The Facts Are on Our Side, Why Are We Ignoring Them?

When I was a first year law student, my contracts professor gave the following advice: When the facts are on your side, argue the facts.  When the facts are not on your side, argue the law.  When neither the facts nor the law are on your side, just make noise. 

In the fight against BDS, the facts are on our side.  Yet all we seem to do is make noise.  At the American Studies Association, we argued about academic freedom.  At the Presbyterian Church, we argued about hurt feelings.  Tom Wilson put it perfectly in Commentary when he said that "BDS Doesn't Care About Your Hurt Feelings." http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/06/23/bds-cares-nothing-for-your-wounded-feelings/#gf_18

[Block quote:]

"If one really believes that Israel is oppressing and tormenting Palestinians, then the hurt feelings of American Jewry are all very regretful, but in the face of injustice, what right do American Jews have to say it upsets them to see Israel’s military activities boycotted? If Israel’s misdemeanors in the West Bank are so very wrong then instead of complaining about their feelings, shouldn’t good liberal Jews support such moves?"

When fighting BDS initiative, we need to stop just making noise.  We must firmly and loudly emphasize the following facts: 

FACT: Israel offered to end the presence in the West Bank that Palestinians term the "occupation" in 2000, at Camp David.  Israel's offer was refused by then-PA President Arafat, who, it was eventually revealed, intentionally started the second intifada in response. http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Suha-Arafat-admits-husband-premeditated-Intifada  Had Arafat accepted the Camp David offer, there would be no Israeli military presence in the West Bank today -- there would be no settlement building, there would be no checkpoints (unless of course, the PA used them.) 

FACT: Israel offered to end the so-called occupation again, in 2008, in an even more far-reaching offer, that included relinquishing control over Judaism's holiest sites in Jerusalem.  http://www.thetower.org/exclusive-olmert-i-am-still-waiting-for-abbas-to-call-will-abbas-ever-say-yes/  This offer, too, was refused.  Again, if Abbas had accepted this offer, there would be no Israeli military presence in the West Bank today -- no settlement building, no checkpoints. 

FACT: The security wall, termed by the BDS movement the "apartheid wall," as well as the checkpoints about which they complain, save lives.  In the three years before the barrier was built, 900 Israelis were killed and 6,000 more injured in terrorist attacks originating from the West Bank.  http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFA-Archive/2003/Pages/Saving%20Lives-%20Israel-s%20anti-terrorist%20fence%20-%20Answ.aspx  That number was reduced dramatically once the barrier was completed. 

FACT: The argument that the settlements are the cause of the current conflict is belied by the fact that during a ten-month settlement freeze in 2010, Abbas continued to refuse to negotiate peace until the freeze was almost over, as well as by the fact that the conflict began well before Israel controlled the West Bank at all.  

It is facts, not noise about academic freedom or hurt feelings, that will show the people who are caught in the middle the truth that supporters of Israel already know:  That Israel has done nothing but defend itself, and that BDS is a hateful movement that will not rest as long as Israel exists.  

The facts are on our side.  We need to use them. 

JVP Rabbinic Council Should Have Ordinations Revoked

At about 8:15 PM on Friday, The Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to divest its holdings from Caterpillar, Motorola, and Hewlitt Packard, due to these companies’ dealings with Israel.  Instrumental in securing the votes was the group that goes by the name “Jewish Voice for Peace,” and certain members of its “Rabbinical Council.”

Within hours, the Presbyterian vote had been condemned by the ADL, the AJC, and of course the Israel Mission to the US.  Presumably once Shabbat is over in the US more condemnations will follow.  It is widely understood in the US Jewish community that Jewish Voice for Peace, which lobbied so actively on this issue, is neither Jewish, nor for Peace.  

JVP works closely with the movement to “Boycott, Divest, and Sanction” Israel.  Alan Dershowitz has explained very well why this movement, to use his words, “is immoral and hinders peace.” http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4171/bds-immoral#.UwK7sgUT4ss.twitter  The movement refuses to acknowledge the historical reality that Israel has attempted to end the so-called “occupation” on multiple occasions, and that those attempts have been thwarted by the Palestinian leadership. Its leadership has also made plain that its ultimate goal is not a two state solution, but an end to the Jewish state.  JVP, therefore, works closely with enemies of the Jewish people, with the goal of hurting the Jewish people and destroying the Jewish state.  Indeed, JVP worked with Electronic Intifada editor Ali Abuminah for this Presbyterian Church vote. And any pretense that the Presbyterian Divestment vote was not part of the broader BDS movement is dispelled here: http://wspotts.wordpress.com/2014/06/22/presbyterian-bds-what-you-want-is-irrelevant-what-you-have-chosen-is-at-hand/. 

Presbyterians, however, unwittingly allowed themselves to believe that JVP was a voice from within the Jewish Community, and that therefore the actions that they took were neither anti-Israel nor anti-Semitic.  Twitter accounts of what took place show that statements such as “there are many Jews in support of divestment” were made during discussion of the vote. The fact that members of JVP are allowed to use the title of “Rabbi” surely helped to perpetuate this myth. 

American Jews who take issue with Israel’s current government have ample opportunity to support groups within Israel with whom they do agree.  Israel has an active peace movement, and both Shalom Achshav and B'tselem are beneficiaries of American Jewish donations (Shalom Achshav through Americans for Peace Now, and B'tselem though New Israel Fund).  Engaging in the argument within the state of Israel itself is acceptable, even desirable, behavior.  Working with the BDS movement, however, to convince American non-Jews to assist BDS in its stated goal of destroying the Jewish state, is tantamount to treason against the Jewish people. 

Individuals who work with enemies of the Jewish people to destroy the Jewish state should not be permitted to cloak themselves with the title of Rabbi.  The organizations who granted ordination to the individuals, listed here http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/campaigns/jvps-new-rabbinic-council-4, who now claim to represent Jews in the fight the end Israel’s existence, should revoke those ordinations. Doing so would take one weapon out of the arsenal that is being used by those who want to destroy Israel. 

How US Duplicity Undermined the Peace Process

If this administration's foreign policy has a hallmark, it is probably alienating friends while cozying up to enemies.  Still, even in that context, Wednesday's BuzzFeed headline, "The U.S. Has Been Speaking to Hamas Through Back Channels for More than Six Months,"  is shocking.  http://www.buzzfeed.com/sheerafrenkel/the-us-has-been-speaking-to-hamas-through-backchannels-for-o

It's not speaking to Hamas itself that is so problematic -- it is true that we speak to plenty of enemies and plenty of terrorists all the time.  What is appalling, however, is that the U.S. was, if the allegations are true, conducting secret talks to facilitate the formation of a unity government between Fatah and Hamas, at the very same time that it was publicly pressuring Israel to make more and more concessions in negotiations that the U.S. was supposedly facilitating.  Even more shocking, is that Kerry sat before Congress and blamed the failure of the talks on a few apartments in a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem, when it now appears that it was the U.S. itself that was undermining those very talks.  http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Israels-deeply-disappointed-with-Kerrys-poof-speech-348039   

If the allegations are true, it seems likely that the reason for the PA's actions in applying to fifteen UN treaties, an action it must have known would signal the de facto end of the negotiations, was neither building in Jerusalem nor a delay in the release of prisoners.  The reason, instead, was that the Fatah-dominated PA saw that the U.S. would sanction an alliance with Hamas, and it chose to throw its lot in with Hamas rather than make compromises with Israel. 

The U.S. has, of course, denied this report.  But this version of events seems to explain why Hamas and Fatah were successful in setting up a unity government this time, when they were not successful in this endeavor in the past.  It seems likely that Abbas had some assurance from the administration that U.S. aid to the new government would continue.  It also explains why the U.S. State Department spokesperson rushed to recognize this unity government so quickly. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4526707,00.html  To many watching from within the U.S., moreover, this scandal-ridden administration does not have much credibility left.  

This administration's behavior with respect to its supposed ally Israel has been shockingly duplicitous.