Leadership requires balance, and sometimes stepping back
The Cambridge City Council had a policy order resolution on the Nov. 20 agenda that called on the council to take a stand on how to handle the Israel-Hamas conflict. Every one of us is horrified by the violence – the attack by Hamas and the deaths of many civilian Palestinians in Gaza by Israel. It is an issue weighing on many of us in Cambridge, and the world. Yet I, along with five colleagues, voted not to debate the resolution, and then seven of us voted “present” – neither against nor in favor of the resolution. I did not speak in the council meeting, although I had spent many hours listening to constituents, writing about the issue and working with other councillors on a substitute resolution about which we all were prepared to speak. Sometimes leadership means taking a back seat and not taking the floor to speak.
Everyone should be clear that every councillor without exception abhors the war and deaths in Gaza and Israel and advocates for a stop to the violence and killing. We support calls for cessation of violence, delivery of humanitarian aid and release of hostages. We may disagree on wording and how to achieve peace or feel ill-equipped to know the most effective path to reach it. The city has seen some escalation in protests, including arrests for vandalism at a recent one. And with more protests planned for the next month in Cambridge by passionate activists, I hope we can all direct our efforts in productive ways that do not further divide our community.
We do important work on the City Council, elected as a municipal body, and residents see us as leaders. It’s important to ask whether as a body during regular council meetings we should weigh in on foreign policy issues. Several councillors over the years have been frustrated when forced to wade into sensitive foreign policy discussions over which we have no control. In this case, there was clear public interest in the issue; the council heard from about 200 community members during public comment who shared a broad range of strong feelings and expressed great deal of pain, and more than 400 people emailed the council about the issue. These responses showed a tremendous divide in our community: Near-even numbers of individuals implored us to either pass the resolution or oppose it. Every councillor received all of these messages, and every councillor felt the pain expressed by all our residents on that Monday night. There is a role for local leaders to speak out, which we all can do about any issue – individually or joining others in advocating, speaking, writing. The question before us was whether a regular council business meeting is the appropriate venue for foreign policy discussions. Could such discussion bring us together as a community? As I reflected on the situation, I came to the conclusion that debate on this issue at that time would be unproductive and could increase rather than heal the existing divide in our community.
Thus, when it came time for the council to discuss, I made a motion to end debate and move to the vote. I did not come to that motion lightly. I listened, and felt the community’s messages of grief and pain, for nearly four hours that night. I spent the weekend considering my personal views and my role as a councillor, and I discussed the resolution with community members and colleagues. My reason for making the motion was that the resolution at hand was such a complicated and divisive foreign policy issue that I did not think it was in the best interest of the city to engage in further debate. While I – and my colleagues – could each have spoken at length, it seemed to me that the community had already expressed a wide range of feelings and concerns, and further commentary would not leave the city better off. The divisions would still exist and we would have no true impact on the issue. I’m also concerned that by dedicating time and emotional capacity to foreign policy that we end up not giving full attention to important agenda items that we do control. On Monday, our agenda included several important items we did not discuss, including a report on the city’s equity and Inclusion work, a citywide community engagement plan and the annual resident survey, all of which should guide our work.
Councillors E. Denise Simmons, Paul Toner and Marc McGovern and I had prepared a substitute resolution that we believe was more balanced, calling for a cessation in violence, release of hostages and delivery of humanitarian aid. Our hope was to bring people together and avoid language in the original motion that was problematic. I crafted a personal statement to express my views on the situation. Instead of presenting our substitute and reading my statement, I chose what I thought best for the community as a whole: to not read my statement and to move to end debate on a foreign policy issue in which we had no role. The motion to end discussion on the order, which passed, required a supermajority of six councillors. We then voted on the resolution. Two councillors voted yes to approve the resolution as written, no one voted no and seven councillors voted present, meaning we decided to neither support it nor vote to oppose it. The resolution failed to pass, 2-0-7.
A question that I have been asked repeatedly, and something I have been grappling with is, since I support ending the violence, how could I oppose the resolution as written? What is there to argue? How can anyone be opposed to something titled “calling for a cease-fire”? In this case, the details in the text of the resolution and its specific wording contained many troubling elements.
The resolution’s wording made an implicit moral equivalence between the terrorist attack by Hamas and the response of the Israeli government. That is wrong. Wholesale slaughter of civilians, which was the goal of Hamas’ attack, is abhorrent. Full stop. The Israeli government response has been a military response to an attack targeting civilians. In responding, Israel’s goal is to eliminate Hamas as a threat, not eliminate the Palestinians as a people. Hamas’ explicit goal is to eliminate Israel and to kill Jews. This doesn’t mean that the Israeli response was appropriate – the scale of deaths is unacceptable and horrifying, and any war crimes should be prosecuted. And I believe that Netanyahu is a reprehensible leader. Full stop.
Further, the resolution made no explicit condemnation of Hamas. The statement linked to in the resolution, made by two dozen U.S. Congresspeople including Rep. Ayanna Pressley, affirmed “unequivocal condemnation of the Hamas attacks on Israel.” This resolution should have done the same. It should not be controversial to condemn Hamas and advocate for the organization to be dismantled. Destroying Hamas is supporting Palestine and Palestinians. It is also important to note that the fighting is between Israel and Hamas, not all Palestinians. Further, the resolution mentioned 2 million Palestinians under siege, yet not the 250,000 Israelis displaced who are refugees due to the conflict. Several colleagues and I believed that we should have supported the statement and plea of our senators, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey; U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders; U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock; and others. They called for a humanitarian pause and immediate release of all hostages, and are now calling for an extension of the truce in place. In recent days, the United States helped broker a temporary pause in violence to facilitate the exchange of hostages. This development is good progress, and speaks to the ongoing and mercurial nature of international conflicts – conflicts the Cambridge City Council has neither the ability to affect nor the expertise to navigate in real time. I think it does the people of Cambridge, who are reeling from the violence, a disservice to pretend that we can have a meaningful impact on this war by passing a resolution, particularly when even subtle details of wording can be painful to large portions of our community.
Civilian deaths are horrifying, no matter which side commits them. And Hamas and Israeli leadership should be held accountable for civilian deaths and war crimes. The question for those who decide foreign policy in the United States and around the world is how best to limit civilian deaths. The G7 and many other countries have been debating the best course of action, the path to peace and the best way to end violence and stop the loss of human life. Who are we, as a municipal body, to decide we know better? I admit there are many parts of this conflict that confuse and terrify me, and it is clear from much of the dialogue I’ve heard within Cambridge that many feel the same way. This conflict has exacerbated rifts within our own community, and we have work to do to mend them.
Instead of focusing on a divisive resolution, I would prefer an emphasis on treating each other with respect, empathy and compassion. Let’s put our efforts into listening to and understanding each other’s losses, hopes and perspectives. We, as a council, should model that behavior instead of dividing our community further with no-win resolutions.
The writer is a Cambridge city councillor.
We are so fortunate to have you on the City Council. Full stop.
“Everyone should be clear that every councillor without exception abhors the war and deaths in Gaza and Israel and advocates for a stop to the violence and killing.” If this were actually the case voting for a cease fire should have been a no-brainer and a non-issue, however that is clearly not the case.
“The Israeli government response has been a military response to an attack targeting civilians. In responding, Israel’s goal is to eliminate Hamas as a threat, not eliminate the Palestinians as a people.”
This is a lie. Numerous high ranking Israeli officials have been extremely clear that they are intending to eliminate Palestinians not just Hamas. It is to the point that scholars of genocide are shocked by it because usually those carrying it out hide their intentions but Israel has been extremely open about them: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiguc7a7-uCAxXJAHkGHdnHCBQQFnoECCgQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.middleeasteye.net%2Flive-update%2Fisraels-intent-genocide-public-record-says-former-un-official&usg=AOvVaw3YlA2nVB0QkNSeQQfVunQN&opi=89978449
“Hamas’ explicit goal is to eliminate Israel and to kill Jews.”
This is also a lie. Regardless what you think of them, you should try to understand what they actually think not just paint them as monsters. According to their charter “Hamas affirms that its conflict is with the Zionist project not with the Jews because of their religion. Hamas does not wage a struggle against the Jews because they are Jewish but wages a struggle against the Zionists who occupy Palestine. Yet, it is the Zionists who constantly identify Judaism and the Jews with their own colonial project and illegal entity.” https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-2017-document-full
“Destroying Hamas is supporting Palestine and Palestinians.” is nonsense. If Palestinians were destroying it themselves sure you’d have a point but it is extremely clear Israel is simply using this as a pretext to destroy Palestine (including in the West Bank where Hamas is not present).
“t is also important to note that the fighting is between Israel and Hamas, not all Palestinians.” Another lie. All Palestinian armed factions are involved in resisting the genocidal invasion of Gaza.
“Further, the resolution mentioned 2 million Palestinians under siege, yet not the 250,000 Israelis displaced who are refugees due to the conflict.” Genuinely where on earth did you even get that claim. meanwhile according to UN OCHA, as of 23 November, more than 1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza are internally displaced.
Other cities have shown far more courage than Cambridge. Cities can do this, you simply oppose doing so. You should be ashamed of this propaganda for inaction, filled with outright lies and half truths.
Oakland: https://www.kqed.org/news/11968400/oakland-city-council-set-to-vote-on-gaza-cease-fire-resolution
Richmond: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-10-25/california-city-first-in-nation-to-support-palestinians-in-gaza-with-resolution-accusing-israel-of-ethnic-cleansing
Many examples of high ranking Israeli officials very clearly calling to eliminate Palestinians not simply Hamas in this article: https://www.newarab.com/analysis/erase-gaza-how-genocidal-rhetoric-normalised-israel
Also worth noting that Hamas has been willing to negotiate along the lines of 1967 borders (the agreement under international law that Israel flagrantly violates with its settlements) for a two state solution: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/01/hamas-new-charter-palestine-israel-1967-borders
While the current governing coalition of Israel has this in their coalition agreements: “the Jewish people have an exclusive right on all the land’ between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.” https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN12071/1
And btw Netanyahu’s Likud party has this in their founding charter: “The right of the Jewish people to the land of Israel is eternal and indisputable and is linked with the right to security and peace; therefore, Judea and Samaria will not be handed to any foreign administration; between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.” https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/original-party-platform-of-the-likud-party
“It’s Time to Confront Israel’s Version of ‘From the River to the Sea,’ Far from being a mere slogan, the phrase captures both the longtime ambitions of the Israeli right and the reality Israel has imposed on Palestine since 1967.” https://www.thenation.com/article/world/its-time-to-confront-israels-version-of-from-the-river-to-the-sea/
Yet you don’t seem to find any of this worth mentioning.
Thank you, Patty. I appreciate you sharing the thinking behind your very difficult decision.
Look, just like Patty, I am also no foreign policy expert, but when you kill 20k people in six weeks and make a territory uninhabitable for 1.7 million people, I think your goal might not be just “destroying Hamas”. I think your goal might actually be “elimination of the Palestinian people”, at least from Gaza.
I think that the city council is not the venue nor the people that should be directly voting on this issue as it is all outside their jurisdiction and over reach in that they might have any effect on the world stage. They have no more power in the situation than other private citizens in our state nor is the city.
If there is an expectation for the city council to send forth on resolutions or carry out actions on the international foreign policy stage beyond being careful how the city invests its funds or who it has contracts with it will spend all its time doing such and have no time to deal with day to day matters and our own localized problems and needs of our community.
Completely agree with Patty that continuing this debate will just increase the divide in our community.
Sad to see certain city councilors use yet another issue to drive contempt and mistrust into our city.
Aside from the issues of bike lanes and housing, the biggest issue I heard from residents during this last election was to stop the rancor and divisiveness that we have endured for the past few years.
Its going to take new leadership on the City Council for that to happen.
SLAW- it you are going to continue to try to denigrate our city’s institutions and leaders with your propaganda and insults please at least find the fortitude to include your real name so we can be sure to keep any of our young people far far away from you.
Patty,
Thank you for the excellent opinion piece. It was well thought out, and captured the most important points of this contentious subject.
I’m pleased to have voted for you, and to have contributed to your campaign. Keep up the rational thoughts. The Council needs you.
As Cambridgejoe said, this is outside of the Council’s jurisdiction, and the Council should deal with day to day matters.
Fix the potholes!
How comforting it must be to believe this drivel. How comfortable it is to believe the lies of empire. How comforting to believe that this suffering is not connected to you or this city, despite multiple weapons companies that arm the Israeli death machine operating in Cambridge. Cambridge is already involved, you have simply rendered Palestinian lives meaningless to the point that attempting to undermine the damage this city is actively involved in and stand up for human life is “divisiveness.” It is obviously a genuinely absurd an privileged position to everyone else though.
“propaganda and insults” I provided evidence for my claims from reputable sources. Patty Nolan here repeated lies from those carrying out the genocide as if they are unquestionable truths. You are rubes, being lied to and fed poison justifying inaction in the face of genocide and unquestioningly lapping it up as medicine. History will not remember any of you kindly.
@Slaw
You said “You should be ashamed of this propaganda for inaction, filled with outright lies and half truths.”When I look closely at what you said and presented, it is you who is presenting “facts” to fit your narrative.
You said: “It is to the point that scholars of genocide are shocked by it because usually those carrying it out hide their intentions but Israel has been extremely open about them.” The site you point to shows nothing of the kind. A few weeks ago on Cambridge Day, one commentator didn’t know the meaning of the word genocide, and it is clear you don’t understand it either. Here is what you should read so that you can understand what the word means and how the word developed at the Nuremberg trials, trials that exposed what the Nazis did to six million Jews and millions of others. The book is by Philippe Sands, East West Street. If you read it, you and Poor Bono Publico might learn what genocide means.
What is happening in Gaza is extremely unfortunate. As an Army veteran, I’ve understood keenly that collateral damage is one of the most horrible consequences of war. Hiroshima and Nagasaki inflicted terrible war related costs on Japanese civilians. However, my grandparents, and millions of other Americans were grateful that their sons (and my uncle) could be spared the continuation of the war in the Pacific, a war which cost tens of thousand
American deaths and wounded.
I’m not going to answer any of your replies to this post (assuming there are any), so say anything you want and know that whatever fabrications you spew will go unanswered.
What I would like say to Cambridge Day readers:
1. Article Seven of the Hamas Charter concludes with a quotation: ‘The Day of Judgment will not come until Muslims fight the Jews. when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees.The stones and trees will say, ‘O Muslim, O servant of God, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’ Yes, the age old adage said by so many, “kill the Jews.”
2, Three times, Israel has offered the Palestinians a two state solution. The last time was in 2000 when, with President Clinton calling both sides together, Yasser Arafat rejected Ehud Barak’s offer.
3.Fathi Hammad, Senior Hamas political leader “ There are Jews everywhere,” Hammad shouted. “We must attack every Jew on planet Earth! We must slaughter and kill them, with Allah’s help,”
4. Hamas Official Ghazi Hamad. We Will Repeat the October 7 Attack Time and Again Until Israel Is Annihilated.
5. And then we have the Democratic Socialists of America: “Today’s (October 7th.) events are a direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime.” The DSA believes the slaughter, rape, mutilation, the kidnapping of nine month old babies and many others, and burning alive innocent civilians, most of whom for decades have been socialists or part of socialist families, is justified. Sick! Yes Quinton, that’s sick.
6. Israel has many faults. But, in Israel, the LGBTQ organizations flourish. See how that goes over in Gaza, Syria and the rest of the middle-East.
7. 18% of the population of Israel is Muslim. What percentage of the population of Syria, Iraq, Egypt and other Arab countries is Jewish. You don’t have to look up the answer.From the early 1920s and especially after 1948, over 750,000 Jews were, in effect, expelled from Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Iran, Yemen, and three Arab nations in North Africa. They were forced out; compelled to sell their land, their businesses and their homes, all for a pittance. Jews had lived in these countries for hundreds and hundreds of years. Yet, they were forced out.
8. In 2005, Israel forced Israeli citizens to leave Gaza, where some families had been living for
hundreds of years. They had built greenhouses to cultivate tomatoes and strawberries. James Wolfensohn gave substantial personal funds and raised other funds to buy the greenhouses.
He turned them over to the Gazans. Rather than continuing to use the greenhouses, Hamas
destroyed them.
“We may disagree on wording and how to achieve peace or feel ill-equipped to know the most effective path to reach it.”
Amazingly responsible position!
Any other position would be a performative virtue signal.
I’m glad to see this resolution was not supported. I had hope that Councilor Zondervan not running again would remove anti-Semitism from the Cambridge City Council. Unfortunately that has not been the case.
@concerned43
Noticed first of all you did not provide a single piece of supporting evidence for any of your claims.
“You said: “It is to the point that scholars of genocide are shocked by it because usually those carrying it out hide their intentions but Israel has been extremely open about them.” The site you point to shows nothing of the kind.”
Yes it does. The fact that you lie about this so blatantly should make anyone doubt everything else you say. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights resigned over the handling of this genocide. He says in the article: “Usually the most difficult part of proving genocide is intent because there has to be an intention to destroy in whole, or in part, a particular group, In this case, the intent by Israeli leaders has been so explicitly stated and publicly stated – by the prime minister, by the president, by senior cabinet ministers, by military leaders – that that is an easy case to make. It’s on the public record.”
link again:https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-update/israels-intent-genocide-public-record-says-former-un-official
“A few weeks ago on Cambridge Day, one commentator didn’t know the meaning of the word genocide, and it is clear you don’t understand it either.” I understand genocide very well. I have studied it. I for one know that it is not defined exclusively by the holocaust. There are many other genocides: Armenia, the colonization of the Americas, Rohingya, Bosnia, Rwanda, Nama and Herero etc.
Genocide is in fact a a specific crime defined by the UN. I suggest you look into the history of Lemkin than the one book you read to understand the history of the term. He absolutely was broader in his understanding of this than you seem to imply.
Here is the legal definition:
“In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
Killing members of the group;
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
link: https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml
Every Single one of those points is present here.
I already linked several things about intent so I won’t go over that again.
As for the specific points:
“Killing members of the group”
this is clear and obvious tens of thousands have been killed in Palestine (at by far the fastest rate of any recent conflict)
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/25/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-death-toll.html
That includes more children than have died in all the world’s conflict zones put together in any of the last few years: https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-11-1-2023-children-killed-4a352398b32887e60a658e0270f0a021#:~:text=More%20children%20have%20been%20killed,throughout%20all%20of%20last%20year.
“Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group”
Again this is clear and obvious. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been injured:https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-death-toll-numbers-injured-5c9dc40bec95a8408c83f3c2fb759da0
Additionally with food and water cut off there have been new outbreaks of diseases associated with poor sanitation and water quality: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/28/disease-could-kill-more-in-gaza-than-bombs-who-says-amid-israeli-siege
Palestinian mental health was already imperiled before this genocidal onslaught: https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/no-peace-mind-palestinian-mental-health-under-occupation-june-2022
“95 percent of children from the Gaza Strip showed symptoms of anxiety, depression and trauma.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/12/how-the-israel-war-blockade-affects-mental-health-of-palestinian-children
This has only worsened under constant bombardment.
“Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”
The cutting off of food and water: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/gaza-cut-off-from-food-water-and-fuel-as-israels-punishing-bombardment-continues
along with the massive destruction of the bombing: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/gaza-cut-off-from-food-water-and-fuel-as-israels-punishing-bombardment-continues
clearly demonstrate this. The statements of Israeli officials that they will “flatten Gaza” and “make it unlivable” show this is intentional as well.
“Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group”
“Women and newborns bearing the brunt of the conflict in Gaza, UN agencies warn” Women and newborns bearing the brunt of the conflict in Gaza, UN agencies warn
plus there are the horrific images of decomposing babies “who were left to die after Israeli forces ordered medical staff to evacuate and blocked access to the intensive care unit at the al-Nasr pediatric hospital” https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/30/headlines/decomposing_bodies_of_premature_babies_discovered_in_besieged_gaza_hospital
“Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group”
Israel has a long history of taking Palestinian children captive:
https://mondoweiss.net/2023/11/israel-has-a-long-history-of-taking-palestinian-children-captive/
There is the case for why this is a genocide according to the legal definition of the term. It’s clear as day. Denying it makes you a genocide denier. That you also justify dropping atomic bombs really says everything about your horrific world view.
Now after proving you are wrong, with evidence, about denying this genocide I will address the other lies and distortions you share.
1. “Article Seven of the Hamas Charter” actually reads: “Palestine is at the heart of the Arab and Islamic Ummah and enjoys a special status. Within Palestine there exists Jerusalem, whose precincts are blessed by Allah. Palestine is the Holy Land, which Allah has blessed for humanity. It is the Muslims’ first Qiblah and the destination of the journey performed at night by Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. It is the location from where he ascended to the upper heavens. It is the birthplace of Jesus Christ, peace be upon him. Its soil contains the remains of thousands of prophets, companions and mujahidin. It is the land of people who are determined to defend the truth – within Jerusalem and its surroundings – who are not deterred or intimidated by those who oppose them and by those who betray them, and they will continue their mission until the Promise of Allah is fulfilled.” I already linked it but here is the link again: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-2017-document-full Again you dont have to agree with them but stop lying.
“2, Three times, Israel has offered the Palestinians a two state solution. The last time was in 2000 when, with President Clinton calling both sides together, Yasser Arafat rejected Ehud Barak’s offer.”
The offer given was a slap in the face. That deal did not offer them sovereignty. Therefore it did not offer them a state. It also gave Israel the settlements it had built in East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, in flagrant violation of international law. https://decolonizepalestine.com/myth/palestinians-sabotaged-the-peace-process/
The time before that they did not actually offer it to Palestinians at all but to the King of Jordan (Israel and everyone who makes this argument is so racist they think they are indistinguishable) He rejected it because it also did not actually include all of the territory already agreed upon under international law as well.
The first rejection was in the British partition, which itself was in flagrant violation of international law and norms by giving the majority of the territory (55%) to a minority of the population (30%) compared to 42% of the land for Palestinian Arabs who made up 70% of the population. (the other 3% is Jerusalem). https://imeu.org/article/backgrounder-the-un-partition-plan-for-palestine#:~:text=The%20Partition%20Plan%20allocated%20approximately,be%20placed%20under%20international%20administration.
I think most people would reject that if it was imposed on them, for obvious reasons.
Your framing is one that only the most hard core zionists believe. It is not supported by the actual history at all. I suggest you read what Palestinians think too rather than only reading one side of the story. It would be clarifying.
3. Hamas has factually never engaged in an attack outside of historical Palestine. You cannot say the same about Israel which currently occupies part of Syria: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_occupation_of_the_Golan_Heights
and previously occupied parts of Egypt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_occupation_of_the_Sinai_Peninsula
and Lebanon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_occupation_of_Southern_Lebanon
Israel also has an assassination apparatus operating outside of its borders: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Israeli_assassinations
4. I understand why those who live in a concentration camp would call for the annihilation of the state holding them in one. I cannot understand how you see this as worse than the Israeli leaders expressing their intention to wipe out Palestinians in Gaza, who actually have the power to do that, and are currently doing it.
5. “Today’s (October 7th.) events are a direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime.”is absolutely a true statement. Contrary to your claims that also is not justifying anything. Contextualizing things and understanding that they originate as responses to other things isn’t saying those things are good, it is saying that if you want to prevent them you have to prevent the cause not only look at the morbid effects. It is absolutely true that the attack did not happen in a vacuum and is a response to Israeli settler colonialism and apartheid. https://www.972mag.com/gaza-attack-context-israelis/
2023 was already among the deadliest years for Palestinians before the bombing of Gaza “The UN has said 2023 has been the deadliest year for Palestinians since it started counting deaths in 2006.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/5/israeli-troops-kill-two-palestinians-in-occupied-west-bank-clash#:~:text=The%20UN%20has%20said%202023,attacks%20during%20the%20same%20period.
(this was published on 10/5)
6. this is called pink washing. Queer Palestinians put out this statement: “In the name of revolutionary love, a love which fuels our struggle for liberation and yearning for freedom, rooted in our love for our communities and our land; we tell you, there is no pride with genocide, and there is no pride in settler-colonialism. Our pride can only come through true liberation for all, for us and for all the peoples fighting worldwide.” https://queersinpalestine.noblogs.org/post/2023/11/19/no-pride-with-genocide/
Feminists from around the region along with allies put out this one: https://www.newarab.com/opinion/swana-feminists-united-liberation-palestine
There are in fact queer organizations in Palestine: http://alqaws.org/siteEn/index
More on pink washing: https://bdsmovement.net/pinkwashing
7. Israel actually played a direct part in making that worse on purpose in order to encourage settlement. See Israeli historian Avi Shlaim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfDhaWlqXf8
Also: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/avi-shlaim-proof-israel-zionist-involvement-iraq-jews-attacks
Similar things happened in other countries such as Israel arming the Ethiopian state that was actively persecuting Jews there: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/02/07/dayan-discloses-israel-is-selling-arms-to-ethiopia/8e2e7c14-bb80-440b-ade8-22d97a195b6e/
Incredible but true that after bringing in Ethiopian Jews Israel then sterilized them en masse https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/28/ethiopian-women-given-contraceptives-israel
8. the Israeli settlers living in Gaza were doing so in flagrant violation of international law. According to the New York Times Israeli settlers destroyed about half of the green houses in the months before withdrawal. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/world/middleeast/israeli-settlers-demolish-greenhouses-and-gaza-jobs.html
There was some looting of the green houses by Palestinians, desperate people taking useful materials. They were not “destroyed by Hamas”. Worth noting that the James Wolfensohn who arranged the deal blames the Israeli blockade for that. “the much-awaited first harvest of quality cash crops — strawberries, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers and flowers — began. These crops were intended for export via Israel for Europe. But their success relied upon the Karni crossing [between Gaza and Israel], which, beginning in mid-January 2006, was closed more than not. The Palestine Economic Development Corporation, which was managing the greenhouses taken over from the settlers, said that it was experiencing losses in excess of $120,000 per day. It was excruciating. This lost harvest was the most recognizable sign of Gaza’s declining fortunes and the biggest personal disappointment during my mandate.”
source: https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2014-07-30/ty-article/.premium/gaza-myths-and-facts-what-american-jewish-leaders-wont-tell-you/0000017f-e487-d7b2-a77f-e787e60c0000
(Haaretz is the Israeli paper of record BTW)
Aka Israel gave them a money sink that they could not possibly profit from because Israel prevented them from doing so. This was not some sign of magnanimity as you present it. If anything it shows the opposite.
Also truly who cares about green houses several decades ago in the context of an ongoing genocide? You are truly so divorced from what actually matters, stopping the extermination of Palestinians in Gaza.
Thank you Patty for your unifying and responsible leadership of our city.
Shame on the pro-Hamas, antisemitic, conspiracy theory laden comments above.
The idea that opposition to genocide is antisemitic is profoundly antisemitic itself. There is nothing Jewish about supporting a genocide. You are doing profound harm by equating the two.
I am still the only one in this discussion to back up any of my claims with evidence. A basic understanding of history does not make one a conspiracist or “Pro-Hamas” again, understanding context is not justification. There are people justifying murder here though see Concerned43’s defense not only of this genocide but the atrocity of the atomic bombings of Japan as unfortunate but necessary. That is a shameful degradation of human life, and collective punishment is a war crime by any metric.
Patty I applaud your wisdom and courage with this piece and your leadership on this issue at last week’s Council Meeting. You are right that there is important work you and the other Councillors need to be doing.
Marc, you really might consider limiting the length of these diatribes. It does not strengthen the image of Cambridge Day or help anyone to understand the issues better.
And further, thank you Kelly for asking Slaw to unmask themself.
“It does not strengthen the image of Cambridge Day or help anyone to understand the issues better.” I would say that is a great depiction of publishing Patty Nolan’s fact free justification for inaction in the face of atrocity. It is not a good depiction of my comments, which remain the only ones here that include corresponding evidence for their claims.
“there is important work you and the other Councillors need to be doing.” Truly, what is more important than opposing an ongoing genocide, that is being materially supported by several companies operating within this city?
For Vickey Bestor, I assume that means opposing bike lanes and housing. What a fundamental lack of priorities, or basic humanity…
That all the local reactionaries think this is great is really telling.
I think I fell asleep during Slaw’s inane and boring rants. I’m not sure which part of Hamas-supporting, conspiracy theorizing, homophobic rape denial has to do with bike lanes.
@cambridgevoter
You really cannot engage with any of the ideas so you hurl pejoratives instead huh.
“Hamas-supporting”
Understanding context, and pushing back against outright lies (used to justify the war aims of a genocide) is not support, nor is it even justification. You do not have to like a group to think that lying about them to fuel a genocide is fucked up.
“conspiracy theorizing”
My sources are credible and my arguments would be noncontroversial with experts on the history. It is if anything your denial of basic reality that represents conspiracy theorizing.
“homophobic rape denial” what are you even talking about with this?
As for what it has to do with bike lanes I think I was pretty clear. Opposing genocide is about the most important thing anyone can do. Vickey Bestor would rather not have to talk about it at all so she can go back to what she sees as more important (opposing housing and bike lanes).
Dear Cold Slaw — I too fall asleep in the middle of your rants dreaming of a city in which we encourage diversity — racial, economic, and of opinions — do not gaslight, or misrepresent the views of others — work together productively to create needed housing, a transportation system that is safe for bikes, pedestrians, and motor vehicles, and that work constructively to reduce emissions — building, vehicular, and residential so that we can transition to the future we need with mostly electric vehicles, no heat deserts, rich tree canopy, and a population that agrees to disagree when necessary and engage in spirited, but positive discourse on major issues that we can have an impact on.
I further hope for a Cambridge Day that truly becomes an open and objective local newspaper with a full staff of journalists and editors. I wish my cat could jump 12 feet up to catch the sunbeams that flit across the ceiling and that my dog could climb trees to follow the squirrels — but I will settle for Cambridge Day becoming an open and objective local newspaper better supported by its readers. BTW, it is giving season. I continue to support Cambridge Day with a small monthly donation and will make a yearend gift. I hope everyone who sees the need for thorough and objective local news will do the same. And that everyone who rants on and on will give one dollar per word.
“I too fall asleep in the middle of your rants dreaming of a city in which we encourage diversity.. of opinions — do not gaslight, or misrepresent the views of others”
This is truly an incredible sentence to write without a hint of irony. You demonstrate clearly how uncomfortable you actually are with differing opinions with how you respond by calling to censor mine. The only one gaslighting and misrepresenting the views of others here is you.