other PeoPle’s Mail

Compiled by Dale Sprusansky

REP. DELGADO IS IGNORING HIS CONSTITUENTS ON PALESTINE

To the Daily Freeman, Feb. 13, 2021

Rep. Antonio Delgado (D-NY) certainly has Israel as his friend. The Israel lobby gave him a free trip to Israel at the start of this first term, and has been very kind to him ever since. The website Open Secrets has Rep. Delgado receiving $29,698 from the lobby for 2020.

Rep. Delgado's constituents haven't been so lucky. Four local groups (Jewish Voice for Peace-Hudson Valley, Middle East Crisis, Veterans For Peace and Women in Black-New Paltz) have been asking for a meeting with him for the last two years.

According to his junior legislative assistant, Matthew Gerson, Rep. Delgado has just been too busy to talk about Palestinian rights. Gerson didn't seem particularly interested either, but that might have been because he interned at the Jewish People Policy Institute, a private non-profit in Israel that promotes the apartheid state.

Rep. Delgado has been similarly effective in avoiding questions about Palestine in town hall Zoom meetings. He has refused to cosponsor H.R. 2407, the bill that protects the rights of Palestinian children held in Israeli jails. He never responded to a petition with 2,300 signatures urging him to meet with our four groups. There were numerous letters to the editor and two full page newspaper ads, and still our representative has never let the word “Palestine” slip from between his lips.

Isn’t it time for all his constituents to simply ask him to stop taking money from the Israel lobby? We voted for Rep. Delgado to represent us, not Israel.

Fred Nagel, Rhinebeck, NY APPLY THE LEAHY LAW TO ISRAEL

To ThePatriot-News, March 14, 2021

Imagine being awakened at 3 a.m. by a loud knock on your front door. Struggling to get awake you find a police officer demanding to apprehend your 16-yearold son. He insists on taking him to the police station for questioning. You strongly protest, but in minutes your son is taken away by force from your home.

Each year, the Israeli military detains and prosecutes some 700 Palestinian children, mostly teenagers. Of those detained, three out of four experience physical violence during arrest or interrogation. The end product is traumatized children, many showing the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. It is a flagrant abuse of human rights by the Israeli military.

The United States is complicit in these human rights abuses. We send approximately $4 billion in military aid to Israel each year. If our government would comply with the Leahy Law this aid would be stopped. The Leahy Law was passed in 1997 by Congress; it prohibits the Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign countries that violate human rights.

Why is our government not complying with the Leahy Law and instead continuing to send substantial monetary aid to Israel every year? Israel is a country guilty of flagrant human rights abuses against Palestinian children. This is a grave injustice.

Roger J. Olson, Mechanicsburg, PA

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVE. NW WASHINGTON, DC 20500 COMMENT LINE: (202) 456-1111 WWW.WHITEHOUSE.GOV/CONTACT SECRETARY OF STATE ANTONY BLINKEN U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 2201 C ST. NW WASHINGTON, DC 20520 PHONE: (202) 647-6575 VISIT WWW.STATE.GOV TO E-MAIL

ANY MEMBER: U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WASHINGTON, DC 20515 (202) 225-312 ANY SENATOR: U.S. SENATE WASHINGTON, DC 20510 (202) 224-3121

THE U.S. IS NOT A CREDIBLE PEACE BROKER ON ISRAEL-PALESTINE

To the Los Angeles Times, Feb. 25, 2021

Many thanks to columnist Nicholas Goldberg for calling for renewed efforts toward Palestinian-Israeli peace. His column notes the suffering on both sides and the shared culpability, but a major factor is missing: the vast power differential in which Israel has a crushing advantage over the Palestinians.

The numbers reveal a disturbing inequity. For instance, in fiscal year 2018, the United States provided Israel with more than $3.1 billion in military aid and gave the Palestinians exactly $0. Since September 2000, about 1,300 Israelis have been killed compared with about 10,000 Palestinians, according to organizations that monitor Israeli-Palestinian violence.

This raises serious questions: Should the U.S., with its one-sided commitment, be the broker in peace talks? And where does the major responsibility lie when one side holds the power and the other suffers an outsize share of casualties?

Any call for negotiations should bring these issues to the fore.

Barbara Erickson, Berkeley, CA ISRAEL FITS THE DEFINITION OF APARTHEID

To The Times-Tribune, March 17, 2021

I thank David Fallk (“Target misplaced,” March 3) for continuing the debate on whether Israel is a democracy or an apartheid regime.

It is a necessary conversation as the American public is swamped with false narratives about the Middle East, particularly the Palestine issue.

By definition an apartheid regime is the antithesis of a democracy. The 1973 International Convention on Apartheid defines it as, “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them.”

Does Israel satisfy the conditions of apartheid? Let’s count the ways.

Palestinians and Israelis in the same territory are subject to two legal systems—military courts for Palestinians, civilian courts for Israelis. In the Occupied Territories, Jews can immigrate and gain citizenship; Palestinians cannot. Palestinians in the Occupied Territories are subject to military rule, denied freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of movement and even the right not to be detained indefinitely without trial.

In the West Bank, Israel has demolished thousands of Palestinian houses

and built thousands of houses for Israeli Jews, while rejecting 96 percent of Palestinian building applications.

We witness medical apartheid as Israel has set world records on vaccinating Israeli Jews, with no public rollout for Palestinians, even delaying a shipment to Gaza.

Dominic Saadi, Scranton, PA

PALESTINIANS NEED COVID VACCINES

To the Akron Beacon Journal, March 6, 2021

The Feb. 26 article “Israel plan to share vaccines frozen by legal questions,” and the Feb. 5 article “Three decades later, nonprofit founded by Kent man still helping injured Palestinian children,” highlight the need for the Palestinian people to receive vaccines and critical hospital care in Israel. While Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu attempts to share Israel’s vaccines with other nations, he needs to make sure that the Palestinian people receive the vaccine.

If the world is serious about stopping the spread of the deadly coronavirus, then it must include vaccinations for all, including the Palestinians. I hope more people will consider donating to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), as it was started by a local Kent resident who worked with others to fund medical projects in the West Bank and Gaza. My hope is that everyone can be vaccinated against the coronavirus, including Palestinian families and children.

Nancy Dollard, Lake Township, OH U.S. MUST ACT FIRST ON IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL

To the Daily Record, March 13, 2021

In 2015, the United States and Iran made an agreement concerning (1) Iran’s processing of uranium that could be a step toward making a nuclear weapon and (2) sanctions which the United States had placed on Iran. In 2018, President Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement and reimposed sanctions. After the United States withdrew from the agreement, Iran continued in compliance for a year before returning to activities that were not allowed by the agreement. Since Joseph Biden has become president, Iran has stated a willingness to return to return to the agreement if the United States does also.

In March, 140 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Rep. Kim Schrier (D-WA), signed a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken about Iran. The letter, in effect, asks Secretary Blinken to take a hard line. It asks that he negotiate on issues that fall outside the original agreement, such as Iran’s missile program and Iran’s assistance to other groups in the region.

Iran has said that it will not negotiate the other issues as part of the reinstatement of the original agreement. That does not mean that the United States could not talk with Iran about the other issues, only that the reinstatement of the original agreement should stand on its own and not be contingent on talks about other issues.

The House members who signed the letter to Secretary Blinken should know that insisting on talks on other issues as part of the reinstatement of the original agreement is a non-starter. There will be no agreement if there is such an insistence.

One should hope that relations between the United States and Iran will improve and that the tensions between them will ease. If the 2015 agreement is not reinstated, then it is very likely that poor relations will continue and that the sanctions imposed by the United States will continue to cause hardship on the people of Iran. I think the 140 members of Congress, including Rep. Schrier, should reconsider their position.

Bill Stansbery, Ellensburg, WA

WHAT DO RETALIATORY ATTACKS ACCOMPLISH?

To the Times Union, March 7, 2021

During his campaign, President Joe Biden repeatedly mentioned that he was in a battle for the soul of the nation. I realize now that I neglected to concentrate on the word “battle.” I assumed the soul of his foreign policy would be nonviolence and dedicated not to retaliation but to diplomacy. When I read the news “U.S. bombs militia facilities in Syria,” Feb. 26, I was disheartened and angry.

Here, as usual, our country’s leader was justifying a path of violence in the name of national security. Why were we bombing the sovereign nation of Syria? What is the legal authority for these strikes? Did the president go to Congress first to seek authorization for this military action? Our Constitution is clear: Congress, not the president, has the authority to declare war.

To revert to the use of military force in a region devastated by years of U.S. warmaking left me sad. I had hoped that, as we withdraw troops in the Middle East, diplomacy would have been used before this retaliatory attack. I fear this is putting us on the path to continue our endless wars.

My hope is that Biden will participate in a diplomatic process by which this war can be brought to a conclusion, followed by a surge in humanitarian relief. I pray that the soul of our foreign policy will be defined by nonviolence, diplomacy and empathy.

My involvement in the Capital District Women Against War helps me support this position. Movements for justice and peace must stay strong now.

Sister Doreen Glynn, CSJ, Latham, NY

IT’S TIME TO FINALLY REPEAL THE 2002 AUMF

To the Portland Press Herald, March 19, 2021

As the 18th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq draws close, so does a promising opportunity to promote peace and end endless war: a bill to repeal the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) in Iraq.

The 2002 Iraq Authorization for Use of Military Force was passed when some people in our government mistakenly thought that Saddam Hussain was developing nuclear weapons. It gave our nation permission to invade Iraq and remove the regime of Saddam Hussain.

Saddam was removed long ago, but the 2002 Iraq Authorization for Use of Military Force is still on the books. It has been misused against forces that had nothing to do with Saddam, and our continual warmongering has cost us countless dollars and lives. It could be used to involve us in a continuous cycle of retaliation.

H.R. 256 repeals the 2002 Iraq Authorization for Use of Military Force. To bring the bill to the House floor so it can be passed, we need as many co-sponsors as we can get. I see that Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree (D) has co-sponsored H.R. 256, and I commend her decision. She is in good company, as many representatives on all sides of the political spectrum are pushing this cause.

We must continue to rally both the public and our leaders to work to use tools of peace and diplomacy rather than the weapons of destruction that continue the cycle of war.

I thank Rep. Pingree for her support as we work to have harmony replace war.

Beatrice Braeuer, Scarborough, ME ■