Opposition to Netanyahu’s government is getting a little complicated. Sure, the Prime Minister has been criticized by many liberals and Democrats in the United States. For instance, 92 Democratic lawmakers recently sent Biden a J Street-backed letter calling on the administration to stop his proposed judicial overhaul. It was led by Reps. DeLauro, Schakowsky, and McGovern.
However, the letter demonstrates exactly how things are getting interesting here. You’ll notice some of the more hawkish pro-Israel Dems didn’t sign the letter (presumably because they think it’s too critical of Israel), but neither did some of the House’s more progressive members. Presumably because it’s not critical enough.
JVP Action’s Beth Miller has a good thread explaining what’s wrong with the letter. It doesn’t acknowledge the occupation or condemn the recent killing of Palestinians. It justifies Israel’s deadly raids and refers to annexation as some distant possibility, not a current reality. It also praises Biden’s alleged attempts to “de-escalate” tensions in the region, even though the administration has done absolutely nothing to curb Israeli aggression.
The letter asserts that its signatories are “committed supporters” of the U.S-Israel relationship and are concerned that Netanyahu’s actions could imperil any hope for a two-state solution. In other words, he’s bad for business. That business is funding Israel’s human rights abuses while reciting the usual platitudes back in Washington.
We have also begun to see Netanyahu criticism from some of Israel’s most ardent supporters and apologists. Noa Tishby recently had some things to say. The Israeli actress is a vocal opponent of BDS who regularly equates Judaism with Zionism and claims that anti-Zionism is inspiring attacks on Jewish people. She says that governments have to adopt the controversial IHRA working definition of antisemitism because “anti-Zionism is antisemitism. Period. End of story. There’s no question about that.”
Here’s Tishby on Netanyahu’s recent moves: “I will say it in the sharpest and clearest way: Diaspora Jewry and Israel’s supporters in the world are shocked. They are shocked. With great pain they look and see how the country they fiercely defended — in Congress, in the media, on the networks or to foreign governments — is changing its face.”
Miriam Adelson, the widow of the pro-Israel, GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson, has expressed similar concerns. “Regardless of the substance of the reforms, the government’s dash to ratify them is naturally suspect, raising questions about the root objectives and concern that this is a hasty, injudicious, and irresponsible move. A good deal is reached through cold-eyed circumspection,” she writes.
The current Israeli government has also been criticized by Bret Stephens, Abe Foxman, and even Alan Dershowitz. Former Mossad director Tamir Pardo puts it more bluntly than most: Israel as we know it could be on the brink of “total destruction.”
In this sense, Netanyahu has been a great gift for anti-Zionists. He’s bad for the country’s international image, and this is understandably causing anxiety among those looking to justify apartheid.
Huwaida Arraf
Earlier this week, the activist, human rights lawyer, and International Solidarity Movement co-founder Huwaida Arraf spoke at a diversity assembly at Bloomfield Hills High School in Michigan. Arraf apparently made the mistake of talking about Israel and Palestine, which compelled the school’s principal Lawrence Stroughter to send out an email apologizing to students, teachers, and staff.
“Today, a BHHS student-led diversity assembly was held for all BHHS students. In preparation for this assembly, our student organizers and administrators met with each speaker to discuss the intent of the assembly and the prompts,” he wrote.
“At the diversity assembly for the 10th graders, one of the speakers deviated from the prompts. Without prior knowledge of any of the organizers, the speaker discussed the conflict in Gaza from their own personal political perspective and experience.”
Stroughter also equated Judaism with Zionism in his email. “Any speech that targets individuals or groups based on religion,” he wrote. Noting that school officials “are sorry for the harm that was caused to our community as a result of this speaker’s message.”
The flames of this phony scandal have predictably been fanned by right-wing websites and anti-Palestine groups. The “Daily Caller News Foundation” published a post digging up some of Arraf’s tweets on Palestine. One of them refers to the IDF shooting unarmed Palestinians, an offensive thing to mention apparently.
This fake scandal has already produced a smaller fake scandal. The school principal is now being attacked for not mentioning Israel enough in his apology email! “On Tuesday night, Principal Lawrence Stroughter apologized to parents, students, staff and the community for Arraf’s off-script rant targeting Jewish people and Israel…However, in the lengthy apology, Stroughter never mentioned Jewish people or Israel,” declares Fox News.
There’s sadly nothing surprising here. If you speak about Palestine truthfully at a school you run the risk of being targeted.
Odds & Ends
???? Disgraced Former New York Governor Cuomo to Form ‘Progressives for Israel’ Advocacy Group (Not satire)
???? Statement from the DSA BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group on DSA Member and LA Councilmember Nithya Raman.
???? Over 250 US-based, Jewish investors have threatened to stop investing in Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proceeds with his judicial overhaul.
Juan Cole: “The huge irony is that pro-Israeli figures have spent decades attempting to smear anyone who boycotts Israel as a hopeless anti-Jewish bigot. Those boycotts were provoked by the Israeli Apartheid practices in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.”
“The current, Jewish, boycott movement does not seem mostly to care very much about the plight of the stateless Palestinians living without basic human rights under the rule of extremist Jewish fascist Itamar Ben-Gvir. Many of them have excoriated those boycotting Israel on this human rights issue as antisemites. But now that a human rights issue has emerged that affects Israeli Jews, all of a sudden a boycott seems to be in order.”
???? Hundreds protested Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s appearance at an Israel Bonds meeting in DC. “Our outrage at Smotrich includes a determination to end our own complicity in the system he represents,” said Jewish Voice for Peace Executive Director Stefanie Fox. “We can stop the flow of money and support backing Israeli Apartheid: from the U.S. congress sending nearly $4 billion a year in taxpayer dollars to the hundreds of states, cities, unions, and organizations that invest in Israel Bonds. And as American Jews, we call on our communities and organizations to root out our own ongoing complicity in this government set on pursuing Jewish supremacy and domination. From the Israel Bonds we got when we turned 13, to the investments of Jewish Federations, the choice is clear: divest now.”
???? Harvard College’s Palestine Solidarity Committee is calling on students to boycott Israel Trek, a trip organized by former IDF soldiers. Nadine Bahour in Mondoweiss:
If you go on Israel Trek and say you are pro-Palestine, you will conveniently forget this stance on your visit to colonial settlements that violate international law, engaging cordially with settlers squatting on stolen Palestinian land. I hope you can explain how formative meeting a settler was to over 6 million Palestinian refugees—your classmates and teachers among them—who have been forcibly expelled from their homes and are refused the right of entry to their homeland?
???????? The United Arab Emirates and the Anti-Defamation League have partnered to open the The Manara Center in Abu Dhabi. It aims to “interrupt intolerance before it might take root.” Hmm.
???????? Statement from the One Democratic State Campaign on the protests in Israel:
“Palestinians and the Jews who oppose apartheid and settler colonialism must continue building a united resistance movement; they must not get distracted by ‘protests’ that only legitimize a fake democracy and in fact strengthen its repressive system of colonization and control. A genuine movement of liberation requires a long-term resistance strategy, a national and human liberation vision. It should unite those who live in Palestine and those who were expelled by the Zionist movement and its embodiment, the state of Israel. This movement should pose a clear alternative: building a single democratic state in historic Palestine on the ruins of the apartheid regime and its criminal offshoots.”
???? New polling from Gallup on U.S. attitudes toward the Middle East. Some interesting stuff:
As a result of this year’s partisan shifts, sympathy toward the Palestinians among U.S. adults is at a new high of 31%, while the proportion not favoring a side is at a new low of 15%. The 54% of Americans sympathizing more with the Israelis is similar to last year’s 55% but is the lowest since 2005.
The resulting 23-point gap in Americans’ sympathy for Israel versus the Palestinians represents Israel’s slimmest advantage on this question in Gallup’s World Affairs poll trend. It is also the first time Israel has not enjoyed a better than 2-to-1 advantage over the Palestinians in Americans’ sympathies.
And we continue to see a sizable shift among Democratic voters:
After a decade in which Democrats have shown increasing affinity toward the Palestinians, their sympathies in the Middle East now lie more with the Palestinians than the Israelis, 49% versus 38%.
Today’s attitudes reflect an 11-percentage-point increase over the past year in Democrats’ sympathy with the Palestinians. At the same time, the percentages sympathizing more with the Israelis (38%) and those not favoring a side (13%) have dipped to new lows.
✝️ Leaders of U.S.-based Christian churches, agencies, and organizations sent the Biden administration a letter calling for Israel to face accountability for its human rights violations. “As Christian leaders in the United States, it is our moral responsibility to question the continuation of U.S. financial assistance to the government of Israel’s as rights violations worsen,” it reads. “Realizing a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians will require accountability. As Israel continues to violate the rights of the people living under its control, violating international law and principles of human rights – as well as US laws – the US must end its military support of Israel, which amounts to $3.8 billion per year. This position is consistent with our advocacy for peace and justice – and criticism of US military aid to countries of the Middle East – more broadly. Continuing military aid without any accountability will only lead to further violence and abuse.”
☪️ The group We are Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA) is calling on Muslims across Europe to #CheckTheLabel and boycott Israeli dates this Ramadan. “Boycotting Israeli dates in Ramadan is a concerted community effort that can show we are not powerless. It would be brilliant to see all Israeli dates still left on shelves across the UK and Europe at the end of the blessed month. This would reflect our strength as a community to stand together with a very important message: We will not support the oppression of Palestinians and we will not be complicit in Israeli apartheid.”
???????? Twenty years ago today, an Israeli soldier crushed American solidarity activist Rachel Corrie to death with a bulldozer. Ahmed Abu Artema has a powerful piece on her legacy at the website:
Rachel’s dreams have not been realized yet. Hunger in our world has not ended, and the homes she tried to preserve in Palestine are still being demolished.
But belief in that same dream has not ebbed. Rachel’s spirit inspired many believers who see the light of the future and continue to raise their voices against injustice and oppression.
These believers now make up the grassroots movements worldwide that are opposed to the forces of apartheid and colonialism and understand the fight for freedom and humanity as their unified global fight.
Rachel’s name is in my heart as a symbol of moral purity. Her most important message was that her country’s political leadership does not represent American citizens, many of whom believe in freedom, justice, and dignity for all people. Although the United States is normally synonymous with its total financial and military backing of Israel’s occupation, Rachel’s example removed many of the negative connotations about the U.S. from the hearts of many Palestinians.
Stay safe out there,
Michael
The One Democratic State is leading with savvy politics,”Palestinians and the Jews who oppose apartheid and settler colonialism must continue building a united resistance movement…. A genuine movement of liberation requires a long-term resistance strategy, (with) a national and human liberation vision”.
Helpful toward developing a consensus will be discussions and debate whether to focus mainly on ending the occupation or ending the apartheid