I am responding to and disagreeing with Adam Solender’s Jan. 14 letter expressing concern over ‘apartheid free communities’ resolutions. First, he misidentifies what is happening in Israel and Palestine as an “international conflict” which suggests two equal parties opposing each other. Instead, it is a militarily enforced domination by the state of Israel that favors one ethnic population over another, which has been defined as “apartheid.”
He follows saying that a community is “a group of neighbors … who must continue to live together … without demonization.” He implies that the Apartheid-Free campaign demonizes, and “pressures residents to affirm a particular narrative.” I don’t see how bringing an issue to a town meeting or to a business owner and asking if they would sign on is demonizing or pressuring. The Apartheid Free Communities campaign states facts and asks the community to endorse them.
The writer says Jewish residents may feel “unsafe” if they are asked to consider whether to support Israel’s apartheid policies or to condemn them. Supporting Israel’s apartheid regime or not has nothing to do with being Jewish, though the regime would like to conflate the two. It is about condemning an immoral political system that claims to represent the Jewish people, which it does not.
Finally, this is not a “litmus test,” but it does ask average citizens to take a stand for justice at a time when the stakes are very high. “Mutual respect” yes, but acceptance in silence no.
Sherrill Hogen
Charlemont