I was shocked and terribly disappointed after reading your front page article [“Campus in Crisis: Clueless on Gaza?” By Hal Crowther, 6/15/24 TPP] on the genocidal war Israel is waging on the Palestinians. Shocked that the writer considers himself “anti-establishment” which he is absolutely not, criticizing the anti-Vietnam protests, supporting Israel’s genocidal war on Palestine, and treating right winger Thomas Friedman as a Guru. And doubly shocked that TPP would have such a pro-establishment and untrue article printed on its front page.
It states that Jewishness and Israel are inseparable: that is absolutely false: I and all Jewish protesters separate themselves from the policies of Israel, and feel we are the more Jewish by doing so. Israel has been conducting an apartheid government since it was created, and killed thousands of Palestinians prior to the Oct. 7 raid (and I have never seen any proof of the atrocities said to have been committed at that time, Oct. 7). What were the Palestinians supposed to do, just stand by and let themselves be murdered and their lands and villages be confiscated by Israel? Sooner or later they had to fight back … Hamas, or no Hamas.
And, as for Israel, whose many citizens and their forefathers experienced the attempted genocide of the Holocaust; how can they (Israel) turn around and do the same thing to the Palestinians? To me, as a Jew, and a human being — this is unbelievable and disgusting. A so-called Jewish state, Israel, should hold itself to a higher, not lower standard.
And as for the author of “Clues on Gaza,” whose name I cannot even utter, he never mentions that all the protests for Palestine are peaceful, and the ones concerning Viet Nam were not. I guess that is a good thing, but the establishment doesn’t usually react to peaceful protests. He also brings up the point, that while the US was expanding it treated the native Americans as the Israelis are treating the Palestinians … as if that makes it right. He later in the article states that Joe Biden and Anthony Blinken are scrambling to create a cease fire. This is such a stupid comment as to be laughable. All they have to do to stop the war is to quit sending arms to Israel.
I’m sorry, but this article makes me wonder just where The Progressive Populist is coming from.
In his zeal to condemn Israel and exalt the pro-Palestine protest movement generally (“Lyndon Baines Biden,” 5/15/24 TPP), Wayne O’Leary simplistically analogizes the situation of Vietnam in the late ‘60s and Israel/Palestine today. The situations are actually quite different.
1) The Vietnam situation involved Johnson’s escalation of direct American troop involvement and destruction in a far-off war. Biden has not committed any American troops to such a war.
2) Vietnam involved American disregard of an international consensus that Vietnam was a single state, to be reunited after nationwide elections, pursuant to the Geneva Accords of 1954. The goal of the American support for Israel is to guarantee the existence and security of the State of Israel, affirmed by numerous UN resolutions and the conferring of UN membership itself.
3) O’Leary erroneously refers to the Israel/Palestine conflict as an “internal civil conflict.” Unlike Vietnam, which involved conflict between divided parts of a single nation ruled by dueling dictatorships, Israel/Palestine involves a conflict of two separate ethno-national peoples, one of which is a majority in the State of Israel as recognized internationally, and one of which is a majority in occupied territories which most nations believe should be the basis for a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
4) O’Leary wrongfully lumps South Vietnam and Israel governments together as corrupt and dictatorial. South Vietnam was indeed a one-party and inherently dictatorial state; Israel still has the ability through democratic elections to replace the corrupt Netanyahu government.
5) One cannot possibly compare Joe Biden with Lyndon Johnson, who kept escalating Vietnam pursuant to old Cold War assumptions. When one gets past the more extreme pro-Palestine rhetoric, it is clear that Biden has no interest nor enjoyment in seeing people bombed indiscriminately in Gaza. Unlike Johnson in the late ’60s, Biden is now actively advocating proposals for a cease-fire and release of hostages. But he still has an interest in ensuring Israel’s existence, which motivates his policy; he is not interested in aggrandizement, personally or of the American military machine.
6) “Iranian Islamism” is not the enemy today for Biden. If anything, he has tried to minimize conflict with Iran itself, as had been fostered by his maniacal predecessor. More specifically, his concern is the terrorist group Hamas, backed by Iran, which instigated this awful round of violence by its treacherous and barbarous Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
7) It is absurd of O’Leary to link Biden’s stance on Israel/Palestine to his apparent non-involvement in Vietnam protests. Many progressives, like myself, were quite active against the Vietnam war effort in the late ’60s, even as we supported Israel as its existence was threatened by Arab neighbors in 1967, and therefore its preemptive strike in the Six-Day War. Dr. Martin Luther King, for one, had no problem supporting Israel’s right to exist and defend itself while opposing the Vietnam war.
Regarding Frank Lingo’s assertion that there is “No need to throw the baby Jesus out with the bathwater of the Church” (“Tripping the Right Fantastic,” 6/15/24 TPP) I would say that a Christian is not an isolated person hiding in a protective cocoon waiting for the Last Judgment. Rather, Christians belong to a people, the People of God, which constitutes the Church. The nature of the Church, according to St. Paul, is Christ’s mystical Body: We hear, “He is the head of the body, the church” (Col 1:18).
So, if the Church is a body, then it is basically a living organism, not an organization, as articulated by St. John Henry Newman. Given that, Jesus is the Head of the Body and the Risen, Glorified, and Ascended Christ chooses to operate in the world through his mystical Body, the Church. So, Christianity without the Church just doesn’t make any sense. The upshot is that we’re called to full-bodied, enthusiastic membership in the Church with all of that entails and to be in communion with the Triune God and in fellowship with our brothers and sisters.
Peace and good will,
Re: “Would Dictator Trump Kill His Rivals,” by Thom Hartmann, 6/1/24 TPP, says “Mussolini brought the death penalty back to Italy specifically for political ‘crimes against the state,’ sentencing 43 people to death by firing squad between 1927 and 1943.”
Hartmann failed to mention that one of those 43 victims was Mussolini’s own son-in-law !!!
Watch out Jared, Jews are on the short list of the Proud Boys!
Thank you,
No, Donald, Judge Merchan is not corrupt, he is meticulous and honest. But you wouldn’t know how to recognize honesty.
No, Donald, the trial wasn’t rigged. It followed prescribed procedures for giving attention to actual facts and the real requirements of the law. But you wouldn’t know true facts since you spread thick and widespread lies to cover up your felonies.
No, Donald, this wasn’t political retribution, although that is what you keep promising if you ever set foot in the White House again. It was bringing you to legal accountability because even Presidents are not above the law.
“Disgrace,” Donald, is a word you like to use when you don’t get your way. The word suits you perfectly.
No, Donald, this isn’t a s—-hole country, although it might become one if you were to get your way.
BRUCE JOFFE, Piedmont, Calif.
Today, I visited a pioneer cemetery where some of my ancestors lie. Graves dating from the time of settlement were near more current sites. In these older areas, small 8X10-inch markers were more common. They had only one date, making the loss of an infant. Secondly, I noted more second wives buried beside the patriarch. The stones told the story of the perils of childbirth in the years before obstetricians or birth control, and the general uncertainty of life before antibiotics or inoculations. I see thees advancements as being far more pro-life than their rejection.
Well, here it is, an election year like no other. As presidential candidates we have the Three Musketeers! Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. For which candidate will you be casting your ballot on Election day? Good question. I haven’t been following the news much lately. I’d rather be out mowing the lawn. In the weeks ahead, take the time to unwind.
From The Progressive Populist, July 1-15, 2024
Blog | Current Issue | Back Issues | Essays | Links
About the Progressive Populist | How to Subscribe | How to Contact Us