The Tripod - Opinions
Issue: 3/30/04

Faculty Views: A Jewish State
By Samuel Kassow

Voices Organized in Democracy sees itself as an organization that supports diversity and tolerance. It opposes racism and bigotry - or so it says.

Unfortunately, VOID, or at least some of its members, has recently sent emails that call for the end of Israel as a Jewish state. These emails have done so directly by praising the late Sheikh Yassin, the ex-Hamas leader, who sanctioned suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israeli civilians. His organization, Hamas, has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel and has rejected even a two-state solution within the 1967 borders.

VOID, or at least some of its members, has also advocated Israel's demise in a more indirect manner - by supporting the so-called "right of return" of Palestinian refugees. This would also mean the end of Israel. It is rank sophistry to call for "a single democratic secular state in all of Palestine." We all know that the Canadians can barely hold their country together. We are all too aware of the terrible bloodshed that put an end to multi-ethnic Yugoslavia. To call for a bi-national state is to demand the end of Israel, the end of Jewish independence and the end of Jewish self-determination.

The Middle East is an area with many problems. The ongoing civil war in Algeria has claimed over 100,000 victims. Perhaps a million blacks have perished in the south Sudan, while the Russian army has killed upwards of 60,000 Chechens. Turkey and Syria suppress Kurdish nationalism, and Syria also occupies Lebanon.

But according to some members of VOID there is only one real rogue state in the region - Israel.

The turbulent post-war era (1945-1950) spawned many painful refugee problems. In 1947-1948 the creation of Pakistan caused at least 250,000 deaths and up to 25 million refugees. In 1945-1946 the Czechs and Poles expelled 11 million Germans, while 5 million Poles fled from newly annexed territories in Soviet Ukraine and Belarus. A million Finns fled the Soviet annexation of Vyborg and more than 750,000 Italians ran away from Yugoslavia. The Arab-Israeli war of 1947-1949 created 750,000 Palestinians refugees and ultimately 800,000 Jewish refugees who fled various Arab countries.

But according to VOID or some of its members the only refugees that matter are the Palestinians - the only refugees whose plight is a handy tool to delegitimize Israel.

It is very strange that an organization that advocates diversity can not accept one Jewish state alongside 22 Arab states or alongside the other 191 nations in the UN.

Am I arguing that Israel is always right or that one should never criticize it? No. It is absolutely fair and legitimate to criticize particular policies of any particular Israeli government. There are legitimate Palestinian grievances and a fair solution, in theory, would be a two-state solution roughly along the lines of the 1967 borders. In other words, a fair solution would not be that different from what then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered at Camp David in 2000.

But when does criticism of Israel cross the line? It crosses a line when it calls into question the legitimacy of a Jewish state; when it advocates self-determination and independence for everyone except Jews; when it holds Israel to an unfair double standard; when criticism of Israel becomes obsessive and selective.

All of this is becoming part and parcel of an unfortunate and ugly phenomenon -the anti-Semitism of the Left. Anti-Semitism is also a form of racism. If we condemn racism, then we should also condemn unfair and vicious hate propaganda that tries to turn Israel into a pariah state or that anoints it as the successor of the old apartheid regime in South Africa.

VOID has invited Professor Mazin Qumsiyah of Yale to address the college community. Professor Qumsiyah thinks that Israel is an illegitimate state. VOID is within its rights to extend this invitation, and healthy debate is a part of academic life.

Oddly enough, VOID asked Hillel to be a co-sponsor of this talk. Hillel rightly declined. (I also imagine that Imani might pass up the opportunity to fund a talk by a segregationist.)

While students should give all guests a respectful hearing, I hope that they remember the very important issues that are at stake here.



This article was co-signed by Associate Professor of History Jonathan Elukin.