Letters

This summer on the East End has been tragic for those seeking a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Three institutions, the Southampton Arts Center, the Sag Harbor Cinema and the Jewish Center of the Hamptons, have aligned with those who fight criticism of Israel’s genocide.

The Southampton Arts Center hosted a benefit for the Lawfare Project, the far-right “legal arm of the pro-Israel movement,” which focuses on criminalizing pro-Palestinian speech. Lawfare’s head, Fox News regular Brooke Goldstein, has insisted that there is no such thing as a Palestinian, while advocating expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. The Lawfare Project uses its financial clout to intimidate critics and to fight any censure of Israel’s criminal ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

On July 22, the Sag Harbor Cinema canceled a showing of Roger Waters’s film under pressure from right-wing supporters of Israel. Waters has been a vocal supporter of the BDS movement, the peaceful effort to force guardrails on Israel’s fanaticism, an effort fought viciously by the Lawfare Project and their ilk.

Ten years ago, both Guild Hall and Bay Street Theater got threats from some of the same right-wing Israel supporters, the former for hosting Palestinian musicians and the latter for Roger Waters. Management wisely chose not to bow to extremism: The shows went ahead with no hitch. Before Waters’s sold-out show, Bay Street offered a full refund to any who desired. There were “no takers.” What a difference 10 years makes in the courage of our institutions.

The Israeli Defense Forces have been accused of war crimes and genocide by a who’s who of experts and rights groups. Soldiers have been ordered to shut down social media, since many were being arrested for atrocities. We see horror stories of the IDF murdering children seeking food, slaughtering journalists and bombing hospitals.

Yet on August 31, the Jewish Center of the Hamptons hosted brunch for the IDF. Speaker Nadav Padan commanded the “Judea and Samaria” brigade, where he ordered home demolition, a common Israeli collective punishment and a war crime, and oversaw the 2014 attack on Gaza that killed 501 children.

As these cultural institutions align with the extremist pro-Netanyahu crowd, who will have the courage to support those seeking peace?

Who will host benefits for groups like B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence, Adalah, Just Vision, Combatants for Peace? What about Jewish groups like J Street, who still believe in a two-state solution, or Jewish Voice for Peace, who believe that ship has passed but refuse Jewish supremacy?

If we on the East End do not stand up to say, “Not in our name,” who will?

Ken Dorph

Sag Harbor

The Jewish Center of the Hamptons noted that the event was for the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces, which is a U.S.-based organization that “provides post-combat support to soldiers and their families, including children who’ve lost a parent in combat.” A longer version of Dorph’s letter is available at his Substack, “Silenced in the Hamptons” — Ed.