IJV RESPONSE TO KAIROS PALESTINE DOCUMENT*

A Moment of truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of palestinian suffering

22 July 2011, Independent Jewish Voices-Canada (IJV) http://ijvcanada.org (Canada)

Introduction

Independent Jewish Voices-Canada (IJV) is a national organization of Jews committed to a resolution of the conflict in Israel/Palestine based on the application of international law and respect for the human rights of all people.

Independent Jewish Voices wholeheartedly endorses the analysis and recommendations of A moment of truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering, a seminal document drafted by senior church leaders in Israel/Palestine, and circulated by the ecumenical group, Kairos Palestine.

In addition, IJV strongly supports the document’s call for the world’s churches to join the international, non-violent, ethically-based campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), an initiative whose goal is to pressure Israel to comply with international law and respect Palestinians’ human rights. We believe that this campaign has the potential to pressure Israel to adopt more ethical and just practices.1

In the following, we outline specific responses to A moment of truth. In the subsequent section, we include a brief critique of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) response to A moment of truth (2010).2

The IJV Response to A moment of truth

IJV strongly endorses the analysis and recommendations contained in the Kairos Palestine document. We see it as a profoundly compassionate call to the peoples of the world – including the people of Israel – to help Israel turn away from the crimes and injustices rooted in its ongoing occupation. The document calls on Israel to become “a state for all its citizens, with a vision constructed on respect for religion but also equality, justice, liberty and respect for pluralism and not on domination by a religion or a numerical majority”. Kairos Palestine, 2009:16

We see many parallels between the position of the Kairos Palestine writers and the point of view of IJV. Throughout its long history, Judaism, like Christianity, has included both those who promote justice and compassion, and those who protect the powerful at the expense of justice and the less strong. Marc Ellis, the Jewish theologian, describes those who promote justice and peace as Jews of conscience, in contrast to those who pursue power at all costs, whom he labels “Constantinian Jews” (2009:xii)

Although IJV is a human rights organization, and not religiously-based, we are committed to acting as Jews of conscience. Like Kairos Palestine, our members are united by a commitment to pursue social justice, the universal of human rights, and the rigorous application of international law.

IJV members who are religiously inclined can point to core Jewish religious values in the Torah which reflect this perspective. For example, the injunction “do not ill-treat a stranger [i.e., the non-Jew] or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Israel” (Exodus 22:21) appears 36 times in the Torah. In 2002, British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks declared “I regard this as one of the core projects of a state that is true to Judaic principles” (quoted in Freedland, 2002). Rabbi Simean ben Gamaliel, one of Judaism’s most respected sages, quoted Zacharia 8:16: “Execute truth, justice and peace, within your gates,” and emphasized that “these three are interlinked when justice is done, truth is achieved, and peace is established” (Pirke Avot, 1:18). In addition, there is a long tradition of secular Jewish movements which have promoted universal justice and equality (Klug, 2008). However, as Mike Marquesee’s excellent historical study noted, “both Zionists and anti-Zionists, liberals and fundamentalists can find succour in the prophetic texts” (2008:231). Many Israeli rabbis (and politicians) cite scripture to justify Israel’s claims to all the land mentioned in the Bible and use it to attempt to sanctify the violent expulsion of the Palestinians from their land (Shahak, 2002). For example, Rabbi Zvi Yehud Kook said “This land is ours, there are no Arab lands here…within its entire biblical borders it belongs to Israeli rule…this is the decision of divine politics which no earthly politics can overcome” (quoted in Arieli, 2011).

It is our view that all people have an ethical obligation to reject such expedient arguments. Instead we must dedicate ourselves to the pursuit of peace rooted in social justice and compassion. A moment of truth reflects these values and we therefore enthusiastically support it. IJV agrees with the Kairos document that the international campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions constitutes an ethical and non-violent response to the crimes it enumerates. The campaign is rooted, not in a desire to damage Israel, but, rather, to help liberate Israel from the dangerously destructive (and self-destructive) path that it has pursued for many years. Our belief in the moral and practical force of BDS motivated our organization’s 2009 decision to adopt a resolution supporting BDS. Support for BDS campaigns is now one of IJV’s highest priorities.

More specifically, we endorse the view of A moment of truth that:

1. Israel’s occupation of Palestine and its many oppressive elements – the separation wall, the blockade of Gaza, the ever-expanding system of Israeli colony-settlements, the proliferation of military checkpoints on Palestinian lands, the enforced separation of family members, the restriction of the exercise of religious liberty, the denial of refugees’ right of return, the arbitrary arrest and torture of prisoners, the expulsion of Palestinians from Jerusalem and the related pressure on them to emigrate, the disregard for international law and United Nations resolutions, the application of collective punishment, and other egregious actions – constitute serious ethical, moral and legal violations. Along with economic and other consequences, these violations directly injure and kill Palestinians. Simultaneously, these actions blight the lives of Israelis as well as those who are not directly involved,inuring them to systematic and ongoing violations of ethics and integrity.

2. While all human-rights violations must be condemned, we believe that it is necessary to situate the Palestinian violence that exists – as well as some of the major internal political conflicts within Palestinian society – in the context of overwhelming oppression rooted in decades of Israel’s occupation. We believe it is relevant in this context to acknowledge that Israel has for decades been free to act with impunity. This is due, in large part, to the enormous political and financial support it has enjoyed from the international community. As A moment of truth argues, ending the occupation and the associated injustices through the application of non-violent, ethical tools like BDS will eliminate the most significant causes of Palestinian violence.

3. Israel cannot ethically justify its systematic abuse of the Palestinian people by characterizing legitimate Palestinian resistance as “terrorism” or by pointing to the human-rights failings of other Middle Eastern countries. The requirement to act ethically and morally is an imperative which cannot be abandoned by reference to the real or imagined failings of others. Members of civil society – all of us! – have an ethical obligation to speak out and to take action against injustice and to promote justice, peace and dignity. Resistance against oppression is an ethical obligation not only for the oppressed, but also for those who have made oppression possible by supporting, condoning, or simply ignoring it.

4.Israel cannot claim Biblical justification for the sins associated with its occupation. For a detailed analysis of theologically-based Jewish opposition to Zionism, readers are referred to A Threat from Within: A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism, written by IJV member and University of Montreal professor, Yakov Rabkin (2006). Nur Masalha’s The Bible and Zionism (2007) exposes the historically inaccurate Biblical basis for Israel’s claims to Jewish ownership of the land.

5. The Bible does not provide Jewish Israelis with a legal claim to the land. Jews from Europe, the United States, Canada, Russia, and elsewhere, who have chosen to settle in Israel cannot invoke a legitimate aboriginal claim to this land. As the Canadian philosopher Michael Newman argues, “Each individual person certainly has a right to live somewhere, but an ethnic group has no right to live somewhere together.… [N]o one seems to think that all Italians, all over the world, have a right to live in one huge nation, excluding all others. If they all want to go back to Italy, fine, but certainly they [don’t have the right to] to expel others to make room in their ‘homeland,’ or expand that homeland to fulfill the project of reversing their Diaspora” (2005:12).

The IJV response to the Canadian Jewish Congress reaction to A moment of truth

In stark contrast to the thoughtful, compassionate and balanced tone of the Kairos Palestine document, the Canadian Jewish Congress’s response is hostile, defensive and logically inconsistent. The CJC response repeatedly responds to concerns raised in the Kairos Palestine document by setting up straw men and knocking them down. Rather than a meaningful and methodical engagement with the arguments made in A moment of truth, a reflective document which takes as its starting point the consequences of Israel’s long occupation, the CJC response deploys the time-worn language of hasbara – the Hebrew word used by the Israel government and its supporters to describe efforts to explain the government’s actions and to promote and defend Israel in the face of criticism. The term is a euphemism for pro-Israel propaganda. IJV regrets that there is little intellectual depth to the CJC critique, and notes that while there is an apparent attempt to link the CJC’s comments to the observations in the Kairos document, any such link is illusory.

It is clear to us that the CJC responders refused to hear the words so eloquently put forward by the authors of the Kairos document. On the basis of what is presented in the CJC’s response, we are forced to conclude that the serious dialogue initiated by those who drafted the Kairos document has fallen on
deaf ears. The consequence of this refusal to hear is that the CJC piece amounts to little more than a tired rehashing of traditional rationalizations of Israeli intransigence. It does not constitute a worthy response to the heartfelt cry for justice embodied in A moment of truth.

In addition to its other failings, what comes across from the CJC authors is an apparently deep-seated desire to “even the score” with the writers of the Kairos document. This is not surprising. Those who attempt to defend or rationalize injustice often respond angrily when others recognize that what they are doing is unjust. In situations such as this, it is advantageous to turn the tables – to deny misdeeds and to minimize or rationalize those that cannot be denied; to blame the victim for whatever has transpired; to feign victimhood oneself; to invoke guilt to silence outside observers; and finally, if all else fails, to threaten those who continue to insist that the injustice must be addressed. It is our observation that the CJC document and, indeed, hasbara in general, is characterized by the use of such techniques.

Ultimately, all hasbara-based strategy is designed to avoid engaging with the issues raised and to disclaim responsibility. Thus, if the victim of injustice is provoked to act against his oppression, the victimizer can respond by arguing that it is he who is the innocent victim.

This is not the place for a detailed refutation of the time-worn “explanations” contained in the CJC document; many other writers, some of whom we reference here, have prepared full and nuanced analyses on the subject.

Conclusion
With Kairos Palestine, IJV affirms that it is a moral and ethical imperative to acknowledge the reality of Israel’s oppression of Palestinian people and to take action to end that oppression. This is essential, as much for the moral integrity and long-term security of Jewish Israelis, as it is for the well-being of the Palestinians. IJV therefore wholeheartedly endorses the A moment of truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering. We join with the framers of the Kairos Palestine document in calling for the implementation of BDS and other actions to encourage Israel to abandon its unconscionable practices and policies.

1IJV recognizes that the “Boycott Law,” passed in the Israel Knesset on 11 July 2011 complicates matters. We note, however, that challenges to the law were filed in Israel’s High Court of Justice on 12 July 2011 by Israel human rights and pro-peace organizations.

2 On 1 July 2011, the Canadian Jewish Congress ceased independent activities. Its functions have been taken over by the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy.

References and Readings

Amit, Zalman and Daphna Levit. (2011). Israeli Rejectionism: A hidden agenda in the Middle East Peace Process. New York: Pluto Press.

Arieli, Shaul. “We must Stop Israel from becoming a theocracy,” Ha’Aretz, 6 July 2011.

Canadian Jewish Congress. (2010). “ CJC Response to KAIROS Palestine’s policy paper, ‘A Moment of Truth’ ”

Ellis, Marc. (2009). Judaism does not equal Israel. New York: The New Press.

Engler, Yves. (2010). Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid. Halifax: Fernwood.

Freedland, Jonathan. “‘Israel Set on Tragic Path,’ says Chief Rabbi,” The Guardian, 27 August 2002.

Hassan, Zaha and Steven Goldberg. (n.d.). “Israel’s Wall: An Analysis of its Legal Validity under U.S. and International Law.” Website of U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.

Kairos Palestine. (2009). “A moment of truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering.”

Klug, Francesca (2008). “Lessons from History.” In Anne Karpf, Brian Klug, Jacqueline Rose and Barbara Rosenbaum (eds.), A time to speak out: Independent Jewish Voices on Israel, Zionism and Jewish Identity. London: Verso.

Marquesee, Mike. (2008). “The Jews and the Left.” In Anne Karpf, Brian Klug, Jacqueline Rose and Barbara Rosenbaum (eds.), A Time to Speak Out: Independent Jewish Voices on Israel, Zionism and Jewish Identity. London: Verso.

Masalha, Nur. (2007). The Bible and Zionism: Invented traditions, archaeology and post-colonialism in Israel-Palestine. London: Zed Books.

Newman, Michael. (2005). “The Case Against Israel.” Petrolia, California: Counterpunch.

Pesikta Kahana. (Various dates). 140 b;cf, Pirke Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) 1:18.

Rabkin, Yakov M. (2006). A Threat from Within: A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism (translated by Fred A. Reed).Halifax: Fernwood.

Shahak, Israel. (2002)

1IJV recognizes that the “Boycott Law,” passed in the Israel Knesset on 11 July 2011 complicates matters. We note, however, that challenges to the law were filed in Israel’s High Court of Justice on 12 July 2011 by Israel human rights and pro-peace organizations.

2 On 1 July 2011, the Canadian Jewish Congress ceased independent activities. Its functions have been taken over by the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy.

). Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years. London: Pluto Press.

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*Kairos Palestine Document “A Moment of truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of palestinian suffering” http://www.kairospalestine.ps/sites/default/Documents/English.pdf (Shalom 1492)