European Jews Sign Petition Critical Of Israel

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Denen, Duitsers, Fransen, Belgen, Zwitsers, Italianen,
Spanjaarden,Hongaren, Brazilianen, Canadezen, Engelsen, Israeliers,
Oostenrijkers, Luxemburgers, Roemenen, Argentijnen, Zwitsers,
Amerikanen, Mexicanen, Algarijnen, Tunesiers, Marokkanen, Tjsechen,
Australiers, Kroaten, Turken, Polen, Portugezen, Libanezen, Zweden,
en dan nog zo'n 20 Nederlanders.

Er is niet veel ruchtbaarheid aan deze lijst gegeven.
Als je er op een Amerikaans webblad over moet lezen ;)
	
Groet / Cees
		
European Jews Sign Petition Critical Of Israel
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/european-jews-sign-petiti_n_560726.html

PARIS — More than 3,000 European Jews, including prominent
intellectuals, have signed a petition speaking out against Israeli
settlement policies and warning that systematic support for the Israeli
government is dangerous.

The petition's signatories include French philosophers Bernard-Henri
Levy and Alain Finkielkraut as well as Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a Greens
leader in the European Parliament.

Backers – who compare their goals to those of J Street, a liberal
pro-Israel Jewish lobbying group in the U.S. – plan to present their
position at a news conference at the European Parliament in Brussels on
Monday.

Supporters hope to build a European movement that is both "committed to
the state of Israel and critical of the current choices of its government."

Israeli columnist Yossi Sarid, a former Cabinet minister identified with
Israel's dovish peace movement, praised the initiative in an op-ed
published in the Haaretz daily Sunday.

"These are people who seize every opportunity to defend Israel publicly
and remain faithful to it," he wrote. "But even their patience is
running out and their hearts are filled with sincere concern."

Israel's Foreign Ministry declined to comment because the initiative is
not government-sponsored.

Many signatories are from France, where the petition has received much
press coverage. France's Jewish community has hotly debated the
petition, entitled "Call for Reason." The president of France's leading
Jewish association, CRIF, declined to sign, saying he objected to some
of its language and its tone.

"Do Israelis need the Jewish Diaspora to know what is 'the right'
decision, what should be the borders of a country that their sons and
daughters are protecting?" Richard Prasquier wrote in Le Figaro newspaper.

The petition, online at http://www.jcall.eu/ , says Israel faces a
threat in the "occupation and the continuing pursuit of settlements in
the West Bank and in the Arab districts of East Jerusalem.

"These policies are morally and politically wrong and feed the
unacceptable delegitimization process that Israel currently faces
abroad," it says.

It adds that "systematic support of Israeli government policy is
dangerous and does not serve the true interests of the state of Israel."
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This Call for Reason will be presented at an important meeting at the
European Parliament in Brussels on 3 May 2010.

Contact us: contact at Jcall.eu

If you support this call, don’t forget to sign it.
Call for reason

We are citizens of European countries, Jews, and involved in the
political and social life of our respective countries. Whatever our
personal paths, our connection to the state of Israel is part of our
identity. We are concerned about the future of the State of Israel to
which we are unfailingly committed.

Israel faces existential threats. Far from underestimating the threats
from its external enemies, we know that the danger also lies in the
occupation and the continuing pursuit of settlements in the West Bank
and in the Arab districts of East Jerusalem. These policies are morally
and politically wrong and feed the unacceptable delegitimization process
that Israel currently faces abroad.

For these reasons we have decided to take action based on the following
principles:

    1. The future of Israel depends upon urgently achieving peace with
the Palestinian people on the basis of the Two States Solution. As we
all know, this is urgent. Israel will soon be faced with two, equally
disastrous choices: either to become a state in which Jews would be a
minority in their own country, or establish a regime that would be a
disgrace to Israel and lead to civil unrest.
    2. It is essential therefore that the European Union, along with the
United States, put pressure on both parties and help them achieve a
reasonable and rapid solution to the Israeli-Palestine conflict. History
confers on Europe a particular responsibility in this region of the world.
    3. While the final decision belongs to the sovereign people of
Israel, our commitment to Israel as Jews of the Diaspora obliges us to
work towards reaching a just solution. Systematic support of Israeli
government policy is dangerous and does not serve the true interests of
the state of Israel.
    4. Our objective is to create a European movement that will allow
the voice of reason to be heard by all. This movement is non-partisan.
Its aim is to ensure the survival of Israel as a Jewish and democratic
state. This depends on the creation of a viable and sovereign
Palestinian state.

We ask all those who agree with the above principles to sign and
encourage others to sign this call.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Een individuele smeekbede:
As both Israeli and EU citizen I urge you to stop applying other
“standards” than those stipulated by valid international laws when it
comes to Israel.
Israel was initially built on a foundation that was and is totally right
and necessary.
But unfortunately the Jewish state has started in March 1948 to betray
slowly, but more and more, the true Zionism - as dreamed of by Theodor
Herzl.
Zionism is under heavy fire, not so much due to Palestinian terror, but
by the rapidly strenghtening power of a new phenomenon known as
Nazionism. Avigdor Lierberman and Benjamin Netanyahu - whose father
Benzion is the real ideologist and idol of his son’s position - are
actively destroying the original roots of Zionism by repalcing them with
ultra-nationalist, ethnically based, and de facto racist ideology of the
Nazionism, which is fundamentally anti-democratic.
The true Israel, the true Zionists need your support in order to don’t
be crushed by the Nazionists. And the Palestinians, of course, too.
The existence right of Israel is beyond any doubt. And so is the right
of Palestinians to create their own state on their territories
international law and common sense urge to be recognized and respected.
The European Parliament has an obligation to act as a body enforcing
human, ethnic and national rights for both parties.
Otherwise the world will see the worst catastrophy of the still young
21st century, which will escalate into a global mass destruction with
Israel and Palestinians as the igniting focal point.
We, true Jews and Israelis who are committed to the Ten Commandments, to
the principles of the democracy as depicted in the Bill of Rights, the
American constitution and the French Revolution, we need your help and
intervention.
Should you consider my opinion as not being representative, then please
just look at the latest poll on democracy from the University of
Tel-Aviv (April 2010). As it says, the majority of Israelis are moving
towards fascist attitudes.
Help us, Israelis, help us, European Union citizens, to fight these
incendiary trend.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
En nog een:
It’s about time we take real actions to build a new vision to Israel and
Palestine, a vision that is linked historically and traditionally. It is
from our common bondage that we can share this land in peace and
harmony. It has to be done from wisdom and not from might, strength,
walls and thermonuclear bombs. It will not come from Jewish fascism and
messianic quest. Time has come for a real change.

**********
Dit bericht is verzonden via de informele D66 discussielijst (D66 at nic.surfnet.nl).
Aanmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SUBSCRIBE D66 uwvoornaam uwachternaam
Afmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SIGNOFF D66
Het on-line archief is te vinden op: http://listserv.surfnet.nl/archives/d66.html
**********