Today is a historic day, the American Jewish community is openly protesting the visit of the fascistic Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, to the United States. Biden gave Smotrich a visa, in his unending effort to kiss up to the Israel lobby for 2024; but a broad number of Jews have condemned Smotrich’s genocidal statements against Palestinians.
Yes, many of the protesters – here and in Israel — are seeking to preserve “Jewish democracy,” whatever that is supposed to mean. But I take heart because the Israel lobby is cracking apart over Netanyahu’s provocations; and the progressive discourse is gaining ground. Mainstream Zionists are finally talking about “apartheid.”
It is an important turning point. For decades, pro-Israel Jews have taken on the job of influencing U.S. policy; and they always privileged Israeli opinion, saying we must defer to Israel on its brutal treatment of Palestinians. “Those Jews are on the front line– who are we to tell them what to do?” Now we see American Zionists prioritizing U.S. liberal traditions as a standard for Israel’s conduct, even opening their eyes to historical atrocities against Palestinians.
That awareness must include an understanding of why Palestinians resist. “As long as there’s occupation, there will be resistance. As long as there are raids, there will be self-defense,” a resident of Jenin—where every family has a martyr or prisoner to the refusal to accept oppression—tells Yumna Patel in a great report from the West Bank.
Lastly, I take hope from the fact that there is finally an address for anti-Zionism in U.S. politics. The liberal Zionist group J Street got 92 liberal members of Congress to sign on to a letter telling Biden to speak out against Netanyahu’s new government in the name of “a Jewish and democratic state.” But the Squad did not sign on. A half dozen progressive women, mostly of color, are keenly attuned to their constituents’ solidarity for Palestinians. The progressive left knows the story— and is using Israel’s crisis to advance an agenda of equality. Every day our numbers grow.
As values imbedded in Judaism rise to the surface to challenge Greater Israel excesses, views articulating what a workable future might look like will resonate.