Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May, 2015, pp. 5-6

Letters to the Editor

Kudos From Down Under

I was sent a Washington Report article which impressed me as to its apparent truthfulness, which after witnessing the humiliations of your country on 3 March, was a somewhat refreshing experience. I would be pleased to think that your articles are also read by the 477 members of your Joint Houses who attended the Netanyahu political circus on that day, such numbers unfortunately reflecting what seems to be the state of play in the USA, 2015.

You may not be surprised to know that such analysis of Middle East matters is seriously lacking in this country except through the online articles from Global Research, on occasions. Any reports which do appear in print have the corrupt stamp of the Murdoch empire, devoid of any real facts and which are, more than likely, reproduced from the pages of the Jerusalem Post.

Perhaps you may advise me of the procedures necessary to be able to receive your digital publications. I did find your webpage to be somewhat convoluted and unresponsive to my efforts in this regard. As you probably know, everything in this part of the world, down under so to speak, is back-to-front.

Rex Williams, Canberra, Australia

Thanks to the ministrations of our webmaster, we’re pleased to welcome you as a digital subscriber. The $10 annual rate enables subscribers to view each new issue as soon as the print version is mailed, and is the perfect solution for our readers abroad. And we’re glad you do not seem to equate all Americans with those members of Congress who applauded a foreign leader as he undermined their president and State Department. As the Israeli activist Uri Avnery notes on p. 22, “Nothing like this could have happened in the Knesset.”

“The Israel Lobby” Conference

We would love to be present at your April 10 conference on the Israel lobby. You certainly have some great speakers.

Enclosed is our check for $5,000 to assist your magazine in telling the truth about our deplorable pro-Israel Congress.

Vince and Louise Larsen, Billings, MT

We are so grateful for your generous support over the years, which has helped keep this magazine alive, and we know you will be with us in spirit on April 10. It’s our hope that C-SPAN will air the conference live, as it did last year’s “National Summit to Reassess the U.S.-Israel ‘Special Relationship.’” (Calls encouraging them to do so might help make that happen.) A video of the conference proceedings should be available the following day at <http://IsraelLobbyUS.org>.

A Fickle Mistress

I have high hopes for this conference if it honestly addresses the subjects you have on the agenda.

Too much tiptoeing around “feelings” and not enough scrutiny of decisions masquerading as “objective.”

Guilt is a fickle mistress.

Gladys Pfaff, Philadelphia, PA

Better to be master of one’s own fate.

Now More Than Ever

I am writing with a heartfelt “thank you” for your many years of bringing to light the issues, insights, strategies and programs that affect justice in Palestine and Israel and, indeed, throughout the Middle East. The Washington Report is “must-reading” for those who want a wholistic view of the complex factors that make for U.S. foreign policy in the region and what we can do, what we must do, to be forces for positive change in our country. We who labor “in the trenches” through our various organizations around the country desperately need your clarion call for education, but, even more, for advocacy and action now more than ever.

We at the Indiana Center for Middle East Peace are celebrating our 10th year of education, engagement and empowerment for justice in the Middle East, especially Palestine and Israel, this year. And as a thank you for your partnership, for supplying complimentary copies of the Washington Report for our constituents, please accept this gift of $250 to continue your courageous witness. Like I said earlier, we need the Washington Report now more than ever.

Michael Spath, Executive Director, Indiana CMEP Inc., Fort Wayne, IN

Congratulations on your decade of achievement! And thank you so much for your kind words and generous contribution. It’s wonderful to know that people and organizations such as yours are working hard throughout the country to educate their fellow citizens about justice for the Palestinians and the need for an independent U.S. foreign policy.

Spreading the Knowledge

As-salaamu alaykum. Respectful greetings; and may this find you all with the very best of health and faring well in every regard.

This is just a brief note to kindly request—if possible—an extension on the Washington Report subscription that you have so generously provided us with (it expires with the next issue). We benefit from it beyond what these mere words can express! There are around a dozen regular readers of the issues that you send, and we use them as resources for the dialogues we have with unaware individuals who have no real clue as to what’s going on overseas.

At any rate, if you could extend the subscription, it would be most highly appreciated, to say the very least; and in the event that you’re unable to do so or otherwise constrained, my thanks to you all the same! Please do keep up the good work, and may God be pleased with you for it.

Abdul Bari, Allen Correctional Institution, Lima, OH

P.S. Please disregard the name on the return address of the envelope that this arrives in. Another prisoner gave me his monthly “free envelope” to use.

On behalf of our angels, we are pleased to extend your subscription—and impressed with your 12:1 ratio of readers to each issue!

Reliable Ammunition

In the late ’60s, while I was on a Fulbright to Germany, I decided to go to Israel after finishing my commitment. During the six months or so I was there, I worked on various kibbutzim, choosing ones of different political persuasions.

Though I saw things which troubled me, I assumed I was misinterpreting them. All my life, I had admired Jews—their sense of justice, their erudition, the value they placed on sophisticated culture. In short, I was heavily biased. But what I observed, and experienced, was evidence of an overweening prejudice—and this by government fiat. Hardly a “democracy” as claimed. Indeed, even among Jews, there was an established “pecking order,” with immigrants from certain countries (Morocco, when I was there) given the worst jobs and housing. In addition, it was obvious that only Jews had intrinsic value. On one kibbutz, a worker (Danish) lost toes on one foot when medical attention was delayed while those in charge argued over who would get to drive him (cars were scarce and the opportunity to drive them highly prized) to the doctor. Another accident led to a similar disastrous outcome. I, myself, while working on a kibbutz next to the Syrian border which was periodically bombed, learned by accident when I was leaving that there were bomb shelters routinely used by kibbutz members, yet we were not informed of this. We, apparently, were expendable.

After I came home, I educated myself—both regarding the history of the region and current conditions. I still remember my shock on reading The Holocaust Industry, and of course, since then, your excellent publication.

Over the years I’ve worked with local PJP groups and also written countless letters to various newspapers, magazines, called talk shows, etc. In addition, I’ve conducted a weekly Quaker-style vigil with signs in front of the local synagogue, where I was routinely called names (“Nazi whore” was a favorite, and “coward”—which I was never able to figure out), spat on, and threatened with a beating. The degree of venom was astonishing. I’ve discontinued these vigils because the synagogue has removed itself to a space outside the city, remote enough to make it unsafe for me to continue.

Please accept my gratitude for your intelligent and untiring efforts on behalf of the Palestinians. And for supplying me, all these years, with ammunition for my own efforts. Knowing that ammunition was reliable has made all the difference—it rendered me unafraid.

I am 85 years old. And while it may be too ambitious to hope for justice for the Palestinians before my death I know, in my gut, that it will come.

Iowa City, though not as “liberal” as it believes, is not a bad place to live. I’ve landed here (as well as many college towns across the country) several times because of my profession. I’m a classically trained composer, and oddly Iowa City was, for many years, a mecca for avant-garde composers. No longer true, alas.

Wilhelmine Bennett, Iowa City, IA

Your story is fascinating and, we suspect, true of many Americans who admired Israel until they went there and had their eyes (and ears) opened. We applaud your courage and determination, and thank you most sincerely for your generous contribution. As we like to say, we’re all in this together!

Pleasure and Indignation

I was thrilled to get the article on the Wendell Phillips exhibition (see March/April 2015 Washington Report, p. 40) and read through your marvelous magazine with pleasure (and indignation of course for what I was reading!) and was reminded that I have been meaning to subscribe. I will do so. Anyone who cares about the Middle East should be one of your readers.

Jane Fletcher Geniesse, via e-mail

We thank our mutual friend Dr. Michael Hudson, who recently retired from Georgetown University, for bringing the article to your attention, knowing as he did that you are writing a book on Wendell Phillips. We know it will be as excellent as your previous works on Freya Stark, Passionate Nomad, and the founder of the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem, American Priestess. Not only do we look forward to reading it ourselves, but we hope to make it available to others through AET’s Middle East Books and More.