There will be no Zoom call this Friday. I wasn’t planning on making a video for today but something happened yesterday that I thought was worth discussing. If anyone is in New Haven, I’ll be speaking at Yale on Monday night, April 3. I’ll be back with another video next Monday,
I'd encourage those of you who aren't familiar with Sam's work to check it out online. You'll find not only great courage but profound wisdom and humanity as well.
"we have to focus on the judicial overhaul first, and then we can get to the issues, the kind of things you’re talking about"
In the 60s, when women started demanding equal say in leftist organizations, the answer was, We'll get to that later. Same old, same old.
As for being heckled: Good thing. That means you weren't preaching to the choir. You were telling people, some people, things they didn't want to hear, and that they needed to hear.
Thank you, Peter! For articulating so simply and so brilliantly what's missing in all those protests and why. "Saving" Israeli democracy, indeed, means returning to a democracy for Jews in Israel, and that will never be enough!
I, as an Israeli, who was raised in a Jewish family, am more than willing to give up my privileges that this label grants me, and share equally and fairly all the resources between the Jordan river and the sea.
Looking forward (and working towards) that day!
Thank you for making your voice heard and empowering this movement.
Peter, I'm 78 years old and pretty well past demonstrating - but if you ca n get a joint Israeli/Palestinian democracy demo I'll be there. I think it's a game-changing, visionary idea.
The reason why your audience didn't want to hear it is because they aren't as stupid as your supplicants here. They know what will happen should Israel give Palestinians the vote, as you demand, the same as what would happen if Ukraine gives Russia the vote.
When you are ready to get out of the ivory tower and start talking solutions, maybe then you'll find a receptive ear among people who actually care about human rights and not weaponizing them to justify terrorism and mas murder.
Bravo Peter! Yours is a true vision of democracy, and must've been very challenging to hear for those fearful of losing Jewish control over I-P. You can see that fear underlying some of the harsh comments below. Thank you for speakng the prophetic; we are so in need of unifying visions in our troubled world and if we are to survive, we MUST expand our view of who matters - all humanity.
Peter, you need to put down the white man's burden.
The Palestinians are not part of Israel's democracy. And they don't want to be. They want their own state. They want to rule themselves. They've been building their own state for decades and ignoring and minimizing that is offensive to them. The State of Palestine exists. Its people are citizens of Palestine. These are facts that are not to be denied just because it is inconvenient to your personal narrative.
Occupied countries are still countries and what you are calling for, for Israel to annex the West Bank and Gaza and force the Palestinians living there to lose Palestinian citizenship and take on Israeli citizenship, is illegal under international law. It's not what Israelis want, it's not what Palestinians want, it's only what you want. I find your attitude condescending and imperialist.
If you want to be a leader of this campaign to change the Zionist orientation of Israel why don’t you move there. It is the sign of a timid soul telling Israelis what to do from the far away safety of New York City!
Peter, Thank you for this account of your talk at Washington Square. It did take courage to give that talk -- you must have anticipated that there would be a lot of folk in the crowd who would try to cancel you -- and you did it anyway.
Your basic point -- that Israel must be a democracy for all the people who live there not just for the present (Jewish) majority -- is not just true but indeed true by definition. A state in which the ethnic majority trample on the rights of and deny full human rights to the main ethnic minority is not, by definition, a "democracy" but an ethnographic-nationalist state of the kind that Hungary and Turkey are, India is becoming, and which the American right wing would like the US to become. Israel is going down that path through has not yet reached that endpoint, and even if the current protest movement succeeds in protecting the Israeli judiciary, it will continue down that path as long as it suppresses the civil and human rights of the Palestinians, both within Israel and the occupied territories.
Richard--you are very welcome in these conversations. I truly want people who totally disagree with my views. But try to speak respectfully to people.
Speaking truth to power requires courage, a courage you're consistently showing. Thank you from inside the cage of the West Bank.
I'd encourage those of you who aren't familiar with Sam's work to check it out online. You'll find not only great courage but profound wisdom and humanity as well.
Thank you
"we have to focus on the judicial overhaul first, and then we can get to the issues, the kind of things you’re talking about"
In the 60s, when women started demanding equal say in leftist organizations, the answer was, We'll get to that later. Same old, same old.
As for being heckled: Good thing. That means you weren't preaching to the choir. You were telling people, some people, things they didn't want to hear, and that they needed to hear.
Bravo peter, what a courageous and inspirational talk. Wish I’d been there.
Susan stebbins
Thank you, Peter! For articulating so simply and so brilliantly what's missing in all those protests and why. "Saving" Israeli democracy, indeed, means returning to a democracy for Jews in Israel, and that will never be enough!
I, as an Israeli, who was raised in a Jewish family, am more than willing to give up my privileges that this label grants me, and share equally and fairly all the resources between the Jordan river and the sea.
Looking forward (and working towards) that day!
Thank you for making your voice heard and empowering this movement.
Peter, I'm 78 years old and pretty well past demonstrating - but if you ca n get a joint Israeli/Palestinian democracy demo I'll be there. I think it's a game-changing, visionary idea.
The reason why your audience didn't want to hear it is because they aren't as stupid as your supplicants here. They know what will happen should Israel give Palestinians the vote, as you demand, the same as what would happen if Ukraine gives Russia the vote.
When you are ready to get out of the ivory tower and start talking solutions, maybe then you'll find a receptive ear among people who actually care about human rights and not weaponizing them to justify terrorism and mas murder.
Bravo Peter! Yours is a true vision of democracy, and must've been very challenging to hear for those fearful of losing Jewish control over I-P. You can see that fear underlying some of the harsh comments below. Thank you for speakng the prophetic; we are so in need of unifying visions in our troubled world and if we are to survive, we MUST expand our view of who matters - all humanity.
i hope to see you one too! will definitely let you know
really interesting analogy. thanks for it
Peter, you need to put down the white man's burden.
The Palestinians are not part of Israel's democracy. And they don't want to be. They want their own state. They want to rule themselves. They've been building their own state for decades and ignoring and minimizing that is offensive to them. The State of Palestine exists. Its people are citizens of Palestine. These are facts that are not to be denied just because it is inconvenient to your personal narrative.
Occupied countries are still countries and what you are calling for, for Israel to annex the West Bank and Gaza and force the Palestinians living there to lose Palestinian citizenship and take on Israeli citizenship, is illegal under international law. It's not what Israelis want, it's not what Palestinians want, it's only what you want. I find your attitude condescending and imperialist.
WOW! I wish I had been in Washington Square to hear your talk and catch the reactions. Thankyou for posting this and continue the great work.
Peter
If you want to be a leader of this campaign to change the Zionist orientation of Israel why don’t you move there. It is the sign of a timid soul telling Israelis what to do from the far away safety of New York City!
Peter, Thank you for this account of your talk at Washington Square. It did take courage to give that talk -- you must have anticipated that there would be a lot of folk in the crowd who would try to cancel you -- and you did it anyway.
Your basic point -- that Israel must be a democracy for all the people who live there not just for the present (Jewish) majority -- is not just true but indeed true by definition. A state in which the ethnic majority trample on the rights of and deny full human rights to the main ethnic minority is not, by definition, a "democracy" but an ethnographic-nationalist state of the kind that Hungary and Turkey are, India is becoming, and which the American right wing would like the US to become. Israel is going down that path through has not yet reached that endpoint, and even if the current protest movement succeeds in protecting the Israeli judiciary, it will continue down that path as long as it suppresses the civil and human rights of the Palestinians, both within Israel and the occupied territories.