Chicagoland Pro-Israel Political Update
Calling balls and strikes for the pro-Israel community since 2006
June 7, 2020
149 days till Election Day
If you remember nothing else, remember this:
- Ben & Jerry's is right: The murder of George Floyd was the result of inhumane police brutality that is perpetuated by a culture of white supremacy.
- We can't change this culture of white supremacy without opposing the politicians who perpetuate it, which in 2020 America means Donald Trump and the GOP.
- We are commanded 36 times in the Torah to love the stranger--more times than we are commanded keep Shabbat--because it's easy to remember to keep Shabbat, but not so easy for a once-oppressed people to remember what it's like to be oppressed. We must stand with the Black community and affirm that Black Lives Matter.
- Unilateral annexation will hurt Israel's security interests as well as U.S. security interests. Opposing unilateral annexation is pro-Israel and pro-America.
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Friends,
Too many of the Jewish organizations that have issued statements of solidarity with Black Americans victimized by police brutality and systemic racism are unwilling or unable to condemn Trump and the Republican Party for their role in perpetuating these injustices. Yes, that might offend some donors. But we are not serious about opposing racism if we don't oppose those in power who enable and encourage racism.
Nice, flowery language about peace and love that no one disagrees with absent concrete calls to action resemble the "thoughts and prayers" solution to gun violence. I'm not against thoughts and prayers. I myself think and pray. But we deserve better from our institutions and leaders.
Donald Trump did not create racism in America. But no president since at least the Civil War has emboldened and empowered racists (and anti-Semites) more than Trump has. If we are serious about righting these wrongs, we have to fight those who hold power and fan the flames and--sorry non-partisans, sorry both-siders--that means opposing
Donald Trump and the GOP. As of today, 160 members of Congress have cosponsored
H. Res. 988, which condemns police brutality, racial profiling, and the use of excessive and militarized force--but
no Republicans have signed on.
Ben & Jerry's did not mince words: "The murder of George Floyd was the result of inhumane police brutality that is perpetuated by a culture of white supremacy."
Ben & Jerry's called on President Trump to "take the first step by disavowing white supremacists and nationalist groups that overtly support him, and by not using his Twitter feed to promote and normalize their ideas and agendas."
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, Matt Nosanchuk, and Rabbi Rachel Timoner
wrote that "if we want to stand on the side of civil rights, we must respond to attacks on people of color as we would a white student facing anti-semitism on campus, or a Hasidic man beaten on the streets of Brooklyn: We must see their pain and commit to disrupting the forces that cause it."
Black Lives Matter. We say this not because other lives don't matter, but because we need to remind those in power that Black lives do matter. Saying "all lives matter" following the murder of George Floyd is like saying "all buildings matter" after 9/11. We need to focus on what is broken.
We can say "Black Lives Matter" without necessarily aligning with everything the Black Lives Matter website stands for: The slogan makes sense. Even many of those active in the Black Lives Matter movement are not aware that buried deep within its website is some anti-Israel language (how buried? I'm not going to link to it.
See if you can find it on your own.)
But as
Maayan Belding-Zidon points out, "White supremacy is a much bigger threat to American Jews than BDS is to the state of Israel, but even if it weren’t — even it were not in our self-interest as Jews to stand in solidarity with Black America against hate and bigotry — I would join the protests anyway, because as an observant Jew, I am obligated to do so by the Torah. Because Black people were made in the image of God. Because my Black brother’s blood is calling out from the ground. Because I cannot stand idly by while my Black neighbor’s life is threatened. Because it matters."
We are commanded 36 times in the Torah to love the stranger--more times than we are commanded keep Shabbat--because it's easy to remember to keep Shabbat (sometimes in the breach, but still), but not so easy for a once-oppressed people to remember what it's like to be oppressed. We must stand with the Black community and affirm that Black Lives Matter.
Israel won the Six-Day War 53 years ago.
David Harris commemorated this anniversary by reciting historical facts to which the best response is "so what"? Even if you can prove that history shows that Israel was always right and the Palestinians were always wrong, even if you can prove that settlements are legal and Israel is not an occupying power, even if you can prove that time and time again Israel has offered peace on generous terms only to be rebuffed by the Palestinians, what are you proving? That Israel is entitled to keep the West Bank forever? That the Palestinians had their chance, blew it, and now Israel can write off Palestinian demands and unilaterally annex parts of the West Bank?
No matter how we got to where we are, no matter whose fault it is, the population of Jews and Arabs between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River is roughly equal. Israel can only be Jewish and democratic if the vast majority of its citizens are Jewish.
Arabs who live in the West Bank do not have the same legal rights as Jews who live in the West Bank or as Jews and Arabs who live in pre-1967 Israel. That’s understandable in the context of a temporary military occupation caused by Jordan’s attack on Israel. But Israel cannot remain Jewish and democratic and in permanent control of the West Bank indefinitely; it can only have any two of the three, which means that the only way to realize the classic Zionist dream of a democratic Jewish state is to cede the West Bank.
If you accept the imperative of a two-state solution, then
it no longer matters whether Israel’s claim to the West Bank is superior to the Arab claim, because a two-state solution necessarily means Israel relinquishing nearly all of the West Bank. Construction on the other side of the 1967 borders, let alone annexation, is an obstacle to peace because it makes a two-state solution more difficult. Settlements are not the root cause of the conflict, but they impede a solution. The burden is on Israel to safely exit the West Bank not because this is Israel’s fault or because Israel has not done enough, or even more than enough relative to the Palestinians, but because Israel needs a two-state solution.
The U.S. needs a two-state solution too.
Dan Shapiro and John Allen "see the security of our only reliable democratic ally in the Middle East as an essential American interest that cannot be put at risk. Our opposition to unilateral annexation derives from this U.S. interest. When it comes to Israel’s security, annexation will do nothing to enhance Israel’s ability to respond to external threats. Meanwhile, Israel’s security vis-à-vis the Palestinians will only get worse."
Israel won the war in 1967. Now we need to help it win the peace--for its sake and ours.
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: This newsletter usually runs on Sunday mornings. Unless stated otherwise, my views do not necessarily reflect the views of any candidates or organizations that I support or am associated with. I reserve the right to change my mind as I learn more. Intelligent, well-informed people may disagree with me; read opposing views and decide for yourself. A link to an article doesn't mean that I agree with everything its author has ever said or that I even agree with everything in the article; it means that the article supports or elaborates on the point I was making. I take
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