Thursday, December 2, 2004
There was an interesting article in this week's Jewish Advocate newspaper (not available online) on the issue (previous posts here, here and here). I thought I'd pull out a few tidbits.
The title is Somerville inundated by e-mails, letters on divestment. According to the article: "Hundreds of e-mails and letters have been received. The pace picked up as the Dec. 1 deadline for submission of written testimony on the resolution approached...
'There's been more communication on this issue than any other,' said City Clerk John J. Long, who's held that position for three years. The controversial, pocketbook issue of rent control may have matched the volume, years ago, he speculated.
As of Tuesday morning, Nov. 30, when The Advocate reviewed copies of letters which are part of the public record, Long had received about 92 pieces of correspondence, mostly in the form of e-mails. [I'd have thought there would be more, actually. - Sol] Eight arrived early Tuesday morning and weren't part of this tally, which was 22 in support of the resolution and 70 opposed..."
The article then describes the contents of several of the correspondences from Jewish authors. One Somerville resident who opposes the divestment resolution asks rhetorically, "if they [the Aldermen] envisioned future elections for office in Somerville being decided on the foreign policy views of candidates."
An important note, as Charles Jacobs noted in an off-hand remark at the Columbia Unbecoming screening, don't assume that it's just Muslims or some purely anti-Semitic group behind these efforts. Some of the most vocal speakers at the hearing on the issue previously, and some of its strongest backers are Jews. In fact, in a previous issue of The Advocate, there was an angry letter from one such backer taking the paper to task for its one-sided coverage of the event. He described himself as a former IDF tanker and compared The Advocate's coverage to Pravda (at least he knows that's a bad thing). I'd reproduce the letter but I don't have that issue in front of me. [Update: I found a longer piece by the same author here, at the divestment project's home page - bleh.]
"In a letter supporting divestment, Marilyn Alwan of Lexington wrote: 'As a Jew, I am keenly aware of the injustices perpetrated on my people throughout history. I am ashamed of the actions of the Israelu government carried out in my name.'
There was also a statement from Jon Fraser of Somerville on behalf of Jewish Supporters Group of the Somerville Divestment Project [seriously -Sol], with 11 signatories from Somerville and four others from Cambridge and Medford...
...[Lucy] Warsh [City Information Officer] estimates that the Mayor's office has received about 200 comments, with most coming as e-mail...
...'I've been inundated,' [Alderman] White said, countin out 184 e-mails, give or take. The tone of the e-mails from Somerville residents has been civil, he said. Last week,, he noticed that more e-mails began arriving, with more strident language.
Many recent e-mails to the clerk's office are forwarded from World View News Service, whose editor, Maria Hussain, wrote a lengthy and provocative article entitled, 'Night of Power for Somerville.' [See my first post on the issue, here, for the...remarkable...article.]
A copy of the letter Massachusetts Congressman Capuano sent to the Board is reproduced in the article, and as an exemplar of tone and logic for an effort like this I reproduce it here:
As a former member of your Honorable Board, I am reluctant to intrude on your deliberations. However, I know that you have already discussed the resolution calling upon the City to divest in Israel and that you have heard from many of your other constituents. I understand that the Committee on Legislative Matters has kept the record open, and I would like, at this point, to give my opinion.
I honor your commitment to human rights, and I urge you not to adopt this resolution. I am convinced that it does not defend human rights or promote peace. Israelis and Palestinians have both suffered terribly, and no party to this tragic struggle has been innocent of wrongdoing. The Palestinian Authority and leaders of other nations in the region are not blameless. If the Board were to intervene in this conflict, justice would dictate that its sanctions be proportionate to relative fault. Which member of the Board is prepared to assign degrees of blame in this conflict? I have differences with the government of Prime Minister Sharon, as I have with the administration of President Bush, but Israel is not South Africa - the conflict is complex, involving, at some level, all the states of the region, and Israel is, among those states, a shining example of democracy.
At this moment, Prime Minister Sharon has staked his government on disengagement and the Palestinians are preparing for free election. This is not the time to stigmatize one nation, but to urge both parties to negotiate in good faith. I hope to see an independent Palestinian state co-existing in peace with Israel, and I believe that this resolution will not help achieve that end.
I thank you for taking the time to consider my thoughts.
Sincerely,
Michael E. Capuano
I know some of you will read that "sharing of the blame" business and cringe, but remember, this is not a time for strict "Pro-Israel Advocacy," this is a time for defeating this initiative - which in itself is pro-Israel advocacy.
As I was working on this post, a new update came in from the JCRC which I reproduce in full:
As JCRC has been reporting, the Legislative Matters Committee of the Somerville Board of Aldermen will make their decision on a divestment resolution next week.
We thank all of you who have sent testimony to the City Clerk and called the Aldermen personally. At this point, the Clerk is no longer accepting written testimony. However, there are still steps you can take to win this fight.
1. Come to Somerville City Hall on Tuesday night. Plan to arrive well in advance of the 7 PM start of the Legislative Matters Committee meeting to be sure you get a space in the room. JCRC will have stickers available to identify yourself as opposing divestment. Stay tuned to your inboxes on Wednesday to find out if we need a presence at the full Board of Aldermen vote on Thursday.
2. Somerville residents should send letters to the Somerville Journal before the Monday 5 PM publishing deadline. Click here for information on submitting letters.
3. Anyone interested can call the Somerville "Speak Out" line at 617-776-9844. Dictate your anti-divestment, pro-peace message into the system and it will be reported in the Somerville Journal.
Marilyn Alwan is married to a person who is a Muslim from Iraq and in a long line of anti-Israel apologists who say they are Jewish but are really self-non-Jews. This is a shame, that identify with Jews who are against Jews and who are really against Israel because they are educated not at all as Jews.