“Facing History,” a rich source of teaching materials, tells students that the bigotry and hatred we see today are legacies of past injustices. And systemic racism and indigeneity are the subjects of entire Facing History courses. But the nonprofit’s omission of Palestinian history is intentional. “Facing History” functions as though it is possible to be both anti-racist and Zionist.
In Ben Grayzel’s documentary about going to Israel on Birthright indoctrination program in 2019, Wael, a Palestinian student, tells him about the absurdity of Birthright. He says it’s crazy that an American Jew who has never come close to the Middle East has such a birthright. most of my cousins are Palestinian and maybe 90 percent cannot enter Palestine,” he says. “That doesn’t make sense.”
David Halbfinger’s report on a J Street tour for young Jews that spent a day in Palestine offered horrifying glimpses of conditions in occupied Susiya and Hebron that caused two on the tour to question the idea of a Jewish state. The New York Times report represents a giant step forward, and a real sign of things to come. There’s no way to prettify apartheid,
The New York Times published a splendid article today about young Jews walking off the free ten-day Birthright trips to Israel, rejecting them as propaganda, under the headline, “Birthright Trips, a Rite of Passage for Many Jews, Are Now a Target of Protests.” The article quotes young Jews saying they were fed lies about the occupation by the program, which has sent 700,000 young Jews to Israel.
Police arrested 15 members of IfNotNow outside Birthright HQ in NY today after 100s of Jews demonstrated against the organization’s propaganda tours of Israel. Protester Yonah said that when he asked questions about Palestinians on his trip, his tour guide sat him down and said, “If you keep pulling this shit, I’m going to have to report you.” Yonah was “terrified” and shut up.
Last year Birthright began offering academic study abroad programs to U.S. college students. Educator Liz Rose writes about the course descriptions and what they say about how Birthright represents Israel and Palestinians: “Israel is represented as minding its own business, just trying to survive. Students are told they will talk with the Jewish residents near Gaza, but they won’t speak with Gazans or hear their perspective.”
Three young Jews were reportedly kicked off their free trip to Israel sponsored by the pro-Israel Birthright program today because they asked questions about the separation wall Israel has erected on occupied Palestinian territory.
Israel had its worst week in a long time in the US discourse. The two-state consensus is now in a complete shambles, with many Americans on both right and left beginning to advocate for one democratic state in Israel and Palestine, which of course would mean the end of what Benjamin Netanyahu calls “the one and only Jewish state.”