Recent letters, op-eds; Save the Date – Sharren Haskel, Member of Knesset

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  1.  Israel Advocacy Workshops a success.

Yashar Koach to Todd Goldblum (AIPAC), Rob Lennick (Jewish Federation of New Mexico), and Halley Faust (Santa Fe Middle East Watch) for organizing the Israel Advocacy Workshops in Albuquerque and Santa Fe this past Sunday and Monday.  National speakers from AIPAC, AJC, CAMERA, and CUFI gave us more historical background on the Arab conflict with Israel, how to effectively write letters to the editor and op-eds, how to lobby for a strong US-Israel relationship, and how to counter hyperbolic rhetoric in discussions of our issues.

2.  Murals/Sign on Old Pecos Trail

As you likely know, the City has told Guthrie Miller that his murals and sign are not permitted and should have been taken down.  He appealed.  The appeal is being heard tonight at City Hall by the Historic District Review Board.  That meeting starts at 5:30 pm; this item is last on the agenda of 8 items, so likely won’t be heard until the earliest of 6:30.  If you are free and can come to be supportive of those agreeing that the murals don’t conform to the City Code and should be removed, come down to City Hall tonight.  More information can be found here (scroll down to the last item entitled “2020-001644-APPL 509 Camino Lejo”).

3.  Save the date – Sharren Haskel

The Jewish National Fund and Santa Fe Middle East Watch present Sharren Haskell, one of the youngest members of the Israeli parliament (Knesset) in the Likud party, on Monday night, April 30.  She also chairs the LGBT caucus in the Knesset.  More information will be forthcoming.

4.  Letters/Op-Eds in the New Mexican and Reporter recently

Yashar Koach to Brian Yapko and Todd Goldblum (letters, Tuesday, Feb. 25), and Kristina Harrigan (My View op-ed Sunday, Feb. 23), all SFMEW members who had relevant pieces in the New Mexican reproduced below.  There was also a strong pro-Israel letter by Samara Alpern and anti-Israel letter by Lena Griffith in the Reporter, (Feb. 12-18), and an anti-Israel letter by Tania Maxwell in the New Mexican (Feb. 16).

Lots of factual errors in both of the anti-Israel letters.  What do you have to say about this?  Have you weighed in?  We need your voice.  Write your own letter or op-ed.

In the New Mexican:

MY VIEW KRISTINA HARRIGAN

There are other reasons to remove mural

  • By Kristina Harrigan, 

As a lawyer who lives in Santa Fe but who practiced for decades in both California and the District of Columbia, I think the status of the mural needs to be examined in the context of our zoning laws, rather than in the context of Israel, Palestine, anti-Semitism or any other aspect of the content of the mural.

Santa Fe has extensive and highly restrictive rules regarding what homeowners may do to the exterior of their property, especially in the historic district. The location of the mural, at 509 Camino Lejo, is in the historic district. Not only is it in the historic district; it is on Old Pecos Trail, the last and only “scenic” approach to the Plaza.

Old Pecos Trail, merged with Santa Fe Trail, brings visitors to the historic Plaza on a road free from commercial development and conveys to the largest extent possible the “feel” of old Santa Fe. Old Pecos Trail and Santa Fe Trail are different, as befits the City Different.

The mural on the wall of 509 Camino Lejo facing Old Pecos Trail violates the zoning rules applicable to all historic district structures.

The homeowner, Guthrie Miller, lacks the permit required by law for any kind of sign on his property. He applied for a permit in 2016 and obtained a temporary permit for previously installed signs, which expired in 2017. Those signs are not currently on display, replaced by the mural in question.

There has been no permit for either signs or the mural since 2017. The owner applied for a new permit recently and was turned down by the city’s land use director. He is appealing that decision (“City says pro-Palestinian art has to be removed,” Jan. 14).

Aside from the permit violation, the mural violates the purpose of the signage design rules, both as to size and as to content. The mural is a “wall sign” painted on the surface of the property wall. Applicable historic district rules provide that no wall sign shall exceed six square feet. While I have not measured the size of the mural in person, because I respect the laws against trespass, I believe that the dimensions of the mural exceed this maximum.

More importantly, the subject of the mural violates the stated objective of the ordinance applicable to signage in the historic district: to preserve the unique and distinctive character of the oldest capital in the country.

To that end, the ordinance prohibits painting signs on external walls or displaying signs on any wall unless necessary for the conduct of a business.

Regardless of one’s opinion of the rights and wrongs of the Israel/Palestinian conflict, a pictorial representation of a soldier and an unidentified and unidentifiable woman with children behind her has nothing to do with, and contributes nothing to, the appreciation of the unique and distinctive character of Santa Fe. Permitting the owner of 409 Camino Lejo to display his mural would entitle other residents along Old Pecos Trail to paint murals equally injurious and irrelevant to the historic significance of this approach to the Plaza.

Why not murals of Batman saving denizens of Gotham; General Washington crossing the Delaware River; or Superman flying faster than a speeding bullet? It is no business of the city to police the political content of signs festooning walls along Old Pecos Trail or Santa Fe Trail, but it is definitely the duty of the city to enforce its zoning laws and to preserve the beauty and historic interest of the last, unspoiled entrance into the City Different.

Kristina Harrigan has lived on Acequia Madre in Santa Fe for over 18 years. She is a retired tax and real estate lawyer.

Brian Yapko, letter, Feb. 25, 2020:

Elena Ortiz’s My View (“This is Native land; remember that,” Feb. 9) contains dangerous inaccuracies. I will focus on two. First, defamatory images of Jewish soldiers attacking Palestinian children is indeed anti-Semitic just as false images of Native Americans scalping white settlers would be anti-Native American. Such defamatory images are the equivalent of blood libels and cannot be morally presented as a public “truth.”

Secondly, Ortiz is wrong to scoff at the dangerous nature of rock-throwing. Rock-throwing is a form of execution under sharia law. It is a form of lethal force, which can cause death or grave bodily injury. The United States and New Mexico both prosecute rock-throwing — even by minors — as felonies. Israel has the right to enforce criminal laws equivalent to our own.

Todd Goldblum (from Albuquerque), letter, Feb. 25, 2020:

I would like to explain why the murals on Old Pecos Trail in Santa Fe are so offensive and anti-Semitic (“City says pro-Palestinian art has to be removed,” Jan. 14). First, they are hateful and propagate the age-old anti-Semitic blood libel (“Supporters rally to restore controversial mural,” Feb. 16).

The Israel Defense Forces adhere to the strictest ethical and moral conduct of any army in the world, taking painstaking measures to protect innocent civilians.

I firmly support our country’s right to free speech; however, history has shown that anti-Semitic words and images usually lead to violence and murder of Jews. Santa Fe is contributing to the hate with these murals.

Tania Maxwell, letter, Feb. 15, 2020:

I am a Jewish American and I’ve made numerous trips to Israel and the West Bank. I have personally witnessed:

  • Elderly Palestinian women and men held in the sun or rain at checkpoints, their belongings strewn on the ground by Israeli soldiers barely out of their teens.
  • Israeli settlers in Hebron, West Bank, throwing garbage onto the roofs of Palestinian homes and physically assaulting Palestinian children on their way to school while Israeli soldiers stand by and watch.
  • Israeli settlers forcefully ejecting Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem, taking them over, with no legal consequence for doing so.

To speak out against these injustices does not make me an anti-Semite. To speak out against the $3.8 billion that my government gives to Israel every year that perpetuates these abuses, does not make me an anti-Semite, nor does the mural on Old Pecos Trail (“City says pro-Palestinian art has to be removed,” Jan. 14), which highlights these human rights abuses and shows how our U.S. tax dollars are being spent.

What’s wrong with Maxwell’s letter?  It doesn’t include any context:

  • There were few checkpoints before the Palestinians in the West Bank started their war against Israel in the first and second intifadas.
  • Thousands of Israelis were killed during the intifadas and more recent knife terrorism.  This stopped (except for the recent knifings) after the security fence was erected.
  • Palestinians who feel they are being unlawfully ejected from their homes have legal recourse through the courts, and often those ejections have been stayed by Israeli courts.
  • We don’t condone throwing garbage in Hebron, and should be stopped.

We wonder, when Maxwell went to Israel and the West Bank did she also visit the families of wounded or killed Israelis who were blown up by suicide bombers or stabbers?  Sounds more like she had propaganda visits by B’tselem or similar anti-Israel groups.

The Reporter, Feb, 12-18, 2020:

Arabs are Imperialists

Navajo artist Remy says the mural represents the “indigenous struggle” of the Palestinians.

However, Jews are indigenous to Judea, while Arabs are the imperialists in the Middle East.

King David, the first Israelite King, ruled Jerusalem in 1009 BCE. The Jews would remain sovereign in Israel for most of next 1,000 years. Arab Muslims arrived as conquerors from the Umayyad Dynasty 1,700 years after King David’s reign [around 700 AD].

Israel is the only state on Earth that has the same name, same sovereign people and the same language as it did 3,500 years ago. There is no better documented indigenous history than that of the Jewish people in Israel. In contrast, there has never been a Palestinian state in the history of the world, and the concept of a distinct Palestinian Arab people developed in the 20th century.

Denial of Jewish indigeneity to Israel is the face of modern anti-Semitism. What a tragedy to have this anti-indigenous narrative forwarded by a Native American artist.

Hopefully instead of serving to erase Jewish history, Remy’s mural will generate discussion and better understanding of Jewish indigenous heritage in Israel.

Samara Alpern, Santa Fe

End Israeli Apartheid

Thank you for the outstanding interview of Remy, the Native American artist behind the [mural] on Old Pecos Trail. What I would do to live in a world that wasn’t suffering generational trauma from colonialism and apartheid, which continues today, not just in Palestine, but in pockets all over the Earth and right here in the USA. Please people, work to eradicate these injustices, no matter what occupiers claim. We have no right to destroy the lives of others or take what they’ve earned and/or inherited.

Lena Griffith, Santa Fe

What’s wrong with Griffith’s allegation?  Israel is not an apartheid state.  There is plenty of literature on this.  Here are a few quick points:

  • It is insulting to blacks who lived through apartheid – until 1994 blacks could not vote, travel freely, get equal justice, etc.  This is not true for Israeli citizens – Arab or Jewish, all of whom have equal rights.  Discrimination is against the law in Israel.
  • Unlike blacks in South Africa, Israel’s Arab citizens are full citizens, attend any and all of Israel’s top universities, serve in the military, government, legislature, and judiciary.  1.9 non-Jewish Arabs are Israeli citizens with full rights.
  • On the other hand Palestinians in the West Bank (Israel has not controlled Gaza since 2005) have rejected Israeli citizenship when offered to them, so under international law they may not be treated the same way as Israeli citizens (Arabs and Jews).  Until the Palestinians come to the table with reasonable positions they will be maintained as they are.
  • Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East where LGBTQ, women, minorities, and other vulnerable populations have full rights. The rights and freedoms afforded to these communities far surpass the rest of the Middle East.
  • The Arab world and the Palestinians have rejected Israel’s annexing the entire West Bank to make West Bank Palestinians full citizens of Israel. The only path forward for Palestinians being full citizens with rights of their own, then, is a longterm peace deal negotiated between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
  • The reality:  it’s the Palestinians who are the apartheidists – they want their land Judenrein (without Jews) completely.

SFMEW is a beneficiary organization of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico.