I am not a supporter of the current Israeli government. I believe they have done nothing but damage any solution to a peaceful solution to the Occupied Territories. I am sickened at the governments actions at the Gaza border last week.I do not like white Christian males who think they know what is best for Israel. They, in my opinion, are anti-Semites and the craziest ones want to stir the shit so the "End Times" will come faster.
I really have no place for the Hasidim nor any ultra-Conservative Jews as well. I see what is happening in towns and school districts just across the river from me in Kiryas Joel, New Square , and the East Ramapo school district. And let's not forget the yeshivas across New York State and New York City.
I'm not the greatest Jew in the world. I just go to services on the High Holidays, I don't keep kosher, and my wife was the first and last Jewish woman I dated. But I had a bar mitzvah, we do Passover (though I eat leavened bread during the eight days), my son had a bar mitzvah as well as a briss. I am proud to be a Jew. When my son met former Yankee Ron Blomberg about 10 years ago Blomberg told him, "Always be a proud Jew!"
Is it any coincidence that of my two favorite bands, Rush and Van Halen, their lead singers, Geddy Lee and David Lee Roth are of the tribe?
But I will not sit idly by when outside agitators and a self hating Jew decided to bash Israel. It takes two sides to tango and it will be nice for once for the outside agitators to take a deep long look at what the Arabs and Palestinians have done all these years.
On March 22 just after the new Steering took place we received this request to vote on for MORE support....
Proposal for MORE.This is from Michael Letwin of Labor for Palestine who helped organize another national mobilization effort for Labor for Standing Rock, which is how some coordinated our presence.He is a former president of a local upstate.
Michael Letwin must be a self hating Jew. Whatever he did for Standing Rock (Which I fully supported their right not to have a pipeline through their land) pales in comparison to this.
The above email came at his request...
Subject: Urgent request for endorsements: Boycott study abroad in Israel! Sign here to take the pledge.
Greetings XXXXXXXX. Would you and/or MORE like to endorse the statement below? If so, please click here.
Solidarity!
Michael
What Michael wanted MORE to endorse was a cultural and academic boycott of Israel, to join in on the BDS of Israel.
And people wonder about MORE? About it's motivations? What the fuck was the purpose of this other than to test the new members of Steering?
Why when teachers across New York City are under enormous pressure and being led about by a clueless union does a BOYCOTT of Israel become a priority?
There are Jews on Steering, what is this brought to Steering? Yes, two of them kind of fall into the Letwin category of Jew, but nonetheless, we are
a. Assume good intentions.
g. Respect all viewpoints, perspectives and social identities.
Again, some rules are for all, some rules are for others. But there are no rules for what one can say or do concerning Jews or Israel. Big deal, MORE thinks, so we offend a few Jews.
Jews, and this is my honest opinion, are tolerated at MORE, those that are the 1st or 2nd generations Jews who are part of MORE. As long as we keep our mouths quiet and go along. The Jews that are loved are the ones who sold their soul along time ago, like the special little boy. Nothing better than the Judenrat of the Ghettoes.
Little does MORE realize that the real socialists are the Zionists. The Zionists who created something out of nothing in Israel. The Zionists who put their people first and not their leaders. MORE wants to keep on laying blame on the Jews and Israel, look at how the other countries and peoples of the mid east have pissed on and used Palestine for years. Take a look at how Israel pulled out of Gaza left the Palestinians everything, the farms, the greenhouses, etc... to have a full blown economy and society and it was all pissed away by them.
Want Israel off the land? Look across the Jordan River. The entire Kingdom of Jordan was part of the Palestine province during the Ottoman Empire. Why does not MORE start a boycott of Jordan? Think Jordan has treated Palestinians any better?
Want Israel to support the Right of Return? Does MORE support those that were left their homes and property behind in 1959-1960 when Socialist Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba? Aint' going to happen Will MORE support any Native American that makes a claim at their mommy and daddy's door for their land back? Ain't going to never happen.
I think this was a micro-agression on MORE's part and MORE should take sensitivity training.
The purpose of a teacher's union is to protect due process for teachers and to collectively bargain for salaries and benefits. Furthermore, unions are tasked with fighting for the improvement of working conditions and the future of public education. New York City is replete with cultural and political organizations of every stripe which teachers may join to their hearts' content. It is puzzling how MORE has time and energy to devote to trivial pursuits when faced with subjective evaluations, burgeoning class sizes, charter school proliferation, collocations, abusive principals, TFA, and ATRs.
ReplyDeleteSo, Letwin, who is not a member of MORE,asks for and didnt get the support of MORE? It wasn’t on the MORE listservs or discussed at a MORE meeting, but somehow MORE is guilty?
ReplyDeleteThat’s quite a leap. Keep writing your MORE fan fiction.
Does MORE maintain a membership list?
DeleteI'll use the words several have used to describe MORE. THE COLLECTIVE.
ReplyDeleteWhere have we heard those two words? Hate to geek out here, but on Star Trek. To describe The Borg. As one member said, "The exec board is not there to serve the rank and file but rather The Collective. So ipso facto MORE seems appropriate.
So you are saying this never happened? That I am making this all up?
They certainly seem intent on dumping anyone over 40. They're ageist.
ReplyDelete"The Crack Team"is totally on crack.
ReplyDeleteImpossible. Drug testing for illegal drugs as well as PED’s are routine here at SBSB.
ReplyDeleteGotta part company with you on this one, Peter: MORE may be treyf for a variety of reasons, but anti-Semitism is far, far down the list, whatever positions some members might have it take on Israel-Palestine.
ReplyDeleteIt's a red herring, and detracts from valid criticisms of MORE.
Great post, but you made a factual mistake. The Ottoman Empire never head a Palestine province since it was a term for a region used in the Christian West, not in the middle east. Under Ottoman times what is now Israel was actually part of their Jerusalem, Beruit, and Syrian provinces. Jordan was part of the British Mandate for Palestine, which was carved out of the former Ottoman Empire after the Turks were defeated in WWI. No Arabs referred to themselves as Palestinians until the 1960s. In pre-independence Israel the Jews were called Palestinians. Just watch the move Exodus with Paul Newman. Look at the flag for the British Mandate of Palestine, it has a Jewish star on it. What is now the Jerusalem Post used to be called the Palestine Post, which was always a Jewish newspaper. The Arabs of Jerusalem had a newspaper that was called Southern Syria. The Jews of pre-state Israel even had a soccer team that competed internationally in pre-state Israel as Palestine with a Jewish star on their uniform. The Arabs who now call themselves Palestinians already have a state, it is called Jordan. They all had Jordanian citizenship until 1988 and still use Jordanian passports when traveling abroad. Peace and stability could be easily achieved if Egypt was forced to take back Gaza and the Arab areas in Judea and Sumeria were connected to Jordan via highways and trains similar to West Berlin being deep inside East German territory. Israel must maintain control over Area C and especially the Jordan valley for security reasons, you can't have a state that is 10 miles wide when surrounded by hostile enemies. Of course Israel has made more generous offers, which were rejected, so too bad for the Arabs and the loony left.
ReplyDeleteMike, the point I was making was why with everything going on was a motion sent to Steering that the priority was supporting this inane boycott of Israel.
ReplyDeleteI understand, I was just stating an important historical fact that should be brought up anytime there is criticism of Israel, which is that Palestine was never a term used by Muslims or in the middle east in general. The job of a teacher's union is to worry about the teachers and nothing else. Jews need to do a better job of pointing out historical facts, that is how you fight propaganda and anti-Semitic boycotts. Other important facts that are never brought up are the Jewish refugees from Arab countries and the fact that the Koran says Israel belongs to the Jews just as the Bible. And of course Palestine or Jerusalem are not mentioned in the Koran, Arabs didn't conquer Jerusalem until after the death of Muhammed.
ReplyDeleteMichael Letwin is not a teacher and not in MORE. He was asking MORE for support for the BDS campaign, something that I personally support. MORE has never taken up Palestine or BDS. You made some incorrect assumptions about the significance of the email and unfairly of MORE. You may have issues with MORE, but your blog post is irresponsible.
ReplyDeleteWhere did I claim Letwin is a teacher? Where did I write that MORE had ever taken up BDS or Palestine? How is my post irresponsible? I’m stating that with everything going on in education today where the heck is such a request even for a nanosecond being considered?
DeleteRumor has it that the last MORE presidential candidate and the face of MORE was the one who pushed for this boycott to be endorsed by the steering committee. It should be given credit for not listening to her. But if there was a vote in MORE on the boycott or anything anti-Israel it would win overwhelmingly given from what are the politics of the group. Peter might be the only vote against. That he doesn't mention her as the perpetrator is responsible so --- call me ir-responsible. I think I'll break out into song.
ReplyDeletePeter, MORE does a lot of inane things, primarily because too many people involved with it see the union as secondary, as a vehicle for recruitng activists to their Party or pet cause. It's a major reason why it's so busy declaring its righteousness on various causes, but finds itself unwilling/incapable of listening to actual teachers.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, teachers sense that, and return the favor by rightfully ignoring MORE.
It's to be expected that BDS would be raised, just as other other Left issues will get raised; that's the way things play out in organizations like this. It doesn't make MORE or the people in it anti-Semitic, which I'm personally convinced most/all are not. I've never seen any evidence of that, and my guess is that neither have you, or you'd have mentioned it.
It's one thing to argue that it's pointless or a waste of time for MORE for raise these issues when the union is facing issues such as JANUS, etc., but that's not what most reader's takeaway will be; they'll just focus on the charge of anti-Semitism, which is irresponsible when made without evidence to support it. And the fact that someone in MORE proposed supporting BDS doesn't provide that support.
You do yourself and your criticism of MORE no favors by bringing this up.
ReplyDeleteThe Chancellor just retweeted a tweet from Dwarka. He’s not too bright.