From the Forward, a vile statement by a “liberal” equating the struggle for equal rights for a minority with “genocide.” It’s a piece on the group Jewish Voice for Peace, headed by Rebecca Vilkomerson.
“It is troubling that Judaism and support for Israel have become so inextricably linked,” Vilkomerson said at the New York event. “We are trying to create a space in the Jewish world where we can express our criticism as Jews without needing to apologize for ourselves.”
That is a distinction that even many liberals do not embrace….Ben Cohen, a writer who has focused on American Jewish responses to Israel, [says], “But it is clear that many of their members dream about one state, and for those of us under the communal tent, one state is a code word for genocide.”
Who is Ben Cohen? It says here he is the Associate Director of Communications for the American Jewish Committee. Why is Adam Horowitz not quoted in that article? Or Max Blumenthal? Or Antony Loewenstein? Or Naomi Klein? Or Norman Finkelstein? Or Donna Nevel? Or Jane Hirshmann? Or Lillian Rosengarten? Or Gail Miller? Or Anna Baltzer?
Do you understand what the Forward is doing here? Do you see whom they have granted a platform? Newspapers make choices all the time. I challenge the Forward not to grant such a platform to fear and hatred, I challenge it to make room for non-Zionist voices, and to have a forum to debate whether even notioning one-state is genocide.
Also, it is true I focus on that communal tent. Why? Because my community is so blinded, because my community is so powerful, because my community has licensed grave grave human-rights violations against a disempowered community that it is now utterly fearful of, because I believe that by helping my community awaken to its true relationship to the world outside, I can help Palestinians. Because my family is in that community and I love my family.
I was directed to the Cohen statement by Max Blumenthal. I’m grateful for all he has done for our site today.
