The Coastal Post is a free speech newspaper published in Marin once a month. It is one of the few newspapers courageous enough to publish what is really happening in Palestine, and to report accurately on the devastation in Gaza. However, it is being attacked viciously by a group who would like to keep the true facts about the Middle East hidden from the general public. They have been going round the newsstands that carry the newspaper, and have thrown away thousands of copies. Worse, they have been contacting businesses who advertise in the Coastal Post, and are applying ongoing pressure to stop them doing so. They have also been pressurizing the store owners who carry the paper to drop it.

The attacks on the paper started a couple of years ago, but have escalated since May 2008 when the paper published a very controversial article by Israel Shamir. This article made frequent mention of 'Jews' and the 'Jewish lobby' in a derogatory manner. Israel Shamir is from Israel, where the US organization AIPAC and other Israel lobby organizations in the US are referred to as 'the Jewish lobby'. In this country, however, they are known as 'the Israel lobby' or 'the Zionist lobby'. It is unfortunate that the terminology is different in the two countries, a difference that led to confusion between Judaism and Zionism. Shamir's article was, of course, critical of the Israel lobby in the USA, which he referred to as 'organized Jewry' and was not referring to the American Jewish population in general, many of whom are also critical of the Israel lobby. He did not make the distinction very clear though, and the article gave the impression of being downright anti-Jewish.

Many of us in our organization '14 Friends of Palestine' and in the 'Marin Peace and Justice Coalition', both Jewish and Gentile, found Shamir's article extremely offensive to Jews, and decided to meet with the editor to determine what to do about it. After a lengthy meeting, where we carefully explained the distinction between Judaism, the religion, and Zionism, the desire for a Jewish-only state at the expense of the indigenous Palestinian population, the editor of the Coastal Post graciously volunteered to publish an apology for publishing the offending article. This he did in the February 2009 issue, and as a result, members of both 14FP and MPJC have agreed to help get the Coastal Post back on its feet, both financially, and in the quality of articles published. Those people opposed to the Coastal Post who were removing all those copies from newsstands and throwing them away have already commented on the improvement. Hopefully they will now stop attacking the Coastal Post and leave it alone.

Meanwhile, our organization, 14FP, has decided to publish articles from the Coastal Post periodically to display right here on our website, as examples of the excellent quality of articles that the paper now publishes.

One of our choices is by Annette Herskovits, PhD. Dr. Herskovits became a writer and peace activist after a career as a linguist and college professor. She is the daughter of Holocaust victims. Click here to see the article or click on the link to the right..