Campus inundated with anti-Israel propaganda
Simone Zimmerman writes in her op-ed: “Students who express ambivalence toward Zionism or support boycotts of Israeli products often feel they are not welcome in their campus Jewish community.” Well I hope not! (“Hillel needs to be welcoming to various views on Israel,” May 31)
The campus is inundated with hate-Israel propaganda, sponsored by well-funded Arab and Muslim organizations, not to mention Israel-hating professors whose departments are funded by Arab princes. We do not need to add to this Israel hate, which as Martin Luther King Jr. said is really anti-Semitism.
She goes on to write that while Hillel’s Israel guidelines “state that Hillel will not host programs that deny Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state with secure borders, some Hillels have hosted speakers that reject the possibility of compromise with the Palestinians, rendering that future unfeasible.” She neglects to inform us that Israel has offered many compromises. The problem is that the Palestinian Arab leadership will not accept any pact that would not result in the dissolution of Israel as the Jewish state.
Arthur Cohen | Portola Valley
Yelling louder won’t stop BDS tide
Recent letters attacking Simone Zimmerman for suggesting that Hillel should be open to diverse views on Israel need a response.
First, my credentials: I was one of about three dozen U.C. Berkeley faculty who signed a letter opposing the Berkeley BDS proposal. And I was one of a few faculty who spoke in the meeting against that proposal. In this and other ways, I think I have some standing.
It is certainly true that anti-Semitism fuels the BDS movement. But most of the fuel — and the greatest problem for Western defenders of Israel — is the occupation, its settlements and the ugliness it often brings. That is why, for example, one of the powerful voices at the Berkeley BDS meeting for the proposal was that of an Israeli graduate student who had fought with the IDF in Lebanon.
The hard-core may stop up their ears, shut their eyes and yell “anti-Semite” as loud as they can, but that won’t stop the tide. Sadly, despite occasional victories, Western opinion is moving against us. The answer is not to yell louder, but to act smarter. Smarter would mean incorporating people with diverse views on how to protect Israel on our side rather than pushing them to the other side. And the smart answer may require even more: “If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies,” said Moshe Dayan.
Finally, as someone who served on the Berkeley Hillel board for many years, I think that for Hillel to achieve its central goal — which is not to defend current Israeli policies but “to inspire every Jewish student to make an enduring commitment to Jewish life” — it must be as inclusive as possible.
Claude S. Fischer | Berkeley
Defend Israel from position of knowledge
Simone Zimmerman, you ask Hillel to welcome friends making common cause with groups advocating divestment from Israel. Have you considered how harmful divestment is, or why out of every country in the world, Israel is singled out? Are you familiar with Israel’s offers of peace that were rejected by the Arabs? Have you questioned the Palestinian-Arab claim of “indigenousness”?
Do you know why UNRWA defines a Palestinian refugee as “people whose normal place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948
Arab-Israeli conflict”? Did you realize that the British let thousands of Arabs immigrate illegally into Mandate Palestine from 1932 to 1944? Did you know Israel studies had been taught for the past 45 years in American universities under Middle East departments by Arab professors?
What about Jewish refugees from Arab lands? Have you considered that when it is created, Palestine will be the 57th Muslim/22nd Arab-majority country — hopefully alongside and not in place of Israel?
Can we Jews defend Israel and not add to her delegitimization if we welcome BDS supporters but don’t know enough to challenge them?
Sheree Roth | Palo Alto
Shutting down Jewish criticism of Israel
The feeling of alienation Simone Zimmerman expressed in her op-ed is completely warranted, as emphasized by the letters j. has published in response to it.
Jews who have legitimate issues with Israel’s political policies and would like to advocate for changing them are put into the same category as anti-Semites by the writers of these letters. We are accused of “consorting with the enemy” if we simply believe that Israel is imperfect. In the name of creating “positive connections to Israel,” people like [Koret Foundation program officer] Danielle Foreman have alienated the very founding of a truly positive connection: being able to recognize flaws and work toward changing them.
It’s those attitudes that cause secular young Jews to become involved with organizations like BDS. If our own people won’t listen to our criticism, we will seek out people who will. I am disappointed that within my generally loving and inclusive Jewish community, what seems like a reasonable disagreement is enough to encourage alienation and prejudice. I commend Zimmerman for calling attention to these issues. She is not alone.
Rena Simon-Igra | San Francisco
Antidote for the venom
Thank you for your editorial addressing the hostility behind campus BDS resolutions and the BDS movement in general (“The hostility behind the campus BDS resolutions,” June 7). There is no greater issue facing the Jewish community today than that hostility. No matter what our opinions about Israeli policies are, everyone should see through the slander of equating Zionism with racism, of the selective condemnation and targeting of Israel.
Well-intentioned people buy into this movement, too, simply out of ignorance — and that is the scariest of all. Few people truly understand why it is necessary to have a Jewish state. Without that understanding, it is easy for the anti-Israel movement to popularize a simplistic narrative that speaks to our moral sense: right vs. wrong, powerful aggressor vs. oppressed native population. Who wouldn’t get behind that?
We have not been successful enough at educating the public and retelling the story in a balanced way. Vigorous outreach to churches, universities and Muslim groups, along with political action, is the antidote to the venom that fuels the anti-Israel movement. We need to talk louder and more.
Malka Weitman | Berkeley
First Amendment trumps hurt feelings
The editorial “The hostility behind the campus BDS resolutions” speaks at length about the feelings of some Israel-identified Jewish students who experience the BDS campaigns as “deeply hurtful.” It dismisses the insistence of divestment supporters that the campaign is not anti-Jewish but in opposition to Israel’s policies, and it notes one isolated instance of vitriol. The editorial then asks: “If Jewish students say they feel targeted, isn’t that enough?”
Not if the First Amendment is still in effect. As the Supreme Court has pointed out, “Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears … and inflict great pain … But as a nation we have chosen to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.”
I hope these young defenders of Israel can stop nursing their hurt feelings, and get out there and speak their truth. They should try to persuade their fellow students to their point of view, and while they’re at it, they might even try listening to what the other side has to say. That’s what free speech and “the marketplace of ideas” is all about.
Carol Sanders | Berkeley
Dangers in Israel are real
Roi Bachmutsky’s “Trips to Israel can breed ‘us vs. them’ racism among youth” (op-ed, June 7) brings to mind the old saying that even a paranoid can have real enemies.
This legitimate attempt to deal with the dehumanization of the enemy in a prolonged conflict goes the bridge too far with its criticism of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s “It’s our job to wake up the world. The great danger to the world is not from Jews building in our ancestral capital in Jerusalem. It’s from nuclear weapons in Iran… It’s chemical weapons in Syria falling into the wrong hands.”
Unfortunately, these threats are all too real and must be articulated and understood as such. Any Israeli government would be remiss in not highlighting them. Suggesting otherwise is simply mistaken. Yes, let us try to avoid the demonization of the other and maintain our own freedom to criticize certain Israeli policies. But let’s not ignore the actual (and ghastly) dangers with which Israel must cope.
Steve Astrachan | Pleasant Hill
Correcting record on racial superiority
On June 2 in the Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco, Bay Area Jews celebrated Israel’s 65 years of statehood. The ADL booth there was distributing a booklet about anti-Semitism: how to recognize and confront it.
The booklet is very useful, but unfortunately it contains a factual mistake which is common in Jewish publications — namely that Hitler proclaimed the superiority of the Aryan race. Hitler never said that. Moreover, in “Mein Kampf” he wrote that “Aryans are not the smartest people.”
It was Nazi party ideologist Alfred Rosenberg who wrote about the superiority of the Aryan race. And when their Japanese allies objected, the Nazis stopped talking about it.
Rudy Budesky | El Cerrito
Inside scoop on food at Israel in the Gardens
Regarding the June 7 letter about Israel in the Gardens needing kosher food, I agree! More food options are needed inside the Gardens. Unfortunately, in the last couple of years, kosher vendors we approached were unable to take on this huge task because of the late Shabbat the night before and the early start Sunday morning, leaving almost no time for preparations and set-up.
In addition, there are numerous restrictions posed by the Gardens as well as the Health Department that don’t make it easier. We were hopeful that the new, numerous and diverse food vendors at the renovated Metreon, as well as the fresh, tasty options provided by the food trucks, would be the answer.
We appreciate the feedback that you provide and have already begun searching for new options for next year. Hope to see you on June 1, 2014.
Michal Kohane | San Francisco
Israel Center director
Bereft without Trudi
I admit I’m always a bit behind the times, j.-wise. The papers pile up until I have a few moments waiting for an appointment or eating breakfast — so I was caught unawares to find my favorite column is gone. Not just temporarily missing, but gone.
When the world piles on me, there is nothing like reading Trudi Gardner to make me laugh. I don’t care about the celebrities or other name-dropping columns. I’m usually too late for the calendar. And the jokes column is frankly a bit tired. But the stories about Trudi’s family, of Jewish overnight camp and of the foibles of life as lived and remembered by those of us who grew up Jewish in the Western United States, made me smile, remember and literally laugh out loud. Without them, there is even less of a reason to work my way through the paper.
Andrea Daniel | Oakland