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Arthur M. Horwitz
Publisher / Executive Editor
ahorwitz@renmedia.us
I ‘Agree’ With Cornel West
I
agree with Cornel West.
occupation of the Palestinian Authority
I never thought I would find myself
(P.A.) and, since 2007, 100 percent of the
writing those words. West, a lead-
residents of Gaza have been living under
ing African American author and intel-
the occupation of Hamas. Ain’t no doubt
lectual, is a vicious critic of
in my mind: One day, brother, the
Israel. He supports the Boycott,
Palestinians will be free of the cruel
Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
totalitarian Palestinian regimes that
movement. He says Israel’s lead-
occupy and oppress them.
ers are “war criminals.” In a
One day, brother, the Palestinians
speech at Princeton last year, he
will have the freedom to demo-
made the wildly absurd claim
cratically choose their leaders.
that the Israelis “are killing hun-
Mahmoud Abbas was elected head
dreds [of Palestinians] daily.”
of the Palestinian Authority in
Stephen M.
But even a broken clock
January 2005 for a four-year term.
Flatow
gives the right time twice a
Yet somehow he is still in office,
JNS.org
day, so on the rare occasion
seven-and-a-half years since his
that West utters words of truth about the
term expired. And Hamas has not held a
Palestinians or Israel, I must acknowledge
democratic election since taking over the
that.
Gaza Strip nine years ago.
West was appointed by Sen. Bernie
One day, brother, the Palestinians will
Sanders (I-Vt.) to serve on the Democratic have the right to freedom of speech. Najat
Party’s Platform Committee. He lobbied
Abu Baker, a member of the Palestinian
hard for a platform plank supporting the
parliament, recently hid out in the parlia-
Palestinian cause and was partly success-
ment building for 17 days to avoid being
ful.
arrested by the P.A. police. The warrant for
Speaking to a Jerusalem Post reporter on arrest was issued because — as the New
July 26 on the floor of the Democratic con- York Times put it — “Ms. Abu Baker said
vention, West said he was disappointed the Mr. Abbas should resign and suggested
platform did not go further, but he vowed
there would be money to pay educators if
to continue his struggle. He declared: “The ministers were not so corrupt.”
Palestinians will be free, brother. Ain’t no
One day, brother, the Palestinians will
doubt about that.”
have the right to free assembly. Earlier
And that’s where Cornel and I agree.
this year, 20,000 Palestinian public school
Since 1995, more than 98 percent of the teachers went on strike because they had
Palestinians have been living under the
not been paid (those were the unpaid
educators to whom Ms. Abu Baker was
referring). When some dissidents tried
to hold a rally in support of the strikers,
“the P.A. security services set up rings of
checkpoints to prevent the teachers from
attending the demonstration,” according to
Haaretz. Twenty teachers and two school
principals who did manage to reach the
rally were arrested for doing so.
One day, brother, the Palestinians
will no longer have their basic human
rights violated by the Palestinian occu-
pation regime. According to the State
Department’s most recent report on
human rights around the world, the P.A.
is guilty of “abuse and mistreatment of
detainees, poor and overcrowded deten-
tion facilities, prolonged detention and
infringements on privacy rights, restric-
tions on freedom of speech, press, and
assembly, limits on freedom of association
and movement, discrimination against
persons with disabilities, discrimination
based on sexual orientation and HIV/
AIDS status and limits on worker rights,”
including “forced labor.”
So, I agree with Cornel West: One day,
the Palestinians will be free. The ques-
tion is — how long will it take Professor
West to acknowledge just who it is that the
Palestinians need to be liberated from?
*
Stephen M. Flatow, an attorney in New Jersey, is
the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an
Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995.
letters
Who’s ‘Observant’
And Who’s ‘Ultra’
Regarding the Point-Counterpoint in the
July 28 JN (page 8), I found Yair Sheleg’s
“Point” to be very interesting. His main
topics boiled down to egalitarian prayer
at the wall, diaspora conversions and the
upcoming mikvah bill.
The “Counterpoint” presented by Rabbis
Yaakov Menken and Pesach Lerner did
not truly address the issues raised by Yair
Sheleg but only touched on them as they
related to two of their own points: that of
the shortcomings of non-Orthodox Jews,
be they totally secular or followers of other
streams of Judaism, and the point of the
use of the term “ultra-Orthodox,” which
they consider pejorative.
As for the Counterpoint’s attacks on
non-Orthodox streams of Judaism, those
attacks are purely diversionary and do
not address the primary issues raised by
Sheleg.
As for the Counterpoint issue of the
6 August 11 • 2016
term “ultra-Orthodox,” I never associated
the term as in any way pejorative as I have
taken the prefix “ultra” to mean “very
much so.” However, if members of that
group of Jews consider the term as a nega-
tive, I will refrain from using it and revert
to the Hebrew term “haredi.”
I would like to point out that I am a
longtime member of Temple Shir Shalom,
and I spend every Shabbat morning at
temple studying Torah. As such, I am
deeply offended by the terms “observant”
and someone “becoming observant” when
it is used to describe someone who fol-
lows the halachic dictates with regard to
Shabbat.
I do not follow Halachah, but I am very
observant of Shabbat as prescribed by the
stream of Judaism that I follow. To say that
I am not is very denigrating to me. Kindly
refrain from its use as a tool to indicate
one type of belief as is used on page 18 of
the same issue of the Jewish News.
Burt Schwartz
Beverly Hills
CORRECTIONS
• In “Understanding Cancer” (July 28,
page 42), the correct phone number to
learn more about partnering in Dr. Sofia
Merajver’s cancer research is (734) 936-
6884.
• “Northland Memories” (Aug. 4, page
10) should have stated that attorney Frank
Simon was the court-appointed receiver to
oversee the dissolution of Northland Mall,
and John Polderman was the attorney rep-
resenting Simon.
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