The World Economic Forum makes no qualms about showing solidarity for the people of Ukraine and condemning Russia, but when it comes to condemning Israeli crimes, it insists on remaining impartial.
In two reports from Israel, NPR’s Daniel Estrin interviews three Jewish Israelis about the conflict and Zero Palestinians and characterizes the outgoing government as “liberal” when it killed hundreds of Palestinians this year. Estrin also grants prominence to fears about the new government banning soccer games on Saturday. Such reporting, based entirely inside the Israeli Jewish experience, reflects anti-Palestinian framing and ought to be an embarrassment to any mainstream American outlet.
Western support for Israel is explained away by shared interests and realpolitik, but this elides an underlying anti-Palestinianism that motivates pro-Israel bias.
The abuse of antisemitism is nothing new, but we tend to forget that the Israel lobby is only able to get away with its baseless smears because of a deep-seated anti-Palestinianism.
The Western media reported that veteran Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh “died” on May 11, 2022, without mentioning who or what caused her death. Why?
Canada’s Foreign Affairs minister and its top diplomats in Ramallah and Tel Aviv have all made anti-Palestinian comments in the last month.
Emad Moussa calls on Palestinians and their allies to avoid dealing with the accusations of antisemitism in a defensive fashion; for it distracts from the moral objectives of the Palestine problem. Rather, we must declare: It is bigotry not to recognize Palestinians as an independent entity and acknowledge their historical rights.
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.