Rabbi Michael Lerner’s speech brought down the house at Mohammad Ali’s funeral & is making an international splash, even among progressives. That’s swell. So can he explain to us his comment that liberal & progressive Jews “have called upon the United States to stand up to the part of the Israeli government that is oppressing Palestinians”?
Which “part” of the Israeli government is oppressing Palestinians, as he sees it? The military which occupies the West Bank, has East Jerusalem under martial law, & bombs Gaza so badly it’s becoming uninhabitable? The judiciary that creates draconian laws governing Palestinians under occupation but refuses to prosecute Israeli settlers for violence against Palestinians? The Knesset filled to capacity with rightwing parties & politicians calling for even more unspeakable violence & repression of Palestinians?
So the question really is, which part of the Israeli government isn’t oppressing Palestinians?
In response to the good rabbi’s speech, what is the sound of one hand clapping?
(Photo is Michael Lerner)
In 2010, Santana pulled out of a scheduled performance in Israel citing scheduling difficulties. Palestinians & BDS activists–giving him a respect we have learned he didn’t deserve–assumed it was because of our appeals that he honor the cultural boycott of Israel.
In a press statement earlier this year his manager denied the 2010 cancellation was due to BDS. He said, “Carlos Santana is a citizen of the World & he plays his music & spreads his message of Love, Light & Peacewherever he goes. Carlos believes the World should have no borders so he is not detoured or discouraged to play anywhere on this planet. We look forward to performing in Israel this summer.” (Those silly caps are all Santana’s.)
Love, Light & Peace, my ass! Despite months of appeals by BDS activists he will perform in Tel Aviv on July 30th as part of his Luminosity Tour. Luminosity means the brightness of a celestial object or the rate of emission of radiation but the only luminosity coming out of his performance will be the toxic emissions bouncing off the apartheid wall.
Our man is a weasel who spouts sentimental gibberish, like so many other weasels before him, to make big bucks by supporting apartheid. But we need to make sure that if we can’t stop him from disgracing himself, the whole world knows just what kind of weasel he is.
Please sign this petition circulated by Jewish Voice for Peace asking him to cancel his performance:
https://actionsprout.io/754F12?source=share
Please take a moment to like & share this wall:https://www.facebook.com/Carlos.Santana.Cancel.Apartheid.I…/Carlos Santana, Now That You Know it’s Apartheid, Don’t Play Israel
(Photo from Facebook wall of BDS appeal to Santana is of Mustafa Ismail, a Palestinian living in Gaza whose family was ethnically cleansed in 1948 from Jaffa. Jaffa, the cultural centre of Palestinians, was occupied in 1948 & has since been for the most part destroyed & annexed to Tel Aviv. The few remaining Palestinians face apartheid & ethnic cleansing.)
Proof that Drumpf is too stupid to be president: he pledged to bring back waterboarding & even worse forms of torture. Hard to believe he took Obama & CIA director John Brennan at their words when they claimed it ended in 2009. Denying it isn’t the same as ending it. That’s the same stunt Obama played with the war in Iraq: declaring it ended while continuing to deploy troops, mercenaries, & the CIA there.
(Please understand my criticisms of Drumpf are never an underhanded endorsement of Clinton. Neither is suitable for any official capacity; they are both murderous thugs.)
Recognizing the humanity of the Palestinians is not the new standard for solidarity–though Bernie Sanders & Rabbi Michael Lerner both got away with it. What does it even mean to recognize their humanity? Does it mean as distinct from dogs? Or as the same as Israelis & the rest of us?
Such a formulation has a meaning in politics only in the barbaric phase of capitalism when racism dominates world politics. But it is not sufficient to allow people a pass on Palestinian justice. Once you recognize that they are indeed human beings (they’ll be so glad to hear that) you have to choose where you stand on the colonial occupation of their lands, on Israeli apartheid & that great big apartheid wall, on ethnic cleansing, & on their claims to self-determination.
If you think, after all of Israel’s aggressions & barbarisms, that their very own little bantustate addresses Palestinian demands for justice, then maybe your understanding of what a human being is isn’t the problem. Maybe the real problem is your understanding of justice.
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