Len Kaminsky wrote this letter to the Miami Herald. I know it’s not getting anything like the publicity of Peter Beinart’s op-ed in the Times, but give it up to Kaminsky, for helping to wake up Americans:
Israeli oppression, occupation and denial of human rights for Palestinians are not treated with the same sympathy as the treatment of Israel. To portray Israelis as having their lives disrupted by the threat of rocket attacks and sirens warning them to run for cover simply ignores reality.
Every day Palestinian lives are threatened by Israeli bombs, soldiers and silent drone attacks with no warning whatsoever. Yet these attacks do not make for sympathetic articles on Palestinians who are constantly dehumanized, killed, maimed and bombed.
I am Jewish and anti-Zionist and feel that it’s time that unbiased and fair articles are published about the Zionist state of Israel.
Len Kaminsky, co-chairman, South Florida Boycott, Divest and Sanction, Surfside
And there is this response that appeared yesterday to Peter Beinart’s New York Times op-ed on boycotting the settlements:
To the Editor:
Peter Beinart sees an absence of democracy in the occupied territories, and contrasts that with the situation in Israel proper. The contrast is an illusion.
Israeli law treats Jewish and non-Jewish citizens differently in important areas like the process of obtaining citizenship, state spending on education and infrastructure, who can live and build in East Jerusalem, and who is required to serve in the military. Israel is, after all, a Jewish state.
But such a state cannot be a democracy. Sooner or later, Israelis will have to choose between ethnic privilege or a state that recognizes the equality of all of its citizens before the law. As an American Jew, I hope that they will choose democracy.
New York, March 19, 2012
Jesse, get in touch, write for us!
(headline h/t Letters of Note)