A truly opportune moment is staring Jewish communities around the world straight in the eye. Israel’s recent election results are challenging anyone who has blindly supported Israel. That blind support is about to be challenged like never before. Either Jewish communities confirm their values at this moment or risk losing their connection to true Tikkun Olam (Hebrew for ‘repair the world). Acting for Palestinian emancipation from Israeli military occupation must be the centerpiece of this effort.
As Benjamin Netanyahu attempts to assemble the next government, his coalition partners are cause for serious concern; they are fascists, even by many Israelis’ definition. Blind support of Israel has now caught up with Jewish communities everywhere. They must decide—to remain in total support of Israel even as these outright racist elements take control of significant ministries or stand up and finally save Israel from itself by reorienting the conversation to the core existential threat that Israel is facing, its oppression of Palestinians.
I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would point to Abe Foxman, the past Anti-Defamation League leader and one of American Jewry’s leading mainstream leaders for decades, as a guiding light, but he has become just that. Mr. Foxman’s recent Jerusalem Post interview broke the taboo – conditionally loving Israel is Kosher.
“I never thought that I would reach that point where I would say that my support of Israel is conditional,” Foxman said in the interview. “I’ve always said that [my support of Israel] is unconditional, but it’s conditional. I don’t think that it’s a horrific condition to say: ‘I love Israel and I want to love Israel as a Jewish and democratic state that respects pluralism.’”
A case can be made that Israel was never truly “Jewish,” “democratic,” or a state that “respects pluralism.”
There is nothing “Jewish” about displacing an entire people, creating a refugee population, militarily occupying five million people, putting Gaza under the hermetic seal of collective punishment, demolishing homes, uprooting trees, murdering journalists, arbitrarily arresting Palestinians, bargaining in dead bodies, and so on. The list is long and has nothing “Jewish” about it.
There is nothing “democratic” about a state that has legislated over 65 laws that structurally discriminate against its non-Jewish citizens. If that were not bad enough, the state subcontracts (and funds) key parts of its mandate to quasi-governmental agencies, such as the Jewish National Fund (JNF), to carry out its dirty work.
Nothing is respecting “pluralism” in a society hell-bent on Jewish supremacy believing that it can create an enlightened Apartheid.
But put all those aside for another day.
Today, a Jewish American mainstream leader has allowed the taboo to be broken. It is now normal to condition your support to Israel. For Mr. Foxman, “Jewish,” “democratic,” and “pluralism” are his red lines.
But other Jews around the world, more progressive ones, can have their own red lines too, such as Israel ending its 55-year-old military occupation. Unlike Mr. Foxman’s red lines, this red line would also save Israel from itself as it embarks on the most racist government since its founding.
There is a way out.
There are many Palestinians, such as me, who understand the sensitivity and difficulty of the moment. Although we have been warning you that Israel is heading off a cliff, we will be here to help you do the right thing. We may point you to past messages, like in the article Listen Up, My Jewish Cousins and Jews of the world, disunite…in Israel!. This is not to embarrass you but rather to show you that this moment has been in the works for many decades.
Israeli filmmakers have also tried to impress on you the devastating path Israel has been heading down; through documentaries like Incitement (2019) and The Settlers (2016). In America, the recently released film Boycott (2021) by Just Vision, where I serve as a board member, shockingly explains why the U.S. political system has been hijacked on the issue of Palestine. Even a Palestinian citizen of Israel recently documented what life has been like for Palestinians living on both sides of the infamous Green Line, Stranger in My Own Land by Fida Jiryis. All these will be extremely difficult for you to digest, but if you love Israel, this is information you can no longer afford to ignore.
Despite all the warnings and resources, and so much more, we Palestinians are still here with our hands stretched out to help you face this moment. Ignoring reality on the ground is no longer an option; neither is failing.
This is the moment when the Jewish tradition of social justice can shine or crash. Let’s ensure it shines, together.
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U.S. State Department Slams Al Jazeera for taking Israeli Assassination of Abu Akleh to Int’l Criminal Court, though US asked Court to Investigate Russia (juancole.com)
Informed Comment: “U.S. State Department Slams Al Jazeera for taking Israeli Assassination of Abu Akleh to Int’l Criminal Court, though US asked Court to Investigate Russia.” by Juan Cole, 12/07/2022
“The Qatar-based satellite news channel Al Jazeera has referred the case of one of its slain reporters, Shireen Abu Akleh –an American citizen — to the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Ms. Abu Akleh, who had reported from Israel & Palestine for over twenty years for Al Jazeera, was shot in the head just under her helmet on May 11 last spring by an Israeli sniper even though she was wearing a vest clearly marked ‘Press’ & had identified herself to the nearby Israeli army unit. “Ms. Abu Akleh’s killing has become a cause célèbre in the Arab & Muslim worlds. At the soccer World Cup on Tuesday, when Morocco beat Spain, Moroccan fans in the stands in Doha, Qatar, held up Palestinian flags & posters of Shireen Abu Akleh. The victorious Moroccan team also unfurled a Palestinian flag to celebrate their win. FIFA, the governing authority of the games, had banned such displays & threatened expulsion from the games. “The US State Department opposed this step by Al Jazeera. The US State Department typically runs interference for Israel, shielding it from any accountability. Secretary of State Antony Blinken even said business would go on as usual with the new extremist Israeli government. “The US hypocrisy is glaring, since Washington has urged the International Criminal Court to try Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. This step is hypocritical because the US refuses to sign the Rome Statute itself & has tried to bully the ICC into dropping an investigation of US soldiers serving in Afghanistan, not to mention that Washington never ever wants any Israeli officials tried for war crimes.(cont’d)
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“Israeli cabinet minister Avigdor Lieberman responded by saying that Al Jazeera’s press credentials should be revoked. The far-right extremist Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded that Al Jazeera simply be expelled from Israeli-held territory. So much for democracy. “The Al Frazer network said in a press release that this step comes after its legal research team discovered new evidence demonstrating that Abu Akleh & her five colleagues — all reporting for Al Jazeera from Jenin in the Palestinian West Bank — were targeted by direct fire from the Israeli army, & that the Israeli claim that she was accidentally shot during an exchange of fire with militants in the area is baseless. The network alleges that the killing of Abu Akleh was premeditated & was among a number of punitive steps taken by the Israeli government to silence the satellite channel. “The U.S. Department of Justice has instructed the Federal Bureau of Investigation to open an inquiry into Ms. Abu Akleh’s killing, a move that the Israeli government has roundly denounced. Since she was an American citizen, it seems the least Washington could do, but the move appears to have been opposed by the State Department.
“The Israeli authorities have declined to launch their own inquiry into the sniper who killed Shireen, saying that the killing was inadvertent & that the sniper is innocent. Since Israeli military inquiries into actions taken in the Palestinian West Bank almost always produce a whitewash, I suppose they saved themselves some time & money by skipping the investigation and going straight to the ‘innocent’ verdict.”Shireen’s niece, Lina Abu Akleh, pointed out that Israel has a history of targeting journalists to silence them from uttering the truth, & had nevertheless managed to avoid ever being held accountable. She said that now is the time to hold Israel accountable. “In the wake of that step, the ICC reviewed the situation & has concluded that it has jurisdiction in occupied Palestine because the Palestine Authority is the recognized authority in these territories The ICC is studying potential war crimes committed in the Palestinian territories, both by the Israeli military and by the fundamentalist Hamas Party of Gaza. It is not clear whether the judges at the ICC will take the case.
The formation of an ultra right wing government by Netanyahu, including those called “terrorists” by the US State Department, and the mere fact that the power hungry Netanyahu has thumbed his nose at the strong warnings by the US, and proceeds to add fuel to the fire anyway, gives the US the perfect opportunity to cut the parasitic nation off, and boycott it. Surely we do not work with ultra right wing governments and religious nuts? Surely we do not have alliances with nations whose leaders are openly racist, and have shown their ruthless tendencies by calling for the death of those they hate? America once again has come to a crossroad, and can rid itself of the burden we keep carrying, who keeps spying on us, insults our Presidents by building more illegal settlements, and was quiet when the US got involved in Ukraine. It is predictable which road will be taken.
“we will be here to help you do the right thing….Palestinians are still here with our hands stretched out to help you face this moment”,
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Outstretched hands, without rocks, would empower those pushing for an end to apartheid.