The following letter is a response to a video that my ultra-orthodox relatives were sharing among themselves, their relatives and friends. I found the video quite disturbing although I was already intimately familiar with the views of that side of my family. In writing the letter I hoped that I might reach a few of [...]
April 15, 2011. Below is a letter I wrote to Rutgers University President Richard L. McCormick. I did so because the Zionist Organization of America has accused Rutgers of violating federal regulations by allowing a campus environment that is “increasingly hostile, anti-Semitic, and even includes violent threats against a Jewish student.” ZOA alleges that activities organized [...]
On July 20, 2010 the Eugene Human Rights Commission (EHRC) approved a request by the al-Nakba Project to write a letter of condemnation of Israel’s lethal attack upon the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on May 31, 2010. The letter was to be sent to the City Council as well as Congressional leaders. The Jewish Federation of [...]
On January 11, Albuquerque played host to A Night to Honor Israel, an expression of solidarity between Christians United for Israel (CUFI) and the State of Israel. The event was co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation of New Mexico (JFNM). John Hagee, CUFI’s founder, was principal speaker. In the pages of the New Mexico Jewish Link [...]
On November 7, 2010 Human rights activist Ali Abunimah spoke to a large crowd of 250 at the University of NM. Three days earlier, on November 4, a time traveling UNM Professor by the name of Todd Goldblum wrote an article that appeared in the UNM Daily Lobo. In his outrageously absurd but, thankfully, short [...]
In early November 2010 the Jewish Federation of New Mexico accused critics of the Israeli Occupation of Palestinian land of anti-Semitism and hatred toward Israel. I posted a response on the JFNM blog. The campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions is not anti-Israel. It is pro-human rights. Nothing could be more harmful to Israelis and [...]
The Jewish Federation published an ad in the October 2010 issue of the New Mexico Jewish Link accusing human rights activists of “unrelenting hatred” toward Israel. The ad claims that “anti-Israel activists [are] seeking to delegitimize Israel through an organized campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions.” Until four-and-a-half years ago I would have agreed with [...]
In September 2010 the Washington Post and other newspapers throughout the U.S. published an article – Your Move Mr. Abbas – by syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer. I found it offensive in its disregard for the Palestinian people. I sent a response to both the Post and the Albuquerque Journal. Neither newspaper published my letter. Charles [...]
Micha Gisser’s article in the August 2010 Link – “President Obama’s Unfriendly Foreign Policy toward Israel” – consists of discredited Zionist myth and historical distortion. Unfortunately, these views are common among those who blindly defend Israeli policy. Gisser begins with Arab rejection of the 1947 UN Partition Plan. Does that rejection justify all subsequent Israeli [...]
On June 23, 2010 the Albuquerque Journal published my op-ed on Israel’s May 31, 2010 attack upon the Mavi Marmara, one of the ships in the flotilla that attempted to break Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip. The Journal titled my article “Oppressive Occupation Also Harms Israelis, Americans.” The Israeli government has made disingenuous claims [...]
I wish to respond to comments made in the NM Daily Lobo by Donald Gluck, president of the Israel Alliance at UNM. Gluck thinks that protests aimed against Israel, such as movements for BDS, are inherently racist. He says: “What bothers us is it doesn’t seem like Israel behaves worse than other countries. . . [...]
Armen Chakerian of the Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel received a letter from J asking the Coalition to take down the billboards it had erected in April 2009. The Billboards said: Tell Congress, Stop Killing Children. No More Military Aid to Israel. Armen asked me to reply to J. A few months after [...]
In the March 16, 2010 issue of the WSJ Bret Stephens profoundly distorts the relationship between the Palestinians and Israelis. He claims the Palestinians are not willing to live with the Israelis while ignoring the fact that the continued expropriation of Palestinian land for Israeli settlement by successive Israeli governments betrays the obvious: Israel has [...]
In February 2010 students from the Muslim Student Union at the University of California at Irvine disrupted a speech on their campus by Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren. I wrote a letter to the Dean and Chancellor of the University asking that they exercise compassion. To my surprise my letter generated excitement [...]
In April 2009 the Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel erected billboards in Albuquerque, NM with this message: Tell Congress: Stop Killing Children. No More Military Aid to Israel. I was spokesperson of the Coalition. I was also designated to respond to emails and letters that were in reaction to the billboards. One of [...]