Mira Sucharov, a liberal Zionist writer who teaches political science at Carleton University, is set to debate Goliath author Max Blumenthal tomorrow night at the University of Ottawa. The question:
Can Israel exist as both Jewish and democratic?
Braintwister!
In the meantime, Sucharov has published a piece in the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin calling for an open debate between Zionists and their critics. It is titled, “Values, Ethics, Community: ‘I am concerned that a chill factor is setting into our communities’”. Excerpt:
[W]hile I am frequently critical of Israeli policies, I still believe Israel can be saved from itself…. I believe helping Israel end the occupation is therefore a moral imperative for the Diaspora Jewish community.
Unlike those on the far left, though, I believe that, without prejudicing the lives of citizens within a given state, every country has the right to define its identity as it sees fit. And, as a Jew who was raised with Zionist narratives and feels a deep emotional connection to Israel, I admit a certain subjective attachment to the idea of maintaining a Jewish and democratic state.
If we cannot engage in dialogue with those we disagree with politically – assuming basic standards of decency are being respected (meaning no hate, no racism, no Islamophobia and no anti-Semitism) – then what do we, as human beings, have left?
Just one chilly little problem. The Ottawa Jewish Bulletin apparently didn’t want to mention Sucharov’s debate with Max Blumenthal because the event is sponsored by Independent Jewish Voices, which supports boycott. Blumenthal also supports BDS.
And Sucharov went along with the censorship, she says in tweeting the piece:
When my draft was returned for mentioning my May 22 debate w/ Max Blumenthal (bc IJV sponsor) I wrote this instead. http://t.co/bpsFb0WCc5
— Mira Sucharov (@sucharov) May 9, 2014
Sucharov also tweets that “Shul won’t let me put up a poster,” for the debate– though she took the photograph from the street that runs atop this post.
Some day 20 years from now people will read this and not believe it actually happened. The most educated, privileged, affluent group on the continent, and its official bodies stoppered their ears.
This should be a good debate. Pity the Ottawa Jewish Journal doesn’t see it that way. I hope it gets covered here.
>> Can Israel exist as both Jewish and democratic?
Sure. Here are a couple of options:
– Expel or kill all non-Jewish Israelis, or force them to undergo a religious conversion to Judaism.
– Make Jewish the bureaucratic nationality of all citizens of, immigrants to and ex-pats and refugees from Israel.
Voilà! You have a Jewish and democratic state. :-)
But what if you don’t want to do these things. What if you just want Israel to be a “Jewish State” with minorities in it. Can it still be Jewish and democratic? Sure, if your definition of democracy includes preferential laws for Jewish Israelis and non-Israeli Jews.
“Some day 20 years from now people will read this and not believe it actually happened. The most educated, privileged, affluent group on the continent, and its official bodies stoppered their ears.”
Well, no. Not “their ears”.
They tried to stop the ears of their members, of the Jewish community. Maybe of a wider community that might have learned of the debate had the advertisements and article not been denied a place. (BTW, did you know that people with these attitudes have actually tried to prevent “sex education” in schools lest the children learn accurately about sex in school — instead of from their loving but often straight-laced parents and from their don’t-know-much friends.)
This whole experience may end up being an eye-opener for Prof. Sucharov. Good luck, Max. Hope it gets up on the web in video format. Once again – wish I could be there.
A liberal Zionist writer crying? So what. A “liberal Zionist” is someone who does not shoot Palestinians themselves. Wrapped in endless talking.
She writes a chill factor is setting into our communities. That is: Jewish communities only. She does not spend a single word on those she that are on the receiving end of her “political science”: Palestinians. Are Palestinians to wait until Jewish communities have talked a solution?
Mira Sucharov, in “political science”, writes These Israel critics believe … . They believe, instead [sic], that … They also believe … Neither [sic] do they believe that … (Read this again. Utter nonsense). A political statement is a “belief”? She is not a “teacher” in “political science”. She is a politician.