{"id":6098,"date":"2009-01-02T13:23:35","date_gmt":"2009-01-02T20:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=6098"},"modified":"2009-01-02T13:23:35","modified_gmt":"2009-01-02T20:43:23","slug":"links-to-israeli-and-jewish-voices-opposing-israel%e2%80%99s-attacks-on-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=6098","title":{"rendered":"Links to Israeli and Jewish voices opposing Israel\u2019s attacks on Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fathima Cader<\/a> writes:<\/p>\n

I posted a note on my Facebook profile of a list of Israel and Jewish voices opposing Israel\u2019s attacks on Gaza<\/a> (Word Doc). It begins, \u201cContrary to what popular media in North America claims, there are critical voices in Israel and among American Jews.\u201d Though I put it up, I paused before writing that sentence, particularly the bit about American Jews, because of how uncomfortable I feel when people write carelessly about resistance movements among Muslims. I wondered if I was being just as condescending as others are when they take Muslim activists out of context in order to use their comments to bolster their own self-righteousness. […]<\/p>\n

Ultimately, I think the links I put up are ones that need to be read, because the papers I read are doing a troublingly good job of not giving them publicity. I wish, though, that I could word it in a way that more carefully distanced American Jewry from Israeli policy, in the way that I demand people understand the distance between Muslims and Al Qaeda.<\/p>\n

On writing about America\u2019s progressive Jewry, Steve Ackerman notes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t want to reduce yourself to the mere fact of your heritage and become a self-parody. You have other stuff to write about and pay attention to. You don\u2019t want to hurt your mother\u2019s feelings.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That resonates with me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the whole post here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And here, with Fathima’s permission, is her link list (everything in this post following this line is written by Fathima, not me):<\/p>\n

Other Israels<\/strong><\/p>\n

Contrary to what popular media in North America claims, there are critical voices in Israel and among American Jews. Don’t support the violence just because it looks like only the terrorists (\/muslims \/arabs) aren’t. ((Before anyone asks, I’m quite sure the conflation of “terrorists” with “muslims” and “arabs” is sarcastic, not literal. –Amp))<\/p>\n

Tom Segev at Haaretz: Trying to ‘teach Hamas a lesson’ is fundamentally wrong<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

All of Israel’s wars have been based on yet another assumption that has been with us from the start: that we are only defending ourselves. “Half a million Israelis are under fire,” screamed the banner headline of Sunday’s Yedioth Ahronoth – just as if the Gaza Strip had not been subjected to a lengthy siege that destroyed an entire generation’s chances of living lives worth living […] Most dangerous of all is the cliche that there is no one to talk to. That has never been true. There are even ways to talk with Hamas, and Israel has something to offer the organization. Ending the siege of Gaza and allowing freedom of movement between Gaza and the West Bank could rehabilitate life in the Strip.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Harm to civilians during the fighting in Gaza and Southern Israel<\/a><\/i>
\nIsraeli human rights groups track civilian casualties:<\/p>\n

  • Adalah<\/a> – The legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel<\/li>\n
  • Amnesty International Israel Section<\/a><\/li>\n
  • B’Tselem<\/a> – the Israeli Informaion Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories<\/li>\n
  • Bimkom<\/a> – Planners for Planning Rights<\/li>\n
  • Hamoked<\/a> – Center for the Defense of the Individual<\/li>\n
  • Physicians for Human Rights- Israel<\/a><\/li>\n
  • Public Committee Against Torture in Israel<\/a><\/li>\n
  • Rabbis for Human Rights<\/a><\/li>\n
  • The Association for Civil Rights in Israel<\/a><\/li>\n
  • Yesh Din<\/a> – Volunteers for Human Rights<\/li>\n

    Jewish Voices for Peace: JVP statement on Gaza attacks<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

    Jewish Voice for Peace joins millions around the world, including the 1,000 Israelis who protested in the streets of Tel Aviv this weekend, in condemning ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza. We call for an immediate end to attacks on all civilians, whether Palestinian or Israeli.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    B’Tselem: B’Tselem to Attorney General Mazuz: Concern over Israel targeting civilian objects in the Gaza Strip<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

    For example, the military bombed the main police building in Gaza and killed, according to reports, forty-two Palestinians who were in a training course and were standing in formation at the time of the bombing. Participants in the course study first-aid, handling of public disturbances, human rights, public-safety exercises, and so forth. Following the course, the police officers are assigned to various arms of the police force in Gaza responsible for maintaining public order […] These are just examples of what appear to be clear civilian objects attacked by the army. On the face of it, the activity carried out in these places is not military activity aimed against Israel, and the IDF spokesperson does not even make this claim. Clearly, then, they cannot be considered military objects in accordance with the provisions of international humanitarian law.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    J-Street: Statement by Jeremy Ben-Ami, Executive Director, on Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

    Respecting Israel’s right to defend itself, we urge leaders there to recognize that there is no military solution to what is fundamentally a political conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples […] The United States, the Quartet, and the world community must not wait – as they did in the Israel-Lebanon crisis of 2006 – for weeks to pass and hundreds or thousands more to die before intervening. There needs to be an urgent end to the new hostilities that brings a complete cessation to the rocket fire out of Gaza and that allows food, fuel and other civilian necessities into Gaza. The need for diplomatic engagement goes beyond a short-term ceasefire. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Ezra Klein at The American Prospect: An Occupied Nation and a Threatened One<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

    One important disconnect in Israel\/Palestine debate is that Israel’s supporters tend to focus on what the Palestinians want while Palestine’s supporters tend to focus on what the Israelis do. Israel’s defenders, for instance, make a lot of Hamas’s willingness to kill large numbers of civilians. Palestine’s defenders make a lot of the fact that Israel actually kills large numbers of Palestinian civilians.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    The Magnes Zionist: How the Western Media is Falling for Israeli Spin<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

    And BBC, please fire the journalist who gets his (dis)information from Israeli spokespeople. You didn’t know that the cabinet had approved the Gaza operation? Well, for Chrissake, you should have read the Friday Haaretz, where the headline was: 70 rocket strikes in southern Israel; Cabinet approves military response.<\/i><\/p>\n

    In the Hebrew edition, the cabinet was said to have authorized earlier in the week the Defense Minister and Prime Minister to decide on the timing of the operation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Mathew Yglesias: Attack on Gaza<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

    The strikes were in response to Hamas\u2019 habit of launching indiscriminant rocket fire from Gaza land, though how exactly these strikes are supposed to stop the rockets is mysterious to me. Less mysterious is the idea that the Kadima-Labour coalition wants to \u201clook tough\u201d and beat off the political challenge from Bibi Netanyahu and the Likud.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Spencer Ackerman at The Washington Independent: Progressive Jewish Groups See Test in Crisis<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

    “Absolutely,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, executive director of J Street, a new liberal Jewish lobby group. “This is a real testing moment for those of us who honestly believe you can be supportive of Israel but questioning of steps its government takes.”<\/p>\n

    M.J. Rosenberg, director of policy analysis for the Israel Policy Forum, another progressive Jewish organization, was similarly blunt. “It\u2019s put-up-or-shut-up time,” he said. \u201cFor a two-state solution, for the U.S. to be an honest broker \u2014 if all of us just sit back and say, \u2018Israel had no choice [to bomb Gaza], then we\u2019re just a bunch of phonies. But I don\u2019t see that happening.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Laila El-Haddad writes about trying to stay in contact with her family in Gaza: Safety is a state of mind<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

    When the bombs are dropped around them, they send me a quick note to inform me of what happened before running to safety. I am still not sure where “safety” is; and neither, I think, do they. It is perhaps more a mental state and place than a physical one. In any other situations, people flee to where they perceive are safer locations. In Gaza, there is no “safe”. And there is no where to flee to, with the borders closed, the sky and sea under siege.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    The question should never be anything except rhetorical: where do you run to for safety, when there’s a wall up that’s there expressly for the purpose of keeping you in?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Fathima Cader writes: I posted a note on my Facebook profile of a list of Israel and Jewish voices opposing Israel\u2019s attacks on Gaza (Word Doc). It begins, \u201cContrary to what popular media in North America claims, there are critical … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6098\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}