The blog of Eric Lee - web design and internet consulting for the trade union movement.

Rabbi Michael Lerner responds

Rabbi Michael Lerner has written a response to my Open Letter. I publish it without comment, below, except that I wish to correct one misunderstanding. Lerner writes: "I know it is hard for people in Israel ... given the inadequate information you have available (when war starts in Israel, your news is censored, and Israel refuses to allow journalists to go to Gaza to report, so your information is deeply limited)."

Actually, I live in London, and have access to the same information that Rabbi Lerner has.

Furthermore, in asserting that Israelis are somehow less well-informed about the war than he is, Lerner does little to contradict my statement that he is both arrogant and ignorant.

Dear Eric,

I did not choose the headline. I do think that the fundamental approach that Israel is taking is stupid--assuming that you can deal with the Palestinian people through domination and militarism rather than through some of the steps I outlined in my article. This is the same stupidity exhibited by the U.S. government in its approach to Iraq and now Afghanistan. It is thinking that the same attempt to wipe out Hamas as Israel once tried to wipe out the PLO in Lebanon is going to work this time when it has continually failed in the past.

I do not believe that Hamas is loveable or anything of the sort. I do believe that if the majority of Palestinians reject its leadership, and accept a reasonable peace treaty with Israel that includes the elements I specify, Hamas will live with that even while still maintaining that it does not accept the right of Israel to exist.

I hate Hamas and what it has done to Israel, and I do not blame Israelis for being driven crazy by the constant threats and the bombardments over the years. But I am not talking about "blame" or "who is right?" but rather about what is smart to do, and there, Eric, we have a disagreement.

I don't think it helps to attack me personally--my views are widely shared. I know it is hard for people in Israel who used to be part of a left when Mapam and kibbutz artzi had socialist principles, to recognize that they are now supporting policies that are quite reacitonary, particularly given the inadequate information you have available (when war starts in Israel, your news is censored, and Israel refuses to allow journalists to go to Gaza to report, so your information is deeply limited). But the reality is that progressives around the world have a very different view than yours, and for good reason.

Please share this letter and the proposal and analysis that we are giving to President Obama--you'll find it below. I hope that some of your readers, once they have read the proposed ad for the NY Times, may even decide to join and sign it and donate to it. It has no blaming of Israel--it is just a prescription for how to end the struggle. I apologize for parts of my analysis in the London Times that sounded arrogant--but I don't think you'll hear that tone in the actual ad below.

Best wishes,

Rabbi Michael Lerner

Details on the ad including its full text are here

Comments

I wonder when the last time was that Lerner was in Israel during a war? Certainly now, with the internet, Israelis are just as hooked in to the worldwide news machine as anyone else. I was in Israel when Gilad Shalit was kidnapped and Israel attacked in Gaza (May 2006) and it was extremely easy to know what was going on. Israelis can read Haaretz just as well as anyone else can online.

This letter is more evidence of his arrogance and ignorance of the Israeli left.

Rabbi Lerner writes: "I do believe that if the majority of Palestinians reject its leadership, and accept a reasonable peace treaty with Israel that includes the elements I specify, Hamas will live with that even while still maintaining that it does not accept the right of Israel to exist."

With all due respect, how does "a majority of Palestinians reject their leadership" fit with "Hamas will live with that even while still maintaining that it does not accept the right of Israel to exist."

Clearly if the majority of Palestinians rejected their leadership then it really wouldn't matter whether Hamas acdepted Israel since they would not be part of the leadership.

Only one slight problem wtih this view, Hamas was actually democratically elected by a majority of Palestinians who wholehaeatedly agree with their policies.

It is somewhat arrogant to assume that you can convince a whole nation to agree with you while all evidence is to the contrary.

It is no coincidence that Israel invaded Gaza prior to the Jan 9th deadline where Hamas would declare Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas obselete.

If indeed there is an outpouring of support for Abbas against Hamas then I would apologize to Rabbi Lerner. For better or worse this scenario seems about as likely as Rabbi Lerner's moving to Sderot for a few months so he can quantify exactly what "proportional response" would entail.