Activism

It is time to stop celebrating Jewish dissent in the Palestine solidarity movement

The list of BDS successes seems to grow longer every day.  More professional associations are endorsing the academic boycott of Israel, cultural workers continue to denounce Israeli abuses, and labor unions, churches, even cities are divesting from companies that benefit from Israel’s illegal practices. These are all wonderful manifestations of the advances we are making.  Ultimately, however, BDS is not economic warfare.  If it were, we would be doomed to fail, because we can successfully boycott every Israeli item in every grocery store in the entire country, we would still not be making a dent in the US funding of Israel’s war crimes.  Indeed, the Obama Administration has just announced that it would give Israel the largest aid package yet.  Our biggest BDS victory achieved so far by activists for Palestinian rights may well be the discourse change that BDS has produced in the West.

Judged by that criterion, it is absolutely clear that we are winning.  We have not yet achieved our goals, namely justice for Palestine, and indeed the situation on the ground in Palestine seems to have worsened as home demolitions and extra-judicial executions are daily occurrences, even as the siege on Gaza continues to choke that part of the country, reminding us of the urgency of our activism here. But the change on the ground cannot happen without a change in the global narrative that misrepresented Palestine.  And that change, the shattering of the once iron-clad Zionist narrative, is happening, as we regularly hear and read denunciations of Israel’s abuses in various forums. This was most obvious when US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke at a nationally televised electoral debate about Palestinian rights, and Israel’s “disproportionate response.”  Only days later, Pulitzer Prize laureate Michael Chabon gave a powerful interview in which he describes the horrors he witnessed while on a tour of Hebron.  

Chabon’s interview circulated amongst Palestinian-rights activists like brush fire on a scorching day, most often prefaced with an explanation that he is a “Jewish-American writer.”  This information, certainly offered with the best intentions, is nevertheless treacherous, in that it can uphold an oppressive dynamic.

Jewish voices are welcome, of course, in the global denunciation of Zionism as a racist ideology.  Identifying oneself as Jewish when one speaks out against Israel’s policies also helps dismantle the accusation that seeking justice for Palestinians is anti-Semitic.  Yet there is an inevitable risk associated with the ongoing privileging of Jewish voices denouncing Israel. This is because by privileging their voices, we are implicitly accepting the Zionist narrative of Israel representing all Jews, with very few exceptions.  It is these “exceptions,” then, that Palestinian rights activists place on a pedestal.

The privileging of Jewish voices is more serious than whites denouncing anti-Black racism.  Because when whites denounce racism, there is no suggestion that they too are victimized by the structural system.  White allies generally acknowledge the privilege they are born into.  Those whites who claim “All Lives Matter” are not considered allies.  

The dynamics between Jewish and Palestinian voices around the Question of Palestine, however, are different precisely because of the attempt at normalization that have plagued this issue for decades.  The Zionist discourse had started out as one of exclusive Jewish victimhood, as if the Palestinians did not exist, were not wronged.  This is different from the black-white dynamics, where there was never a credible, widely-accepted narrative of white victimhood.  Similarly, there is no credible, widely-accepted narrative of male victimhood when it comes to a discussion of sexism.  Even when one acknowledges the oppressive aspects of the gendering of masculinity, there is general recognition that while men are denied some emotional outlets, they are nevertheless the undisputed beneficiaries of social gendering.  

But when it comes to the Question of Palestine, we have been plagued for decades with a narrative of Jewish victimhood that completely erased any mention of Palestinian loss, the ongoing Nakba.  When Palestinian voices finally broke through the censorship, the dynamics changed.  Because Palestinian voices were no longer contained, a new development took place, namely the concerted Zionist effort to make this into a “two sides” issue—yes, the Palestinians have been wronged, but let us not forget the centuries of anti-Semitism.  Let us have “dialogue” about it, because there are two valid perspectives that must be heard…  

Except that the pain of the Israelis, born or choosing to emigrate into institutionalized privilege, does not in anyway compare with that of the Palestinians.  There is no equivalency, no equal footing, no “we need to hear from both sides.”  

Because of this background, every time we continue to privilege Jewish voices, we are empowering the Zionist narrative.   Even those Jewish allies who are doing stellar and effective work can unwittingly contribute to this “normalizing,” when their narrative, their statements, their witnessing, is given greater validity because they are Jewish.  

BDS is a call for solidarity, and solidarity, by definition, hinges on the participation of allies, rather than those whose bodies are on the line.  It is absolutely normal, then, that there would be more non-Palestinians than Palestinians participating in BDS, in solidarity work, in organizing and even leading campaigns.  But the work must center Palestinian concerns, Palestinian voices, Palestinian experiences.  And because these have been silenced, censored, dismissed as biased or even hateful for too long, Palestinians absolutely must be given center stage now.  When conferences have an equal number of Jewish and Palestinian speakers (or, as is sometimes the case, more Jewish speakers than Palestinians), something is wrong.  When criticism of Israel is given more weight because it is expressed by a Jew than a Palestinian, something is wrong.  As we privilege Jewish voices, we are allowing them to eclipse the Palestinian ones.

We need a multiplicity of voices, a multiplicity of narratives.  Jewish voices play an extremely important role within that chorus. But if we agree that the discourse has changed, that the Zionist narrative has been punctured, then statements by our Jewish allies should not necessarily begin with “As a Jew,” and the solidarity Jews offer us should not be valued differently from the solidarity offered us by other communities.

Israel does not now, and indeed never did, speak for all Jews.  It is time we put an end to that myth by putting an end to the celebration of Jewish voices denouncing Zionism as “exceptional,” or “heroic.” They belong with all other such voices, and must magnify, rather than occupy, the Palestinian narrative.

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Bravo!!! So very well said and so necessary, imho.

Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

BDS is the only way to go. Israel is arrogantly thumbing its nose at the world, continues the building of illegal settlements, and basically has not shown ANY desire for peace. In fact Nutty their leader has stated there will be no 2SS when he is PM. So only the naive will keep buying the propaganda that it is the fault of the occupied, the Palestinians, that they suffer without any peace or freedom.

It looks like Israel has yet again, shown a preference for the status quo. How many attempts for peace talks by the US, UN and the EU have been rejected by those zionists?
We have to conclude that BDS is the only way to make Israel accountable.

Israel Rejects French Initiative to Convene International Peace Conference
Prime Minister’s Office statement calls for direct negotiations without preconditions, saying ‘any other diplomatic initiative distances the Palestinians from the table of direct negotiations.’

Barak Ravid Apr 28, 2016 3:56 PM
read more: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.716857

I agree entirely that, in the broad discourse, Jewish voices should not be “privileged” in the I/P discussion. Most of all, Jews should not sit alone in front of microphones, as they so often do. And Jews of mild-Zionist or Liberal-Zionist tendencies should not be permitted/encouraged to speak as if they were allies of Palestinians. Or as if they “understand” Palestinians. And least of all to speak “for” Palestinians.

However, a lot of the discussions on I/P are happening within Jewish communities (or so we hope) and within those communities, the label “Jewish” is a prerequisite for “voices”.

As someone who was married for 24 years to a Palestinian-American and who met (in and near Cambridge, Mass.) many Bir Zeit people there (at Harvard and MIT) for educational purposes in the 1980s, I feel I have some slight knowledge. But I know that I did not (nor did my wife) suffer under the Israeli heel, nor did I participate in discussions among Palestinians about “what should be done”. So I feel I am an ally and stick to broadcasting “the facts”, leaving it to others how the future should play out. Indeed I like the BDS demands rather more for their failure to announce a preference for 1SS or 2SS (or something else).

These things said, I think the long-standing American tendency (especially among the “polite” /and spineless, principles-less ?/ upper class and upper middle class) to say, in effect, “I cannot criticize Israel because some of my friends are Jews” — and for those people (and for many Jews, too, for the same reason) to hear “Jewish Voices” for Palestine in public (non-Jewish-community) discussion is valuable as a corrective to the idea that Jews are (or should be) in lock-step. Hearing “Jewish Voices” for Palestine “gives people permission” to change their outlook and then to speak out themselves.

As a human… Brilliant article! More please.

This goes directly to Dr. Finkelstein’s reasonable lament that there are no Palestinian organizations capable of structuring the current wave of resistance. If, and to the extent that, Palestinian voices are routinely subordinated to Jewish voices within the movement for Palestinian justice, those needed movement structures are not likely to ever materialize.

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/04/norman-finkelstein-on-sanders-the-first-intifada-bds-and-ten-years-of-unemployment/

And thank you Mondoweiss.

I can’t really agree. Participation by American Jews in the movement for justice for Palestinians is a very good thing. The more the merrier. And a movement including both Jews and Arabs is potentially more powerful than only one or the other.
Of c course, some 90+% of the US population is neither Jewish nor Arab, and the struggle to reach a tipping point will be decided in this group. I’d like to mention two such important contributions:
Mearsheimer and Walt’s book, the Israel Lobby, And Jimmy Carter’s book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid.