Letter to the Editor: Stand with Palestinians and Israelis Together for Lasting Peace
In hundreds of days, we have witnessed hundreds of years of livelihood and heritage decimated in Gaza and the West Bank. We have witnessed thousands upon thousands of the most vulnerable people on earth destroyed by the most high-tech weapons the world has ever seen. (The weapons come from the United States.) The Israeli government’s policy of starvation is killing babies before our eyes, yet morally motivated people trying to stop this are labeled antisemites, even though some of the most vocal protesters are Jewish. Jewish Holocaust scholars like Raz Segal, Omer Bartov, and Amos Goldberg concur that this is genocide. Last week, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert denounced the war, calling it a “war of extermination.” Over 1,200 Israeli academics last week penned an open letter stating their country is in moral collapse.
Actively opposing the deeply cruel Israeli government led by Prime Minister Netanyahu is a moral imperative. Actively supporting the Palestinians’ right to life is a moral imperative. As a Jewish peace activist who has been involved with this issue for 47 years, I have never been more appalled by Maryland leaders, its Jewish leaders in particular. Not one member of the Maryland Jewish Legislative Caucus (most of them Democrats) joined us when we called for a ceasefire resolution. Most Rabbis and community leaders have not been willing to oppose the Netanyahu government, thereby standing with a regime that is practicing high-tech barbarism and has shown little interest in compromising to save lives, including their own hostages.
Other Marylanders and I need our elected officials, from Senators and Congressmen to state and local officials to put all political calculations aside. We need them to stand with us and all of the Palestinians and Israelis standing together for a just and lasting peace. There is nothing antisemitic about calling for an immediate end to our tax dollars funding this unconscionable war. Elections won’t be lost, and lives will be saved.
I am also a Jewish Baltimorean. I join with others to demand our Maryland politicians stand for ceasefire and stop the use of our tax dollars that are funding the killing and starving of Palestinians.
Thanks for the letter by Ronda Cooperstein. Those of us who are Jewish should not be fooled by efforts to label even our criticism of an immoral Israeli policy as antisemitic. This is the deliberate work of the Heritage Foundation with their Project Esther.So too it deliberately mislabels any pro- Palestinian comments as anti- Semitic . Mostly written by right wing non- Jews, Project Esther has used the term”antisemitism “ as a weapon for their own nefarious political agenda.
With even Israelis standing up against the genocide, it is glaring when Maryland elected officials efforts in fueling this atrocity. This includes Congressional reps supporting military aid to Israel and State and local representatives brokering Israel weapons manufacturers into our State (through the Maryland Israel Development Center).
It is an absolute moral imperative that the US and the entire international community immediately do everything possible to get sufficient food and medical care to the people of Gaza, as well as demanding that Israel cease its attacks on Gaza.
The people of Gaza are starving because Israel continues to block UN and humanitarian aid. On Friday Israeli troops shot 20 people seeking aid from their sketchy Gaza “Humanitarian” Foundation. More of us, including our elected representatives, need to speak out to get food to these starving famiies and demand a ceasefire.