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CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM:
(00:52) Biden holds the key to peace in the Middle East, with Jeffrey Weiss;
(23:21) Update on The Golden Rule’s voyage of peace, with Helen Jaccard;
(38:18) Iowa man befriends dumpster, with Steve Hanken;
(51:57) January garden Q & A, with Kathy Byrnes.
The crew of The Golden Rule with local supporters during the boat’s visit to Cuba.
VOYAGE OF PEACE (23:21). Second things first: Veterans for Peace’s iconic sailboat, The Golden Rule, just completed an incredible journey of 10,300 miles, reaching millions of people in the US, Canada, and Cuba with its message that nuclear disarmament remains an urgent priority. I interview the group’s spokesperson, Helen Jaccard, to learn more about The Golden Rule‘s recent voyage and what’s planned in 2024.
Steve Hanken
DUMPSTER DIVING (38:18). You’ll thoroughly enjoy Steve Hanken’s tales of dumpster diving in Monticello, Iowa. Steve’s background as an archeologist prepared him well for his efforts to salvage the refuse of modern America. Cans, bottles, food scraps, even cans of beer are all fair game. It’s an inspirational story, even if you’re not personally inclined to take the plunge.
Salad of arugula and lettuce from our cold frame, January 9, 2024.
GARDENING IN JANUARY (51:57). As we do every month, even in the dead of winter, Kathy and I answer garden questions, including starting seeds, preparing sweet potato slips, and what to do if the garlic you planted last fall is starting to sprout. Here’s a photo of the salad we picked from our cold frame this week. Yay cold frames! Learn more at Birds & Bees Urban Farm.
ISRAEL-PALESTINE (00:52). First, there are four foundational points I need to reiterate:
(1) The massacre committed by Hamas on October 7 deserves all the condemnation it’s received.
(2) Israel has a right to exist, and as with other democratic societies, it must welcome diversity of culture and religion.
(3) There will never be a permanent, peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict until the Netanyahu government is voted out.
(4) The primary obstacle to peace in the Middle East is the US government.
Jeffrey Weiss
Let’s focus on the fourth item, which is the starting point for my conversation with Jeffrey Weiss. A poll released last month by Data for Progress found that 61% of Americans — including 80% of Democrats — support a cease fire in Gaza. Yet the Biden administration and most of Congress refuse to back the international call for an end to Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Some of the most prominent US voices calling for peace are Jewish. Last week, about 500 protesters representing three Jewish organizations shut down the California State Assembly.
One participant, Margo Goldstein, said, “I am the grandchild of Holocaust survivors and I know that part of the great tragedy of the Holocaust was that the world stood by and let it happen. I will not be a bystander as the Israeli military wages a genocide in Gaza that is fully funded by my own government.”
Another participant, Meital Yaniv, a former Israeli soldier, responded to claims that criticism of Israel is anti-semitism: “[Criticizing] what Israel is doing right now has nothing to do with anti-semitism. What Israel is doing right now is a genocide. What Israel has been doing for the past 75 years is apartheid, is occupation.”
A new United Nations report announced that more than half a million people in Gaza are starving. “It doesn’t get any worse,’’ said Arif Husain, chief economist for the UN’s World Food Program. “I have never seen something at the scale that is happening in Gaza. And at this speed.”
It’s bad for Palestinians in the West Bank, too. The UN Commissioner for Human Rights said it “recorded mass arbitrary detentions, unlawful detentions, and cases of reported torture and other forms of ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees. … Some were stripped naked, blindfolded and restrained for long hours with handcuffs and with their legs tied, while Israeli soldiers stepped on their heads and backs, [they] were spat at, slammed against walls, threatened, insulted, humiliated and in some cases subjected to sexual and gender-based violence.”
This is not a statement by Hamas or some Left-wing NGO. This is a UN report, and it represents the perspective of most of the world’s nations.
On top of this, South Africa filed a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, alleging Israel’s actions in Gaza “are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part” of the Palestinian people. Much of the rest of the world supports South Africa’s effort.
The Biden administration‘s response? Here’s White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby: “We find this submission [by South Africa] meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”
At a minimum, President Biden needs to join the global demand for a ceasefire. It’s the only morally defensible course of action.
If morality isn’t a compelling enough motivation, how about politics? The Israel-Palestine conflict is fracturing Biden’s base. And a fractured base is a recipe for four more years of Donald Trump.
To be clear, there’s no doubt that in terms of Israel-Palestine and many other key areas of domestic and global concern, a second Trump administration would be far worse than four more years of Joe Biden. But as I’ve warned for nearly a year, Democrats are in deep, deep trouble if the Party’s current trajectory continues.
A great place to start changing that trajectory is for Biden to join the rest of the world in demanding a cease fire, then to lead the way toward a fair, lasting, and peaceful resolution to 75-years of deadly conflict.
Thanks for reading, listening, and taking action. And again, if you donate in January, we’ll throw your name in a hat for the Orchestrate Hospitality gift card drawing.
Ed Fallon
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Ed Fallon