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Feb. 21. 2007
Hey friends,
as some of you know, I’m a panelist on the Washington Post/Newsweek religion
blog On Faith. Each week they pose a question which we are invited to answer.
This week’s question is on whether you can criticize Israel without
being anti-Semitic. You can probably imagine my reply. Actually, you
don’t have to imagine it as it’s below, but I encourage you to check
out the site and add your comments, not necessarily to my post but to the ongoing
discussion on others, as well. The URL is: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/
To Be a True Friend of the Jewish People
I can think of nothing more unfaithful to the strong Jewish traditions of social
justice than the current climate of vicious denunciation towards anyone who raises
criticisms of Israel’s policies. Judaism is the religion of the prophets,
who never held back from calling to account the people or the kings. Jewish
culture thrives on intellectual freedom, argument and debate. “Where
there are two Jews, there are three opinions,” we used to say, proudly.
How have we allowed this vibrant diversity to be stifled?
Anti-Semitism is a form of prejudice, and the essence of any prejudice is seeing
all members of a group as the same and erasing the differences among them. To
label any criticism of Israel as ‘anti-Semitic” is to obscure the
real differences between Israel as a state, Judaism as a religion, and Jews as
a varied and diverse group of people. It is to ignore the thousands of Jews and
Israelis who are strong critics of many of Israel’s policies, and to erase
the many courageous Jews who have crossed the line to stand with Palestinians
in demonstrations against the wall, who have rebuilt demolished Palestinian homes,
taken public stands in favor of justice for both peoples, and worked to build
bridges of peace. It is to give a pack of strident lobbyists credence over
the measured critiques of rabbis like Michael Lerner, Arthur Waskow, Aerik Asherman
of Rabbis for Human Rights and so many more, the organizations like Jewish Voices
for Peace, Gush Shalom, Bat Shalom, Btszelem, Israeli Committee Against Home Demolition,
Jewish Peace Fellowship, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Tikkun, and many more.
Although, as readers of this blog will have noted, I’m a practicing Pagan,
I was raised as an American Jew in the postwar period, when Israel was our great
dream realized, our one compensation for the horrors of the Holocaust. I
grew up saving my pennies to buy trees to plant in the Holy Land, and spent my
vacation, at fifteen, on a Hebrew High School summer-in-Israel program. I
know the tug Israel has on our hearts, the deep pain we feel when that dream is
threatened in any way, the excruciating process we must go through to challenge
the myths and stories we were brought up on.
But I have also seen the other side. I have volunteered four times with
the International Solidarity Movement, a group which supports nonviolent resistance
to the occupation in Palestine. And yes, there is a strong nonviolent movement
among the Palestinian people, and though the media rarely report on it. For
the last two years or more, almost every day has seen protests at the wall, and
hundreds of courageous Israelis have crossed the line to join marches, peace camps,
and demonstrations together with their Palestinian neighbors.
I have been a witness in refugee camps under siege and negotiated with soldiers
as they searched—and trashed—Palestinian homes. I have stood
in line at checkpoints and experienced a taste of the daily frustration and humiliation
of life in Gaza and the Occupied Territories. I have huddled with children
trying to do their homework as soldiers fired bullets into their homes and tanks
prowled outside, and I’ve sat in meetings with village elders searching
desperately for some nonviolent means to resist the wall which would shortly confiscate
their farmlands and their ancient olive groves. I know that every day in
the occupied territories, people live with terror, with the death and loss of
loved ones, with arbitrary restrictions imposed on their movements and their livelihoods,
with hunger, want, and humiliation. I can never condone terrorism as a response
to oppression, but I do know that under the conditions of the occupation, frustration
and rage will breed violence as sure as stagnant water will breed algae.
Only justice for the Palestinian people can bring security to Israel and bring
peace to both peoples. Every day that justice is delayed increases the danger
to Israel and to the Jewish people worldwide. True friends of Israel will
not support her in policies that sow hatred and reap retribution. Real allies
of the Jewish people will listen to and amplify the voices of all those who cry
out for justice.
For more information:
My accounts of my time in the Occupied Territories can be found in the archives
of my website, www.starhawk.org
I highly recommend Jimmy Carter’s Palestine, Peace Not Apartheid.
All the attacks he has suffered cannot obscure the calmness, fairness, and
clarity of his account—and the fact that no other politician has yet delivered
a long lasting peace agreement like the one he brokered between Israel and Egypt.
Some other good websites to check out:
International Solidarity Movement:
www.palsolidarity.org
Gush
Shalom
http://gush-shalom.org/
Jewish Voice For Peace:
www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org
--
Starhawk
Feel free
to post, forward, and reprint this article for non-commercial purposes. All
other rights reserved.
Starhawk is an activist, organizer, and author of The Earth Path, as
well as Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising, The Fifth
Sacred Thing; and eight other books on feminism, politics and earth-based
spirituality. She teaches Earth
Activist Trainings that combine permaculture design and activist skills,
and works with the RANT trainer’s collective, www.rantcollective.net
that offers training and support for mobilizations around global justice and
peace issues.
Copyright (c) 2006 by Starhawk. All rights reserved. This copyright protects
Starhawk's right to future publication of her work. Nonprofit, activist, and
educational groups may circulate this essay (forward it, reprint it, translate
it, post it, or reproduce it) for nonprofit uses. Please do not change any part
of it without permission. Readers are invited to visit the web site: www.starhawk.org.
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