To the Editor:
I thank The MV Times for its Oct. 30 article “100 weeks of protest, two years of grief,” acknowledging that MV for Palestine has gathered in Vineyard Haven every Sunday for 100 consecutive weeks in support of the Palestinian cause.
I’d like to clarify a couple of things. Rabbi Aperowitz is quoted as saying that our “total ignoring of the hostages was incredibly hurtful to the Jewish community, and their continued call to dismantle Israel puts the millions of Jews who live there in danger, and alienates the overwhelming majority of the Island’s Jewish community.” We regret if some were hurt and alienated because we have not held signs demanding the release of Israeli hostages. But anyone thus offended has only to ask us or visit mvforpalestine.org to learn our position: We have always supported the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and have consistently argued that a ceasefire would have served rather than harmed their interests.
Neither of the rabbis quoted mentions Israel’s ongoing war crimes in Gaza, or the killing of tens of thousands of civilians. This is not a symmetrical “conflict.” The overwhelming consensus among credible scholars and international human rights organizations is that Israel is committing genocide against a defenseless population. The fact that the killing continues even during the so-called “cease-fire” proves that this was never about the hostages.
As for the dismantling of Israel, MV for Palestine is not monolithic. Some of us may favor a two-state solution; some believe such hopes are deluded, because Israel will never permit it. All of us believe that it is not up to the U.S. to dictate the outcome. But I would argue that the only just and sustainable future is a single, secular, democratic state where everyone — Jewish, Muslim, Christian, or secular — enjoys equal rights.
Regarding putting millions of Jews in danger, nothing has done more to isolate Israel and undermine its long-term security than its own genocidal violence in Gaza.
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese reminds us, quoting Bishop Desmond Tutu: In a situation of oppression, if you are neutral, you are taking the side of the oppressor. We believe it is not only our right but our obligation to continue to do whatever we can to support the Palestinian quest for freedom and justice. None of us is safe until all of us are safe.
Amy Hartford
Oak Bluffs
Why doesn’t anyone who talks about supporting palastine ever mention Hamas , and the horrible things they have caused?
John– I have mentioned hamas many times on this forum. But, since sometimes some people don’t see it or forget it, I will mention hamas once again. They are a group of radical fanatical terrorists. They have squandered the resources that were available to them to build military infrastructure and tunnels under Gaza for the expressed intent of eradicating the state of Israel and all of it’s inhabitants. They launched an unprovoked and unjustifiable savage terrorist attack against innocent civilians. They either murdered or took hostages who were citizens of 24 countries. This heinous act of barbarism was recorded by them and published world wide. This terrorist attack took about 1,200 innocent lives in a matter of hours and provoked an inevitable military response from Israel. that has wrought death and destruction to the Palestinian people on a scale not seen since WW11. They have hidden under hospitals and schools like the rats they are. And many other places that innocent civilians would be, using them as “human shields”. And now, they are publicly executing their own citizens. They are radical extremists that have no right to be on this planet. The everyday innocent Palestinians caught up in this conflict do.
john–since your original comment , there have been 10 additional comments. ( as of 20:05 nov 13) on this letter. 3 have mentioned the horrendous things hamas did, 3 have mentioned the Palestinians, and seem to think that the war is of their own making and imply they are responsible for their situation, and 3 criticize Muslims in general for immoral behavior and immoral laws. May I remind those that criticize the laws of “others” that the duly elected POTUS has ordered the military to summarily execute at least 70 people in international waters suspected of attempting to smuggle drugs into the U.S. How “moral” is that? Are we to blame average law abiding Americans for supporting those clearly illegal executions ? BTW, 350 trans people were murdered in the U.S in 2024.We don’t need “immoral ” laws given by us to god to execute people we think are some sort of a threat — we seem to have a president, and a compliant military that is willing to carry out unlawful orders to summarily execute people on “suspicion” of a crime, and plenty of vigilantes willing to violate god’s sixth commandment and murder people in her name.
A single secular democratic state with freedom for every ethnic group and every religion is what Israel represents and has since 1948. It is the Palestinians who have rejected it and want the Jews gone. No war is symetrical nor is it required to be. The US bombing of Hiroshima was not symetrical but it saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of US troops. To call Israel’s war against Hamas a genocide is to empty that term of all moral meaning.
Perhaps the letter writer, Amy Hartford, forgot to mention she is married to the founder of MV for Palestine, David Mintz, the person who calls for the dismantling of the world’s only Jewish state. Perhaps she is also unaware that there are over 50 Muslim countries.
I will exceed the word limit here if I explain all that is incorrect in this letter, so I will limit myself only to the most egregious aspect within it. The writer equivocates the exchange and release of Palestinian terrorists and murderers with the release of the strangled, mutilated, criminally Jewish Bibas babies. I don’t know what else one can possibly say to discredit oneself.
Amy, while I agree with some of your points, I would like to address this quote —“I would argue that the only just and sustainable future is a single, secular, democratic state where everyone — Jewish, Muslim, Christian, or secular — enjoys equal rights.” Your contradictory use of the word “secular” in describing the utopian solution is contradictory to respecting the rights of Jews, Muslims and Christians. Let me point out that many Christians feel they should not be forced to tolerate the legality of same sex marriages or the “murder” of the innocent unborn. Muslims feel they and their children should not be subject to witness what they consider indecent exposure by women in public places –Indeed, 90 % of women on the beach today would have been arrested for indecent exposure 60 years ago in this country. . White supremacists feel they should not be forced to share public toilets with black people. Jewish supremacists feel no one should in any way be able to criticize the state of Israel for anything , while not condemning the shooting of 4 men in Burlington for wearing “cheap rags” a few years ago. The cultural divides and religiously based hatred will unfortunately not be overcome anytime soon.
Might be time for another viewing of Bill Maher’s RELIGULOUS.
There are Christians who favor doing away with same-sex marriage. In America, this battle is of the legal and political variety.
In Gaza, such issues have been handled by authorities using cruder methods. Muslims in power have sometimes done away with gay individuals; not just with their rights, but with their very lives.
Those killings are intended to maximize terror. Keeping that in mind, if I were to single out a religion for posing a threat to LGBTQ, Christianity wouldn’t be my top pick.
Likewise, if I were to offer an example of dangerous beliefs and practices among select Muslim groups, I wouldn’t go with a mild reference to judgy attitudes.
Not when numerous Islamic countries enforce Sharia law, resulting in a nightmare, much of it gender-specific. There’s worse going on than judgment.
A breakdown of theology-driven harm should prioritize the most egregious offenses. Anything less will read as a clumsy attempt at needling the faithful for sport.
Has MV for Palestine expressly protested, complete with signage, the mistreatment of gay Arabs under Hamas? Or the recent execution of Gazans at gunpoint?
Since their insisted-upon raison d’être is equality and Palestinian welfare, one can only hope.
Katie Lane. Once again a great post. How I wish I knew who you are.
It remains a moral vanity to single out Israel as genocidal for fighting an existential war. The actual genocides taking place, in Sudan for example, are never mentioned by this group.
Nothing is stopping you from starting a group to highlight Sudan.
Before you do so you might want to review the UN’s definition of genocide.
Katherine, I use the Raphael Lemkin’s definition of genocide, the Polish Jewish lawyer who coined the term in 1944. I checked what the UN definition is, and although based on Lemkin’s original meaning, there are important differences. However, even if you use the modified UN definition in order to take aim at the UN’s usual target, Israel, the war in Gaza still doesn’t fit anyone’s definition of genocide. Don’t you question why Israel escorted Palestinian civilians to safer zones, warned them to evacuate, and provided humanitarian aid? Israel’s IDF took sick Palestinian children to Israeli hospitals during the war. Israel has always treated sick Palestinians in their Israeli hospitals. Genocidal people do not do that. I’m including a link about Raphael Lemkin and the necessity of knowing what genocide actually means and why we needed a word for it.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9049151/
The disproportionate number of the UN’s condemnations of Israel, relative to other countries, has long been obvious, Katherine. You might want to review the definition of antisemitism so that when one country is consistently singled out for condemnation while others are ignored, you could understand why. The untrue accusation of genocide has been launched against Israel since before they took a single military action against Hamas. Within this forum in the early days of October of 2023 someone wrote: “I stand with Israel but I do not condone genocide”.
Jackie is absolutely right to call out the moral inversion at play here. The October 30 piece and the follow-up letter blur a hard line between civilians and terrorists.
Hamas’s deliberate murder and kidnapping of families—including the Bibas infants—cannot be equated with Israel’s lawful effort to dismantle the group responsible. That is not “symmetry”; it’s cause and consequence.
When Amy Hartford suggests that a cease-fire would have “served” the hostages’ interests, she ignores what every negotiator from Egypt to Qatar has said: Hamas repeatedly broke truces, used pauses to rearm, and continued to hold civilians underground.
Israel’s obligation under international law is to stop rocket fire and protect its people, not to reward those who torture captives. Calling for the “dismantling” of the world’s only Jewish state while invoking human-rights language is self-contradictory. A single “secular” state run by those who deny Israel’s existence is not equality—it’s erasure. Jackie’s comment brings needed moral clarity to a discussion that too often confuses compassion with appeasement.
Thank you, Jackie, for grounding this debate in fact and conscience.
Jackie and Katie and Andrew usually get this issue right. Why so many anti Israel people on MV?
I would like to ask anyone supporting this group what being “for Palestine” means? 1937, 1948, 1967, 2000, 2001, 2005, and 2007 are the years when a Palestinian state was offered but rejected. Why would anyone believe that Palestinians want a state? What they’ve proven many times is that they want the destruction of Israel.
“A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.” – G.K. Chesterton
I feel the same concerning Letters to the Editor. These MVFP missives reveal more about agenda than any counterargument I can offer.
If your objections to human rights violations are sincere, Amy, why would a hostage release require an uneven quid pro quo to earn your approval?
Equality for everybody indeed.
Rabbi Alperowitz (whose name was misspelled) is correct. Your group spared zero public support for these tortured folks and their families. For over two years.
Worse: By declaring the release of innocents needed to hinge, rightfully, upon that of criminals, you’ve outright reduced the hostages to bargaining chips. Just like Hamas intended.
MV for Palestine further indicates that Hamas deserved to benefit from their proud savagery by way of returned prisoners. And benefit they have.
I’m forever grateful that those stolen away from home are back where they belong, safe and loved. If a hundred weeks of standing around Five Corners seems like a lot—enough to warrant a published essay—imagine spending that period in captivity.
The unabashed self-centeredness on this island is amazing.
Religious extremism is the root of most of the death and destruction on this planet since the dawn of civilization. Sadly, I don’t see this changing in my lifetime, regardless of which side of the issue you’re on.
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