Writing letters...again.
This is the event tomorrow:
Anarchists Against the Wall
October 21, 2010 - 7:00PM to 10:00PM
Joseph Dana of Anarchists Against the Wall will be speaking on the Israeli solidarity movement with Palestinian popular resistance to the wall and to Israeli apartheid more generally.
| LOCATION: | Goldwin Smith, Lewis Aud. |
|---|---|
| SPEAKER: | Joseph Dana, Anarchists Against the Wall |
| TOPIC: | The Israeli Solidarity movement with Palestinian popular resistance to the wall |
| ADMISSION: | Open to Public. |
| ADMISSION INFO: | free and open to the public |
| CONTACT: | Carl Gelderloos 607 277 1309 cag236@cornell.edu This is the speaker's website: http://josephdana.com/ If you want to hear about how he is "creating impossible friendships," or want to laugh, I recommend watching the video interview. |
Carl,
We recently came across a poster for the UPJP event, Anarchists Against the Wall. The poster's message, "SMASH ISRAELI APARTHEID," offended us personally as Jews and supporters of Israel. The message implies that Israel is an Apartheid state and Israel's supporters condone the alleged Apartheid.
Israel is not an Apartheid state. Apartheid is a legally enforced system that institutionalizes segregation, discrimination, and oppression based on race, gender, sexuality, or religion. The Separation Barrier and laws in Israel do not discriminate based on race, gender, sexuality, or religion, as Palestinians live on both sides of the wall, and Palestinians in the West Bank have their own government, the Palestinian Authority. Along with the Palestinian government in the West Bank, Arabs in Israel have full citizenship and voting rights, and 14 out of the 120 members of the Israeli Parliament are Arab. The Israeli government is aware of the inconveniences the Barrier poses to residents of the West Bank and is working to find a more advantageous long term solution; however, the safety of the Israeli people is paramount.
The "Wall" itself is actually only about 5% cement wall, which comes out to approximately 10 miles, built to prevent sniper shootings that were frequent in those selected areas. The Security Barrier has been extremely effective in halting attacks on Israeli citizens. Between 2002 and 2003, when major portions of the Barrier was constructed, there were 30% fewer attacks by terrorists from the West Bank and 50% fewer Israelis were murdered. The effectiveness of the Barrier has continued in even greater magnitudes today.
The posters for this event blatantly incite hatred toward Israel by feeding Cornell students misleading information about the status of Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank.
This use of propaganda is unfair and uncomfortable for students like us who feel a strong connection to the State of Israel. For students who have not yet formed a connection or a strong opinion with either side, their opinions will easily be manipulated by the depiction of Israel as an Apartheid state.
It is our hope that you will find validity in our concerns and we can work together to find a solution to this problem, to educate Cornell students about the conflict while representing facts as clearly as possible and without bias.
We look forward to hearing from you,
Jordana Gilman and Rachel M--
Thankfully, Rachel is equally incensed about this issue and we are tearing down the anarchist with our own bare hands. I am ever so grateful to have a fellow Israel advocate like her on my own floor! While we did miss out on a half hour of planned sleep to write this letter, it was worth it and fun. We have been trained for this. It is OUR TIME.
WE ARE TAKING OVER THE WORLD ONE JEWISH ORGANIZATION AT A TIME AND IT IS A WONDERFUL FEELING AND I AM GETTING PHOTOGRAPHED SO I HAVE TO LOOK INTENSE AND TYPE REALLY FAST AND LOOK EXCITED
To conclude: Allegations that Israel is an apartheid state will have to find a home elsewhere. Not on our campus. Not in our home. Not in our hearts. (We're laughing now, you can too). But actually.
I am very proud of you. I will wait to hear whether Carl gets back to you. You and Rachel are doing exactly the right thing! You might also go to the speech with signs? Love, Mama
ReplyDeletehe responded yesterday before the speech, which i wasn't able to go to. adina went. she said the speaker was whining about the treatment of the palestinians the whole time. he's a good looking american jew who studies jewish history and moved to israel five years ago to flick of israeli soldiers at checkpoints and participate in poorly organized "civil disobedience" rallies. he's been to jail and apparently he's pretty proud of it.
ReplyDeletethis is carl's response:
Hi Jordana and Rachel
Thanks so much for your thoughtful email, and for contacting us with your concerns. It certainly deserves more of a response than I'll be able to give at the moment, but I hope to get back to you within a week or so.
While you're right that the poster's tone is provocative, I feel it's a mischaracterization to say it blatantly incites hatred towards Israel. As the same posters say, AAtW is primarily an Israeli group. They are working for change within Israeli society, rather than the destruction of that society. The 'apartheid' question is a big one, and one I won't be able to address until I have the chance to write you in more detail.
For the time being, I hope you take the time to come to the event tonight to inform yourself of the background behind the poster's apparent flagrancy, and to challenge the speaker's claims as you see fit.
Sincerely,
Carl
"WE ARE TAKING OVER THE WORLD ONE JEWISH ORGANIZATION AT A TIME AND IT IS A WONDERFUL FEELING"
ReplyDeletethe fores of evil and those of stupidity collide in statements like the one above...as jews you should be ashamed of yourselves for turning your eyes away from the truth, which, infinitely greater than any chunk of disputed land, is the essence of judaism.
Your words echo as quite condescending and quite disrespectful in the face of facts.That, along with your snide personal jabs at Mr. Dana, are sadly not surprising. If you feel as if you and your relgious brood are entitled to take whatever you please by any means necessary, just come out and clearly state that. Your behavior of perceived supremacy validates the concerns of those sympathetic to the Palestinian cause (or "whining").
ReplyDeletefor whatever reason, i did not see these comments before. first of all, if you are part of the cornell community, i would prefer to have a real conversation with you about these issues (that means not hiding behind anonymous statements). second of all, i only see attacks here, and no evidence. if you want to attack my rhetoric because it makes you feel justified, that's really fine with me. if you want to attack my rhetoric because it makes you feel like you're accomplishing something, you're going to have to do a bit better than that...
ReplyDelete