Bowman cites intersectional causes, restates hit

In advance of a meeting of Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Israel Nitzan, Israel’s acting consul general in New York, Bowman a wrote a letter to Nitzan on Monday, posting it on Twitter. It is excerpted here.

I am proud and humbled to serve the people of New York’s 16th Congressional District, a diverse community in the Bronx and Lower Westchester County, with a significant and equally diverse Jewish American population. …

There is no question that the pace of Israel’s vaccine rollout within its citizenry has been commendable, with nearly half the country’s population having received the first dose. … However, millions of Palestinians living in occupied territory under Israeli military rule have been left out of Israel’s rapid vaccine deployment. …

According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which obligates an occupying power to provide “adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessarty to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics,” Israel, as an occupying power, has a responsibility to provide vaccines to the Palestinian people. It is therefore concerning that Israeli setters in the occupied West Bank will be receiving the vaccine from the Israeli government, but Palestinians in the West Bank will not. …

As recently quoted in the Times of Israel, Gabi Barbash, the recent director general of Israel’s health ministry noted: “the rule is very clear with coronavirus — if the virus is anywhere, it’s everywhere. We’ve seen how easily the virus jumps across the Green Line, to Kafr Qasim, Netanya, Haifa.” Given the close contact between Israelis and Palestinians, herd immunity is likely impossible without ensuring that Palestinians receive the vaccine.

I hope you understand that this issue is personal for me.

As a Black man living in America, I know the feeling of being neglected by my government and society, of feeling like a second-class citizen or not a citizen at all, in my own home. I can understand the feelings of hopelessness and despair that Palestinians living in the West Bank might feel, reading in the news that the Israeli government has no plans to vaccinate them from a deadly disease wreaking havoc acount the globe.

I know what it feels like to see white Americans in the wealthy part of my district get different resources and treatment, while just a few blocks away, Black Americans are neglected.

I empathize with the need of Israelis, Palestinians, and all people across the world to feel safe and protected, regardless of their identity, and it is solely that empathy that moves me to write this letter.

Every single human being, regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, color, or creed, has the right to be protected from a common, invisible enemy of humanity. COVID-19 has already claimed over two million lives around the world. I am hopeful that you will agree, and build on your government’s proven success and expertise in distributing the vaccine by expanding access to all people lving within Israel’s borders and in the occupied territories.

The pandemic has highlighted the extent to which a nation is only as protected from the virus as the most vulnerable of its people. I am hopeful you will agree and quickly deploy your government’s resources to vaccinate all Israelis and Palestinians from the deadly disease. I look forward to our meeting and our partnership.