Released May 4, 2003
The Wisdom Fund, P. O. Box 2723, Arlington, VA 22202
Website: http://www.twf.org -- Press Contact: Dr. Daniel Amit

'Some of Us Have Lived Through 1939'

Israeli scientist boycotts U.S. science journal -- cites 'barbarism of the American culture the world over, crowned by the achievements of science and technology as a major weapon of mass destruction.'

Dr. Daniel Amit, an Israeli scientist residing in Italy, has told the American Physical Society, "I will not at this point correspond with any American institution. Some of us have lived through 1939."

Dr. Daniel Amit made his statement to the American Physical Society when asked to review a manuscript submitted for publication in "Physical Review" -- a science journal published in the United States.

When asked by Dr. Blume, Editor in Chief American Physical Society, to reconsider his decision, Dr. Amit responded as follows:

"Thank you for you letter of April 8. I would have liked to be able to share the honorable sentiments you express in your letter as well as your optimism in the future role of science and the scientific community. To be frank, and with much sadness and pain, after 40 years of activity and collaboration, I find very little reason for such optimism. What we are watching today, I believe, is a culmination of 10 - 15 years of mounting barbarism of the American culture the world over, crowned by the achievements of science and technology as a major weapon of mass destruction.

"We are witnessing man hunt and wanton killing of the type and scale not seen since the raids on American Indian populations, by a superior technological power of inferior culture and values. We see no corrective force to restrain the insanity, the self-righteousness and the lack of respect for human life (civilian and military) of another race.

"Science cannot stay neutral, especially after it has been so cynically used in the hands of the inspectors to disarm a country and prepare it for decimation by laser guided cluster bombs. No, science of the American variety has no recourse. I, personally, cannot see myself anymore sharing a common human community with American science. Unfortunately, I also belong to a culture of a similar spiritual deviation (Israel), and which seems to be equally incorrigible.

"In desperation I cannot but turn my attention to other tragic periods in which major societies, some with claims to fundamental contributions to culture and science, have deviated so far as to be relegated to ostracism and quarantine. At this point I think American society should be considered in this category. I have no illusions of power, as to the scope and prospect of my attitude. But, the minor role of my act and statement is a simple way of affirming that in the face of a growing enormity which I consider intolerable, I will exercise my own tiny act of disobedience to be able to look straight into the eyes of my grandchildren and my students and say that I did know."

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[". . . it's impossible not to conclude that the United States and its allies have performed a great service for Iraq's 23 million people."--Editorial, "An Unfinished Mission," Washington Post, May 4, 2003]

[Reporter: Mr. Gandhi, "What do you think of Western civilization?" Mohandas K. Gandhi: "I think it would be a very good idea."--Number 24377, The Columbia World of Quotations, 1996]

John le Carre, "The United States of America Has Gone Mad," The Times, January 15, 2003

"Poll: Bush 'Biggest Threat to Justice and Peace'," November 9, 2002

Patrick J. Buchanan, "Whose War?," The American Conservative, March 24, 2003

["William J. Bennett, one of America's foremost conservative crusaders against sin and liberalism, has been found to maintain at least one compulsive and prodigious vice of his own."--Ed Helmore, "Moral voice of US gambles on his credibility," The Observer (UK), May 4, 2003]

["Worn by a Nazi German soldier, the aluminum, World War II era buckle carried the imperial eagle of the Third Reich above the familiar Swastika. ĘSurrounding the eagle and Swastika was the motto, 'Gott Mit Uns,' or 'God With Us.' . . . The Nazis demonized and then destroyed their enemies, after first intimidating and then liquidating their domestic opponents. "--Douglas Herman, "Achtung! Are We the New Nazis?," May 5, 2003]

["George W. Bush, son of unimaginable privilege, crossed the first line when he was selected to be president by the Supreme Court and accepted the job. He crossed the second line when he revealed his divine imperative, such as when (after the disaster of 9/11) he spoke of being 'chosen by the grace of God to lead at that moment.' (attributed by Tim Goeglein, deputy director of White House public liaison and a barrel of laughs at any party.) When George climbed out of that airplane in his shiny new war suit, he didn't just carry his own cute little self across the deck: son of privilege, chosen of God, and wearing a military uniform, he passed through the doorway from mere wickedness to fascism. Our struggle in the time ahead is to resist the urge to follow him."--Ben Tripp, "The Other 'F' Word, CounterPunch, May 8, 2003]

["The playwright Harold Pinter last night likened George W Bush's administration to Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, saying the US was charging towards world domination while the American public and Britain's "mass-murdering" prime minister sat back and watched."--Angelique Chrisafis and Imogen Tilden, "Pinter blasts 'Nazi America' and 'deluded idiot' Blair," Guardian, June 11, 2003]

Lewis H. Lapham, "Living in a Fascist State," Harper's Magazine, October 2005