Brant Rosen
“I’ve come to believe that solidarity should ultimately be driven by values, not tribal allegiances. It should be motivated by the prophetic vision that demands that we stand with the powerless and call out the powerful. Of course, in the case of Israel, this form of solidarity presents a very painful challenge to many Jews. I understand that. But at the very least, shouldn’t we be talking about this challenge and what it represents for us?“
That’s one choice quote from an exceptional interview with Rabbi Brant Rosen, author of Wrestling in the Daylight: A Rabbi’s Path to Palestinian Solidarity. Rosen discusses the two state solution, Palestinian solidarity, apartheid and more with Truthout’s Mark Karlin.
Rabbi Rosen doesn’t shy away from controversy and has been discussing BDS for years. He keeps pushing the envelope.
Mark Karlin: Can you expand upon your viewpoint toward the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement (BDS) in relation to Israel? For so many Jews, this is akin to crossing the line into making Israel into a pariah.
Brant Rosen: I realize that boycotts conjure up hot-button memories for Jews, but once we accept that Israel is the overwhelmingly powerful party in the equation, I think we can see the BDS movement for what it is and what it isn’t. BDS is not a weapon of the powerful against the powerless, a la the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses in 1930s Germany. The Palestinian BDS call is more accurately akin to the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the American civil rights movement or the divestment movement against South African apartheid. It is a form of nonviolent direct action directed by an oppressed people who seek popular support for their liberation.
The Palestinian BDS movement was founded in 2005 by a coalition of Palestinian civil society groups motivated by Israel’s continued refusal to comply with international law in any number of instances – and the unwillingness of international political powers to hold them to account. In other words, in the absence of political pressure to change this inequitable equation, Palestinian civil society is seeking to leverage people power.
Yes, it is enormously painful for many Jews to see Israel targeted in this way. But if Israel is becoming a pariah, that’s due largely to its own actions. Defenders of Israel complain that BDS delegitimizes Israel; I’d say that, up until now, Israel has been doing a very good job of delegitimizing itself. Israel simply cannot consider itself to be “the only democracy in the Middle East” if it insists on implementing policies that put it on the road toward apartheid.
We recommend the entire interview.
(Hat tip Esther Riley)
just thought i’d add that. the interview is a keeper
Go Rabbi Rosen! Keep on marching.
“Yes, it is enormously painful for many Jews to see Israel targeted in this way. But if Israel is becoming a pariah, that’s due largely to its own actions. ”
So true. As for the Jews who continue to support Israel or for those that don’t/ can’t admit what it is and speak out against it all I can say is…..No Pain No Gain babycakes….you gotta choose for the long term…pay now or pay more later.
>> … it seems increasingly likely that it’s going to come down to a choice between two one-state solutions – that is, a choice between a Jewish apartheid state or a state of all its citizens. On this score, I would support the latter over the former without hesitation – and I would challenge anyone who purports to cherish liberal values to say they feel otherwise.
Zio-supremacists f*cked things up nicely.
Rather than envision and try to realize Israel as a secular, democratic and egalitarian state of and for all Israelis, equally – a state within whose framework secular Jewish ethnicity and character could flourish and be embraced by both Jewish and non-Jewish Israelis – they have lied, stolen, fought, destroyed and killed to create and maintain Israel as an oppressive, colonialist, expansionist and supremacist state for Jews (and f*ck everyone else).
The former state could have been sustainable – it would certainly have been the more just and moral construct – while the latter, it seems, is doomed to fail.
Reading both of today’s posts by Annie (this one & “Living Under Drones”) brings to mind the fact that never before has humanity been held hostage by so few, bent as these few are on the do as we say or die. These few, of course, being the Israelis and their U.S. backers – in their occupation of Palestine that’s based on the falsehood about a land without a people for a people without a land. Give up on that one and the seemingly impossible comes into being. Persist in it & risk doomsday. And, yes, the implication here is that what happens re: P/I affects other parts of the Arab/Islamic world, including but not limited to Afghanistan/Pakistan/Iraq.
[I don’t know where to put this but Mondoweiss readers can claim to have heard it first.]
[Notice what “transmission” they are conderned about.]
Orthodox Jews sue New York City over new circumcision rule
Jewish groups try to block new rule requiring parental consent in order for a mohel, or ritual circumciser, to use direct oral-genital suction.
By Reuters | Oct.11, 2012 | 11:06 PM
Orthodox Jewish groups sued New York City on Thursday to try to block a new rule requiring parental consent for a circumcision ritual in which the circumciser uses his mouth to draw blood from the baby’s penis.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, says the regulation is unconstitutional and violates religious freedom by targeting a Jewish ritual.
The rule, adopted unanimously by the New York City Board of Health last month, is aimed at reducing the risk that infants will contract herpes from the ancient ritual.
Using oral suction to take blood from the area of the circumcision wound is common in some of New York’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities.
At least 11 boys caught herpes from the practice between 2004 and 2011, according to city health officials. Two of them died from the disease and two others suffered brain damage, they said.
Under the rule, parents must sign a consent form that says the health department advises that “direct oral suction should not be performed” because of the risk of contracting herpes.
The lawsuit says the city’s conclusion that the ritual increases the risk of herpes is based on a flawed analysis and is not statistically sound.
“That opinion is based on limited study, inaccurate assumptions, and deficient data, all of which remain actively debated within medical and scientific communities,” it says.
City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley defended the regulation.
“The city’s highest obligation is to protect its children; therefore, it is important that parents know the risks associated with the practice,” he said in a statement.
The plaintiffs include the Central Rabbinical Congress of the United States and Canada, the International Bris Association and several individual circumcisers, known as mohelim.
They want a judge to issue an injunction suspending the regulation.
The lawsuit says it violates the right to free speech because “the government cannot compel the transmission of messages that the speaker does not want to express.”
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/orthodox-jews-sue-new-york-city-over-new-circumcision-rule-1.469536