Today, the sixth incarnation of Israeli Apartheid Week gets underway. Aiming to amplify international calls for the BDS movement–that is, the boycott of Israeli goods, divestment from the Israeli economy and placement of sanctions on Israeli imports, respectively–organizers have planned various demonstrations in more than 40 international cities over the next 14 days. And though 14 days is clearly not a week, I’m sure we can all agree Israeli Apartheid Week sounds much better than the Israeli Apartheid Fortnight. Personally, I would’ve preferred something like “Two Weeks of Bashing Bibi and His Cronies in Israel’s Military-Security Complex, But NOT Jews In General, While Also Shedding Light on Legitimate Palestinian Grievances.” But alas, that’s just me.
Whatever we call it, Israeli Apartheid Week cannot be dismissed as quickly as its ill-conceived moniker. To those who point to its potentially damaging repercussions, claiming the demonstrations are merely means to incite hatred and stoke the flames of Anti-Semitism, I disagree. Simply put, the damage is already done; the crazies hate the Jews, with or without reason, and will go on hating us. There’s little that Israel, or Jews, can do to change this fact. No, the real reason we cannot disregard all the films, the demonstrations, and the speeches is because they’re coming more and more frequently from intelligent, rational people and organizations, many Jews included.
The shaded areas, designated as 'homelands,' took up 13% of South Africa's land mass but contained its entire black population.
And like it or not, I consider myself an intelligent, rational person. I’m also a scholar of South African history, and while I see many differences in that country’s Apartheid past and Israel’s current situation, there are also unmistakable similarities. Perhaps the most blatant is Israel’s restrictions on where Palestinians can live. While the Palestinians are cordoned off in the West Bank and Gaza, Jewish settlers – with the promise of military protection and generous tax breaks, among other things – continue to seize disputed lands. This mirrors South Africa’s Land Act and the later Group Areas Act, which forced many blacks and coloureds from their homes. The fact that Palestinians have no vote in Israel also invites the comparison to Apartheid South Africa.
So, to call Israel an Apartheid state is not without provocation. True, there are no segregated beaches here, as this author points out. But, do there need to be? It’s not as if a Gazan – or, for that matter, a resident of Nablus – can leisurely stroll the Tel Aviv promenade. In fact, Gazans often can’t even go fishing off their own coastline. Israel is segregated; I don’t need a sign on the beach to tell me so.
The fact is, Palestinians are oppressed. Does that make Israel an Apartheid state? That’s not for me to say. However, as responsible, rational citizens, we must at least take heed of a movement that’s gaining considerable steam among politicians, religious leaders, and academics. And before being so quick to dismiss Israeli Apartheid Week as Anti-Semitic or anti-Zionist, take a look at the evidence on the other side.
Sam Melamed is a Masa participant, participating in Career Israel, one of Masa Israel’s 160 programs.
Tags: apartheid, Career Israel, Israel, Israeli Apartheid Week, Masa Israel, palestinians, South Africa
Sam:
I work at Brandeis, am a former Middle East correspondent for the Boston Globe, and am writing a foreign affairs column for the Jewish Advocate in Boston about Israel Apartheid Fortnight. Please call me either in my office at 781 736-4210 or on cell 617 785-0916 about your recent post on this subject.
Am on deadline and would appreciate it.
Thanks
Charlie
Please see http://contemporaryantisemitism.blogspot.com/2010/03/israeli-apartheid-week-in-us.html for more information on Israeli Apartheid Week.
Hi Sam,
Please check out my response to your post in this blog:
http://blog.newvoices.org/?p=2854
I’d love to hear your response!
Thanks,
Ben
[...] on New Voices, the digital version of the “National Jewish Student Magazine,” Sam Melamed points out that IAW is actually a 14-day event; and he would like to brand it as “Two Weeks of Bashing Bibi [...]
Sam,
Good job on calling others to investigate before defaulting to the ever popular slander of “anti-semitism” to silence criticism. Keep up the good work!
Sam, the most telling part of your article is, “the crazies hate the Jews, with or without reason, and will go on hating us. There’s little that Israel, or Jews, can do to change this fact. No, the real reason we cannot disregard all the films, the demonstrations, and the speeches is because they’re coming more and more frequently from intelligent, rational people and organizations, many Jews included”. You go on to identify yourself as an “intelligent, rational person”, and announce yourself (at least partially) convinced by the apartheid analogy.
You seem to fail to grasp that antisemitism is not limited to “crazies”, and never has been. Of the 15 participants in the Wannsee Conference, five held doctorates. Nazism may have started as the ravings of semi-educated street corner orators, but by the time it had triumphed it had won over the bulk of intellectuals. It had made itself appealing to many “intelligent, rational persons”.
I’ll leave it to others to point out the self evident falsity of the Israel=apartheid analogy. I want to concentrate on why Israel is being compared to apartheid South Africa, rather than, say, the USSR under Stalin.
The apartheid analogy is a calculated propaganda strategy to enlarge the circle of Jew hatred beyond the vulgar antisemites. Its surface plausibility and co-option of the language of human rights is an attempt to move Jew hatred into the Left. (Many are surprised to discover that the history of Left antisemitism is as long and sordid as that of the Right). The degree of success it (and similar strategies) have enjoyed can be gauged by reading the talkbacks to almost any article about Israel in left of center British papers like the Guardian and the Independent. Naked and unreconstructed antisemitism shades seamlessly into venomous attacks on Israel and then into (apparently) reasonable criticism.
As long as a “iron Wall” existed between antisemitism and criticism of Israel’s policies, the criticisms could never reach the point of countenancing policide. Blur the distinction between the two enough and even an “intelligent, rational person” can be seduced into seeking to undermine Israel.
Your piece, Sam, is proof the strategy is working. It’s even more proof that it needs to be resisted.
[...] Filed under: Middle East | Tags: Heeb, New Voices Heeb blogged about Israeli Apartheid Week. So did New Voices, New Voices and New Voices. On the other side of the Abrahamic spectrum, Al Jazeera posted a [...]
Are the crazies the ones who follow the path to peace behind a cardboard robot? Maybe not!
Find out more about the Pax Revolution for peace on Facebook and Twitter at Pax_101.
Excellent! If I could write like this I would be well happpy. The more I read articles of such quality as this (which is rare), the more I think there might be a future for the Web. Keep it up, as it were.
Sam.
In terms of Israel, well, it’s complicated. I think each side needs to recognize the validity, hopes, dreams and aspirations of the other and until that happens, nothing will be solved. I do agree that Israel must take responsibility for some of the heinous crimes, though I don’t know if integration is the solution. Integration does not seem to work anywhere in the world.