It’s a sorry sight to watch the established Jewish community discuss which views are acceptable to be heard over Israel/Palestine. US Jewish publication Forward this week explains how Jewish Voice for Peace, who back BDS, believe they deserve to be heard in the wider debate.
Phil Weiss at Mondoweiss challenges the frames of reference:
From the Forward, a vile statement by a “liberal” equating the struggle for equal rights for a minority with “genocide.” It’s a piece on the group Jewish Voice for Peace, headed by Rebecca Vilkomerson.
“It is troubling that Judaism and support for Israel have become so inextricably linked,” Vilkomerson said at the New York event. “We are trying to create a space in the Jewish world where we can express our criticism as Jews without needing to apologize for ourselves.”
“That is a distinction that even many liberals do not embrace….Ben Cohen, a writer who has focused on American Jewish responses to Israel, [says], “But it is clear that many of their members dream about one state, and for those of us under the communal tent, one state is a code word for genocide.”
Who is Ben Cohen? It says here he is the Associate Director of Communications for the American Jewish Committee. Why is Adam Horowitz not quoted in that article? Or Max Blumenthal? Or Antony Loewenstein? Or Naomi Klein? Or Norman Finkelstein? Or Donna Nevel? Or Jane Hirshmann? Or Lillian Rosengarten? Or Gail Miller? Or Anna Baltzer?
Do you understand what the Forward is doing here? Do you see whom they have granted a platform? Newspapers make choices all the time. I challenge the Forward not to grant such a platform to fear and hatred, I challenge it to make room for non-Zionist voices, and to have a forum to debate whether even notioning one-state is genocide.
Sadly, in Australia we have seen exactly the same kind of Zionist advocacy, with Zionist lawyer George Newhouse shamefully writing this week that the NSW Greens support “genocide” by advocating a one-state solution (which they don’t, by the way; official Greens policy is a two-state solution).
Such comments pass without comment in the corporate mainstream.