As you might know, an exhibit of horrifying photographs of the Occupation taken by Israeli soldiers (and sponsored by a host of progs including Brit Tzedek, APN, Jewschool) is touring the U.S. The Ivies anyway–Penn and on to Harvard. One of the things I love about the brave soldiers’ group "Breaking the Silence" that is bringing this information to our shores is that they don’t just talk to Jews. They want to show all Americans. If Arab groups are the only ones that will host them, imshallah… (I think it was an Arab group that hosted them at Princeton last time ’round.)
The tour has an electrifying effect on young Jews. It leaves some troubled, some in doubt, many angry and shaking their fists. The Daily Pennsylvanian reports that on Friday night at Penn’s Hillel (housed in New Republic/New York Sun/anti-intermarriage/financial-but-not-political-genius Michael Steinhardt’s gift to the university) 20 Jewish students met with the two soldiers who had come with the exhibit, to talk about the exhibit.
Outside Hillel, another 15 Jewish students protested the meeting, saying that American Jews should not even honor the veterans with an audience. (20 to 15. My side’s gaining).
A few things leap out from this article:
—The Daily Pennsylvanian openly describes the protesters as Zionists "Zionist students protest traveling art exhibit" is the headline. Good for the DP for plainness of language.
—The students inside the hall refused access to reporter Alex Melamed. A pity. The IDF veterans would surely have welcomed any coverage at all. But this shows how agonizing the issue is to young American Jews. They can’t have this struggle openly. Let us open up the struggle, please! This conversation should be happening across America now! As it is, a lot of these sessions have a therapeutic, i.e., self-absorbed quality. As the writer Zach Wales told me last year about these types of encounters: "It ends up being an atonement session for people who support Israel but feel
the moral burden. They’re like AA meetings." Yes: and these encounters over Jewish abuse of Arabs ought to be on the front pages of our newspapers…
—One of the Israeli soldiers makes an amazing spiritual gesture toward the protesters. Per Melamed:
One of the Israeli soldiers who served in the occupied territories, Arnon Degani, tried to reconcile with the protestors.
"I want to apologize," he said. "If I offended you, I apologize."
This statement is ravishing to me. It is so large in spirit, so full of compassion and suffering. It makes me love my people. The Cliff Notes on the Old Testament say is that it is filled with justice and wrath, and then Jesus came along and introduced lovingkindness and forgiveness. The law is not inscribed on tablets; it is inscribed in the heart…. No doubt there is some truth to this understanding, but it is reductive. It is not as if the Jewish tradition doesn’t also include lovingkindness, forgiveness, etc. Degani’s gesture touches my soul.
