Why is denouncing apartheid “divisive?” And why is it antisemitic to denounce Israel when it practices apartheid? An important movement erupted when college students protested Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Those students called out an abusive regime and the U.S. government’s complicity in funding and arming it. They were on the right side of history.
It is from this perspective that I respond to the March 11 letter denouncing the Apartheid-Free Communities Campaign (“Considerations to reject an AFC resolution”).
After passage of the Apartheid-Free Community Pledge at the October 2025 Montague Town Meeting, the Jewish Federation of Western Mass (JFWM) raised its voice to protect Israel.
Several letters to the Recorder are joined now by the March 11 letter and I respond to that letter, as well as the Jewish Federation’s.
The writer of the March 11 letter called the Apartheid-Free Community effort of being divisive, making Jewish citizens feel less “safe, respected and at home.” May I reassure my Jewish neighbors that this pledge, adopted and shared by the American Friends Service Committee and others since 2022, opposes Israel’s policy of apartheid, and is not against Jews. In fact, many Jews oppose Israel’s policies and the genocide we witness in Gaza.
We hear some calling for keeping national and international politics out of our town meetings. But we are not isolated from national actions, including how our tax money is spent. International affairs affect us all, from rising gas prices at times of war to the $10 billion spent daily for attacks on Iran, funds needed for education, health and many unmet social needs.
Let us all work for peace, as apartheid-free communities. See: www.apartheidfreewesternma.org/
Sherrill Hogen
Charlemont