Check out this blogpost by Jeffrey Goldberg of “The Atlantic”

http://bit.ly/nRM6Lx

Biv’racha,
Jordan

OTOH if they are calling for an Israeli withdrawal from the territories, then the question arises: in favour of whom? And also what safeguards there will be to ensure no repetition of the Arab aggression that necessitated the Israeli acquisition of those territories in the first place? Also, if the territories become an independent Palestinian state, where do BDS stand on the right of Jews to live there as minority citizens? After all, there is an enfranchised Arab minority in the State of Israel? And would that Palestinian state have Hebrew as one of its official languages – just as Arabic is an official language of Israel?

Finally there is the intractable issue of the return of Palestinian refugees and their descendents to Israel. There may be a modicum of justice to this cause. But it has no practicality, even with the best will in the world on both sides.

“I’m not going to sit here and defend every action Israel takes. But Israel is essential to Jewish existence. We need to stand by Israel.”

But this is where a grave mistake in logic takes place. If you believe that “Israel is essential” that is not an argument again criticizing or even boycotting Israeli products (personally, I lean towards agreeing with Prof. Stephen Shalom that the tactic is a reasonable one to suggest and debate but that personally think it would be counter-productive in the US at least, where more focused boycotts of e.g. the Caterpillar company which provides the bulldozers, might make more sense)

But it is not a reason to defend, or even keep silent, about the abuses and yes, even crimes committed by the state of Israel…not only that, Ann’s words about “Israel is essential” are an argument FOR being critical of the wrong and immoral things the state of Israel does.

In other words, you ARE “standing by Israel” — in the sense of standing by the most enlightened parts of its founding philosophy, and also in the sense of making it more likely that Israel will survive — by criticizing the immoral actions…in fact NOt criticizing and not speaking out against these policies, will only cause Israel to be destroyed, either externally or internally, as we have already seen it turn towards what must be called “fascism, light” with Lieberman…Why don’t liberals understand this? I don’t know if Ann is a liberal but I am speaking about the liberals who understand the folly of the idea that “if you love America, then don’t criticize the invasion of Iraq, don’t criticize this, don’t criticize that, we must STAND BY the united states” and (most) liberals largely understand that makes no sense, in fact, if you really do love and care about the United States, that is not only no reason not to criticize wrong policies, it is a reason why you MUST criticize these things, in order to defend the United States and its principles and our future, by strongly rejecting wrong policies like the Invasion of Iraq…many liberals understand this yet the very same ones miss this central key point in the case of Israel. Maybe because I was born in Israel and spent the former part of my childhood there before moving to the Us….but it’s a key point we must make over and over again…

When progressive and liberals say, we support Israel’s right to exist but to defend human rights we have to oppose the pro-Israel side, I stand up and I say: No! YOU are the pro-Israel side. THe right-wingers and militarists who call themselves “pro-Israel” are the ones whose policies are very strongly anti-Israel, strongly destructive of Israel’s future …on top of supporting policies that are oppressive and brutal towards Palestinians this “pro-Israel” crowd is hurting every israel citizen (even the ones who were brainwashed by their govt and think they support the brutality against Gaza etc) Just like those who call themselves “pro-America” in promoting right-wing policies here, are not only not pro-america, they are leading to policies that are very ANTI-America. This point must be made over and over again with everyone you talk to since it is basic 1+1=2 common sense that, due to years and years of ideology and mis-used language, people are blind to, so they need to hear it like Helen Keller needed to feel those symbols tapped into her palm over and over again until it Sunk In at last.

to the Rabbi and everyone else; Check out gush-shalom’s website..

The way to be more strongly work to turn around decades of brutal policies turning Israel into Washington’s military base abroad, destroying the fabric of Isael, and oppressing Palestinians (and giving Arab dictators something to point to, to distract their own populations, if the oppressing of Palestinians ended this would be much harder, and Arab citizens would have more power to get rid of their own dictators…assuming we also end US support for those dictators like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, etc, etc)..all that Plus also fight against the phony and bogus “criticizing Israel equals anti-semitism” charges, by joining forces, hand in hand: progressive American Jews with Israeli peace groups like Gush Shalom. Check them out. Peace
H

Now… after several months of repeatedly writing against Israel, you now suggest to your JRC community that divestment/boycott of Israel may be warranted? I understand that you didn’t directly come out and say you would participate, but a couple of the responses above suggest I am not alone in this interpretation.

I’m not going to sit here and defend every action Israel takes. But Israel is essential to Jewish existence. We need to stand by Israel. I know where I’m going to be on Sunday, May 3rd, Israel Solidarity Day. http://www.juf.org/walk

You are right: my blog is not a completely free exchange of ideas. I don’t let through every comment that comes my way. For the record, however, I very rarely delete comments to this blog. I typically delete comments that are outright offensive or when I feel a specific commenter has made their point repeatedly and I make the decision to end the conversation on a particular issue. I’ve never refused a comment simply because it presents an opposing point of view.

If you have a comment on this particular post, I welcome it and would be happy to publish it.