Shapiro's parents

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Thu Apr 4 08:52:14 PST 2002


Liza Featherstone wrote:


>Yes-- it's actually an editorial in today's New york Times. Amazingly
>
>> From: "pms" <laflame at aaahawk.com>
>> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>> Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 11:27:58 -0500
>> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
>> Subject: Shapiro's parents
>>
>> Yesterday I read a scary story about Adam Shapiro's parents having to leave
>> their home because of death threats. Mentioned flyer in their neighborhood
>> urging attacks on them. His brother said he didn't feel safe in Ny. Now I
> > can't find it though I've googled. Anyone know anything about this?

...and here it is...


>New York Times - April 4, 2002
>
>Death Threats in Brooklyn
>
>As the Mideast death toll soars, so do anxieties about the region's
>corrosive hatreds spilling onto our own shores and threatening the
>lives and freedoms of Americans. That fear has now become reality in
>Brooklyn in a way both surprising and repellent. Death threats from
>irresponsible local supporters of Israel have forced an innocent
>couple, Doreen and Stuart Shapiro, to flee their home. They became a
>target after their son Adam delivered humanitarian medical aid to
>Yasir Arafat's besieged compound in Ramallah, on the West Bank.
>
>Rage at Mr. Arafat for his complicity in murderous suicide bombings
>across Israel is understandable. Yet Mr. Arafat's behavior scarcely
>turns Adam Shapiro's peaceful action into treason against America
>and the Jews or makes him the equivalent of an American Taliban
>fighter, as some of the menacing messages charge.
>
>Last Friday Mr. Shapiro persuaded Israeli troops to let an ambulance
>into the Arafat compound to provide medical help to wounded
>Palestinians inside. Then he too became trapped inside overnight by
>continuing gunfire. The next morning Mr. Shapiro reported receiving
>Mr. Arafat's expressions of gratitude over a shared breakfast.
>
>Some of the Shapiro family's New York neighbors obviously do not see
>his conduct as benign. They are entitled to their opinions. But
>threatening Adam Shapiro's relatives with harm offends American
>traditions of tolerance and the humane values of the American Jewish
>community. It is also criminal. Shapiro family members tell of
>messages wishing them all "a fiery death" and promising to make that
>come about. Those threats sounded serious enough to prompt Abraham
>Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, to help
>arrange police protection for the family. Adam Shapiro's brother
>Noah is now under police guard, while his parents have temporarily
>fled New York for their safety. No political motive, real or
>imagined, can justify the threats to the Shapiro family. To pretend
>otherwise is to think like a terrorist.



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