Brigette Lundy-Paine Instagram – A letter from German Rabbi Leo Baeck (23 May 1873 – 2 November 1956), Holocaust survivor and president of the World Union of Progressive Judaism and Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) You Know Who He Is.
This letter, published in the New York Times in April 1948 as Israel began its ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arabs, called the Nakba (or “disaster,” in Arabic), calls out for the needs of the “common man,” appealing “to the Jews in this country (meaning America) and in Palestine not to permit themselves to be driven into a mood of despair or false heroism which eventually results in suicidal measures. While such a mood is undoubtedly understandable as a reaction to the wanton destruction of six million Jewish lives in the last decade, it is nevertheless destructive morally as well as practically”
This letter, as well as other letters archived in the collection “Wrestling with Zion” (edited by Tony Kushner and Alisa Solomon) is revealing of a tradition of resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestine by Jewish leaders and intellectuals.
As Palestinian-American historian Rashid Khalidi said on nov 1 at the Palestine Festival of Literature held in New York (third slide), “In order to advocate for this cause, it is necessary for us to understand the legal aspects, and to understand […] the history. […] This has been portrayed by a movement that is political, that is national – i’m talking about Zionism- that is economic, that is military. But is also a public relations project”
I recommend watching the live stream of the event, linked in my story. | Posted on 03/Nov/2023 20:30:31
