Dear Mike,
Please tell the media: “No, Mr. Netanyahu! Americans Don’t Support Your Intransigence and Rejection of a Plausible Path to Peace. We stand with President Obama on Peace Negotiations.”
Below, I’ll give you some of the relevant addresses and some sample letters you might send (though your own words would be even better). Please let me know to whom you’ve written and their response if any (but even when they don’t respond, there is an impact in hearing a voice other than that of the political Right). We at Tikkun/Network of Spiritual Progressives are the pro-Israel & pro-Palestine voice of those seeking peace and justice for both sides, and a world of generosity, kindness and love for everyone, seeing everyone on the planet as equally valuable!!! Sound utopian? Less so than the strategies currently being pursued by Israel, Palestine and the U.S.
Here’s the immediate situation and why YOU should take action now:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come to the U.S. to speak over the head of President Obama to strengthen the voice of the most reactionary pro-Israel forces in the U.S. His basic message is that Israel will never accept a viable Palestinian state, and prefers occupation and expansion of its borders to peace with the Palestinian people. One need only read some of the articles from the Israeli press which we’ve assembled at www.tikkun.org in the section of our online magazine called “Recommended from the web” to see how Israeli progressives realize that Netanyahu’s position is a disaster for Israel. If you feel like you need more information, you’ll find it there!(Incidentally, we hope you’ll read that Recommended From the Web section everyday—because we give you the voices on American politics, culture, the Mideast conflict, and much else that are essential, and save you the time of surfing the web).
Actually, what Netanyahu is doing is precisely what Obama should be doing in reverse–he should go to Israel and Palestine and present to the Israeli population and to the Palestinian people a worked out peace agreement that will require sacrifice from both sides but which will be just to both sides and provide security to both sides. The Tikkun Peace Plan is on our website www.tikkun.org !
At this moment, it makes sense for YOU, Mike, to write a letter to the media and to your elected Congressperson and Senators and to the President, letting them know that YOU don’t agree with Netanyahu. The media has been giving him a free ride, in part because they are subservient to the most reactionary pro-Israel forces in the U.S. (not only AIPAC and the Christian Zionists, but their stooges in both Republican and Democratic parties, from Eric Cantor, the Republican majority leaders in the House of Representatives to Steny Hoyer who held the same position last session when the Dems were the majority). The love-fest we are about to see between Congress and Netanyahu is meant to snuff out the last bit of hope that the Obama Administration will use any power to push Israel toward a serious attempt at negotiations. Already, Obama has been wrongly warning the Palestinians not to seek U.N. recognition this coming September for a Palestinian state, and assuring Netanyahu that the U.S. is not going to lessen in any ways its military blank check to Israel and its subservience to Israel at the U.N.
Mike, please don’t be a passive witness to all this. At the very least, and without even leaving your home, you can challenge all this. Take the time each day to write one letter to the media and one letter to your elected representatives to let them know that you are not part of the Netanyahu cheerleading squad and you don’t want them to be, either, and that you’d like them to at least represent the voice of groups like Tikkun, the Network of Spiritual Progressives, Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel, Gush Shalom in Israel, J Street, Jewish Voices for Peace, the Board of Church and Society of the United Methodists of America, Presbyterian Church USA, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Catholic Church in Israel, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the Shalom Center, Peace Now in Israel, and other groups that seek peace and reconciliation rather than endless occupation by Israel of the Palestinian people.
The most effective way to do this is to write a handwritten or computer typed letter and send it as hard copy in snail mail. Second best is to call their office. Third best is through an email letter. Below, I’ll give you some of the relevant addresses, but for others you may have to do an online search. And to make this easier for you, I’m including some sample letters you might send. It would also be helpful if you could send a tax-deductible contribution to Tikkun/NSP to help us in this campaign: www.tikkun.org/donate or Tikkun, 2342 Shattuck Ave, #1200, Berkeley, Ca. 94704.
Any amount would be helpful!!!
Warm regards, blessings, and thanks for taking a public stand for Israel/Palestine peace.
Michael
Rabbi Michael Lerner
Sample Media Letters: (AND ADDRESSES BELOW)– (but even better if you write your own)
Dear X,
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has lots of chutzpah to come to our country and treat our president disrespectfully—which is precisely what he did when he rejected President Obama’s suggested idea last Thursday that negotiations between Israel and Palestine should begin (not end) from the point of the 1967 borders which Israel trampled when it captured and then retained the West Bank for the last 44 years. He didn’t even bother to listen to Obama with whom he was meeting the next day (last Friday). I want the Jewish people to be secure, and I want a strong Israel. But I know that can only be achieved when Israel is perceived by the world and by the Palestinians as seeking a peaceful solution that is based on justice for the Palestinian people and security for both sides. That will never come if Israel insists on holding on to the occupied territories and placing troops in the tiny Palestinian state it envisions, nor will it come as long as the Palestinian people are treated disrespectfully and oppressively. Somebody has got to talk sense into the heads of the leaders of Israel, else I fear that the anger its current policies are engendering will explode once again and cause both sides yet even more suffering. So please support President Obama’s measure, weak as they may be. Personally, I wish he’d make American military cooperation dependent on Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, or at least promise to support Palestinian statehood at the UN unless Netanyahu unconditionally stops building settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem and starts negotiations aimed at creating an economically and politically viable Palestinian state in all of the West Bank and Gaza (except, as President Obama said, for some land where Israeli settlements exist traded for some land of equal quality that is now part of Israel).
Sincerely,
(your name, address, phone and email)
Dear X,
Although the media gives the impression that the American people are supportive of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his stance against President Obama’s contention that an Israeli/Palestinian peace agreement has to start from the 1967 borders and then make swaps in territory which allow Israel to keep some of the settlements in exchange for equal amount of Israeli land being given to Palestinians, I and many of the people I know support President Obama’s stance. I’m writing to ask you to please represent the perspective of those Jews and Christians who recognize that Israel’s security will best be achieved not through endless occupation but rather through a strategy of generosity and caring for the Palestinian people.
This perspective is presented by the largest circulation progressive Jewish magazine, Tikkun, and its Network of Spiritual Progressives, so I hope that as you cover this issue this week and in the coming years you will contact Tikkun editor Rabbi Michael Lerner at 5l0 644 1200 RabbiLerner.tikkun@gmail.com. Other organizations that share this perspective whom you might also consider quoting: Rabbi Arthur Waskow at the Shalom Center 215 844 8494 awaskow@aol.com, and leaders of such groups as , Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel (Rabbi Arik Aschermann ravarik.ascherman@rhr.israel.net), Gush Shalom in Israel (Uri Avnery at avnery@actcom.co.il) and Washington based groups like J Street, Jewish Voices for Peace, the Board of Church and Society of the United Methodists of America, Presbyterian Church USA, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Catholic Church in Israel, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Peace Now in Israel, and other groups that seek peace and reconciliation rather than endless occupation by Israel of the Palestinian people.
Please give the voices of peace equal time to the voices of rejection of a plausible path to peace.
Sincerely,
X
(your phone number and your email and your address).
ANOTHER MEDIA LETTER:
Dear X,
I’m a member of the interfaith Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP, www.spiritualprogressives.org) and an advocate for Middle East peace. I’m greatly disturbed by the way that the media tends to ignore the many Americans who know that peace between Israel and Palestine is a vital American interest and therefore that the US must press Israel to end the Occupation of the West Bank and provide terms for an end to the conflict along lines that most of the peace movement has been suggesting for many years. I urge you to read editor of Tikkun magazine Rabbi Lerner and his response to President Obama’s recent talks on this topic at:
http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2011/05/19/rabbi-lerners-response-to-president-obamas-middle-east-address/ and to cover his perspective and that of many other Americans who understand that it is generosity, not domination and occupation, that will provide a path to peace. Would you please look at our proposed Global Marshall Plan to give you a vision of what it might look like to shift America toward a more rational foreign policy? It’s at www.spiritualprogressives/GMP. And please start representing in the media our voices, and not just the voices of those Americans who continue to give Israel a blank check without realizing that in so doing they are actually empowering the right wing forces in Israel most likely to lead Israel toward its self-destruction in the long run, and to a rise in global anti-Israel feelings.
Thank you.
Sincerely
(your name, address, email and phone number)
Sample Letter to your Congressional Rep and Senators:
Dear Senator (or Congressperson) X,
Although the media gives the impression that the American people are supportive of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his stance against President Obama’s contention that an Israeli/Palestinian peace agreement has to start from the 1967 borders and then make swaps in territory which allow Israel to keep some of the settlements in exchange for equal amount of Israeli land being given to Palestinians, I and many of the people I know support President Obama’s stance. I’m writing to ask you to please represent the perspective of those Jews and Christians who recognize that Israel’s security will best be achieved not through endless occupation but rather through a strategy of generosity and caring for the Palestinian people.
I need you to represent me and your many other constituents whom I know [including my neighbors, friends, and members of my (fill in here your community organization, political party, social change organization, synagogue, church, mosque or ashram, college or university)] who share my view.
It is also a view shared by the largest circulation progressive Jewish magazine, Tikkun, and its Network of Spiritual Progressives, and I hope you might either call me to discuss this issue or meet with Tikkun editor Rabbi Michael Lerner at 5l0 644 1200 RabbiLerner.tikkun@gmail.com. You need to know that there is a growing silent majority of Americans who are fed up with the Israeli government’s obstruction of peace, even while we continue to support a strong and safe Israel. Other organizations that share this perspective whom you might also consider meeting with include: Rabbi Arthur Waskow at the Shalom Center 215 844 8494 awaskow@aol.com, and leaders of such groups as , Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel (Rabbi Arik Aschermann ravarik.ascherman@rhr.israel.net), Gush Shalom in Israel (Uri Avnery at avnery@actcom.co.il) and Washington based groups like J Street, Jewish Voices for Peace, the Board of Church and Society of the United Methodists of America, Presbyterian Church USA, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Catholic Church in Israel, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Peace Now in Israel, and other groups that seek peace and reconciliation rather than endless occupation by Israel of the Palestinian people.
Please give the voices of peace equal attention to the voices of rejection of a plausible path to peace. And please don’t sign on to AIPAC-sponsored resolutions that give the impression that the American people support Israel’s refusal to end the Occupation of the West Bank. Such resolutions only strengthen the hands of those in the Israeli government least interested in working out a two state solution that provides justice and security to both Israel and Palestine.
Sincerely, your constituent,
X
Home address
Email and Phone
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONSTRUCT YOUR OWN LETTER AND USE ANY ELEMENTS IN THESE THAT ARE HELPFUL TO YOU.