Author

Robert A.H. Cohen

Browsing
Ben & Jerry's bombshell announcement on July 18, 2021.

Jewish organizations’ reflexive opposition to the Ben & Jerry’s decision not to sell in occupied territory, because it strengthens BDS and is somehow “antisemitic,” shows that being Jewish means being ‘anti-Palestinian’. These organizations have constructed a Jewish identity, theology and ethics around the denial of Palestinians to peacefully protest and call for global solidarity. Thankfully, there are pro-BDS alternatives in Jewish tradition.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson meeting Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel in London, 6 June 2018.

At the very moment that the UK government has announced plans to ban boycotts, divestment and sanctions by public funded bodies, the very reasons for supporting non-violent strategies to achieve equality for the Palestinian people look more urgent and compelling than ever. BDS is about fairness, equality and justice, ideas that have been at the heart of Jewish ethics for thousands of years

How I would teach Hanukkah to Palestinian school children, or indeed to their parents? Robert Cohen asks. How comfortable would I find it to tell this story of Jews denied the right to express their culture, identity and history? What would go through the children’s minds as I explained our annual celebration of an armed Jewish revolt against an occupying power? And could I convey convincingly the idea of on-going Jewish vulnerability in Israel, the United States, or anywhere else?

Boris Johnson

Why British universities should resist the Johnson government’s demand that they adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism: If you’re a Palestinian student studying at a British university this is about your right to express your lived history and that of your family and people. Denying the expression of that experience would seem to go against any ambitions to be truly diverse, inclusive and welcoming institution.