The Jewish Watertown Action Network will host an event called “De-mystifying the Middle East Conflict: Distinguishing Fact from Fiction” at the Watertown Library. See the announcement from the group below.
Curious about the current conflict between Israel and Gaza? Dive deeper and discover the truth behind the jargon.
“De-mystifying the Middle East Conflict: Distinguishing Fact from Fiction”
Wednesday, April 2, 7-8:30 p.m.
Watertown Free Public Library, 123 Main St. (Watertown Savings Bank Room, First Floor)
Hear from David Litman from the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis. Litman focuses of addressing bias in academic institutions and media outlets.
Advance registration is requested for this free event. Click here to register.
Members of Jewish Watertown Action Network include Deb Neiman, Sharon Krebs, Jason Cohen, Rachel Kay, Rachael Sack, and Josh Sack.
Questions? Contact JWAN02472@gmail.com
THIS!
I don’t know Mr. Litman, but I know his organization, CAMERA. They do excellent work. Unlike other presentations in town, this will be fair, honest, and even-handed. Israel will not be presumed guilty in advance; its self-defense will not be slandered as genocide. Anyone interested in peace, justice, or the environment will be richly rewarded by the discussion.
I agree. As to the potential slanderers, the Bard’s genius comes to the rescue:
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow”
By William Shakespeare
(from Macbeth, spoken by Macbeth)
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
I also do not know Mr. Litman, but the magazine ads run by CAMERA make clear that its aim is advocacy rather than accuracy; the presentation will be anything but “fair, honest, and even-handed”. If you haven’t seen their ads, see Wikipedia’s discussion of their actions.
As I wrote earlier: Israel will not be presumed guilty in advance; its self-defense will not be slandered as genocide.
That should pique the interest of the most hardened anti-Zionist. It will certainly be a change from the typical narrative presented in the WPL meeting rooms!
I respectfully disagree with the two previous comments. I’m a Jew, and the slaughter of peaceful Jewish Israelis on October 7th was an outrage. In my opinion, Israel had every right to respond. The problem arises with the magnitude of the response. One cannot say that numbers are fictions for which one can substitute facts; and the difference between the Palestinians (both Israeli citizens and non-citizens) and Jewish Israelis who have been killed is astronomical. In addition, in Gaza, almost all of the infrastructure that makes life possible has been destroyed, and the same process has begun in the West Bank. I agree that name calling doesn’t help matters, but the facts about who has suffered the most loss in this debacle cannot be transformed into fiction. CAMERA is an organization that supports the Netanyahu-Trump agenda as far as Israel is concerned, and the people in both Israel and the United States are increasingly opposed to that agenda.
Hamas could have avoided any response by not committing a crime against humanity (over 1,500 crimes: 1,200 murders and 200+ hostages). Also on any day that they released all the hostages (or their remains) and sued for peace. They still haven’t. That’s 538 missed opportunities since 10/7/23. No wonder Gazans blame Hamas. Why do some of us blame Israel?