed territories. Not helpful for finding peace or building trust, for sure. Since you mention Native Americans, if you own property in the US, are you prepared to return it?
Ahhh Samantha, how else does one explain their acquiescence to their own far right political faction which seems not only to tolerate but actively support and arm settlements and settlers in the West Bank contrary to UN convention and international law?
How does one explain that Trump became President and a small, Far Right cabal has so much power in the House of Representatives? That we treated immigrants on the border like animals and separated children from their parents, keeping no records? That we allowed a kleptocracy to try to take Native and public lands? That multiple states with Gerrymandered legislatures have effectively outlawed abortion, turning women into second class citizens? Surely this reflects the politics, will and aspirations of the people of the United States as a whole.
You don't get it. No one is telling you that you can only vote for Biden. You can vote for the purple people eater if you want to. What we all understand and probably the D party in Florida is that we cannot afford a split vote because of the true danger to democracy that death star and his minions are. I wish we were not in this situation and I wish we had some other options. But we are where we are.
Tricia: The blunders and machinations of the Democratic Party are not the result of the government not being a democracy. They are the result of the Democratic Party leadership not being democratic.
Absolutely Annie. All things considered, awareness of our own ignorance and bigotry, now and in our history, is more difficult, and ultimately more important, than awareness of the ability of others to amplify it.
Agreed Annie. I thank HCR for publishing this. It has helped me to sort out my feelings about this issue. Im grateful Senate Majority Leader Schumer took advantage of his bully pulpit to remind someone like me, -clarify for me- this horrendous situation.
Thoughtful words are crucial at this time of turmoil, discord, suffering, war and care for one another.
'WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin delivered perhaps his strongest remarks to date on Saturday over Israel's need to protect civilians in Gaza, calling them the center of gravity in Israel's war with Hamas and warning over the risks of their radicalization.'
'Austin, in remarks to the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, said he has personally pushed Israeli leaders to avoid civilian casualties, to shun "irresponsible rhetoric" and to prevent violence by settlers in the West Bank.'
'He also said he's pressed Israel to dramatically expand Gaza's access to humanitarian aid, adding that he expected more deliveries of aid "in the days ahead."
"In this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat," 'Austin said, drawing on his experience as a four-star general overseeing the battle against Islamic State militants.'
"So I have repeatedly made clear to Israel's leaders that protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza is both a moral responsibility and strategic imperative."
'Israel has sworn to annihilate Palestinian militant group Hamas following Hamas' Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel, in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage.'
'The Gaza health ministry says more than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, with at least 193 Palestinians killed just since Friday's collapse of a truce between Israel and Hamas.'
'Austin's remarks came as Israeli warplanes and artillery bombarded the enclave on Saturday.'
'The United States has rushed military assistance to Israel, including air defenses and other munitions.'
'Austin pledged that the United States would stand by Israel's side, noting Israel's obligation to respond after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack and calling the Palestinian militant group a' "cruel enemy."
"The United States will remain Israel's closest friend in the world. Our support for Israel's security is non-negotiable," 'he told an audience of prominent U.S. lawmakers, national security officials and defense industry executives. Austin also renewed U.S. calls for a two-state solution to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.'
"Without a horizon of hope, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will remain an engine of instability and insecurity and human suffering," he said.'
'As the Israel-Hamas war escalates tensions in the region, the Pentagon has been wrestling with wave after wave of attacks against U.S. troops by Iran-backed groups who blame the United States for Israel's actions in Gaza. Austin accused Iran of "raising tensions" and noted recent U.S. air strikes in response.'
"We will not tolerate attacks on American personnel. And so these attacks must stop," he said.' (Reuters)
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; editing by Jonathan Oatis) This article was copied in full.
"In this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat," 'Austin said, drawing on his experience as a four-star general overseeing the battle against Islamic State militants.'
"So I have repeatedly made clear to Israel's leaders that protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza is both a moral responsibility and strategic imperative."
It appears to me that sometimes violence must be confronted with violence when no other remedy is practical. Hitler had to be confronted with military force. Homicidal terrorists are a clear and present danger for which the use of force is entirely justified. That said, human violence is our specie's greatest enemy, and yet the same mistakes seem to be made century after century, decade after decade.
Steven Pinker and others have argued for all the violent horror we see today, the past was worse, even more cruel and pervasively violent, which I think may well be true, but yet our tools of violence have become more insidious and destructive. The players change with each generation but the "cycle of violence" seems keep momentum even though it ebbs and flows. Every effort to dial back violence (of many kinds) as much as is practical enhances our specie's chances of survival and the prospects of lives worth living. I fear that civilization will unravel if we don't.
My own personal challenge in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is I that am 63. Although it is true I have not riveted my attention on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict over the years, I have followed the news of various failures of the two state solution, especially when the PLO was working with Israel and the Clinton administration in the 1990's.
To my own brain's perception of all these years of news around the issue, it does seem that Israel has always been slowly expanding their occupation of Palestinian lands and, in the last 10 years, has amped up imprisonment of Palestinians, often for no reason, and without clear due process.
It is also my perception that the USA has ably aided and abetted Palestinian displacement by insuring that the Israeli military police apparatus always have mountains of modern weapons and plenty of money to build jails.
Now? Hamas has engaged in one of the worst attacks on Civilians of my life. Only the attacks of the United States on civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq is/was worse. Well, Russia's attack on civilians in Ukraine is also equal. Putin must have had a phone call with Bush II before he got started.
To me? It looks like Israel is not so much attempting to "root out Hamas". It looks more like Netanyahu is trying to bomb his way to stay in power forever. Much as George W. Bush was attempting to get a second term in spite of ignoring the CIA's warnings of an impending attack by Osama Bin Laden.
I think Netanyahu feels that Israeli's will be happy about the wanton destruction of the Palestinian people and their homes and schools and hospitals and sad way of life.
To me it looks like a weak man, with no morals and no plan, who is also responsible for sleeping at the Security switch in Israel for the last 10 years, is trying to keep his job by showing that he can kill more Palestinians than anyone ever before.
I wish I did not see it this way. I wish I could see the Israeli side with more sympathy. But, having now studied for nearly a month, it seems to me that, starting with the Balfour Declaration, and using weapons from the USA, Israel has been moving Palestinians from their homes and leaving them with no place to go, no jobs, no education and no future.
I am NOT anti-Semitic. I agree with Schumer strongly. I feel no antipathy to any religion at all. Everyone gets to believe whatever they want. If someone believes a green rabbit will lift their soul to heaven after a life of eating carrots? I am OK with that.
However, I am not in favor of the steady displacement, occupation, imprisonment, and racism that Israeli's show toward the human beings who call themselves Palestinians but look EXACTLY like Israeli's.
Human. Looking for ways to feel superior to others, be it religion, caste, skin color, or whatever is just dumb.
Israel is definitely part of the problem. Those settlements were notorious for inflaming the situation, and an outright injustice. Palestinians were literally pushed off their lands (many were famous olive orchards) and locked out of their own houses, which they had owned, built, and lived on for hundreds of years in some cases. Netanyahu and other hyper right politicians pushed building those settlements relentlessly. They reap what they sow, no doubt about it.
On top of that, did you know that Netanyahu did all he could to support Hamas' growing strength in Gaza, because he was delighted Hamas was fighting with the Palestinian Authority that held control of the West Bank, he embraced the opportunity to further divide and weaken the Palestinians. Hamas assassinated several moderate Palestinians leaders who were pushing for cooperation and discussions about a two-state solution with Israel and terrorized the Palestinian population with corruption and violent control--and that suited Netanyahu just fine. In Israel, the news describes this fact regularly, here not so much.
Nothing *NOTHING* can justify what Hamas did by raping, kidnapping, and killing women and children and ordinary citizens. That was outright thuggery and should be condemned. The leaders should be pursued to the ends of the earth. Those are crimes against humanity, the same thing Russia did in Ukraine and Chechnya. It should get the same steady condemnation, period.
And I think part of why younger people are so outraged by Israel, especially African Americans, is they see how a person of color is valued as so much lesser than even a single Israeli Jew in the Israeli government's assessment. It isn't an eye for an eye, it is 10 Arab eyes for 1 Jewish eye. This is why Netanyahu gleefully levels the earth in Gaza. He sees Palestinians as animals, and makes no distinction between the people cowering in the shelters and Hamas.
Nothing can justify the overwrought response that Israel is indulging in now, especially after all these hostage exchanges, and the way they are bombing areas that are filled with citizens. They won't make themselves safer with that scorched earth policy. Their reputation is getting shredded as the morally superior party in the region.
I am interested in what happens after the dust settles. The overreaching by Netanyahu will surely be documented, if journalists have any ethics left over at all. Some of the 'foreign influences' such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, and Jordan have been exposed with their hands in the cookie jar, trying to stir up trouble for their own benefit--Hamas was a direct result of that, crafted to terrorize not just Israelis but the Palestinian population even more. And Netanyahu has aligned himself with the worst dictators in the world.
Will Israelis decide Netanyahu's methods just don't work and finally sit down with Palestinians, treat them as fellow citizens, without regarding them as inferior beings, animals to be manipulated? Will Palestinians, once more so unfairly caught between all these parties that pretend to care about them, but end up betraying them, somehow find the courage and will to trust an Israeli negotiator and try to put together a peace that lasts? Who is going to guard Israel and Palestinian interests from the onslaught of outside parties constantly fiddling with their politics and persuasions?
I can hate the goals and methods of the Trump Administration and the Republican Party without hating America and Americans. Likewise, I can hate Netanyahu’s leadership, policies and actions without hating Jews.
I learned about the Holocaust when I was 12, just a few years after the Eichmann trial in The Hague. I was given a school assignment to write an essay: “The Holocaust - Could it Happen Again.” I asked my mother “what is the Holocaust?” and she just said “I’ll take you to the library,” dropping me off at the door of the enormous Cleveland Public Library. I asked the librarian “What is the Holocaust?” And she pointed to the card catalog room. I found the cards and their Dewey Decimal numbers led me to a tiny dusty alcove, where I read about horrors that I could not ever have imagined. When my mother picked me up, I was in shock and tears. I wondered out loud, “could this have happened?” Her response: “Some people say so.”
The adults were silent. My mother was a denier.
Clearly we need to assign our children essays like I had to write. Of course I wrote it could never happen again. And of course it has. In Rwanda. The Balkans. Ukraine.
I have never forgotten. I have read hundreds of histories and memoirs. I had always planned to make a pilgrimage to Auschwitz (until my mobility became limited). I support the Jewish people and the Jewish State. But not Netanyahu, whose methods strike me as chillingly reminiscent of the collective punishment by the very Nazis I read about as a 12 year old.
Well said. I had a similar experience but at my small Catholic school library in Jamestown, ND. I couldn't believe it. i couldn't believe no one had mentioned it at home or in school. Later we read "The Diary of Anne Frank' as seniors.
A correction or two (bearing in mind that such corrections are always a secondary matter):
Israeli Jews are all colors and origins (but some have, of course, always been far more equal than others).
Re. your final paragraph, a clear majority of citizens would have thrown out Netanyahu a long time ago if they'd had half a chance—consider the months and months of mass demonstrations against him and the doings of his rump extremist government. But the man clings to power like a leach and has taken advantage of Israel's deeply flawed and irresponsible form of democracy that enables every tail to wag a dog (even when it has come down to tiny Israel wagging the United States of America). He treats everyone, very much including his fellow citizens, as animals to be manipulated... “Everyone” included Hamas, whose leadership has ended up manipulating him and many others.
Underwriting the existence of Israel is one thing, but there soon comes a point at which limitless endorsement loads a heavy weight of responsibility on the protector. Not to say far more.
In all matters concerning Israel/Palestine it is almost impossible to express any view without causing offense to someone. Circumstances could not be more divisive—as a direct consequence of policy, first Israeli, now that of Hamas, which was designed to create the deepest possible divisions. Under the circumstances, it is a common human duty to work for peace, bringing together those who are apparently irreconcilable.
I have shown my view in greater depth in a comment posted some 6 hours ago, beginning with the words: “The horror: those who planned October 7th knew exactly what they were doing and know the consequences now.”
Thanks for pointing out there is an incredible variety of Jews--as did another commenter. Very true. It is a mistake to portray Jews as purely Ashkenazi, of white European stock. That region is the biggest mix of peoples and religions. One reason it is in such turmoil.
I didn't mean it was a correct perception, just one reason we are hearing this angry rhetoric from certain groups that see themselves in the Palestinians. And we should acknowledge African Americans quite correctly point out that Israel suffers from the same racism that we do: Ethiopian Jews in Israel had particularly difficult times when there was mass migration of their refugees from war to Israel.
You do make me draw a pause stating there comes a point at which limitless endorsement is a serious burden for the protector. What is happening is the world is paying for the Nazi cruelty and its aftermath, again and again, and I see Netanyahu and his party as a mentally anguished response to that history. There is a clear trail of fear-driven aggression going back from Netanyahu's loyalists back to early Zionists who were regarded as terrorists themselves by the British colonialists. But I hesitate to say we should ever withdraw support from Israel with that history--after all, strong dissent exists against the treatment of Palestinians as animals, and Israeli citizens have gone out in huge crowds to make their preference clear (again, this resistance is not adequately covered by our media, and I wonder why).
Yes, the Parliamentary system Israel permits Netanyahu's tiny radical and racist party to wag the dog. Ironically, it is precisely the same weakness that existed in Weimar Republic, which allowed Hitler to gain power. I hope Israeli citizens will find a way to upend and permanently change that flawed system and rebalance. But they need space to breathe. If US steps back and removes support, there is will be no opportunity to make that change.
Biden and Blinken are doing what they can to express their dismay at Netanyahu's brutal tactics and still assure Israeli citizens the US still supports the existence of Israel. I think that is the hardest path to carve out in this situation. Sickening, but a very necessary direction to take. If Israel feels abandoned, they will never take the first halting steps to correcting these injustices.
We watch “Fauda” , the Israeli Intelligence series and those guys were obviously not on the job on Oct. 7th unfortunately. Fauda means chaos not the least of which is that all Israelis and Palestinians look totally alike so it is not color that causes the differences here. Years ago we were on a Kibbutz on the Jordanian border. On the Israeli side were melons, tomatoes, apples and cattle in a large shed being sprinkled with water in the Israeli heat and on the Jordanian side nothing but sand and rocks. That was another big difference. The new Israeli’s had transformed the land and the big tech revolution in Israel was yet to come. Not so in the neighboring Arab lands. Lebanon is a failed state as is Syria today. The rest of them just struggle on to provide better lives for their citizens.
The more I read you, Curiosity, the more I feel what you have written and want to apologize for those minor corrections.
What Marge Wherley has written makes a strong impression too.
I met my first deniers in the early 1960s. Perhaps they could not be blamed at the time, they believed what their father told them, and he was a notorious Nazi collaborator who had escaped to Franco's Spain.
In my family, we knew too much. My father's first cousin, an officer in the British army's medical corps, opened up two concentration camps, the first, Fort Breendonk near Antwerp in Belgium, a punishment camp for political prisoners run by psychopaths recruited from German prisons, the second, Bergen Belsen. Some prisoners there had been evacuated from death camps and survived marches, only to die in the typhus epidemic raging in the camp.
We were living in South Africa in 1948 and I was eight years old when I caught sight of some photos of Belsen, but could not understand. These explain, however, what made my mother take me aside and speak to me solemnly, telling me never to forget her words.
"We are," she said, "all children of the same God. We are brothers and sisters and we must behave accordingly and love one another. To harm or kill others because they look different or because they have another religion is the greatest sin possible. It is the crime against God."
In those days, I didn't understand religion well, despite instruction, despite liking the nuns who taught me; but I got the message.
I remembered the full force of her words when she left us, and realized then that she had been my first spiritual guide. Regardless of our beliefs, the message she passed down to me was and is universal.
You have said what I have been thinking for many years. I agree with Schumer and believe Jewish Americans are threatened with violence but when the news shows the absolute destruction of Palestinian cities, it is inconceivable to me that any attempt is being made to stop this and to stop the killing of the Palestinian citizens. I feel it has been a very lop-sided endeavor for many years with the Israelis seeming to want all the land with nothing left over for the Palestinians. And the United States has contributed a great deal to fund the Israeli war machine.
Mike S., your comment makes many points. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, like most regional conflicts, is complex. I agree that Netanyahu has chosen to sacrifice national and regional wellbeing for his own. In other words, he, his coalition partners, and most of the settlements must go. In 2005, when Israel left Gaza, they forced Israelis there to leave and to shutter their businesses, so such things have been done before. It is easy to blame Israel, with the most powerful military in the region, for wanton killing of Palestinians, but I suggest we should be aware of our own biases (e.g., favoring the underdog) and, pardon me, ignorance. There is so much about this war we don’t know.
In the bigger picture, imagine the stress of Israelis: sending their children into required military service where lives are really at risk. Year after year, generation after generation. Imagine their sense of hopelessness when dreams of peace went nowhere, like when Arafat rejected Begin’s offer to return ~97% of the land won in 1967.
At the same time, we must be aware of the anger and bitterness felt by Palestinians whose family members have been murdered and family lands stolen by settlers.
So there have been severe leadership failures on both sides, with regular citizens paying the price.
HISTORY: Do you know that Jerusalem’s population in the later 1800s was mostly Jewish? Many Arab and Muslim countries of the region, e.g., Jordan and Saudi Arabia, were established by the British in the 1920s, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, so they’re barely older than Israel. And one more fact: similar numbers of Jews and Muslims were made refugees c.1948. We hear about Palestinian refugees, but not about the Jews who were forced out of Muslim nations then.
Bottom Line: This is complex and the result of failures on all sides. “Who’s right and who’s wrong” become difficult or impossible to answer when we know the facts.
Not just Israeli people - but thousands of Jews from all over the Middle East and North Africa. Recommended book: UPROOTED:How 3000 Years of Jewish Civilisation in the Arab World Vanished Overnight by Lyn Julius. You can find many talks by Lyn Julius on YouTube.
I am currently reading A Line in The Sand: The Anglo-French Struggle for The Middle East: 1914-1948 by James Barr. It gives the history of the region going back a LONG time.
I’m afraid I have to agree with you. I’m 64 and I too remember the decades that efforts were made to create a two-state solution, as I believe it must be for both cultures to survive. People forget that Palestine is populated with Christians and even secular people, alongside the Muslims. And all are just humans. We cannot paint any people with a one-dimensional brush of judgment. I believe Israel could go a long way toward changing hearts and minds just by jettisoning Netanyahu, their chief warmonger. I can easily separate my love for the Jewish people from the destructive actions of the current Israeli government. But I’ve been around long enough to understand that systems and governments engage in and promote war; not people. There is a way clear for us to love our fellow man and mourn the suffering that war and violence brings and still protest the institutions of power that are perpetuating the violence and destruction.
I think Netanyahu's priority is personal power. as is Putin's, as is Trump's. Peace is antithetical to their permission for authroitarian command. Nearly everyone else, including their supporters, suffers.
Table 33: Do you support the solution of establishing one state or two states in the following formats:
Two-State Solution for Two Peoples: 17.2% (WB 13.3%. GS 22.7%)
One-State Solution for Two Peoples: 5.4% (WB 7.7%. GS 2.2%)
A Palestinian State from the River to the Sea: 74.7% (WB 77.7%; GS 70.4%)
(Other 0) Don't know or N/A: 2.7%.
--
I support the maybe 25% of the Palestinians who do NOT want to destroy Israel .
(2) In connection with the dissolution of empires after World War I, the nation-state became an ideal for many. The Jewish people all over the world had for centuries - but intensely since about 1880 - looked to re-create a homeland in their ancentral area. And with European political Zionism, they too wanted a state - even the tiniest of states. A place where they could protect themselves from persecution and violence.
British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin wrote in November 1947 in connection with giving up the Mandate for Palestine [my emphasis]: "His Majesty's Government have thus been faced with an irreconcilable conflict of principles. ... . For the Jews the essential point of principle is the creation of a sovereign Jewish State. For the Arabs, the essential point of principle is to resist to the last the establishment of Jewish sovereignty in any part of Palestine. The discussions of the last month have quite clearly shown that there is no prospect of resolving this conflict by any settlement negotiated between the parties. But if the conflict has to be resolved by arbitrary decision, that is not a decision which His Majesty's Government are empowered as Mandatory to take." < https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1947-02-18/debates/4f8bc0e9-f2d5-4267-8d07-10707986db6e/PalestineConference(GovernmentPolicy)>
Recently I saw a news segment featuring an interview of an Israeli saying that Israel has a right to 100% of that land. How widespread is this in Israel? I have not seen this subject discussed.
My impression is that it is between 40 and 50% ... still quite a way from the approx. 75% of Palestinians that want it. Note that at least some Israelis who believe that Israel does have that right are also willing - in the name of peace - to forego that right.
In general, I'm reminded of, "...With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan ~ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations..."
My mentor, Joe Bak, who had been taken prisoner at Corregidor in May of 1942, enlightened me on the value of living by those words as I contemplate the better ends of conflicts in our history, such as the WWII tactical, moral, and strategic victories that Lincoln would have wished for and done his best to achieve. Joe described how much the Japanese changed due to what he described as our far more productive treatment of them than they expected.
An Israeli friend, whom I understood was among 4 tank crews that repelled an attack by 200 Syrian tanks was as brave as I can imagine, but left Israel after what he seemed to describe as the IDF forces surrounding the Sabra neighborhood and Shatila refugee camp being held back as the Israeli leadership (Ariel Sharon in his case), allowed the "Christian" Phalangist allies to do the dirty work of excessive revenge, that just extended the cycle of counter-productive violence. He seemed to feel Ariel Sharon's actions made eventual just and moral peace so much more impossible for him to be a part of. He left Israel and is far from the only Israeli I knew who want a just and lasting peace, but he has been me the most heroic one (in combat and principles) I got to know.
Israel (Bebe) has squandered the good will toward Israel that existed after WW2. It will hang around his neck like an albatross. Sort of like Iraq hangs around W’s neck.
JL thank you for your comments on violence: “I fear that civilization will unravel if we don't.” Once we were afraid of violence and possibility of escalation. Remember the book, 2004: “The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World” by Michael Nagler? I used to sign emails with “peace is possible.” Now I wonder.I attended a workshop with the other. Once we were more optimistic that we could change the world.
I have not read that particular book. I still think peace is possible, or at least more peaceful and more just. Enough people have to really want it. I think most people, in the US at least, were more optimistic in the past. I suppose fools think Trump will save them, but the general mood feels angry and/or depressive. We have lost a sense of agency, and we have by agreeing to let the rich run the world. We are hurtling back to monarchical autocracy and the impunity of the British East India Company. We need to get our bearings, and there are no easy answers, but there is the possibility of a change of direction.
I think that one factor to bears more awareness is TV. I don't know that this one study is proof, but we have to look at why so many of our fellow Americans are delusional.
Thank-you for posting this Fern. Secretary Austin is correct. i am glad to hear that people in such places are thinking along such lines and giving solid, pragmatic reasons for doing so.
The US IS 1000% culpable for the genocide of the Palestinians that Israel is carrying out with our weapons and tax dollars. But Israel has been doing this for 80 years. They have learned how to manipulate people to keep seeing them as Jewish victims when they are not. They have populated an entire country on OUR DIME- to slaughter and remove the indigenous people to move in white settlers. My Jewish children have more rights to land in Israel than our family in the West Bank.
Israel gets to keep crying wolf until all of Palestine is gone. They have plans to maintain this so they can be the perpetual victim and thus victor. They get to be in a perpetual state of war justifying their US welfare money. It’s classic and you are all falling for it.
this whole thread is full of people imposing their own biases onto a complex and different environment. As they say, if you’ve got a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
The “indigenous vs white settler” line you’re peddling, Tricia, is not valid in Israel/Palestine.
How do you deny “indigeneity” to the Jews who had lived there for centuries?
Do you realize that from around 1950 until the Soviet Jewish refugees arrived in the mid-1970s, the majority of Israeli Jews had black and brown skins? They were the refugees driven out of Arab and African countries where they had lived for centuries in response to the 1948 war.
Why do you impose upon them the identity of “white settlers” rather than the refugees from violent anti-Semitism that they are?
There are many things to be said about the settlements and the violence and the discrimination against Palestinians by the Israeli government and by many Israeli citizens.
But if you would not say that Trump and his followers represent America, how can you reduce Israel to a simple caricature, as you do here?
Easy, because tricia, here, is an anti-semite. I figured that out a while ago up-thread. 61% of Israeli Jews are Mizrachi. They're not white Europeans. But let's not let that interfere with her own racism.
tricia, while in hindsight the USA clearly could have, perhaps even should have done something different along the way, like sanctioning Israel by withholding arms or other kinds of support until Israeli leaders, especially Netanyahu, returned to lawful behavior by observing original UN boundaries and the rules of international law. What I believe has happened is that we (USA) have encountered a fundamental conflict in values between whether it is more important to support the only functioning democracy in the Middle East or support the rule of law.
As an American & jewish, I am have been struggling because of the very points G Mamlet raises. It hits home that most have no knowledge of how world history’s treatment of a distict population - the jewish population. Jews have been targeted for annhiliation for as long has history is been recorded be it Roman era, to Crusades, to the Holocaust. Whats troubling is that so many take the position that we Jews or any anyone else should not be speaking of this history because by speaking this history in an effort to bring context to the current war, that somehow is an effort to negate the suffering other groups, cultures, or groups that are or have suffered at the hands of others trying the same to them. Nothing could be further than the truth. To those who are sincerely interested understanding the nuances and facts behind this war I highly recommend the series of interviews conducted by Ezra Klein, podcasts from Nov 7, 10, & 17 that explores the various perspectives (Palastinan, Israeli and a progressive Rabbi) about 10/7 attack.
Antisemitism is deep within both Islamic and Christian cultures and has been for many centuries. The Jews who have rebuilt their ancient homeland are well aware of this and the goal is to obviously to have a safer place where they are not the oppressed minority. I can understand that. Even Jews who have assimilated in other countries are in danger when the ancient hates are aroused.
Americans should realize that European colonists did the same thing. Our ancestors invaded a populated country and, after more than 200 years of conflict, killed enough of the natives and took enough of their land to control them and stop the wars. That is what I expect Israel to have to do. It worked. I hope they can do it with less bloodshed and in a shorter time.
Our natives eventually assimilated to a large degree, and even those still living on reservations are no longer warlike. That should be the goal for Palestinians after enough of the warriors are killed or defeated. There is no other way.
The idea that our colonizing "effort" was successful because US indigenous people are "assimilated and no longer warlike" - that that is a hoped for outcome sort of strikes me a little bit WRONG! Yes there is a comparison to be made, but seeing this outcome as successful? What it took for that so-called successful outcome was hundreds of years of forced assimilation - forced removal of Indian children from their homes - reservations that have the bare minimum of utilities and services - lack of jobs - I could keep going on.
So I would hope that the Palestinian people (who are left) dont have to accept that kind of "goal".]
Harry, you are effectively advocating for a Jewish Lebensraum policy. Nazi Lebensraum was significantly modeled after the US Manifest Destiny justification for the murder and displacement of the American indigenous population. Adolf Hitler is quoted as saying: "... there's only one duty: to Germanize this country [Russia] by the immigration of Germans and to look upon the natives as Redskins.”
This Nazi plan for Lebensraum was formalized in Generalplan Ost. The general idea was to exterminate the population of Ukraine and replace that population with German farmers.
I recommend "Bloodlands" by Timothy Snyder for a fuller history.
'A Gaza hospital evacuated, four fragile lives and a grim discovery' (WAPO)
'A nurse at al-Nasr hospital was caring for premature babies. Then he faced the most difficult decision of his life.'
By Miriam Berger, Evan Hill and Hazem Balousha
December 2, 2023 at 11:02 p.m. EST
'JERUSALEM — The nurse in the besieged hospital was caring for five fragile babies. Infants, born premature, their parents’ whereabouts after a month of war unknown. Now he faced the most difficult decision of his life.'
'It was the height of Israel’s assault on northern Gaza last month, and al-Nasr Children’s Hospital was a war zone. The day before, airstrikes had cut off the Gaza City facility’s oxygen supplies. Israeli tanks had surrounded the hospital complex, and the Israel Defense Forces were calling and texting the doctors, urging them to leave.'
'But ambulances couldn’t safely reach al-Nasr to transport the wounded, and doctors refused to leave the facility without their patients.'
'The five premature babies were particularly vulnerable. They needed oxygen, and medication administered at regular intervals. There were no portable respirators or incubators to transport them. Without life support, the nurse feared, they wouldn’t survive an evacuation.'
'Then the IDF delivered an ultimatum, al-Nasr director Bakr Qaoud told The Washington Post: Get out or be bombarded. An Israeli official, meanwhile, provided an assurance that ambulances would be arranged to retrieve the patients.'
'The nurse, a Palestinian man who works with Paris-based Doctors Without Borders, saw no choice. He assessed his charges and picked up the strongest one — the baby he thought likeliest to bear a temporary cut to his oxygen supply. He left the other four on their breathing machines, reluctantly, and with his wife, their children and the one baby, headed south.'
“I felt like I was leaving my own children behind,” said the nurse, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his privacy. “If we had the ability to take them, we would have, [but] if we took them off the oxygen they would have died.”
'Two weeks later, the pause in hostilities allowed a Gazan journalist to venture into the hospital. In the neonatal intensive care unit, Mohammed Balousha made the awful discovery.'
'The decomposing bodies of the four babies. Eaten by worms. Blackened by mold. Mauled, Balousha said, by stray dogs.'
“A terrible and horrific scene,” 'he told The Post. He took video.'
'The grim discovery was a reminder of the harrowing civilian toll of Israel’s war to eradicate Hamas, a campaign that has spared neither hospitals nor children. Thousands have been killed.'
'The current hostilities erupted on Oct. 7, when Hamas and allied fighters streamed out of Gaza to attack Israeli communities near the enclave, killed around 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 240 more. Israel responded with a full siege, airstrikes and ground operations that have killed more than 15,200 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, including thousands of children.'
'Israel has long accused Hamas of hiding command-and-control centers in hospitals; the Biden administration has backed the claim. Hamas and Gaza medical staff deny it.'
'Still, Israeli commanders have made the territory’s health care infrastructure a focus of the military campaign. A month into the war, that included al-Nasr.'
'It was Nov. 10 when Israeli forces told al-Nasr’s staff they had to leave, according to Qaoud, the hospital director. “They sent us a map for a safe route,” he told The Post in a WhatsApp message. “They gave us half an hour to go out. Otherwise, they will bombard the hospital.”
'An official at the adjacent al-Rantisi pediatric cancer center seemed to receive an assurance that ambulances would retrieve patients from both al-Rantisi and al-Nasr. In a telephone conversation with the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, an arm of Israel’s defense ministry, the al-Rantisi official requested ambulances. In a recording of that call released by the Israel Defense Forces, a senior COGAT officer responds in Arabic:' “No problem.” (WAPO) See gifted link for the article in full below.
No matter who you think is in the right or wrong; children, babies in incubators, children in the hospital for cancer care, doctors or nurses should never be in harm's way. This should be the case in every conflict.
Fern, thank you for sharing Austin’s words. The ones that jumped out at me were “ And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.” One thing that the US learned in our wars is that the relatives of civilians killed in the fog of war tend to carry ill feelings towards those who caused the deaths. This may be the intent of Hamas: first they kill as many as they can and then, when Israel responds with a civilian casualty rich response, use the civilian casualties to engender hated of Israel (and Jews).
I sense a connections between Mr Schummers and Secretary Austin's. History and commitments honored and leadership of America to thread the needle that seams the tapestry of civil and civilian lives of people's seeking secure comity and freedom from persecution, even that of one minority against another. Thanks Fern for adding this in. Schummer was leading the larger cause that applies as well today in the strife that is Israel and the survival and freedom of Palestians andJews no matter where they live ... or, don't continue to exist.
Fred, I am not comfortable with the US' relationship to Israeli under Netanyahu and the, to my mind, extreme, right-wing government. There has been a lot of talk from Biden, Blinken...Harris Austin but what action? There does not appear to be any constraint on Netanyahu's part concerning the deathtrap of Gaza that he and Hamas have constructed.
I also think we need to separate those, like me, who are not even slightly in support of the Netanyahu attempt to keep power by bombing Gaza into the dust, from anti-Semites. The whole operation reminds me too much of George W. Bush's approach to the attack on the World Trade Center.
Bush's approach? Find a country with no military to support the civilian population and bomb that civilian population into the dust. That would be Afghanistan, even though not a single Afghan citizen was on any plane on 9/11/2001. That would be Iraq after lies of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
I was not in favor of the wanton bombing and destruction and civilian death in Afghanistan just to make Bush "look good" and I am not now in favor of the wanton destruction of civilian Gaza by Netanyahu for the same, exact reason.
Susan: Just as you are able to have an optimistic perspective--which is, of course, based on your own experience and knowledge--my perspective is informed by my own experience and knowledge.
Hope is good. We can have hope. We can have optimism. But that won't lead us to a world where speeches like Schumer's are not required. Over and over and over again.
Antisemitism and anti any group of fellow people is a cancer of the human species that has never been excised. Never will be. But it can be reduced like a tumor under radiation or chemo.
We need to have a realistic acceptance of the fact that Joanne is spot on right. Those who ARE the cancer will not hear or care about Schumer's speech.
It's the folks in the middle - who are not the cancer - who minimize the threat, who ignore the danger and allow the cancer to grow that I hope Schumer reaches. It is everyone's job to support Schumer's words and repeat them. Otherwise, we enable the metastasis.
Susan, telling people to "have hope" without recognizing the full extent and reality that there are millions of humans who really want to kill Jews...and Blacks...and Muslims is not productive. Let's have hope. But let's get real. This is a war across the planet. Always has been. Let's shrink the cancer. It will take more than hope. It will take a firm grip on reality with a steely resolve and an intolerance for intolerance.
Susan--with respect, your personal views do not entitle you to try to enforce mine. I of course welcome fact-based input that provides varying points of view. Thank you for respecting my right to form my perspective.
I’m not deaf and I’m not stupid enough to believe this act of propaganda is going to help a damn thing. This puts Jews in MORE danger. It legitimizes the current genocide and yes the OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE. From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free. Is indeed a call to end occupation please stop with the intentional propaganda. This is about colonization and the inhumane treatment of the Palestinian people. Shame on all of you.
Tricia, I think you need to do some self study on the history of the region. Compassion and hope for both Palestinians and Jews is the answer. A two state solution is the answer but legitimizing terrorism is dangerous and shows that you are in fact maybe a little deaf on the matter.
Kimber, I think you need to do some studying by people other than the one supporting your thoughts. I need not drop my vitae here but Inhave spent the last 30 years studying, meeting and working with people in the region. I love how the white people decided the two state solution is the answer because you haven’t actually done any of your own research you have only repeated the propaganda you have been fed. Has anyone asked the Palestinians what they want or need? Do your own research instead of trying to imply you are above someone else because of the way you think. Not a good look for compassion. Restorative justice is not shoving our ideas down the indigenous people throats.
As a self-proclaimed student of the region. What has Hamas done for most of the Palestinians? They have spent a lot of money on weapons and tunnels whose only aim is terrorism. How would you suggest negotiating with a group that is sworn to see you completely eliminated? Or do you think that the population of Israel should just pack up and leave?
Would love for you to hear the conclusions your 30 years of study have led you to? What is the solution? The destruction Israel and the Jews? Because that is the mission statement of Hamas, so if that is what you believe you are in fact supporting terrorism. Would love to hear your educated ideas on a solution instead of vitriol.
First of all it’s not our decision. It’s the decision of the remaining Palestinians and the Israeli’s who do. Support living together in peace. I don’t pretend to have a solution but I have listened to people. Are you aware there are a separate class of citizens in Israel called Arab citizens of Israel? Did you know they do not have the same rights as Jewish Israeli’s? The whole point is to stop being so arrogant that we have the answers. Start listening to the people who are telling you what the problems are. Look at Hands of Peace and Seeds of Peace. for 22 years we have been bringing these teenagers together to learn from one another to see the humanity in one another. Educate yourselves. Learn. Stop telling other people in regions you have NO KNOWLEDGE of what they should do. It is so colonial and settler of this conversation to be so incredibly uneducated about the actual issue and shut down the actually oppressed’s voice.
Let us remember that the West Bank became occupied because the Arabs began a war in 1967 and they lost territory. Israel did not ask for that war. In my opinion, all the conquered land should have been given back immediately… but life is not so simple. War is war. May reconciliation happen one day.,,, when talks begin again.
Wow, you would like to join Hamas and annihilate Israel? Where would you have suggested the remaining Jews in Europe go? No country would allow them in and Palestine was the historical home of the Jews. Would you like to give the native Americans back all their land? Should the Australians give back their land to their aboriginal population? If you think for a second that "From the River to the Sea Palestine will be Free" does not smack of antisemitism then I guess we don't know what antisemitism is!! If you were a European Jew and survived the holocaust where in the world would go to feel relatively safe? Maybe you believe that all the persecution Jews have experienced is their own fault. If so then antisemitism is justifiable. You can thank your lucky stars you don't belong to a minority that is subject to discrimination.
You think? Sheesh. I am gobsmacked by the ignorance on display in these comments. Willful ignorance. Heather's letter emphasized many of the key points of Senator Schumer's historic speech and I'm reading flagrantly anti-semitic talking points, finger wagging from up on high? I am so disappointed.
I would love for you to go look up the word semitic- go educate yourself and then come talk to me about being gobsmacked. You have absolutely NO idea what you are talking about.
It sounds to me like you are the one in need of the history lessons. I’m not calling for the destruction of Jews. Stop listening with your propaganda ears.
Genocide defined: Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people in whole or in part. In 1948, the United Nations Genocide Convention defined genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".
Israel has targeted the Hamas who use their own people as human shields. Could the Israelis have done more to save lives, maybe yes, but they believe that rightly or wrongly that Hamas with the backing of some Palestinians only want to annihilate Israel.
You’re so above everyone with your Israeli progoanda. You have no idea. Go read something by Ilan Pape or Gabor Mate or Rashid Khalidi just go educate yourselves and stop self aggrandizing your moral superiority. You seriously have NO IDEA what you are talking about.
As with so many humanitarian messages, the people who need to understand Schumer's message, will not be hearing it . . .
When Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his hundreds of sermons and speeches, most of his messages have been lost through time. But, several haven't and they continue to inspire people from all walks of life around the planet on a daily basis.
Schumer's speech was potentially aspirational and if the worlds inspire even one person, it was worth it.
Should a preacher cancel his service if only one person attends? Perhaps that one person is so inspired they make the world a more tolerant and better place.
Thanks, so much, Annie! Please don't hesitate to contact me if you are interested in learning more about these very young Polish-Jewish women who fiercely and successfully defied the Nazis and their collaborators.
Joanne, my father was born in Poland. The village he was raised in is now in the Ukraine. He was raised to be a Zionist and I am afraid he would’ve been one of the settlers on the West Bank if he hadn’t come to the US. My mother was from Berlin. What I wanted to say is that Leon Uris wrote the book, “Mila 18”. I read that in my early 20’s and telephoned my dad. He named off every character who were in the Resistance. I asked him when he had read that book and he replied “Ten years ago”. Asked him how he remembered all of the names and he told me they had all been his friends. Gave me chills and it was then I realized Uris used actual names for the people in his stories.
So interesting--Did your father spend any time in the Warsaw Ghetto? The setting of Uris' "Mila 18" was the Warsaw Ghetto. Just like the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the monument to Mila 18 stands on the ground of the former Ghetto. An interesting aside, here in Las Vegas, there is a beautiful Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Remembrance Garden, constructed of stones salvaged from the destroyed Ghetto. I am honored and grateful to have been able to make presentations there.
My father was raised in a town known for oil and wax called Borslav. He never knew his father as he died in WWI, thus he and sister lived with his grandfather and many aunts and uncles. Truly, his life in Borslav was almost exactly like what you see in “Fiddler on the Roof”. As far as I know, his relatives, not his mother nor his sister, were burned in gas ovens or killed in the oil fields.
My dad had, as a young man, been involved with “scouts”. That’s what he called them. Through the scouts, his eyes were opened to Zionism. I am not aware of any of his friends being in the Warsaw Ghetto and the reason being is that he started going into dementia in his 70’s. I do suppose, however, some of his friends ended up there. In 1967, he took himself to Israel to visit Yad Vashem. He met up with old friends he had been raised with which excited him. While he was there, the Six Day War broke out. That was a little harrowing but he was finally able to get back home.
Thanks for letting me know about the museum in Las Vegas. I will have to go to that the next time I am able to go.
Thanks, so much, Marlene Lerner-Bigley, for sharing parts of your father's fascinating story. There were many Jewish youth groups in Europe that were referred to as "scouts." His "scout" group might have been a branch of the "Haoved Hadati." Please do feel free to contact me if you plan to come to Las Vegas. While we don't have a Jewish museum, per se, we do have an outstanding Holocaust Resource Center, as well as the outdoor Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Memorial Garden. https://lvhresourcecenter.com
Huh. I didn't expect this interesting thread. I just ordered one of your books. Of my extended family that came from Poland, the women died at the hands of the Nazis ata greater rate than the men, who were more eligible to be selected to work vs. to be gassed.
It is my take that a huge dichotomy exists between what the government of Israel does vs the beliefs of the Jewish people of Israel. The same for Hamas and the Palestinian people.
Israeli Government cages the Palestinian people in a hopeless concentration camp with no escape; lives lived only to die in squalor; for what, to keep Israel from being integrated with people they think don’t belong there? It seems that Israel (as a state) wants to maintain a purer citizenship and uses the fact that they have been so persecuted by “others” that their only hope of survival is “to persecute” the “others” of Palestine. Is this the will of all Israel people or just of their elected politicians? To me, an average American who is not fully educated in the Minutia, I see a duplicity in how Israel treats Palestinians exactly the same way they don’t want the rest of the world to treat them. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking this
As Israel refuses to rein in the settlers in the West Bank, the glaring hypocrisy of the Israeli Government causes people like me to ask Senator Schumer to put the “shoe that oppressed” on the other foot. Is it possible that people that (wrongly) commit acts of violence against innocent Jews are confusing their victims with the actions of the Israeli Government? I certainly wouldn’t to be attacked by a terrorist that confused me with Trump
Mirror my entire post here with Hamas. Hamas and Bibi live in the same sphere
In order for people like me to understand how to protect the innocent Jewish people of the world I believe that the Jewish people need to understand what Israel is doing to Palestinian citizens and demand that Israel become more introspective
I’m sure my lack of understanding will create big pushback here, but I think Schumer’s speech was a bit one sided in his plea for defense of Jews
Where can the Palestinians go? They have no Promised Land it seems to me that Jews would be able to relate to that
I sadly fear that it is nearly a universal human tendency to seek outside or "other" forces when faced by evidence of human hatred and intolerance. 400 years ago Shakespeare recognized this need in his play Julius Caeser when he wrote "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves." This remains an apt description of the human need to assign fault outside of self.
JohnM: So tragically true. And more recently, Walt Kelly's Pogo, whose comment about humankind's environmental destruction is equally applicable to humankind's self-destruction: "We have seen the enemy, and he is us."
And hearing. When working with various disabilities, I concluded that deafness was the most debilitating one that I ran across. So many have working ears, but choose not to hear. Or is it the closed minds.
To what? If that is a legitimate question, then the answer is ‘anything that doesn’t suit one’s established perceptions.’ As my bumper sticker reads...
The "closed minds" which shows up so much is an antagonistic phrase, usually aimed at the speaker's opponents. Yes, I think my question is pretty legit, since human beings so often frame their beliefs, facts, values as antagonistic to alternative bfvs. GOPers get sifted through the same process as Dems. In short one has a mind "open" to one set or other of bfvs and necessarily "closed" to bfvs which are antagonistic, ie incompatible or contradictory or opposed, to yours usually your group alliance. All the name calling in the world doesn't change the minds of your opponents, including the "closed mind" call. Good call on your "dont believe"... the fun being to disentangle your beliefs, reminds me of the "wisdom to know the difference" prayer.
It is very uncomfortable to untangle one’s beliefs to be open to consideration of another perspective. I never thought of the phrase ‘closed minds’ as antagonistic but that is interesting. I personally see cognitive dissonance as a more accurate explanation. Maybe because it doesn’t carry the same negativity as the word antagonistic IMHO. Thanks for
Silence isn't an option. If what needs to be heard isn't said no chance that anyone will hear it. But I feel your frustration. The Maggats...and likely too many folks across the board...refuse to listen to what they don't want to hear. How do we break through? Persistence?
Lucy Buxton--I'm sorry if my comment that the people who needed to hear and understand Schumer's words the most, wouldn't hear it, conveyed any thought of ever remaining silent on this topic. Implicit are the two nuances of "hearing." 1. Actual physical hearing; 2. Understanding the implications of what is being heard. Silence in the face of fascism is complicity. Those of us who understand this have not, and will not been silent. It is our way of life. My issue is with people who think that cheery aphorisms and exhortations about optimism are sufficient responses to fascism. Effective speaking up and effective political action require an informed, insightful, impassioned, commitment that is based in reality. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to clarify my position.
For some Americans to celebrate the Oct 7 attack as an “attack on colonizers” is disgraceful and hypocritical.
Every American citizen who doesn’t have a fully Native American bloodline is a colonizer! You think Israel taking Palestinian land is bad? The United States is 100 percent built on stollen land! How ignorant can people get?!?!
Thank you Steven. Europeans "colonized" North America via a long lasting brutal genocide - beginning with their (our) arrival so long ago. Nearly every country has been a colony.
If Native Americans on current reservations began to lob rockets at LA or Las Vegas, how would "Americans" react? If the people who attempted to destroy our cities and vaporize our people were chased down and eliminated, would not the whole US cheer?
I believe that in the process of creating Israel there was much injustice. Palestinians have been mistreated since Zionism was first put into reality. But that is no excuse for the acts of October 7, 2023. Hamas is a cancer. It must be excised.
And the ultra extreme settlers in the West Bank must be dealt with. They violate International Agreements and stoke the hatred.
Japanese society and its attitude was changed for the better after WWII by our treatment of them. Same for Germany. But that was after we incinerated their cities and threatened even more. Hamas is just like the Nazis and the military of Japan during WWII. There is only one way to eliminate them. And it isn't with peace offerings. If Palestinians want peace, they must overthrow and reject Hamas. By allowing Hamas to rule, they have invited this disaster. They have provoked the response that kills their children - the children that Hamas cowards hide behind.
Netanyahu is an evil politician who who ignored warnings. He is incompetent and has culpability for this whole conflict. I am a peacenik by nature. But if I lived in Israel and my neighbors were raped, tortured, slaughtered and kidnapped, I believe I would need to respond - and it wouldn't be with an olive branch.
Standing Rock vs. DAPL shows how Americans react when Natives stand up for their water and their treaty rights, with rubber bullets, water cannons in freezing temperatures, dragging people in ceremony into dog cages, prosecuting people who harmed no one.
What was done to indigenous persons is a black stain on our history. It certainly does not justify Netanyahu’s and extremists’ slaughter and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.
Agree. Colonizers in Israel, taking over Palestinian land in the West Bank, are supported by the right wing government. Many Israelis oppose this action. We cannot hear this loud enough. Schumer's speech touched on it, but not strongly enough.
Apparently very ignorant, Steven. We live in an era of snap judgement and herd mentality used as a substitute for actual study and learning for making decisions. We are, in great part, a lazy society and prefer to borrow our opinions rather than gathering facts. What could be dumber, for example, than eliminating Civics classes for the young citizens of our country who will eventually need to govern and guide this unwieldy ship?
Yes indeed, the elimination of civics and a true understanding of how and why system of governance and governments function and work could basically be considered sacrilegious!
"Israel" isn't doing the slaughter and so-called "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians. It's Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition of bloodthirsty, right-wing power-mongers (I feel sick every time Mark Regev opens his mouth on air, and the others are equally awful).
Your assumption about the elections is flawed. Not because the elections didn't happen, but because there were factors at play when the elections occurred that skewed things. The election in the US that resulted in Bush's defeat of Al Gore had to be decided by the Florida's Supreme Court, after 35+ days of wrangling with recounts. Gore received 543,895 more votes (a margin of 0.52% of all votes) than Bush, but the Electoral College gave the victory to Bush.
The entire world is worried about what has happened on Gaza the last two months. Nobody here is in favor of slaughter, nor Netanyahu for that matter. This letter was written by a renowned historian, who I'm sure knows a thing or two about indigenous persons and ethnicity and ethnic cleansing. She would not cavalierly throw those words around. Here's a little article on the Origin of the Palestinians.
Right. Well you're missing an well known fact. The Palestinians and the Jewish are of the same ethnicity. So by definition neither can be guilty of ethnic cleansing the other. It's as simple as that.
I think it's a fair assumption that Mr. Netanyahu is Jewish. So whatever his motives are, I think we can assume he's not a Nazi.
Abbey, the fact that the population of Gaza has increased since 2005 is not a basis for concluding that "there is no ethnic cleansing." The best description of the extent of it that took place just on the years surrounding and during the military conflict that led to the establishment of Israel as a state in 1948, is Ilan Pappe's 2006 book "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine", a deeply researched and historically documented work, relying upon Israeli and British documentation released in the 1980s, and Palestinian sources in Arabic. Ilan Pappé's books have received acclaim from numerous reviewers, and he has very effectively rebutted criticism that does exist, such as that from historian Benny Morris. Lastly, with regard to Israel "leaving Gaza", Israel withdrew to the boundary of Gaza, but did not "leave." It has retained control of electricity, water, other utilities, telecommunications, the Palestinian population registry, entry and exit points, materials that are allowed or prohibited, air and maritime space, and a no-go buffer zone, creating a tightly controlled, dependent, densely crowded population with high unemployment and food insecurity, which has been repeatedly subjected to bombing and intrusions leading to high numbers of civilian casualties. A 8/7/2022 article in Al Jazeera lists when air raids have taken place, the context/triggers and the consistently highly disproportionate results - these include 6/2006, 12/2008, 11/2012, 7-8/2014, 5/2021, and 8/2022. These are incontrovertible facts that have been repeatedly documented by multiple sources, including multiple human rights organizations and Israel media outlets. An awareness of these facts is necessary to inform opinions regarding the best way forward now, following the horrific, brutal raid on Israeli settlements with ~1.200 deaths, including women and children, by members of Hamas on 10/7, and the Israeli response of turning half of Gaza into rubble (thus far) with >11,000 Gazan deaths, mostly women and children, and the displacement of 1.6 million people from their homes.
The original colonization of Palestine and the Levant was by Turkey. The Turks were as cruel and thoughtless overlords as were the Europeans who inherited the region when they defeated Turkey in WWI. Having previously colonized much of the rest of the planet, they stepped in as a matter of course, but just as independence movements were rising.
And to me also altho I’m not Jewish I am an American that believes in Lady Liberty 🗽 at our front door and I do believe that many and maybe most could be inspired to also
Thank you Professor Richardson, for publicizing Senator Schumer’s words. Indeed, this is no intellectual exercise for most (if not all) American Jews. Many of us have a personal connection to the Holocaust. I am one.
My maternal grandfather survived that gruesome period of history, by immigrating from Russia before WWII. Unhappily, the rest of his family was wiped out in October 1942, when Einsatzgruppen forces murdered 30,000 Jews in Brest-Litovsk over a period of three days.
My paternal grandfather immigrated from Hungary also before WWII. His sister, an Aunt I never knew, immigrated to America, but then returned to Budapest in the 1930s. She was murdered at Auschwitz in 1944.
And finally, my wife is a “2G” survivor. Her father survived in the woods of Poland, making it through the DP camps to America in 1949. But my wife’s grandmother died in those woods, along with others who were too weak to cope with the rigors of winter. These experiences form who we are. So when synagogues and Jewish businesses in America are vandalized, we immediately think of Kristallnacht. And it causes fear.
We have lived in a land of religious tolerance ever since the first Dutch Sefardi Jews arrived in America. Is it possible that this chapter in American history is coming to an end? I hope not, but the long history of Diaspora Judaism suggests that oppression is the rule, rather than the exception.
I pray that better natures will prevail. Ken y’hi ratzon. May it be His will.
My story is a bit similar. I am the daughter of Holocaust victims. My grandparents (mother’s parents) were gassed at Chelmno in 1942. She was already in America and had tried to get them out but to no avail.
I hate that this happened to your grandparents. I hope that people who are reading your words recognize that "gassed" is a synonym for both "murdered" and "slaughtered."
I hope everyone feels as shocked and sad as I do, reading your account of what happened to them.
At this point, there is not much I can say. I understand the history and it is getting late to remember that the Palestinians and the Jewish people who founded Israel are both equally victims of European imperialism. There wil be "what about this.." or "but remember, ." Regardles, they will remain victims of forces beyond there control.
I will let it be and second Joanne Gilbert.. Yes, Senator Shumer described a history that must be remembered, eloquently.
Yes, Arab antisemitism as it exists today was shaped, I think, by Britain's "let's you and him fight" policies in Mandate era Palestine. They feared being ousted by Jews and Arabs cooperating, and did all they could to thwart it. It is also worth noting that Jews are indigenous to the Levant, and what is modern Israel, and the West Bank has had a continuous Jewish presence for 3000 years. This is where any analogy to the displacement of American Native Tribes by European whites fails.
As I stated, I understand the history. The American Native Tribes existed long before cowboy movies. Empires came and went over the past 5000 and more years. Aboriginal peoples were displaced, absorbed and eliminated. Picot was French. Rothschild was Jewish. Balfour was English. The Ottoman Empire was divided up around resorces, petroleum being the most important.
All of this is irrelevant in the discussion of Senator Shumer and the egregious rise in antisemitism today. Likud does not speak for the Jewish people, but they, by their actions over twenty-five years or more have been actively stoking Arab and Palestinian anti-semitism. The Netanyahu administration was aware of the plan of attack by Hamas a year ago. It was executed as stated in the plan. The timing may well have been to make sure the Palestinians were not overlooked in the new Arab/Israeli "Normalizations".
We can go on for hours and weeks. I have no patience to spend hours digging back into this every time the issue pops up in the Substack comment sessions.
So true. I do, however, think it is relevant to provide info that shows people that the conflict is far deeper and more complex than being just two autonomous peoples who can't figure out how to get along. And I hope your mention of Peltier will encourage readers who don't understand your reference, to learn more about him.
We need an historian of empire to do a substack series like Heather's history letters during the Pandemic. I don't have a degree in history, but grew up reading all I could get my hands on before high school. History is poorly understood, as revealed by many readers of Heather's who had history degrees and knew almost nothing she was revealing,
There is so much information available that it just amazes me how people are so sure of issues in the Middle East and do not know about the Sykes/Picot Agreement or the Balfour Declaration a decadeor so later. The Jewish people were put in Palestine to serve European interests. They were not wanted in Europe. Florida in 1946 was a damn near Jewish State, from all the New England and NY retirees. The lands of Peltier's people were owned by the varous Sioux Nations for thousands of years.
States are created by those who control wealth and need labor to do their bidding to keep them wealthy. We only have one Earth and Africa is our mother. As such, we are all sisters and brothers and it is long past time that we behave as such. It will be our end as a species if we do not. I can go off a bit.
It remains to be seen if Shumer's speach gains any traction. I have gone way off point.
Just for the record, the secret Sykes-Picot Treaty, dividing up the Ottoman empire between Britain and France, was done in 1916. Then in 1917, the British issued the Balfour Declaration regarding the part of the Middle East they gained under Sykes-Picot, and also managed to get another loan from the Rothschilds to pursue World War I - like the promises they made India for that country's sacrifice of a million men in World War I for the British Empire regarding independence, the Brits figured no one would ever call for repayment of the debts incurred.
Yes, it was late and I had nothing at my fingertips. I think my point was that there are so many opinions on the current subject that lacked even the knowledge of the documents and the history. It revolved around WWI. They hoped establishing Israel would satisfy the debt to the Rothschilds. Stupid Brits. Racist misygonists all.
" We need an historian of empire to do a substack series like Heather's history letters during the Pandemic." Can you imagine doing that doctoral ? Yikes !
I would recommend to any readers the 1980 book by Peter Matthiessen, "In The Spirit of Crazy Horse", which tells Leonard Peltier's story in granular detail, with a full rundown of the historical and law enforcement context. Matthiessen is one of only a very few authors who was awarded the National Book Award for both fiction (Shadow Country) and non-fiction (The Snow Leopard). Shadow Country, about the central Gulf Coast of Florida in the early 20th century, when it was still the "wild west" long after the western version of the "wild west" had largely entered mythology, is a tour de force of historical fiction. The Snow Leopard is absolutely sublime nature-writing.
A book lover! What say we trade off titles? I just finished Angela's Ashes, a memoir about a dirt-poor Irish childhood, which is amazing in capturing childhood well, always difficult, and that it is a wonderful read despite the numbing poverty and pervasive child-unfriendly atmosphere of heavy-handed, guilt/fear-driven Catholicism. what have you read recently?
Yes. No reason for him to be. Whenever I look at what white Christians did to the native peoples, I feel a white hot rage. Dying or losing one's heritage before the Cross is an all too common experience.
I have written to each president since Peltier's imprisonment for his release, and it seems to have no impact whatsoever. I pray he will die a free man.
Rich - I am having difficulty understanding the point you are making with regard to the presence of of those of Jewish faith living in Palestine "for 3,000 years." I assume you are not saying that this fact in some way accords some unique form of land ownership and control. According to the Wikipedia page on the Demographic history of Palestine, the percentage of the population that was Jewish in 1800 was 2.5%. What percentage of the land they owned was likely smaller, as they were a small minority with little influence. Therefore, the process of colonization that began with the first wave of Zionist settlers (beginning in 1881) had that as a rough starting point (this had been raised to 8% by 1890). I hope you are not asserting that the Jewish colonists did not eventually engage in an ambitious and often violent process of displacement of the existing Palestinian population, as that is a non-controversial historical fact (not limited to the ethnic cleansing that took place in the last half of the 1940s surrounding the time when the state of Israel was established). The fact that there were not zero Jews in Palestine as of 1800 does not alter the history of subsequent colonization and the drastic shift in demographics that resulted. This is a distinct question from the myriad other issues that are being discussed in the Comments section today, where debate is necessary and encouraged; I consider this demographic shift not part of that debate, as the historical documentation is incontrovertible. Any knowledgeable debate has to have facts as well-established as this as common points of agreement. Ownership of all of the land of Palestine by Jews, based upon revealed wisdom that it was granted in perpetuity by God, can never constitute such a common point of agreement, as it is not historically documented and is an article of faith that is non-falsifiable. The same can be said of claims to ownership and/or stewardship that are founded upon and justified by interpretations of Muslim holy texts.
Rich Forman: So true. A place that is the homeland of two ancient peoples who are controlled by more powerful, self-serving forces, will never benefit from war or naive diplomacy.
Anti-semitism means one thing and one thing only: Jew hatred. It's a term that was coined in the late 19th century by a German man named Wilhelm Marr. To say anti-semitism refers to all Semitic peoples is sophistry.
I hope part of the history to be remembered includes the Nabka, and early intentions of Ben Gurion that the Israelis will eventually undertake the complete riddance of Palestinians. To be remembered as well are such severe conditions exacted by the Israelis in their creation of what has been reported by many human rights organizations as the largest open air concentration camp. Mounting to being recognized as apartheid. Many may feel the use of force to kill women who bear children and children are acceptable targets for slaughter because the Israelis are merely defending themselves. It is also to be remembered that the assertion that Hamas has been using the children and women as human shields has been refuted by human rights organizations. “The Israeli authorities have claimed that in a few incidents, the Hamas authorities or Palestinian fighters directed or physically coerced individual civilians in specific locations to shield combatants or military objectives. Amnesty International has not been able to corroborate the facts in any of these cases.”
So, it seems that the Israeli claims have no basis in reality, and are just a way to demonize Palestinians and legitimize their indiscriminate bombardment of civilians. This is hardly the first time Israel has used this accusation to delegitimize their enemies. For example, in the 2006 war against Lebanon Israel accused Hizballah of using human shields. Unsurprisingly, investigations by both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch similarly found no evidence.(decolonizepalestine.com) This whole situation is complex. Not the least of which is the use of emotional blackmail to catalyze guilt, a feeling that can block clear sightedness of culpability. Some take issue of viewing Israelis as colonizers. Consider the behavior of the early whites colonizing the USA. what happened to the indigenous populations? To Blacks? Think Africa. What happened to Lumumba? At the time of the Congo’s liberation it was reported only one national had had a university education. The Congo matches the size of the USA from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic. The colonizers like the Israelis imposed severe restrictions on the population.
Excellent, Selina. You summarize the pov of Arabs and Palestinians and myself very well. This didn't start on October 7th. It began in 1948 with an understandable but colossal error in judgment. The policy of Zionists has been the eradication of Palestinians from "israel" for a hundred years. Did the Palestinians not have a right to to defend their country? Who has the 4th strongest military in the world supported by nearly $4 billion a year from the US? And now it is engaged in open, relentless genocide. Irony, anyone? I, therefore, do not support Israel in any way and believe it lost its right to be a country a long time ago. Relentlessly earned that lack of right.
Douglas Paterson: In re support of Israel, or lack thereof, my own view is that we can only support--or not support--the governments of countries. Governments are not representative of their citizens. Just as many Americans did not support Trump, many Israelis do not support Netanyahu. And insofar as Hamas is the "government" of Gaza, it does not necessarily represent the Gazan population.
Douglas Paterson: The "Colossal error in judgement" was conceived and implemented by self-interested, predatory powers, inspired by earlier events including, but not limited to, the actions of the Ottoman Empire and its subsequent dismantlement, the Sykes-Pico Agreement, The Balfour Declaration; The White Paper . . .
Ransom Rideout--I know that was your point! Unfortunately, the lack of historical perspective hampers some commenters from understanding the antecedents of the ongoing--and all-too-predictable--crisis.
I will admit I do not understand the Israel/ Palestine situation but I do resent the fact that America sends billions to Israel every year. I think the Israelis use our support to persecute the Palestinian people. I have no vision for peace in that region until all others are annihilated and only Israeli Jews survive. Will the killing stop then? Maybe.
Douglas. Your statement sends chills down my spine:
"....lost its right to be a country a long time ago."
I agree with much of what has been said about the evils of an extreme form of Zionism. But that attitude is not what the majority of Israelis believe. Much has been totally wrong about the treatment of Palestinians. But putting all this on Israelis says that you are tone deaf to the Senators speech and Jewish history. Rhetoric like yours is no different than that of Hamas.
Our cousins in Israel live and work alongside Arabs who participate comfortably in a society of mixed religions. They are not supporters of Netanyahu. They don't believe in persecuting Palestinians. They are very much the norm throughout Israel.
And you suggest they don't have a right to a homeland - their own country?
Jews belong in Israel. It is literally their homeland. They were not colonisers but returnees from enforced exile.
As for 1948, the UN declared that two states should be created. Jews created theirs. Palestinians did not. Why not? The UN had voted for it, but they didn’t go ahead and create their state. Instead, Jordan and Egypt occupied their land. Why did Palestinians not create a state throughout the fifties and up to 1967? What was stopping them from doing so? Not Israel. Not the US. Not Europe. Who was stopping them?
You propose a very interesting question I have been looking into for some time and from other points such as psychological, historical, even considering founding stories of the religions involved. Jews and our very long history of persistently re-examining our/the original texts (1,800 years of Talmudic Judaism) has consistently guided our secular cultural everyday lives, has led to our contributions to the very founding of this democracy, as our founding fathers were well aware. If and when that kind of openness to change of a culture is not, or barely, allowed, the people of such a culture remain bound by practices and ideas that can become dangerous even to themselves as well as others they have come to oppose. Such is the case between a culture promoting ideas of life whose ongoing growth promotes thriving even in the face of the most extreme adversity of over 2,500 years, and a religious culture dedicated to the idea of classifying all non-believers as victims to be killed, a culture of death. This contrast is apparently too stark for scads of otherwise supposedly educated people (read: lots of 'progressive'
university students) to take in, and they may not even be learning it; it is so much easier to vent, no matter what the cost even to others around them. In fact that venting is ruining the very fabric of what 'higher' education is supposed to be offering. The history of ideas is being played out by people who show very little grasp of their existence or importance. This is morally obscene.
So, for you, Annis, "If whoever was first on a section of land, then that belongs to them no matter how many people moved in and lived there for centuries. Is that it. The Jews were first there, they were exiled, they were returned - so it belongs to the Jews. So, what about all the American Indian Tribes that were kicked off their land?
"According to the site Native-Land.ca, Lenape, Rockaway and Canarsie Indians once occupied what is now New York City." "After the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830, approximately 60,000 members of the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations (including thousands of their black slaves) were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands, with thousands dying during the Trail of Tears." And big chunks of the southwest and California were occupied by Mexicans and indigenous Mexicans. So by your lights Mexico has the right to take that land back for themselves. Right? "In the year 3338 (423 BCE), Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, lay siege to Israel and laid it to waste. When Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Holy Temple, he exiled 10,000 of the brightest and most promising of the Jewish nation (Chabad.org) So, Annis, those people the world over who were pushed out of their environment 2000 years ago (maybe more) have the right 2000 years later to shove the current inhabitants off it because they (the Israelites) were there first? Does this make sense to you?
Another piece of little acknowledged background is that 'Palestinians' do not actually exist except as a very recent label for people who are actually of late 20th century Jordanian and Egyptian origin.
To add, a people whose culture is religiously regulated against living inside the modern world are ill prepared to form a democratic government when the foundations are not built into their everyday lives for even beginning that process. They need all the help they can become open to accepting.
Your comment about a people whose culture is religiously regulated against living inside the modern world are ill prepared to form a democratic government when the foundations are not built into their everyday lives for even beginning that process.
I was very struck by that because I think you hit on something significant. In my life I have lived close to Amish communities, as well as large Hassidic communities. And their respective religious beliefs do indeed regulate the way life is lived.
I am not educated enough to thoroughly understand the culture of these ( I think similar) two communities. I will go out on a limb here to say the one thing they have in common is that women do not have equal rights; women are subjugated to men. Therefore they cannot form a democratic way of life or governance.
That is what resonated with me about your observation. It is not a way of life I would choose for myself but that, I suppose, is what religious freedom is about. However, as you noted...there are far reaching consequences for our choices in life. Thank you for this food for thought and a different perspective.
Spot on - The role and status of women in any culture is always a primary way to examine that cultures relationship to what we broadly consider as the modern world.
There are of course, numerous variations. One close to home is that of many, many tribes of Native Americans, where women are the chief decision makers for many things for the tribe as a whole and are highly respected, keeping the tribe going continuously for thousands of years in many cases.
It is no sudden accident that our Department of the Interior is now run by a native american woman who is the first to hold such a national position in that post, Deb Haaland, a truly wise decision by President Biden (see Wikìpedia). It is much harder for a people to adapt to changing conditions which are always present of course, when there is no honest flexibility given to examining roles of anybody. This is certainly as you pointed out where strictly held religious ideas can hamstring a people as a whole, where an idea can keep a stranglehold on secular everyday society’s ability to function
well for all. The movie Unorthodox
illustrates those difficulties for the woman whose story it is. Another illustration is that there are no women in Hamas leadership and almost none in the present Israeli government that is largely run by the orthodox contingent, a very deep contradiction in Judaism considering the illustrious place of women throughout our history.
Do more reading. There were a lot of reasons. I am not saying they chose not to create their state, I am saying more research on your part would help you have better insight.
Selina, well researched and thoughtfully represented. It still leaves us with the problem of how to move forward from here? Recognizing that we can only change our own behavior, what principle or basic value shall we, the USA, proceed under: whether it is more important to try to redress the wrongs and grievances of several milennia, support the only functioning democracy in the Middle East or support the rule of law?
Pull the plug on all USA material and human (military) support for Israel until they agree to an immediate ceasefire, massive humanitarian aid for Palestinians, and a long term solution to the conflict. The USA finds unacceptable any nation - ally or non-ally - that commits genocide. Enlist and co-fund best diplomats and negotiators from all over the world (yes, including those from Arab lands, China, Russia, Brazil, etc)to work in teams with Israeli and Palestinian representatives to create a solution with enforcement measures spelled out clearly. (Nuland, Blinken and Sullivan are mediocre, and neo-cons (prejudiced, not open) none of which can touch George Mitchell's coattails. Further,. the USA understands there is a critical difference between being anti-Israel and anti-Jewish. Its fealty to the 1st Amendment right to dissent remains unswerving.
Ransom Rideout, exactly. The British Empire's extraordinary power to turn other peoples into puppets warring against each other has had an obscene impact on the world, past, present, and future . Those of us who hear and understand Schumer are dedicated to spreading his message.
As can the great majority of English descent or who are English today - the clearances, the bloody code and the poor laws started in England and landed many in insecure tenancies, the poorhouse or transported to penal colonies, courtesy of the ruling classes. But divide and rule worked well for them - and still does.
"the man who stole a goose from the commons was transported to America, while the man who stole the commons from the goose was transported to Parliament."
The ancestor whose surname is my first name, James Thomas of Wales, wasn't transported to get here as a result of the Enclosure Movement, but when he could no longer feed his family, he took that as a sign to get out.
I was 10 years old when Elizabeth II was crowned and very excited about it, since I knew my ancestors were English. My mother. who was prone to setting things straight, explained to me that our Baptist ancestors would not have come to North America had the British not enacted enclosure laws. They would have starved. I'm no longer Baptist, but neither am I enamored of royalty, British or otherwise.
Doing what we can to make sure people understand is the critical element. The history is tainted by personal interests and aggreivements. Too many chickens and eggs, if you know what I mean. Also, I do need to check out your books. I have a reading problem though. I am writing and commenting and it is getting too late to even read one more chapter of Democracy Awakening. It sits right here beside me. Now it's bedtime. I'll hit your follow so we can keep up.
Ransom, in thinking about Schumer's thoughtful, articulate and meaningful recounting of the eternal suffering of the Jews, I recognize his compelling need to suppress and eliminate hate crimes against Jews if not hatred itself insofar as possible. On the other hand, as the highest-ranking Jew in the history of our government, I also hope he will help us all resolve what I think has risen to the top of political consideration: politically we (USA) have encountered a fundamental conflict in values between whether it is more important to support the only functioning democracy in the Middle East or support the rule of law. It would appear that, at least so far, the government of which Schumer is a leader has opted for support of democracy over support of the rule of law.
A serious issue is that the overwhelming majority of the Jewish people in Israel support both. It is Likud and and Netanyahu that support niether. Just tempering the current administration in Israel is a massive task that the Biden administrtion has been on 24/7 since the wall was breached, a year after the Israeli government knew of the plan, which was executed to the letter. The US has not given the fast Nedi the go-ahead to do as he wishes. They are demanding constraint, but Bibi needs the war to stay out of jail. Sound familiar?
This is what I, an American Jew with Israeli cousins and many former Muslim students, wrote last night to my sister-in-love, an American Christian who shares my views:
After the past week of the ceasefire and the return of the hostages and the detainees to their families, I was beginning to feel hopeful with each day that the cessation of hostilities was extended that we might be inching ever so slowly to a more lasting peace. However, the resumption of hostilities today had filled me with sadness. More people are dying. More are being injured. More buildings are being leveled. The remaining hostages remain in danger. The detainees in Israeli prisons remain in indefinite administrative detention. Israeli soldiers are being called upon to risk their lives for an elusive goal. How can Netanyahu and his fellow criminals have convinced themselves that bringing more misery to the region will destroy a group whose leaders live safely in Qatar? Can they not anticipate how the current generation of Gazan children will grow up with hatred in their hearts for Israelis? Or how the terror that the Israeli settlers and the IDF wage on the West Bank will affect those who are the victims?
Perhaps I deluded myself in being encouraged by just a few days of ceasefire into thinking that a possible path toward peace was being established. Clearly, 75 years of a mixture of a sense of entitlement and feelings of injustice cannot be untangled overnight. But resuming the bombing only gets us further from any eventual long-lasting solution. Why is this so obvious to millions and millions of us across nations and continents and yet so beyond the understanding of the warmongers?
And thinking about it today, I realized how incensed I am that my tax dollars are being used to kill and maim civilians and to destroy their cities. There is no contradiction in the hearts of those of us who decry the terror inflicted by Hamas on October 7 and the terror that is inflicted on the people of Gaza and the West Bank by the misguided policies of the current Israeli government.
Thank you for summarizing his speech so clearly. Here in the SF Bay Area, the kind of antisemitism that Schumer decries is on full display at some city council meetings. It's shocking, demoralizing, and depressing.
Look up the Richmond City Council Resolution. It's beyond dreadful. And Oakland held a special meeting--had to, the community demanded it--at which 300 people spoke. There's a clip floating around of some of the most egregious comments. The Alameda County Dems did the same. Unfortunately, it's very, very thinkable.
Antisemitism in El Dorado County is also a continuing problem. Northern California. “The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors sat through a stream of antisemitic phone calls Tuesday afternoon, from people voicing disapproval of the board’s recent vote to rescind its designation of July as American Christian Heritage Month. https://amp.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article279799459.html”
What was most shocking to me was that the callers were not disconnected immediately, but spewed their antisemitic hate for all to hear. And perhaps feel emboldened to spread their own hate. I, too, wish it were unthinkable, but this is not new here in the hills. We all must be aware and work together to call it out and work to stop it.
Yes, Marlene, I feel like I’ve always lived as a minority, in suburbia, that doesn't support non-Christians. I am fortunate to have a cohort of Jewish women friends, and many social, artistic and volunteer opportunities, but the reality is disturbing. My choice now to live here, because moving at this stage of life is too daunting. I will continue to have a voice and be careful.
Those idiots at Oakland were dumber than the extreme idiots in the 60s. Made me ashamed once again to have those alleged "leftists" somehow identified with me, the same problem as 1969.
While I completely agree w Schumer about the scourge of antisemitism and the fact that the Oct 7 attack was a war crime, I mourn the Senator’s blindness to the plight of the Palestinians. 15,000 dead in Gaza and more than a million displaced and struggling to access food and water. Hospitals bombed, homes destroyed. Professor Richardson please read and share the statements from Doctors without Borders, Mercy Corps, and other aid agencies about why a Permanent Ceasefire is urgently needed.
Please listen to Alon Lee-Green and others inside Israel who are rightly pointing out that violence breeds violence, and that negotiations, not further bombing of and siegemaking, are essential both for the release of hostages and for the possibility of a fiture with peace and safety for Israelis and Palestinians both.
People who deny the atrocities Hamas committed, or the Hamas’s extremist, violent, antisemitic and mysoginistic philosophy are tragically wrong.
People, including Senators, who sanitize the actions of Netanyahu’s extremist, violent, and anti-Palestinian government are also wrong.
And people like Senator Schumer who are in the position of having provided, and are likely to continue to provide— using US taxpayer dollars— billions of dollars of weapons that are likely to be used to bomb innocents and life-supporting infrastructure in Gaza, have a responsibility to do more than gently disagree with the Netanyahu government about further settler encroachment and violence in the West Bank. They have a responsibility to call for an end to the war crimes being perpetrated with US weapons. They have a responsibility to honor the signature idea of the United States— that All people are created equal and have a right to life and liberty— and remember that Palestinians are people too.
Having been abused does not give one free license to abuse. Having been oppressed does not give free license to oppress others. Fear should not give license for mass killing.
Please don’t think I “don’t understand.” I understand the mass murder of human beings because of their religion too personally. Much of my family, were killed in the Holocaust because they were Jews. The fact that the Israeli government is using antisemitism as a shield to justify driving 2 million Gazans from their homes sickens me. And the fact that the US government is shruggging its shoulders while this happens is a travesty.
The Hamas leadership that planned Oct 7 should be tried and sentenced for their crimes by the International Criminal Court. Likely, so should some members of the Netanyahu government.
Something that occurs to me is that Biden and Blinken have been able to pressure Bibi so far BECAUSE of America’s military support of Israel, whether that support is correct or not. In other words, it has given them leverage.
Exactly, the US have leverage because of US support. Now Biden and Blinken (and Congress) need to USE that leverage! All they have done so far is express concern or gently disagree.
If you have the keys to your friend's car you don't give them back when your friend is drunk...
Well said, Ele. I especially agree with "Having been abused does not give one free license to abuse. Having been oppressed does not give free license to oppress others. Fear should not give license for mass killing." On the other hand, how is Hamas to be eliminated—and they must—if they live in fortified, well-supplied bunkers beneath hospitals and schools and other civilian structures?
Thank you. Imo, the best way to get a political party--Hamas is a political party, which came to power with about 40% of the vote in 2006 and has not allowed elections since-- out of power is to have peace, education, opportunity, and an alternative to vote for in the region. Because Hamas is a political party/ideology more than a specific person, it (and its violent, antisemitic, and mysoginistic philosophy) cannot be "eliminated" through bombing civilians, whether over fortified bunkers or not. Killing more Gaza civilians more likely to incite hatred of Israel among survivors than anything else, and killing all Gazans would be the textbook definition of genocide. Which is not acceptable by any stretch of international law or morality, imo.
Also worth noting that part of Hamas leadership is in Qatar, and those are the people through whom hostage release is being brokered (in part because of diplomacy by the United States, for which I am grateful). The remaining hostages are also in those tunnels...
It's complicated, and a mess, and for the tiny grain of sand difference it might make I just have to keep calling on the President and my Congressional delegation to press for a permanent Ceasefire and help with a path towards peace not destruction.
You are absolutely right. But how are the Hamas militants on the ground, and underground, in Gaza to be thwarted in their primary goal to eliminate Jews and destroy Israel while negotiations are underway? And how is Netanyahu to be stopped from his maniacal desire to kill them, and to hell with the civilians? If only the IDF had listened to the women who warned about the attack a year ago and had built up defenses along the border so that the carnage could have been prevented or reduced.
Thank you, Dr. Richardson for bringing Chuck Schumer's speech to us all. It is disgusting to me that such a speech is necessary. Antisemitism is so opposed to what America should be - a welcoming land for all.
I happen to have a Jewish granddaughter by marriage, two half Hispanic grandchildren, one grandchild of African American descent, and one blue eyed blond granddaughter. They are all beautiful, all worthy, all decent people. Most of all, everyone, in my family is Homo sapiens, one and only one animal, no sub species. How can anyone be different?
I despise all terrorists regardless or origin. Racists of any type are anathema. If you need someone to debase in order to feel good about yourself, I pity you, but I have no sympathy. I am, by choice, an atheist, but I respect your right to any religion of your choice. I do not respect your hatred or disrespect for others who are different from you - no exceptions.
Could you change your statement, "I do not respect your hatred or disrespect for others who are different from you - no exceptions," to, "I do not respect your hatred or disrespect for others ONLY because they are different from you?"
I reserve the right to criticize a black president's healthcare legislation because I prefer single-payer universal coverage, or a Senator voting on tax loopholes for private equity concerns when he has family members in the business, without myself being called a racist or antisemite. I didn't know Schumer was Jewish and don't wonder about a legislator's religion when I evaluate their agendas. Should I, especially when they vote to give Israel 3.8 billion dollars with no strings attached? I was brought up to be blind concerning race and religion as you seem to have been. I try not to hate anybody, but it's difficult when some people commit despicable acts. It seems inescapable that there are evil people of every race and religion. That's why I evaluate on acts and behavior.
The point Gloria, is to you criticize the ACA because it was enacted by a "black" president, or because you prefer single payer, and do you consider the ACA is a compromise toward a desirable end, or an end in itself? If your reason is primarily because Obama's skin is darker than yours then I have little value for you. Disagreements on purely political issues are fine, racism and bigotry on any level for any reason are not. I despise Trump and everything he stands for, not because he dies himself orange, but because he is so self centered he would condemn the majority of people in this country to a dictatorship just to assure his own self aggrandizement.
We agree that race and religion should be left out of it. A compromise is where you bargain for your best outcome in the beginning and end up letting go of something in a stalemate. Obama never brought single-payer universal healthcare to the table to begin with and excluded the proponents of single-payer in the discussion from the outset. Now we are entrenched in the healthcare/financial complex that is 18% of the economy.
To say, "If your reason is primarily because Obama's skin is darker than yours then I have little value for you" insults me, and that is exactly what I am talking about. I already told you I am not prejudiced or anti-semitic.
I poll watched in a district with prejudice and parked two blocks away. I had an Obama bumper sticker on my car. Somebody stuck newspapers around where the windows meet the car body and set them on fire. I reluctantly left the polling place to remove the burning papers. I returned to the poll to do my duty, but I was probably gone for 10 minutes.
"It would be better to say, "If a persons reason is because Obama's skin is darker than theirs....."
Your reason seems to be based solely on your preference for single payer not because of Obama's African heritage, therefor you don't fall into the category I referenced. I agree healthcare in this country sucks. If I had my say there would be NO insurance company involvement at all. No one is entitled to profit from a person's illness. This has nothing to do with race or religion. My understanding of the Affordable Care Act, was it was hard to get through, and many compromises were made, including allowing States to refuse to expand Medicaid even with Federal help in picking up the additional cost. The Republicans did not want any changes to health care financing.
I was a supporter of Obama. My disappointment in his Presidency had more to do with the economy and his willingness to bail out the very people who caused the crash in the first place - big banks, stock brokers, and insurance - especially as it had no strings attached - in other words NO reform. This has zero to do with either Obama's heritage or religious preferences.
I also believe (not factual) that we are not permanently entrenched with ACA; if we were to get rid of the the MAGA and "Tea Party" and returned to the fiscal conservative Republican Party we used to have, we'd be better off, and would stand a chance of true reform to health care. I still wouldn't vote Republican, I'm too Liberal/Progressive for that, but at least I could respect them.
I think Schumer shows a dreadful lack of sensitivity and empathy to the plight of the Palestinians. He conflates Palestinians in general with Hamas, and ludicrously inflates the risk of Israeli destruction, one of the strongest militaries in the world, possessing nuclear arms and with the unwavering backing of the US.
I am sympathetic to the to all my Jewish brothers and sisters who have hateful ideology directed against them. Why then are we less sympathetic to Palestinians who have had their land and homes stolen from them without compensation, which continues to this day, and have lived under the most brutal oppression for 75 years. How would we respond if it were Jews in Gaza losing everything to the bombs falling from the sky?
The most heavily bomber territory on the planet used to Viet-Nam, who received more tonnage than all the bombs dropped in WWII. That dreadful prize now belongs to Gaza.
You are sympathetic to your "Jewish brothers and sisters who have hateful ideology directed against them"? No, you are not. Not at all.
Spare me that false, disingenuous sympathy when the rest of your post begins by redirecting from Schumer's topic to the Palestinians (and yes, I do cry for them. It is terrible), then focuses on a one-sided view of the history of the region that delegitimizes Israel's right to self-determination and ignores the actions of the Palestinians and greater Arab world during that time.
Actually, close to one million Jews of Arab lands were expelled during the ten years following Israel's declaration of statehood with loss of land and money. Those Jews went to Israel. The entire Arab world is effectively Judenrein. So yes, I think we know exactly how the world would respond: completely ignoring their plight. Because that is what already happened.
Please refrain from ad hominem attacks. Accusing people of being "semi-literate morons" does nothing to promote civil discourse, or finding common ground for solving complex issues.
Unless you know Patricia Munson personally, and have direct, verifiable evidence of her mental status and education -- you called her a "semi-literate moron" -- your statement is an ad hominem attack, one of the many logical fallacies that we should all endeavor to avoid during discussions, particularly when there may be differing ideas or opinions.
You may disagree with what Patricia Munson posted, as you might disagree with anyone who weighs in on any topic. That disagreement ought not to extend to insulting or attempting to ridicule her in a public community such as this one is.
I have read many of your comments in past discussions of the Letters from HCR, and I usually find what you have to say has real value. You add insight and depth, offering information and sources where truth and evidence that supports what you say may be found.
I decided that something else must be going on -- something that could account for what I considered jarringly incongruent commentary from you. I decided to investigate. I was one of the co-collaborators on "101 Ways You Can Help: How to Offer Comfort and Support to Those Who Are Grieving," after Liz Aleshire, whose manuscript we worked from, developed such serious health problems that she could not finish the book -- we brought it into the world for her. I now understand what might be fueling your fury -- what you might be feeling about how people in the USA are thinking and acting on a host of issues, and the fact that there is something profoundly personal and sad that has happened in your life.
And I feel ashamed of myself for not having taken the step back before I wrote.It is I who owe the apology -- to you, TC, if I have written anything that has added to your pain. I hope you will accept my apology, and that you will find some comfort in it.
Schumer complains about a rise in anti-Semitism and describes the real-world risks and fears Jews face in supposedly-safe US, and you condemn him because he didn't focus enough to your liking on the latest outrage? I doubt you have sympathy for anyone. He was talking about you.
From the excerpts Heather presented here, I do not think that Senator Schumer's speech lacked sensitivity and empathy toward the Palestinians. I think his speech was directed solely toward both the specter of anti-semitism arising out of the various waves emanating from the Israel/Gaza conflict as they lap upon our shores, and perhaps the actuality of same in the 300% increase in incidents since October 7th.
If I am right, then his speech, with one exception, is most worthwhile, poignant and notable.
The exception of course, is his unfairly tarring those many, many Americans, representative of a clear majority in the country, who are properly protesting the IDF war crimes in Gaza with the brush of a microscopic minority that would be so ghastly as to "celebrate" the Hamas atrocities of October 7th.
With respect to the bigger issue in front of everyone's faces though, the issue of the wholly disproportionate Israeli onslaught in Gaza, just rekindled with all the death delivering might that one of the most powerful militaries in the world can deliver, you are absolutely correct, Mark.
15,000 dead Palestinians and counting, is by far the most pressing issue in this entire matter.
As an American, the fact that our taxpayer dollars continue to support these ongoing war crimes by the IDF under the leadership of the worst, and most openly racist Israeli leadership in its history is absolutely unacceptable. We should pressure the Israelis to cease fire, and re-commence the hostage negotiations. Eyes should be opening indeed.
Some very tough and responsible stuff from Senate majority leader Schumer. This is the America that I live in. A responsive, receptive nation growing in vision, philosophy, and the knowledge that our unity of purpose is our strength. The more responsible people of any background, ethnicity, region, or religion who really understand and buy into the Constitution, the stronger our union will be. I read the Constitution as an "Inclusive" not "exclusive" document.
It worries me these issues which have been successfully trolled and manipulated on social media to dilute the Democrats’ 2024 messaging more successfully than third party options. The door to a Trump redux is opening.
Right. It's as if this was tailor made to divide the union of the liberal center and left that had been until October 7 making such a strong stand for democracy.
All my conscious life, the Jews I've known have been among my most respected, loved and valued acquaintances. There has never been any reason for it to be otherwise. Perhaps people whose education hasn't pointed them toward the appreciation of warmth, wisdom, humour, theatre, literature and music, are quite simply incapable of knowing that.
All my life I have been somehow out of step with much of American popular culture, something of an eccentric. Jewish friends have been my refuge since childhood, have shared my interests and my values. It's no different today. And antisemitism strikes me as stupid and predatory, as does all racism, and pretensions of supremacy. That said, I see the presumption of supremacy and contempt for egalitarianism in politics around the planet as the bane of our brief fantastic lives. Evil reigns when empathy dies. It's in the news every day.
Young Jewish philosopher with a huge following, a couple of thousand years ago, said "love one another". Simple enough. Too easy, no money involved. He told them stories to illustrate his point, but it didn't work then, either. If only they'd just tried it, without warping the meaning.
That philosophy asks a lot, including less self-indulgence, which is a hard sell, and way more ascetic lifestyle that is more than I am ready to take on. That said, I found much to admire in some of those teachings before they get turned into something else by ulterior motives.
Yep, and the "pluck it out and cast it from thee", which covers lifestyle, is the big inescapable sticking point (I stuck on it when I was in my late teens, and reading Bertrand Russell!). So what about taking just that one teaching, "love one another"?
My favorite wives have been Jewish. After several blunderous relationships, I found the woman of my dreams. Her Dad's family escaped the pogroms of Russia. Her Mom's family is Sephardic.
As a recovering Protestant, I valued growing up in a town where Jews, Protestants and Catholics lived as good neighbors - mostly. But it was a white bubble. The Jewish boys were super smart and I thought Jewish girls were exceptionally attractive. And so my appreciation of the culture began. And so did my understanding of it's history. My mother-in-law's family is part of a diaspora that seems to be on every continent. They didn't scatter for pleasure trips and stay. They were escaping death. There is a reason that my wife and her Mom's DNA results came up very Italian. It was part of one escape plan after another.
I eschew all organized religions. But Jews do something I really respect. When discussing their holidays and history, they ask questions. Every family should discuss more history.
In addition, every family should ask more questions. I grew up in a lily-white, Protestant dominated town. I did not know anyone who was Jewish, and that continued on into my college education, on an almost exclusively white and non-religious campus (where the only campus religious group that I was aware of was "The Fellowship of Christian Athletes". My parents were brought up in religious traditions of Methodist and Episcopalian, and did not attend church as adults. They were both extremely liberal, and rabidly anti-racist; the support and love from them when I came out in my late teens was almost unheard of at that time.
We never talked, as a family, about religion and ethnicity and race, other than to denounce discrimination.
I have only used the term "lily-white" a few times. In the mid-1980's I told a lawyer for a large life insurance company that her company was not "lily-white" as they were trying to extort a million dollars from the company I was working for.
In my professional career I have only been scolded a couple of times, and that was one of them. She told me in no uncertain terms that she was offended by my use of the term and not to ever use the phrase "lily-white" with her again. She was in Atlanta and more than likely she was born and raised in the South, judging her solely on her accent. I didn't realize the significance of the term.
We only had the one conversation as her company was withholding modifications to the computer system that was owned by the company we were purchasing. Her company was doing the processing for the block of policies we were buying. They were trying to extort a million dollars for the mods from us. We chose not to pay and I spent the next 6 weeks recreating the mods.
I suggested to my boss that I should get a million dollar bonus for writing the mods. He declined.
Would be interesting to know how many American civilians were actually killed by Japan or Germany before the US went to war in WWII. That being said the IDF needs to stop killing Palestinian civilians. This last thing is not something anyone except Israel needs to answer for. For sure the evil Hamas is encouraging martyrs to be created. It is what they wanted. Don't give it to them.
That's nice. Here's the puzzle: An entity whose mission statement is destroy every Jew in the world, starting with Israel has holed itself up deep underground with ample supplies to survive a siege. They are beneath Civilian population centers, and they use vital infrastructure for command and control.
The dilemma: killing Civilians is indeed what the enemy wants, because the optics are bad and will provoke the kind of response we are seeing in the world. But, if Hamas is left with operational capacity, it will continue to attack Israelis, and a country that cannot defend its citizens is not a country.
This is the rock and the hard place in which Hamas has Israel caught.
If you have a solution that destroys Hamas' operational capability while preserving the civilians under whose homes, schools, and hospitals they shelter please share. It couldn't be more needed.
That's a pretty good answer, Rich. We are all between the rock and the hard place. Ideological purity isn't' going to provide a way out. People seem to forget that Israel is a democracy, and one that is every bit as divided as our own. Netanyahu's government failed to protect its people, and now they want to follow a path resembling the one the U.S. forged after 9/11. Didn't end well for us and not likely to bring lasting security for Israel. But more to the point, the anger toward Israel being directed at Jews generally is quite disturbing. If people who feel oppressed want to stand up for Palestinians, fine. Stand up for Palestinians. But they need to keep in mind that Israel is the only democracy in the region. And since we are in a pretty dire struggle to keep our own democracy, we need to support Israel, warts and all, in its crisis. This isn't just a regional conflict. Russia and Iran are backing Hamas. This is ultimately a proxy war. Inciting hatred toward Jews is a really good way to fracture the Democratic party and put Putin's boy back in office. Let's not do Putin's work for him.
We ended many lives, American and Iraqi, and blew a fortune on subduing (ish) Iraq. For what? I still don't know what was worth all those lives in Vietnam (stopping Hitler I understand). It took Obama to pin down Bin Laden, but overall it felt like murderous Al Qaeda had been playing us for fools, in many respects self inflicted "strategic defeat".
This is hard to believe from one of the best military operations in the world, backed by the US military and billions of US dollars. Israel has some of the best intelligence, they have amazing technology, they have financial backing. They know all of this info about Hamas but they can’t figure out how to perform a targeted military operation in the tunnels? It’s hard to believe….
I support the Jewish people’s right for safety, and I do not condone anti-semitic violence. However, the Israeli government’s response looks like overkill and their justification sounds like a hollow excuse
All I can really say to this is that if someone had been more interested in performing the basic functions of government than trying to strip the judiciary of its ability to prosecute him for his corruption indictment, this horse might not have gotten out of the gate.
There is a piece of Israeli Sketch Comedy in which Golda Meir appears to Bibi and thanks him for relieving her of the onus of having presided over the worst intelligence failure in Israeli history.
Yes, this endless massacre of Palestinians in Gaza has to stop. And we in the U.S. are paying for the munitions which make this feasible. The conservative Israeli government is going to kill as many Palestinians as possible until the U.S. cuts off their military aid to Israel. With Netanyahu's near single digit approval rating, the majsority of Israelis must not want this massacre to continue.
I recommend the Golden Rule not many more eyes for an eye and many more teeth for a tooth.
While Senator Schumer and many Jewish people present the Jewish people and Israel as all one and the same, there is much evidence that the Jewish people and Israel have as many perspectives as Americans and the U.S. Or if you prefer, Christians and the U.S.
Jewish Voices For Peace don’t agree with nor approve of Israel’s destruction and killing of mostly Palestinian civilians, women, children, the elderly and infirm. They are not the only Jewish people or Israelis that criticize Israel’s military activity in Gaza and the West Bank, and Israeli settlements in the West Bank. In fact many of these Jewish groups and individuals have known of and criticized Israel’s policies regarding Palestinians for many decades. Longer than Americans have been paying attention. They are not antisemitic.
The real cause of today’s antisemitism is a combination of calculating all criticism of Israel’s policies as antisemitism. And Israel’s position that they can dismiss and disregard their allies and world opinion regarding human rights.
The good deeds and support of human rights by American Jews for U.S. minorities, doesn’t excuse what Israel does to Palestinian civilians. The same goes for Americans who support civil rights in the U.S. This doesn’t excuse our preemptive invasion of Iraq that killed, displaced and turned millions of Iraqi lives into a deadly nightmare. The U.S. accomplished nothing but death, destruction and more enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan, though our politicians will claim something else.
Antisemitism will only be brought under control when everyone treats each other equally in the manner where the only anti will be anti war, anti supremacy and anti nationalism.
One of the best things we can do is raise our children around our own diverse friendships, so they can understand the American ideal, and will too have a diverse group of friends. My daughter is open to and friends with diverse people because that is both what our family represents, and with whom we are friends.
David Souers, we live on different planets. Antisemitism is 2,000 years old and thriving... I feel confident in saying, antisemitism is here to stay and will only increase with the success’s experienced by Jews... count the Nobels of the Arab world... count those awarded to Jews... take the measure of Jewish philanthropy, compare this to all others, in their entirety. Jews are incredible... and good. Hamas asked for it. Hamas promises more and more of it. Hamas must be exterminated... meaning those that subscribe to Hamas, support Hamas, condone Hamas... and that means Iran... and Hezbollah and others like Putin, the Hungarian dictator, and many more. Jews have been slammed for 2,000 years and GAZA is only the latest... I have dealt with Jews that hate Christians, and I have ripped them in Israel and on EL AL on the way from JFK to Tel Aviv on a UJA Mission... those Jews are no better than those that hate them. I get it from both sides... and will dish prejudice where and how I find it. All know may approach. UJA is a problem. The New York Federation of Jewish Philanthropies was not, 25 years ago.
Thank you, Prof Richardson. I hope our Jewish friends know that we are appalled by any and all expressions of antisemitism in US and elsewhere and ready to support them where possible.
As with so many humanitarian messages, the people who need to understand Schumer's message, will not be hearing it . . .
But we must try. Those carried away by the trouble makers may well take pause and hear this message. A very inspired speech in my view. I too want to be hopeful that many will hear it. It’s often a ripple effect, like s stone dropped into water.
I suspect that significant amounts of misinformation and fomentation come from Russian, Chinese, and Iranian sources. They have at least two goals: to distract us from Ukraine and to divide us, to set us against each other so we can not accomplish anything.
As are the republican extremists of today. This is a multi-pronged problem that we must deal with and educate people. Chuck Schumer speaking out like this is very educational for those who need to utilize Critical Thinking Skills around the world and not allow gaslighting, a totalitarian tactic to divide, to be thrust upon us.
Schumer: “the most extreme rhetoric against Israel has emboldened antisemites who are attacking Jewish people simply because they are Jewish.”
How utterly un-American to attack ANYONE because of who they are....
Thank you, Sophia. My sentiments exactly. One can state this idea without supporting Hamas or Bibi and those in Israel who knew a year before about this attack and dismiss with what can be only called hubris.
There is something vile about all extremists on all sides. Just as there is a rise in anti-Semitism there is an increase in sentiment against Arabs. Hamas wants to wipe out Israel and the Israeli government wants to obliterate Hamas and each side has its reasons.
As far as knowing a year in advance and dismissing it as fantasy, I don't buy it. How can you be one of the world's most sophisticated intelligence agencies and poo-poo this information about your gravest threat. I think they knew that Hamas was going to attack, as they regularly do, but that it wasn't going to be as bad, then seize Hamas's attack as the reason to destroy Gaza.
The Palestinian and Jewish people get along with each other. To watch the destructions those in charge are creating is truly hard to digest....
He describes bigotry.
Attacking people for no other reason than who the are. It is a sad reality around the world for many peoples.
Of course, before one can get people to do that to eachother, they establish that BEING the reviled person puts him or her into a category of persons deserving of our hatred. Inherently « vermin, » as one of our erstwhile leaders recently said of people who disagree with him.
Once you get people to think every single individual in a group is the same as every other, you have established the basis for bigotry.
The little boy who was stabbed by his landlord was killed for being a member of a group, not for any other reason. Attacked simply for being who he was. Bigotry.
If I disagree with how Israel has long been treating Palestinians, especially under Netanyahu, that is legitimate, but it is a political opinion. So many Jews in Israel themselves disapprove of and resist that treatment. One cannot hold all Jews, in Israel or anywhere, accountable for the Netanyahu policies.
How I judge Netanyahu.and the ultra-right, anti-Palestinian behavior in Israel has no bearing on how I judge Hamas, which has shown itself to be inhumanly cruel and monstrous. NOT a friend of the Palestinian people, but a predator, using them for sick power. The October attack was against innocents, not against the leadership,or the militant forces in Israel. It was against all Jews, and children and nonJews, in retaliation for the policies of some in the govenment.… bigotry, and collective punishment. Sick.
It brought retaliation against all Palestinians, including children and nonPalestinians in Gaza, and Hamas continued to use its own people as shields. Sick and wrong!
As is the utter devastation unleashed on Gaza, with Israel’s excuse that it is « self-defense. » The collective punishment of innocents in Gaza is not OK.
The Israeli military must go after Hamas, not innocent Palestinians.
Innocent children are never legitimate to attack. If Hamas were using innocent Israeli children for shields, would Netanyahu bomb their hospital?
I asked a prominent Israeli peace activist if Netanyahu even wanted the hostages back, since his bombing had been relentless for weeks. He said yes, if only to save Netanyahu’s own skin.
I take offense at the actions of and longterm policies of Netanyahu and his cronies. I am heartbroken by the pain and destruction and blood they have spilled in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Gaza even before this « war. »
I am disgusted and completely reject radicalized, vicious Islamist factions like ISIS and Hamas, every bit as much.
As a dear friend had said to,me long ago, when Israelii Jews and Palestinians were talking to each other and trying to draw close to a way for all to live in peace on the land between the river snd the sea, People need to resist bigotry, always. And they must be careful not to circle their wagons when things get tough, shutting out their friends as well as their enemies.
I personally am pro-Jewish and Pro-Palestinian. I want desperately for peace, security and decency for so many deserving people!!!
Sophia, I detect a trace of cynicism there.
Brava! Well said. Thank you.
Thank you, Pensa.
Divide and conquer has been a military strategy for centuries.
Current application: Encourage Americans to turn against their Jewish countrymen. Spread conspiracy myths (Jews control banks and therefore the economy, etc) to fan flames of distrust and resentment. Don't support gun regulations after a radical shoots up a synagogue.
Agree with Stanley Goodman. Goal is to distract and divide us. We cannot allow that to happen.
Misinformation can be homegrown as well. It is for all who see the opportunity in crisis. The whole world sees these events differently, which is why it’s so easy to manipulate.
JaneDough56, agreed, different people see events differently. My point is that some are intentionally manipulating us for their own ends, and we should be aware.
Agree 💯
I would encourage us to not use the the softening idea of "misinformation." In American it is pure, intentional propaganda and gaslighting of vulnerable American people who now are in a cult. We need to use the correct words to describe this authoritarian/cult/fascist tactic and work hard to prove it is meant to sow chaos, fear, division and brainwashing. That is very different than just some "misinformation" in my book. The far right extremists know exactly what they are doing and are often funded by hostile domestic and foreign entities who want our democracy to fail. It is all about manipulation, power and control.
We need to call it what it is.
I agree. The assault on our democratic system is intentional. This is accomplished by suckering in the gullible who have no ability, or very little, to think critically so that they can realize that they are being used. Trump's success at grifting is proof of this naivete.
💯💯💯👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Most of the propaganda comes from the neo nazis within the indicted, potentially treasonous former 45th president’s cult.
Unfortunately, antiJewish sentiment has existed here for a very long time, partly because of the false idea that Jews control everything.
Today, the entity which ‘controls everything’ is the corporate community, the corporations. Taxpayers who are bolting both political parties are angry at corporations. Taxpayers bailed corporations out of bankruptcy under Presidents Bush2, Obama1 & 2, the indicted (potentially treasonous) former 45th president, and Biden1. Quantitatively, America’s corporations get a free ride; it’s called “free enterprise” & ‘free trade’. The new 15% corporate minimum income tax bill hasn’t moved in the Senate, which we are reminded is completely controlled by Dems. Again, I quote Dr. John Dewey who stumbled across the problem, “Government is the shadow cast by big business.” I add, “Both political parties provide the ‘shadow’. There is a solution. Study how Finland has revisi
I understand what power that corporations have and how they do get a free ride. I don't agree with that at all. I stated what long has been a belief about Jews, stemming perhaps from the time in Europe where only they could be bankers. I stated that it was a false idea. We are not Finland and right now we have a great big problem called death star and his minions. They have to be stopped and if we don't, we won't have a chance for any Finland like reforms.
...has revisioned capitalism to the benefit of all Finnish people.
Bingo. Corporations and wealthy oligarchs.
When I was a kid growing up in Texas, I thought that the hatred of Jews by Christians is because the Jews killed Christ. Actually, in Acts 5:30, it was the Sanhedrin that killed Jesus by hanging him on a tree. [That's one of the ways the Jewish religious officials killed heretics and apostates, along with stoning.] At this point in my life, I simply don't get it, the antisemitism. I truly don't.
Yes, the Jewish elite religious officials using the Romans as cover. I did a long paper on anti Jewish sentiment from the Romans to the First Crusade. The Romans were tolerant and gave Jews special privileges and the Jews rebelled anyway, the one thing Romans did not tolerate. Enter Titus and the destruction of the Temple and sending Jews elsewhere. Both Christians and Muslims expected Jews to convert and they didn't. There were large communities of both Christians and Jews in Saudi Arabia at the time of Mohammed and what the Jewish communities offered was criticism. But for a while Islam was much easier on Jews than Christians. Jews were isolated in European cities and often these areas were prosperous because Jews could be bankers and Christians couldn't. They also made excellent scapegoats for rulers or when things were not going well. Mobs went in and destroyed and looted Jewish areas. During the First Crusade, when the crusaders got to Germany, they told Jews to convert or die and were surprised when some (many?) chose to die. Then there were their most Christian majesties, Ferdinand and Isabella, who triumphed over Muslims and then threw Jews out. Any Jew who had converted to Christianity was also suspect.
Actually, the Sanhedrin was the Jewish "show" court that the Romans allowed to function so that commerce, etc, could continue under their (Roman's) occupation. It is my understanding Jesus was crucified, which is a Roman form of punishment. I don't suppose we will ever know what really happened.
Encouraged and led by the master of 20th century propaganda:
https://www.csis.org/analysis/kremlin-playbook-3-keeping-faith
Fair enough but America has its own sources of disinformation and hatred. Every minority group has been attacked and denigrated by Americans over the last 7 or 8 years. Republicans refuse to condemn it and in fact support it by at least failing to speak out. A big percentage of American say they are going to vote for a man with a rich history of prejudice while complaining about being a victim. Being fair is not that hard but we seem incapable. My heart breaks.
Come November 2024, Americans will not vote for the indicted (potentially traitorous) former 45th president.
Why? We love our unique developing democracy much more than we are swayed by corporations, CEOs, authoritarians, dictators & fascists.
🙏🏼 Hope. However, Inmate # P01135809 the bloviator of lies, is not really human, he is purely a soul-less corporation and wannabe dictator and proven cult figure. Americans, we have seen, are mesmerized by the rich and famous, who can get away with any kind of despicable behavior and still be voted (rather "installed") as POTUS. Capitalism is out of control and we do need to rein it in. We have the power How and Where We Choose To or Not to Spend Our Money.
Perfectly stated.
I hope you are correct in terms of your first sentence. And I am not at all sure about your second assertion.
What it means is that we need to be involved as never before and donate more money as never before. We can't let this be our Waterloo. We need activism at all levels, letter writing, texting, canvassing, voter registration, phone calling and more.
Good point, Stanley Goodman, and thanks for the reminder.
The Atlantic has an article that I received today: Roge Karma's article, "Why Americans abandoned the greatest economy in history," 12/3/2023 is an excellent read, but it ignores a core reason as to why our economy now is what it is: the propaganda campaign launched by the ultra-conservative think tanks in league with the oligarchs such as the Koch Brothers. This phenomenon of the oligarchs' use of the media that spewed volumes of propaganda using wedge issues such as abortion, gay rights, immigration and civil rights issue to manipulate the white Christian Protestants to vote against their own best economic and social issues is well covered in Thomas Frank's book, "What's the Matter with Kansas," published in 2004. The validity of this position is verified in the study by two Univ. of Kansas professors, David Norman Smith and Eric Hanley, entitled "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?" published in the February 2018 issue of Critical Sociology, a peer-reviewed journal. Their findings? Trump's voters support him because he shares their prejudices: racism, misogyny, antisemitism, homophobia and xenophobia, to name several. These people continue to support Republican politicians who keep supporting the ultra wealthy to their own detriment. Their feelings and support are so intense that they continue to support Trump even though he is a criminally indicted dishonest grifter who will destroy what rights they have left if he is given another chance.
We are, in fact, involved in a second Civil War, with the Oligarchs using racism, etc. to increase their already substantial power and control.
I believe so.
Let's face the fact that the most effective misinformation and fomentation comes from MAGA.
He’s certainly effective with his audience, but I suspect he’d flop if Fox and others hadn’t build huge news echo chambers and propaganda systems hosting Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and other content. There used to be enforcement of laws limiting the reach of media owners. A trusted Hispanic news network, Univision, was taken over by a MAGA associate of Jared Kushner; now it’s a pro-Trump source shifting Hispanic voters across the US.
I'm not just talking about one man, the MAGA I mean is everyone who spreads it even as a family talks at dinner.
Due respect to you, Joanne, for your understandable lament, I agree with Pat that we must try. So I'm going to do my best by posting Heather's newsletter in as many Twitter and FB accounts as I can. I'm also going to find someone on Tik Tok to get this out to the younger folks. Thank you Heather for already doing the leg work!
Hi Chaplain Terry Nicholetti--Also with respect, my lament that Schumer's message won't be heard and understood by the people who need to hear it the most, in no way was meant to imply that we shouldn't try to make them hear it. Many of us having been dedicated to spreading the this message long before his recent speech--and we continue to do so. I don't see any disagreement!
I don't either, Joanne, and I'm so happy to hear from you. I wouldn't be able to "post outside the choir box," (Quoting Pensa_VT below,) if I didn't know there was a solid community within to nurture and sustain all of us workers!
Thank you, Chaplain Terry!! Posting outside the choir box is so necessary!!
You are welcome! I love the phrase "outside the choir box," and used it in my comment to Joanne Gilbert above!
I believe this message is for all of us.
And all of us are messengers of one sort or another – for better or worse, positivity or negativity. UNITY is the priority now, based on common values and messages, or ‘divide and conquer’ strategies will continue to be effective and Democracy will fall.
I’m sorry- is this a democracy? Really? When you tell us we can only vote for Biden? When the Florida Democratic Party has decided that NO ONE ELSE gets to primary against Biden under the democrats? Reeeaallly? Tell me about this democracy we live in.
I’ll tell you about the democracy we live in. We are allowed to love and legally marry someone of our own sex, to take birth control, to get an abortion, to read undoctored history, to fight for our beliefs, to advance ourselves economically, to be a Jew, Brown, Black, White, Muslim, Christian, and so forth. Biden is the choice if you want to keep it.
Well said, Susan. Biden is my choice, no one else comes close to what he and his administration have been able to accomplish for this country or democracy.
Yes, and under such pressure.
But what about the vast number of misinformed and misguided Americans who do not want other Americans, as you put it, to be "allowed to love and legally marry someone of our own sex, to take birth control, to get an abortion, to read undoctored history, to fight for our beliefs, to advance ourselves economically, to be a Jew, Brown, Black, White, Muslim, Christian, and so forth."? The great flaw in democracy is that such people have a voice, and as the continued existence of the Republican Party proves, a vote as well. But alternative systems are worse, history shows. That is our problem and our challenge.
Yes. The first amendment needs tweaking. But how can lies be lawfully disallowed?
And here you are proving my point- telling me who to vote for. That wasn’t my question, my question was how is it democratic to not allow anyone to primary? Because you’re afraid that Joe might loose and whoever clenches the nomination will loose to Trump. I understand your logic. Please stop insulting people’s intelligence by trying to tell us how to vote. Maybe educate yourself on the issue which is why is the Democratic Party cheering on an active genocide?
You’re in complete control on who you choose to vote for. We do still have the freedom of speech to point out the likely consequences of a Republican getting more votes than Joe Biden. If Biden loses in 2024, tffg has told us they will either kill us “vermin” or lock us up. People didn’t believe tffg when he said he could kill someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it. Then he did kill people on Capitol Hill, and years later we’re still waiting to see if he’ll get away with it. Your false and persistent accusations that folks here are bullying you to vote a certain way are very troll-like.
But who knows maybe you actually don’t hear what is actually being said to you again and again, because you have your firmly fixed belief that you are being persecuted simply because people disagree with you.
I did not tell you how to vote. Show me where I told you how to vote. You’re throwing a tantrum. You didn’t get what you were after in FL.
The political parties have the right, as private organizations, to field the candidates they want. That said, if you want to vote for Dean Phillips (or Bullwinkle, for that matter), write him in. And in claiming that the Dems are "cheering on...genocide" you are deliberately ignoring about 20 pounds of nuance.
You may vote for anyone you would like to...that is democracy but to judge the Democratic party as a whole based on the state of Florida may be a mistake. In 70's, 80's and 90's Ralph Nader ran for president. People had the right to vote for him. He had NO chance of winning, only disrupting in the name of a cause. Was the cause just, perhaps. But the point is that in our present system and place where we are with a clear and present danger being the front runner on the GQP side, what would be the upside of Biden debating anyone in Florida?
To state that the Democratic Party cheering on active genocide is just incorrect and when words like "genocide" are used, it gets people's dander up!
I agree with Susan, you are throwing a tantrum. If you are going to toss veiled insults like "maybe educate yourself" then I'd suggest that you open your dictionary and look up the difference between "loose" and "lose" to start.
I know that sounds rude, which is not the intention. Generally, people on this forum are pretty civil. However, I do believe you crossed the line in the sand and I believe it is best to gently point that out to you.
What's wrong with someone expressing who they want people to vote for? Am I insulting people's intelligence by placing a sign in my front yard declaring my chosen candidate?
Nope Not telling you to vote for Biden or anyone else for that matter. What people are presenting is what will happen if death star and the Rs somehow prevail. They have said very clearly what their intent is. For me that is enough.
No one is telling you who to vote for. Or even requiring you to vote. This isn't Afghanistan, where you have to dip your index finger in indelible purple dye.
Cue the dramatics. If you don't want to vote for the Democratic candidate, then vote for the other guy. Or stay home. Either is a viable option. But stop crying victim.
The Democratic Party decided that Biden is its standard-bearer. It has that right. If you want to vote for someone else, form your own party and nominate a candidate. America gives you the freedom to do that.
"Active genocide," my ass. If Israel wanted to genocide Palestinians, it would have dropped 50 thermobaric bombs on Gaza on Day One and killed everything including the grass. Or dynamited the Mediterranean Sea into the Hamas tunnels, drowning everyone below and collapsing millions of Gazas above into the mud to die. Genocide would have been the far faster and easier choice.
Instead, we're at Day 58, with Israeli farmers and accountants called into military service to move inch by inch through those tunnels, risking their lives because Israel chose NOT to genocide Palestinians.
Maybe you should "educate yourself."
Voting for Biden is our best strategy to keep our democracy. Please don’t confuse it with anything other than that. But it’s also the best choice by far than anyone else in this moment in time.
GUH. How many times must we repeat that voting for a candidate is a chess move, not a Valentine (Rebecca Solnit, thank you for this slogan, which has really caught on). Look at the board, people!!!
How come I never heard that? But I knew it.
I say that because in my long life I have learned that the priority is to keep the vermin out. Yes, I said vermin, because he who calls others that is the worst example himself.
Soooo democracy?
tricia, OF COURSE you can vote for someone else!; even write-in a name! THAT is what democracy is about. The issue remains how to get your vote to count and what you want to accomplish with that vote?
Even in a democracy, you don't always get what you want. That's called reality.
You are able to vote alone and in private - who you vote for is YOUR business - no one is forcing you in any way - THATS democracy! We all have our own opinions - who we CHOOSE to select is our own business. THATS democracy.
Please explain. I think I'm missing what you consider a democracy -- what would have to change in order for the U.S. to become a democracy, in your opinion? (I'm not attacking you, trish, I'm really curious.)
Troll on....
Vote for anyone you want, Tricia. I think your comments are only meant to rile others. No can do.
I don’t disagree with you, tricia, but my concern is this: If a majority of Americans choose accuracy of definitions (or any other point of accuracy) over unity, the democracy we have now will likely become a dictatorship under a political party that wishes to more ‘permanently’ control us. ‘Divide and conquer’ is a very effective strategy. It’s effectively working against us. The only way to counter it is to unify into a supermajority with one focus — “Save Democracy”. Once that’s accomplished, improvement of democracy can - and should, happen too.
Yes. The 2024 Election is the least choice we have had in this country. And that choice is really simple because of one fact. A party of extremists have gone totally rogue and want to destroy our democracy and our rights.
If you are educated to the serious crisis we are in here in America today, the choice is to vote for Democracy (Biden) or Fascism (Inmate # P01135809 or whomever they decide to install). If one chooses to vote for Fascism, it could likely be the last vote you will ever have in your lifetime and our democracy will fail.
But you are free to vote this year! Many of us here would encourage Everyone to really take 2024 seriously and vote as if your life depends upon it. I encourage people who just want to waste time debating to use critical thinking skills rather than engaging in mental masturbation of whether or not this is a democracy. It will not matter one iota if you cannot keep it in 2024. Choose well, I say.
Tricia: democracy is on the line. President Biden, a person of obvious good will, with the confidence of Europe and beyond and the diplomatic experience of years is our best possibility of retaining it both here in America and in Europe. Democracy is an idea, held by some people and some countries. As Christine Todd Whitman, former cabinet member and Republican Governor, is saying: there is no longer a Republican Party, it’s a cult, and it is President Biden is holding the country together.
Democracy is not perfect. So, what’s new? Politics is the art of the possible. Elections are hardly ever choices between good and evil (although next November looks likely to be one of those rare cases). The choice is more often between the lesser of two evils (although, again, 2024 looks to be an exception). If you are looking for a perfect candidate or perfect democracy, you’ll never go to the polls again, no matter how long you live.
Who said : “Democracy is the worst form of government until you consider all others”
Sounds like Churchill, but not sure…
Churchill for sure. I think it was something like "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all others that have been tried," but you've got the essence.
Where did I say that I expect perfection? Where?I asked how it is democratic to refuse other people an opportunity to primary against Joe. Why would you respond with democracy isn’t perfect? That’s such an odd take away. Why not- gee why does Florida get to decide who I want to primary?
What criteria do you think the Democratic Party of Florida should use to determine who is on their primary ballot? I can think of a few myself, I was just wondering what you might like.
i feel a big hurdle us to address is our knee jerk reaction that an issue is black/white (no pun intended) Sure it may be annoying that FL (and others) may be keeping other Dems off the ballot. Annoying as it may be, in this moment in time, the best plan is to limit the options to Biden. Now, think beyond that about the implications of dividing the vote against the other opposition candidate. The RNC, Russia, China and many others who wish to weaken the USA are happy to contribute to the disarray. When we get frustrated and even angry - EYES ON THE PRIZE.
I don’t disagree with you, tricia, but my concern is this: If a majority of Americans choose accuracy of definitions (or any other point of accuracy) over unity, the democracy we have now will likely become a dictatorship under a political party that wishes to more ‘permanently’ control us. ‘Divide and conquer’ is a very effective strategy. It’s effectively working against us. The only way to counter it is to unify into a supermajority with one focus — “Save Democracy”. Once that’s accomplished, improvement of democracy can - and should, happen too.
I do understand that and we did get Joe elected in 20 with that hope yet, one by one our rights are stripped away and now Joe is fully embracing Zionism which is actually an extension of white supremacy. Unfortunately we have turns into the country where the political leaders think they know best and have convinced the middle of that as well.
I hear you, tricia, and I agree with you in part and disagree with you in part. (That’s an unmatched benefit of democracy.) But none of that is of the highest priority right now. It may feel good in the here and now to argue and vent about differing convictions, but that approach is feeding the ‘divide and conquer’ strategy.
Saving Democracy is the highest priority. Arguing and venting about an increasing myriad of issues is, at this point, feeding the ‘divide and conquer’ cancer.
Each of us makes a choice, in every interaction we have with others — will we choose to spread the cancer or stop feeding it?
Tricia, please re read the speech given by Senator Schumer and referenced in today’s letter from HCR. This is a crisis for the American Jewish Community. They hear the thundering echoes of their entire history - flight , death and destruction. We should have risen up in disgust and scorn and banishment when, after those cretins marched in Charlottesville with their tiki torches from Walmart, chanting “ the Jews will not replace us “.and the duly elected President of the United States said that there were good people on both sides . And he may be coming again . I am frightened and I am not Jewish.
tricia: Please provide examples of your assertion that, "Joe is fully embracing Zionism . . ."
Well, many Arabs are Jews. Netanyahu may have his own brand of Zionism. https://lsa.umich.edu/content/dam/cmenas-assets/cmenas-documents/unit-of-israel-palestine/Section1_Zionism.pdf
Now you ARE trolling.
Something like 61% of the Jews in Israel are Mizrachi--roots in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. This is not white supremacy. You've shown yourself for what you are. An anti-semite.
Not engaging with you any more. You're not worth my time.
We tell you that voting for Biden is the only way to save our democratic institutions from autocracy in 2024. That is freedom of speech. You are entirely free to choose who you vote for and that is democracy. Successful people work with what they have to create what they want, keeping in mind that they are only one of over 300,000,000 million souls. It’s a delusion that you can create something out of thin air. The people that make up the Democratic Party have been working it for a very long time, like Joe Biden, a lifetime.
This has been the case forever has it not? The incumbent if he/she desires to continue, unless there are extraordinary circumstances, is going to be the nominee. The DNC has made mistakes in the past - I don't deny it. And it might be that a better candidate is out there. But the DNC recognizes, as we all should, that there are only two choices that matter in the upcoming election. One - do we want to continue the democracy? And two - do we want to risk that democracy to a would-be dictator? Squabbling among Democrats about how to conduct our world view pales in comparison to those two choices. Given that, who gives our party the best odds at winning the election. Most feel it is the current Biden/Harris administration. Hard to argue otherwise.
You can vote for anyone you want! The Party has decided not to throw money into supporting other candidates. That's all.
This is an important point you raise that I hope Heather will address. There is no democratic electoral process right now. Biden running unopposed seems to be the official Democratic Party line. Media follows suit. That's why Marianne Williamson gets no air time. So thank you for raising this. Your comment below about Palestine is another matter. That statement is not a call to end occupation but a call for the obliteration of Israel. The Jews are not colonizers.
I’m sorry but you have to educate yourself from the people who are actually using it not what the Zionist agenda wants you to believe. Israel actually calls for the destruction of Palestine, daily.
I have been using Florida as an example for this as well. They are banning books about the truth- about the real history of this country. It is the same thing Israel did to the Palestinians, they destroy the Palestinian narrative and turn them into “human animals” so they can justify genocide. It’s not opinion it’s fact. Please read books by real historians, like Ilan Pape or Rashid Khalidi even listen to what Gabor Mate a Holocaust survivor, has to say. Just listen and put aside that this is about destroying Jews. Because it’s not. Palestine has the right to exist and we have to atone for our part upholding a racist ideology- that’s what Zionism is- at the expense of the indigenous people of Palestine.
Please go educate yourselves on Zionism- tell me it’s not racist.
https://lsa.umich.edu/content/dam/cmenas-assets/cmenas-documents/unit-of-israel-palestine/Section1_Zionism.pdf
Tricia, I doubt you are sorry. Your tone is patronizing, though. Again, these antisemitic tropes and pat blanket statements are dangerous. As Chuck Schumer said in his historic speech, we must call them out when we hear them. To be honest with you, they terrify me. And I’m not being hyperbolic. Before 10/7 and the response of many who I thought were allies, I could not fully grasp what my holocaust survivor relatives and friends have tried to convey about their experiences. I bore witness and thought, I’m so relieved that can’t happen again. Now I feel the weight of their experiences in a new way. Or an old way.
For space, I’m going to keep this simple. Too simple, yes, as the Middle East is a most complicated place. Maybe we can agree that Netanyahu and his ilk have not helped matters and he should probably be in prison (I say probably because he deserves his day in court). Seeing your reading list, you might broaden your scope.
Israel doesn’t call for the destruction of Palestine daily. Israel is not a monolith. There are many voices. Some of the voices for peaceful co-existence with Palestine were slaughtered, tortured, raped, kidnapped and whose horror was gleefully videotaped and sent to their families to augment the savagery. And then there has been the justification - the celebration of this barbarity in American streets and harassment of American Jews. Where is your outrage? Do you think Hamas is an armed resistance organization and Israel bears full responsibility for what happened on 10/7?
Zionism is not a racist ideology. It is one of the most successful liberation and self-determination movements the world has ever seen. After nearly half of the world Jewish population was murdered, a haven was established from the periodic persecution, expulsion and extermination Jews have experienced over millennia, the modern state of Israel. An Arab country was also to be established but rather than accept shared land with 2 states, 5 surrounding nations invaded the nascent Israel. What ensued was war and war is hell. It is heartbreaking and awful that Palestinians, Armenians and others fled or were expelled from their homes.
Of course, the Palestinians have a right to self-determination and a homeland. Their leadership does a lot to prevent this. Mousa Abu Marzouk says the tunnels are there to protect Hamas fighters, not civilians. He says the UN is meant to protect the civilians, refugees, as he calls them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ry8V4ppJBk
This is the liberation movement of the Palestinian People? Why are the Palestinians of Gaza refugees? Gaza was ‘liberated’ of Jews in 2005. Why hasn’t Hamas cared for its citizenry with the billions of dollars it’s received and built a country rather than tunnels? What’s been more important to Hamas?
Lastly, when I hear college students ask why don’t the Jews go back where they came from, I wonder... shall my son’s Iranian Jewish friend from day school go back there? Ask Talia Dror.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZM_u-CuTRE
Shall my Yemeni Jewish friends go ‘home?’ Or Libyan Jews, should they identify as eternal refugees, longing to return? Why aren’t these questions you ask yourself? The Arab world is effectively judenrein. Why?
Israel’s existence is essential to Jewish survival. Comments like yours just drive that home for me.
Thank you for the references!
Tell that to the Palestinians that live in the West Bank who have lost their land and access to their crops by people who have been allowed to settle there and take the land. It reminds me of what happened to the Native Americans.
I share your concerns about some of the settlement building in the disputed territories. Not helpful for finding peace or building trust, for sure. Since you mention Native Americans, if you own property in the US, are you prepared to return it?
Ahhh Samantha, how else does one explain their acquiescence to their own far right political faction which seems not only to tolerate but actively support and arm settlements and settlers in the West Bank contrary to UN convention and international law?
How does one explain that Trump became President and a small, Far Right cabal has so much power in the House of Representatives? That we treated immigrants on the border like animals and separated children from their parents, keeping no records? That we allowed a kleptocracy to try to take Native and public lands? That multiple states with Gerrymandered legislatures have effectively outlawed abortion, turning women into second class citizens? Surely this reflects the politics, will and aspirations of the people of the United States as a whole.
You don't get it. No one is telling you that you can only vote for Biden. You can vote for the purple people eater if you want to. What we all understand and probably the D party in Florida is that we cannot afford a split vote because of the true danger to democracy that death star and his minions are. I wish we were not in this situation and I wish we had some other options. But we are where we are.
Tricia: The blunders and machinations of the Democratic Party are not the result of the government not being a democracy. They are the result of the Democratic Party leadership not being democratic.
Question: did you have this complaint with the GOP the last time Trump ran?
The unity that we seek is in the grace of God. We must seek it together and grasp it with all of our strength. I see no other solution.
Absolutely Annie. All things considered, awareness of our own ignorance and bigotry, now and in our history, is more difficult, and ultimately more important, than awareness of the ability of others to amplify it.
Agreed Annie. I thank HCR for publishing this. It has helped me to sort out my feelings about this issue. Im grateful Senate Majority Leader Schumer took advantage of his bully pulpit to remind someone like me, -clarify for me- this horrendous situation.
Thoughtful words are crucial at this time of turmoil, discord, suffering, war and care for one another.
'WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin delivered perhaps his strongest remarks to date on Saturday over Israel's need to protect civilians in Gaza, calling them the center of gravity in Israel's war with Hamas and warning over the risks of their radicalization.'
'Austin, in remarks to the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, said he has personally pushed Israeli leaders to avoid civilian casualties, to shun "irresponsible rhetoric" and to prevent violence by settlers in the West Bank.'
'He also said he's pressed Israel to dramatically expand Gaza's access to humanitarian aid, adding that he expected more deliveries of aid "in the days ahead."
"In this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat," 'Austin said, drawing on his experience as a four-star general overseeing the battle against Islamic State militants.'
"So I have repeatedly made clear to Israel's leaders that protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza is both a moral responsibility and strategic imperative."
'Israel has sworn to annihilate Palestinian militant group Hamas following Hamas' Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel, in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage.'
'The Gaza health ministry says more than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, with at least 193 Palestinians killed just since Friday's collapse of a truce between Israel and Hamas.'
'Austin's remarks came as Israeli warplanes and artillery bombarded the enclave on Saturday.'
'The United States has rushed military assistance to Israel, including air defenses and other munitions.'
'Austin pledged that the United States would stand by Israel's side, noting Israel's obligation to respond after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack and calling the Palestinian militant group a' "cruel enemy."
"The United States will remain Israel's closest friend in the world. Our support for Israel's security is non-negotiable," 'he told an audience of prominent U.S. lawmakers, national security officials and defense industry executives. Austin also renewed U.S. calls for a two-state solution to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.'
"Without a horizon of hope, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will remain an engine of instability and insecurity and human suffering," he said.'
'As the Israel-Hamas war escalates tensions in the region, the Pentagon has been wrestling with wave after wave of attacks against U.S. troops by Iran-backed groups who blame the United States for Israel's actions in Gaza. Austin accused Iran of "raising tensions" and noted recent U.S. air strikes in response.'
"We will not tolerate attacks on American personnel. And so these attacks must stop," he said.' (Reuters)
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; editing by Jonathan Oatis) This article was copied in full.
"In this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat," 'Austin said, drawing on his experience as a four-star general overseeing the battle against Islamic State militants.'
"So I have repeatedly made clear to Israel's leaders that protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza is both a moral responsibility and strategic imperative."
It appears to me that sometimes violence must be confronted with violence when no other remedy is practical. Hitler had to be confronted with military force. Homicidal terrorists are a clear and present danger for which the use of force is entirely justified. That said, human violence is our specie's greatest enemy, and yet the same mistakes seem to be made century after century, decade after decade.
Steven Pinker and others have argued for all the violent horror we see today, the past was worse, even more cruel and pervasively violent, which I think may well be true, but yet our tools of violence have become more insidious and destructive. The players change with each generation but the "cycle of violence" seems keep momentum even though it ebbs and flows. Every effort to dial back violence (of many kinds) as much as is practical enhances our specie's chances of survival and the prospects of lives worth living. I fear that civilization will unravel if we don't.
JL,
My own personal challenge in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is I that am 63. Although it is true I have not riveted my attention on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict over the years, I have followed the news of various failures of the two state solution, especially when the PLO was working with Israel and the Clinton administration in the 1990's.
To my own brain's perception of all these years of news around the issue, it does seem that Israel has always been slowly expanding their occupation of Palestinian lands and, in the last 10 years, has amped up imprisonment of Palestinians, often for no reason, and without clear due process.
It is also my perception that the USA has ably aided and abetted Palestinian displacement by insuring that the Israeli military police apparatus always have mountains of modern weapons and plenty of money to build jails.
Now? Hamas has engaged in one of the worst attacks on Civilians of my life. Only the attacks of the United States on civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq is/was worse. Well, Russia's attack on civilians in Ukraine is also equal. Putin must have had a phone call with Bush II before he got started.
To me? It looks like Israel is not so much attempting to "root out Hamas". It looks more like Netanyahu is trying to bomb his way to stay in power forever. Much as George W. Bush was attempting to get a second term in spite of ignoring the CIA's warnings of an impending attack by Osama Bin Laden.
I think Netanyahu feels that Israeli's will be happy about the wanton destruction of the Palestinian people and their homes and schools and hospitals and sad way of life.
To me it looks like a weak man, with no morals and no plan, who is also responsible for sleeping at the Security switch in Israel for the last 10 years, is trying to keep his job by showing that he can kill more Palestinians than anyone ever before.
I wish I did not see it this way. I wish I could see the Israeli side with more sympathy. But, having now studied for nearly a month, it seems to me that, starting with the Balfour Declaration, and using weapons from the USA, Israel has been moving Palestinians from their homes and leaving them with no place to go, no jobs, no education and no future.
I am NOT anti-Semitic. I agree with Schumer strongly. I feel no antipathy to any religion at all. Everyone gets to believe whatever they want. If someone believes a green rabbit will lift their soul to heaven after a life of eating carrots? I am OK with that.
However, I am not in favor of the steady displacement, occupation, imprisonment, and racism that Israeli's show toward the human beings who call themselves Palestinians but look EXACTLY like Israeli's.
Human. Looking for ways to feel superior to others, be it religion, caste, skin color, or whatever is just dumb.
Israel is definitely part of the problem. Those settlements were notorious for inflaming the situation, and an outright injustice. Palestinians were literally pushed off their lands (many were famous olive orchards) and locked out of their own houses, which they had owned, built, and lived on for hundreds of years in some cases. Netanyahu and other hyper right politicians pushed building those settlements relentlessly. They reap what they sow, no doubt about it.
On top of that, did you know that Netanyahu did all he could to support Hamas' growing strength in Gaza, because he was delighted Hamas was fighting with the Palestinian Authority that held control of the West Bank, he embraced the opportunity to further divide and weaken the Palestinians. Hamas assassinated several moderate Palestinians leaders who were pushing for cooperation and discussions about a two-state solution with Israel and terrorized the Palestinian population with corruption and violent control--and that suited Netanyahu just fine. In Israel, the news describes this fact regularly, here not so much.
Nothing *NOTHING* can justify what Hamas did by raping, kidnapping, and killing women and children and ordinary citizens. That was outright thuggery and should be condemned. The leaders should be pursued to the ends of the earth. Those are crimes against humanity, the same thing Russia did in Ukraine and Chechnya. It should get the same steady condemnation, period.
And I think part of why younger people are so outraged by Israel, especially African Americans, is they see how a person of color is valued as so much lesser than even a single Israeli Jew in the Israeli government's assessment. It isn't an eye for an eye, it is 10 Arab eyes for 1 Jewish eye. This is why Netanyahu gleefully levels the earth in Gaza. He sees Palestinians as animals, and makes no distinction between the people cowering in the shelters and Hamas.
Nothing can justify the overwrought response that Israel is indulging in now, especially after all these hostage exchanges, and the way they are bombing areas that are filled with citizens. They won't make themselves safer with that scorched earth policy. Their reputation is getting shredded as the morally superior party in the region.
I am interested in what happens after the dust settles. The overreaching by Netanyahu will surely be documented, if journalists have any ethics left over at all. Some of the 'foreign influences' such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, and Jordan have been exposed with their hands in the cookie jar, trying to stir up trouble for their own benefit--Hamas was a direct result of that, crafted to terrorize not just Israelis but the Palestinian population even more. And Netanyahu has aligned himself with the worst dictators in the world.
Will Israelis decide Netanyahu's methods just don't work and finally sit down with Palestinians, treat them as fellow citizens, without regarding them as inferior beings, animals to be manipulated? Will Palestinians, once more so unfairly caught between all these parties that pretend to care about them, but end up betraying them, somehow find the courage and will to trust an Israeli negotiator and try to put together a peace that lasts? Who is going to guard Israel and Palestinian interests from the onslaught of outside parties constantly fiddling with their politics and persuasions?
I can hate the goals and methods of the Trump Administration and the Republican Party without hating America and Americans. Likewise, I can hate Netanyahu’s leadership, policies and actions without hating Jews.
I learned about the Holocaust when I was 12, just a few years after the Eichmann trial in The Hague. I was given a school assignment to write an essay: “The Holocaust - Could it Happen Again.” I asked my mother “what is the Holocaust?” and she just said “I’ll take you to the library,” dropping me off at the door of the enormous Cleveland Public Library. I asked the librarian “What is the Holocaust?” And she pointed to the card catalog room. I found the cards and their Dewey Decimal numbers led me to a tiny dusty alcove, where I read about horrors that I could not ever have imagined. When my mother picked me up, I was in shock and tears. I wondered out loud, “could this have happened?” Her response: “Some people say so.”
The adults were silent. My mother was a denier.
Clearly we need to assign our children essays like I had to write. Of course I wrote it could never happen again. And of course it has. In Rwanda. The Balkans. Ukraine.
I have never forgotten. I have read hundreds of histories and memoirs. I had always planned to make a pilgrimage to Auschwitz (until my mobility became limited). I support the Jewish people and the Jewish State. But not Netanyahu, whose methods strike me as chillingly reminiscent of the collective punishment by the very Nazis I read about as a 12 year old.
Thank you Marge. I wish more people had been directed to that dusty corner in the library.
Well said. I had a similar experience but at my small Catholic school library in Jamestown, ND. I couldn't believe it. i couldn't believe no one had mentioned it at home or in school. Later we read "The Diary of Anne Frank' as seniors.
A correction or two (bearing in mind that such corrections are always a secondary matter):
Israeli Jews are all colors and origins (but some have, of course, always been far more equal than others).
Re. your final paragraph, a clear majority of citizens would have thrown out Netanyahu a long time ago if they'd had half a chance—consider the months and months of mass demonstrations against him and the doings of his rump extremist government. But the man clings to power like a leach and has taken advantage of Israel's deeply flawed and irresponsible form of democracy that enables every tail to wag a dog (even when it has come down to tiny Israel wagging the United States of America). He treats everyone, very much including his fellow citizens, as animals to be manipulated... “Everyone” included Hamas, whose leadership has ended up manipulating him and many others.
Underwriting the existence of Israel is one thing, but there soon comes a point at which limitless endorsement loads a heavy weight of responsibility on the protector. Not to say far more.
In all matters concerning Israel/Palestine it is almost impossible to express any view without causing offense to someone. Circumstances could not be more divisive—as a direct consequence of policy, first Israeli, now that of Hamas, which was designed to create the deepest possible divisions. Under the circumstances, it is a common human duty to work for peace, bringing together those who are apparently irreconcilable.
I have shown my view in greater depth in a comment posted some 6 hours ago, beginning with the words: “The horror: those who planned October 7th knew exactly what they were doing and know the consequences now.”
Thanks for pointing out there is an incredible variety of Jews--as did another commenter. Very true. It is a mistake to portray Jews as purely Ashkenazi, of white European stock. That region is the biggest mix of peoples and religions. One reason it is in such turmoil.
I didn't mean it was a correct perception, just one reason we are hearing this angry rhetoric from certain groups that see themselves in the Palestinians. And we should acknowledge African Americans quite correctly point out that Israel suffers from the same racism that we do: Ethiopian Jews in Israel had particularly difficult times when there was mass migration of their refugees from war to Israel.
You do make me draw a pause stating there comes a point at which limitless endorsement is a serious burden for the protector. What is happening is the world is paying for the Nazi cruelty and its aftermath, again and again, and I see Netanyahu and his party as a mentally anguished response to that history. There is a clear trail of fear-driven aggression going back from Netanyahu's loyalists back to early Zionists who were regarded as terrorists themselves by the British colonialists. But I hesitate to say we should ever withdraw support from Israel with that history--after all, strong dissent exists against the treatment of Palestinians as animals, and Israeli citizens have gone out in huge crowds to make their preference clear (again, this resistance is not adequately covered by our media, and I wonder why).
Yes, the Parliamentary system Israel permits Netanyahu's tiny radical and racist party to wag the dog. Ironically, it is precisely the same weakness that existed in Weimar Republic, which allowed Hitler to gain power. I hope Israeli citizens will find a way to upend and permanently change that flawed system and rebalance. But they need space to breathe. If US steps back and removes support, there is will be no opportunity to make that change.
Biden and Blinken are doing what they can to express their dismay at Netanyahu's brutal tactics and still assure Israeli citizens the US still supports the existence of Israel. I think that is the hardest path to carve out in this situation. Sickening, but a very necessary direction to take. If Israel feels abandoned, they will never take the first halting steps to correcting these injustices.
We watch “Fauda” , the Israeli Intelligence series and those guys were obviously not on the job on Oct. 7th unfortunately. Fauda means chaos not the least of which is that all Israelis and Palestinians look totally alike so it is not color that causes the differences here. Years ago we were on a Kibbutz on the Jordanian border. On the Israeli side were melons, tomatoes, apples and cattle in a large shed being sprinkled with water in the Israeli heat and on the Jordanian side nothing but sand and rocks. That was another big difference. The new Israeli’s had transformed the land and the big tech revolution in Israel was yet to come. Not so in the neighboring Arab lands. Lebanon is a failed state as is Syria today. The rest of them just struggle on to provide better lives for their citizens.
The more I read you, Curiosity, the more I feel what you have written and want to apologize for those minor corrections.
What Marge Wherley has written makes a strong impression too.
I met my first deniers in the early 1960s. Perhaps they could not be blamed at the time, they believed what their father told them, and he was a notorious Nazi collaborator who had escaped to Franco's Spain.
In my family, we knew too much. My father's first cousin, an officer in the British army's medical corps, opened up two concentration camps, the first, Fort Breendonk near Antwerp in Belgium, a punishment camp for political prisoners run by psychopaths recruited from German prisons, the second, Bergen Belsen. Some prisoners there had been evacuated from death camps and survived marches, only to die in the typhus epidemic raging in the camp.
We were living in South Africa in 1948 and I was eight years old when I caught sight of some photos of Belsen, but could not understand. These explain, however, what made my mother take me aside and speak to me solemnly, telling me never to forget her words.
"We are," she said, "all children of the same God. We are brothers and sisters and we must behave accordingly and love one another. To harm or kill others because they look different or because they have another religion is the greatest sin possible. It is the crime against God."
In those days, I didn't understand religion well, despite instruction, despite liking the nuns who taught me; but I got the message.
I remembered the full force of her words when she left us, and realized then that she had been my first spiritual guide. Regardless of our beliefs, the message she passed down to me was and is universal.
You have said what I have been thinking for many years. I agree with Schumer and believe Jewish Americans are threatened with violence but when the news shows the absolute destruction of Palestinian cities, it is inconceivable to me that any attempt is being made to stop this and to stop the killing of the Palestinian citizens. I feel it has been a very lop-sided endeavor for many years with the Israelis seeming to want all the land with nothing left over for the Palestinians. And the United States has contributed a great deal to fund the Israeli war machine.
Sharon, your perception and my perception are essentially the same. I do want to rush to say that our perception does NOT make us anti-Semitic.
It makes us fair minded people.
Mike S., your comment makes many points. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, like most regional conflicts, is complex. I agree that Netanyahu has chosen to sacrifice national and regional wellbeing for his own. In other words, he, his coalition partners, and most of the settlements must go. In 2005, when Israel left Gaza, they forced Israelis there to leave and to shutter their businesses, so such things have been done before. It is easy to blame Israel, with the most powerful military in the region, for wanton killing of Palestinians, but I suggest we should be aware of our own biases (e.g., favoring the underdog) and, pardon me, ignorance. There is so much about this war we don’t know.
In the bigger picture, imagine the stress of Israelis: sending their children into required military service where lives are really at risk. Year after year, generation after generation. Imagine their sense of hopelessness when dreams of peace went nowhere, like when Arafat rejected Begin’s offer to return ~97% of the land won in 1967.
At the same time, we must be aware of the anger and bitterness felt by Palestinians whose family members have been murdered and family lands stolen by settlers.
So there have been severe leadership failures on both sides, with regular citizens paying the price.
HISTORY: Do you know that Jerusalem’s population in the later 1800s was mostly Jewish? Many Arab and Muslim countries of the region, e.g., Jordan and Saudi Arabia, were established by the British in the 1920s, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, so they’re barely older than Israel. And one more fact: similar numbers of Jews and Muslims were made refugees c.1948. We hear about Palestinian refugees, but not about the Jews who were forced out of Muslim nations then.
Bottom Line: This is complex and the result of failures on all sides. “Who’s right and who’s wrong” become difficult or impossible to answer when we know the facts.
Stanley, you are indeed a good man with your historical facts. Thank you.
Stanley. Nobody could ask for a more thoughtful comment than your excellent writing.
And no. I did not know that Israeli people were displaced in 1948.
Not just Israeli people - but thousands of Jews from all over the Middle East and North Africa. Recommended book: UPROOTED:How 3000 Years of Jewish Civilisation in the Arab World Vanished Overnight by Lyn Julius. You can find many talks by Lyn Julius on YouTube.
I appreciate what you have written. Can you provide some links to the “ history” part of your comment,? Thanks
I am currently reading A Line in The Sand: The Anglo-French Struggle for The Middle East: 1914-1948 by James Barr. It gives the history of the region going back a LONG time.
I’m afraid I have to agree with you. I’m 64 and I too remember the decades that efforts were made to create a two-state solution, as I believe it must be for both cultures to survive. People forget that Palestine is populated with Christians and even secular people, alongside the Muslims. And all are just humans. We cannot paint any people with a one-dimensional brush of judgment. I believe Israel could go a long way toward changing hearts and minds just by jettisoning Netanyahu, their chief warmonger. I can easily separate my love for the Jewish people from the destructive actions of the current Israeli government. But I’ve been around long enough to understand that systems and governments engage in and promote war; not people. There is a way clear for us to love our fellow man and mourn the suffering that war and violence brings and still protest the institutions of power that are perpetuating the violence and destruction.
I think Netanyahu's priority is personal power. as is Putin's, as is Trump's. Peace is antithetical to their permission for authroitarian command. Nearly everyone else, including their supporters, suffers.
Dumb seems to rule
Dumb often, Jeri, but so often just politically expedient. Consider our own politics of the far right...
I am 75 ... and would also like to share a bit of history ...
(1) Recent history - poll published by AWRAD, Arab World for Research and Development, conducted shortly after the October 7 pogrom. (https://www.awrad.org/en/article/10719/Wartime-Poll-Results-of-an-Opinion-Poll-Among-Palestinians-in-the-West-Bank-and-Gaza-Strip)
Table 33: Do you support the solution of establishing one state or two states in the following formats:
Two-State Solution for Two Peoples: 17.2% (WB 13.3%. GS 22.7%)
One-State Solution for Two Peoples: 5.4% (WB 7.7%. GS 2.2%)
A Palestinian State from the River to the Sea: 74.7% (WB 77.7%; GS 70.4%)
(Other 0) Don't know or N/A: 2.7%.
--
I support the maybe 25% of the Palestinians who do NOT want to destroy Israel .
(2) In connection with the dissolution of empires after World War I, the nation-state became an ideal for many. The Jewish people all over the world had for centuries - but intensely since about 1880 - looked to re-create a homeland in their ancentral area. And with European political Zionism, they too wanted a state - even the tiniest of states. A place where they could protect themselves from persecution and violence.
British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin wrote in November 1947 in connection with giving up the Mandate for Palestine [my emphasis]: "His Majesty's Government have thus been faced with an irreconcilable conflict of principles. ... . For the Jews the essential point of principle is the creation of a sovereign Jewish State. For the Arabs, the essential point of principle is to resist to the last the establishment of Jewish sovereignty in any part of Palestine. The discussions of the last month have quite clearly shown that there is no prospect of resolving this conflict by any settlement negotiated between the parties. But if the conflict has to be resolved by arbitrary decision, that is not a decision which His Majesty's Government are empowered as Mandatory to take." < https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1947-02-18/debates/4f8bc0e9-f2d5-4267-8d07-10707986db6e/PalestineConference(GovernmentPolicy)>
---
Recently I saw a news segment featuring an interview of an Israeli saying that Israel has a right to 100% of that land. How widespread is this in Israel? I have not seen this subject discussed.
My impression is that it is between 40 and 50% ... still quite a way from the approx. 75% of Palestinians that want it. Note that at least some Israelis who believe that Israel does have that right are also willing - in the name of peace - to forego that right.
Best comment on the blog today. Keep up the good work.
It is important to understand different types of conflicts, while historical generalizations and about the human species are also valuable.
In general, I'm reminded of, "...With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan ~ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations..."
My mentor, Joe Bak, who had been taken prisoner at Corregidor in May of 1942, enlightened me on the value of living by those words as I contemplate the better ends of conflicts in our history, such as the WWII tactical, moral, and strategic victories that Lincoln would have wished for and done his best to achieve. Joe described how much the Japanese changed due to what he described as our far more productive treatment of them than they expected.
An Israeli friend, whom I understood was among 4 tank crews that repelled an attack by 200 Syrian tanks was as brave as I can imagine, but left Israel after what he seemed to describe as the IDF forces surrounding the Sabra neighborhood and Shatila refugee camp being held back as the Israeli leadership (Ariel Sharon in his case), allowed the "Christian" Phalangist allies to do the dirty work of excessive revenge, that just extended the cycle of counter-productive violence. He seemed to feel Ariel Sharon's actions made eventual just and moral peace so much more impossible for him to be a part of. He left Israel and is far from the only Israeli I knew who want a just and lasting peace, but he has been me the most heroic one (in combat and principles) I got to know.
Israel (Bebe) has squandered the good will toward Israel that existed after WW2. It will hang around his neck like an albatross. Sort of like Iraq hangs around W’s neck.
Jeri. Me being from A&M I have been spelling Bibi incorrectly.
I also sometimes misspell NitWitYahoo as well.
😊
JL thank you for your comments on violence: “I fear that civilization will unravel if we don't.” Once we were afraid of violence and possibility of escalation. Remember the book, 2004: “The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World” by Michael Nagler? I used to sign emails with “peace is possible.” Now I wonder.I attended a workshop with the other. Once we were more optimistic that we could change the world.
I have not read that particular book. I still think peace is possible, or at least more peaceful and more just. Enough people have to really want it. I think most people, in the US at least, were more optimistic in the past. I suppose fools think Trump will save them, but the general mood feels angry and/or depressive. We have lost a sense of agency, and we have by agreeing to let the rich run the world. We are hurtling back to monarchical autocracy and the impunity of the British East India Company. We need to get our bearings, and there are no easy answers, but there is the possibility of a change of direction.
I think that one factor to bears more awareness is TV. I don't know that this one study is proof, but we have to look at why so many of our fellow Americans are delusional.
https://theconversation.com/santos-now-booted-from-the-house-got-elected-as-a-master-of-duplicity-heres-how-it-worked-218742
Thank-you for posting this Fern. Secretary Austin is correct. i am glad to hear that people in such places are thinking along such lines and giving solid, pragmatic reasons for doing so.
The US IS 1000% culpable for the genocide of the Palestinians that Israel is carrying out with our weapons and tax dollars. But Israel has been doing this for 80 years. They have learned how to manipulate people to keep seeing them as Jewish victims when they are not. They have populated an entire country on OUR DIME- to slaughter and remove the indigenous people to move in white settlers. My Jewish children have more rights to land in Israel than our family in the West Bank.
Israel gets to keep crying wolf until all of Palestine is gone. They have plans to maintain this so they can be the perpetual victim and thus victor. They get to be in a perpetual state of war justifying their US welfare money. It’s classic and you are all falling for it.
this whole thread is full of people imposing their own biases onto a complex and different environment. As they say, if you’ve got a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
The “indigenous vs white settler” line you’re peddling, Tricia, is not valid in Israel/Palestine.
How do you deny “indigeneity” to the Jews who had lived there for centuries?
Do you realize that from around 1950 until the Soviet Jewish refugees arrived in the mid-1970s, the majority of Israeli Jews had black and brown skins? They were the refugees driven out of Arab and African countries where they had lived for centuries in response to the 1948 war.
Why do you impose upon them the identity of “white settlers” rather than the refugees from violent anti-Semitism that they are?
There are many things to be said about the settlements and the violence and the discrimination against Palestinians by the Israeli government and by many Israeli citizens.
But if you would not say that Trump and his followers represent America, how can you reduce Israel to a simple caricature, as you do here?
Easy, because tricia, here, is an anti-semite. I figured that out a while ago up-thread. 61% of Israeli Jews are Mizrachi. They're not white Europeans. But let's not let that interfere with her own racism.
tricia, while in hindsight the USA clearly could have, perhaps even should have done something different along the way, like sanctioning Israel by withholding arms or other kinds of support until Israeli leaders, especially Netanyahu, returned to lawful behavior by observing original UN boundaries and the rules of international law. What I believe has happened is that we (USA) have encountered a fundamental conflict in values between whether it is more important to support the only functioning democracy in the Middle East or support the rule of law.
Israel is a democracy for Israelis but it is not a democracy for Palestinians.Israel is and has been an apartheid state.
As an American & jewish, I am have been struggling because of the very points G Mamlet raises. It hits home that most have no knowledge of how world history’s treatment of a distict population - the jewish population. Jews have been targeted for annhiliation for as long has history is been recorded be it Roman era, to Crusades, to the Holocaust. Whats troubling is that so many take the position that we Jews or any anyone else should not be speaking of this history because by speaking this history in an effort to bring context to the current war, that somehow is an effort to negate the suffering other groups, cultures, or groups that are or have suffered at the hands of others trying the same to them. Nothing could be further than the truth. To those who are sincerely interested understanding the nuances and facts behind this war I highly recommend the series of interviews conducted by Ezra Klein, podcasts from Nov 7, 10, & 17 that explores the various perspectives (Palastinan, Israeli and a progressive Rabbi) about 10/7 attack.
Antisemitism is deep within both Islamic and Christian cultures and has been for many centuries. The Jews who have rebuilt their ancient homeland are well aware of this and the goal is to obviously to have a safer place where they are not the oppressed minority. I can understand that. Even Jews who have assimilated in other countries are in danger when the ancient hates are aroused.
Americans should realize that European colonists did the same thing. Our ancestors invaded a populated country and, after more than 200 years of conflict, killed enough of the natives and took enough of their land to control them and stop the wars. That is what I expect Israel to have to do. It worked. I hope they can do it with less bloodshed and in a shorter time.
Our natives eventually assimilated to a large degree, and even those still living on reservations are no longer warlike. That should be the goal for Palestinians after enough of the warriors are killed or defeated. There is no other way.
The idea that our colonizing "effort" was successful because US indigenous people are "assimilated and no longer warlike" - that that is a hoped for outcome sort of strikes me a little bit WRONG! Yes there is a comparison to be made, but seeing this outcome as successful? What it took for that so-called successful outcome was hundreds of years of forced assimilation - forced removal of Indian children from their homes - reservations that have the bare minimum of utilities and services - lack of jobs - I could keep going on.
So I would hope that the Palestinian people (who are left) dont have to accept that kind of "goal".]
Harry, you are effectively advocating for a Jewish Lebensraum policy. Nazi Lebensraum was significantly modeled after the US Manifest Destiny justification for the murder and displacement of the American indigenous population. Adolf Hitler is quoted as saying: "... there's only one duty: to Germanize this country [Russia] by the immigration of Germans and to look upon the natives as Redskins.”
This Nazi plan for Lebensraum was formalized in Generalplan Ost. The general idea was to exterminate the population of Ukraine and replace that population with German farmers.
I recommend "Bloodlands" by Timothy Snyder for a fuller history.
I highly recommend Miko Peled’s book The General’s Son.
I highly recommend Miko Peled’s The General’s Son.22 years old but still relevant today.
Totally agree. Austin is a voice of calm and reason and humanity. We need more like him.
'A Gaza hospital evacuated, four fragile lives and a grim discovery' (WAPO)
'A nurse at al-Nasr hospital was caring for premature babies. Then he faced the most difficult decision of his life.'
By Miriam Berger, Evan Hill and Hazem Balousha
December 2, 2023 at 11:02 p.m. EST
'JERUSALEM — The nurse in the besieged hospital was caring for five fragile babies. Infants, born premature, their parents’ whereabouts after a month of war unknown. Now he faced the most difficult decision of his life.'
'It was the height of Israel’s assault on northern Gaza last month, and al-Nasr Children’s Hospital was a war zone. The day before, airstrikes had cut off the Gaza City facility’s oxygen supplies. Israeli tanks had surrounded the hospital complex, and the Israel Defense Forces were calling and texting the doctors, urging them to leave.'
'But ambulances couldn’t safely reach al-Nasr to transport the wounded, and doctors refused to leave the facility without their patients.'
'The five premature babies were particularly vulnerable. They needed oxygen, and medication administered at regular intervals. There were no portable respirators or incubators to transport them. Without life support, the nurse feared, they wouldn’t survive an evacuation.'
'Then the IDF delivered an ultimatum, al-Nasr director Bakr Qaoud told The Washington Post: Get out or be bombarded. An Israeli official, meanwhile, provided an assurance that ambulances would be arranged to retrieve the patients.'
'The nurse, a Palestinian man who works with Paris-based Doctors Without Borders, saw no choice. He assessed his charges and picked up the strongest one — the baby he thought likeliest to bear a temporary cut to his oxygen supply. He left the other four on their breathing machines, reluctantly, and with his wife, their children and the one baby, headed south.'
“I felt like I was leaving my own children behind,” said the nurse, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his privacy. “If we had the ability to take them, we would have, [but] if we took them off the oxygen they would have died.”
'Two weeks later, the pause in hostilities allowed a Gazan journalist to venture into the hospital. In the neonatal intensive care unit, Mohammed Balousha made the awful discovery.'
'The decomposing bodies of the four babies. Eaten by worms. Blackened by mold. Mauled, Balousha said, by stray dogs.'
“A terrible and horrific scene,” 'he told The Post. He took video.'
'The grim discovery was a reminder of the harrowing civilian toll of Israel’s war to eradicate Hamas, a campaign that has spared neither hospitals nor children. Thousands have been killed.'
'The current hostilities erupted on Oct. 7, when Hamas and allied fighters streamed out of Gaza to attack Israeli communities near the enclave, killed around 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 240 more. Israel responded with a full siege, airstrikes and ground operations that have killed more than 15,200 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, including thousands of children.'
'Israel has long accused Hamas of hiding command-and-control centers in hospitals; the Biden administration has backed the claim. Hamas and Gaza medical staff deny it.'
'Still, Israeli commanders have made the territory’s health care infrastructure a focus of the military campaign. A month into the war, that included al-Nasr.'
'It was Nov. 10 when Israeli forces told al-Nasr’s staff they had to leave, according to Qaoud, the hospital director. “They sent us a map for a safe route,” he told The Post in a WhatsApp message. “They gave us half an hour to go out. Otherwise, they will bombard the hospital.”
'An official at the adjacent al-Rantisi pediatric cancer center seemed to receive an assurance that ambulances would retrieve patients from both al-Rantisi and al-Nasr. In a telephone conversation with the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, an arm of Israel’s defense ministry, the al-Rantisi official requested ambulances. In a recording of that call released by the Israel Defense Forces, a senior COGAT officer responds in Arabic:' “No problem.” (WAPO) See gifted link for the article in full below.
https://wapo.st/47GKLm8
No matter who you think is in the right or wrong; children, babies in incubators, children in the hospital for cancer care, doctors or nurses should never be in harm's way. This should be the case in every conflict.
Omg those innocents, and the poor nurse.
So where are all those Hamas tunnels under the hospital then?
Fern, thank you for sharing Austin’s words. The ones that jumped out at me were “ And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.” One thing that the US learned in our wars is that the relatives of civilians killed in the fog of war tend to carry ill feelings towards those who caused the deaths. This may be the intent of Hamas: first they kill as many as they can and then, when Israel responds with a civilian casualty rich response, use the civilian casualties to engender hated of Israel (and Jews).
Thank you, Fern. I’m always grateful for your research and the knowledge and facts. On all subjects we discuss and need to understand.
I sense a connections between Mr Schummers and Secretary Austin's. History and commitments honored and leadership of America to thread the needle that seams the tapestry of civil and civilian lives of people's seeking secure comity and freedom from persecution, even that of one minority against another. Thanks Fern for adding this in. Schummer was leading the larger cause that applies as well today in the strife that is Israel and the survival and freedom of Palestians andJews no matter where they live ... or, don't continue to exist.
Fred, I am not comfortable with the US' relationship to Israeli under Netanyahu and the, to my mind, extreme, right-wing government. There has been a lot of talk from Biden, Blinken...Harris Austin but what action? There does not appear to be any constraint on Netanyahu's part concerning the deathtrap of Gaza that he and Hamas have constructed.
Joanne,
I also think we need to separate those, like me, who are not even slightly in support of the Netanyahu attempt to keep power by bombing Gaza into the dust, from anti-Semites. The whole operation reminds me too much of George W. Bush's approach to the attack on the World Trade Center.
Bush's approach? Find a country with no military to support the civilian population and bomb that civilian population into the dust. That would be Afghanistan, even though not a single Afghan citizen was on any plane on 9/11/2001. That would be Iraq after lies of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
I was not in favor of the wanton bombing and destruction and civilian death in Afghanistan just to make Bush "look good" and I am not now in favor of the wanton destruction of civilian Gaza by Netanyahu for the same, exact reason.
Exactly
Mike S: Yes! Bomb the hell out of the wrong target--that'll teach 'em!
I imagine Netanyahu's approach will have the same success as Bush's. Look at where the Taliban are now.
There were no Iraqi pilots either.
Let’s try to be optimistic and not think it’s on deaf ears. I would like to be hopeful.
Susan: Just as you are able to have an optimistic perspective--which is, of course, based on your own experience and knowledge--my perspective is informed by my own experience and knowledge.
No, you have to have hope. If you don’t there is nothing.
Hope is good. We can have hope. We can have optimism. But that won't lead us to a world where speeches like Schumer's are not required. Over and over and over again.
Antisemitism and anti any group of fellow people is a cancer of the human species that has never been excised. Never will be. But it can be reduced like a tumor under radiation or chemo.
We need to have a realistic acceptance of the fact that Joanne is spot on right. Those who ARE the cancer will not hear or care about Schumer's speech.
It's the folks in the middle - who are not the cancer - who minimize the threat, who ignore the danger and allow the cancer to grow that I hope Schumer reaches. It is everyone's job to support Schumer's words and repeat them. Otherwise, we enable the metastasis.
Susan, telling people to "have hope" without recognizing the full extent and reality that there are millions of humans who really want to kill Jews...and Blacks...and Muslims is not productive. Let's have hope. But let's get real. This is a war across the planet. Always has been. Let's shrink the cancer. It will take more than hope. It will take a firm grip on reality with a steely resolve and an intolerance for intolerance.
I fully agree with you Bill Alstrom.
Susan--with respect, your personal views do not entitle you to try to enforce mine. I of course welcome fact-based input that provides varying points of view. Thank you for respecting my right to form my perspective.
Seeing things from a clear perspective after knowing all the facts can lead to hope. But if not hope it can lead to the need to mobilize our “troops”.
I’m not deaf and I’m not stupid enough to believe this act of propaganda is going to help a damn thing. This puts Jews in MORE danger. It legitimizes the current genocide and yes the OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE. From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free. Is indeed a call to end occupation please stop with the intentional propaganda. This is about colonization and the inhumane treatment of the Palestinian people. Shame on all of you.
Tricia, I think you need to do some self study on the history of the region. Compassion and hope for both Palestinians and Jews is the answer. A two state solution is the answer but legitimizing terrorism is dangerous and shows that you are in fact maybe a little deaf on the matter.
Kimber, I think you need to do some studying by people other than the one supporting your thoughts. I need not drop my vitae here but Inhave spent the last 30 years studying, meeting and working with people in the region. I love how the white people decided the two state solution is the answer because you haven’t actually done any of your own research you have only repeated the propaganda you have been fed. Has anyone asked the Palestinians what they want or need? Do your own research instead of trying to imply you are above someone else because of the way you think. Not a good look for compassion. Restorative justice is not shoving our ideas down the indigenous people throats.
As a self-proclaimed student of the region. What has Hamas done for most of the Palestinians? They have spent a lot of money on weapons and tunnels whose only aim is terrorism. How would you suggest negotiating with a group that is sworn to see you completely eliminated? Or do you think that the population of Israel should just pack up and leave?
Would love for you to hear the conclusions your 30 years of study have led you to? What is the solution? The destruction Israel and the Jews? Because that is the mission statement of Hamas, so if that is what you believe you are in fact supporting terrorism. Would love to hear your educated ideas on a solution instead of vitriol.
First of all it’s not our decision. It’s the decision of the remaining Palestinians and the Israeli’s who do. Support living together in peace. I don’t pretend to have a solution but I have listened to people. Are you aware there are a separate class of citizens in Israel called Arab citizens of Israel? Did you know they do not have the same rights as Jewish Israeli’s? The whole point is to stop being so arrogant that we have the answers. Start listening to the people who are telling you what the problems are. Look at Hands of Peace and Seeds of Peace. for 22 years we have been bringing these teenagers together to learn from one another to see the humanity in one another. Educate yourselves. Learn. Stop telling other people in regions you have NO KNOWLEDGE of what they should do. It is so colonial and settler of this conversation to be so incredibly uneducated about the actual issue and shut down the actually oppressed’s voice.
Let us remember that the West Bank became occupied because the Arabs began a war in 1967 and they lost territory. Israel did not ask for that war. In my opinion, all the conquered land should have been given back immediately… but life is not so simple. War is war. May reconciliation happen one day.,,, when talks begin again.
Wow, you would like to join Hamas and annihilate Israel? Where would you have suggested the remaining Jews in Europe go? No country would allow them in and Palestine was the historical home of the Jews. Would you like to give the native Americans back all their land? Should the Australians give back their land to their aboriginal population? If you think for a second that "From the River to the Sea Palestine will be Free" does not smack of antisemitism then I guess we don't know what antisemitism is!! If you were a European Jew and survived the holocaust where in the world would go to feel relatively safe? Maybe you believe that all the persecution Jews have experienced is their own fault. If so then antisemitism is justifiable. You can thank your lucky stars you don't belong to a minority that is subject to discrimination.
A history lesson may help
You think? Sheesh. I am gobsmacked by the ignorance on display in these comments. Willful ignorance. Heather's letter emphasized many of the key points of Senator Schumer's historic speech and I'm reading flagrantly anti-semitic talking points, finger wagging from up on high? I am so disappointed.
I would love for you to go look up the word semitic- go educate yourself and then come talk to me about being gobsmacked. You have absolutely NO idea what you are talking about.
We know what Semitic is, You're going to use its definition as proof that you are not antisemitic? Nice try.
It sounds to me like you are the one in need of the history lessons. I’m not calling for the destruction of Jews. Stop listening with your propaganda ears.
Genocide defined: Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people in whole or in part. In 1948, the United Nations Genocide Convention defined genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".
Israel has targeted the Hamas who use their own people as human shields. Could the Israelis have done more to save lives, maybe yes, but they believe that rightly or wrongly that Hamas with the backing of some Palestinians only want to annihilate Israel.
Schumer’s message certainly was not covered by main stream media. I was totally unaware of it.
His message requires the reader to be capable of rational thinking! Main stream media is about echoing negativity!
So now you are aware - please share your awareness, thanks.
Too long a message to convey in a 10 second tiktok video.
Even if they hear it, will they understand it?
Nope.
And that is your point and I undrestand it. That is why I chose to second your comment.
Some have no ears
You’re so above everyone with your Israeli progoanda. You have no idea. Go read something by Ilan Pape or Gabor Mate or Rashid Khalidi just go educate yourselves and stop self aggrandizing your moral superiority. You seriously have NO IDEA what you are talking about.
As with so many humanitarian messages, the people who need to understand Schumer's message, will not be hearing it . . .
When Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his hundreds of sermons and speeches, most of his messages have been lost through time. But, several haven't and they continue to inspire people from all walks of life around the planet on a daily basis.
Schumer's speech was potentially aspirational and if the worlds inspire even one person, it was worth it.
Should a preacher cancel his service if only one person attends? Perhaps that one person is so inspired they make the world a more tolerant and better place.
Hi Joanne. I clicked on your photo and note that you have written a couple of very interesting books. Congratulations!
Thanks, so much, Annie! Please don't hesitate to contact me if you are interested in learning more about these very young Polish-Jewish women who fiercely and successfully defied the Nazis and their collaborators.
Joanne, my father was born in Poland. The village he was raised in is now in the Ukraine. He was raised to be a Zionist and I am afraid he would’ve been one of the settlers on the West Bank if he hadn’t come to the US. My mother was from Berlin. What I wanted to say is that Leon Uris wrote the book, “Mila 18”. I read that in my early 20’s and telephoned my dad. He named off every character who were in the Resistance. I asked him when he had read that book and he replied “Ten years ago”. Asked him how he remembered all of the names and he told me they had all been his friends. Gave me chills and it was then I realized Uris used actual names for the people in his stories.
So interesting--Did your father spend any time in the Warsaw Ghetto? The setting of Uris' "Mila 18" was the Warsaw Ghetto. Just like the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the monument to Mila 18 stands on the ground of the former Ghetto. An interesting aside, here in Las Vegas, there is a beautiful Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Remembrance Garden, constructed of stones salvaged from the destroyed Ghetto. I am honored and grateful to have been able to make presentations there.
My father was raised in a town known for oil and wax called Borslav. He never knew his father as he died in WWI, thus he and sister lived with his grandfather and many aunts and uncles. Truly, his life in Borslav was almost exactly like what you see in “Fiddler on the Roof”. As far as I know, his relatives, not his mother nor his sister, were burned in gas ovens or killed in the oil fields.
My dad had, as a young man, been involved with “scouts”. That’s what he called them. Through the scouts, his eyes were opened to Zionism. I am not aware of any of his friends being in the Warsaw Ghetto and the reason being is that he started going into dementia in his 70’s. I do suppose, however, some of his friends ended up there. In 1967, he took himself to Israel to visit Yad Vashem. He met up with old friends he had been raised with which excited him. While he was there, the Six Day War broke out. That was a little harrowing but he was finally able to get back home.
Thanks for letting me know about the museum in Las Vegas. I will have to go to that the next time I am able to go.
Thanks, so much, Marlene Lerner-Bigley, for sharing parts of your father's fascinating story. There were many Jewish youth groups in Europe that were referred to as "scouts." His "scout" group might have been a branch of the "Haoved Hadati." Please do feel free to contact me if you plan to come to Las Vegas. While we don't have a Jewish museum, per se, we do have an outstanding Holocaust Resource Center, as well as the outdoor Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Memorial Garden. https://lvhresourcecenter.com
Huh. I didn't expect this interesting thread. I just ordered one of your books. Of my extended family that came from Poland, the women died at the hands of the Nazis ata greater rate than the men, who were more eligible to be selected to work vs. to be gassed.
It is my take that a huge dichotomy exists between what the government of Israel does vs the beliefs of the Jewish people of Israel. The same for Hamas and the Palestinian people.
Israeli Government cages the Palestinian people in a hopeless concentration camp with no escape; lives lived only to die in squalor; for what, to keep Israel from being integrated with people they think don’t belong there? It seems that Israel (as a state) wants to maintain a purer citizenship and uses the fact that they have been so persecuted by “others” that their only hope of survival is “to persecute” the “others” of Palestine. Is this the will of all Israel people or just of their elected politicians? To me, an average American who is not fully educated in the Minutia, I see a duplicity in how Israel treats Palestinians exactly the same way they don’t want the rest of the world to treat them. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking this
As Israel refuses to rein in the settlers in the West Bank, the glaring hypocrisy of the Israeli Government causes people like me to ask Senator Schumer to put the “shoe that oppressed” on the other foot. Is it possible that people that (wrongly) commit acts of violence against innocent Jews are confusing their victims with the actions of the Israeli Government? I certainly wouldn’t to be attacked by a terrorist that confused me with Trump
Mirror my entire post here with Hamas. Hamas and Bibi live in the same sphere
In order for people like me to understand how to protect the innocent Jewish people of the world I believe that the Jewish people need to understand what Israel is doing to Palestinian citizens and demand that Israel become more introspective
I’m sure my lack of understanding will create big pushback here, but I think Schumer’s speech was a bit one sided in his plea for defense of Jews
Where can the Palestinians go? They have no Promised Land it seems to me that Jews would be able to relate to that
I sadly fear that it is nearly a universal human tendency to seek outside or "other" forces when faced by evidence of human hatred and intolerance. 400 years ago Shakespeare recognized this need in his play Julius Caeser when he wrote "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves." This remains an apt description of the human need to assign fault outside of self.
JohnM: So tragically true. And more recently, Walt Kelly's Pogo, whose comment about humankind's environmental destruction is equally applicable to humankind's self-destruction: "We have seen the enemy, and he is us."
Extremism must always be met with consequences.
And hearing. When working with various disabilities, I concluded that deafness was the most debilitating one that I ran across. So many have working ears, but choose not to hear. Or is it the closed minds.
Closed minds... "to what" ? Therein lies a universal story.
To what? If that is a legitimate question, then the answer is ‘anything that doesn’t suit one’s established perceptions.’ As my bumper sticker reads...
Don’t believe everything you think.
The "closed minds" which shows up so much is an antagonistic phrase, usually aimed at the speaker's opponents. Yes, I think my question is pretty legit, since human beings so often frame their beliefs, facts, values as antagonistic to alternative bfvs. GOPers get sifted through the same process as Dems. In short one has a mind "open" to one set or other of bfvs and necessarily "closed" to bfvs which are antagonistic, ie incompatible or contradictory or opposed, to yours usually your group alliance. All the name calling in the world doesn't change the minds of your opponents, including the "closed mind" call. Good call on your "dont believe"... the fun being to disentangle your beliefs, reminds me of the "wisdom to know the difference" prayer.
It is very uncomfortable to untangle one’s beliefs to be open to consideration of another perspective. I never thought of the phrase ‘closed minds’ as antagonistic but that is interesting. I personally see cognitive dissonance as a more accurate explanation. Maybe because it doesn’t carry the same negativity as the word antagonistic IMHO. Thanks for
the exchange, Frank.
Hatred the soul of all those who are anti.........
Silence isn't an option. If what needs to be heard isn't said no chance that anyone will hear it. But I feel your frustration. The Maggats...and likely too many folks across the board...refuse to listen to what they don't want to hear. How do we break through? Persistence?
Lucy Buxton--I'm sorry if my comment that the people who needed to hear and understand Schumer's words the most, wouldn't hear it, conveyed any thought of ever remaining silent on this topic. Implicit are the two nuances of "hearing." 1. Actual physical hearing; 2. Understanding the implications of what is being heard. Silence in the face of fascism is complicity. Those of us who understand this have not, and will not been silent. It is our way of life. My issue is with people who think that cheery aphorisms and exhortations about optimism are sufficient responses to fascism. Effective speaking up and effective political action require an informed, insightful, impassioned, commitment that is based in reality. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to clarify my position.
I agree that this must be heard, so we should indeed do so.
History will not rest here. This morning's article in IHE is relevant and legitimate. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2023/12/01/uc-faculty-members-oppose-viewpoint-neutral-middle?mc_cid=817ac00f85&mc_eid=2d13197685
For some Americans to celebrate the Oct 7 attack as an “attack on colonizers” is disgraceful and hypocritical.
Every American citizen who doesn’t have a fully Native American bloodline is a colonizer! You think Israel taking Palestinian land is bad? The United States is 100 percent built on stollen land! How ignorant can people get?!?!
I am so glad you said this. Completely missing from his speech are the 10 million Indigenous People who were murdered and displaced by colonizers.
Yes, and look all over the world where the Europeans colonized.....not just here...
Thank you Steven. Europeans "colonized" North America via a long lasting brutal genocide - beginning with their (our) arrival so long ago. Nearly every country has been a colony.
If Native Americans on current reservations began to lob rockets at LA or Las Vegas, how would "Americans" react? If the people who attempted to destroy our cities and vaporize our people were chased down and eliminated, would not the whole US cheer?
I believe that in the process of creating Israel there was much injustice. Palestinians have been mistreated since Zionism was first put into reality. But that is no excuse for the acts of October 7, 2023. Hamas is a cancer. It must be excised.
And the ultra extreme settlers in the West Bank must be dealt with. They violate International Agreements and stoke the hatred.
Japanese society and its attitude was changed for the better after WWII by our treatment of them. Same for Germany. But that was after we incinerated their cities and threatened even more. Hamas is just like the Nazis and the military of Japan during WWII. There is only one way to eliminate them. And it isn't with peace offerings. If Palestinians want peace, they must overthrow and reject Hamas. By allowing Hamas to rule, they have invited this disaster. They have provoked the response that kills their children - the children that Hamas cowards hide behind.
Netanyahu is an evil politician who who ignored warnings. He is incompetent and has culpability for this whole conflict. I am a peacenik by nature. But if I lived in Israel and my neighbors were raped, tortured, slaughtered and kidnapped, I believe I would need to respond - and it wouldn't be with an olive branch.
Standing Rock vs. DAPL shows how Americans react when Natives stand up for their water and their treaty rights, with rubber bullets, water cannons in freezing temperatures, dragging people in ceremony into dog cages, prosecuting people who harmed no one.
A saddening but apt comparison.
Interesting comparison, Bill.
What was done to indigenous persons is a black stain on our history. It certainly does not justify Netanyahu’s and extremists’ slaughter and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.
But it’s not “Israel” that’s doing this. It’s the extremely right wing government of Israel.
I agree. It is Netanyahu and his extreme right wing government who is responsible.
Agree. Colonizers in Israel, taking over Palestinian land in the West Bank, are supported by the right wing government. Many Israelis oppose this action. We cannot hear this loud enough. Schumer's speech touched on it, but not strongly enough.
Just interested to know what makes it Palestinian land? Before 1967 it was ruled by Jordon and they didn't give the Palestinians their own state.
I feel Bernie Dander’s speech to the Senate the day before was more relevant than Schumers’.
Typo Bernie Sanderd
Sanders
Apparently very ignorant, Steven. We live in an era of snap judgement and herd mentality used as a substitute for actual study and learning for making decisions. We are, in great part, a lazy society and prefer to borrow our opinions rather than gathering facts. What could be dumber, for example, than eliminating Civics classes for the young citizens of our country who will eventually need to govern and guide this unwieldy ship?
Yes indeed, the elimination of civics and a true understanding of how and why system of governance and governments function and work could basically be considered sacrilegious!
"Israel" isn't doing the slaughter and so-called "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians. It's Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition of bloodthirsty, right-wing power-mongers (I feel sick every time Mark Regev opens his mouth on air, and the others are equally awful).
People conflate things - Netanyahu gov't = Israel = Jews. Bush was our Netanyahu. The people of these democracies elected them so bear responsibility.
Your assumption about the elections is flawed. Not because the elections didn't happen, but because there were factors at play when the elections occurred that skewed things. The election in the US that resulted in Bush's defeat of Al Gore had to be decided by the Florida's Supreme Court, after 35+ days of wrangling with recounts. Gore received 543,895 more votes (a margin of 0.52% of all votes) than Bush, but the Electoral College gave the victory to Bush.
Read more about it here: https://www.uvm.edu/~dguber/POLS125/articles/pomper.htm
Not Florida's Supreme Court, but THE U.S. SUPREME COURT!!!!!
You're correct. I'd forgotten that the mess moved that far up the chain.
Potato potahto. He was elected by our democratic republic.
The entire world is worried about what has happened on Gaza the last two months. Nobody here is in favor of slaughter, nor Netanyahu for that matter. This letter was written by a renowned historian, who I'm sure knows a thing or two about indigenous persons and ethnicity and ethnic cleansing. She would not cavalierly throw those words around. Here's a little article on the Origin of the Palestinians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_Palestinians#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DOne_DNA_study_by_Nebel%2Cin_the_seventh_century_AD%22.?wprov=sfla1
My, so condescending.
Right. Well you're missing an well known fact. The Palestinians and the Jewish are of the same ethnicity. So by definition neither can be guilty of ethnic cleansing the other. It's as simple as that.
I think it's a fair assumption that Mr. Netanyahu is Jewish. So whatever his motives are, I think we can assume he's not a Nazi.
There is no ethnic cleansing. The population of Gaza has increased since Israel left in 205
Abbey, the fact that the population of Gaza has increased since 2005 is not a basis for concluding that "there is no ethnic cleansing." The best description of the extent of it that took place just on the years surrounding and during the military conflict that led to the establishment of Israel as a state in 1948, is Ilan Pappe's 2006 book "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine", a deeply researched and historically documented work, relying upon Israeli and British documentation released in the 1980s, and Palestinian sources in Arabic. Ilan Pappé's books have received acclaim from numerous reviewers, and he has very effectively rebutted criticism that does exist, such as that from historian Benny Morris. Lastly, with regard to Israel "leaving Gaza", Israel withdrew to the boundary of Gaza, but did not "leave." It has retained control of electricity, water, other utilities, telecommunications, the Palestinian population registry, entry and exit points, materials that are allowed or prohibited, air and maritime space, and a no-go buffer zone, creating a tightly controlled, dependent, densely crowded population with high unemployment and food insecurity, which has been repeatedly subjected to bombing and intrusions leading to high numbers of civilian casualties. A 8/7/2022 article in Al Jazeera lists when air raids have taken place, the context/triggers and the consistently highly disproportionate results - these include 6/2006, 12/2008, 11/2012, 7-8/2014, 5/2021, and 8/2022. These are incontrovertible facts that have been repeatedly documented by multiple sources, including multiple human rights organizations and Israel media outlets. An awareness of these facts is necessary to inform opinions regarding the best way forward now, following the horrific, brutal raid on Israeli settlements with ~1.200 deaths, including women and children, by members of Hamas on 10/7, and the Israeli response of turning half of Gaza into rubble (thus far) with >11,000 Gazan deaths, mostly women and children, and the displacement of 1.6 million people from their homes.
And so, does American colonization in some way give license ?
It goes back to the whole European colonization thing. Read Guns, Germs and Steel.
The original colonization of Palestine and the Levant was by Turkey. The Turks were as cruel and thoughtless overlords as were the Europeans who inherited the region when they defeated Turkey in WWI. Having previously colonized much of the rest of the planet, they stepped in as a matter of course, but just as independence movements were rising.
Yes. And read "The Barbarous Years" by Bailyn.
I agree. Built on stolen land and the blood of hundreds of thousands of native Americans.
If you haven't read "Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre" by HCR, it is worth a read.
Pretty damn ignorant, and many don't care to learn.
A great reminder of our own history. We are here not because of God's will, but more in spite of God's will.
Somehow I doubt that God takes sides, and I don't trust politicians who believe that.
It’s easier to see who the colonizers are when you’re not one of them.
THANK YOU. Heather. We do feel alone and so many who we support have abandoned us. Your coverage of Schumer’s speech means so much to me.
And to me also altho I’m not Jewish I am an American that believes in Lady Liberty 🗽 at our front door and I do believe that many and maybe most could be inspired to also
Thank you Professor Richardson, for publicizing Senator Schumer’s words. Indeed, this is no intellectual exercise for most (if not all) American Jews. Many of us have a personal connection to the Holocaust. I am one.
My maternal grandfather survived that gruesome period of history, by immigrating from Russia before WWII. Unhappily, the rest of his family was wiped out in October 1942, when Einsatzgruppen forces murdered 30,000 Jews in Brest-Litovsk over a period of three days.
My paternal grandfather immigrated from Hungary also before WWII. His sister, an Aunt I never knew, immigrated to America, but then returned to Budapest in the 1930s. She was murdered at Auschwitz in 1944.
And finally, my wife is a “2G” survivor. Her father survived in the woods of Poland, making it through the DP camps to America in 1949. But my wife’s grandmother died in those woods, along with others who were too weak to cope with the rigors of winter. These experiences form who we are. So when synagogues and Jewish businesses in America are vandalized, we immediately think of Kristallnacht. And it causes fear.
We have lived in a land of religious tolerance ever since the first Dutch Sefardi Jews arrived in America. Is it possible that this chapter in American history is coming to an end? I hope not, but the long history of Diaspora Judaism suggests that oppression is the rule, rather than the exception.
I pray that better natures will prevail. Ken y’hi ratzon. May it be His will.
My story is a bit similar. I am the daughter of Holocaust victims. My grandparents (mother’s parents) were gassed at Chelmno in 1942. She was already in America and had tried to get them out but to no avail.
Shalom, Marlene. I will try to help you carry this if I can.
Marlene Lerner-Bigley-- So sorry . . .
I hate that this happened to your grandparents. I hope that people who are reading your words recognize that "gassed" is a synonym for both "murdered" and "slaughtered."
I hope everyone feels as shocked and sad as I do, reading your account of what happened to them.
Im so sorry, what a tragedy for your family.
At this point, there is not much I can say. I understand the history and it is getting late to remember that the Palestinians and the Jewish people who founded Israel are both equally victims of European imperialism. There wil be "what about this.." or "but remember, ." Regardles, they will remain victims of forces beyond there control.
I will let it be and second Joanne Gilbert.. Yes, Senator Shumer described a history that must be remembered, eloquently.
Yes, Arab antisemitism as it exists today was shaped, I think, by Britain's "let's you and him fight" policies in Mandate era Palestine. They feared being ousted by Jews and Arabs cooperating, and did all they could to thwart it. It is also worth noting that Jews are indigenous to the Levant, and what is modern Israel, and the West Bank has had a continuous Jewish presence for 3000 years. This is where any analogy to the displacement of American Native Tribes by European whites fails.
As I stated, I understand the history. The American Native Tribes existed long before cowboy movies. Empires came and went over the past 5000 and more years. Aboriginal peoples were displaced, absorbed and eliminated. Picot was French. Rothschild was Jewish. Balfour was English. The Ottoman Empire was divided up around resorces, petroleum being the most important.
All of this is irrelevant in the discussion of Senator Shumer and the egregious rise in antisemitism today. Likud does not speak for the Jewish people, but they, by their actions over twenty-five years or more have been actively stoking Arab and Palestinian anti-semitism. The Netanyahu administration was aware of the plan of attack by Hamas a year ago. It was executed as stated in the plan. The timing may well have been to make sure the Palestinians were not overlooked in the new Arab/Israeli "Normalizations".
We can go on for hours and weeks. I have no patience to spend hours digging back into this every time the issue pops up in the Substack comment sessions.
Leanard Peltier is still in prison.
So true. I do, however, think it is relevant to provide info that shows people that the conflict is far deeper and more complex than being just two autonomous peoples who can't figure out how to get along. And I hope your mention of Peltier will encourage readers who don't understand your reference, to learn more about him.
We need an historian of empire to do a substack series like Heather's history letters during the Pandemic. I don't have a degree in history, but grew up reading all I could get my hands on before high school. History is poorly understood, as revealed by many readers of Heather's who had history degrees and knew almost nothing she was revealing,
There is so much information available that it just amazes me how people are so sure of issues in the Middle East and do not know about the Sykes/Picot Agreement or the Balfour Declaration a decadeor so later. The Jewish people were put in Palestine to serve European interests. They were not wanted in Europe. Florida in 1946 was a damn near Jewish State, from all the New England and NY retirees. The lands of Peltier's people were owned by the varous Sioux Nations for thousands of years.
States are created by those who control wealth and need labor to do their bidding to keep them wealthy. We only have one Earth and Africa is our mother. As such, we are all sisters and brothers and it is long past time that we behave as such. It will be our end as a species if we do not. I can go off a bit.
It remains to be seen if Shumer's speach gains any traction. I have gone way off point.
Just for the record, the secret Sykes-Picot Treaty, dividing up the Ottoman empire between Britain and France, was done in 1916. Then in 1917, the British issued the Balfour Declaration regarding the part of the Middle East they gained under Sykes-Picot, and also managed to get another loan from the Rothschilds to pursue World War I - like the promises they made India for that country's sacrifice of a million men in World War I for the British Empire regarding independence, the Brits figured no one would ever call for repayment of the debts incurred.
Yes, it was late and I had nothing at my fingertips. I think my point was that there are so many opinions on the current subject that lacked even the knowledge of the documents and the history. It revolved around WWI. They hoped establishing Israel would satisfy the debt to the Rothschilds. Stupid Brits. Racist misygonists all.
Ransom: Your post seems entirely on point to me.
" We need an historian of empire to do a substack series like Heather's history letters during the Pandemic." Can you imagine doing that doctoral ? Yikes !
I would recommend to any readers the 1980 book by Peter Matthiessen, "In The Spirit of Crazy Horse", which tells Leonard Peltier's story in granular detail, with a full rundown of the historical and law enforcement context. Matthiessen is one of only a very few authors who was awarded the National Book Award for both fiction (Shadow Country) and non-fiction (The Snow Leopard). Shadow Country, about the central Gulf Coast of Florida in the early 20th century, when it was still the "wild west" long after the western version of the "wild west" had largely entered mythology, is a tour de force of historical fiction. The Snow Leopard is absolutely sublime nature-writing.
Everything he wrote is sublime.
A book lover! What say we trade off titles? I just finished Angela's Ashes, a memoir about a dirt-poor Irish childhood, which is amazing in capturing childhood well, always difficult, and that it is a wonderful read despite the numbing poverty and pervasive child-unfriendly atmosphere of heavy-handed, guilt/fear-driven Catholicism. what have you read recently?
Yes. No reason for him to be. Whenever I look at what white Christians did to the native peoples, I feel a white hot rage. Dying or losing one's heritage before the Cross is an all too common experience.
Rich Furman: So true. "Dying or losing one's heritage before the Cross is an all too common experience."
The Bible was created by the Romans three to four hundred years AD to pacify the peoples in the lands they desired. Believe or die. It worked.
Ransome Rideout: So true that religion provides convenient justification for cultural mass murder. Culturacide?
I have written to each president since Peltier's imprisonment for his release, and it seems to have no impact whatsoever. I pray he will die a free man.
Rich - I am having difficulty understanding the point you are making with regard to the presence of of those of Jewish faith living in Palestine "for 3,000 years." I assume you are not saying that this fact in some way accords some unique form of land ownership and control. According to the Wikipedia page on the Demographic history of Palestine, the percentage of the population that was Jewish in 1800 was 2.5%. What percentage of the land they owned was likely smaller, as they were a small minority with little influence. Therefore, the process of colonization that began with the first wave of Zionist settlers (beginning in 1881) had that as a rough starting point (this had been raised to 8% by 1890). I hope you are not asserting that the Jewish colonists did not eventually engage in an ambitious and often violent process of displacement of the existing Palestinian population, as that is a non-controversial historical fact (not limited to the ethnic cleansing that took place in the last half of the 1940s surrounding the time when the state of Israel was established). The fact that there were not zero Jews in Palestine as of 1800 does not alter the history of subsequent colonization and the drastic shift in demographics that resulted. This is a distinct question from the myriad other issues that are being discussed in the Comments section today, where debate is necessary and encouraged; I consider this demographic shift not part of that debate, as the historical documentation is incontrovertible. Any knowledgeable debate has to have facts as well-established as this as common points of agreement. Ownership of all of the land of Palestine by Jews, based upon revealed wisdom that it was granted in perpetuity by God, can never constitute such a common point of agreement, as it is not historically documented and is an article of faith that is non-falsifiable. The same can be said of claims to ownership and/or stewardship that are founded upon and justified by interpretations of Muslim holy texts.
Rich Forman: So true. A place that is the homeland of two ancient peoples who are controlled by more powerful, self-serving forces, will never benefit from war or naive diplomacy.
The phrase "Arab antisemitism" is both a contradiction (the Arabs ARE Semitic people) and a euphemism. ("Antisemitism" really means "anti-Jewish". )
For the finer points of the distinction between "Antisemitism" and "Anti-Judaism" and how it is that the term does not refer to Arabs, please see https://holocausteducation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Etymology-of-antisemitism.docx
Anti-semitism means one thing and one thing only: Jew hatred. It's a term that was coined in the late 19th century by a German man named Wilhelm Marr. To say anti-semitism refers to all Semitic peoples is sophistry.
Anti-semitism = Jew hatred.
I hope part of the history to be remembered includes the Nabka, and early intentions of Ben Gurion that the Israelis will eventually undertake the complete riddance of Palestinians. To be remembered as well are such severe conditions exacted by the Israelis in their creation of what has been reported by many human rights organizations as the largest open air concentration camp. Mounting to being recognized as apartheid. Many may feel the use of force to kill women who bear children and children are acceptable targets for slaughter because the Israelis are merely defending themselves. It is also to be remembered that the assertion that Hamas has been using the children and women as human shields has been refuted by human rights organizations. “The Israeli authorities have claimed that in a few incidents, the Hamas authorities or Palestinian fighters directed or physically coerced individual civilians in specific locations to shield combatants or military objectives. Amnesty International has not been able to corroborate the facts in any of these cases.”
So, it seems that the Israeli claims have no basis in reality, and are just a way to demonize Palestinians and legitimize their indiscriminate bombardment of civilians. This is hardly the first time Israel has used this accusation to delegitimize their enemies. For example, in the 2006 war against Lebanon Israel accused Hizballah of using human shields. Unsurprisingly, investigations by both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch similarly found no evidence.(decolonizepalestine.com) This whole situation is complex. Not the least of which is the use of emotional blackmail to catalyze guilt, a feeling that can block clear sightedness of culpability. Some take issue of viewing Israelis as colonizers. Consider the behavior of the early whites colonizing the USA. what happened to the indigenous populations? To Blacks? Think Africa. What happened to Lumumba? At the time of the Congo’s liberation it was reported only one national had had a university education. The Congo matches the size of the USA from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic. The colonizers like the Israelis imposed severe restrictions on the population.
Excellent, Selina. You summarize the pov of Arabs and Palestinians and myself very well. This didn't start on October 7th. It began in 1948 with an understandable but colossal error in judgment. The policy of Zionists has been the eradication of Palestinians from "israel" for a hundred years. Did the Palestinians not have a right to to defend their country? Who has the 4th strongest military in the world supported by nearly $4 billion a year from the US? And now it is engaged in open, relentless genocide. Irony, anyone? I, therefore, do not support Israel in any way and believe it lost its right to be a country a long time ago. Relentlessly earned that lack of right.
Douglas Paterson: In re support of Israel, or lack thereof, my own view is that we can only support--or not support--the governments of countries. Governments are not representative of their citizens. Just as many Americans did not support Trump, many Israelis do not support Netanyahu. And insofar as Hamas is the "government" of Gaza, it does not necessarily represent the Gazan population.
Douglas Paterson: The "Colossal error in judgement" was conceived and implemented by self-interested, predatory powers, inspired by earlier events including, but not limited to, the actions of the Ottoman Empire and its subsequent dismantlement, the Sykes-Pico Agreement, The Balfour Declaration; The White Paper . . .
That was my point.
Ransom Rideout--I know that was your point! Unfortunately, the lack of historical perspective hampers some commenters from understanding the antecedents of the ongoing--and all-too-predictable--crisis.
I will admit I do not understand the Israel/ Palestine situation but I do resent the fact that America sends billions to Israel every year. I think the Israelis use our support to persecute the Palestinian people. I have no vision for peace in that region until all others are annihilated and only Israeli Jews survive. Will the killing stop then? Maybe.
Yes.
Douglas. Your statement sends chills down my spine:
"....lost its right to be a country a long time ago."
I agree with much of what has been said about the evils of an extreme form of Zionism. But that attitude is not what the majority of Israelis believe. Much has been totally wrong about the treatment of Palestinians. But putting all this on Israelis says that you are tone deaf to the Senators speech and Jewish history. Rhetoric like yours is no different than that of Hamas.
Our cousins in Israel live and work alongside Arabs who participate comfortably in a society of mixed religions. They are not supporters of Netanyahu. They don't believe in persecuting Palestinians. They are very much the norm throughout Israel.
And you suggest they don't have a right to a homeland - their own country?
And so it goes...over the centuries.
There are many arab Israeli citizens, and no such thing as an intention to eradicate Palestinians from Israel.
Jews belong in Israel. It is literally their homeland. They were not colonisers but returnees from enforced exile.
As for 1948, the UN declared that two states should be created. Jews created theirs. Palestinians did not. Why not? The UN had voted for it, but they didn’t go ahead and create their state. Instead, Jordan and Egypt occupied their land. Why did Palestinians not create a state throughout the fifties and up to 1967? What was stopping them from doing so? Not Israel. Not the US. Not Europe. Who was stopping them?
You propose a very interesting question I have been looking into for some time and from other points such as psychological, historical, even considering founding stories of the religions involved. Jews and our very long history of persistently re-examining our/the original texts (1,800 years of Talmudic Judaism) has consistently guided our secular cultural everyday lives, has led to our contributions to the very founding of this democracy, as our founding fathers were well aware. If and when that kind of openness to change of a culture is not, or barely, allowed, the people of such a culture remain bound by practices and ideas that can become dangerous even to themselves as well as others they have come to oppose. Such is the case between a culture promoting ideas of life whose ongoing growth promotes thriving even in the face of the most extreme adversity of over 2,500 years, and a religious culture dedicated to the idea of classifying all non-believers as victims to be killed, a culture of death. This contrast is apparently too stark for scads of otherwise supposedly educated people (read: lots of 'progressive'
university students) to take in, and they may not even be learning it; it is so much easier to vent, no matter what the cost even to others around them. In fact that venting is ruining the very fabric of what 'higher' education is supposed to be offering. The history of ideas is being played out by people who show very little grasp of their existence or importance. This is morally obscene.
So Americans really belong in Europe. Gotcha.
So, for you, Annis, "If whoever was first on a section of land, then that belongs to them no matter how many people moved in and lived there for centuries. Is that it. The Jews were first there, they were exiled, they were returned - so it belongs to the Jews. So, what about all the American Indian Tribes that were kicked off their land?
"According to the site Native-Land.ca, Lenape, Rockaway and Canarsie Indians once occupied what is now New York City." "After the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830, approximately 60,000 members of the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations (including thousands of their black slaves) were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands, with thousands dying during the Trail of Tears." And big chunks of the southwest and California were occupied by Mexicans and indigenous Mexicans. So by your lights Mexico has the right to take that land back for themselves. Right? "In the year 3338 (423 BCE), Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, lay siege to Israel and laid it to waste. When Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Holy Temple, he exiled 10,000 of the brightest and most promising of the Jewish nation (Chabad.org) So, Annis, those people the world over who were pushed out of their environment 2000 years ago (maybe more) have the right 2000 years later to shove the current inhabitants off it because they (the Israelites) were there first? Does this make sense to you?
Another piece of little acknowledged background is that 'Palestinians' do not actually exist except as a very recent label for people who are actually of late 20th century Jordanian and Egyptian origin.
To add, a people whose culture is religiously regulated against living inside the modern world are ill prepared to form a democratic government when the foundations are not built into their everyday lives for even beginning that process. They need all the help they can become open to accepting.
Robin Birdfeather...
Your comment about a people whose culture is religiously regulated against living inside the modern world are ill prepared to form a democratic government when the foundations are not built into their everyday lives for even beginning that process.
I was very struck by that because I think you hit on something significant. In my life I have lived close to Amish communities, as well as large Hassidic communities. And their respective religious beliefs do indeed regulate the way life is lived.
I am not educated enough to thoroughly understand the culture of these ( I think similar) two communities. I will go out on a limb here to say the one thing they have in common is that women do not have equal rights; women are subjugated to men. Therefore they cannot form a democratic way of life or governance.
That is what resonated with me about your observation. It is not a way of life I would choose for myself but that, I suppose, is what religious freedom is about. However, as you noted...there are far reaching consequences for our choices in life. Thank you for this food for thought and a different perspective.
Spot on - The role and status of women in any culture is always a primary way to examine that cultures relationship to what we broadly consider as the modern world.
There are of course, numerous variations. One close to home is that of many, many tribes of Native Americans, where women are the chief decision makers for many things for the tribe as a whole and are highly respected, keeping the tribe going continuously for thousands of years in many cases.
It is no sudden accident that our Department of the Interior is now run by a native american woman who is the first to hold such a national position in that post, Deb Haaland, a truly wise decision by President Biden (see Wikìpedia). It is much harder for a people to adapt to changing conditions which are always present of course, when there is no honest flexibility given to examining roles of anybody. This is certainly as you pointed out where strictly held religious ideas can hamstring a people as a whole, where an idea can keep a stranglehold on secular everyday society’s ability to function
well for all. The movie Unorthodox
illustrates those difficulties for the woman whose story it is. Another illustration is that there are no women in Hamas leadership and almost none in the present Israeli government that is largely run by the orthodox contingent, a very deep contradiction in Judaism considering the illustrious place of women throughout our history.
Do more reading. There were a lot of reasons. I am not saying they chose not to create their state, I am saying more research on your part would help you have better insight.
Can you be more specific, I'm sure others would like to know as well...cite some sources?
Yes, OK. I DO know, and MORE. You did not understand me when I said all of this is irrelevant to the discussion at hand, Good night.
They built tunnels under hospitals ... what more proof do you need ?
Proof for what?
Selina, well researched and thoughtfully represented. It still leaves us with the problem of how to move forward from here? Recognizing that we can only change our own behavior, what principle or basic value shall we, the USA, proceed under: whether it is more important to try to redress the wrongs and grievances of several milennia, support the only functioning democracy in the Middle East or support the rule of law?
Pull the plug on all USA material and human (military) support for Israel until they agree to an immediate ceasefire, massive humanitarian aid for Palestinians, and a long term solution to the conflict. The USA finds unacceptable any nation - ally or non-ally - that commits genocide. Enlist and co-fund best diplomats and negotiators from all over the world (yes, including those from Arab lands, China, Russia, Brazil, etc)to work in teams with Israeli and Palestinian representatives to create a solution with enforcement measures spelled out clearly. (Nuland, Blinken and Sullivan are mediocre, and neo-cons (prejudiced, not open) none of which can touch George Mitchell's coattails. Further,. the USA understands there is a critical difference between being anti-Israel and anti-Jewish. Its fealty to the 1st Amendment right to dissent remains unswerving.
Every single comment I’ve read so far is thoughtful and relevant to this post.
Thank you, Selena.
Ransom Rideout, exactly. The British Empire's extraordinary power to turn other peoples into puppets warring against each other has had an obscene impact on the world, past, present, and future . Those of us who hear and understand Schumer are dedicated to spreading his message.
We of Irish and Scottish descent can discuss the English "divide and conquer" strategy at length.
As can the great majority of English descent or who are English today - the clearances, the bloody code and the poor laws started in England and landed many in insecure tenancies, the poorhouse or transported to penal colonies, courtesy of the ruling classes. But divide and rule worked well for them - and still does.
"the man who stole a goose from the commons was transported to America, while the man who stole the commons from the goose was transported to Parliament."
The ancestor whose surname is my first name, James Thomas of Wales, wasn't transported to get here as a result of the Enclosure Movement, but when he could no longer feed his family, he took that as a sign to get out.
India, Ireland, Israel . . .
Aye, Kinsman
I was 10 years old when Elizabeth II was crowned and very excited about it, since I knew my ancestors were English. My mother. who was prone to setting things straight, explained to me that our Baptist ancestors would not have come to North America had the British not enacted enclosure laws. They would have starved. I'm no longer Baptist, but neither am I enamored of royalty, British or otherwise.
Yes!
Doing what we can to make sure people understand is the critical element. The history is tainted by personal interests and aggreivements. Too many chickens and eggs, if you know what I mean. Also, I do need to check out your books. I have a reading problem though. I am writing and commenting and it is getting too late to even read one more chapter of Democracy Awakening. It sits right here beside me. Now it's bedtime. I'll hit your follow so we can keep up.
Thank you--sleep well!
Ransom, in thinking about Schumer's thoughtful, articulate and meaningful recounting of the eternal suffering of the Jews, I recognize his compelling need to suppress and eliminate hate crimes against Jews if not hatred itself insofar as possible. On the other hand, as the highest-ranking Jew in the history of our government, I also hope he will help us all resolve what I think has risen to the top of political consideration: politically we (USA) have encountered a fundamental conflict in values between whether it is more important to support the only functioning democracy in the Middle East or support the rule of law. It would appear that, at least so far, the government of which Schumer is a leader has opted for support of democracy over support of the rule of law.
A serious issue is that the overwhelming majority of the Jewish people in Israel support both. It is Likud and and Netanyahu that support niether. Just tempering the current administration in Israel is a massive task that the Biden administrtion has been on 24/7 since the wall was breached, a year after the Israeli government knew of the plan, which was executed to the letter. The US has not given the fast Nedi the go-ahead to do as he wishes. They are demanding constraint, but Bibi needs the war to stay out of jail. Sound familiar?
This is what I, an American Jew with Israeli cousins and many former Muslim students, wrote last night to my sister-in-love, an American Christian who shares my views:
After the past week of the ceasefire and the return of the hostages and the detainees to their families, I was beginning to feel hopeful with each day that the cessation of hostilities was extended that we might be inching ever so slowly to a more lasting peace. However, the resumption of hostilities today had filled me with sadness. More people are dying. More are being injured. More buildings are being leveled. The remaining hostages remain in danger. The detainees in Israeli prisons remain in indefinite administrative detention. Israeli soldiers are being called upon to risk their lives for an elusive goal. How can Netanyahu and his fellow criminals have convinced themselves that bringing more misery to the region will destroy a group whose leaders live safely in Qatar? Can they not anticipate how the current generation of Gazan children will grow up with hatred in their hearts for Israelis? Or how the terror that the Israeli settlers and the IDF wage on the West Bank will affect those who are the victims?
Perhaps I deluded myself in being encouraged by just a few days of ceasefire into thinking that a possible path toward peace was being established. Clearly, 75 years of a mixture of a sense of entitlement and feelings of injustice cannot be untangled overnight. But resuming the bombing only gets us further from any eventual long-lasting solution. Why is this so obvious to millions and millions of us across nations and continents and yet so beyond the understanding of the warmongers?
And thinking about it today, I realized how incensed I am that my tax dollars are being used to kill and maim civilians and to destroy their cities. There is no contradiction in the hearts of those of us who decry the terror inflicted by Hamas on October 7 and the terror that is inflicted on the people of Gaza and the West Bank by the misguided policies of the current Israeli government.
Pitch perfect, Betsy!
You nailed it, Betsy.
Very well said, Betsy.
Shalom aleichem, Betsy. I appreciate this comment very much.
Thank you for summarizing his speech so clearly. Here in the SF Bay Area, the kind of antisemitism that Schumer decries is on full display at some city council meetings. It's shocking, demoralizing, and depressing.
And should be called out
Patricia Munro, in a city council meeting? Unthinkable!!
Look up the Richmond City Council Resolution. It's beyond dreadful. And Oakland held a special meeting--had to, the community demanded it--at which 300 people spoke. There's a clip floating around of some of the most egregious comments. The Alameda County Dems did the same. Unfortunately, it's very, very thinkable.
Antisemitism in El Dorado County is also a continuing problem. Northern California. “The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors sat through a stream of antisemitic phone calls Tuesday afternoon, from people voicing disapproval of the board’s recent vote to rescind its designation of July as American Christian Heritage Month. https://amp.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article279799459.html”
What was most shocking to me was that the callers were not disconnected immediately, but spewed their antisemitic hate for all to hear. And perhaps feel emboldened to spread their own hate. I, too, wish it were unthinkable, but this is not new here in the hills. We all must be aware and work together to call it out and work to stop it.
So gross, Irenie, and heartbreaking. These people on the Board simply are not prepared for this dangerous rhetoric. But they should be.
Yes, Marlene, I feel like I’ve always lived as a minority, in suburbia, that doesn't support non-Christians. I am fortunate to have a cohort of Jewish women friends, and many social, artistic and volunteer opportunities, but the reality is disturbing. My choice now to live here, because moving at this stage of life is too daunting. I will continue to have a voice and be careful.
I too, have many Jewish and non-Jewish friends. Our voices have to be heard. You also, be careful.
Yes, I have been reading about Richmond and Oakland city council meetings.
Oh it’s everywhere. A councillor in our town too.
OTOH, Three of the Monterey County supervisors voted down a one sided proposal to support Israel, because it was one sided.
JFC!
Those idiots at Oakland were dumber than the extreme idiots in the 60s. Made me ashamed once again to have those alleged "leftists" somehow identified with me, the same problem as 1969.
Terrifying.
While I completely agree w Schumer about the scourge of antisemitism and the fact that the Oct 7 attack was a war crime, I mourn the Senator’s blindness to the plight of the Palestinians. 15,000 dead in Gaza and more than a million displaced and struggling to access food and water. Hospitals bombed, homes destroyed. Professor Richardson please read and share the statements from Doctors without Borders, Mercy Corps, and other aid agencies about why a Permanent Ceasefire is urgently needed.
Please listen to Alon Lee-Green and others inside Israel who are rightly pointing out that violence breeds violence, and that negotiations, not further bombing of and siegemaking, are essential both for the release of hostages and for the possibility of a fiture with peace and safety for Israelis and Palestinians both.
People who deny the atrocities Hamas committed, or the Hamas’s extremist, violent, antisemitic and mysoginistic philosophy are tragically wrong.
People, including Senators, who sanitize the actions of Netanyahu’s extremist, violent, and anti-Palestinian government are also wrong.
And people like Senator Schumer who are in the position of having provided, and are likely to continue to provide— using US taxpayer dollars— billions of dollars of weapons that are likely to be used to bomb innocents and life-supporting infrastructure in Gaza, have a responsibility to do more than gently disagree with the Netanyahu government about further settler encroachment and violence in the West Bank. They have a responsibility to call for an end to the war crimes being perpetrated with US weapons. They have a responsibility to honor the signature idea of the United States— that All people are created equal and have a right to life and liberty— and remember that Palestinians are people too.
Having been abused does not give one free license to abuse. Having been oppressed does not give free license to oppress others. Fear should not give license for mass killing.
Please don’t think I “don’t understand.” I understand the mass murder of human beings because of their religion too personally. Much of my family, were killed in the Holocaust because they were Jews. The fact that the Israeli government is using antisemitism as a shield to justify driving 2 million Gazans from their homes sickens me. And the fact that the US government is shruggging its shoulders while this happens is a travesty.
The Hamas leadership that planned Oct 7 should be tried and sentenced for their crimes by the International Criminal Court. Likely, so should some members of the Netanyahu government.
Agreed. Well done Ele. Elegantly constructed . Thank you.
Agreed!
Something that occurs to me is that Biden and Blinken have been able to pressure Bibi so far BECAUSE of America’s military support of Israel, whether that support is correct or not. In other words, it has given them leverage.
Exactly, the US have leverage because of US support. Now Biden and Blinken (and Congress) need to USE that leverage! All they have done so far is express concern or gently disagree.
If you have the keys to your friend's car you don't give them back when your friend is drunk...
Well said, Ele. I especially agree with "Having been abused does not give one free license to abuse. Having been oppressed does not give free license to oppress others. Fear should not give license for mass killing." On the other hand, how is Hamas to be eliminated—and they must—if they live in fortified, well-supplied bunkers beneath hospitals and schools and other civilian structures?
Thank you. Imo, the best way to get a political party--Hamas is a political party, which came to power with about 40% of the vote in 2006 and has not allowed elections since-- out of power is to have peace, education, opportunity, and an alternative to vote for in the region. Because Hamas is a political party/ideology more than a specific person, it (and its violent, antisemitic, and mysoginistic philosophy) cannot be "eliminated" through bombing civilians, whether over fortified bunkers or not. Killing more Gaza civilians more likely to incite hatred of Israel among survivors than anything else, and killing all Gazans would be the textbook definition of genocide. Which is not acceptable by any stretch of international law or morality, imo.
Also worth noting that part of Hamas leadership is in Qatar, and those are the people through whom hostage release is being brokered (in part because of diplomacy by the United States, for which I am grateful). The remaining hostages are also in those tunnels...
It's complicated, and a mess, and for the tiny grain of sand difference it might make I just have to keep calling on the President and my Congressional delegation to press for a permanent Ceasefire and help with a path towards peace not destruction.
You are absolutely right. But how are the Hamas militants on the ground, and underground, in Gaza to be thwarted in their primary goal to eliminate Jews and destroy Israel while negotiations are underway? And how is Netanyahu to be stopped from his maniacal desire to kill them, and to hell with the civilians? If only the IDF had listened to the women who warned about the attack a year ago and had built up defenses along the border so that the carnage could have been prevented or reduced.
Airstrikes are unwarranted, land based artillery would be more precise, fewer civilian casualties. Though all is heartbreaking. I cringe everyday.
Thank you, Dr. Richardson for bringing Chuck Schumer's speech to us all. It is disgusting to me that such a speech is necessary. Antisemitism is so opposed to what America should be - a welcoming land for all.
I happen to have a Jewish granddaughter by marriage, two half Hispanic grandchildren, one grandchild of African American descent, and one blue eyed blond granddaughter. They are all beautiful, all worthy, all decent people. Most of all, everyone, in my family is Homo sapiens, one and only one animal, no sub species. How can anyone be different?
I despise all terrorists regardless or origin. Racists of any type are anathema. If you need someone to debase in order to feel good about yourself, I pity you, but I have no sympathy. I am, by choice, an atheist, but I respect your right to any religion of your choice. I do not respect your hatred or disrespect for others who are different from you - no exceptions.
Could you change your statement, "I do not respect your hatred or disrespect for others who are different from you - no exceptions," to, "I do not respect your hatred or disrespect for others ONLY because they are different from you?"
I reserve the right to criticize a black president's healthcare legislation because I prefer single-payer universal coverage, or a Senator voting on tax loopholes for private equity concerns when he has family members in the business, without myself being called a racist or antisemite. I didn't know Schumer was Jewish and don't wonder about a legislator's religion when I evaluate their agendas. Should I, especially when they vote to give Israel 3.8 billion dollars with no strings attached? I was brought up to be blind concerning race and religion as you seem to have been. I try not to hate anybody, but it's difficult when some people commit despicable acts. It seems inescapable that there are evil people of every race and religion. That's why I evaluate on acts and behavior.
The point Gloria, is to you criticize the ACA because it was enacted by a "black" president, or because you prefer single payer, and do you consider the ACA is a compromise toward a desirable end, or an end in itself? If your reason is primarily because Obama's skin is darker than yours then I have little value for you. Disagreements on purely political issues are fine, racism and bigotry on any level for any reason are not. I despise Trump and everything he stands for, not because he dies himself orange, but because he is so self centered he would condemn the majority of people in this country to a dictatorship just to assure his own self aggrandizement.
We agree that race and religion should be left out of it. A compromise is where you bargain for your best outcome in the beginning and end up letting go of something in a stalemate. Obama never brought single-payer universal healthcare to the table to begin with and excluded the proponents of single-payer in the discussion from the outset. Now we are entrenched in the healthcare/financial complex that is 18% of the economy.
To say, "If your reason is primarily because Obama's skin is darker than yours then I have little value for you" insults me, and that is exactly what I am talking about. I already told you I am not prejudiced or anti-semitic.
I poll watched in a district with prejudice and parked two blocks away. I had an Obama bumper sticker on my car. Somebody stuck newspapers around where the windows meet the car body and set them on fire. I reluctantly left the polling place to remove the burning papers. I returned to the poll to do my duty, but I was probably gone for 10 minutes.
"It would be better to say, "If a persons reason is because Obama's skin is darker than theirs....."
Please be aware. I enjoy your comments.
Your reason seems to be based solely on your preference for single payer not because of Obama's African heritage, therefor you don't fall into the category I referenced. I agree healthcare in this country sucks. If I had my say there would be NO insurance company involvement at all. No one is entitled to profit from a person's illness. This has nothing to do with race or religion. My understanding of the Affordable Care Act, was it was hard to get through, and many compromises were made, including allowing States to refuse to expand Medicaid even with Federal help in picking up the additional cost. The Republicans did not want any changes to health care financing.
I was a supporter of Obama. My disappointment in his Presidency had more to do with the economy and his willingness to bail out the very people who caused the crash in the first place - big banks, stock brokers, and insurance - especially as it had no strings attached - in other words NO reform. This has zero to do with either Obama's heritage or religious preferences.
I also believe (not factual) that we are not permanently entrenched with ACA; if we were to get rid of the the MAGA and "Tea Party" and returned to the fiscal conservative Republican Party we used to have, we'd be better off, and would stand a chance of true reform to health care. I still wouldn't vote Republican, I'm too Liberal/Progressive for that, but at least I could respect them.
I think Schumer shows a dreadful lack of sensitivity and empathy to the plight of the Palestinians. He conflates Palestinians in general with Hamas, and ludicrously inflates the risk of Israeli destruction, one of the strongest militaries in the world, possessing nuclear arms and with the unwavering backing of the US.
I am sympathetic to the to all my Jewish brothers and sisters who have hateful ideology directed against them. Why then are we less sympathetic to Palestinians who have had their land and homes stolen from them without compensation, which continues to this day, and have lived under the most brutal oppression for 75 years. How would we respond if it were Jews in Gaza losing everything to the bombs falling from the sky?
The most heavily bomber territory on the planet used to Viet-Nam, who received more tonnage than all the bombs dropped in WWII. That dreadful prize now belongs to Gaza.
Please open your eyes.
You are sympathetic to your "Jewish brothers and sisters who have hateful ideology directed against them"? No, you are not. Not at all.
Spare me that false, disingenuous sympathy when the rest of your post begins by redirecting from Schumer's topic to the Palestinians (and yes, I do cry for them. It is terrible), then focuses on a one-sided view of the history of the region that delegitimizes Israel's right to self-determination and ignores the actions of the Palestinians and greater Arab world during that time.
Actually, close to one million Jews of Arab lands were expelled during the ten years following Israel's declaration of statehood with loss of land and money. Those Jews went to Israel. The entire Arab world is effectively Judenrein. So yes, I think we know exactly how the world would respond: completely ignoring their plight. Because that is what already happened.
I think you need to seriously reconsider that decision you made not to take the remedial class in reading comprehension, you semi-literate moron.
Please refrain from ad hominem attacks. Accusing people of being "semi-literate morons" does nothing to promote civil discourse, or finding common ground for solving complex issues.
It wasn't an accusation; it was an observation of fact.
Unless you know Patricia Munson personally, and have direct, verifiable evidence of her mental status and education -- you called her a "semi-literate moron" -- your statement is an ad hominem attack, one of the many logical fallacies that we should all endeavor to avoid during discussions, particularly when there may be differing ideas or opinions.
You may disagree with what Patricia Munson posted, as you might disagree with anyone who weighs in on any topic. That disagreement ought not to extend to insulting or attempting to ridicule her in a public community such as this one is.
===================== (posted afterward) ==================
I have read many of your comments in past discussions of the Letters from HCR, and I usually find what you have to say has real value. You add insight and depth, offering information and sources where truth and evidence that supports what you say may be found.
I decided that something else must be going on -- something that could account for what I considered jarringly incongruent commentary from you. I decided to investigate. I was one of the co-collaborators on "101 Ways You Can Help: How to Offer Comfort and Support to Those Who Are Grieving," after Liz Aleshire, whose manuscript we worked from, developed such serious health problems that she could not finish the book -- we brought it into the world for her. I now understand what might be fueling your fury -- what you might be feeling about how people in the USA are thinking and acting on a host of issues, and the fact that there is something profoundly personal and sad that has happened in your life.
And I feel ashamed of myself for not having taken the step back before I wrote.It is I who owe the apology -- to you, TC, if I have written anything that has added to your pain. I hope you will accept my apology, and that you will find some comfort in it.
I give about as much of a shit for the moron left as I do for the idiot right.
Whether you are replying to me or the person I was responding to, personal attacks diminish us all. Please respond to the topic.
I did respond to the topic, take your PC bullshit elsewhere.
Schumer complains about a rise in anti-Semitism and describes the real-world risks and fears Jews face in supposedly-safe US, and you condemn him because he didn't focus enough to your liking on the latest outrage? I doubt you have sympathy for anyone. He was talking about you.
Mark,
From the excerpts Heather presented here, I do not think that Senator Schumer's speech lacked sensitivity and empathy toward the Palestinians. I think his speech was directed solely toward both the specter of anti-semitism arising out of the various waves emanating from the Israel/Gaza conflict as they lap upon our shores, and perhaps the actuality of same in the 300% increase in incidents since October 7th.
If I am right, then his speech, with one exception, is most worthwhile, poignant and notable.
The exception of course, is his unfairly tarring those many, many Americans, representative of a clear majority in the country, who are properly protesting the IDF war crimes in Gaza with the brush of a microscopic minority that would be so ghastly as to "celebrate" the Hamas atrocities of October 7th.
With respect to the bigger issue in front of everyone's faces though, the issue of the wholly disproportionate Israeli onslaught in Gaza, just rekindled with all the death delivering might that one of the most powerful militaries in the world can deliver, you are absolutely correct, Mark.
15,000 dead Palestinians and counting, is by far the most pressing issue in this entire matter.
As an American, the fact that our taxpayer dollars continue to support these ongoing war crimes by the IDF under the leadership of the worst, and most openly racist Israeli leadership in its history is absolutely unacceptable. We should pressure the Israelis to cease fire, and re-commence the hostage negotiations. Eyes should be opening indeed.
Conditional aid. No more settlements. Not one more, or we freeze funding.
YES!!!
We stand with you Mr. Schumer 💙
Some very tough and responsible stuff from Senate majority leader Schumer. This is the America that I live in. A responsive, receptive nation growing in vision, philosophy, and the knowledge that our unity of purpose is our strength. The more responsible people of any background, ethnicity, region, or religion who really understand and buy into the Constitution, the stronger our union will be. I read the Constitution as an "Inclusive" not "exclusive" document.
It worries me these issues which have been successfully trolled and manipulated on social media to dilute the Democrats’ 2024 messaging more successfully than third party options. The door to a Trump redux is opening.
Right. It's as if this was tailor made to divide the union of the liberal center and left that had been until October 7 making such a strong stand for democracy.
I think there’s time to clear the blue waters of mud, but it will take a concerted effort.
I sure hope your right, and certainly we all must try!
JaneDough56: So tragically true . . .
Thank you Heather for excerpt on Senator Schumer. It means a lot to us who are Jewish.
All my conscious life, the Jews I've known have been among my most respected, loved and valued acquaintances. There has never been any reason for it to be otherwise. Perhaps people whose education hasn't pointed them toward the appreciation of warmth, wisdom, humour, theatre, literature and music, are quite simply incapable of knowing that.
All my life I have been somehow out of step with much of American popular culture, something of an eccentric. Jewish friends have been my refuge since childhood, have shared my interests and my values. It's no different today. And antisemitism strikes me as stupid and predatory, as does all racism, and pretensions of supremacy. That said, I see the presumption of supremacy and contempt for egalitarianism in politics around the planet as the bane of our brief fantastic lives. Evil reigns when empathy dies. It's in the news every day.
Young Jewish philosopher with a huge following, a couple of thousand years ago, said "love one another". Simple enough. Too easy, no money involved. He told them stories to illustrate his point, but it didn't work then, either. If only they'd just tried it, without warping the meaning.
That philosophy asks a lot, including less self-indulgence, which is a hard sell, and way more ascetic lifestyle that is more than I am ready to take on. That said, I found much to admire in some of those teachings before they get turned into something else by ulterior motives.
Yep, and the "pluck it out and cast it from thee", which covers lifestyle, is the big inescapable sticking point (I stuck on it when I was in my late teens, and reading Bertrand Russell!). So what about taking just that one teaching, "love one another"?
My favorite wives have been Jewish. After several blunderous relationships, I found the woman of my dreams. Her Dad's family escaped the pogroms of Russia. Her Mom's family is Sephardic.
As a recovering Protestant, I valued growing up in a town where Jews, Protestants and Catholics lived as good neighbors - mostly. But it was a white bubble. The Jewish boys were super smart and I thought Jewish girls were exceptionally attractive. And so my appreciation of the culture began. And so did my understanding of it's history. My mother-in-law's family is part of a diaspora that seems to be on every continent. They didn't scatter for pleasure trips and stay. They were escaping death. There is a reason that my wife and her Mom's DNA results came up very Italian. It was part of one escape plan after another.
I eschew all organized religions. But Jews do something I really respect. When discussing their holidays and history, they ask questions. Every family should discuss more history.
In addition, every family should ask more questions. I grew up in a lily-white, Protestant dominated town. I did not know anyone who was Jewish, and that continued on into my college education, on an almost exclusively white and non-religious campus (where the only campus religious group that I was aware of was "The Fellowship of Christian Athletes". My parents were brought up in religious traditions of Methodist and Episcopalian, and did not attend church as adults. They were both extremely liberal, and rabidly anti-racist; the support and love from them when I came out in my late teens was almost unheard of at that time.
We never talked, as a family, about religion and ethnicity and race, other than to denounce discrimination.
I have only used the term "lily-white" a few times. In the mid-1980's I told a lawyer for a large life insurance company that her company was not "lily-white" as they were trying to extort a million dollars from the company I was working for.
In my professional career I have only been scolded a couple of times, and that was one of them. She told me in no uncertain terms that she was offended by my use of the term and not to ever use the phrase "lily-white" with her again. She was in Atlanta and more than likely she was born and raised in the South, judging her solely on her accent. I didn't realize the significance of the term.
We only had the one conversation as her company was withholding modifications to the computer system that was owned by the company we were purchasing. Her company was doing the processing for the block of policies we were buying. They were trying to extort a million dollars for the mods from us. We chose not to pay and I spent the next 6 weeks recreating the mods.
I suggested to my boss that I should get a million dollar bonus for writing the mods. He declined.
Fascinating, Gary.
LOL That's what my wife says when I'm boring her to tears.
Anyway, as it turned out the mods were not that challenging and certainly not worth a million dollars.
But thanks again for reminding me about the "lily white" episode.
Would be interesting to know how many American civilians were actually killed by Japan or Germany before the US went to war in WWII. That being said the IDF needs to stop killing Palestinian civilians. This last thing is not something anyone except Israel needs to answer for. For sure the evil Hamas is encouraging martyrs to be created. It is what they wanted. Don't give it to them.
That's nice. Here's the puzzle: An entity whose mission statement is destroy every Jew in the world, starting with Israel has holed itself up deep underground with ample supplies to survive a siege. They are beneath Civilian population centers, and they use vital infrastructure for command and control.
The dilemma: killing Civilians is indeed what the enemy wants, because the optics are bad and will provoke the kind of response we are seeing in the world. But, if Hamas is left with operational capacity, it will continue to attack Israelis, and a country that cannot defend its citizens is not a country.
This is the rock and the hard place in which Hamas has Israel caught.
If you have a solution that destroys Hamas' operational capability while preserving the civilians under whose homes, schools, and hospitals they shelter please share. It couldn't be more needed.
That's a pretty good answer, Rich. We are all between the rock and the hard place. Ideological purity isn't' going to provide a way out. People seem to forget that Israel is a democracy, and one that is every bit as divided as our own. Netanyahu's government failed to protect its people, and now they want to follow a path resembling the one the U.S. forged after 9/11. Didn't end well for us and not likely to bring lasting security for Israel. But more to the point, the anger toward Israel being directed at Jews generally is quite disturbing. If people who feel oppressed want to stand up for Palestinians, fine. Stand up for Palestinians. But they need to keep in mind that Israel is the only democracy in the region. And since we are in a pretty dire struggle to keep our own democracy, we need to support Israel, warts and all, in its crisis. This isn't just a regional conflict. Russia and Iran are backing Hamas. This is ultimately a proxy war. Inciting hatred toward Jews is a really good way to fracture the Democratic party and put Putin's boy back in office. Let's not do Putin's work for him.
Israel is no more a democracy than we are. It’s just another corporate state weapons dealer.
Maybe they are both. Still, better than an autocratic corporate state weapons dealer.
Both are on the brink. Bibi's Coalition includes a party, otzmah yehudi, that would never have been allowed onto the ballot 30 years ago.
I didn’t know that.
Nailed it.
We ended many lives, American and Iraqi, and blew a fortune on subduing (ish) Iraq. For what? I still don't know what was worth all those lives in Vietnam (stopping Hitler I understand). It took Obama to pin down Bin Laden, but overall it felt like murderous Al Qaeda had been playing us for fools, in many respects self inflicted "strategic defeat".
I found this article by Thomas Friedman about a radical ceasefire tactic intriguing. The Most Revealing Moment From My Trip to Israel https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/14/opinion/israel-war-biden.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
Friedman is one of my favorite writers on this matter. And he’s dead right about the danger Netanyahu is to peace.
If you could use a gift link to share this, it would be much appreciated.
Here you go:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/14/opinion/israel-war-biden.html?unlocked_article_code=1.DE0.RaMY.Ltg2wFSkeanc&hpgrp=ar-abar&smid=url-share
Thank you so much!
This is hard to believe from one of the best military operations in the world, backed by the US military and billions of US dollars. Israel has some of the best intelligence, they have amazing technology, they have financial backing. They know all of this info about Hamas but they can’t figure out how to perform a targeted military operation in the tunnels? It’s hard to believe….
I support the Jewish people’s right for safety, and I do not condone anti-semitic violence. However, the Israeli government’s response looks like overkill and their justification sounds like a hollow excuse
All I can really say to this is that if someone had been more interested in performing the basic functions of government than trying to strip the judiciary of its ability to prosecute him for his corruption indictment, this horse might not have gotten out of the gate.
There is a piece of Israeli Sketch Comedy in which Golda Meir appears to Bibi and thanks him for relieving her of the onus of having presided over the worst intelligence failure in Israeli history.
I agree with you on that.
Starve them of resources, all around the world. Terrorists can’t survive and can’t carry out actions without money.
Yes, this endless massacre of Palestinians in Gaza has to stop. And we in the U.S. are paying for the munitions which make this feasible. The conservative Israeli government is going to kill as many Palestinians as possible until the U.S. cuts off their military aid to Israel. With Netanyahu's near single digit approval rating, the majsority of Israelis must not want this massacre to continue.
I recommend the Golden Rule not many more eyes for an eye and many more teeth for a tooth.
While Senator Schumer and many Jewish people present the Jewish people and Israel as all one and the same, there is much evidence that the Jewish people and Israel have as many perspectives as Americans and the U.S. Or if you prefer, Christians and the U.S.
Jewish Voices For Peace don’t agree with nor approve of Israel’s destruction and killing of mostly Palestinian civilians, women, children, the elderly and infirm. They are not the only Jewish people or Israelis that criticize Israel’s military activity in Gaza and the West Bank, and Israeli settlements in the West Bank. In fact many of these Jewish groups and individuals have known of and criticized Israel’s policies regarding Palestinians for many decades. Longer than Americans have been paying attention. They are not antisemitic.
The real cause of today’s antisemitism is a combination of calculating all criticism of Israel’s policies as antisemitism. And Israel’s position that they can dismiss and disregard their allies and world opinion regarding human rights.
The good deeds and support of human rights by American Jews for U.S. minorities, doesn’t excuse what Israel does to Palestinian civilians. The same goes for Americans who support civil rights in the U.S. This doesn’t excuse our preemptive invasion of Iraq that killed, displaced and turned millions of Iraqi lives into a deadly nightmare. The U.S. accomplished nothing but death, destruction and more enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan, though our politicians will claim something else.
Antisemitism will only be brought under control when everyone treats each other equally in the manner where the only anti will be anti war, anti supremacy and anti nationalism.
One of the best things we can do is raise our children around our own diverse friendships, so they can understand the American ideal, and will too have a diverse group of friends. My daughter is open to and friends with diverse people because that is both what our family represents, and with whom we are friends.
David Souers, we live on different planets. Antisemitism is 2,000 years old and thriving... I feel confident in saying, antisemitism is here to stay and will only increase with the success’s experienced by Jews... count the Nobels of the Arab world... count those awarded to Jews... take the measure of Jewish philanthropy, compare this to all others, in their entirety. Jews are incredible... and good. Hamas asked for it. Hamas promises more and more of it. Hamas must be exterminated... meaning those that subscribe to Hamas, support Hamas, condone Hamas... and that means Iran... and Hezbollah and others like Putin, the Hungarian dictator, and many more. Jews have been slammed for 2,000 years and GAZA is only the latest... I have dealt with Jews that hate Christians, and I have ripped them in Israel and on EL AL on the way from JFK to Tel Aviv on a UJA Mission... those Jews are no better than those that hate them. I get it from both sides... and will dish prejudice where and how I find it. All know may approach. UJA is a problem. The New York Federation of Jewish Philanthropies was not, 25 years ago.
‘… count the Nobels of the Arab world….’?
To use a favorite word of yours, rubbish.
YES!
Thank you, Prof Richardson. I hope our Jewish friends know that we are appalled by any and all expressions of antisemitism in US and elsewhere and ready to support them where possible.