Invest In Peace

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to add my voice to the growing chorus calling for sanity and humanity in our relations with Israel and Palestine. As a Jew, I just celebrated the Passover Seder, commemorating the time when we were slaves in Egypt and calling our attention to the plight of the oppressed in the world today. It breaks my heart to see the way that my fellow Jews in the Israeli government and military are treating millions of Palestinians, especially in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza, even to the point of threatening them with a “Holocaust (Shoah)”. I feel compelled to speak up about this and put my money where my mouth is.

That is why I am writing to add my support to the movement to divest of any companies who profit from the illegal, immoral, genocidal (and ultimately suicidal) Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. Divestment played a key role in leveraging the end of the Apartheid regime in South Africa, and it could be successful again. To criticize some Israeli policies is *not* anti-semitism; it is simply to look at the world and act with open eyes and a loving heart.

It is time for all of us, Jews and Christians, Americans and others, to stop financially supporting the disastrous, destructive policies of the Israeli government. I applaud the courageous actions of your church in advocating peace and sanity in this fragile, critical situation.

All my blessings,
Philip Handmaker
El Prado, New Mexico