Gazans voted for Hamas knowing in advance what would happen if they did vote for Hamas. Votes have consequences. It is unlikely that there will be a new fair election any time soon. Hamas used the Gaza invasion as an excuse to execute and harass
Fatah members in Gaza. This fact has been completely ignored.

Hamas is an organization with a Nazi-like hatred for all Jews everywhere. The leadership of Hamas are Holocaust deniers and believer in international Jewish and/or Zionist conspiracy theories. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel’s existence within the pre-1967 borders.

Boycotting movies is particularly useless because it boycotts one of the most liberal segments of Israeli society. I doubt that movies made by Israeli Arabs would be boycotted. This boycott ends up being a boycott of movies by Israeli Jews.

You write: ” the greatest “re-branding” of Israel would be to celebrate that country’s long standing, courageous and robust peace movement”. I think “rebranding” would be to acknowledge that there is far more to Israel than the wars foisted upon them.

Jews in Palestine have been under attack in a big way since 1920, and the Jewish community was massacred and driven out of Jaffa in 1921, out of Hebron in 1927 … and if they were simply left alone, there would be no wars.

When I first heard of the Letter of Declaration, I could not believe that you had attached your support to this. I have read your last book, and I remember you saying that you had become interested in examining your christian faith. Your work with young women can attest to that. Loving and being with the down trodden was one of Jesus’s greatest messages. Then to sign a letter condemning the Jews about Gaza and aligning yourself with Hamas in anyway, I found this upsetting and not at all like you sounded in your book. I am ignorant about any history of the the country of Israel. In my heart I am saddened that once again it is the Jews who are attacked in print, in the air by bombs, and by anti-semitic rhetoric. The jews are a people who want to live in peace. They do not to my knowledge send ships, bombs,or soldiers to other countries to invade them, they do however defend themselves. Now this is going to sound right out there, but I am not afraid of the jews doing anything harmful to the world, but I am afraid of the Muslims doing something to harm the world. 911 is not a myth, and our Canadian soldiers are not fighting insurgents they are fighting terrorists.

I admire your work as an actress, and you have certaintly made a lot people happy. In some ways you remind of my mother-in-law she is the matriach and we all sit at her knee to listen to her “wisdom”. She shoots first and asks questions later, and hurts people with her comments. Just because you are a woman in your 70′s does not mean you have self-actualized, there are still lessons to be learned and lots of knowledge to be gained. I am glad you re-read the Letter and clarified your stand. Now just like my MIL enjoy that garden and stay happy and peace be with you.

Slainte

Karen McMillan

I agree that it’s important to hear the narratives of both sides of the Palestine/Israel conflict. In doing that, it’s crucial to resist pressure to interpret the military damages as ‘equal’ on both sides, for example, when war crimes associated with the Gaza massacre are presented as ‘war crimes on both sides’ without pointing out the differences in scale. The UN, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International reports on war crimes in the conflict detail the extent of the crimes. Clearly, the crimes perpetrated by the IDF massively outweigh the crimes of Hamas. It is important that the truth about this be included in an honest attempt at peace-making. Cover-ups to pacify any party never lead to peace.

Another point that can get smothered in attempts to try to divvy up responsibility without being so-called inflammatory is to omit the fact that Palestine is occupied and occupied countries have a legal right to fight their occupiers. There’s no evidence to suggest that Palestinians would be lobbing missiles at Sredot if Israel was not illegally occupying Palestine and perpetrating crimes against them with blockades, land stealing and all the many injustices going on. In short the occupied party is in a completely different position than the occupying party and has rights to self-defence that the occupier does not have. Invaders and occupiers have literally placed themselves in the line of fire.

I wish none of this was happening. I don’t enjoy criticizing any country. However, I’m absolutely sure that watering down the complaints against Israel’s documented and disproportionate injustices will not help Israel or the rest of us.

Sincerely,

Stefa Shaler

As for how they’re treated… Israel treats them as citizens, allows them to vote and does not visciously attack them as muslims attack Jews and Christians in muslim occupied countries.

Make note that Israel is a small country by any standards, yet look at the muslim countries that surround her. They’re enormous and most of the land is unused and unoccupied. At any time since 1948 they could’ve offered the Palestinians, their muslim brethren, a plot of land. But instead they posted border guards to keep Palestinians from entering their countries.

Many can speculate why these muslims would not want to help their muslim brothers beyond acting like they actually care, and I too have my own theory which I believe is right…

I think Israel would love nothing better than to know peace and live in harmony with the muslims in their country. Let’s face it, they’re the only country in the entire region that creates rather than destroys, offers civil rights, creates and manufactures products, invents new things, and repeatedly comes up with medical procedures that benefit the entire world. In the midst of constant war they still manage to be a major world contributor. And do make note of the fact that Israel is known as ‘the breadbasket of the middle east.’ God has blessed them and gave them the land a long time ago, and has promised that they will live there forever and ever.

Yet what have the arab muslims done during these same years? They’ve allowed others with superior technology and drive to come and extract oil from their lands, and through no effort on their part they bacame filthy rich. Did they use the money for the good of the people? Some did, but not to bring their country into the modern age beyond using technology that others have created. They sent some of their people to better countries than their own to be educated in schools better than their own. And the elite enjoy rich boy toys – much like children who’ve found a wallet, they spend money foolishly on war and things that amuse them. If you look at their countries you’ll still see most of the people walking around in bedsheets, riding on rikkety old bikes on dirt roads to their mud and stone huts where they eat goat meat and dust for dinner. There are no supermarkets outside of the major cities, no malls or convenience stores, pavement, parks, libraries or schools. They still live much as they did 2000 years ago while tiny Israel thrives.

The fact of the matter is that the muslims in that region will never allow the Israeli’s and the Palestinians to live together in peace, and if there is even a hint of peace, the neighboring muslims will supply rockets to front groups such as Hezbollah to cause turmoil. Perhaps they see how prosperous Israel is in the face of constant upheaval and fear what great things they would be capable of if they did not have to expend so much of their money to be in a constant state of readiness for war.

A final note: as a Christian I must side with Israel, as the Jew is the brother to the Christian, adopted into the family of God through the kinship of our Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn’t mean I’ll support them in everything they do, I don’t do as much for my children. When they do wrong I can see that and acknowledge it, and the same goes for Israel. But nevertheless, if my son did something wrong and someone tried to kill him for it, though I’d admit his error, anyone trying to seriously harm him will have me to contend with… this is much the same as I feel towards Israel.

Speaking of Israel, the Lord God said: ‘I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who come against you.’ This is what we as a nation are going to be seeing as President Obama turns his back on Israel as he’s been doing. In fact he’s the worst president in America’s history when it comes to being a friend to the Jewish people or the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people. And make no mistake about it, “we will reap what we sow.”

Israel is not an apartheid state … Arab citizens of Israel can vote and serve in the Knesset; black South Africans could not vote until 1994. There are no laws in Israel that discriminate against Arab citizens or separate them from Jews. …South Africa had a job reservation policy for white people; Israel has adopted pro-Arab affirmative action measures in some sectors. Israeli schools, universities and hospitals make no distinction between Jews and Arabs. An Arab citizen who brings a case before an Israeli court will have that case decided on the basis of merit, not ethnicity. This was never the case for blacks under apartheid.”…

I have wondered after seeing all the public outbursts over the last few days how you handle rude, in-your-face types. You have had and have lots of criticim directed towards you. How do you make sense of it all? And what do you do to keep the wind in your sales. Also, I think you do a good job of not engaging or responding – on the same level – to that type of behavior. Funny, I often think of Dolly when these things happen. I wonder how she keeps it together so well. Seems like she should teach a seminar.

Best,
Chad