Yesterday Weiss did a post expressing surprise that liberal Brooklyn rabbis Ellen Lippman and Andy Bachman are urging Brooklynites to buy products made in the West Bank at an illegal settlement! Barry Weiss, a California activist (and no relation), says Weiss is naive:
I do not know why this surprises you. Since I live in LA, I know nothing of these “liberal rabbis” in Brooklyn, but we have plenty of them in the Reform community in LA, nay even terming themselves as “progressive.” And they are progressive on issues such as labor, immigration, environment, capital punishment, etc. But almost to a man/woman is is Am Yisroel Chai. (The People of Israel live!) They say they feel for the plight of the Palestinians, but when it comes to any real challenge to the status quo, such as BDS in any form, they are not to be found. Their voices during the Lebanon and Gaza invasions were there in mild, but very mild, criticism. They spend most of their time on the Middle East “reaching out to our Muslim brothers.” I must say they are very supportive of Muslim groups and Islamic mosques when it comes to anti-Muslim discrimination. But, there is an unstated and sometimes stated price for these folks to pay, which is “be gentle on Israel, be critical of certain measures, such as house demolitions, but be understanding in general.”
Since I work with the same Muslim groups, going back several years ago I found their deference to their “liberal Jewish friends who are so supportive of us” to be very frustrating. But, fortunately, these are not foolish people and they have now seen the ploy. As a result, while interfaith dialogue between liberal Jewish clergy and Muslims still exists, it is pretty much window dressing and Muslim groups are much more outspoken on Palestinian issues. But, in conclusion, liberal/progressive Jewish clergy in the LA area set back support for Palestinian rights like Wiesenthal Center, ADL and AIPAC never could; and I believe that was their role.
