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    • The Providence City Council’s approval of divestment from Israeli bonds is a small step, because no one will be satisfied with more killings.
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    The Providence City Council’s approval of divestment from Israeli bonds is a small step, because no one will be satisfied with more killings.

    Vaseline Posted on

    Walter Thorne
    | Guest columnist

    Walter Thorne lives in Providence.

    I respectfully disagree with Rabbi Barry Dolinger, the current chairman of the Greater Rhode Island Board of Rabbis (“Boycotting Israel Will Do Nothing to Advance Peace,” Commentary, July 7).

    His position is that the Providence City Council’s ordinance to forgo the purchase of Israeli bonds will do nothing to promote peace. He argues that the Providence Council is allying itself with an anti-Semitic movement that seeks not peace but the destruction of Israel. He believes that this largely symbolic ordinance will create real hostility for the Providence Jewish community, which has been reeling from rising anti-Semitism for years.

    I encourage all readers of the magazine to explore the websites of Brooklyn Defender Services, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other NGOs focused on the ongoing conflict for a broader perspective.

    More: Providence Mayor and City Council Continue to Clash. Is It Healthy Government—or Dysfunctional?

    More: City council members call on lawyer to drop charges against 41 Brown student protesters

    It is probably true that Israeli Jewish citizens and Palestinians cannot live together peacefully in a “real democracy”, within one state, with today’s borders. The current situation where Palestinians are second-class citizens living under a harsh military occupation, currently being bombed, is partly the catalyst for much of the global outrage against the current far-right Zionist government.

    Since Hamas’s brutal massacre of over 1,200 Israelis and the taking of 250 hostages on October 7, the Netanyahu government has responded by killing over 38,000 Gazans, mostly women and children. With US acquiescence, the Israel Defense Forces have targeted large groups of civilians to kill suspected Hamas fighters. We have seen the genocidal actions in Gaza by the IDF with the complicity of our country and companies like Palantir, whose artificial intelligence tools have reportedly been used for targeting.

    Israel cannot kill every Hamas fighter, because for every Palestinian victim, more young people will be radicalized.

    I support efforts toward a two-state solution where each country would have its own US/UN recognition and independent government and military infrastructure. The 1949 UN Green Line was a starting point for defining possible land allocations for two states. However, Israeli “settlers” with government support have expanded Israeli occupation into desirable locations such as East Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank, high above Palestinian residents originally proposed for Palestinian occupation.

    Many Americans are asking what we can do to stop the slaughter. One thing is to stand up, take a stand, and show that the current military dictatorship over the Palestinians is not working. The Providence City Council’s endorsement of divestment from Israeli bonds is a small step toward telling all admirers of both Israelis and Palestinians that more killing will satisfy no one except the current war cabinet, which is determined to create a “Greater Israel” with as few Palestinian civilians as possible.

    Being outraged by Hamas’s brutal October 7 massacre and Israel’s murderous actions in Gaza does not make one anti-Palestinian, anti-Jewish, or anti-Israel. Nor did challenging the longstanding, brutal white supremacy in the Old South make Dr. Martin Luther King a communist.

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