The following announcement was provided by the Watertown Citizens for Peace Justice & the Environment:
Watertown Citizens’ November Monthly Meeting is being organized by that Peace and Common Security Working Group. The title of the program is — “Why Supporting Palestinian Rights and Opposing Israeli Apartheid is Not Anti-Semitic”
Wednesday, November 16, from 6:45 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.
Our guest panelists will be Eve Spangler and Elsa Auerbach, who were among the co-authors of an article entitled “The Safety of Others.” They are Boston-area Jewish women who strongly reject the idea that opposing Israeli government oppression of Palestinians and supporting their rights constitutes anti-Semitism. Elsa Auerbach, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of English at the University of Massachusetts. Eve Spangler is an associate professor of sociology at Boston College.
You can read the article at https://www.wrmea.org/2022-june/july/the-safety-of-others.html.
This is a zoom meeting. The link is
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83458650306?pwd=b1BKVmRaR09BSHJOeVVWRlBHRHlhQ
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Christian and Muslim Arabs are freer in Israel than in any land in the Middle East, and most of the world. They can vote, for example, and serve in the Knesset. Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, is serving his 18th year of a four year term. Palestinian terrorists have targeted Jewish civilians for decades, murdering men, women, and children with bombs, guns, knives, rocks, cars, their bare hands. Israel is not the problem, least of all Jews. I wish the panel had found room for someone with an alternative point of view.
Since my second comment has been removed from moderation, I’ll move on to my third. Freedom House, “founded on the core conviction that freedom flourishes in democratic nations where governments are accountable to their people”, lists Israel as “Free”, with a Global Freedom Score of 76/100. Not up to Scandinavian standards, but best in the region for hundreds if not thousands of miles in every direction. Lebanon, “Partly Free” (is that a thing?) at 42/100, is a distant second. Yet this presentation will be “Focused on Palestinians in Israel”, without it being antisemitic. Neat trick!
Typical one sided “discussion.” No one there to report of the terrorists who bomb women and children. No one there to point out that several Arab countries in the area (and Iran) want Israel wiped off the face of the earth. No one there to point out that Israeli doctors and hospitals treat ALL patients, regardless of religion. But, sure, let’s all concentrate on the oppression of Palestinians, because everything else doesn’t matter. Not the oppression of women in Saudi Arabia and Iran or lack of free speech in Syria and Iraq.
When Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005, the Palestinian Arabs had an opportunity to abandon terrorism against an Israeli presence and turn their Mediterranean enclave into a tourist destination, agriculture powerhouse, whatever they wanted. Aid from the UN and other NGOs had always been generous, and continues to be so today. Instead, they installed a government led by Hamas, with waves of rocket and mortar attacks on civilian targets, cross border tunneling to conduct smuggling and raids, but with no economic development for the people under its care. Israel has allowed goods to be imported from its territory throughout all but the most violent of episodes, but maintains the right to restrict import of any materiel that Hamas, charter-bound to Israel’s destruction, might use to kill or injure Israeli citizens. Make war on Israel once, shame on Hamas; make war on Israel twice, shame on Israel. No, actually, shame on Hamas again. And again. About the only thing to be said for Hamas is that Hezbollah, which operates out of Lebanon, is potentially far worse.
“Israeli Apartheid”? I would say that Palestinians have not had the best of times under Israel, but regardless of that, they have been given chances to accept some of which has been offered by continually causing mayhem by inciting violence thru rocket attacks and other acts of aggression committed against Israeli civilians and military, knowing full well that innocent Palestinians will face retribution from the damaging response to those actions. It’s always the innocents who suffer from the violence done by the militants …….. on all sides.
I’ve had more than my say, so I’ll leave it to the working definition of antisemitism drafted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA), adopted by many governments around the world, including our own.
Among many other things, it is antisemitic to:
“Deny the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”
“Apply double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”
“Accuse Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.”
“Draw comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”
By all means, let’s have a debate; just one devoid of those talking points. I’m sure the panelists giving the presentation would agree that there is no place for antisemitism in the discussion.