David Harris-Gershon is a brilliant writer and educator.

He is also a passionately dedicated Jewish humanist whose writings enrich and inspire the peace movement of like-minded Jews and non-Jews whose clamor now more than ever is expressed and heard worldwide.

Said clamor’s objective is that for the sake of the brutally oppressed Palestinian people and for the sake of Israelis who never endorsed such revisionist Zionist oppression and wish to live in peace and harmony with the Palestinians, something which the grandfather of this writer did experience in Haifa, until the violent partition in 1948,   the global community step up to the plate now and intervene to end once for all the racist,  bizarre, destructive,  hegemonist expansion and occupation by those literally hell-bent to the objective of “ethnically cleansing” Palestine of its Palestinians.

With this foreword, this writer wishes to share with its readers the following letter which Mr. Gershon has just published in the prestigious Tikkun publication which was founded and his edited by legendary progressive Rabbi Lerner.

Additionally though, in order to dispel confusion, this writer posts here a letter sent to Tikkun addressing Mr. Gershon’s excellent article, and said letter is directed at the very offensive, destructive, ignorant, and misleading comments posted by some individual in response to Mr. Gershon article, who has used the name “Fred” which happens to be the name of this writer in the Argentum Post.

Dear Mr. David Harris-Gershon,

I am the writer of the Argentum Post, and I admire you and respect you profoundly.
I follow your writings and they are brilliant, based on principled standings, educational, and constructive as they reflect your passionate dedication to peaceful conflict solution with peace, justice, and security for all.

I need to point out to you and to all of your other readers, that in my blog, namely The Argentum Post, I appear by the name “Fred”.

The person who has posted several offensive, angry and misleading comments to this specific article of yours, is obviously not the Fred of the Argentum Post.

This individual may go by the name of Fred or he may be deliberately falsely using this name in an attempt to cast negative aspersions to the Argentum Post, and therefore is committing e-mail fraud.

Stay well and best of wishes.

***************************

… Netanyahu’s not shocked. He’s complicit.

Indeed, Netanyahu appointed as Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who actively called for the genocide of Palestinians and championed calling their children “little snakes.”

He has repeatedly incited racism and hatred against Palestinians, once famously warning Jewish voters on election day that “Arabs are heading to the polls in droves.”

Netanyahu has stated that he wants an occupation which subjugates Palestinians to last forever and fully supports those extremists behind the settlement enterprise, with expansions having surged on his watch.

Netanyahu’s government has refused to crack down on settler terrorism and violence. Indeed, 120 incidents of terrorism or violence targeting Palestinians have occurred just this year alone, and approximately 11,000 incidents have occurred over the past 10 years, the vast majority of which aren’t even recorded by the State, much less prosecuted.

And of course, Israel killed over 2,200 Palestinians in Gaza last summer during its 51-day assault, a bombing campaign which was preceded by Netanyahu calling for “vengeance.” The same word scrawled by terrorists on baby Ali’s home before being burned alive.

Now, Netanyahu is of course not the only one complicit. So too are those very politicians, Lapid and Erdan included, who made emotional statements when news of Ali’s death reached their ears. It’s no surprise that in all of their statements, two words never appeared: “occupation” and “settlements.” Yet it is the occupation which lies at the center of settler violence and the devaluing of Palestinian lives. It is a center threatening to tear Israel apart as settlers and soldiers tear Palestinian families apart.

Nearly every member of Israel’s government has either actively worked to maintain the occupation or passively enabled its continued brutality by refusing to confront the damage it’s doing to both Israel and those Palestinians subjugated daily. And it’s not just Israel’s leaders who are complicit. American Jewish and ‘pro-Israel’ organizations are responsible as well, for the vast majority continue to ignore the occupation as though it doesn’t even exist.

To emphasize this, nearly every major American Jewish and pro-Israel organization–including AIPAC, ADL, AJC, and Jewish Federations–condemned the terrorism which took baby Ali’s life. Not a single statement mentioned the words “occupation” or “settlements.”

Unless Israeli and Jewish-Zionist leaders in the diaspora are willing to confront and end the occupation, the racism and violence against Palestinians will not just remain, but grow. Unless Jewish leaders stop vilifying Palestinians while allowing them to be oppressed, the racism and violence will not just remain, but grow. Of course, this isn’t a surprise to anyone. It’s known. It’s been known for longer than most leaders would bear to admit.

So spare me the “I’m shocked” routine and do something.

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David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, published recently by Oneworld Publications.