"The hate mail has started up again" [View all]

[Cheese Sandwich]

James Zobgy reports on bombings, threats, and hate mail he has faced for supporting Palestinian rights over the years. He says the hate mail has started up again since being named to the Democratic Party platform committee after a recommendation by Bernie Sanders.

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When I spoke in favour of a two-state solution in 1988, before this position became fashionable, I was told: “You’ll never have a place in this party again". Following that year’s convention, Michael Dukakis rejected the endorsement of our Arab American Democratic Federation saying “it was too controversial". When, in 1990, Ron Brown, then Chair of the DNC, came to speak at an Arab American event I was hosting, he told me that he was threatened with a loss of support “if you even go into the room with those people".

And then there is the violence. The first time I received a death threat was 1970. My office was firebombed in 1980 and after 9/11 three men went to jail for threatening my life and the lives of my children. In every instance, the perpetrators claimed to be striking out for reasons to do with my ethnicity or Israel. Now, in the wake of the announcement of my platform committee assignment, the hate mail has started up again.

Even beyond this danger, by silencing my community and marginalising us because we might dare to advocate for Palestinians, there is the damage that this hysteria does to the national discourse. For example, I have been denounced for criticising Benjamin Netanyahu, but my writings on this subject are similar to those written by Israelis. At issue is not what we are saying, but that we are the ones saying it. We are accused of “singling Israel out", while in reality it is our critics who single out this issue as one we can’t discuss.

Mr Sanders has brought the matter of Israel-Palestine into the national debate. It belongs there and deserves to be discussed without fear.

I am proud that Mr Sanders has demonstrated the courage to do this and I am confident that the platform committee can forge a new consensus that reflects the will of the majority of Democrats on all of the critical issues – including the way forward to achieve a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/bombs-threats-hate-mail-and-the-pro-israel-crowd#page2