Phil Weiss is in for Michael Arria this week. Michael will return next week.
There’s a lot of news this week. The new Israeli government is pushing forward on settlement expansion despite surprisingly strong lip service against it from the Biden administration. And the unapologetic support for BDS from Omari Hardy, a progressive candidate for Congress in Florida, has caused a Jewish newspaper to smear him as a reincarnation of Hitler– and the Democratic Majority for Israel has leaped in to smear Hardy as an antisemite.
But let’s start with the continued outrage over Israel designating six Palestinian human rights and civil society groups as terrorist organizations.
It must be understood that as concerning as the ban is to advocates for democracy– liberal Zionists here called it “deeply repressive” — the decision comes from the heart of Israeli society, including its supposedly enlightened centrist leader, Yair Lapid, who has been embraced by liberal Zionists. The ban on the six groups “is a good decision that had to be made,” Lapid says in the Jerusalem Post.
As for the liberal members of the new Israeli government, they were embarrassed by the ban, but issued half-hearted condemnations.
The designation is a reminder that the best thing that could happen to Israel is actual democracy, in which Palestinians have equal status to Jews. “If [these groups] are terrorists, then Martin Luther King [Jr.] and Nelson Mandela are terrorists,” Ayman Odeh, the Palestinian leader, said in the Jerusalem Post.
The designation is yet another embarrassment to the Biden administration’s close relationship to the new Israeli government. State Department spokesperson Ned Price says the U.S. looks forward to discussing the respect for human rights with a special Israeli delegation that is coming to Washington today to offer secret evidence for the absurd terrorism claim.
But when asked if State would talk to the outlaw groups, Price said, “I’m not aware of any plans.”
Happily, progressive U.S. groups are stepping in to do what Biden won’t do. Saying the Israeli decision “raised alarm bells throughout the international donor community,” a number of American organizations are hosting the Palestinians human rights groups tomorrow to allow them to discuss their work.
The webinar (from 10:30 to noon EST) will be led by Lara Friedman of Foundation for Middle East Peace and Khaled Elgindy of Middle East Institute. It is sponsored by the Carter Center, Human Rights Watch, and the Center for Constitutional Rights, and features representatives from the banned organizations.
The American organizations stand by a simple democratic principle: that the U.S. policymakers hear from Palestinians!
Given the grave implications of this decision for the affected organizations as well as for Palestinian civil society more generally, including the possibility of increased repression at the hands of both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, it is critical that American decision-makers and the broader policy community in Washington have an opportunity to hear directly from the organizations themselves.
A progressive’s support for BDS is lightning rod in Florida race for Congress
BDS has become a big issue in the Democratic primary election in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to fill an open seat in Congress.
Eleven candidates are running, and Omari Hardy, a 31-year-old state representative and former middle school teacher, has been unapologetic in his support for BDS and Palestinian human rights. He tweeted:
I understand that standing up for Palestinian rights comes at a political cost. I’m fine with that. I did not run for Congress to politicize people’s human rights.
The organized Jewish community has swarmed and smeared Hardy’s campaign. The pro-Israel lobby group the Democratic Majority for Israel lately published an ad in the Jewish Journal of South Florida saying that Hardy supports an antisemitic program, BDS. The Jewish Journal has also run a piece saying “Omari Hardy must be defeated” with an original headline describing Hardy as “the Hitler of South Florida.” The smear has been removed from the headline but not from the article.
In a candidates forum held by the Jewish Democratic Council of America last week, several candidates sought to distance themselves from Hardy by strongly backing Israel and attacking the BDS campaign.
While Hardy addressed the “elephant in the room,” and his voice seemed to break as he spoke of the persecution of Palestinian children.
I also want to address the obvious elephant in the room. As an idealist, I must believe that there is nothing incompatible about supporting Israel’s right to exist and Israel’s right to defend itself and also supporting the inalienable rights of the Palestinians, which are grounded not just in their humanity but also in international law. As a black man I have asked people who are not of color to stand with me and affirm that my life matters. And what that means is that I cannot rail against a discriminatory criminal justice system in this country and ignore the fact that 5 to 700 Palestinian children are detained every year and prosecuted in military courts. I cannot decry gentrification on Sistrunk [boulevard in Fort Lauderdale] and keep my mouth closed about settlements. I can’t talk about Flint, Michigan, and keep my mouth closed about the fact that many Palestinians don’t have access to clean water. I have love in my heart for everyone here and I will maintain open dialogue with the community.
The candidates are vying to replace Alcee Hastings, who died last spring, having served 28 years in Congress. The winner of the November 2 election will be the presumptive winner of the general election in January; FL 20 is an overwhelmingly Democratic district, with a large African-American population in Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.
The race will be yet another fight between the Democratic Party establishment and the progressive base over Palestinian rights.
Alcee Hastings was “pro-Israel all day long,” says his son in this Jewish Insider piece. While Omari Hardy has stood up for Palestinian humanity by likening the BDS campaign “to nonviolent resistance movements including the fight against South African apartheid and the Montgomery bus boycott coordinated by Martin Luther King, Jr.”
There are many Jews in the district, and Jewish Insider has run condemnations of Hardy from Israel supporters in the Jewish community. As it did in a special election for Congress in Ohio in August, Democratic Majority for Israel is seeking to mobilize the Jewish community against a progressive by focusing on Israel. “The Florida Democratic Party Jewish Caucus said it ‘opposes the election of Omari Hardy because of his positions on (..) fundamental issues’,” the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has said. Those “fundamental issues” are BDS and Iron Dome.
Hardy gave an interview to Alex Kane of Jewish Currents and said he initially opposed BDS as supposedly antisemitic, and then he spoke to the Palestinian scholar George Bisharat.
Early on, all I knew was that folks who I found to be credible, folks who were otherwise very progressive, felt that BDS was antisemitic. And not having done much inquiry into the substance of the matter myself, I took them at their word. Unfortunately, that became my position.
After I took that position in a forum—when I was asked, “Do I support BDS, yes or no?”—I had a conversation with Palestinian American attorney George Bisharat, who made very clear to me that my opposition to BDS was inconsistent with my progressive values as I applied them in every other case. And it dawned on me that by opposing BDS, I was being a hypocrite. How can I, as a Black man, ask white people to stand in solidarity with me and affirm that “Black Lives Matter,” while simultaneously refusing to stand in solidarity with Palestinians, as they use nonviolent protest methods to draw attention to the fact that their human rights are being violated and to encourage the government that’s violating their human rights to do better? How can I expect solidarity with me, while refusing solidarity with others, whose issues are the same as mine? That’s hypocrisy.
During the candidates forum last week, Hardy said he supported continued military aid to Israel, but opposed the Iron Dome special funding. He also noted that support for Palestinian human rights is “controversial.” Hardy:
I have no problem with fulfilling our agreement of the 3.8 billion of aid provided that that aid is conditioned on insuring that Israel respects the human rights of the Palestinian people which are grounded in international law. I understand that is a controversial view in some areas but I believe that it comports with our shared values.
I do not support the additional $1 billion specifically for the Iron Dome. It’s not because I don’t support the Iron Dome or it’s not because I don’t support Israel’s right to defend itself… It’s a matter of who and how this self-defense should be financed. Israel is capable of funding this additional expenditure on its own. Certainly given that we’ve already provided $500 millio to the Iron Dome earlier this year.
I believe we should continue humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.
By contrast, a frontrunner in the race, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, said she wants to up the amount of aid going to Israel from the U.S. because of the Taliban taking over Afghanistan.
A Jewish voice for BDS in Florida
The Jewish establishment targeting of Hardy has been countered by Martha Schoolman, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace South Florida, and a professor at Florida International University, who wrote a piece for the Sun-Sentinel describing support for BDS inside the Jewish community.
BDS, a peaceful protest movement that demands an end to Palestinian dehumanization, has significant Jewish support inside and outside of Israel, if not necessarily among the Orthodox rabbis and Jewish Federation presidents who tend to be featured in the pages of this newspaper.
The actual fact of Jewish BDS support is important to understand because it is so frequently denied by our self-appointed spokespeople. It is of course the case that the current Israeli government, which stands firmly against Palestinian rights, is not pleased with the growing popularity and influence of BDS.
A progressive statement condemns the attacks on Hardy
A coalition of progressive groups calling itself the Florida Palestine Network (including Dream Defenders, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, Florida Young Democrats, Young Democrats of America Muslim Caucus, and the DSA steering committee of Orlando) issued a statement defending Hardy’s stance on BDS. These groups say the attacks are in a tradition of attacks on people of color for their support for the marginalized.
“These ongoing attacks are offensive, dangerous, and misconstrued in the harshest of ways,” the coalition said, citing the Hitler smear. More from that statement:
State Rep. Omari Hardy is a deeply valued member of the progressive and human rights movement in Florida. His voice has been critical in the Florida House. He has fought relentlessly, advocating with persistence against harmful legislation such as the Combating Public Disorder Bill, the anti-protest bill that was signed into law this year.
Black and brown community leaders have long been disparaged for their unshakable stances on freedom for the most marginalized, including their intersectional fight for a free Palestine: free from land theft, free from home demolitions, and free from subjugation to assault and violence. The recent casting of Hardy as anti-semitic in relation to his statements and convictions on the Black Lives Matter movement along with the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement are deliberate attacks on his stance on the right to boycott, participate in civil disobedience, and act with bold conviction. BDS is a freedom struggle and a Palestinian-led global movement that fights for freedom, justice and equality and against Israeli apartheid.
Odds and Ends
This is sweet. Seven Republicans on the Senate committee that is in charge of Nutrition have demanded access to ice cream! They wrote Unilever a letter calling on the company to reverse a Ben & Jerry’s boycott of the occupied territories set to take place next year. The letter cites BDS: The Ben & Jerry’s boycott “will undoubtedly embolden BDS supporters and could have unintended consequences.”
Israel lobby at work
The famous “normalization” deals that began under the Trump administration and that Biden is continuing are in some large measure an effort by the U.S. to use its economic and diplomatic power to coerce/bribe small countries into supporting Israel. That pressure is sometimes explicit. William Daroff, the head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, was in Israel last week and pushed the normalization deals as a way to get U.S. “benefits” and “dividends.” He spoke on i24 News:
I’m very pleased with Secretary Blinken’s affirmation of the administration’s support for the Abraham Accords…. Having this focus by the United States and by the government here I think will pay great dividends in insuring that this normalization of Israel continues to occur, that people see, and governments see the great benefits that can flow from having a normal relationship with Israel, on the technology level, on medicine, on innovation and trade and other ways that Israel can help the world and that those other countries can help Israel.
A new WCRC resource on Israeli settler-colonialism
The World Communion of Reform Churches had released a new resource on the Palestine question. Titled “Focus: Palestine,” the materials characterize Israel as a settler-colonialist project, say that decolonization is the only way forward, and explain the nonviolent and moral nature of the BDS campaign. The WCRC is an umbrella group of 180 denominations round the world, of which the Presbyterian Church (USA) is one.
Rep. Ritchie Torres has another pro-Israel date
Ritchie Torres knows his lane! The congressperson from the Bronx who staked a pro-Israel stance to get elected is appearing at a December event on antisemitism (meaning anti-Zionism) with the Israeli ambassador to the U.N., Gilad Erdan.
Friedman Watch
Tom Friedman is up to his old tricks, this time suggesting that future deals in which Israel and Jordan trade water for solar-generated power will somehow defuse the Palestine issue. It never ends!
The ethnic cleansing of North America
The genocide of Native Americans is featured in a New York Times article by Thomas Fuller about a controversy over whether a California law school should change its name.
For the past four years, the University of California, Hastings College of the Law has been investigating the role of its founder, Serranus Hastings, in one of the darkest, yet least discussed, chapters of the state’s history. Mr. Hastings, one of the wealthiest men in California in that era and the state’s first chief justice, masterminded one set of massacres.
Hastings’ militias killed 283 Yuki men women and children, the article says. And the episode is “not taught in California schools.”
Much of the piece resonates with the Palestinian Nakba of 1948-49 carried out by Israeli forces and militias:
Across Northern California — north of Napa’s vineyards, along the banks of the Russian River and in numerous other places from deserts to redwood groves — as many as 5,617 Native people, and perhaps more whose deaths were not recorded, were massacred by officially sanctioned militias and U.S. troops from the 1840s to the 1870s, campaigns often initiated by white settlers like Mr. Hastings who wanted to use the land for their own purposes.
The article featured this genocidal lithograph from Harper’s magazine at the time.
