How does this letter read to you? nina I would like to comment on the letter from Rabbi Chasan to the Peace and Justice Center.
For the past two years I have been an active member of Vermonters for a just Peace in Israel/Paletine. I have done hours of reading to inform myself in books and periodicals published largely by Jews, many of the Israelis citizens and I am a Jew myself. Having come here from Germany and having grown up in the United States and as the product of a family in which the issues of fairness and justice were the leading ethical tenets by which I was raised, I find the statement adopted by the Peace and Justice Center an eminently fair and accurate depiction of the facts. There is a strong difference between religous belief and civic responsibility and when the government of Israel ( a civic body) behaves in a manner which threatens the homes, land and livelyhood of citizens who are not Jewish and who have lived for centuries in the land which they jointly occupy with the Arab population, it is time to speak out. That is the position which was finally adopted by Pastor Niem�ller, the Lutheran minister who was imprisoned by the Nazis for defending the church. Niem�ller was to write: �First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.� He learned the hard way that injustice towards any group of people by any given group has to be protested, that is what the Peace and Justice Center is doing in this statement and we as Jews have to defend the rights of others just as many have defended our rights for a viable existence. This is a lesson that has been learned by thousands of Israelis who have demonstrated , refused to fight in the West Bank or Gaza strip and actively defend Palestinian rights on a daily basis. While I deplore any loss of life be the dead Israelis, Palestinians or Somalis, my ethical and moral standards force me to speak out, I sincerely hope that Rabbi Chasan learns that lesson before it is tool late, ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/MknplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VTJP/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
