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March 5, 2023
Key Takeaways:
- Now more than ever, we must distinguish between the State of Israel, which we support, the people of Israel, whom we support, and the government of Israel, whose current policies we can and must oppose.
- Supporting Israel's safety and security and a strong U.S.-Israel relationship requires us to oppose undemocratic judicial overhauls, settlement expansion, and creeping annexation.
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Urge your member of Congress to co-sign DeLauro-Schakowsky-McGovern letter to the Biden administration to protect the viability of a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to sign other letters that draw attention to these issues.
- Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich commented after a pogrom committed by Jewish settlers that the State of Israel should wipe out the village of Hawara. The Biden administration and many Jewish organizations condemned his remarks. Over 100 American Jewish leaders (including me) signed an Israel Policy Forum statement urging that Smotrich not be given a platform when he comes to the U.S. next week.
- None of this excuses Palestinian terrorism, and Palestinian terrorism and rejectionism does not erase the reality that Israel--for its own sake--needs a two-state solution. The current Israeli government thinks otherwise, and those of us who care about the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship and about the future of Israel must side with the Israelis who understand what is at stake.
Read to the end for corrections, what you may have missed last week, fun stuff, and upcoming events.
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Hi Steve,
These are hard, disillusioning days for anyone who cares about Israel and its future as a Jewish, democratic state. Try to remember that we support the State of Israel, not necessarily its government, and that Israel, like the U.S., is not a monolith. What would you have told someone who criticized the U.S. because we elected Donald Trump? My guess is that you would have told them that many Americans were angry at Trump and were working hard to make him a one-termer.
We have reason for hope: Tens and hundreds of thousands of Israelis continue to protest the current government's policies. Eric Yoffie notes that "if an American demonstration drew the same crowd size relative to its population, it would be equivalent to about 4 million American protestors." Under Israel’s parliamentary democracy, the deals made to form coalitions can result in positions taken by the ruling coalition that do not necessarily reflect the views of a majority of the Knesset, let alone a majority of Israelis.
We should take comfort in knowing that when we criticize anti-democratic judicial overhauls and pogroms committed by Jewish settlers against Palestinians, when we demand an end to settlement expansion and creeping annexation, we are supporting the State of Israel and stronger U.S.-Israel relations and the Israelis who oppose these policies.
That is what Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Jim McGovern (D-MA) have done in their letter to the Biden administration to protect the viability of a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Read the letter and see if your member of Congress is a co-signer. The letter closes March 7, so if your member of Congress has not signed and you want them to sign, let them know. Other letters worthy of signature also may be circulating; it's okay for a member to sign more than one.
In addition to speaking out, we should, if we can, financially support progressive organizations in Israel and stop financially supporting organizations in the U.S. and Israel that support anti-democratic organizations and settlement expansion.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs writes that "progressive American Jews who criticize Israel are accustomed to hearing the complaint that one shouldn’t try to influence the policy of a country where they don’t live. This attack oozes with hypocrisy as right-wing donors have no compunction about pouring billions of dollars into advancing right-wing policies in Israel, funding settlement growth and even supporting the violent extremists who now have outsized power in the Israeli government."
Rabbi Jacobs continues, "there is no way to talk about democracy without talking about the fact that some 5 million people live under Israel’s jurisdiction without the right to vote for the government with the most power over their lives. And, as we have seen, this government is using its power not only to neuter the high court, but also to carry out de jure annexation of the West Bank, to authorize new settlements and outposts, and to incite violence such as in the village of Huwara this week. It’s time to stop being afraid of being too 'political' and start putting our money where our values are."
Yes, it was a pogrom. The Israeli general in charge of troops in the West Bank called the attack against Palestinians in Huwara by Jewish settlers a "pogrom." I don't think he misunderstands what happened or is unaware that the word "pogrom" generally refers to "a wave of anti-Jewish violence in the Russian empire beginning in the late 19th century."
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Wednesday that “the village of Hawara needs to be wiped out. I think that the State of Israel needs to do that – not, God forbid, private individuals.”
The State Department responded that Smotrich's comments "were repugnant; they were disgusting. And just as we condemn Palestinian incitement to violence, we condemn these provocative remarks that also amount to incitement to violence. We call on Prime Minister Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials to publicly and clearly reject and disavow these comments. We condemn, as we have consistently, terrorism and extremism in all of its forms. And we continue to urge that there be equal measures of accountability for extremist actions regardless of the background of the perpetrators or the victims."
"Try to make an intellectually honest distinction between [what Smotrich said] and Iranian regime calls to wipe Israel from the map," asked Michael Koplow. Many Jewish organizations condemned Smotrich's comments and every Jewish (and non-Jewish, for that matter) organization should follow the White House's lead and not meet with him when he visits the U.S. next week for an Israel Bonds conference.
Israel Policy Forum released a statement on Friday afternoon signed by 120 American Jewish leaders (including me) stating that Smotrich should not be given a platform in our community.
We cannot ignore what Rabbi Sharon Brous calls "the direct line from the regime working to decimate Israel’s democracy and judiciary to these terrible acts of violence. Extremist ideology now has a home not on the fringes, but in the highest offices of Israel’s government." That doesn't mean we diminish our commitment to Israel's safety and security. It does mean that we acknowledge the reality of Israel's government and, as Brouse suggests, "stand with the hundreds of thousands who have taken to the streets week after week to protest this government, and with all those fighting for a just society for Israelis and Palestinians together."
None of this excuses Palestinian terrorism. The Biden administration condemned the "horrific" killing of two Israeli brothers near Nablus and the killing near Jericho on February 27 of Elan Ganeles, an Israeli who was also an American citizen.
If you believe, as I do, that Israel's treatment of Palestinians, justified or not, does not excuse violence against civilians and should therefore be unequivocally condemned, then Jewish settler violence against Palestinian civilians, regardless of motivation, should be unequivocally condemned.
Some say that it doesn't matter what Israel does because the Palestinians want not an end to the occupation of the West Bank but an end to Israel itself. Some probably do, just as some Israelis want a Jewish state from the river to the sea. The reality is that millions of Palestinians aren't going anywhere. Millions of Jews aren't going anywhere. Palestinians see the rebirth of Israel as a catastrophe, a nakba that conflicted with their national aspirations and led to displacement and worse. Jews see the rebirth of Israel as a modern miracle that realized 2,000 years of national aspirations and provided a needed safe haven from centuries of antisemitic persecution.
Neither side has to give up its narrative or accept the other side's narrative, but both sides must realize that the only path forward, a two-state solution, requires both sides to give up sovereignty over land that they believe should be theirs and both sides accepting that previous sins of the other may never be redressed.
None of the alternatives to a two-state solution will work. The status quo means more creeping annexation, more violence, less democracy, more similarity to apartheid, and fraying of the U.S.-Israel relationship as Israel moves toward an undemocratic Jewish state comprising what is today the West Bank and Israel. Most Israelis will not accept a democratic one-state solution because the point of Israel is for it to be a Jewish state, not a state with a lot of Jews.
The choice is two states or one undemocratic Jewish state and the current Israeli government is on track for the latter alternative. That's why, even if the Palestinians are not ready or capable of moving toward a two-state solution, Israel--for its own sake--must not plant facts on the ground that would push a two-state solution further out of reach and that's why the U.S. should side with those in Israel who seek an end to settlement expansion and dismantling of illegal settler outposts.
Corrections. I'm entitled to my own opinions but not to my own facts, so I appreciate it when readers bring errors to my attention. No one brought any mistakes to my attention last week, so it looks like last week's newsletter was perfect.
In Case You Missed It:
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Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Ann Wagner (R-MO) led 16 colleagues in a call for the dismissal of Francesca Albanese and the disbanding of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into Israel. Their letter asked that the U.N. “work towards ameliorating the deep-seated antisemitic and anti-Israel bias” at the organization.
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Flashback: Nikki Haley defended the right to secession, Confederate History Month, and the Confederate flag.
- As of today, 64 days into 2023, we've experienced at least 95 mass shootings and 7,183 gun violence deaths. In July 2022, the House voted to ban the sale, manufacture, transfer, possession or import of assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition feeding devices. The vote was 217-213, with two Republicans voting yes and five Democrats voting no. It died in the Senate thanks to the filibuster rule, which must be abolished. Elections matter.
Tweet of the Week. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) explains nouns and adjectives to Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO)--watch the clip.
Twitter Threads of the Week. Daniel Ellsberg and Oren Jacobson.
Video Clip of the Week. The Whole Megillah. Happy Purim!
Upcoming Events. Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania (DJOP) presents Israel's New Government: The View from DC and Jerusalem on Sunday, March 19, at 10:00 am CT, moderated by Jill Zipin with panelists Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA), who will have recently returned from a J Street Education Fund trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories; Nimrod Novik, Israel Policy Forum’s Israel fellow and a member of the Executive Committee of Commanders for Israel’s Security; DJOP Board member Martin Raffel, previously senior vice president and director of the Task Force on Israel, World Jewry & International Human Rights at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; and Steve Sheffey (me). RSVP here to get the Zoom link.
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