BDS | Kenn Orphan

In the short time since US President Donald Trump announced his plans to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, Israel has killed several unarmed Palestinians, including an old woman in the West Bank who suffered a fatal heart attack after the Israeli army lobbed a stun grenade into her home, and a disabled man in Gaza who had already lost both his legs and a kidney from Israel’s carpet bombing assault on the Strip a few years prior. Israeli forces have also injured scores more, including a 15 year old boy who is still in a coma after an Israeli soldier fired a rubber bullet at his face at point blank range. And thousands have been arrested or detained, including many children. Two of those are Ahed Tamimi and her mother Nariman Tamimi, after a viral video showed brave Ahed ejecting Israeli soldiers from their home in Nabi Saleh.

Ahed gained the world’s attention for video a few years ago which showed her courageously defending her 12 year old brother from a soldier who was brutally choking and beating him. A few years ago I had the honour of meeting Ahed’s father Bassem at a solidarity event in California. He was warm and kind, but his steadfast commitment to justice was passionately resolved. It was apparent that he and his wife imparted that integrity to their children.

The misery over the past few days has exposed many to the daily realities Palestinians face. But the US corporate media still obscures or omits the facts on the ground. So it’s time to clear a few things up.

First of all this is not a conflict between two nations as is so often portrayed. It is the result of decades of oppression of an entire group of people by a state actor, namely Israel. The Palestinian Authority is little more than an apparatus of the occupation, and essentially does its bidding. Israel is the only state here and it possesses an army, navy and air force. The Palestinians do not. Israel has nuclear weapons and military aid from the most powerful nation on earth. The Palestinians do not. It enjoys full diplomatic, economic and military support from many nations around the world, including the most powerful empire in human history, the United States. The Palestinians do not.

Israel has blockaded Gaza since 2007, subjecting nearly 2 million people to intolerable conditions that amount to collective punishment. In fact, the entire strip may be uninhabitable by 2020 according to the UN. Israel has carved up the occupied West Bank into administrative zones that allow for military exercises and settler expansion for Jewish-only communities, and has built a wall of separation that limits Palestinian access to their jobs, farmland, medical facilities and schools.

Millions of people in the occupied West Bank live under military rule while settlers (illegal under international law) enjoy full rights and protections as citizens of Israel. This is how the Israeli army can swoop into neighbourhoods like Nabi Saleh and arrest anyone they please, including scores of children, some as young as 8 years old, who are whisked away in the night and taken to undisclosed locations. And they have done this for years with impunity.

The US media often conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism. Israel was built on the ideology of Zionism which is not the same as Judaism, although many prominent Zionists would love for people to think so. Judaism is an ethnic/religious identity with a rich tradition and culture that goes back millenia and spans dozens of societies, from Russia to Iran to Europe and the Americas. Zionism is a nationalistic, political ideology that emerged from anti-Jewish persecution in Europe and yet was fashioned after European colonialism itself.

Of course there are some who employ the use of antisemitic language in their criticism of the Israeli regime. This is intolerable. These individuals or groups have their own agenda, but Palestinian solidarity is not one of them. They choose to ignore or downplay the many Jewish and Israeli human rights groups who share similar ideals in their support of Palestinian rights and self-determination, including Holocaust survivors and organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace, B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence and Rabbis for Human Rights, among many others.

Trump’s bumbling concession to his conservative religious base has unwittingly ripped the veil from the farce of the “peace process.” It has demonstrated that the US cannot arbitrate negotiations. Truthfully, it has never even tried. After all, the Israeli settler-colonial model mirrors the American one; and it provides the Empire a foothold in the Middle-East which it will not relinquish easily. But with this illusion shattered, perhaps an opportunity emerges. One that can bridge like movements around the world.

Oppression cannot last forever. Those who think so ignore the weight of history. But solidarity with the oppressed is not taking the side of one ethnic, religious or racial group over another either. It is taking the side of justice and universal human rights against racism, tyranny and state violence. It is standing with the powerless against the powerful. And in this troubled time for the besieged, living earth and all of humanity, it is an opportunity we dare not miss.

Kenn Orphan 2017

Since the recent spate of violence in Israel/Palestine, there has been a well oiled response by apologists to defend the ongoing dispossession, apartheid and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians by the Israeli regime, a crime which has been permitted to continue for over 60 years. This response is not anything new, but due to the successes of the Boycott, Divest, Sanction Movement (BDS) the rhetoric has been ratcheted up.

The situation, as usual, is portrayed by most of the mainstream press as a conflict between two peoples over religion, where both are relatively equal in power. Context and history be damned. The acts of violence committed by the Palestinians is covered as if they were random and born from a “culture of hate.” But facts remain facts.

Israel has an army, navy and air force. The Palestinians do not. Israel has nuclear weapons and military aid from the most powerful nation on earth. The Palestinians do not. Israel has blockaded Gaza since 2007, subjecting nearly 2 million people to intolerable conditions that amount to collective punishment. It has carved up the occupied West Bank into administrative zones that allow for military exercises and settler expansion for Jewish-only communities, and has built a wall of separation that limits Palestinian access to their jobs, farmland, medical facilities and schools.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have no access to civil courts like Jewish settlers. They have been under military rule for decades with the Palestinian Authority, a proxy government, enforcing Israel Defense Force orders; and they are subject to military tribunals. Even children are routinely whisked away in the middle of the night with no warning by the IDF, and taken to undisclosed detention facilities where they are often placed in solitary confinement. And last summer the Israeli regime flattened much of Gaza killing over 2300 people, mostly civilians including hundreds of children, and injuring and displacing thousands more. But, astonishingly, if one dares question any of this they are often accused of antisemitism.

Antisemitism is as abhorrent as any other kind of social hatred. And it is not any less repulsive when applied to one group over another. But what is interesting is that many who have decried antisemitism seem to have no problem spewing repugnant, anti-Arab screeds and, incredulously, not seeing any irony in doing so. This has enabled the glossing over of right wing, nationalist mobs taking to the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv chanting “Death to Arabs” and attacking anyone whom they believe Palestinian or a leftist.

What has been convoluted in this discourse is the conflation of the criticism of Zionism with antisemitism. Zionism and Judaism are not one and the same, although many prominent Zionists would love for people to think so. Judaism is an ethnic/religious identity with a rich tradition and culture that goes back millenia and spans dozens of societies, from Russia to Iran to Europe and the Americas. Zionism is a nationalistic, political ideology that was born of antisemitism in Europe and fashioned after European colonialism itself.

In the early days of the Zionist movement several places were considered for a Jewish homeland, including Argentina and Uganda. But because of cultural and religious ties, the Zionists settled on Palestine. As in any colonial structure, Zionism created an ethnocracy, where the indigenous people were forcibly removed to make way for another group who are placed in a higher class than other ethnic, religious or racial groups through laws, institutionalized racism, expulsion, dehumanization and military terror. Essentially apartheid.

Contrary to some misguided assumptions, the focus of the BDS movement is not to expel Jewish people who live in the region or are native to the land. It is a non-violent protest to end the occupation, lift the crippling blockade on Gaza, and dismantle apartheid, just as was done in South Africa. The ultimate goal is one secular, democratic state, where all religious traditions and ethnicities are protected.

Many Israeli regime apologists have countered that the BDS movement singles out Israel, while ignoring the egregious and barbarous atrocities of other regimes in the area and around the world. This is also untrue. The brutal state violence and oppression of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Turkey and others is unequivocally condemned and opposed. The universal demand is an end to all military aid to these governments as well as Israel. BDS is a non-violent response to Israeli apartheid specifically; but is an integral part of the global struggle against colonialist racism and imperialism, from the Americas to Africa to the Middle-east and Asia.

There are, as in any movement, some who employ the use of antisemitic language in their criticism of the Israeli regime. This is intolerable, and it is also antithetical to the cause of universal human rights. These individuals or groups have their own agenda, and Palestinian solidarity is not one of them. But there are many Jewish and Israeli human rights group who share similar ideals in their support of Palestinian rights and self-determination, including Jewish Voice for Peace, B’Tselem and Rabbis for Human Rights among many others.

These voices are usually stifled or excluded from mainstream media coverage in favor of more reactionary groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) or the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), who are experts at conflating criticism of Zionism with antisemitism in the public sphere. Until all voices are heard equally there will be no real justice or peace, and apartheid, alienation and dispossession will continue and grow. BDS worked to end South African apartheid, where political and diplomatic interventions failed by design. And after decades of misery, conflict and strife, it appears to be the only viable option in this case as well.

Solidarity with the oppressed is not taking the side of one ethnic, religious or racial group over another. It is taking the side of justice and universal human rights against racism, tyranny and state violence, something that all human beings, regardless of social identity, should be entitled to.