Hi out there. I know I've been away for a while, three months by my count, but I'm back with a bit of news from Hampshire College profs who are taking a stand against military attacks by Israel in Gaza.

Aaron Berman, a Hampshire College history professor, sent me the below statement Tuesday night with a request that I bring some attention to this issue. As our op-ed editor has been getting pegged by some readers as being "anti-Semitic" for running pieces critical of Israel on an opinion page, I decided to post their statement here:

Over the last few weeks we have watched with horror the Israeli military attack on the Gaza Strip. The
loss of life on both sides is tragic, but we must acknowledge the large number of innocent Palestinian
civilians, including children, who have been killed by Israeli fire. We have been impressed by the
response of many of our students who have organized vigils and demonstrations to protest the military
action and call for an end to the carnage. In a recent statement, Rabbi Danny Rich, a leader of Liberal
Judaism in Great Britain, explained why he would not participate in Israeli solidarity rallies. Citing
Jewish teaching and humanitarian instinct, Rabbi Rich called, "for an immediate ceasefire which may
prevent further tragedy engulfing the Palestinian civilian population and save injury and worse to both
Israelis in uniform and their fellow citizens in their homes."
As concerned individual members of the Hampshire College faculty and instructional staff, we express
our support for our students' and Rabbi Rich's call for an end to the violence, access for journalists, an end to the economic blockade, and the immediate opening of Gaza to a free flow of human, medical and
material resources.

Aaron Berman, Professor of History
Nathalie Arnold
Polina Barskova
Carollee Bengelsdorf
Michelle Bigenho
Djola Branner
Myrna Breitbart
L. Brown Kennedy
Margaret Cerullo
Elizabeth Conlisk
Rachel Conrad
Jane W. Couperus
Christoph Cox
Sue Darlington
Jaime Davila
Ellen Donkin
John Drabinski
Simin Farkhondeh
Marlene G. Fried
Fatemeh Giahi
Peter Gilford
Alan Goodman
Deb Gorlin
Lynne Hanley
Michele Hardesty
Elizabeth Hartmann
Thomas Haxo
Baba Hillman
Norman Holland
Paul Jenkins
Kay Johnson
Amy Jordan
Peter Kallok
Daniel Kojo Schrade
Jeannette Lee
Jill Lewis
Jerome Liebling
Daphne Lowell
Susana Loza
Kristen Luschen
Marian MacCurdy
Lourdes Mattei
Robert Emmet Meagher
Lynn Miller
Rebecca Miller
James Miller
Rayane Moreira
Rebecca Nordstrom
Junko Oba
Sarah Partan
Fritha Pengelly
Robert M. Rakoff
Flavio Risech
Monique Roelofs
Mary Russo
Robert Seydel
Falguni A. Sheth
Kane Stewart
Jason M. Tor
Susan Tracy
Berna Turam
Stanley Warner
Daniel Warner
Barbara Yngvesson
Vishnupad