Emma Watson
This week the British actress Emma Watson shared an Instagram story that showed a picture of a pro-Palestine rally and the text, “Solidarity is a verb.”
This might seem like an innocuous gesture to someone unfamiliar with how these things work, but of course nothing involving Palestine can ever be viewed as harmless and public figures who express sympathy for Palestinians can expect to face backlash.
Watson is an immensely popular figure on account of the Harry Potter films (she has over 64 million Instagram followers) so it’s no surprise that the response was immediate. “Fiction may work in Harry Potter but it does not work in reality,” tweeted Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan. “If it did, the magic used in the wizarding world could eliminate the evils of Hamas (which oppresses women and seeks the annihilation of Israel) and the PA (which supports terror). I would be in favor of that!”
“10 points from Gryffindor for being an antisemite,” tweeted Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon.
Act.IL, the anti-BDS app partially funded by the Israeli government, is encouraging users to criticize Watson across social media: “COMMENT on Twitter to enlighten Emma Watson on Israel’s reality and let her and the world know that Hamas, a terrorist organization, is the true enemy, both for Palestinians and for Israelis.”
A headline at The Guardian declares that Watson has sparked an “antisemitism row”, but that’s pretty misleading. As the Electronic Intifada‘s Asa Winstanley points out, “There is no ‘row’ — this is purely and simply an anti-Palestinian smear campaign by an Israeli official. You could hardly get a more clear cut case of a maliciously false accusation of anti-Semitism to attack solidarity with Palestinians than this one by Israel’s former UN ambassador.”
Even members of the mainstream media can see through all this. “No joke, we are at the point where merely posting a vague picture referencing solidarity with Palestinians on Instagram gets you labeled as an antisemite,” tweeted MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin.
Em Hilton has a compelling and concise post at Tribune about the Danon smear:
Danon’s post might have been absurd in its sheer and immediate overreach, but it was a logical extension of a process that seeks to render the very existence of Palestinians antisemitic, let alone displays of solidarity with them. This process has been at the heart of the strategy pursued by apologists of Israeli occupation for years.
At a time when public awareness of and support for Palestinian liberation is gaining significant momentum, the use of a blunt instrument like an accusation of antisemitism has become an effective tool to silence Palestinian solidarity. This is particularly true when it comes to silencing progressive social movements which draw links between Palestinian solidarity and other forms of anti-racism within a broader racial justice framework. Deeming Palestinian identity, imagery, history, and heritage an existential threat to Jews is used to shield Israel from any kind of meaningful scrutiny or accountability for its brutal human rights abuses.
At Novara Media Rivkah Brown has a post arguing that the Watson fiasco proves that Palestinians are winning:
Here we come to the heart of the matter. Many celebrities have, in fact, expressed solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Admittedly, many of these expressions have been made during wartime, when commenting feels more justifiable – and even then, many celebrities have retracted or worse, publicly regretted their support: Kendall Jenner, Paris Hilton and Rihanna have all deleted pro-Palestine posts (“I stand with humanity!” professed the singer in a later statement), while Mark Ruffalo was forced to eat the same shit as Penelope Cruz and co.
What feels significant about Watson’s post is not just that it was unprompted by any current events or that, at the time of writing, it remains published. It’s that Watson has come to embody a particular brand of toothless progressivism that would normally run a mile from a Palestinian flag. For years, pro-Israel advocates have expended immense effort to make Palestine the most toxic of political causes, to the extent that the very sight of Palestinian flags can invite charges of antisemitism. Then along comes the most squeaky clean of Hollywood starlets, waving one.
The GOP and the Two-State Solution
The two-state solution used to be a hollow catch-all consistently cited by politicians from both parties. “The day will come when the map of the Middle East shows a peaceful, secure Israel beside a peaceful and democratic Palestine,” declared George W. Bush upon leaving office.
Most Democrats have clung to this vision regardless of how disconnected from reality it’s become. The United States government allows Israel to terrorize Palestinians, demolish their homes, confiscate their land, and often kill them. They’re even happy to foot the bill. You can criticize all this, but your conclusion is always supposed to be the same: platitudes about “both sides” and some eventual, far-off peace.
We’ve seen this narrative crack a little bit on the liberal side, but it’s falling apart much more rapidly on the right–where the positions of actual lawmakers is shifting. These people also believe in one country, but it’s obviously not a democratic one where Palestinians are free. Their vision involves Israel controlling everything and stomping out any hope for Palestine.
Take a look at the upcoming Senate race in Ohio. Jewish Insider sent a questionnaire to the six candidates vying for the GOP nomination. Only one of them said they support a two-state solution, former state party chair Jane Timken. However, here’s an absolutely amazing kicker here. While she claims to support two states, Timken also says that Israel has the “right to annex portions of the West Bank.”
“I will support meaningful efforts to bring a lasting peace to the region,” businessman Bernie Moreno told the website, “but I will never pressure Israel to make compromises or concessions that threaten the security of the Jewish State.”
“If there’s use in creating another state for the Arabs in the region, and our allies want that to happen, I’m not going to stand in the way,” noted author and huckster J.D. Vance, “But I don’t like our country using its leverage to bully Israel to do something against its sovereignty.”
Former state treasurer and enthusiastic bigot Josh Mandel predictably had the strongest response: “The Palestinians are not interested in peace or a two-state solution. They are interested in pushing the Jews into the sea.”
As the GOP position on this issue becomes more extreme, it becomes clearer how untenable the standard Democratic stance is.
Odds & Ends
?? Palestinian prisoner Hisham Abu Hawash is ending his hunger strike after 141 days. His attorneys announced that Israel has agreed not to renew Hawash’s administrative detention. Rep. Rashida Tlaib on Twitter:
Hisham Abu Hawash – married father of 5, held without a scrap of evidence, trial, or even a court hearing (in violation of int’l law) since October 2020. On hunger strike for 140+ days. The gov’t of Israel alone is responsible for this situation and his health and safety.
Secretary of State Blinken must demand an end to Israel’s practice of holding Palestinians living under apartheid in detention without representation, fair trial, or even a shred of due process in violation of int’l law & their human rights/liberties.
Speaking of Tlaib, she announced that she will run for reelection in Michigan’s 12th Congressional District, which was just redrawn. She currently represents the 13th.
? Three GOP members of the Senate Banking Committee want the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Ben & Jerry’s parent company, Unilever. Senators Thom Tillis, John Kennedy, and Tim Scott claim that Unilever intentionally misled its investors when it announced it would stop selling ice cream in land illegally occupied by Israel.
?? Last month Mike Pompeo delivered virtual remarks at the annual Zionist Organization of America’s gala, where he accepted the hilariously-titled Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson Defender of Israel Award. The former Secretary of State referred to Trump’s Middle East policy as “The Pompeo Doctrine”, perhaps indicating that he plans to run for president next election. He also denied that Israel was occupying any Palestinian land.
? In November a Palestinian Day of Solidarity was held in Philadelphia. At the event Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney delivered a proclamation in solidarity with the Palestinians. I spoke with one of the local organizers who helped make it happen, Jude Husein on the Mondoweiss podcast. Please subscribe!
?? A new report from B’Tselem shows that 2021 was the deadliest year for Palestinians since 2014.
In 2021, Israeli security forces killed 313 Palestinians, including 71 minors: 236 in the Gaza Strip, 232 of them during Operation Guardian of the Walls; and 77 in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem). Three other Palestinians were killed either by armed settlers or by soldiers who were escorting them; another Palestinian minor was shot by an Israeli civilian and later by Border Police officers; and two Palestinians were killed by armed settlers.
Nine Israeli civilians, including two minors, were killed by Palestinians, six of them by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip during Operation Guardian of the Walls. Three foreign nationals were also killed by rockets. Two members of the Israeli security forces were killed by Palestinians.
?? A New York Times investigation details how U.S. military consistently dismissed allegations of civilian casualties over flawed evidence:
An analysis of confidential Pentagon documents by The Times’s Visual Investigations unit found that a number of allegations of civilian casualties had been dismissed as “noncredible” based on flawed reviews of evidence — oversights that Times reporters were able to detect using resources widely available to the public. That included websites like Google Maps and Wikimapia, a crowdsourced mapping platform. Typically, U.S. military assessors have access to far more robust resources, such as strike logs and video feeds of airstrikes.
?? At Tom Dispatch Nick Turse details how great “The War on Terror” has been for terror groups.
?? At Electronic Intifada Nora Barrows-Friedman has a good round-up of 2021 BDS victories.
?? #Africa4Palestine Board Member Professor Farid Esack on the death of Archbishop Desmond Tutu:
We and the Palestinians have lost an indomitable fighter, a courageous leader and a moral icon without equal. We are bereft of a prophet who consistently warned against ideas of cheap peace which may come without justice. I am immensely grateful for having travelled and worked with the Archbishop in the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa, in solidarity with the Palestinians against Israeli occupation and in supporting various other causes. His boundless love, his wit and humour and his unflinching and principled commitment to a better world will always inspire us.
Stay safe out there,
Michael
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“Danon’s post might have been absurd in its sheer and immediate overreach, but it was a logical extension of a process that seeks to render the very existence of Palestinians antisemitic, let alone displays of solidarity with them. This process has been at the heart of the strategy pursued by apologists of Israeli occupation for years.”
Well said! Consider that twenty years ago domestic American Zionism was publicly put on the defensive in the debate over Merriam-Webster’s infamous definition of antisemitism:
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (unabridged)
Anti-Semitism
1: hostility toward Jews as a religious or racial minority group often accompanied by social, political or economic discrimination.
2: opposition to Zionism.
3: sympathy with the opponents of the state of Israel.
As I see it, the subsequent IHRA “definition” of antisemitism was fabricated specifically to maintain the substance of Merriam-Webster’s admittedly false/inaccurate definition of antisemitism (Merriam-Webster itself categorized it as a “relic”) while camouflaging its problematic (for Zionism) straightforwardness.
American lexicography has historically been associated with the descriptive school meaning it is committed to recording/reflecting how language is actually used in a society. This is why quality dictionaries supply examples of usage. Less honest, autocratic or ideologically-driven dictionaries are said to be prescriptive which is to say they do not record how people use or understand a word or term but rather how some authority attempts to dictate how it is to used.
Sadly, Emma Watson and legions of other innocent, moral, well-meaning people who wish to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people are regularly accused by Zionists of committing a socially and politically reprehensible act that no one, not even Zionists, can rationally define.
Think about that.
This ambiguity is no accident because ambiguity always serves Zionism. The last thing organized Zionism wants to see emerge is a logical, rational, comprehensible definition of the term “antisemitism”. Such a definition would strip Zionists of a most valuable asset: the ability of any Zionist anywhere to stop, stall, challenge, upend or reverse any discussion of Palestine or any subject related to Israel or Zionism.
Think about that.
(cont.)
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A visiting professor I once had the pleasure of studying under at Georgetown University, Dr. Elana Shohami of Tel Aviv University frequently said: “All propaganda shares a single feature: it is always purposeful.”
Consider just one current example of such purposefulness: the case of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) a website dedicated to dehumanizing Palestinians and misinterpreting Palestinian films, print media, television and newspaper coverage. What is PMW specific service to Zionism? It reinforces the Zionist deceit that “opposition to Zionism” is intrinsic to everything the PLO/Palestinian media produces (which is surely true) and since “ “opposition to Zionism” is, well, antisemitic, therefore the PLO and all of Palestinian society and its allies are … antisemitic (which is surely untrue). PMW serves no other purpose except as a perverse logic loop for political Zionism’s desperate effort to subvert American lexicography.
Another feature of PMW is to interpret every poster printed or reprinted by any Palestinian artist, faction or supporter that features a map of historic Palestine as prima facie evidence of a secret Palestinian plan to “erase” Israel. The fact that Palestinians consider the historic map of their homeland to be, well, historic, is for Zionists incontrovertible evidence that they mean to eradicate Israel completely and drive all Israelis into the sea, which is what the Zionists did to the Palestinians in 1948.
And each time PMW publishes one of its deliberate misinterpretations of Palestine posters it creates another publicly published “node” which Zionist-leaning lexicographers, politicians, MSM, universities, publishers and other collaborationist institutions to can refer to in order to justify either the adoption of the IHRA or engage in some other anti-Palestinian activity.
Think about that.
Another professor of mine, an anthropologist, ended every class by saying out loud: “Remember, communication is much more than just language”
Q: Is it antisemitic according to IHRA to bring up this subject or to fail to bring it up?
View here 17 Palestine posters misinterpreted by PMW