The Jewish community must open its eyes to the grotesque armored thing that is modern Israel, and denounce its actions if only in order to save ourselves. And yes it’s true: Palestinians who denounce Israel are pleasing their grandparents and parents; and we are not. But that’s a lame excuse for a thoughtful person in America.
Years before the murder of American aid worker Jacob Flickinger in Gaza brought worldwide outrage this week, and calls to cut off aid to Israel, pro-Palestinian activists condemned Israel’s murder of American Rachel Corrie. Now activists should welcome all those who decry Israeli human rights abuses.
Jodi Rudoren, the editor of the Forward, offers a frank rationale for Zionism, stating that it is opposed to equal rights in the American tradition.
Israel’s racism against Palestinians has subsumed official Jewish life. American Jews have abandoned their best traditions out of deference to a militant state that exists in constant fear of those it subjugates.
The media hypes threats by industry to leave Israel over Netanyahu’s “judicial coup.” But Palestinians have demanded divestment for years without press. The double standard shows anti-Palestinianism.
Tom Friedman deplores the Israel lobby for assisting Netanyahu in preventing any U.S. president from taking action on Palestinian disenfranchisement. “AIPAC and American Jewish organizations who have done Bibi’s bidding…at every turn used their power and influence to still the hand of any [U.S.] administration wanting to have a more serious and energetic and vigorous policy. And for that they will have to answer to history,” the New York Times columnist says. He said this effect is now working on the Biden administration.
Hosam Salem, a Palestinian photographer who freelanced for the New York Times for four years in Gaza, reports that the newspaper dismissed him after a pro-Israel organization alerted the paper to Facebook posts in which he had expressed support for Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation.
Polling shows Democrats support BDS by three to one, but Rep. Jerry Nadler said last night that he has stopped BDS from getting a “foothold” among progressives in Congress, and that only a Jew with his seniority can do that. Nadler bragged of supporting Israel since he was 8 years old.
The “apartheid” accusation against Israel from leading human rights groups had a very serious intention: to change the western understanding of what is taking place in Israel. There is only one state between the river and the sea, the occupation is 54 years old and Israeli leaders have no intention of reversing it, so Israel must grant equal rights to all under its governance. But western media and liberal Zionists are determined to make the charge disappear, as they cling to the fantasy that there can still be a Palestinian state in the land east of the green line, and a “Jewish democracy” to the west.
Israel deceives international media about ground attack on Gaza in order to gain a tactical edge. But the news is Israel will continue its indiscriminate air war against Gaza, killing scores of civilians, including children, because it won’t jeopardize the safety of its own soldiers.