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Words Cannot Express...

The depth of grief, horror and sadness we feel at the tragic loss of thousands of lives caused by the Sept. 11 hijacking of four passenger planes and the resulting terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC.

Like All Americans…

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the taking of innocent lives anywhere in the world. The first time Americans lost their lives in an attack on our own soil, the terrorist was “one of us”: a white Christian male and ex-GI. Now we have been attacked by “them”—whoever they are. As a Maryland professor of psychiatry noted…

“The Goal of Terrorists is Terror…

Not destruction, and you can only create terror in those who are alive, not the ones who are dead.” What those of us who live must ask ourselves, then—as Americans and as human beings—is how best to defeat terrorism and honor those who have died so unjustly. It is not possible to achieve that goal, we believe, by trying to protect American lives alone.

All Lives Are Connected…

In the world in which we live today. As long as the conditions which foment terrorism exist anywhere in the world, therefore…

All Lives Are Vulnerable.

Americans now know what nobody should: what it is to be attacked and murdered in the most horrendous manner, to lose in an instant friends and loved ones, to have our cities and public buildings destroyed, to try to pick up the pieces of shattered lives which never will be the same. We are not, however, alone in that knowledge.

Nor Are We Alone in Our Grief.

How America responds to the terrible events of Sept. 11 will demonstrate to the world whether this country has the resiliance and wisdom to ask itself, and its leaders, some hard questions. In the weeks following the attacks, it appeared that Americans were seeking information on subjects they previously had disregarded. What is even more critical at this time in history, then, is that…

Americans Get the Right Information.

Pro-Israel forces and media in the U.S. will make every effort to convince angry Americans that all Arabs are terrorists, and that all enemies of Israel are enemies of the United States.

Perhaps That’s the Problem.

But, as we’ve said in the past, knowledge is the Zionists’ Achilles’ heel. And, thankfully, there are some events which cannot be spun—or ignored. When, for example, the White House lets it be known that, even before the Bush administration reached out to Arab and Muslim countries for support in ending terrorism, it was—and still is—prepared to recognize a Palestinian state; or when…

Israel’s Rogue Prime Minister…

Ariel Sharon virtually accuses the U.S. of “appeasing the Arabs” as British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appeased the Nazis; when the White House in turn calls Sharon’s comments “unacceptable”—these events cannot be disguised. What’s even more worrisome is that the truth may be contagious. On the same day (Oct. 6) the unrelentingly Zionist Washington Post reported Sharon’s remarks on its front page, readers learned on p. 26 that…

“Israeli Forces Invade Hebron.”

We’re not accustomed to hearing a spade called a spade when it comes to Israel—but it’s something we could get used to. Of course, what hasn’t yet made it into the American media is the account on Hebrew-language Israel radio (Kol Yisrael), as relayed Oct. 3 by IAP News, of an “acrimonious argument” between Sharon and his foreign minister, Shimon Peres, at the previous Wednesday’s weekly cabinet meeting. According to the report, Peres warned Sharon against refusing to heed continued American requests for a cease-fire, saying Sharon’s rejections would endanger Israeli interests and…

“Turn the U.S. Against Us.”

Lashing back at Peres, a furious Sharon then reportedly shouted, “Every time we do something you tell me Americans will do this and do that. I want to tell you something very clear: don’t worry about American pressure on Israel, [because] we, the Jewish people, control America, and…

The Americans Know It.”

Well, you learn something new every day. Who would have thought that Ariel Sharon might be a closet anti-Semite? Doesn’t he know we don’t talk that way in this country? Apparently Peres and the other cabinet ministers do, though, for they were quick to warn Sharon against making such a statement in public, because “it would cause us…

“A Public Relations Disaster.”

We’ve Been Heartened by Accounts…

Of Americans coming together at this time of national crisis. Although there have been misdirected acts of hatred and revenge which have cost even more lives than those already lost on Sept. 11, more representative are stories and pictures of non-Muslim Americans volunteering to protect local mosques and making other overtures of caring and concern to their Muslim neighbors, and even strangers. And, despite fears that they might be targeted, Muslim Americans have insisted on attending vigils, donating blood and participating in the nation’s healing process, as well as educating their non-Muslim fellow citizens on the true nature of Islam. This is indeed a time of…

Opportunity as Well as Tragedy…

For our country. Americans who care about justice in the Middle East—without which there never will be peace in this country or elsewhere in the world—must seize this crucial historical moment created by a unique combination of circumstances: a terrorist attack on our homeland which leaves Americans shocked, shaken and searching for answers; a U.S. administration prepared to act, perhaps for the first time, as a truly “evenhanded” participant in Mideast negotiations; an Israeli prime minister who is ever less able to disguise the bloody nature of his actions; a Palestinian people who, knowing they have no alternative, are prepared to fight for their rights; and the need for a new interdependence between the U.S. and the rest of the world, particularly the Middle East.

We’ll Continue to Do Our Share…

But we need your help more than ever. You’ll soon be receiving our final fund-raising appeal of the year. Please give as generously as possible, so that we may provide the information Americans need to reach the right decisions in the weeks and months ahead. In this issue you’ll also find our annual end-of-year booklist. We hope you’ll use it to order books for holiday giving as well as for your own reading, or to add to your local school or library collection. We’ve printed extra copies of this issue of the Washington Report, so if you plan to attend a demonstration or other public event and wish to distribute copies of the magazine, call us a week in advance and let us know so we can send you what you need. Above all, dare to speak out and…

Make a Difference Right Now!