Letter: An Open Letter to Kamala Harris on Middle East Peace
Photo: public domain
Today (10/13) is Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish Calendar, as you know. I should be fasting and in synagogue. Instead, I’m writing to you.
As Vice President, you’ve closely worked with President Biden, and with our efforts, you’ll be our next President. I’ve written to each of you many times.
President Biden is right: Netanyahu is a sonofabitch.
I’m Jewish-American, named after a family Holocaust victim, and have relatives in Israel. I grieve the October 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis and the taking of hostages by Hamas. I also grieve the 42,000 Palestinians, the destruction of their meager plot of occupied land, and the bleak future of Middle East peace. Today is the Day of Atonement: we are collectively responsible for helping Netanyahu kill tens of thousands of Gazans, mostly innocent women, children, and Palestinian civilians.
Netanyahu doesn’t care about the hostages, the peace process, the Israeli people, certainly not the Palestinians, the future of the Middle East, or American opinions. He only wants American money, weapons, to stay in power and avoid the Hague.
Netanyahu is the Trump of Israel, a bad actor, an untrustworthy ally. He has spit in the face of diplomacy, unwilling to broker peace at every turn. A majority of Israelis want a cease-fire and new leadership. The time is past due for us to cut support to him. Come out against Netanyahu’s mis-leadership and instead support peace-leaning Israelis.
America has immense leverage: encourage President Biden to use it! Peace-leaning leadership in Israel will create a possibility of building a shared future, allow Israel to regain its place in the community of nations, be a necessary coda to President Biden’s amazing legacy as POTUS, and will give you, as our next President, a powerful start to your first term. It’s a Win-Win-Win-Win!
Maybe I’m a bad Jew. I don’t think so. Nonetheless, I want to be a good human. Blessings.
Dinah Kudatsky
Dinah Kudatsky is a resident of Amherst
What a beautiful letter, Dinah. Thank you for writing it, and for sharing it here. Its tone and content feel just right for the Day of Atonement,
As it happens, today Michael Moore also shared a letter he has written a letter to VP Harris in the same vein. I liked it too, and wrote back to tell him.
It’s high time I wrote a letter to Kamala Harris as well. (Strangely enough, in all my years in the United States I have never yet written a letter to the President or Vice-President.) Dinah, you knew my dear father-in-law, Ted Melnechuk. He told me once that he wrote a fan letter to a composer whose work he admired. After the composer’s death, his widow told Ted that his had been the only fan letter her husband had ever received.
Of course VP Harris must receive hundreds of letters every day. But one sentence in one letter may be the tipping point. Millions of Americans and people around the world are waiting to hear her distinguish herself from Joe Biden on Gaza and Netanyahu. If she fails to do so, woe betide us all.
Thank you, Josna, for your generous and thoughtful reply. And yes, Michael Moore did a fine job sharing his pleas for a Mideast peace with Kamala Harris as well. As for writing to the occupants of the White House, it’s easy! I first wrote a letter to the Kennedys when I was young. I encourage you and everyone else to share your thoughts with either the President or the Vice President at any time. They’re unlikely to read individual letters, but their staffs will.
Here’s the link: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/