Gerald Kaufman Member of Parliament, UK
“There is no point in seeking to change Israeli policy by appealing to its government’s better nature, since such a nature does not exist. Economic sanctions and an arms ban against Israel are the only way of breaking the impasse.” [Source]
Avi Shlaim Professor of international relations, Oxford, UK
“Only a negotiated settlement can bring lasting peace and stability. It is high time the US got tough with Israel, the intransigent party and main obstacle to peace.” [Source]
Shulamit Aloni Anti-war activist, Israel
“Israel’s very foundations have been undermined by our adulation of force, and all this is called a democracy. There cannot be democracy when we rule over three million people who have no voice. We simply have to get out of there.” [Source]
Rabbi Ben-Zion Gold Harvard University, USA
“Unless Israel gives up its settlements and makes peace with its neighbor, I fear that its very future is threatened. American Jews must tell the US government and leaders in the Jewish community that a two-state solution is the only way to ensure Israel’s longterm survival.” [Source]
Judy Rebick Publisher, Canada
“Israel is supposed to be my homeland. The suicide bombings, as terrible as they are, are not the reason for Israeli aggression in the Palestinian territories. The real reason is to protect ever-expanding Israeli settlements.” [Source]
Baruch Kimmerling Hebrew University, Israel
“Sharon’s final aim is the politicide of the Palestinian people, a systematic attempt to cause their annihilation as an independent political and social entity. Politicide is a crime against humanity that is very close in its severity to genocide.” [Source]
Naomi Klein Author, No Logo, Canada
“For Sharon, Jewish fear is a guarantee that his power will go unchecked, granting him the impunity to do the unthinkable: send troops into the Palestinian education ministry to steal and destroy records; bury children alive in their homes; block ambulances from getting to the dying.” [Source]
Jeff Halper Peace activist, Israel
“Israel is a very sophisticated, high-tech rogue state. Where Israel has a great PR advantage is that it presents itself as a victim. We need to expose Israel as the regional superpower that it really is. Israel is not a little David, but actually the Goliath.” [Source]
Wendy Pearlman Middle East researcher, USA
“Every Palestinian family has had a member killed or injured by the Israeli army. The sooner Israel withdraws from the occupied territories, the sooner Palestinian children will be able to imagine a future that offers something other than an early death.” [Source]
Noam Chomsky Linguist, USA
“The goal of the peace process is to ensure that Palestine remains a permanent neo-colonialist dependency. It can be called ‘a state,’ just as apartheid South Africa was happy to call the Bantustans ‘states’.” [Source]
Jennifer Loewenstein Lecturer, University of Wisconsin, USA
“If your blood doesn’t run cold when George W. Bush calls Ariel Sharon a ‘man of peace’ then you’re getting nothing but lies packaged as news by a massive propaganda machine. Americans, you are paying for the dehumanization and destruction of an entire people.” [Source]
Gideon Levy Commentator, Israel
“From September 2000 through March, 2004, Israeli soldiers killed 486 Palestinian children and teenagers. This appalling figure should have long ago troubled the sleep of every decent Israeli. There can be no justification for the killing of children on such a large scale.” [Source]
Tanya Reinhart Professor, Hebrew University, Israel
“Palestinian farmers whose land is being robbed sit on the ground in front of bulldozers. What could be more nonviolent than that? But the Israeli army shoots at sitting demonstrators, blocking all options of non-violent resistance.” [Source]
Daniel Barenboim Musician, Israel
“Can the Jewish people – whose history is a record of continued suffering and relentless persecution – allow themselves to be indifferent to the rights and suffering of a neighboring people?” [Source]
Ronnie Kasrils Government Minister, South Africa
“The cruel and unjustified occupation of Palestine is colonialism of the worst kind. There is no way that a Zionist Israel can ‘radiate as a light unto nations’ on the basis of conquest and dispossession.” [Source]
Jonathan Sacks Chief Rabbi, UK
“You cannot ignore a command that is repeated 36 times in the Mosaic books: ‘You were exiled in order to know what it feels like to be an exile.’ Therefore I regard the current situation as nothing less than tragic, because it is forcing Israel into postures that are incompatible in the long-run with our deepest ideals.” [Source]
Irena Klepfisz Women in Black, USA
“Jews know what it’s like to be without homes. Suicide bombings started a very short time ago, the occupation started 34 years ago. I don’t see anyone protesting for 34 years and then stepping down because of suicide bombings. It’s an excuse to not stand up for what’s right.” [Source]
Eyal Sivan Film-maker, France/Israel
“Zionism has failed to achieve its fundamental objectives of abolishing the ghettoes and making Jews safe. Israel is the world’s biggest ghetto and in no other country are Jews less safe. We should be thinking, really, of a single, non-confessional and democratic Israeli-Palestinian state.” [Source]
George Soros Billionaire, USA
“There is a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe. The policies of the Bush administration and the Sharon administration contribute to that. I’m critical of those policies. If we change that direction, then anti-Semitism also will diminish.” [Source]
Emmanuel Wallerstein Philosopher, USA
“What we have is a situation in which not only the most intransigent forces on the Israeli and Palestinian sides have the upper hand, but the most intransigent pro-Israeli forces in the United States have the upper hand.” [Source]
Steven Feuerstein Not in My Name, Chicago, USA
“We condemn all violence against civilians equally, including Israeli army attacks on Palestinians. They are killing civilians in the name of Jews worldwide and I personally don’t want it to be done in my name.” [Source]
VOICES FOR JUSTICE
Gerald Kaufman Member of Parliament, UK
“There is no point in seeking to change Israeli policy by appealing to its government’s better nature, since such a nature does not exist. Economic sanctions and an arms ban against Israel are the only way of breaking the impasse.” [Source]
Avi Shlaim Professor of international relations, Oxford, UK
“Only a negotiated settlement can bring lasting peace and stability. It is high time the US got tough with Israel, the intransigent party and main obstacle to peace.” [Source]
Shulamit Aloni Anti-war activist, Israel
“Israel’s very foundations have been undermined by our adulation of force, and all this is called a democracy. There cannot be democracy when we rule over three million people who have no voice. We simply have to get out of there.” [Source]
Rabbi Ben-Zion Gold Harvard University, USA
“Unless Israel gives up its settlements and makes peace with its neighbor, I fear that its very future is threatened. American Jews must tell the US government and leaders in the Jewish community that a two-state solution is the only way to ensure Israel’s longterm survival.” [Source]
Judy Rebick Publisher, Canada
“Israel is supposed to be my homeland. The suicide bombings, as terrible as they are, are not the reason for Israeli aggression in the Palestinian territories. The real reason is to protect ever-expanding Israeli settlements.” [Source]
Baruch Kimmerling Hebrew University, Israel
“Sharon’s final aim is the politicide of the Palestinian people, a systematic attempt to cause their annihilation as an independent political and social entity. Politicide is a crime against humanity that is very close in its severity to genocide.” [Source]
Naomi Klein Author, No Logo, Canada
“For Sharon, Jewish fear is a guarantee that his power will go unchecked, granting him the impunity to do the unthinkable: send troops into the Palestinian education ministry to steal and destroy records; bury children alive in their homes; block ambulances from getting to the dying.” [Source]
Jeff Halper Peace activist, Israel
“Israel is a very sophisticated, high-tech rogue state. Where Israel has a great PR advantage is that it presents itself as a victim. We need to expose Israel as the regional superpower that it really is. Israel is not a little David, but actually the Goliath.” [Source]
Wendy Pearlman Middle East researcher, USA
“Every Palestinian family has had a member killed or injured by the Israeli army. The sooner Israel withdraws from the occupied territories, the sooner Palestinian children will be able to imagine a future that offers something other than an early death.” [Source]
Noam Chomsky Linguist, USA
“The goal of the peace process is to ensure that Palestine remains a permanent neo-colonialist dependency. It can be called ‘a state,’ just as apartheid South Africa was happy to call the Bantustans ‘states’.” [Source]
Jennifer Loewenstein Lecturer, University of Wisconsin, USA
“If your blood doesn’t run cold when George W. Bush calls Ariel Sharon a ‘man of peace’ then you’re getting nothing but lies packaged as news by a massive propaganda machine. Americans, you are paying for the dehumanization and destruction of an entire people.” [Source]
Gideon Levy Commentator, Israel
“From September 2000 through March, 2004, Israeli soldiers killed 486 Palestinian children and teenagers. This appalling figure should have long ago troubled the sleep of every decent Israeli. There can be no justification for the killing of children on such a large scale.” [Source]
Tanya Reinhart Professor, Hebrew University, Israel
“Palestinian farmers whose land is being robbed sit on the ground in front of bulldozers. What could be more nonviolent than that? But the Israeli army shoots at sitting demonstrators, blocking all options of non-violent resistance.” [Source]
Daniel Barenboim Musician, Israel
“Can the Jewish people – whose history is a record of continued suffering and relentless persecution – allow themselves to be indifferent to the rights and suffering of a neighboring people?” [Source]
Ronnie Kasrils Government Minister, South Africa
“The cruel and unjustified occupation of Palestine is colonialism of the worst kind. There is no way that a Zionist Israel can ‘radiate as a light unto nations’ on the basis of conquest and dispossession.” [Source]
Jonathan Sacks Chief Rabbi, UK
“You cannot ignore a command that is repeated 36 times in the Mosaic books: ‘You were exiled in order to know what it feels like to be an exile.’ Therefore I regard the current situation as nothing less than tragic, because it is forcing Israel into postures that are incompatible in the long-run with our deepest ideals.” [Source]
Irena Klepfisz Women in Black, USA
“Jews know what it’s like to be without homes. Suicide bombings started a very short time ago, the occupation started 34 years ago. I don’t see anyone protesting for 34 years and then stepping down because of suicide bombings. It’s an excuse to not stand up for what’s right.” [Source]
Eyal Sivan Film-maker, France/Israel
“Zionism has failed to achieve its fundamental objectives of abolishing the ghettoes and making Jews safe. Israel is the world’s biggest ghetto and in no other country are Jews less safe. We should be thinking, really, of a single, non-confessional and democratic Israeli-Palestinian state.” [Source]
George Soros Billionaire, USA
“There is a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe. The policies of the Bush administration and the Sharon administration contribute to that. I’m critical of those policies. If we change that direction, then anti-Semitism also will diminish.” [Source]
Emmanuel Wallerstein Philosopher, USA
“What we have is a situation in which not only the most intransigent forces on the Israeli and Palestinian sides have the upper hand, but the most intransigent pro-Israeli forces in the United States have the upper hand.” [Source]
Steven Feuerstein Not in My Name, Chicago, USA
“We condemn all violence against civilians equally, including Israeli army attacks on Palestinians. They are killing civilians in the name of Jews worldwide and I personally don’t want it to be done in my name.” [Source]
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