This article first appeared in the McGill Daily yesterday. Nit In Aundzer Nomen (Yiddish for “not in our name”) is a group of Jewish students from McGill University, in Montreal.
Coming to the realization that being Jewish does not require supporting Israel is cause for both internal and social conflict. At McGill in particular, it can be quite a marginalizing experience. Campus rhetoric consistently pairs anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, preventing Jewish students from speaking out comfortably against Israel’s state policies for fear of being labelled a “self-hating Jew.” On a campus where the heart of Jewish life is dominated by Hillel, an organization whose vision is one where “every student is inspired to make a commitment to Jewish life, learning and Israel,” and by Chabad, which wants its members to “apply the timeless Jewish principle of Ahavat [the love of] Israel” – not to mention Israel on Campus – it is crucial for Jews to act to break down the hegemony of this discourse at our university.
The representation of Jewish interests on campus is incredibly important, particularly at a university that once used quotas to limit Jewish enrolment. But when the groups who provide resources, funding, and spaces used to support Kosher options on campus or organize celebrations of religious holidays are also those promoting unconditional support for the State of Israel, these groups are acting to silence and alienate Jewish voices who dare to dissent. Similarly, at last year’s Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) General Assemblies (GAs), voices claiming to be speaking for all Jews on campus trumped and erased our own, co-opting our identities in defence of the Jewish state.
The discourse on campus has conflated Jews of all backgrounds with a nationalistic, militaristic, and racist government agenda, and as Jewish students who believe in justice, we feel a particular responsibility to speak out in support of the Palestinian people. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has given us a way to mobilize from a distinctly Jewish perspective in a way that does not contradict our values. In doing so, we are also actively resisting the use of our Jewish identities as a justification for stripping millions of people of their basic rights.
Who are we to speak on the subject? We are Jews – French, Canadian, American, and Israeli; Ashkenazi and Sephardi; Orthodox, Reformist, and secular. We’ve been raised attending Jewish day schools and after-school programs, embracing our identities while coming to terms with the central role that one particular ideology played in our upbringing: Zionism, the support for the existence of a distinctly Jewish state. We aren’t strangers to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; in fact, many of us are directly affected by it. We have lived and traveled in Israel; we have families in Israel and friends in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It is exactly this proximity that makes the conflict all the more important to engage with. Over the past few years, we’ve been working to unpack the conflation of Judaism and Zionism, trying to figure out where in our upbringing Judaism ended and Zionism began. Recently, we started gathering as a group, grappling with our personal identities, learning and unlearning, questioning our roles within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and as Jewish anti-Zionists on this campus.
We define anti-Zionism as the opposition to the State of Israel as it exists today. We do not aim to speak for all Jews at McGill, nor for all Jewish anti-Zionists; the terms “Zionism” and “anti-Zionism” are both loaded and can be defined in many different ways, and our group members ascribe to various definitions within this range. Irrespective of these identifiers, however, we feel that we must begin to take up space in a campus discourse that has been polarized for too long. It is precisely because of our deep connection to Israel created by the consistent conflation of Judaism and Zionism that we can no longer merely question what we’ve been taught – we must take action.
Fighting for justice is integral to Jewish identity, considering the centuries of persecution and exile that constitute our people’s history. We root our actions in traditions that stem from lineages of Jewish feminist thought – such as that of Judith Plaskow, a religious studies professor at Manhattan College, who writes in Standing Again At Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective that “the economic, social, and moral costs of military occupation make it incompatible with equity within one’s own boundaries. The rightful claim of Palestinians to a land of their own renders occupation profoundly unjust.” By reclaiming Jewish traditions of resistance, we hope to encourage others to make room for a critical Jewish perspective.
Recognizing these aspects of our identities, we also believe that fighting against ongoing instances of anti-Semitism is important; anti-Semitism is real, both here and abroad. However, resisting anti-Semitism does not contradict resisting the Israeli state. While instances of anti-Semitism within BDS efforts have occurred and must be acknowledged as such, they are not representative of the majority of BDS organizing. The Israeli occupation is justified through the claim that it is necessary to Jewish safety and representative of worldwide Jewry, particularly given the legacy of the Holocaust. These claims obscure and essentialize Judaism, while dispossessing Palestinians of their lands and rights. We reject this idea, and instead stand with those oppressed by the State of Israel.
The BDS movement is not one of our own design; rather, it is answering a direct call on the ground made in 2005 by over 171 Palestinian civil society organizations. BDS puts pressure on companies that profit from the creation of settlements illegal under international law and that design military equipment used in ongoing assaults on the West Bank and Gaza. BDS campaigns are targeted tactics, rather than permanent solutions. On their own, boycotts and divestment will not dismantle Israel’s multi-billion-dollar economy, but these tactics can be used as part of a strategy to pressure a nation to cease engaging in human rights violations, with the end of South African apartheid often being lauded as an example of their successful use. The idea is to urge Israel to lift its discriminatory policies, as well as to encourage the global community to follow suit in opposing state-led violence against an occupied people.
Jewish and Israeli support for BDS can be traced through civic and human rights organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace, Yesh Din, Adalah, and Independent Jewish Voices. Student unions at various academic institutions, including Northwestern University and Stanford, have adopted resolutions to lobby the administrations for divestment. McGill University holds investments in four companies that profit from the occupation either through financing of military systems or the expansion of illegal settlements: these are L-3 Communications, Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank, Bank Leumi, and RE/MAX. Campaigning for McGill to divest its holdings from these sources – less that 0.3 per cent of its total investments – would bring international attention to McGill’s condemnation of human rights violations. Moreover, at the end of the day, it’s our tuition money being invested in these companies, and it is therefore our obligation to speak out.
We believe that it is crucial for Jews and non-Jews alike to be actively engaging with and supporting BDS. It promotes dialogue surrounding complicity in the occupation and allows for a diverse range of voices to participate. Passing a motion at the GA is not an end to involvement, but a strong first step. As such, we ask both Jews and non-Jews alike to come to the SSMU GA on February 22 at 3 p.m. to mandate SSMU to lobby McGill for divestment, in solidarity with the peoples of Palestine.
We are fighting back against the common conflation of Judaism and Zionism because we believe in more than Zionism, we believe in more than the occupation, and we need to break the silence that allows for oppression to be perpetrated. Reaching these conclusions has been a lengthy process for many of us, and many of us did not start out at McGill knowing histories of Israeli violence, but had questions and sought out this community to begin to answer them. If you are a Jew at McGill and you have questions, we invite you to contact us and join us for Shabbat dinner. In the meantime, we hope to see you at the GA.
Nit In Aundzer Nomen (Yiddish for “not in our name”) is a group of Jewish students from McGill that gathers over Shabbat dinners to engage in collective reflection and re-learning. The group takes the form of an informal discussion space or reading circle. The group can be reached at nitinaundzernomen@gmail.com.
“The representation of Jewish interests on campus is incredibly important, particularly at a university that once used quotas to limit Jewish enrolment.”
Quotas, I should point out, that left the Jews still somewhat overrepresented compared to their numbers in the general population, but not to the extent that they once were. This was true in the US Ivy Leagues as well. Affirmative action for Gentiles, can’t get much more anti-Semitic than that! And why would this be necessary? Are Jews simply naturally smart and Gentiles stupid? Or are there environmental factors at work? What are they? Do they reflect the higher than average prosperity of these Jews? How is this consistent with the “…centuries of persecution and exile that constitute our people’s history.”? Do any of these Jewish students care about why Jewish enrollment used to be so high? Why quotas were enacted? Or is it enough to claim anti-Semitism for anything which interferes with Jewish objectives? Do quotas equate to Jew-hatred? Is it simply a force of nature that results in Jewish domination of the intelligentsia and the doctrinal system? Is it inherently anti-Semitic for a Gentile to even question any of this?
“…we also believe that fighting against ongoing instances of anti-Semitism is important; anti-Semitism is real, both here and abroad.”
Oh, I am sure that you all do. The question is whether you tribal anti-Zionist/liberal Zionists have ever contemplated the possibility of Jewish anti-Gentilism? Can any of you even conceive of such a thing? Or is the suggestion itself anti-Semitic because “Fighting for justice is integral to Jewish identity….,” and anyone who questions such an obvious truth is clearly a Jew-hater?
Bottom line: congratulations on opposing at least the worst aspects of Zionism. You have begun to reject at least some of the Judeo-Zionist mythology and to look in the mirror. Keep looking. A quote for you.
“Therefore, the real test facing both Israeli and diaspora Jews is the test of their self-criticism which must include the critique of the Jewish past. The most important part of such a critique must be detailed and honest confrontation of the Jewish attitude to non-Jews.” (p103, “Jewish History, Jewish Religion,” Israel Shahak)
“..we also believe that fighting against ongoing instances of anti-Semitism is important; anti-Semitism is real, both here and abroad.”
This is the crux of the problem. This statement is absolute baloney. While there may be some irrational anti-Semitism, for the most part that is non-existent.
What is real is the belief in ever present anti-Semitism by large numbers of the Jewish community. They are raised in that belief. And it is this mindset that led to Zionism and the attendant racism and violence.
If you want to be an organization that fights for peace and justice, you need to get away from this “fighting anti-Semitism” as part of the mission. Hell, there are lots of organizations already dedicated to that (ADL at the top of the list). Either you exist to promote justice, or you have another, compromised agenda. It’s up to you guys
An interesting letter with both clear highs and lows. Highs would be to form a distinct counter and separation within the Jewish community to the prevailing requirements at Mcgill that all Jewish students must stand with Israel and Zionism. Another high is that one should attempt to stand with the oppressed regardless of tribal and religious affiliation. Some lows are the statement that “The rightful claim of Palestinians to a land of their own renders occupation profoundly unjust. ” This limits Israel’s transgressions to 1967 and reduces Palestinian claims to injustice to a non-specific land somewhere and sometime. Another low is the students claim, one they know is made by 171 Palestinian organizations in 2005, “BDS puts pressure on companies that profit from the creation of settlements illegal under international law and that design military equipment used in ongoing assaults on the West Bank and Gaza.” This again twists the clear language of the BDS call to only corporations that profit off of settlements. Please read the actual call for BDS in 2005 to what these students say it means. Very different birds. So, in short, the students are on the right path but surely are still grappling with the notion that Palestinians are real people and deserve the same rights all other people deserve. Is the glass half full or half empty? Since the glass was completely empty just a few years ago, I’ll choose to be the optimist. It’s half full…..:)
‘Stopping Jews, Israelis, and Zionism as practiced by Israelis and Anti-Semitism Claims in the Context of Clear-cut Crimes against Humanity (- like in Palestine)’
Anti-Semitism charges as leveled to try to escape consquences for clearly obvious crimes amount to an aggressive demands for a ‘carte blance get out of jail free card’ for Jewish crimes, because one is a Jew.
In Palestine it basically ‘has made and still makes Jewish crimes unstoppable’.
Great job if you can get it, right?
This is an amazing and wonderful part of call it what you will – exceptionalism, chutzpah, chosen-ness, ‘entitlement'(=code for Narcissism-used recently by Remnick describing Bibi), whatever – ofJews leveling charges of Anti-Semitism when confronted with a crime they’re commiting. It also permits a win almost every time if used adeptly.
OK here we go for a 2 minute debunking of ‘Anti-Semitism’ claims in context of prima facie crimes – like Apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
Let’s just start off on the right foot and say STOPPING any Jewish individual from what is a recognized a crime against humanity — like ethnic cleansing or apartheid should they be commiting such acts — IS A GOOD THING.
Further, we don’t much care what the individual getting stopped FEELS about it, the important thing is that they are successfully stopped.
Bank Robbers don’t like getting caught, Bernie Madoff didn’t like getting stopped, and Bonnie and Clyde wanted to continue their spree. That’s the nature of a criminal sociopathic mind. Most Israelis want to continue to their Apartheid rape of Palestine as well. So what?
Let’s stipulate that a Zionist Jewish individual like Bibi doesn’t like to be stopped doing what they are doing (like ethnic cleansing Palestine, Apartheid, etc) – but STOPPING THEM doesn’t have anything to do with the ‘Anti-Semitism’, unless the Jewish individual SELF DEFINES ‘getting stopped from ongoing crimes as Anti-Semitism’
So here’s the crux – if STOPPING JEWS commiting crimes is self defined as ANTI-SEMITIC, then that’s one heck of a definition that ;you have self defined for yourself. It’s laughable and ridiculous as well, and shameful enough to be laughed off the bus for even trying it. Any one who has worked in the mental health field will recognize this phenomen very quickly.
Many Jews actually conflate ‘getting stopped from ongoing crimes as ‘Anti-Semitic’ – getting stopped from continuing the abuses of Apartheid is actually experienced as ‘Anti-Semitic’. For others they consciously make the claim just to try to escape the consquences.
Now, if a Jewish individual SELF DEFINES being stopped from commiting a crime as Anti-Semitism, then that is a patently bizarre concept of Anti-Semitism similar to a sociopath disliking being stopped from his sociopathy, a Borderline Personality disliking getting stopped from the fun and games that Borderline engage in at the destructive cost to the ones around them. And who the hell cares? No one who is sane cares is the answer to that.
In fact, spurious claims of Anti-Semitism don’t just SHARE these same sociopathic quailities – THEY ARE just a form of sociopathy. SNAP>more on that later.
There – that wasn’t too hard after all, was it? All you have to do is not think like a sociopath and it’s easy
If a Sociopath, Borderline or anyone else defines getting STOPPED from commiting a crime as ITSELF a crime, well now, that’s a great job if you can get it.
Is the sociopathic/narcissistic quality of the ‘Anti-Semitic’ claim really as twisted and sick as any other sociopathic/narcissistic attempt to justify continuance of a crime, such to make one unstoppable? Oh yes. Politically incorrect? – you betcha! It’s actually nothing special – ‘just one not so special-special flavor’ like any of the other 32 sociopathic/narcissistic flavors. It’s just the one Jewish sociopaths/narcissists use
The good news, as is evidenced abundantly – Jews who are not sociopathic/narcissistic simply don’t use this get out of jail free card. It’s just that there’s nothing special about Jews who do use this – they have abundant company worldwide. Jews, contrary to some of their opinions, are not ethnically immune from sociopathy/narcissism any more than any one else.
Stopping a Jew commiting a crime – and yes Jews do commit crimes just like everybody else – is a GOOD THING and not Anti-Semitism. On the other hand, NOT stopping a Jew commiting a crime because of a laughable Anti-Semitic claim is called ‘enabling’, as the term is used in mainstream psychology
Nobody should fall for
since Jewish Zionists crimes against the Palestinian people is what incites antisemitism worldwide, it follows that Jewish Zionists (and their non-Jewish supporters) are the real antisemites. Indeed, were there justice for Palestine, antisemitism would be reduced to a size that could be flushed down a toilet.