"Israel" Out of Somerville!

The JCRC in Boston Wants Somerville to Pay For Israel.

Israel Out of Somerville!
By Karin Friedemann
24 Aug 2005

http://boston.indymedia.org/newswire/display/40637/index.php

Israel lobbyists, determined to prevent Americans from having a say inwhere their tax money goes, have targeted the City of Somerville. Now,Somerville voters are taking their democracy back. Thousands ofSomerville residents signed the Divestment ballot petition while thecorrupt mayor took his free trip to Israel. The Somerville DivestmentProject represents all loyal Americans whether Republican,Libertarian, Democrat, or Green-Rainbow. Divestment is not aboutdictating foreign policy. Divestment is the act of cuttingSomerville's financial losses. The City of Somerville has noobligation to pay for Israel's existence.The Jewish Community Relations Council of Boston used payola andpolitical pressure to manipulate Somerville's elected officials torenounce their previous pro-Divestment 9-2 vote that represented thepublic will. JCRC machinations brought the Israeli ambassador MeirShlomo to Somerville City Hall to patronize us with a hypocriticallecture on justice and democracy. Why is the State of Israel sodesperate for Somerville's measly investments? They are quite possiblyspending more money trying to defeat the widely popular Divestmentballot petition than they are even getting from Somerville. Israel isscared of a little town like Somerville, Massachusetts because thistown has a strong anti-racist and anti-slavery tradition. There aremany Irish here, who naturally sympathize with Palestinians since theytoo suffered under a military occupation and a racist policy tosupplant the native population with immigrant colonial settlers. Tofind out what you can do to support Somerville Divestment, seewww.divestmentproject.org .The Israel lobby works on two levels. The "public relations" wing ofthe Jewish State used Tikkun, a pseudo-liberal Zionist opinionmagazine to discourage "progressive" Jews from supporting theirneighbors' attempts to pressure Israel to stop human rights abuses.Hayyim Feldman invented false claims about the purpose of theSomerville Divestment Project in order to make a dishonest argument indefense of the two-state solution, which is totally irrelevant to theissue of Divestment, while "Somerville Middle East Justice" engaged inmore insidious slander and manipulation tactics. Israel supporters areadvised on their website to "be vague" and talk about "peacefulcoexistence" when they speak with Aldermen. They are further advisedto thank one elected official for silencing the discussion on theJewish theft of Palestinian lands, the bulldozing of Palestinianhomes, and the 25-foot Wall between Jews and Gentiles Israel isbuilding with Somerville's money. The website is decorated with photosof Ariel Sharon. The Boston Israel Lobby's use of the words "peace"and "justice" are just public relations gimmicks. They cover up aviolent genocidal racist ideology, an agenda which is totallyinappropriate for Somerville.Insider communications reveal that the Anti-Divestment coalition wasformed in defense of the Israeli military and police. They campaignfor unqualified support for Ariel Sharon's atrocities. Israel'scrimes are ongoing, and have included bombing the Church of theNativity where Christ was born, according to Christians. The Israeliarmy murdered the bell-ringer. On the "Somerville Coalition for MiddleEast Peace" website, Palestinians are not considered legally definedhuman beings. This omission reflects a racial supremacist philosophywith which the City of Somerville should not associate itself.Somerville needs to separate its interests from what the JCRC inBoston thinks is "wrong for Somerville." In the past, slavers thoughtthey knew what was best for Somerville, but Somerville was united inits effort to defeat slavery and racism. Today, Somerville is unitedin its effort to defeat Zionist racism. The Israel Lobby does notrepresent the people of Somerville. No one should have specialprivileges, not in the Holy Land, and not in Somerville."The JCRC wants YOU to pay for Israel" campaign involves Cable TV anda $30 million budget. The Jewish Community Relations Council ofGreater Boston has employed several full-time staff members toundermine democracy specifically in Somerville. None of these peoplelive in Somerville. They are Farrah Raskin, Marjorie Polster andRachel Glazer. Rachel Glazer of Brookline is the program coordinator.Their goal is to impose "special rights" for the Israeli Lobby overSomerville voters. This group works with the Combined JewishPhilanthropies of Greater Boston, the central fundraising and planningarm of Boston's Jewish community. Mark Niedergang (which means"downfall" in German), in charge of collecting grant applications forthe Brookline-Brighton Jewish Community Fund Committee, happens tolive in Somerville, on Conwell Street. An employee of the CJP, he isamong those responsible for bringing virtually unlimited amounts ofcash into the pro-Israel campaign to undermine Somerville's democracy.Somerville voters have the right to divest from Israel. Somervilleneeds to take back its democracy. The pro-Israel lobby is planning tointimidate voters at the upcoming special election. They expect theCity of Somerville unconditionally and eternally to finance Israel'sexistence. Now is the time for the Green-Rainbow party to run acandidate against Mayor Curtatone. Mayor Curtatone is currently beinginvestigated on ethics violations for accepting gifts from theAmerican Jewish Congress, an organization openly taking sides on anactive issue in front of the Board of Aldermen. How dare the BostonIsrael Lobby use the Somerville City logo as part of their campaign tosilence Somerville taxpayers? They want to finance war criminal ArielSharon with Somerville's money? Who are these people who want to letIsrael get away with human rights violations? Are we safe with themliving among us? What if they want to murder our family and steal ourhouse? What if they get a Caterpillar bulldozer to root out non-Jewsfrom Somerville? These are the kind of racists we are dealing withhere. They not only want to commit genocide and ethnic cleansing inthe Holy Land, but they want to do it with your money. Sorry, no!TALKING POINTS1) Somerville is not divided. Somerville is virtually united againstthe shady investments in Israel bonds. The only people disturbing thepeace are the Israel lobbyists from Boston who want to interfere withSomerville's decisions on where their tax money should be invested.More and more people are in favor of Divestment, and just this weekthe Lutherans came on board. In Somerville, the Aldermen were 9 to 2in favor of divestment until the Israel lobby used its tremendousfinancial resources to confuse the issues. Their actions includedbribing the mayor and bringing an Israeli diplomat to City Hall tointerfere with the local decision making process.2) Investing in Israel against the public's will is taxation withoutrepresentation by a foreign government! Divesting from Israel meanssteering clear of all possible bias. The issue of Divestment isseparate from the question of whether or not Israel has a right toexist. Few Americans would shed many tears at the abolition ofZionism, but Divestment is the decision to take a neutral stance. Isupport Switzerland's right to exist, but I don't think Somervilleneeds to pay for Switzerland. The real issue is that Israel is alosing investment. Somerville residents don't want to invest in acontroversial foreign agenda. Why not invest in public transportation?3) A few corrupt officials within the Somerville government havesingled out Israel as a country that gets free perks from Somervilletaxpayers. The Irish are not sending our tax money to Ireland. TheSaudis are not sending our tax money to Saudi Arabia. Why shouldSomerville have to invest in Israel? The JCRC and CJP made privateagreements with Somerville public officials without the consent of thelocal population, and now Israel is getting involved in localpolitics. Why is Somerville being pressured to invest in a foreignproject and why are voters being forcibly discouraged from openlydiscussing the matter?