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How To Help And How Not To Help In Israel/Palestine [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-11-09
I will start off by saying that I am a very strong supporter of Israel. I wholeheartedly believe that Israel has a right to exist and that Israel’s existence is very important and beneficial to the world. Despite its flaws, Israel is far and away the most (small-d) democratic country in the Middle East. No country in the region provides the same civil rights for women and LGBTQ people. The Arab citizens of Israel have more rights and freedom than Arabs anywhere else.
That being said, Israel is in trouble. Its elected prime minister is a terrible man who is undermining Israel’s democracy. Settlers in the West Bank are stealing from the Palestinians with impunity under Netanyahu and making a mockery of any claim to the rule of law being applied there. And the response to the horrific terror attack by Hamas on October 7th is far too heavy handed. Israel is absolutely justified in hunting down and killing every single member of Hamas. But killing thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians to accomplish that is untenable. Yes, Hamas could stop it now by releasing the hostages, but Hamas is a death cult and won’t do so. Hamas doesn’t care about the Palestinian people. Hamas’s leaders are safely hidden in Qatar and elsewhere with the billions in aid they have stolen from the Palestinian people, while the people of Gaza are suffering and dying. Only Israel can stop this. Israel is a democracy, and its current government is very unpopular. This stops when the Israeli people insist it stops.
So, if you, like me, want Israel to stop killing civilians in Gaza, what can you do? What actions are helpful and not so helpful? Are you acting to affect change? Trying to win hearts and minds? Or just expressing rage? I completely understand that no one wants to be told the “right” way to protest. That’s fine. But I am going to do it anyway. I often see it pointed out that criticizing Israeli policy is not antisemitic. I agree with that statement 100 percent. The problem is that what is often labeled as “criticizing Israeli policy” is often very antisemitic. Israel actually used to elect labour governments. It is now run by extreme right-wingers, and the populace has voted them in because safety and security concerns take precedence over concern for the Palestinians. Its Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in action. Convincing Israelis (and supporters of Israel) that what is happening is wrong means not threatening their safety.
Here are some — lets call them — suggestions:
Don’t attack Jews: This is a pretty obvious one. There has been a huge spike in antisemitic violence and vandalism in the last month. Don’t picket the local Jewish business, even if they are repping Israel. Don’t harass their employees. Don’t vandalize their storefronts. Don’t harass Jewish fraternities. Don’t trap them in the school library. These things don’t help. They make it about antisemitism and not Israeli policy. These things show up on social media and poison efforts to stop the the attacks on Gaza.
Monitor/police your protests: You can have thousands of people peacefully protesting for an end to what Israel is doing in Gaza, but its the picture of the one guy with a swastika is what gets shared millions of times. Or the woman with a picture of the Israeli flag in a garbage can that says “keep the world clean.” Or the image of a paraglider that says “I stand with Palestine” that was shared by a Black Lives Matter outlet. I realize that these are a small minority of people doing these things, but its such poison, so counterproductive, that you have to stop it. You have to condemn it.
”From the River to the Sea Palestine will be Free”: I understand that for some people this is just aspirational. Its a good slogan. It rhymes. But for Hamas, it means destroying Israel and killing all the Jews. The House — with a number of Democrats — just voted to censure Rashida Tlaib for her use and defense of the statement. Maybe you disagree with that. Fine. But it doesn’t help. It alienates people who might otherwise be sympathetic. Seriously, if you want to win hearts and minds of the people that matter (again, the Israeli people, who elect their leaders), don’t use a slogan that their enemies use to call for their deaths. When Ilhan Omar got in trouble for antisemitic statements in the past, she apologized and acknowledged that the language she used was hurtful to some people. Tlaib has instead just doubled down. Tlaib is basically just a useful tool for Netanyahu and his allies. Every time Tlaib opens her mouth its a good day for those who want war in Gaza.
Posters of kidnapped children: Look, I get that this is a setup. We know where the missing children are — they are being held by Hamas in Gaza. Those posters won’t help anyone find them in New York City. But when you rip them down, you fall into the trap. You send a message that the lives of Jewish children don’t matter. Tik Tok and Instagram are full of people being confronted while ripping down posters, and that is just a gift to Netanyahu and the the hardliners in the court of public opinion. Just leave them up. Put up your own posters of Palestinian children. Think through how ripping down posters of kidnapped children comes across.
Ditch the antisemites: Stop giving time to Jeremy Corbyn. And Roger Waters (that guy hit a new low this week). And Norman Finkelstein. And Francesca Albanese. And numerous others. There are plenty of people who provide valid criticism of Israeli policies without wading into antisemitism. It isn’t that hard. But when you put forward people with a history of antisemitism, the message gets undermined. And don’t argue about it. Don’t tell me that Jeremy Corbyn isn’t really antisemitic. This is a guy who was at a ceremony honoring the men who murdered the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics. Not the murdered athletes, mind you. The men who killed them, who Israeli later hunted down. If you are citing Jeremy Corbyn, don’t even pretend you are interested in peace. Don’t pretend you care about Palestinian lives. Even if you think these people are correct — and they may be correct about some things — they aren’t helping anything. They are hurting.
“Colonizers”: I guess that this is a legitimate term if you are talking about settlers in the West Bank. But if that term is referring to the creation of Israel itself, then no, that is deeply offensive. Jews have lived in what is now Israel for thousands of years. Those who came later were not only from Europe but from other Middle Eastern countries where they were forced out. If you can’t get past the idea that Israel has a right to exist, then you aren’t serious. You don’t care about peace. You don’t care about Palestinian lives. You are part of the problem.
Refusing to vote for Biden : I’m really not sure what else Biden can do. But good luck with that if Trump gets elected. This is just punching yourself in the face.
Boycotting. I’m actually fine with boycotts. This is more of a personal annoyance, but I am sick of the TikTok and Instagram videos about how the boycotts are working. Starbucks and McDonalds stock is actually way up since October 7th and those companies have gained billions in value. My local Starbucks is a hangout for a lot of middle eastern cab/Uber drivers. They are still there every day.
Some people will say, why does this only apply to Palestinian supporters? Why not people who support Israel? The answer is that its the Palestinians that need this to stop. And its the supporters of Israel that need to be convinced. Act in ways that will convince Israelis to pressure their government to stop this. Don’t act in ways that alienate them. The October 7th attacks were a terrible wound to Israel’s psyche. It was their 9/11 Don’t downplay or minimize that. Don’t try to justify it. Acknowledge the horror of it.
Can we agree on the following?:
1) This is all very complicated. There is no easy solution. I see people ridiculing those who say it is complicated, but the reality is that is it very complicated. Trying to oversimplify this does not help.
2) Israel has a right to exist. As set forth above, if you can’t get to this, what is the point? You have no interest in peace. No interest in justice for the Palestinians.
3) Hamas is a terrorist group that needs to be removed, and which has oppressed the Palestinians as much as Israel ever has. Again, if you can’t get to this — If you think Hamas’s actions on October 7th were “resistance” , you don’t care about peace and justice for the Palestinians.
4) Israel can’t do what it is doing in Gaza. The death toll and the displacement of so many people far outweighs the need to go after Hamas. And its not good for Israel and Israel’s long-term security.
5) The Palestinians deserve their own state (or states) in Gaza and parts of the West Bank. And that is in the long-term interest of Israel and the security of Israel.
Be smart about this, people. Think about your audience. This can be stopped. Think hard about what it will take to make that actually happen.
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