TALES FROM THE ATTIC

ABOUT THE REVIEW

MULTITUDES: The unauthorized memoirs of Sam Smith

SAM'S MUSIC

January 20, 2019

Word: Time to end the silence on Palestine

Michelle Alexander, NY Times -. Our elected representatives, who operate in a political environment where Israel's political lobby holds well-documented power, have consistently minimized and deflected criticism of the State of Israel, even as it has grown more emboldened in its occupation of Palestinian territory and adopted some practices reminiscent of apartheid in South Africa and Jim Crow segregation in the United States.

Many civil rights activists and organizations have remained silent as well, not because they lack concern or sympathy for the Palestinian people, but because they fear loss of funding from foundations, and false charges of anti-Semitism. They worry, as I once did, that their important social justice work will be compromised or discredited by smear campaigns.

... Reading King’s speech at Riverside more than 50 years later, I am left with little doubt that his teachings and message require us to speak out passionately against the human rights crisis in Israel-Palestine, despite the risks and despite the complexity of the issues. King argued, when speaking of Vietnam, that even “when the issues at hand seem as perplexing as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict,” we must not be mesmerized by uncertainty. “We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.”

And so, if we are to honor King’s message and not merely the man, we must condemn Israel’s actions: unrelenting violations of international law, continued occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, home demolitions and land confiscations. We must cry out at the treatment of Palestinians at checkpoints, the routine searches of their homes and restrictions on their movements, and the severely limited access to decent housing, schools, food, hospitals and water that many of them face.

1 comment:

  1. When the Israelis started cutting trees, the trees I had been asked to donate for when i was at kid in Sholem Alecheim school so that the desert would bllom, I realized they had lost their minds and souls. I am also a supporter of one person, one vote, and any society that only lets some people be citizens is doomed to fail. The US needs to change its tune and quit supporting apartheid.

    ReplyDelete