This week Israel did the unconscionable and shut down the offices of seven Palestinian human rights groups that are doing valiant work in the occupied territory.
People ask why Israel would do such a thing, and the simple answer is Zionism. The ideology of the Jewish state is maintained today by propaganda about democracy, and the only thing to burst the bubble is the experience of 7 million or so Palestinians under supposedly democratic rule. So anyone who documents the reality of apartheid must be gotten out of the way, by the destruction of their reputations, as terrorists. Because Israel only knows how to fight violent Palestinian resistance. It can’t deal with truthtellers.
No, Zionists are losing the battle of delegitimization worldwide, because any one with eyes can tell that Jewish nationalism is incompatible with democracy.
The seven groups will not go away. Look at the calm of Sahar Francis of Addameer as she promises the organizations will carry on. “Of course Addameer and all the other Palestinian organizations will continue in our work in supporting the Palestinian people and defending the Palestinians’ rights in the international arenas especially in front of the International Criminal Court.”
The ultimate political question here is an American one, though. The Biden administration gave the green light to Israel by never condemning its fascistic designation of the human rights groups over the last year. And the liberal Zionist group J Street seemed to script the Biden administration on Thursday, by refusing to condemn the action, merely expressing that emptiest word, “concern,” and calling on Israel to produce the evidence, which does not exist (as countless European countries attest).
But that’s what American Zionists do. They make sure that the White House is supporting the Israeli government, no matter what Israel is doing. Joe Biden is a Zionist, and if there is any doubt where the Democratic Party stands, Florida Congressman Ted Deutch, a leading figure on the House Foreign Affairs Committee who is about to head the Israel lobby group the American Jewish Committee, met with the Israeli Defense minister on the day of the raids to express America’s “ironclad” support for Israel.
The good news this week is that Israeli atrocities stir the conscience of lovers of freedom, and some American politicians spoke out. Rep. Cori Bush called the raids “horrifying” and said the President “must immediately condemn this latest repression of Palestinian civil society.” Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Boston has been heroic in her opposition to the “baseless accusations.” So have Andre Carson, Betty McCollum, and Chuy Garcia.
Jim McGovern of Massachusetts also stood up to Israel. He was “deeply disturbed” by the action– not “concerned,” as his usual friends, the liberal Zionists, are — and called on the State Department to “unambiguously condemn this latest persecution of human rights & humanitarian groups in the West Bank.”
And Hadar Susskind of Americans for Peace Now also said the U.S. must condemn the “persecution.” There is no evidence, Susskind said.
For too long we have talked about the crisis of Zionism — a conflict in the American Jewish soul between an ideology of Jewish liberation born in Europe and the facts on the ground of unending Palestinian ethnic cleansing and apartheid. That crisis has only been prolonged by the two-state solution, the delusion that Israel would accept part of the land for the Jewish state and allow Palestinian sovereignty over the rest.
Crises need to come to a head. The young Jews who see Zionism for its products, racism and apartheid, need to join with the progressive groups calling for BDS. Hopefully, this horrifying week in Palestine has moved that American discussion forward. We are playing our part.
