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How you can help stop vigilante settler rampages in the West Bank (or at least do something to try) [1]

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Date: 2023-06-22

I just visited the websites of my House Rep and both Senators and sent them versions of the following message. Please feel free to copy and paste (or modify) as you wish. The content speaks for itself.

Dear Senator _________, I am writing to express my strong support for the comments of US Ambassador Nides, in which he reportedly told an audience of Israeli and Palestinian young adults today that the US will not stand by and do nothing while vigilante settlers rampage through Palestinian towns in the West Bank. I say this as a rabbi and a Zionist - as someone who believes in the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians, and who still believes that Jews and Palestinians have a chance to have a good future together in two-states, living side by side. I am appalled by the pogrom-like raids that extremist Israeli settlers have carried out over the past few days, and I hope that the Biden Administration and members of Congress will make Nides' words reality, and take meaningful actions to use US influence to help bring these vigilante raids to an immediate halt. Like Ambassador Nides, I also am appalled by the Palestinian terror attack that murdered 4 Israelis in the West Bank earlier this week, and I also strongly believe that it is right and just to mourn for the victims on both sides of the conflict. All of that is true, and so is this fact: this vigilante violence is a new kind of threat that has to be stopped. It threatens Palestinian townspeople and villagers who are among the most powerless people in the dynamic of the entire conflict, and it also threatens the stable rule of law and democracy in Israel. None of this is okay, and none of it squares with US foreign policy. I and many other Jewish-Americans will proudly stand behind elected officials who stand for these principles. Thank you, Rabbi Maurice Harris

I recently returned from spending 3 weeks in Israel, visiting family, attending a convention in Jerusalem, and going on site visits to two Israeli green-tech startup companies and a specialized boarding school / youth village center for at-risk Israeli youth. There is so much that is admirable and brave, creative and moving going on in Israeli society. That includes the massive pro-democracy demonstrations that have been going on for months now, but it also includes things that are less well-known. What I write here and now I write as someone who loves Israel and spends a fair amount of time there, who speaks the language and still believes in the promise and possibilities of the place.

Right now, things are bleak as can be. This right-wing coalition government in Israel invited in extremist political parties including new Knesset members who pay homage to the racist and ultra-nationalist legacies of Meir Kahane and Baruch Goldstein (may their ideas wither and die speedily in our days). If you don’t know who those guys are, look them up. It is this government that has emboldened these extremist vigilante settler groups, and it is under this government that the Israeli army is now acknowledging that it is unprepared to deal with rampaging gangs of vigilantes attacking Palestinian towns.

There is nothing honorable, defensible, or meaningfully Jewish about this behavior. It is the dark side of tribalism and triumphalism, of dehumanizing the Other. The current Israeli parliamentary coalition can’t survive without the extremist parties’ support, so it is not likely to take the steps that need to be taken unless there is some serious leverage used by its friends. That means the US, and ideally, the Arab nations that have signed peace accords with Israel, starting right now with all diplomatic means available to change the calculus of this government’s leaders and try to stop this vigilantism in its tracks. That’s the first step and hopefully the only one needed.

I encourage folks to contact your elected officials and tell them you agree with Ambassador Nides’ remarks and that you reject any attempts by the allies of these extremists to depict his remarks as “anti-Israel.” There is nothing pro-Israel about defending violent rampaging vigilante settlers burning cars, desecrating mosques, burning crops, burning homes, and terrorizing Palestinian civilians in their homes. Nothing.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/22/2176999/-How-you-can-help-stop-vigilante-settler-rampages-in-the-West-Bank-or-at-least-do-something-to-try

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