Please help Tikkun/NSP run the following ad in major American newspapers.

No Mr.  Netanyahu, No President Obama:
No War on Iran and No First Strike

Some who have signed this ad believe that the best path for homeland security is through rejecting the old-fashioned “domination strategy” to get your way by exercising power against those whom we fear (whether that domination is military, economic boycotts, or cultural manipulation). Instead we believe that a “generosity strategy” in which you act with caring, compassion, genuine respect for differences, and even generosity (starting with a Global Marshall Plan as developed by Tikkun Magazine and the Network of Spiritual Progressives and introduced to Congress as House Res. 157 by Hon. Keith Ellison of Minneapolis) is the most effective way to achieve long-term safety (whether that be for Israel or for the US).
Some of us believe that a first strike against an enemy state which has done nothing more than engage in bombastic and offensive speech is itself a war crime.

Some of us oppose all wars.
Some of us just oppose the war that may come out of a first strike by Israel against suspected sites where Iran might be developing nuclear capacities.

Some of us believe that any further proliferation of nuclear weapons anywhere is unacceptably hazardous and that Asia with five of the world's nine nuclear weapons states -- Russia, China, Pakistan, India, and Israel --- could witness a cascade of proliferation if there is not clear progress in fulfilling the promise to negotiate the universal elimination of nuclear weapons contained in the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

Some of us believe that the Iranian regime would be greatly strengthened should Israel attack Iranian nuclear facilities because millions of those who demonstrated in protest against the last phony election and who would love to see the mullahs replaced in a genuine democratic process would find themselves facing overwhelming nationalistic pressure to unite behind the mullahs against foreign aggression.

Some of us believe that even a nuclear Iran--faced with the certainty that its first aggressive use of nuclear weapons would engender a massive retaliation sufficient to permanently destroy Persian/Iranian civilization,  most of the beauty and most of the people of Iran, and lead to the deaths of tens of millions of Muslims—would not dare take a first strike using nuclear weapons against Israel or the U.S.  Americans once perceived the Soviet Union to be equally evil and irrational and driven by a fundamentalist form of Marxism as many now see Iran—yet the Soviet Union, armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons,  was  constrained by the possibility of mutually assured destruction, and this is how it would be with a nuclear armed Iran as well. The very same people who now call for support for an attack now were telling us years ago that only a war with the Soviet Union could stop the Soviets from making an aggressive war against us. They were wrong.  These same false prophets lied us into a war with Iraq to protect ourselves from non-existent nuclear threat form Iraq. Now they want a war with Iran. (Some of us are worried about a false flag incident in which agents of Israel or the U.S. intelligence or "homeland security" crowd might  pretend to be agents of Iran and then attack either an Israeli or American ship, plane or installation in order to provoke war--such as the "false flag" incident that got the US escalating the Vietnam War.)

Some of us fear that electoral pressures may push you, President Obama, and many Democrats in Congress as well, to either overtly or covertly support an attack on Iran by Israel, even while knowing that such an attack is actually not in the best interests of the U.S., Israel, the Jewish people, or world peace. Please show some courage not only in public but also in what "private assurances" you give to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Some of us believe that Israel could actually work out peaceful relations with Iran and enhance its own and American security if Israel were to end the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, help the Palestinian people create an economically and politically viable state, take some generous steps to alleviate the humiliation and the suffering of Palestinian refugees,  and support Palestinian membership in the United Nations. Those steps, done with a spirit of open-hearted generosity toward the Palestinian people and toward the people of all the surrounding Muslim states, is far more likely than military strikes against Iran or endless assaults on Hamas to provide a safe and secure future for Israel. Similarly, if the US were to apologize for its role in overthrowing the democratically elected government of Iran in 1953 and substituting for it the dictatorial regime, it would strengthen the hands of those in Iran who seek an overthrow of the even worse regime that now terrorizes the people of Iran.
   
None of us who sign this statement accept as legitimate the denial of human rights in Iran, the pretense of democracy, the oppression of Bahai, the denial of the Holocaust and the right of Iran to verbally threaten the existence of the State of Israel. Our opposition to a war does not come from support for the Iranian regime.

The signers of this ad do not all agree on all the statements above. Whatever the diversity of our perspectives,  here’s what we do all agree upon:

No war with Iran. No first strikes on Iran.

We implore Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama to stand up firmly against the militarists (including the militarists in their own internalized consciousness) and join with us to find other non-coercive, creatively open-hearted ways to achieve a lasting peace and reconciliation between Israel, the U.S. and Iran.

And we call upon our fellow citizens to send this ad to their Congressional representatives and to refuse to support for President of the US any candidate who calls for or supports first strikes against Iran or any other nation state. And we call upon all our fellow citizens to read the full version of the Global Marshall Plan at www.Tikkun.org/GMP

Click HERE to see a draft of how this ad would look in the newspaper.

***********************************************************************

If you'd like to help us run this ad, please make a donation! After you make your donation, you'll be given an opportunity to include your name as a supporter/signer of the ad (this is optional - your name will NOT be included unless you specifically want it to).

Your Information
Welcome back!
For your convenience, we have filled out your form with the information you provided previously from postal code 02169.

Click to see and manage your information.

Not standuncan@post.harvard.edu? Please click here. Thank you! 

Employment Information
If you are retired, please enter "retired" below. If you are not employed, please enter "none".
Donation Amount
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Credit Card Information
Please enter your card number with no spaces or dashes.
 
Legal Compliance
Please click the submit button only once.

If you can't make a donation but would still like to add your name to the ad (room permitting),click here. We'll include your name on our web site and if room permits on the printed ad.

If you prefer NOT to make a donation online, please send a check to:
Tikkun/NSP
2342 Shattuck Ave, #1200,
Berkeley, CA. 94704
Please note NO WAR AD on your check.
If you prefer to call us with your credit card information, please call 510-644-1200 between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Pacific time.

If you live outside the United States and are having difficulty using your credit card to make a donation, please click here to make your donation via our PayPal payment processor.



Copyright © 2010 Network of Spiritual Progressives and Tikkun Magazine
2342 Shattuck Avenue, #1200 - Berkeley, CA 94704 --- Phone 510-644-1200 - Fax 510-644-1255<