Show them the land

We leafed through archives, scanning old stories and black and white photos with an interest that bordered on reverence.

I loved the street scene from Israel’s first anniversary of its founding (see section 2, page 12). Taken on May 4, 1949, the photo shows people jammed onto balconies and rooftops, hanging out of windows and lining the streets. The excitement of the moment was palpable.

Issues of The Chronicle from those years reveal that same feeling that the world was shifting. Though Jews have always argued about the state’s Jewish identity and which means are preferable to achieve our goals, there seemed to be near consensus that the founding of the state of Israel was a modern miracle.

Times have changed. Israel was then seen a scrappy underdog nation with a narrative that was undeniably linked to the Holocaust. Now, 40 years after the Six Day War and in the shadow of multiple wars, continuing terrorism and two Palestinian uprisings, Israel is scrutinized differently.

One of the photos that didn’t run in this issue shows Milwaukee’s City Hall in May 1977. Posted in big capital letters high on the building’s edifice was the message, “Congratulations to Israel on Independence Day.”

Looking at the image, I was amazed at such public and official praise of the Jewish state. And then I was stunned by my reaction: Admiring Israel was the default then, but as Israel reaches her 60th birthday, the zeitgeist has shifted away from Zionism.

Only two years earlier, on Nov. 10, 1975, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly passed (by a vote of 72 and 35, with 32 abstentions) Resolution 3379, which declared that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.”

Five days later, more than 10,000 people gathered in Kikar Malchei Yisrael (the Tel Aviv square now called Yitzhak Rabin Square) to demonstrate. One placard visible in our archived photo (see section 2, page 14) reads: “Thanks to Zionism, the Jewish people is alive.”

On May 12, 1978, students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison celebrated Israel’s 30th birthday with a party on the State Street Mall. (See photo, section 2, page 15.) Looking at the photo, I wondered how such a party would look today.

Thirty years later, on Thursday, May 8, students will again gather for a public birthday party sponsored by Hillel Foundation University of Wisconsin. But this time, the event will be met with protest, as a coalition of “progressive” groups will gather for a demonstration called “No Time to Celebrate.”

This event is part of what seems to be the dominant message about Israel on campus. Recent months have brought a series of consistently anti-Israel speakers and events to Milwaukee and Madison, which was one of the hotbeds of the campus movement to divest from Israel.

On March 7, the one-woman play, “My Name is Rachel Corrie,” took the stage at Madison’s Orpheum Theatre. It was produced and performed by a duo that oddly wanted to remain anonymous. (See related story in the March 14 Chronicle.)

The following month, on April 3, Israeli journalist Amira Hass spoke in Madison about Israeli colonialism and offered the metaphor of a person (Israel) dropping a frog (Palestinians) into cold water and then heating the water to boiling point. (See April 11 Chronicle.) The event was sponsored by the UW Middle East Studies Program.

College is a time and place of important social debate. Historically and globally, students have led revolutions and reverberating social movements. Unfortunately, well-meaning students are being led away from Israel as support for Palestinians and disdain for Israel have become the litmus test of being a good “progressive.”

Israel, once seen almost unequivocally as a symbol of justice, has become the darling cause of lefties claiming to seek justice.

This is our emergency today. As we send our children to college, we must arm them with enough love for the Jewish state to carry them through the protests. We must provide not only historical data and reasoned explanations for Israel’s right to exist and defend itself but we must also engage their hearts and souls.

Without a visceral connection to the Jewish state, our children are left helpless as they confront scenes like the one captured by a photo shot during the Walk for Israel in 2001.

As community members walked along Silver Spring Dr., protesters waved Palestinian flags and showed a large sign detailing the transformation from a swastika to a Star of David. Under the symbols was the message, “Zionism = Racism.”

Studies have shown that the most powerful force in engendering a connection to Israel is a first-hand experience of Israel and Israelis. Our children are certainly enriched when they develop real, personal relationships with emissaries or visiting Israelis. But even more important is to put our children on airplanes and show them the land.

It is important and meaningful to hold events celebrating Israel like those scheduled in our community May 7 and 8 (see page 1). But an even better way to celebrate Israel at 60 is to go there and, as the psalmist says (34:9), “taste and see” the miracle that it is.