U.S. Jewish activist: Why I am protesting the Friends of the IDF dinner
Reageer (0)By Donna Nevel
7-3-2010
Why am I protesting the $1,000-a-plate Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dinner honoring Chief of the IDF Staff Gabi Ashkenazi at the Waldorf on March 9?
Like many American Jews, I grew up hearing that the IDF was the most moral army in the world. An honest look at the historical and current evidence, however - most recently documented in the report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Israeli Invasion of Gaza (the Goldstone Report)- reveals a very different reality.
As a college student in the 1970s, I defined myself as a socialist Zionist and attended Israeli consulate-sponsored "hasbara" workshops.
The literal translation of hasbara is "explanation," but specifically refers to Israel's campaign to promote its public image. These sessions taught a simple strategy for "dealing with" Israel's critics on college campuses.
Begin by speaking about Israel as having the most moral army in the world. Never address the content of your opponents' allegations.
Reference the Holocaust repeatedly, emphasizing the need for a Jewish homeland with a strong army so that those who hate the Jews will "never again" prevail.
And be sure to question the integrity of Israel's critics, insinuating that they are anti-Semitic (or, in some cases, self-hating Jews). Those of us in the room who supported a Palestinian state (and there were a few) recognized ourselves in their descriptions of who to watch out for.
I remained active on Palestine-Israel but left my identity as a Zionist far behind, recognizing the incompatibility of Zionism (and the reality of what it was) with my support for justice for the Palestinian people.
Recently I experienced deja vu when I saw the exact strategy I had been taught so many years ago being used by the Israeli government and the American Jewish establishment as part of a relentless hasbara campaign to denounce and discredit Justice Richard Goldstone and the Goldstone Report.
On this past International Holocaust Day, as part of this campaign, the Israeli government shamefully used this day to further its attack on Justice Goldstone and the report.
The attack has been particularly virulent, perhaps because this evidence-based report, whose lead author is internationally respected and known as a supporter of Israel, revealed the immorality of the IDF's actions with powerful legal authority.
The IDF is not a "defense" force. It is an illegal occupying army that is brutalizing the Palestinian people. Why am I marching with 22 organizations to protest the Friends of the IDF dinner and the war criminal it is honoring? Quite simply: How could I not?
Donna Nevel, a community psychologist and long-time organizer for Israeli-Palestinian peace and justice, is a member of Jews Say No!, one of the organizations co-sponsoring the protest on March 9th.
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