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The site is www.gopetition.com/petitions/dierkes-letter.html It’s just been set up so there are very few names at the moment, but please feel free to pass on this link.
[By the way, I had nothing to do with creating this initiative, besides agreeing to be an early signer. Look to the names on the press release if you wish to give credit.]
The press release:
For immediate release
Contacts:
Stephen R. Shalom, stephenrshalom@gmail.com
Racheli Gai, racheli@sonoracohousing.comJewish Peace Activists Defend German Critic of Israel
Calling for a Boycott of Israel for its Treatment of Palestinians is not Anti-Semitic
Montclair, NJ, April 8, 2009 — More than 370 Jewish peace activists from around the world signed a statement defending German politician Hermann Dierkes against charges of anti-Semitism.
Dierkes, a left-wing politician with a distinguished record of fighting for social justice, called for a boycott of Israeli goods as a means of putting pressure on the Israeli government to end its oppression of Palestinians. For this he has been subjected to vicious denunciations for anti-Semitism.
The signers of the statement — from Israel, Germany, the United States, and several other countries — expressed their objection to those “who use charges of anti-Semitism to attempt to squelch legitimate dissent.”
The signers have differing views on the wisdom and efficacy of a general boycott, some favoring it, some preferring a more selective boycott focused on the occupation, but all agree that a call for a boycott of Israel has nothing in common with the Nazi policy of “Don’t buy from Jews.”
“It is no more anti-Semitic to boycott Israel to end the occupation,” the statement declared, “than it was anti-white to boycott South Africa to end apartheid.”
Among the U.S. signatories are Phyllis BENNIS; Stephen Eric BRONNER; Leslie CAGAN; Noam CHOMSKY; Daniel ELLSBERG, Melanie KAYE/KANTROWITZ; Joanne LANDY; Zachary LOCKMAN; Frances Fox PIVEN; Adrienne RICH, Matthew ROTHSCHILD; Sami SHALOM CHETRIT; Jerome SLATER; and Howard ZINN.
Among the foreign signers are Tikva HONIG-PARNASS, Adam KELLER, Lea TSEMEL, and Michel WARSCHAWSKI (Israel); Daniel BENSAÏD and Michaël LÖWY (France); Naomi KLEIN (Canada); Felicia LANGER (Germany); and Moshe MACHOVER and Eyal WEIZMAN (UK).
“We gathered these names in just a week,” said Stephen R. Shalom, a professor of political science at William Paterson University, one of several individuals who initiated the letter in response to their outrage at the accusation of anti-Semitism levelled at Dierkes. “We’ve been getting a constant stream of additional names of people who want to add their names to the statement.” They can do so at.
Racheli Gai, an Israeli-American peace activist, noted that ” “There is real anti-Semitism in the world, and — like all forms of racism — it must be vigorously denounced. But frivolously making charges of anti-Semitism makes fighting the real thing harder, because it cheapens its meaning, and renders the motivations of even those who are making the charge legitimately suspect.” As the statement concluded, “The Holocaust was one of the most horrific events in modern history. It is a dishonor to its victims to use its memory as a bludgeon to silence principled critics of Israel’s unconscionable treatment of Palestinians.”
Hermann Dierkes, a former city counsellor in the German city of Duisberg representing the Left Party, said the accusations of anti-Semitism hit him very hard. “Because I am well aware of the German inextinguishable heritage of fascism and the genocide of the European Jews, I feel especially obliged to fight against racist prejudices and oppression. Human rights are indivisible for all individuals and peoples of the world. The right of self-determination has to be guaranteed for the Palestinian people too. This is a precondition to gain peace for the whole region.”
Among the many messages of solidarity he has received thus far, said Dierkes, “what moved me most was the open letter, signed by more than 370 Jewish peace activists from so many countries, including Israel.”
The full text of the open letter can be seen here, along with the full list of initial signatories. The developing list of additional signers can be seen at www.gopetition.com/petitions/dierkes-letter/signatures.html.
