This section contains Yachad's news and Yachad in the
news. Click on the right hand column to review older
stories
Dilemmas U.K. Jews face: Israel boycotts, concerned support, Beinart 2/5/2012
Hannah Weisfeld, Haaretz, May 2nd, 2012
The topic of boycotting Israel is very much alive. In the past
few days we have seen an Israeli barred from participating in a National
Health Service conference after pressure from members of
the trade union Unison, and the UK's fifth largest supermarket
chain, The Cooperative,announce it will boycott all Israeli
companies that source their goods from over the Green Line. And
then there is of course, the debate that still rages in relation to
Peter Beinart's book, The Crisis of Zionism, and
his call for a 'Zionist' boycott of settlement
products.
There are several responses a supporter of Israel may have to
this continual talk of boycott. One is to put up the barricades,
and to launch an aggressive fight back in the form of 'hasbara
plus,' as some British pro-Israel organizations are advocating. Another option is to jump on board
the boycott - in the eyes of some, it is a legitimate means of
non-violent resistance in the face of a policy that they wish to
challenge.
But what becomes of those supporters of Israel who are deeply
concerned with the unfolding political trajectory to which neither
of these options provides a suitable response?
These individuals, many of whom in the U.K. are supporters of
the pro-Israel pro-peace movement Yachad, and with whom, as the
organization's director, I interact with on a daily basis, can be
referred to as 'concerned supporters' of Israel. As supporters,
they want to defend Israel from unfair criticism and, at the same
time, be unafraid to be critical of policies they believe are
damaging prospects for peace.
For them, the polarization of the boycott debate does not sit
comfortably. Many in this camp believe that boycotts of Israel -
regardless of where they are directed - are unhelpful and
counter-productive. They result in isolation, they damage shared
prosperity (which is the corner-stone of any peaceful resolution),
and they imply that responsibility for achieving peace in the
region lies solely with Israel. It is for these reasons that we do
not support any form of boycott of Israel, even a 'Zionist' boycott
directed over the green-line.
But too many communal leaders have been too quick to cast
Beinart outside the tent, when there is in fact no doubt he fits into the camp of a
concerned supporter. His conclusion that we should pursue a
targeted boycott comes from a place of deep concern and love for
the Jewish state.
It is the job of a concerned supporter, regardless of what they
think about boycott as a tactic, to point out that there is a
fundamental difference between advocating a boycott of goods over
the Green Line, and boycotting an Israeli academic because of his
nationality. The former action acknowledges the legality and rights
of Israel inside the green-line and the latter renders anyone that
is an Israeli citizen unworthy of interaction, and no citizen of
any other country would be subject to this type of
discrimination.
It is the responsibility of the concerned supporter to point out
this difference not least because if they do not, they feed the
hand of those in the most extreme part of the boycott movement (and
the right wing of the pro-Israel camp) who delight in the blurring
of both the Green Line and the division between a state and
government policy. When a state and its government's policy become
inseparable, it is too easy to question the legitimacy of a
nation's right to exist.
For those of us in the camp of concerned supporters we must find
ways to challenge policies such as boycotts that we believe are, at
best, unhelpful, and at worst, outright discrimination.
However, we should not allow the debate around tactics to
supplant the debate around substance. Questions that relate to what
type of Jewish state we want, the values it represents, and under
what conditions it can maintain its character as both Jewish and
democratic should be at the heart of the community debate on Israel
today.
Thousands of British Jews have already been galvanised to engage
in this conversation. It is clear that they, and many more in our
community, are finding their voice, rising above the inertia
created by such a polarization of debate, in order to deal with
substance and not solely tactics.
