You ignore ‘apartheid’ — angry scholars’ letter to US Jews is signed by 750 including Benny Morris
Cartoon that appeared with letter signed by 750 calling on US Jews to address the ‘elephant in the room’, Israeli apartheid
Phillip Weiss writes in Mondoweiss:
There is big news in the American discourse of apartheid. A letter to the American Jewish community, accusing it of supporting progressive causes while turning a blind eye to Israeli “apartheid” and ethnic cleansing, has gotten hundreds of signatures from leading figures, including mainstream voices in the Zionist world — Benny Morris, David Myers, Dov Waxman, Shaul Magid, and Daniel Levy.
The letter calls on American Jewish leaders to recognize “apartheid” and demand that U.S. leaders “restrict American military aid from being used in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and end Israeli impunity in the UN and other international organizations.”
The letter says that one democratic state is a legitimate outcome. “Without equal rights for all, whether in one state, two states, or in some other political framework, there is always a danger of dictatorship.”
Several friends have emailed me about the importance of the letter. “I must say I never thought it would reach this point this fast,” writes one. “I think that Israel’s behavior is so egregious, so off the charts, that any decent human being can’t help but condemn it. I also think almost everyone who is now critical of Israel understands that this one only gets worse.”
Remember that Jimmy Carter was drummed out of Democratic Party gatherings for using the word apartheid 17 years ago.
According to co-sponsor Lior B. Sternfeld of Penn State University, about half the signatories are Israeli. The letter went live on Saturday August 5 and has gathered 200 signatures a day since. “Signatories include high-profile Palestinian and Bedouin scholars, such as Amal Jamal and Rawia Aburabia, and numerous influential non-Jewish scholars, such as Timothy Snyder and Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, director of the Center for Antisemitism Research in Berlin, signifying a general abhorrence of current Israeli actions.”