Supporting Israel

[nerdanel]

I just reposted this NYT opinion piece in which two Jews visiting Israel wrote negatively about their experience at an Israeli checkpoint. Doing so caused me to reflect.

As a child attracted to Judaism, it was intuitive to me to support Israel - at least to support the idea and ideal of Israel. This was all the more true because I discovered Judaism initially through study of the Holocaust. It was clear that Gentile-majority nations had not been sufficient safeguard for the rights, or the lives, of Jews. That the Jewish people were entitled to one nation in which they were a majority, one nation in which they could safeguard their own interests, was (and is) axiomatic for me. That the nation should be located in their ancestral homeland was only natural - od lo avdah tikvateinu, hatikvah bat shnot alpayim, liyot am chofshi be'artzeinu, eretz tzion v'Y'rushalayim, as the Hatikvah (national anthem) says: our hope is not yet lost, the hope of two thousand years, to be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem.

But as an adult, an attorney, someone who is committed to human rights, it is morally imperative to depart from a romanticized, Zionist conception of Israel to acknowledge where the nation falls far short of the ideal - of human rights ideals, of Jewish ethical ideals. And to do so becomes tricky, for then one is charged with "not supporting Israel." The Knesset has been holding hearings on whether J Street, a leftist American Jewish group, that is critical of many of Israel's policies towards the Palestinians, is insufficiently "supporting" Israel. Yesterday, I asked an Orthodox Jewish rabbi for his view of how I, as a non-Jew, could advance the cause of social justice, of tikkun olam (repairing the world), and his first response was, "Work to support Israel. Work for the world to leave Israel alone." I thought the response was curious: how could social justice be advanced if ANY country (let alone one engaged in continued armed conflict) is left free from scrutiny? When could that ever turn out well? Why would this be a quasi-religious dictate for any Jew or supporter of Judaism? The mitzvah of tikkun olam is directed at improving the entire world: it does not say, "Advocate for the interests of the Jewish people, narrowly defined." Even if it did, I question whether the subjugation and ill-treatment of another people could be framed as within the interests of the Jewish people.

It leads me to question why supporting Israel is deemed by many within the Jewish community to mean "withholding criticism." I love and support the United States greatly; "American" is a critical part of my identity (possibly even more after this experience abroad); and I am particularly quick to point out everything my country does right. But "supporting" the United States, for me, also means being quick to look to everything the country could be doing much better; identifying and highlighting its mistakes and working to improve the country. I can't even imagine a version of "supporting" the United States that entailed giving it carte blanche to behave as it pleased, without criticism or commentary from its citizens and concerned others. Heck, that's downright un-American: why do we have a First Amendment if not to comment robustly on our country's successes and failures and to hold our country to the high standards we have set for ourselves? Although I'm sure some on the country's extremes would disagree, most Americans seem to be fine with the idea that you can love and support the US whilst disagreeing with individual policies, practices, etc. Why then does some other standard seem to exist for Israel? Why are we pressured, from synagogues, from the Knesset, from AIPAC, that "support" for Israel must be unquestioning, uncritical, and unmitigated? This is too much to ask. It would be too much to ask even from my own country, which I "support" most of all, so it is certainly too much to ask from Israel (which would marginalize me in some ways as a woman, and would legally marginalize me still further if I ever converted non-halachically.)

[vison]

An excellent post. Excellent.

Those who assert that Israel must be "supported" unconditionally and unquestioningly are, sadly, not living up to the very idea of the place.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Agreed. As important as this topic is, I can't think of thing to say other than that.

[yovargas]

Are there really people explicitly saying Israel should never be criticized?

[Impenitent]

Yes, there are, just as there are people who label as traitors any American who criticises America, particularly when the country is engaged in hostilities with another nation.

These are people who see only black and white and therefore I consider them to be in an arrested, immature state of intellectual development. There are many shades of grey.

[WampusCat]

I like how G.K. Chesterton put it:

" 'My country, right or wrong' is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying 'My mother, drunk or sober.' "

True support of a country means pointing out where it strays from its own ideals, or commits actions that harm itself and others.

[Hachimitsu]

Nerdanel, this is great thread. i can't think of anything to add really. You bring up some fabulous points.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

It certainly would be wrong to think that within Israel there is no criticism of the government's hardline policies. On the contrary, there is a significant and vocal minority that vociferously protests the actions of the government. My most vivid memory of my time in Israel was watching dueling Peace Now and anti-Peace Now rallies outside of the Knesset. In many ways, that defines Israel for me.

Indeed, I am tempted to say that the "no criticism of Israel" is more the case in the U.S. than in Israel itself. Nor is it limited to the Jewish community; it seems to be de rigor for American politicians of all stamps.

[Impenitent]

I agree that it tends to be a diaspora phenomenon. Within Israel, there are many, many groups spanning the spectrum from rabidly anti-Zionist through civil rights activism to mildly disagreeing with the more extreme actions of a desperate government.

i have a very close friend who splits her time between living in Israel and living in Melbourne who is very, very active in the civil rights movement, standing with Palestinians at protests, helping them rebuild housing that has been demolished, lending her voice and her energies to those trying to seek justice through the courts. This is in Isael, alongside hundreds of other Israelis.

In Melbourne, she is considered an anti-Zionist (which she certainly is not! She is very much a Zionist, who wants to live in an Israel at peace with its neighbours and behaving in accordance with the ideals of its founders and pioneers) and is shunned by the formal leadership of the community. She is a founding member of the Women In Black in Melbourne and in Jerusalem, and she is close to completing a doctorate in women's studies which explores the attitudes of women caught in the middle of the Arab/Israeli conflict. In other words, she is a respected scholar in her field, but the Melbourne Jewish establishment considers her an agent provocateur and a ratbag because she speaks out.

So there is a substantive difference between what is acceptable by actors in the arena and what is acceptable by those considered to be outside the arena.

[Hachimitsu]

Wow really great posts. I usually stay away from discussions about Isreal, but I did know of protests and civil rights movements within Isreal . One American girl visiting Isreal did participate in a protest about Palestinian treatment, and got hit by some sort of gas canister and lost one eye!! This was fired by an Isreali soldier no less.

Impy, that is pretty terrible that your friend has been shunned for doing some very important work. From where I live I have always seen how the US has reacted and to criticize Isreal is considered one of the worst things an American can do. From a Canadian point of view I really haven't noticed them say much. On some political town hall thingies things can get heated and there does seem to be a strong dislike of even the slightest criticisms of Isreal.

(I still remember the former CBC foreign correspondent based in Isreal, and how he was grilled by the Canadian audience for almost every word he had uttered in Isreal. (They had a foreign correspondent town hall thing. They had almost all their foreign correspondents come back to Canada for it.) People had printouts of some of the things he said when reporting on the news!! There seemed to be an expectation that he was only supposed to say good things about Isreal and bad things about Palestinians. If not out, came the printouts and anger.

The man made a sacrifice as his whole family had to live there with his wife being a journalist too, and his children did witness violence. He is now the foreign correspondent based in the US. For some reason I am not surprised. They now have a single woman based in Isreal.)

[nerdanel]

From where I live I have always seen how the US has reacted and to criticize Isreal is considered one of the worst things an American can do.

Maybe this is because I've been in the Bay Area, but I don't think this is true at all. There have been massive, pro-Palestinian protests and demonstrations consistently in Northern California over the past few years. To be honest, outside synagogues, I didn't feel comfortable supporting Israel openly; in the far left (by US standards) climate of the Bay Area, I felt as though I would alienate a lot of people.

I don't think there is any nationwide mandate in the US for citizens to support Israel; I think that supporting Israel is a matter of government policy, not individual dictate. If non-Jewish Americans in this thread feel that they've experienced any sort of pressure to support Israel because they are American, I'd be interested to hear that. The pressures that I'm referring to are those coming from within the diaspora Jewish communities (or directed at the diaspora Jewish communities by the Israeli government) and are directed at Jews and other synagogue attendees.

To the extent I have ever felt any pressure to take a stance on this issue, it has been in the UK and in San Francisco, where I have felt in certain circles that it could be viewed as unconscionable to support Israel. In a class at Cambridge in which I'm not enrolled - Law of Armed Conflict - the professor forced half the class to represent Israel and half to represent the Palestinians in mock debates; many of the students assigned to represent Israel were outraged, some claiming that no legitimate argument could be made on behalf of the Israeli government.

[Primula Baggins]

There is a considerable or at least very vocal swath of the religious Christian Right that supports Israel for its own apocalyptic reasons, as you know, nel (they believe that Israel's existence and wars are essential parts of fulfilling what they see as prophecies leading to the end of the world and, ultimately, the reign of Christ literally here on Earth). There's certainly pressure on far-right politicians or those seeking support from far-right voters to support Israel in everything it does, without question or criticism. If Israel disappeared, the much-desired end times would not after all be upon us.

Outside of that sphere, I can't think of another area of American public life where that is the case.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Unquestioning support of Israel is by no means limited to far right politicians; it is endemic to politicians across the spectrum in the U.S. I think that nel makes a good point that it is a topic in which the politicians do not adequately represent the views of the people. This highlights the power of particular lobby groups, in this case AIPAC. It is a similar parallel to the power of the NRA, which I think also leads to a dichotomy between the overall population's views on gun control and those reflected by politicians.

[Primula Baggins]

Good point, Voronwë. We're seeing a similar dichotomy between what voters want in significant numbers and what politicians actually do, this time in the areas of taxes on the wealthy and corporations, funding for wars, and cuts to "entitlements" (which they aren't!) such as Social Security.

[vison]

There is a considerable or at least very vocal swath of the religious Christian Right that supports Israel for its own apocalyptic reasons, as you know, nel (they believe that Israel's existence and wars are essential parts of fulfilling what they see as prophecies leading to the end of the world and, ultimately, the reign of Christ literally here on Earth). There's certainly pressure on far-right politicians or those seeking support from far-right voters to support Israel in everything it does, without question or criticism. If Israel disappeared, the much-desired end times would not after all be upon us.

Outside of that sphere, I can't think of another area of American public life where that is the case.

The part about that that makes my head go wuggawugga is, if that's god's plan, won't it happen anyway? I mean, can't god arrange things the way he wants? If Israel vanishes for now, who's to say it couldn't reappear when god wants it to? Or something? Jeez.

I'm sorry. I just do NOT get any of this stuff. It just irritates the heck outa me.

[Hachimitsu]

Voronwë and Prim highlight the way I have seen it. (I only see discussions on Isreal in the US, on American news media.) US politicians and the Christians for Isreal group is what we hear about up here. (We have Christians for Isreal here too).

Or as Alatar put it in another thread, "Just because!" Is the vibe on US support of Isreal in the news media here. The only time I saw that Americans were not actually very aware about Isreal (let alone criticizing it or not), is the video about Americans being asked questions about the world (which I feel was greatly edited, biased and skewed), posted by Nel on Facebook.

I think Impy makes a good point about people inside and outside the arena.

[yovargas]

I just went to the library this morning looking for a good book to alleviate some of ignorance about modern Israel and conflicts. In the section on Israel I couldn't help but note that there were several books defending Israel - but none criticizing it.

[Túrin Turambar]

We’ve seen an interesting little drama play out in New South Wales over the past month or two. The Marrickville City Council, a small council in inner Sydney, recently announced that it was boycotting Israel – having nothing formally to do with it, not buying any products of Israeli origin, etc. A particularly hard-left faction of the Greens, who now control the council, were behind it.

Not surprisingly, the council copped a great deal of criticism. Obviously a lot of people thought the council was nuts for even getting involved in foreign policy in the first place, while a lot of others were scratching their heads trying to figure out what connection the Marrickville council could possibly have with Israel to sever in the first place. The move reflected badly on the Greens, who failed to carry the seat of Marrickville in last week’s state election despite being widely tipped to do so (Fiona Byrne, their candidate, was a Marrickville Councillor and strong supporter of the boycott). Personally, I think the whole thing is yet another good reason why Sydney should amalgamate its many councils to have one big, effective and relatively sane one like Brisbane does, but I digress.

At any rate, the major parties hit at the Greens hard over the affair, and the Federal leadership of the party publically (verbally) smacked the New South Wales branch over it. Certainly the major parties in Australia are broadly pro-Israeli, or at least in favour of maintaining normal and friendly relations with the country. I understand support for a two-state solution is official policy for both, as it is around the western world generally. To be honest, I’m not exactly what it says over the opinions of ordinary Australians – the move was unpopular, although it’s hard to say whether that was because the council was anti-Israel or because their idea was downright loopy. I’m not sure how many people have an opinion on the conflict at all.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Meanwhile, Prof. Goldstone, the South African jurist who headed the U.N. commission that found that Israel had committed war crimes in the 2008-9 Gaza war, has partly retracted his conclusions in an op-ed in the Washington Post.

Reconsidering the Goldstone Report on Israel and war crimes

[Impenitent]

Try http://www.alternativenews.org/english/

Thing is, I don't think Israel is the devil.

I think that war is bad and brings out the worst in people - and in governments. I think that, on the whole, Israel tries to act decently and attempts to treat all residents justly. I think that democracy is strong in Israel. I think that very often the government of Israel is stuck between a rock and a hard place. I think that it is difficult to let go of paranoia and over-reaction when surrounded by states that want to obliterate you and pretend you never existed. I think that there are so many influences and streams of thought in Israel and its Knesset I'm surprised there's any coherence. I think that Israel and Israelis are often demonised because black and white is easier than shades of grey. I think that many Israelis have become so disillusioned and pessimistic that bitterness has taken over.

I support Israel. I don't say it very often these days because I'm so despondent about the parlous situation, and so horrified by the injustices and acts of inhumanity (on both sides) that I'm paralysed about my own feelings. Not surprised that Israel, its people and its government and many of its supporters, swing to over-protectiveness.

I would feel very uncomfortable keeping up with this thread if it sways to Israel-bashing and self-righteousness and away from its original exploration of a political phenomenon.