Saigon 1975, Kabul 2021 and Me

 

Watching the shocking entrance of the Taliban into Kabul today, as Afghan president Ashraf Ghani fled the country and chaos reigned in the city, takes me vividly back to April 30, 1975, the day that Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong. Then too we witnessed chaotic scenes—encapsulated in the image of U.S.  Embassy personal contractors and desperate Vietnamese allies climbing a perilous ladder onto the roof and then scrambling onto helicopters for the flight out.  

I must acknowledge that I—then a 25-year-old self-described radical who had been involved in anti-Vietnam protests for ten years---cried tears of joy as I walked the streets of Madison, Wisconsin that day; elated by the military victory of the National Liberation Front and North Vietnamese army which had fought with tremendous steadfastness and courage for over a decade against the world’s strongest military power to liberate their country. Looking back, I have ambivalent feelings about my ecstatic response to the humiliation of my own country, which was reeling in the realization that it had lost a war for the first time in its history. (Afghanistan is clearly the second). In fact, I still believe, as I did then, that the U.S. war effort in Vietnam was immoral and destructive of both that country and our own. Yet a lot went down in the ensuing months and years that nowadays causes me to recoil whenever I look back on my ‘tears of joy’ moment. 

First, I was shaken when reading accounts of the crackdown on free expression by the ‘liberators’ of Vietnam, who dispatched hundreds of thousands of their fellow countrymen sent to ‘re-education’ camps. Still, I noted that the U.S.-backed South Vietnamese regime had also been dictatorial—and deeply corrupt to boot. Then came the horror of the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, a grotesque outbreak of murderous savagery which, like the Cultural Revolution in China in the 1960s and Stalin’s massive purges in the 1930s, showed vividly that absolute power, even when clad in Marxian garb, indeed corrupts absolutely. I shudder that I had once lionized brutal killers.

During the 1980’s. I made four trips to the Soviet Union as a journalist to visit with and report on Jewish refuseniks persecuted for speaking out against an anti-Semitic regime that denied them the right to emigrate. During the first decade of the 21^st Century, while working as an advocate for strengthening Muslim-Jewish relations, I came to belatedly understand that America, a multi-racial and multi-religious country where immigrants from anywhere have the opportunity to feel become fully American and realize the American dream; operates a model intrinsically superior to that of Europe, where it is infinitely more difficult for immigrants, including Muslims, Black Africans and Asians, to achieve full acceptance simply because they aren’t ethnically  French, Italian, German or Swedish.

Having buttressed myself in a newfound appreciation for America and its founding vision, I was horrified by the rise of Trump and white ethno-nationalism. Yet the emergence and still-extant peril of American fascism led me to the determination to fight to preserve America’s promise, rather than reverting to my youthful anti-Americanism. Nowadays, I affirm that America, warts and all, is a force for good in the world, an indispensable player in the struggle to averting a grim, authoritarian future for humanity,

So today, I am decidedly not crying tears of joy over the fall of Kabul. On the contrary, I am repulsed by the triumph of the Taliban and their sinister ideology, and fearful that Afghanistan will now revert to a deranged medievalist vision of an Islamic emirate with women reduced to the level of chattel; light years from the liberating version of Islam that I have absorbed from many Muslim friends with whom I have worked. Tragically, it now appears the retrograde jihadi vision will be energized around the world by its victory in Afghanistan; just as happened with the rise of ISIS in 2014. I fear for the fates of westernized Afghans of both sexes who believed they could build a progressive and humanistic Afghanistan, America nurtured these beautiful souls and then abruptly abandoned them to their fates.

Still, it is unlikely that things would have ended any differently if the U.S. had postponed its withdrawal one year or five years, Despite the myriad differences between Vietnam and Afghanistan and between the ideologies of communism and jihadism, the falls of Saigon and Kabul 46 years apart vividly show the folly of the US seeking to impose our will through puppet regimes in countries hostile to our values and determined to achieve self-determination. As one observer noted today, the Taliban fighters fought out of deep and abiding belief, while the Afghan army recruits fought for money. In both Vietnam and Afghanistan, a huge part of that belief was about driving out foreign—i.e. American—invaders, just as the rag tag Afghans also improbably accomplished against the British in the 19^th Century and the Soviets in the 1980’s.

On the other hand, all may not be lost in Afghanistan. It is hard to see how a Taliban-run Afghanistan can survive outside the international system. All of Afghanistan’s neighbors, including Pakistan, India, Russia, China and even Iran, look with trepidation at the emergence of a proselytizing jihadist regime near their borders. The empowerment of a generation of Afghan women is an established fact that will be hard to turn back completely.

History shows us that over time revolutionary fervor fades and once-radicalized nations join the international system, as Vietnam did in the 1980’s and 1990’s. My own evolution, like so many of my contemporaries, from an anti-American radical to a liberal who believes in harnessing American power to achieve a democratic world order, is a piece of that same process. There will continue to be major bumps and setbacks along the way, but I continue to believe with Martin Luther King that the arc of history ultimately bends toward justice. While mourning today’s tragic events in Afghanistan, all of us must recommit to buttressing freedom, building a more just societal order and to saving our shared planet.     

 

 

 

Ben and Jerry's Positive Step and Israel's Over-the_Top Response

 

Stuff and nonsense! That's my response to Israeli President Isaac Herzog's overheated claim that Ben and Jerry's decision not to distribute its ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories amounts to "a new form of terrorism." The announced decision by the ice cream firm from Vermont to discontinue distributing its product in areas that Israel has illegally occupied for 54 years and filled with settlers, even while making clear that it intends to continue its operations inside Israel proper, is not, as Herzog claims "economic terrorism that tries to harm Israeli citizens and the Israeli economy" but is rather a principled stand in support of the right to self-determination by Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem and the West Bank who are harmed daily by living under occupation.

To be clear, I myself am opposed to BDS calls for a total economic boycott of Israel until it agrees to conditions that would amount to its undoing like the the Right of Return of 1948 refugees and their descendants to all of Israel. However, I support an economic boycott of the settlements as something long overdue. If there is something we have learned clearly over the past half century, unless there are costs--political and economic-- exacted for the settlement enterprise it will continue and expand. As Meretz MK Yair Golan, a former IDF chief of staff, put it: “As someone who knows terrorism and has been fighting terrorism all his life, what is happening in the international arena is not terrorism. We must fight against the boycott with one hand, and for a two-state solution with the other....An ice cream boycott is not terrorism,” Golan added.

Even more disturbing than Herzog's rhetorical excess is the call by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid for 33 US states that have passed anti-BDS legislation to now come after Ben and Jerry's in their own jurisdictions, even though, as pointed out, Ben and Jerry's stand is very different from BDS. In other words, a private U.S.-based company that decides not to distribute its product in areas under Israeli control that are not recognized as part of the Israel by the U.S. government) should now by punished by US states? Since when did it become illegal an American business to decide not to do business in certain territories abroad?

I repeat that I am not for BDS, but I strongly oppose its criminalization. Since the Tea Party (the 18th Century version), organizing economic boycotts of governments and companies involved in wrongful actions has been a part of the American scene. Are we going to say its OK to boycott California grapes as so many of us did in the 1970's to protest the treatment of farm workers, but not OK for a company like Ben and Jerry's to specify that they don't want their ice cream sold in Israeli settlements set up illegally in occupied Palestinian land? That's completely mishugah, crazy!.

 

 

JCRC’s overblown denunciation of Abrar Omeish chills interfaith relations

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June 9, 2021

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A screenshot from Fairfax County Public Schools video titled “Meet the School Board: Abrar Omeish.”

By Walter Ruby and Gary Sampliner

Special to WJW

In “Principle and courage under fire” (Editorial, May 25), WJW applauded the decision of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington to rescind its award for promoting faith equity to Fairfax County School Board member Abrar Omeish, as an act of “principle over expediency, showing communal leadership and purpose.”

While the JCRC certainly had every right to rescind its award to Omeish, the statement it released to explain its unusual action was far more destructive than helpful to its mission of “building interfaith respect, cooperation, allyship and friendship.”

As the editorial notes, on May 13, at the height of the brutal conflict between Israel and Hamas, Omeish tweeted and posted on Facebook a celebratory message for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr that ends the month of Ramadan; yet added the following words: “Hurts my heart to celebrate while Israel kills Palestinians & desecrates the Holy Land right now. Apartheid & colonization were wrong yesterday and will be today, here and there. May justice + truth prevail.”

Many of Omeish’s Jewish constituents, including rabbis and community leaders, responded with declarations of the hurt they felt over the harshness of her denunciation of Israel, and omission of any countervailing criticism of Hamas for indiscriminate rocket fire at Israel.

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Omeish responded the next day by tweeting a more conciliatory message, saying in part, “War is terrible for everyone. I hear those hurting. I’m here for each of you…. I look ahead to robust & empathetic engagement with Jewish leaders.”

While she did not say anything specifically critical of Hamas’ actions or empathetic to Israelis, Omeish at least made clear she understood her comments had hurt some Jewish constituents and showed her continued willingness to work for and with them.

Nevertheless, given Omeish’s unwillingness to condemn Hamas or express compassion for Israelis, we can understand why JCRC decided to rescind its award. Unfortunately, JCRC went much further than revoking the award for those reasons. In an accompanying statement, it termed Omeish’s comments “hateful,” and asserted that by posting them on social media she “disenfranchised the thousands of Jewish families in her district” through language that is “deeply offensive and inflammatory to all who support Israel.”

Using words that are certain to be cited by the Fairfax Republican party and others who are demanding that Omeish be removed from the school board over her criticism of Israel, JCRC accused her of making statements “that target and marginalize Jewish students and their families and divide our community,” adding, “Her actions constituted a dereliction of her duty and they compromise the entire Board. She should be held accountable.”

The JCRC’s defenestration of Omeish didn’t stop there. Omitting mention of her conciliatory tweet, the JCRC leveled a false accusation that “she has continued to stoke the flames of division and acrimony,” because she did not take down her initial tweet or take steps satisfactory to the JCRC to stem subsequent “vitriolic, hateful rhetoric on social media triggered by her remarks” — much of which, ironically, was aimed against her.

We recognize the argument that public officials of a local school board should take care to avoid making public statements on issues outside of their official purview that may inflame and offend some of their constituencies. And one can legitimately criticize Omeish’s failure to acknowledge the terror inflicted on Israel by Hamas and the over-simplification of describing Israel’s relationship with the Palestinians as “apartheid & colonization.”

Yet we do not think anyone has reason to question the genuineness of Omeish’s anguish over the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli bombing of apartment buildings in Gaza or her horror over repeated Israeli police raids at the Al-Aqsa Mosque that Muslims around the world believe desecrated the third-holiest Islamic shrine in the world.

We are most deeply disturbed that the JCRC accused Omeish of everything short of an antisemitic attack against her Jewish constituents. In what way did Omeish’s May 13 tweet “disenfranchise[,] . . .target and marginalize Jewish students and their families” in Fairfax County? The JCRC doesn’t say, and we can see nothing in her tweets to support these conclusions. Does JCRC mean to convey the message that if elected Muslim officials dare to criticize actions of the Israeli government, they should expect a pressure campaign virtually accusing them of incitement against the Jewish community?

Indeed, we have heard concerns expressed by leaders of the Muslim community, with whom we have worked for years to strengthen Muslim-Jewish relations in Northern Virginia, that if they speak honestly about their dismay over recent Israeli actions, they, too, may be accused of incitement. Unfortunately, the over-the-top JCRC condemnation of Omeish could spread fear and serves to chill the free and candid speech we need if we are to build genuine interfaith harmony.

If the JCRC indeed “deeply values its relationships with our Muslim friends and neighbors” and is “committed to engaging with empathy, discretion, and sensitivity” with them, as it claims in its statement about

Omeish, it needs to grapple with the sad reality that its own vitriolic accusations have the potential to set back Muslim-Jewish relations in northern Virginia — long among the most extensive in the U.S. — for some time to come.

Walter Ruby and Gary Sampliner are members of the executive board of JAMAAT (Jews and Muslims and Allies Acting Together), a grassroots interfaith body in the Washington region.

On Passover and Ramadan, Let Muslims and Jews Celebrate Our Shared Values and Stand Up For Each Other

By Sabeeha Rehman and Walter Ruby

This year Jews will observe Passover, celebrating the ancient Hebrews exodus from slavery to freedom, from March 27^th to April 4^th; while Muslims will begin the fasting month of Ramadan on March 13. This chronological closeness between the two holidays occurs only once in every 30 years, so let us use this rare opportunity to celebrate the friendship and solidarity that has grown up between Muslims and Jews in America in the three decades since the last close encounter between Passover and Ramadan. Let us join hands and vow to stand together in support of diversity, equality, human rights and democracy; bedrock American values which must remain intact if our two faith communities—the largest religious minorities in America—are to survive and thrive over the long run.          

Until the dawn of the 21^st Century, most American Jews and Muslims had little to do with each other. We were kept apart by feelings of fear and mistrust attributable in large part to the century-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As the American Muslim community grew over the past 50 years from a fraction of the size of the Jewish community to nearly its equal, leaders in both communities came to understand the danger that mutual estrangement could potentially lead to violence. Without fanfare these pioneers began a process of reaching across the psychic barricades and building ties.  

It all begins with a willingness to reach across the psychic barricades 

The two of us were deeply involved in this relationship-building process over the past decade and a half which brought together tens of thousands of Muslims and Jews for animated conversations in which they discovered the common values undergirding both faiths. These include a reverence for life expressed in the precept found in Quran and Talmud that if we save one life it is as though we save the whole world; and the commitment in both faiths to serve people in need, which led members of synagogues and mosques to go together to homeless shelters across America to feed hungry people. Another was a shared belief in the moral imperative to “Welcome the Stranger” which caused Jews and Muslims in recent years to stand together against the draconian limitations on immigrants and refugees, including former President Trump’s repugnant ‘Muslim Ban’, thankfully voided by President Biden on his first full day in office.    

A final principle at the core of our Muslim-Jewish alliance is an open-ended commitment to stand up for each other when either community is under attack. The rise of nativism and xenophobia in America since 2016 has led to a scarifying rise in incitement and hate crimes directed against both Jews and Muslims. Jews across the country demonstrated against acts of violence against Muslims, like the pulling off of women’s’ hijabs (head coverings) and spoke out at zoning boards across the country in support of the right of Muslim communities to build new mosques—a right routinely given to churches and synagogues but sometimes denied in the case of mosques. For their part, Muslims stood in solidarity with Jews when Jewish cemeteries were desecrated in 2017 and in the aftermath of the horrific massacre of 11 Jews at prayer at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on October 27, 2018. Members of the Pittsburgh Muslim community immediately rushed to the synagogue to declare their solidarity, while Muslims across America raised $200,000 online within 48 hours for the stricken Pittsburgh Jewish community.

While President Trump is gone, the toxic brew of fear, loathing and conspiracy theories known as Trumpism is still very much with us, as tragically are murderous hate crimes such as the savage killing last week of Asian-American women in Atlanta. Now more than ever, it is incumbent on our two communities to stand together as a bedrock component of a wider coalition committed to safeguarding American values and preserving democracy.

We believe that if Muslims and Jews—alienated from each other for decades by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—can achieve reconciliation, that will serve as an inspiring example for people of diverse faiths, racial backgrounds, and strongly held political/cultural viewpoints that they too can connect with each other, It all begins with a willingness to reach across the psychic barricades to someone we have been conditioned to fear and declare, ‘We Refuse to be Enemies’.

 
Sabeeha Rehman and Walter Ruby are co-authors of ‘We Refuse To Be Enemies. How Muslims and Jews Can Make Peace, One Friendship at a Time’ to be published on April 20 by Arcade Publishing.

 

Announcing Upcoming Publication of "We Refuse To Be Enemies"

 

Dear Friend,

I hope you are in good health and doing well in these dangerous but fascinating times.

Last fall, I settled with my life partner Tanya in an 1899 row house in historic Frederick, MD, and earlier this week, was fortunate to receive my first COVID-19 vaccination. These days, I am feeling uplifted by our country’s recent successful defense of democracy and rejection of totalitarianism and am resolved to contribute to healing America and affecting positive change.

In that regard, I am delighted to inform you that my first book, co-authored with Muslim-American writer Sabeeha Rehman and entitled We Refuse To Be Enemies: How Muslims and Jews Can Make Peace One Friendship At A Time will be published by Arcade Publishing on April 21, 2021.  Everyone interested in pre-ordering the book can do so here at: Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Sabeeha and I are keenly interested in speaking widely about our book via Zoom sessions in the coming weeks and months. We have already spoken to a variety of Jewish, Muslim, Interfaith and non-for-profit organizations (see below link to appearance last September to- the New York City Bar Association. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=L8EjJsu_zJI

We Refuse To Be Enemies is the product of four years of collaborative effort between myself and Sabeeha, the acclaimed author of Threading My Prayer Rug: One Woman’s Journey from Pakistani Muslim to Muslim American.  Our book elucidates the largely untold story of the building of a Muslim-Jewish alliance in America over the past two decades in which the two of us have been deeply involved.  It also serves as a manifesto for 2021 and beyond; asserting the importance of our two communities standing up for each other and defending diversity and mutual acceptance in America at a time when, despite the change of Administrations, a toxic blend of bigotry, conspiracy theories and white nationalism remains rampant in the land.

In We Refuse To be Enemies, Sabeeha and I share our stories of how a devout Muslim-American woman from an immigrant background, and a non-observant Jewish man heavily impacted by the utopian ethic of the 1960’s counterculture, came together as friends and partners in a common cause. Growing up in Pakistan before she immigrated to the United States, Sabeeha never met a Jew, and her view was colored by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In my own youth, I never met a Muslim, and my opinion was shaped by Leon Uris's Exodus and by extended periods of living in Israel. While remaining deeply connected to our respective faith communities and homelands—Pakistan and Israel—each of us has since evolved to a more universalist ethic focused on our common humanity as the transcendent value.

Tapping into our life experiences, we explain how we found myriad commonalities between our respective faiths and discuss shared principles and lessons, how our perceptions of 'the Other' have evolved, and the pushback we faced. We wrestle with the two elephants in the room: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and polarizing material in our holy texts and history. We share our vision for reconciliation, offering concrete principles for building an alliance in support of religious freedom and human rights.  
Sabeeha and I believe that if Muslims and Jews—alienated from each other for decades by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—can achieve reconciliation, that will serve as an inspiring example for people of diverse faiths, racial backgrounds, and strongly held political/cultural viewpoints that they too can connect with each other, It all begins with a willingness to reach across the psychic barricades to someone we have been conditioned to fear and declare, ‘We Refuse to be Enemies’.

If you are interested in hosting Sabeeha and I for a zoom session about our book, please get in touch with me at 917 294-1772 or at walterruby@gmail.com.

Best Wishes for a Happy and Healthy 2021,

Walter 

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January 21, 2020: Relief and Contentment With Eyes Wide Open

 

Yesterday, like on November 7, 2020, when the election was called for Biden and Harris, I felt a profound sense of relief and muted contentment that our nation and the world had escaped the worst and we could dream anew of a decent future. But why only relief and contentment rather than exultation of the kind I felt when Barack Obama was elected in 2008 and I literally cried tears of joy? Through all the lovely events of yesterday, including Biden's superb speech, the wonderful executive orders abolishing some of the most horrendous aspects of Trumpism that so shamed and blighted our nation, and the marvelous evening concert, I remained dry eyed, subdued and more than a little gun shy.

Why the difference between 2008 and 2021? Back then, I believed that in electing a Black president, America had finally overcome and expunged our original sin of racism and Americans had at last emerged from the conservative reaction that began in 1968 and would finally seek and achieve social justice and the healing of the planet. How naive I turned out to be! As it soon became clear, the very election of a Black president would trigger a profound racist and fearful reaction that led almost half of the country to embrace a genuinely evil man in 2016 determined set back the clock 100 years or more, to weaponize the bigotry, xenophobia and isolationism that has been part of the American story since the beginning, and ultimately to efface American democracy. itself Incredibly, to me and so many other believers in human decency, with the help of a whole coterie of Republican enablers, most of whom now pretending they had no hand in it, Trump came terrifyingly close to achieving that sinister goal. Tens of millions of our compatriots looked evil in the face and decided to vote for it twice.

Yes, we need to reach across the barricades and find ways to reconnect with the majority of the Trump base which thought he offered hope for something better. Many or most of them didn't fully sign on to his promotion of the big lie that the election was stolen, and certainly didn't buy into the overthrow of the constitutional order through violent assault on the Capitol. We can forgive and search for common ground, but we cant drop what happened on January 6 down the memory hole and say, 'All is forgiven' if we are to stand any chance to preserve democracy going forward. The threat from Trump and Trumpism is still very real and for that very reason, my own eyes were wide open and quite dry yesterday.

I'm more clear headed today than I was in 2008...but I so miss those beautiful memories. Will we ever again have a moment of pure joy and boundless hope like the one when when Barack, Michelle and their two girls took the stage in Grant Park in Chicago to celebrate with the millions of us who felt like the Age of Aquarius had finally arrived? I would argue that 'peace and love' sugar rush is not needed now. What's needed instead is renewed commitment to democracy, pluralism, and social justice and hard and dogged work--in the halls of government and by those of us in the grass roots—-each and every day to bring America closer to the long awaited achievement of those ideals.

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