At the Jan. anti-war rally in Washington, one Jewish participant complained about a lack of open debate about Israel within the American Jewish community. The shrillness of the pro-Israel lobby has turned people off to Israel, she claimed, and has created more anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment.
Mark Rosenblum, founder and policy director of Americans for Peace Now, expressed similar opinions. “I think you have, in the American Jewish establishment, umbrella organizations that act as if Israel has never committed an act that is wrong or has contributed to the conflict.”
Their position is, he said, “Whatever the Israeli government does is right.”
“That defensively turns Israel into a country that never misses a political step, and that’s not a credible, coherent or effective way to be pro-Israel,” Rosenblum said.
Indeed, if we are unable to acknowledge the Palestinians’ right to live peacefully and with dignity in their homes, who are we? If we cannot understand that living under the rule of another people is humiliating and infuriating, then we may not be qualified to discuss the subject in a legitimate way. If we do not see the Palestinians as human beings, then our defensiveness blinds us.
Acknowledging that Israel has a role in the current nastiness seems a necessary starting point for healing, for working toward solutions, for finding a way to cross the river of blood flooding the Israeli sand.
Reality first
But we live in a world that is quick to condemn us and in a climate in which our survival seems precarious. Though I grew up with unquestioned certainty of Israel’s existence, I now know that that is the illusion of youth.
There was a time before Israel, and there have been many times when Israel was at risk. Now, again, we find ourselves in one of those times.
Anti-Israel and anti-Semitic events around the globe are frightening. Montreal’s Concordia University’s student union voted to ban Hillel and cut off its funding after the group handed out pamphlets advertising a volunteer program in the Israel Defense Forces. Though Hillel was reinstated, its funding is still being withheld.
Synagogues in Europe have been torched, cemeteries vandalized. There’s talk within U.S. universities of divestiture from Israel. The December attack in Kenya was directed against Jews at an Israeli-owned resort. Further, European Jews are bracing for an anti-Semitic backlash after a possible U.S. war with Iraq.
The media, too, often report a story of the Middle East that could make anyone hate Israel. The portraits they paint can be simplistic and two-dimensional: Israel is the aggressive, militaristic, inhumane oppressor who seems to relish its strength, and Palestinians are the poor victims. It’s disheartening.
In this climate, it’s no shock that many Jews have drifted rightward. Even those of us committed to the values of peacemaking find ourselves overwhelmed by a defensive pride for Israel, akin to a mother shielding her child from harm. We are pushed to call out to the world in voices clear and loud, “I love Israel!”
The world must know that those who love Israel will never abandon it, that we will not tolerate legitimate criticism becoming anti-Israel rhetoric or anti-Semitism. Call it balance on a scale so heavily tipped against Israel.
Yes, we need open and robust debate. Yes, a healthy Jewish community invites the opinions and ideas of all its members. And yes, we must be humane, worthy of the title, “light onto the nations.”
But it is also time to transcend divisiveness between left and right and heed the warning call — Israel is in danger and needs a united support. I think of the slogan of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life: “Wherever we stand, we stand with Israel.”
Somebody’s got to stand with Israel.
Loading ...