Rabbi Lerner has accused the peace movement of excluding him from speaking at the February 16 demonstration in San Francisco because of his views on Israel, and he has labeled the anti-war movement, 'anti-war anti-semites.' In our participation in the anti-war movement, A Jewish Voice for Peace has found that Jews have close and staunch allies in the movement. We have found that our opinion is sought time and time again and that our stance in support for a truly just peace between Israelis and Palestinians and respect for Israeli human rights as well as Palestinians' been respected and represented in the speakers that have been chosen. At the upcoming demonstration, Mitchell Plitnick, Director of Administration and Communication for A Jewish Voice for Peace, will speak, along with Israeli refusenik Ofer Shorr, Kate Raphael from San Francisco Women in Black. In addition, three rabbis with views similar to Rabbi Lerner's will speak at the February 16th demonstration, Rabbi Steven Pierce, Rabbi Pam Frydman-Baugh, and Rabbi David Cooper.

Rabbi Lerner's views are welcomed in the coalition. He is an important spokesperson for the movement for peace and justice in Israel and Palestine. But because he criticized one of the coalition partners, ANSWER, in the New York Times and over Tikkun Mail, the coalition, including the Tikkun representative present at the meeting, decided that we were capable of finding another speaker with views similar to his who did not openly attack a coalition partner.

We stand in unity with Tikkun in calling for a joint Jewish anti-war, anti-occupation contingent. We stand in unity with the coalition of organizations who are sponsoring this march in opposing the attack on Iraq. We intend to continue working with both groups to oppose war on Iraq and to stand for the human rights and dignity of both Israelis and Palestinians.

when i first heard about and read the rabbai's comments on this, he said pretty clearly that he never requested a space on stage. so why this vociferous back and forth? why is my inbox filled with answer vs. tikkun community jabs, resembling a tyson fight on pay per view?

well, look at the article of support for lerner in the nation. david corn, huh? who wrote that letter with all of those signitories? why, its your friend and mine, marc cooper. these great writers answer bashing is widely quoted by right wing talk show hosts like limbaugh to paint the antiwar movement as a bunch of comunists free mumia types and nothing more. great job guys. did you notice mark schubb as one of the signatories? remember that guy? i know pacifica listeners never will.

the point is i think mabey the ones pushing the rabbai and the tikkun community into this very uncharacteristic behavior of arguing indirectly via press releases and emails are the same ones that want answer out of the picture entirely; the same ones who wanted to turn kpfk into a world music station. the same ones who are slowly drifting the same way as hitchens.

whos pulling the strings, here?

CHILD MURDERS AND RABBI LERNER

By Israel Shamir

November 21, 2002

Rabbi Michael Lerner published a letter (see below) containing an attempt to attach collective guilt for a single crime to the whole Palestinian people, and to shift the blame for the bloodshed to the victims. The Metzer murder, a revolting crime committed by a deranged individual, is (mis)presented by Michael Lerner as an act of Arafat’s (and Palestinian national) policy. Moreover, it is described as a “Palestinian act of terror”. It is an unacceptable lie. Would we refer to yesterday’s murder of two Palestinian toddlers in Khan Yunes as to “Jewish child-murders”, or even to Mark Rich’s deeds as to “Jewish fraud”, Rabbi Lerner would certainly call it “anti-Semitism”. That is why his letter should be condemned as an incitement to hate.

The deranged criminal from Metzer acted alone, and his action was met with horror by Palestinians and Jews alike. If and when he will be apprehended he will certainly be punished. On the other hand, the murderers of the Palestinian children in Khan Yunes remain at large; they are protected and their crimes condoned by the Jewish state. When a Palestinian girl child was murdered by a Jewish fanatic near Nablous, the witness for defence, Rabbi Yitzhak Ginzburg, claimed a Jew may kill a Goy with impunity. It appears his opinion won the day: practically none of the Jews who murdered three hundred innocent children in Palestine was brought to justice. Hilmi Shusha, a Palestinian child from Husan, was murdered by a settler Naum Korman in the eyesight of the entire village, but the Jewish judge Ruth Orr has sent Nahum Korman, the child murderer, for six months of public service in the old folks house.

Friends of Palestine won’t stoop as low as the late PM Golda Meir, who proclaimed “I can’t forgive the Palestinians that they force us to kill their children”. We won’t lie as the late PM David Ben Gurion who tried to attach blame for the Deir Yassin Massacre to ‘Arab irregulars’, and for Sharon’s massacre in Kibie to the relatives of ‘Arab terror victims’. We won’t try the line of Madeline Albright who thought the murder of Iraqi children was worth its while. Instead, we call to bring to the International Criminal Court every Jewish murderer of Palestinian children.

Rabbi Lerner should pay heed to a recent letter to Haaretz newspaper by Dr Miriam Reik, who wrote:

“Killing kids gets to be routine.

Israel is, in many ways, unique. It is the only country in the world in which a child, throwing a stone, is considered to have committed a capital crime, and a soldier can kill him with a bullet with impunity--no questions asked.

Haaretz reported the death in this fashion yesterday of Mohammed ali Zeiz, a 15 year old, without comment. It is the only country in the world in which the occupying army does not hold its fire when an innocent child is on the scene, much less rush to protect him.

Ibrahim al-Madani, 12 years old, died in this way yesterday, as reported by Haaretz, without comment. We all know of dozens of such incidents, which led Amnesty International to characterize the current conflict as one in which the lives of children are treated with "utter disregard," a charge met with cynical protestations of innocence by the IDF.

However, it is also a sad comment on the general deterioration of standards in Israel, that Haaretz can report such incidents, time and again, without editorial comment. Anything, I suppose, can become routine.

Miriam M. Reik, PhD”

Rabbi Lerner writes: “There is never any moral equivalence between one act of murder and another”. He is absolutely right. That is why, while mourning the dead of Khan Yunes and Metzer, we observe the vast difference between a one-man-crime and an act of the Jewish state-condoned and sponsored child murder.

sucketh my dong