growing up as a jew you remember passover pretty damn well...i mean we're talking about being slaves and the exodus from bondage (well that particular one anyway)...and you remember it symbols - salt water for the tears shed by slave ancestors, harosetz symbolizes the mortar we put between the bricks when we were slaves, parsley the bitter herb or maror symbolizes the bitterness of slavery...thus all of these items are a part of the passover seder, a tradition rich in symbolism, that personally involves participants in a key event in judaism: the redemption of the jewish people from bondage...
so when i saw that amnesty international usa had a passover action i thought that's pretty cool -taking action for human rights during a holiday that commemorates a time of deep human rights violation suffered at the hands of a racist regime...
that is with its emphasis on freedom from oppression, the seder can be a fitting place to address current human rights concerns so please write letters on behalf of these cases featured below at any point throughout the passover holiday...but preferably sooner rather than later!
peace out <3
2 comments:
Amnesty has played a leading role in Israel bashing, including totally false reporting, unsupported allegations of "war crimes", etc. The latest examples came during the war with Hizbollah last summer (see the details on www.ngo-monitor.org). Now, someone at Amnesty is exploiting Passover to do some more Israel bashing. This is not celebrating freedom -- it is destroying it.
actually and factually martin your statement is incorrect...amnesty international is not in the business of "bash"ing countries...what amnesty does is evaluate policy and implementation of countries, authorities, and non-state actors to determine if, when, and how human rights violations are occurring...
amnesty's impeccable international reputation is embedded in the authenticity and verifiability of its research and the reports that ensue...amnesty is not and will never be a political organization...
the fact is that amnesty international has issued reports critical of israeli government (administration or departmental) actions ...it has not given a free pass to the palestinian authority, the administrations in lebanon, syria, iraq, iran, saudi arabia, the united states, china or any other country...
to accuse amnesty international of exploiting an important cultural holiday to "bash" israel feels more like emotional venting than anything else...and that's okay martin but let's at least call it what it is...
i hope that you and your family were together to celebrate passover and had a wonderful seder...
shalom <3
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