Wake up, Ruth Westheimer

Dear Ruth Westheimer,

Are you blind or do you simply have your head in the sand, in complete denial of Zionist Israel’s racist crimes to rid Israel of Palestinians? Excuse me, but I am reminded of “Deutschland Uber Alles.” You see, I was born in Frankfurt, I too am a refugee from Nazi Germany and I am a Jew who must say NO to apartheid, occupation , check points, stolen land, racism and a desire for a Jewish State only obtained through the suffering and blood of Palestinians who are identified as “reviled Arabs” by Israelis who are taught from childhood to hate. Only today I was sickened to read on “Jerusalem Day” settlers shouted “Kahane was right.” Do you remember Kahane, the founder of the Jewish Defense league? A nationalist activist, he was both a “visionary hero of nationalist Israelis” or a criminal racist, dependent on whose side one was on. He founded the militant anti-Arab Kach party with a platform that called for the annexation of all conquered territories and the forcible removal of all Palestinians. Death to the Arabs is what was heard in the streets of Jerusalem as Palestinians were barricaded from leaving their homes by Israeli soldiers. What I hear is “Death to the Jews.” Why can’t you recognize the insanity of yet another ultra right wing Nationalistic country that sees itself as exceptional? Wake up, Ruth Westheimer. You should lead us in dissent not in a wishful fantasy.

Have you not heard of the Nakba? This is the Palestinian Holocaust, a catastrophe for the people who tragically are the last victims of the Holocaust. No there are no ovens, but there are open air prisons, closed prisons holding thousands of Palestinians including women and children who have not been charged and who remain indefinitely in sordid conditions. Stolen homes. stolen lives.

Do you not see a repeat of history? Yes it is in another form but similar in the violent , racist nationalistic fervor of Zionist Israelis who somehow have decided the land must belong to them only. How do you see the events? Do you label Palestinians as terrorists and Zionists as victims? This has been a carefully manipulated scenario, a “hasbara” that also uses the memory of the Nazi Holocaust to justify all means to secure a Jewish State only.

Do you not know about Operation Cast Lead, 3 weeks of constant bombings in Gaza, the grimmest of war stories? Daily bombings, infrastructure, schools, hospitals, destruction everywhere, chemicals in the missiles. I saw the effects of depleted uranium and white phosphorous on young children. It was horrible. Birth defects were monstrous, parents grieving, children depressed, unable to have a childhood. The refugee camps intolerable. Open fire, Mediterranean waters infested with raw sewage, fisherman shot , their once thriving fishing industry destroyed, locked gates and hospital without enough medicines, with not enough electricity, with broken generators.

Are you blind, Ruth Westheimer? How is it that you can tolerate such atrocities to occur without saying “No! Never again.” I beg you, educate yourself, read the story of the Palestinian “catastrophe.” Be humble and look to the truth and not a revisionist interpretation of history.

The hope for Israel as a beacon of light is non existent. I grieve to witness the path Zionist Israel has walked. Only for Jews. Now what kind of Democracy is that?