letter to A.G. Rob McKenna

Bert Sacks
6550 Greenwood Ave N, #11
Seattle, WA 98103

June 16, 2011

The Honorable Rob McKenna
Washington State Attorney General
1125 Washington Street SE
Olympia, WA 98501-2283

Dear Attorney General McKenna:

I hope that you will choose to read beyond the first page of my attachment – and that you will decide that I have been fair to you in what I write. I have been three times to Gaza and the issue I write about is a very serious health matter for the million inhabitants of that small area.

The great majority of water there is unsafe to drink, sewage processing is virtually non-existent, and adequate and varied food is either not available or not affordable for most of the people of Gaza. The Israeli blockade is a principle cause of these conditions – a blockade put in place to punish the Gazans.

I have lived in Israel for five years and was raised in the Jewish tradition. I am deeply concerned about the current government policies of Israel for what they portend for the future of Israel. Just as so many of us who protested the Bush invasion of Iraq in 2003 were not anti-American, so my protest of Israel's blockade of Gaza is not anti-Israeli; it is done out of a deep concern for Israel's legitimacy.

You last wrote us in August 2009, “I share your concern for the innocent people of Gaza – the women, children and others harmed during the military action and by the restrictions on supplies that were put in place to prevent the movement of weapons." (my emphasis)

You may be aware that the The Israeli mainstream newspaper Ha'aretz wrote on February 25, 2009: “When Senator John Kerry visited the Strip, he learned that many trucks loaded with pasta were not permitted in. When the chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee inquired as to the reason for the delay, he was told by United Nations aid officials that "Israel does not define pasta as part of humanitarian aid - only rice shipments."” Macaroni became a minor cause célèbre of the blockade.

Macaroni is not a weapon. Macaroni is not a security threat to the State of Israel. Denying macaroni – and halva and jam and coriander, cardamom and cookies – is done only as collective punishment.

I would be very happy – and quite satisfied – if you would change your position on the matter of the blockade. If you correct what you have previously stated I will simply post your statement on my website and consider the matter closed. In any event I welcome any comments you might offer.

Sincerely,



Bert Sacks

Enclosures: June 11,2011, posting to IraqiKids.org