Hear, Oh Israel: ENOUGH Already!!!

Friends,

The best military U.S. money (also known as "security assistance") can buy went well beyond what any sane person would deem appropriate in its response to the approaching Gaza Freedom Flotilla early this morning. Under cover of darkness Israeli military commandos boarded the largest of the Flotilla's ships using Black hawk helicopters and small craft (we're talking "shock and awe" here folks) while the ship was still in international waters. At this point at least nine activists have been confirmed killed and dozens more were wounded. The Israelis seized all six boats and everyone on board (including human rights workers, diplomats, journalists and academics).

The State of Israel has, through this brazen and illegal action, demonstrated its complete and total disregard for international and humanitarian law; of course it has been doing this for years, but this morning's act was its most brazen action to date. Why could they have not pulled alongside during daylight hours and asked to come aboard for tea with the ship's captain to discuss the options for delivering the tons of humanitarian aid supplies weighing down the ships???

Speaking as a Jew I have had enough of this (I'm sure God had enough of this madness long ago) and must speak out against the atrocities that my people perpetrate against others. How little we have learned through centuries of oppression and atrocities against our own. The powerful pro-Israel lobbies (such as AIPAC) keep U.S. aid flowing in the form of money and weapons systems (President Obama has requested $3 billion in "security assistance" to Israel for fiscal year 2011). And to make matters worse the Christian Zionist cheering section fans the flames even higher (What's up with that? First they blame the Jews for that crucifixion incident ages ago, and now they're in love with Israel. Motive???).

The U.S.-Israel alliance is stronger than ever, and the Israelis know they can continue to get away with murder (quite literally; remember the attack on the USS Liberty in 1967!!). As everyone screams for sanctions against Iran, we continue to look the other way regarding Israel's nuclear program (as we have since the 1950s).

It is time to rise up and take to the streets and call on our government to hold Israel accountable for its actions. No more blank checks. It is time to call on our members of Congress to stop accepting blood money from pro-Israel lobbying groups and start being accountable to the American people (instead of the Israeli government).

Today many of us took to the streets around the United States; here in Seattle we stood (and marched) in solidarity with the Palestinian people and the people of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. The actions will continue, and we will continue to try to help people see this madness and understand why we all must work to stop it. Watch for actions in your area. If you are in the Seattle area come out tomorrow (Tuesday): 4:30 PM, meet at Westlake Plaza (4th Avenue and Pine Street). 5:00 PM, walk together to Federal Building (2nd and Marion).

Here is a brief slide show of today's protest rally in Seattle.

View all

Get your own

Raise your voices for our common humanity!

Call for an end to the blockade!

Call The White House at (202) 456-1414 or click here to send President Obama an email.

Call or email your members of Congress. Find their contact information by clicking here.

Or lodge a protest with the U.S. State Department at (202) 647-4000.

And if you are in the writing mood, write a letter to the editor!

Peace,

Leonard

Read the latest editorial (and find more) at The Electronic Intifada.

Find out more about the Freedom Flotilla at WitnessGAZA.com.

Get news at ALJAZEERA.

Learn more at Voices of Palestine.

Updates since this post:

Read Dennis Kucinich's June 2nd Letter to President Obama regarding the incident.

What Price, The Siege on Gaza?

Friends,

With all the mind boggling (and perhaps mind-numbing) issues I see in the daily newspaper it is no wonder that the continuing siege on the Gaza Strip is not even on the radar; definitely not front page news. And yet, the crisis only grows worse day by day for Gaza's residents, women, men, children, trying to survive in their tiny strip of land.

Columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote in a recent column, Hamas offers Israel the peace of the Grave, that "the Palestinians already have a state, an independent territory with not an Israeli settler or soldier living on it. It's called Gaza." Well, isn't that just wonderful? Thanks for that bit of news Charles. All is well with Gaza! We have given them so much. I am sure that it will be welcome news to the Palestinians living there.

Perhaps Charles could tell that to the family highlighted in this YouTube video, Palestinian child pays price of Israel's siege, from Al Jazeera Television. WARNING: This is NOT a story with a happy ending (but it must be told).

One need only compare maps showing land ownership in Palestine to see the graphic inequity, and understand the prison camp that is Gaza. Until 1917, Jews owned 2.5 percent of the land in Palestine. Between 1947 and 1967, Israel gained 78 percent. By 1995 Israel had 90 percent of the land, and the Oslo Agreement gave control of some land to the newly established Palestinian Authority (now controlled by Hamas). The Israelis have continued to take Palestinian land by virtue of the continued construction of Israeli settlements.

The narrow strip of land (appropriately called the Gaza Strip) is 360 square miles, and into that are packed 1.5 million Palestinians, 75 percent of them registered refugees. It has one of the highest population densities in the world, limited land access and strict Israeli control on passage through border checkpoints. It is essentially a Palestinian prison.

But beyond the statistics, there are human beings; people like you and me (like that family in the video). Imagine losing your child because you could not travel freely to seek medical care. Charles Krauthammer's editorial judgements and stereotypes effectively transform (in a few keystrokes) Palestinians into distorted caricatures, justifying the continued violence against them by the Israelis.

Henri Nouwen, in The Road to Peace, said "that long before we start a war, kill people or destroy nations, we have already killed our enemies mentally, by making them into abstractions with which no real, intimate human relationship is possible." Ironically, the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians what was more than once done to the Jews, making them into an abstraction; and as Nouwen said, "for abstract problems there are abstract solutions."

But life is not so abstract. It is flesh and blood and tears. Both Jews and Palestinians are victims in this tragedy, and each one has a face. Each is a son, a daughter, a father, a mother... Children of the same loving God.

One of the tragedies of this situation is that the very people who suffered centuries of persecution have become the persecutors. When will my people learn the lessons of the past??? When will they stop being prisoners of their own fear? When will they see that through their imprisonment of the Palestinians, they have built a prison for themselves. It is time to free all the captives!

Peace,

Leonard

Notes: Read an analysis of The Siege on the Gaza Strip at B'TSELEM, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. Here is the link to the original video story at Al Jazeera.