Aug. 25—Bob Sanders, a Jewish anti-war activist, goes the distance for the causes he believes in.
On Saturday the 68-year-old Concord resident set out to pedal 650 miles through 10 eastern states to Washington, D.C., with a sign on his back, “Ride Against War in Gaza — NH-DC Tour.”
His quest: Raise awareness of the horrors of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza strip and the need for humanitarian aid. And stop the U.S. from funding Israel’s military action in Gaza and the West Bank.
“As long as Israel feels like it has a blank check the war will continue,” Sanders said. “As an American, our taxpayer dollars are being used. It’s the bullet with your name on it. The bomb with your name on it. It’s going to Gaza and killing tens of thousands of people. I’m aghast that Israel is acting in this oppressive role mirroring what happened to them” during the second world war, when an estimated 6 million Jews perished in acts of genocide.”
He said New Hampshire’s Jewish community is currently split on the issue of sending unrestricted aid to Israel — roughly $40 billion so far, he said.
But for Sanders and many Jews, the atrocities, starvation and devastation caused by the war in Gaza outweigh the strategic importance of what U.S. leaders see as necessary assistance to prevent further attacks against a friend under siege. On Oct. 7, 2023, an attack by the terrorist organization Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis.
“In terms of mass retaliation, it’s ‘You kill 1,200, we’ll kill 40,000.’ It’s only making things worse for Israel, the region, and everybody,” said Sanders. “It’s lashing out blindly — which is exactly what Hamas wants us to do.
“It angers me and makes me feel I have to do something.” As Jews, “we identify with people who are discriminated against or oppressed,” he said. “If this war continues through next summer, I’m going to ride across the country.”
Sanders, a former journalist, recently founded the nonprofit organization, Not in My Name, to stop U.S. intervention in Gaza on Israel’s behalf. Last month he rode approximately 700 miles across northern New England, raising roughly $7,500 for American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization that has provided humanitarian aid in Gaza since 1946.
“Israel is less likely to exist than it was before, not because of the (Oct. 7) attack but because of what’s happened since.” Sanders said the day before beginning his ride to D.C. “My personal feeling is that Israel is an advanced country with nuclear weapons that can defend itself.”
He believes the war, and the loss of lives, displacement and extreme hardship it has caused will make future terrorist attacks more likely, and the perpetrators should be tried for war crimes in an international criminal court.
“Israel has a very good intelligence service. They can apprehend these people” responsible for the attacks, “without killing all these innocent people, just as we did with Osama Bin Laden,” Sanders said. “From what I hear, Hamas was losing popularity in the area. This was a way to get people to rally around them.” At this point, “They’re the underdog” in a court of public opinion.”
On Monday Sanders has an appointment with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s foreign affairs adviser in Washington. He plans to deliver two petitions to the New Hampshire’s congressional delegation — one with 87 signatures collected on his recent New England bike trip, the other signed by supporters on this ride to the capital. He brings letters that request the discontinuance of U.S. aid that underwrites Israel’s war efforts in Gaza and the West Bank, and urges a greater focus on hostage release.
“It’s not antisemitic to criticize Israel,” Sanders said. “We’re against anti-Semitism.”
On Saturday about 15 people came to the State House plaza to see Sanders off.
“A lot of us have relatives in Israel.” This issue “grapples at the core,” said Nancy Chabot of Hopkinton, a Jew and member of Not in My Name. “It shouldn’t be American money that’s funding this.”
As far as a lasting solution, “I think it’s not political. Its relational. It’s on the ground,” said Chabot, an archaeologist who visited the border of Gaza in 2018 and 2019. “I think it’s people seeing each other as human beings. I think politics just gets in the way.” Israelis and Palestinians share this homeland, she explained.
“Every cease-fire resolution, every vigil, every letter to the editor or to members of Congress is an important statement,” said Maggie Fogarty, a member of the American Friends Service Committee. “U.S. military aid keeps bombardment possible. This erodes the U.S. identity of holding leaders around the world to standards of human rights.”
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Publish date : 2024-08-25 12:59:00
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