Arthur Waskoiw http://jta.org/user/profile/44093 en-us rcsillag@jta.org Copyright 2009 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 I should have made clear --- the Goldstone report ALSO provided serious evidence that Hamas had committed war crimes and called for Hamas as well to convene an independent investigation. Goldstone specifically demanded and received an expansion of the original Commission mandate, which focused on Israel only, and said he would do this job only if it included a clear-eyed look at both warring parties. --- Rabbi Arthur Waskow 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 Mr."Anti-Defamation" knows perfectly well how to defame people he doesn;t agree with. To say "Israel determines its own security" is both false and unethical. No state can "determine its own security:" if it is violating international law, using disproortionate force to defend itself, etc. Not the USA , not the nascent Palestinian state, not Syria, not the USSR, not Israel. The Goldstone report brings serious evidence that israel went over the legal and moral line in its attack on Gaza, the report urged Israel to convene its own independent judicial investigation. Why Not?? Rabbi Arthur Waskow The Shalom Center www.theshalomcenter.org 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 Ruth Brin, whom I knew and deeply admired, was a Reconstructionist Jew, not a Reform Jew. She was part of the Recon movement practically her whole life, and her daughter Deborah is a Recon rabbi. Her liturgical poems were so good that they appeared not only in Recon but Reform and Conservative siddurim, but that doesn't change who she was. I hope JTA will correct this egregious mistake. --- Good shabbos and good yontif, Rabbi Arthur Waskow. 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 Once upon a time there was a President who used the phrases "economic royalists" and "malefactors of great wealth" to describe the Wall Street greedies who opposed policies the country deserately needed. Once upon a time thre was a President who dem=nopunced BY NAME the right-wing Congressmen who tried tostall the New Deal -- "Mahtin, Bahton, & Fish!" He saved caapialism by denouncing the greed of capitalists. Now we have a President who turns tail when the provision for a publlc option that he himself originally said was the only way to keep the insurance companies honest is attacked. Already two months agp when he was asked in a press conference whether he would veto a health bill that came to him without a public option, when he said he would not. i knew then it would come to this -- What's the use of asking us rabbis to fight for a bill he won;t fight for himself? Of cpurse we need to fight. But we need to be fighting DESPITE this president's weak knees, not for his periodic kneeling exercises. What needs to happen now is a direct campaign to keep the House pf Representatives standing up to the insurance companies, the senate, AND the President. If the mangled health care bill is passed with no public option,  the windfall for Big Insurance and Big Pharma will outdo even their treasure hunt in the Bush Medicare windfall. Why? How? Because the bill requires practically everybody to buy insurance, and the public will have no way of keeping down what the insurance companies charge all those new and old customers. Another gravy train like Bush's medicare drug plan --- on our money. The companies get paid to support lousy care, with private companies refusing payment whenever they decide to boost corporate profits. If progressive members of the House of Representatives who understand this stand firm, no matter what the Senate does, no matter what the White House does --  then no bill can pass without a public option Better to fight this out, since at least two-thirds of the public supports a real public option. Please write your Member of the House right away with a simple, serious, straight-out message: No public option, no bill! You can tell your Congressperson exactly that:  Please click here - http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/602/t/4180/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27788 If the President won't defend what's true & just, we have to. Shalom, Rabbi Arthur Waskow The Shalom Center www.shalomctr.org 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 Kampeas somehow avoids mentioning that Robinson in her CBS interview specifically says that she fought against the "Zionism is racism" resolution at Durban and that it was removed before the end of the conference. That doesn;t seem to me in the least obtuse. It seems to me rather that Kampeas is being opaque -- -- by accident? Deliberately? How could he have possibly left that out? Her attacker on CBS thinks the Durban conference was a joke even if it had not included an attack on Zionism. Why would a serious attempt to address the world problem of racism be a joke?? Except of course for someone who doesn't think racism itself is important. The worst things he could think to say about her is that she kept a useless conference from being worse, and that she was not as great a figure in world history as Mandela. . Is that why Kampeas has expressed so much animus against her? And against Obama for naming her? Did Jack Kemp compare in history to Mandelka? Why wasn't there criticism of Obama for naming Kemp? Something is rotten in the journalistic cheese here. Rabbi Arthur Waskow The Shalom Center www.shalomctr.org 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 Has it occurred to anyone that Jewish tradition views the "redemption of captives" as one of the highest commitments of a Jewish community? That if it takes the sale of a Sefer Torah to pay the ransom of a Jewish captive, the community is OBLIGATED to selll the Torah Scroll?! All it took in this case was Bill Clinton on an airplane. i notice that for Dore Gold had no eyes, ears, heart, or soul for the suffering that the two women would undergo during 12 years of hard labor for a violation of North Korean law that (considering where and how they were arrested) they probably did violate. The sentence was a disgustingly draconic punishment. But did human feeling, compassion, even cross his blood-brain barrier? What vile decline in Jewish value-system! Thank God Obama and the Clintons still have rachmanes as a value and the redemption of captives as a commitment, and may God keep Dore Gold from ever again representing the Jewish people! Rabbi Arthur Waskow The Shalom Center www.shalomctr.org 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 Eden's article of course is tendentious and has already reached the conclusion that there is something wrong with Oxfam's rejecting Ahava's head. Ahava is stealing the raw materials for its cosmetics from the Palestinian people. Its head does not deserve to be honored by an organization that cares about the poor of the wprld.. If "Ahava" -- what a name!! only in Sholom Aleichem could we find a thief called "Love" -- -- were located in the real state of Israel, THEN Oxfam's doubts would be out of line. As for the legal situation: The ICJ applies international law fairly & sensibly. It ruled, for example, that is Israel had built the Separation Wall along the Green Line, not hugely into PalestiniaN turf, it would probably be legal. And it doesn't take the ICJ to discover that the settlements are illegal. Neither the US norany other state recognizes israel's land grabs on the West bank & EastT Jerusalem. Obama';s "true feelings" abt Israel are that the real Israel is legitimate and decent, and the settlements unacceptable. An excellent position. Most American Jews agree, though not the official "leaders" of the various AJCs etc. -- Rabbi Arthur Waskow The Shalom Center www.shalomctr.org 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 As a broad overview, the speech was excellent, and iI am glad it included such subtle remarks as saying that all states in the region should accept the regimen of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. That seems to back up a previous State Dept remark that Israel should join the NPT regimen and subject its nuclear weapons to that process. I wish the President had been more specific about insisting on an an immediate and unconditional freeze on Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, an end to home demolitions in East Jerusalem, and an end to the blockade of civilian products from entering Gaza. These were all present in coded language, but according to his own standard that we should be saying in public what diplomats are saying in private, i think it would have been better to say them in unmistakable language. Only in that way can the President build a strong public opinion in the US behind his peace campaign -- and that support is crucial for him to succeed. -- Shalom, salaam, peace -- Rabbi Arthur Waskow The Shalom Center www.shalomctr.org 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 Dear chevra, It is a VITAL interest of the United States to achieve a decent, just, and stable peace between a secure israel, a secure, viable, and independent Palestine, all Arab states, and Iran. To achieve that will also make Israel secure in a way no military conquests, occupations, or blockades can do. It will also free Israel to pursue its special relationship with the world-wide Jewish people while becoming a fully democratic society as welL To protect vital American interests, it ios the obligation of the US President to use all diplomatic and economic means to achieve that end. To protect Israel and its vision of a crerative Jewish society, the Jewish people would be wise beyond measure to affirm and support that goal through action, not just wordiness. That means both the President and the American Jewish community should insist that Israel freeze absolutely all settlement and settler numbers now, just as Secretary of State Clinton said, with no exceptions; should end the blockade on all civilian goods for Gaza; should stop demolishing Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem. -- and should quickly move toward a region-wide peace conference with full American support to insist on a region-wide peace agreement. The Shalom center is proud to join with J Street, Brit Tzedek, Americans for Peace Now, Israel Policy Forum, Meretz USA, Tikkun, and other groups to be silent no more and instead to press forward this policy. All polls show that a large majority of real live American Jews support this policy, even if the dead hands of some "official" Jewish institutions do not. Anyone who wants to work toward this goal should get in touch with any one of these life-committed pro-Israel,pro-peace organizations. Shalom, Rabbi Arthur Waskow The Shalom Center www.shalomctr.org/node/1507 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 I don't know what evidence Amnesty has for their assertion that the Israeli govt broke the cease-fire last November. I do know that on January 7, 2009, The Shalom Center published a report that drew from FROM OFFICIAL ISRAELI SOURCES some information about the background of the bloodshed that was not widely available. Here is our report: "Most of the American media have asserted that Hamas canceled the cease-fire. It is true that Hamas has been firing rockets at Israel, but this is not the whole story. "Israeli Intelligence authorities, in a Web posting on November 16, reported that rocket firings from Gaza had been extremely few from June, when the ceasefire began, into November. In June, 5 rockets and 4 mortar shells; in July; 4 rockets and 8 mortar shells; in August, 8 rockets and 3 mortar shells; in September, 1 rocket and 3 mortar shells; in October, 2 rockets and 0 mortar shells. And these, the report concluded, were being fired not by Hamas but by small terrorist groups. '"Then, the report said, on November 4 Israel dropped bombs to stymie what the Israelis believed was an impending attempt to abduct some Israeli soldiers. The attack killed several Palestinians. Then and then only, according to Israeli Intelligence, Hamas sent rockets flying again into Israel . "Then on November 15, a similar scenario. Israel "preventively" attacked what it thought was a new tunnel to smuggle arms into Gaza, killing several Palestinians in the process., Again, Hamas fired a flurry of rockets. After that, Israeli intelligence concluded that it was unlikely the precious "calm" or ceasefire could be restored. ' "I repeat, this report was put on line by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC). Their title for it is " Significant erosion of the lull arrangement in the Gaza Strip." "The report can be seen, including graphs of the drop and rise in rocket attacks, by clicking to – http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hamas_e011.htm "What to make of this information? "· In terms of actual, physical violence, the first such major violence after the ceasefire began came from Israel. That violence, at first glance, broke the ceasefire. "· But -- could Israel have been expected to hold back if an abduction or a dangerous tunnel were really being planned? Was their estimate correct? If so, why was Hamas doing this after months of imposing deep calm? "· When the Israeli Army did attack, could Hamas have responded in another way -- for example, supporting a huge expansion of the nonviolent "ship-ins" that were breaking the Israeli embargo and bringing foods and medicines to Gaza by small boats? If so, why did they not choose to do that? "· Did the Israeli government discuss whether to renew the ceasefire on the Israeli side by halting attacks they claimed to be "preventive," and seeking renewal of the cease-fire by Hamas? What was the effect of the oncoming election on the Israeli government's assessments? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It would probably take an independent investigation -- independent of the israeli and Palestinian authorities -- to unpeel what led to the violations of the cease-fire, whether both sides had alternatives, and why the Israeli govt chose to undertake a ;bloody attack on Gaza, why Hamas attacked Sderot and other Israeli towns, and whether either or both sides then committed war crimes during the ensuing battles. What seems clear to me is that the assertion by most official media at the time that it was all Hamas' fault is not at all clearly correct. The Goldstone investigation should be supported by all seriously concerned with justice and with peace. It is shocking, though not surprising, that the present Israeli govt has refused to cooperate with it. With blessings of shalom and a profound reconnection with Torah this Shavuot, Rabbi Arthur Waskow www.shalomctr.org 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 The Israelis will do what they do. Now is the moment for American Jews to focus on US policy, strongly urging the Obama Administration to insist on a region-wide peace settlement based on full peace treaties among Israel, all the Arab states, Iran, and a viable Palestinian state along the lines laid out by the "Geneva Initiative" several years ago. When I say the US 'insist," that means using all the carrots and sticks necessary to get all parties to agree, even a Netanyahu govt of Israel and even a national-unity govt of Palestine with Hamas as a major player. That settlement would fulfill the legitimate century-old dreams of the Zionist movement for a peaceful and secure Jewish state. Any other future will mean disaster for that vision. So American Jews shoud be pushing the only power capable of achieving that settlement -- the US -- to do so. Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center . 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 Thank God!! -- that the Obama Administration might be ready to say to BOTH the Israeli & Palestinian govts that continued violence is unacceptable. May he move forward to bring together a Middle East region-wide peace settlement that at last brings about peace treaties amomg israel, all the Arab states, Iran, and a new Palestine with borders very similar to those of 1967. Such a treaty would be the greatest triumph of Zionism since the First Zionist Congress in Basel, because it would mean a SECURE Israel. Mr Fingerhut should realize that the criticism he calls "criticism of Israel" was in fact criticism of the occupation, not of Israel's legitimacy and desirability as a state. Critics of Israeli govt policy should not be mislabeled critics of Israel. Often they are her best defenders. -- Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 I knew Cantor Susan Wehle, zichrona tzeddeket livracha, who died in the Buffalo crash. She was a delicious, bright, open-minded, open-hearted, creative person. I am heartsick at her loss. For her, very hard to say "Baruch dayan emet." Shalom, Rabbi Arthur Waskow 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 The comment above was somehow published in connection with the wrong article. It is now available, as was intended, in connection with the correct one. -- AW 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 Arthur Waskoiw 01/14/09 07:07 AM JTA’s phrase “collided with” about the Free Gaza Movement’’s boat carrying humanitarian supplies is an evasive anti-news non-description: An israeli Navy ship rammed the boat carrying humanitarian supplies to Gaza and forced it to return to port elsewhere. . Those who recite the mantra, “Israel has the right to defend itself against rocket attacks” are right, but they ignore the question, defend itself HOW? Would the cease-fire have been renewed if Israel had cance]ed the embargo/ blockade on civllan commerce with Gaza? What would have been the results had Hamas escalated the small-boat operation as a form of resistance to the blockade, instead of sending rockets? Both governments chose miliitary responses when they could have chosen nonviolent ones. -- Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Shalom Center 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 JTA's phrase "collided with" about the Free Gaza Movement''s boat carrying humanitarian supplies is an evasive anti-news non-description: An israeli Navy ship rammed the boat carrying humanitarian supplies to Gaza and forced it to return to port elsewhere. . Those who recite the mantra, "Israel has the right to defend itself against rocket attacks" are right, but they ignore the question, defend itself HOW? Would the cease-fire have been renewed if Israel had cance]ed the embargo/ blockade on civllan commerce with Gaza? What would have been the results had Hamas escalated the small-boat operation as a form of resistance to the blockade, instead of sending rockets? Both governments chose miliitary responses when they could have chosen nonviolent ones. -- Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Shalom Center 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00