Dear Peace House Supporter,

Talking about the plight of the Palestinians and a just peace in Israel/Palestine is the riskiest thing we can do.

It shouldn’t be, but it is. Because people who don’t hesitate to criticize our own government when it behaves immorally just won’t tolerate criticism of the government of Israel. They try to suppress any attempts to call public attention to the harsh realities of Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and its seven-year blockade of Gaza.

When Rabbi Michael Lerner stayed at my home during his visit here to receive our national peacemaker award at the Celebrate 2014 awards dinner, he told me that his home in Berkeley has been bombed twice. Imagine! Michael Lerner, a fervent supporter of a Jewish state! But his refusal to ignore the unjust sufferings of the Palestinians has made him a target of hate crimes.

The more usual tactic to silence criticism of Israel is pressure—pressure on media not to run stories, pressure on universities to fire outspoken professors. Then there is stigmatizing: critics who aren’t Jewish are anti-Semites; critics who are Jewish are “self-hating Jews.”

Ironically, there is far freer discussion in Israel than in the United States. There, the peace movement continually challenges the Likud government’s policies of land and water confiscation for the settlers, the bulldozing of Palestinian homes, the destruction of their olive groves and vineyards, the routine harassment at the checkpoints, the indefinite incarcerations.

We believe that people committed to peace and justice cannot maintain a double standard. We must speak out. We must educate the U.S. public so that our government will stop giving unqualified diplomatic, financial, and military support to Israel. Otherwise we are complicit in a situation so dreadful that it has embittered the entire Arab world.

Of course, Peace House will not end our work for peace and justice on many other fronts—creating a Culture of Peace in Ashland, promoting a diplomatic resolution of concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, stopping assassination by drones, seeking a living wage for all Oregon workers, opposing trade agreements that shred protections of labor and the environment, fostering young activists.

And then there is Uncle Foods Diner, feeding Ashland’s poorest and homeless residents.

But unless Peace House breaks the silence about Israel/Palestine, it won’t be broken here. No other organization in the Rogue Valley is committed to address the injustice and suffering.

We believe we would be letting you down if we didn’t intensify our educational efforts.

Please show your support by making an on-line contribution.

Let us be clear about our position so you won’t believe it when you hear that Peace House is anti-Israel. Like every nation in the United Nations except Israel, the U.S., and American Samoa, we call for an end to violence on both sides, a workable two-state solution, and access to the sacred places in Jerusalem by people of all three Abrahamic faiths.

Shortly I will devote one, perhaps two, of my weekly columns in the Ashland Daily Tidings to the need for a just peace. During 2015, we’ll seek additional educational opportunities, among them a teach-in at SOU early in the year and promotion of Palestinian products, such as olive oil, that are available here in the Rogue Valley.

Peace House is going to suffer its own losses now. We will lose members and we will lose money. We know that. But such losses pale beside our loss of integrity if we willfully close our eyes, our ears, and our consciences to this claim on us.

That’s why we need you to support us not just by renewing your contribution this year, but by speaking up for us when people misrepresent us. And that means taking the risk of speaking up for justice yourself.

Please show your support by making an on-line contribution.

We very much need you to do that.

Herbert Rothschild, Board Chair

P.S. If my last name hasn’t already made it obvious, I am an ethnic Jew. I am pleased to be among a rapidly growing number of American Jews who will not let the Israel lobby in Washington presume to speak for us.