Barbara Lerner is Awesome
In a recent post, I linked to an article by Barbara Lerner. I also sent her an email and, lo and behold, she responded! Here is our correspondence:
Dear Ms. Lerner,
Thank you so much for your article. I am an American student studying in Israel and yesterday I attended the protests in Netivot but it wasn't easy; the Sharon government prevented all the buses scheduled to bring protesters to the rally by confiscating the licenses of all the bus drivers, thereby preventing tens of thousands of people from getting to the rally. I felt ill hearing ardent Zionists describe Sharon as a fascist -- something you usually hear only from leftists and paleocons -- mostly because they were right. Scary things are happening over here: never before have Jews expelled other Jews from their homes. Worse still, Sharon is using the military to squash the political participation of the very people who got him into office. Even Orwell couldn't make this stuff up.
Please continue to write about this situation. We need more columnists like you!
All the best,
Jason Bedrick
P.S. -- I wrote about my experience yesterday here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/hebrewhammer777/155613.html
Her response:
Dear Jason,
Thank you very much for your excellent letter & for your courage in joining the protest against a disasterous & undemocratic decision. If I were a few decades younger, I’d be in Netivot with you to report from the scene, but I’m afraid an old lady with a bum ticker would just get in the way, so I rely on good people like you to keep me informed about what is happening on the ground between now & 8/17.
Thanks again, & may G-d protect you,
Barbara Lerner
Dear Ms. Lerner,
Thank you so much for your article. I am an American student studying in Israel and yesterday I attended the protests in Netivot but it wasn't easy; the Sharon government prevented all the buses scheduled to bring protesters to the rally by confiscating the licenses of all the bus drivers, thereby preventing tens of thousands of people from getting to the rally. I felt ill hearing ardent Zionists describe Sharon as a fascist -- something you usually hear only from leftists and paleocons -- mostly because they were right. Scary things are happening over here: never before have Jews expelled other Jews from their homes. Worse still, Sharon is using the military to squash the political participation of the very people who got him into office. Even Orwell couldn't make this stuff up.
Please continue to write about this situation. We need more columnists like you!
All the best,
Jason Bedrick
P.S. -- I wrote about my experience yesterday here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/hebrewhammer777/155613.html
Her response:
Dear Jason,
Thank you very much for your excellent letter & for your courage in joining the protest against a disasterous & undemocratic decision. If I were a few decades younger, I’d be in Netivot with you to report from the scene, but I’m afraid an old lady with a bum ticker would just get in the way, so I rely on good people like you to keep me informed about what is happening on the ground between now & 8/17.
Thanks again, & may G-d protect you,
Barbara Lerner