(Photo: Dana Goldstein)
Should we call it the anti-lobby–the surging force inside Jewish life against the actions of the Israel lobby?
Jewish Voice for Peace had a huge billboard outside the AIPAC policy conference calling for Palestinian freedom. And here is a letter JVP is sending out from Dorothy Naor, a 77-year-old who was detained last week as part of the crackdown by the Israeli police on New Profile, the feminist movement to demilitarize Israel.
Naor's letter urges Americans to lift up their voices against the lobby:
America keeps on sending us billions of dollars in weapons every year. And yet, Israel has become the least safe country for Jews to live in (except for war zones such as Afghanistan, where no one is safe).
* Nowhere else in the world since WWII have we Jews lived through 12 wars/battles/campaigns–all in less that 61 years.
* Nowhere else in the world since WWII have so many Jews been killed in violence–over 23,000 since Israel came into being.
And yet, we have no security. 61 years of the use of force have not brought us Israelis one iota of security…
We dared to ask whether militarism was the only way. We are undeterred. We will continue asking.It is your time to ask too.
If you are an American, please take a moment right now to call on Congress to ask the question: what happened with your US tax dollars in Gaza?…Here in Israel, we do not need more US weapons. We need you to help us achieve peace-real peace.
There can be no peace, however, until the Palestinians have justice. The Palestinian catastrophe since 1948 has included expulsion from their homes and lands, and for those who remained in the West Bank and Gaza, extra-judicial executions, land confiscations, no freedom of movement, nor the freedom to build homes and communities, Palestinians live always with the fear of Israeli military incursions. Since September 29, 2000 Israel has killed 6,248 Palestinians. 1,487 of these have been children.
