lte_6-7.qxp_AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 7/7/22 8:21 AM Page 6
Executive Editor: Managing Editor: Contributing Editor: Contributing Editor: Other Voices Editor: Middle East Books and More Director: Finance & Admin. Dir.: Assistant Bookstore Dir.: Art Director: Founding Publisher: Founding Exec. Editor: Board of Directors:
DELINDA C. HANLEY DALE SPRUSANSKY WALTER L. HIXSON JULIA PITNER JANET McMAHON NATHANIEL BAILEY CHARLES R. CARTER JANNA ALADDIN RALPH-UWE SCHERER ANDREW I. KILLGORE (1919-2016) RICHARD H. CURTISS (1927-2013) HENRIETTA FANNER JANET McMAHON JANE KILLGORE
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (ISSN 87554917) is published 7 times a year, monthly except Jan./Feb., March/April, June/July, Aug./Sept. and Nov./Dec. combined, at 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707. Tel. (202) 939-6050. Subscription prices (United States and possessions): one year, $29; two years, $55; three years, $75. For Canadian and Mexican subscriptions, $35 per year; for other foreign subscriptions, $70 per year. Periodicals, postage paid at Washington, DC and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, P.O. Box 292380, Kettering, OH 45429. Published by the American Educational Trust (AET), a nonprofit foundation incorporated in Washington, DC by retired U.S. foreign service officers to provide the American public with balanced and accurate information concerning U.S. relations with Middle Eastern states. AET’s Foreign Policy Committee has included former U.S. ambassadors, government officials, and members of Congress, including the late Democratic Sen. J. William Fulbright and Republican Sen. Charles Percy, both former chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Members of AET’s Board of Directors and advisory committees receive no fees for their services. The new Board of Advisers includes: Anisa Mehdi, John Gareeb, Dr. Najat Khelil Arafat, William Lightfoot and Susan Abulhawa. The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs does not take partisan domestic political positions. As a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, it endorses U.N. Security Council Resolution 242’s land-for-peace formula, supported by nine successive U.S. presidents. In general, it supports Middle East solutions which it judges to be consistent with the charter of the United Nations and traditional American support for human rights, self-determination, and fair play. Material from the Washington Report may be reprinted without charge with attribution to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Bylined material must also be attributed to the author. This release does not apply to photographs, cartoons or reprints from other publications. Indexed by ProQuest, Gale, Ebsco Information Services, InfoTrac, LexisNexis, Public Affairs Information Service, Index to Jewish Periodicals, Ethnic News Watch, Periodica Islamica. CONTACT INFORMATION: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs Editorial Office and Bookstore: 1902 18th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009-9062 Phone: (202) 939-6050 • (800) 368-5788 Fax: (202) 265-4574 E-mail: wrmea@wrmea.org bookstore@wrmea.org circulation@wrmea.org advertising@wrmea.org donations@wrmea.org Web sites: http://www.wrmea.org http://www.middleeastbooks.com Subscriptions, sample copies and donations: P.O. Box 292380, Kettering, OH 45429 Phone: (800) 607-4410 • Fax: (937)-890-0221 Printed in the USA
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LetterstotheEditor FUNDING ISRAELI APARTHEID Those of us who believe in human rights, self-determination and fair play find Israel’s actions against Palestine’s population appalling. With absolutely no conscience whatsoever came the assassination of the brilliant PalestinianAmerican journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, and the beating of her pallbearers. Identified as a member of the press, she was shot in the head for being who she was. Demonstrating against more than 70 years of brutal occupation by the Israeli military government, Palestinians are permitted by international law the right of return—but are not granted this right by Israel. Israel is not the democracy it claims to be, but is an apartheid state of racial, religious and political discrimination. When Israel says “never again” does that mean never again to everyone else except Palestinians? The term “anti-Semitic” is a tool used by Israel and its lobbying allies here in America to intimidate any criticism of the state. By building cookie-cutter new construction for the influx of Jewish-only settlers and by building a separation wall to keep Palestinians out, Israel shows no respect for the ancient land it covets. Isn’t that one of the Ten Commandments of God to Moses? “Thou shall not covet...anything that is thy neighbor’s?” Here in the United States, both Republican and Democratic members of Congress and administrations seem to defend and support Israel more than they do America. They enable atrocities such as Abu Akleh’s murder to continue without any negative consequences because of Israel’s undue influence on the American election system. Israel uses the United States government and taxpayers to get its way, so that its military and financial might can pre-empt and/or suppress opposition of any kind. And now, Israel as a foreign state receives $3.8 billion annually. No, the United States was never the honest broker for peace, as her bias for Israel and prejudice against Palestine, are evident. It is
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
time for the American government and taxpayers to stop the financial, military and political spigot to Israel. For the indigenous Palestinian people, it is long past time to call for civil disobedience that would force both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to come together against Israel’s Zionist form of supremacy and oppression. Judith Howard, Norwood, MA
RABBI ELMER BERGER AND THE AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR JUDAISM We are pleased we could be a supporter of the March Israel lobby conference and glad that it is back in person. I just received the May edition of the Washington Report and look forward to reading all the presentations. I thank you for the comments at the gala dinner about the American Council for Judaism (ACJ). It is prophetic that you mentioned Rabbi Elmer Berger in the context of the Council's founding 80 years ago, because Rabbi Berger was also a supporter of promoting peace and interaction among Jews and Palestinians well prior to the debacle of 1948. It was this proactive approach that brought great derision upon him and the Council as so-called “Arab lovers” and “self-hating Jews,” all of which was orchestrated by the Zionist propaganda machine, which even in those early years was well organized and funded. Subsequently, the Council was sanctioned by the leadership of the Reform movement which I have always held out as a badge of courage for Rabbi Berger and the ACJ founders. Eventually the Council chose a path of moderation trying to promote Classical Reform Judaism and the founding principles of the Pittsburgh Platform of 1885, and Rabbi Berger created American Jewish Alternatives to Zionism (AJAZ), an organization I also supported prior to Rabbi Berger’s death in 1996. It is interesting to note that the AntiDefamation League (ADL) is once again calling anti-Zionism anti-Semitism! Thank you to the Washington Report AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
