On our Zoom call this Friday, we have a special guest: Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. I’ll ask him about some of the criticisms commonly leveled at BDS and the movement’s efficacy: Is Israel any more isolated than it was when BDS launched in 2005? I’ll also ask Barghouti to speak (in his personal capacity) about his
I think you're spot on Peter, and I'd add one more category: Jews who have been to Palestine and seen the situation on the ground. Jews can listen to Palestinians, but sometimes the mental barriers are so strong that they might gain sympathy while retaining dogmatic beliefs or articles of faith about Israel, the conflict and their own victimization. I've noticed that even an hour on the ground in the West Bank can lead to a total collapse of the Jewish consciousness, with visuals of Jewish behaviour that go against everything we thought we knew about who we were or are supposed to be. Which is why it's so distressing that we have to spend so much time arguing: when often a tour of Palestine (by which I don't mean one where you speak to Israelis and Palestinians and try to "hear all sides" and merely soften your views, but one where you really see what's what and focus on the predicament of the Palestinians) can alter a Jewish consciousness to the point of no return. Jews on the right will often accuse those on the left of bleeding hearts, but they often have the luxury of not having had to see what it all looks like. The difference between right and left can sometimes come down to the difference between a trip to Palestine. thanks as always for your great input on the issues, Natasha Gill.
Love the entire piece you wrote on question 4. As a Muslim American who has many Jewish friends and grew up experiencing American Jewish culture and beliefs, I have always struggled to follow the Israel narrative that entirely ignores the existence of Palestinians. I cringed every time my friends went on birthright, but acted happy and excited for them. I smiled falsely as they shared their "lifechanging" experiences. My absolute best friend in this world is a very liberal American Jew who is consistent on every principle but someone, not on Israel. She can recognize that Israel should be criticized and is not supportive of the right-winged policies and government, but that is where it ends. She may deny this, but I absolutely believe she grew up with the idea that Palestinians want to simply "wipe off Israel" from the map and that only Jews will ever stand up for Jews. While I understand why she feels this way, and in no way am I or will I ever minimize Jewish oppression and genocide, I will never understand how anyone, especially someone who is nowhere near an extreme right-winger, could support a Jewish-only country that can only exist by dehumanizing those indigenous to the land, requiring severe oppression in the best case and murder in the worst. I pray that more Jewish Americans and more Israelis take the initiative to speak to Palestinians both here in the US and in Palestine. Peace requires justice and there could never be justice until Palestinians can return and the country unifies under equal representation with equitable access to education, healthcare, jobs, and safety. Anything else is unsustainable and frankly, immoral.
I share Barghouti's vision for one state where all faiths can live as neighbors and everyone has an equal voice in their government. However, I struggle with the BDS movement’s demand of “Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194” (https://bdsmovement.net/call).
This resolution was passed in 1948 when it logistically made a lot more sense for refugees to literally return to the same homes they were expelled from within that year. If a Palestinian refugee wants to live on the same piece of land either they or their family lived on prior to the Nakba, does the BDS movement support forcing the current occupant to leave? What if the current occupant is a non-Jewish Palestinian whose family was also displaced from their home during the Nakba? I really appreciate Zochrot’s position that all Palestinian refugees have a right to return to their country and that “return does not mean expelling Jews from their homes, but the very opposite: the mutual existence of Palestinians and Jews in the country" (https://zochrot.org/en/wrapper/19).
When I expressed my concern to a BDS supporter, I was told that I am misinterpreting the BDS movement's position regarding the right of return and the BDS movement is not literally advocating for the right for all Palestinian refugees to be able to return to the exact home/property they or their family was living on prior to 1948, regardless of who is living there now or whether the current occupant/property owner wants to move or stay. I am very interested in hearing Barghouti go into more detail on the logistics of what he is seeking in a right of return via the BDS movement.
Hi Peter. You were my freshman counselor at Yale (note: I was a lousy counselee) and I'm always curious to check in with your ideas on issues like these. I appreciate this synthesis. Besides the Passover reference, I see why you stuck to four questions and left off, "How do you identify politically?" That one would definitely sort the pile, but it seems hardly worth noting that American Jews on the Right are staunchly pro-Israel, and pro-Palestine Jews are all somewhere on the Left. Still, I think you’d gain additional sorting power by asking left-leaning Jews to label their identities ("liberal"? "progressive"? "Leftist"?). My own (“liberal”) feelings about Israel-Palestine are shaped as much by frustration at American Leftist rhetoric as by what I know of real events in the region. I'm not saying that's ideal; just saying it's an emotional driver that may be as powerful as the sort of contact with Palestinians which you cite as a key factor in freeing some American Jews to criticize Israel. As a late-GenX liberal Jew I’ve never had trouble condemning countries I also identify with. I’m angry with the US most of the time. I find Israel’s actions in Palestine infuriating. But I’m also frequently angered by the (as I see it) ahistorical, glib, often hypocritical anti-Zionist narrative I hear from the Millennial and GenZ Left. This leaves me at a loss to place myself in any political community with respect to Israel-Palestine. Israel’s oppression and violence against Palestinian people need to be condemned and resisted. But here at home, the dogmatic anti-Zionism I hear from those with whom I otherwise agree makes it very hard for me to join any organized movement to pressure Israel to change.
"Older Jews came of age watching Israel battle Arab armies, which—at least in the American Jewish perception—threatened Israel’s existence."
I think we should remember this more, and frankly I do not think you can argue that the 1948 and 1967 wars were threatening to Israel's existence only in perceptive terms. All of Israel's existence has been framed by its neighbors' determination to wipe it off the map.
I think you're spot on Peter, and I'd add one more category: Jews who have been to Palestine and seen the situation on the ground. Jews can listen to Palestinians, but sometimes the mental barriers are so strong that they might gain sympathy while retaining dogmatic beliefs or articles of faith about Israel, the conflict and their own victimization. I've noticed that even an hour on the ground in the West Bank can lead to a total collapse of the Jewish consciousness, with visuals of Jewish behaviour that go against everything we thought we knew about who we were or are supposed to be. Which is why it's so distressing that we have to spend so much time arguing: when often a tour of Palestine (by which I don't mean one where you speak to Israelis and Palestinians and try to "hear all sides" and merely soften your views, but one where you really see what's what and focus on the predicament of the Palestinians) can alter a Jewish consciousness to the point of no return. Jews on the right will often accuse those on the left of bleeding hearts, but they often have the luxury of not having had to see what it all looks like. The difference between right and left can sometimes come down to the difference between a trip to Palestine. thanks as always for your great input on the issues, Natasha Gill.
Love the entire piece you wrote on question 4. As a Muslim American who has many Jewish friends and grew up experiencing American Jewish culture and beliefs, I have always struggled to follow the Israel narrative that entirely ignores the existence of Palestinians. I cringed every time my friends went on birthright, but acted happy and excited for them. I smiled falsely as they shared their "lifechanging" experiences. My absolute best friend in this world is a very liberal American Jew who is consistent on every principle but someone, not on Israel. She can recognize that Israel should be criticized and is not supportive of the right-winged policies and government, but that is where it ends. She may deny this, but I absolutely believe she grew up with the idea that Palestinians want to simply "wipe off Israel" from the map and that only Jews will ever stand up for Jews. While I understand why she feels this way, and in no way am I or will I ever minimize Jewish oppression and genocide, I will never understand how anyone, especially someone who is nowhere near an extreme right-winger, could support a Jewish-only country that can only exist by dehumanizing those indigenous to the land, requiring severe oppression in the best case and murder in the worst. I pray that more Jewish Americans and more Israelis take the initiative to speak to Palestinians both here in the US and in Palestine. Peace requires justice and there could never be justice until Palestinians can return and the country unifies under equal representation with equitable access to education, healthcare, jobs, and safety. Anything else is unsustainable and frankly, immoral.
I share Barghouti's vision for one state where all faiths can live as neighbors and everyone has an equal voice in their government. However, I struggle with the BDS movement’s demand of “Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194” (https://bdsmovement.net/call).
This resolution was passed in 1948 when it logistically made a lot more sense for refugees to literally return to the same homes they were expelled from within that year. If a Palestinian refugee wants to live on the same piece of land either they or their family lived on prior to the Nakba, does the BDS movement support forcing the current occupant to leave? What if the current occupant is a non-Jewish Palestinian whose family was also displaced from their home during the Nakba? I really appreciate Zochrot’s position that all Palestinian refugees have a right to return to their country and that “return does not mean expelling Jews from their homes, but the very opposite: the mutual existence of Palestinians and Jews in the country" (https://zochrot.org/en/wrapper/19).
When I expressed my concern to a BDS supporter, I was told that I am misinterpreting the BDS movement's position regarding the right of return and the BDS movement is not literally advocating for the right for all Palestinian refugees to be able to return to the exact home/property they or their family was living on prior to 1948, regardless of who is living there now or whether the current occupant/property owner wants to move or stay. I am very interested in hearing Barghouti go into more detail on the logistics of what he is seeking in a right of return via the BDS movement.
Hi Peter. You were my freshman counselor at Yale (note: I was a lousy counselee) and I'm always curious to check in with your ideas on issues like these. I appreciate this synthesis. Besides the Passover reference, I see why you stuck to four questions and left off, "How do you identify politically?" That one would definitely sort the pile, but it seems hardly worth noting that American Jews on the Right are staunchly pro-Israel, and pro-Palestine Jews are all somewhere on the Left. Still, I think you’d gain additional sorting power by asking left-leaning Jews to label their identities ("liberal"? "progressive"? "Leftist"?). My own (“liberal”) feelings about Israel-Palestine are shaped as much by frustration at American Leftist rhetoric as by what I know of real events in the region. I'm not saying that's ideal; just saying it's an emotional driver that may be as powerful as the sort of contact with Palestinians which you cite as a key factor in freeing some American Jews to criticize Israel. As a late-GenX liberal Jew I’ve never had trouble condemning countries I also identify with. I’m angry with the US most of the time. I find Israel’s actions in Palestine infuriating. But I’m also frequently angered by the (as I see it) ahistorical, glib, often hypocritical anti-Zionist narrative I hear from the Millennial and GenZ Left. This leaves me at a loss to place myself in any political community with respect to Israel-Palestine. Israel’s oppression and violence against Palestinian people need to be condemned and resisted. But here at home, the dogmatic anti-Zionism I hear from those with whom I otherwise agree makes it very hard for me to join any organized movement to pressure Israel to change.
"Older Jews came of age watching Israel battle Arab armies, which—at least in the American Jewish perception—threatened Israel’s existence."
I think we should remember this more, and frankly I do not think you can argue that the 1948 and 1967 wars were threatening to Israel's existence only in perceptive terms. All of Israel's existence has been framed by its neighbors' determination to wipe it off the map.