“If you can’t see what’s happening in the US right now to protect Israel — the systematic assault on our basic rights of free speech and academic freedom — it’s because you don’t want to see it.” (Glenn Greenwald on X) The article in The Intercept on the issue of censorship at the Columbia Law Review: Columbia Law Review Refused to Take Down Article on Palestine, So Its Board of Directors Nuked the Whole Website, by Natasha Lennard, Prem Thakke. “The students who edit the journal sought out the article by a Palestinian scholar who was censored by Harvard Law Review last year.”
The author of the controversial paper, Rabea Eghbariah, was also on Democracy Now! on June 5. You can read the entire article there as well, which was captured for re-sharing before the website was totally shut down. “The law does not possess the language that we desperately need to accurately capture the totality of the Palestinian condition. From occupation to apartheid and genocide, the most commonly applied legal concepts rely on abstraction and analogy to reveal particular facets of subordination.” The piece is now back up on Columbia’s website, but with a disclaimer that the student editors are still protesting.
Recalcitrant supporters of Israel often shallowly challenge the words “genocide” and “apartheid” when taken out of their original contexts. “Is Palestine a state or not?” shouldn’t diminish the rights of Palestinians to be free from oppression and dispossession. The Columbia Law Review article was expanded from the Harvard original to over a hundred pages, and it was vigorously and rigorously fact-checked and edited. The anti-academic response to this article should jar people out of their complacent support of Zionism as it makes clear how necessary and brave it is to stand up to Zionist bullying.
The antisemites who are hypocritically charging Jews and others of being antisemitic need to be shouted and shut down, not allied with! “Zionist, find your shame!” I cry. See this well thought-out piece by Ben Lorber in Jewish Currents from 15 May 2024. https://jewishcurrents.org/the-rights-anti-israel-insurgents
I don’t know if anyone else came across this article (Times of Israel, May 24) that looks terribly academic and unbelievable. A “Pre-peer-review preprint” purports that plenty of calories of food are actually entering Gaza. I know that this is a right wing publication, but I still read the story in disbelief because I see new images every day of Gazan children emaciated by intentional deprivation and starvation. They look like images I grew up seeing about the Nazi concentration camps. The Palestinian children are this way because the Jewish state is using famine as a weapon of war. This type of propaganda must be exposed and challenged.
Jeff Halper’s short May update for the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions speaks to why I think that the motivations of the United States, the Biden administration and beyond, to want to be done with the Palestinians shouldn’t be understated in all that is transpiring now. It isn’t just racist Zionists. It isn’t just Israel wagging the American dog. The US wants to consolidate control across SWANA (Southwest Asia and North Africa), bringing the Arab states and Israel together for its securocratic control, to keep “the masses” contained in check. Jeff warns us to act now to stop a resurgent effort at the cynical push to normalize Arab/Israeli relations that was derailed last October as it was on the verge of shifting to a new level of implementation. It is close, and we need to stop it. Watch Jeff’s 10 minute, May video here.
Furthermore, vile and violent hypocrisies are spreading and it is scary and daunting to see the supposed champions of humanitarianism and freedom attacking them so egregiously and hypocritically. “In defiance of the International Court of Justice, Israel continues to bomb Gaza. Like the United States, Israel refuses to abide by international law, exposing the hypocrisy of the ‘rules-based international order’,” Vijay Prashad wrote in “Their Rules-Based International Order Is the Rule of the Mafia” which is full of characteristically clear points, strong references and beautiful art. See The Twenty-Third Newsletter (6 June 2024) of his Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.
“Antisemitism threatens Jews, occupation threatens Judaism”
That is the title of a James Dorsey article that came out on May 24, 2024. https://jamesmdorsey.substack.com/p/antisemitism-threatens-jews-occupation It gets into the mindset of the militant Jewish Zionists. I don’t know the rabbis and scholars quoted and referenced, but this point is something that came up in Tzedek Chicago Torah study a couple of months ago: ‘ “In school textbooks, the Books of Joshua, Judges, and Kings supplanted those of the prophets who had preached social justice and a moral regime – Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Amos,” Mr. Klein noted,’ Dorsey writes.
Israeli historian Yuval Noah Hariri, political scientist Menachem Klein and Sociologist Gershon Shafir all together paint a picture of the establishment of the state of Israel has led to the creation of what Shafir calls a “new Judaism.”
“Resistance needs to be coupled with religious reform that tackles problematic precepts of Jewish law.” Tzedek Chicago and other, self-proclaimed “Diasporists” couldn’t agree more. We’re working on it. Our presence in society as progressive Jews is becoming undeniable even as efforts at our exclusion grow in absurdity and violence as Zionists make common cause against progressives with white supremacists and anti-Semites.
As dangerous as CUFI and the Christian Zionists are here, I need to respect the violence that “militant religious Zionists” are inflicting on Palestinians, their supporters and on society at large. I am going to spend ten days in Masafer Yatta in a small village with Palestinians under seige by Israelis emboldened and armed by the United States. This article helped me to understand how deeply some of the rising tide of militant Israelis are tied to not just settler colonialism, bad as that was. The article even talks about the influence of Maimonedes on the settler mindset.
I always learn a little something off of my usual beaten path from Dorsey’s pieces. Still, as my friend Mitchell Plitnick warns, the problem is more widespread and pervasive than Dorsey and his sources perhaps present. The violent settlers may be more religious than most Israelis, but they aren’t otherwise outliers, especially when it comes to the Palestinians.
Dorsey continues: “Unlike discussions in Islam about the nature of an Islamic state, the Jewish battle over the primacy of texts was fought in an environment in which legal debate about the rules that govern statecraft, warfare, and policies towards minorities had stagnated for more than a millennium because they were of no relevance to a community that did not control a state and land of its own and was a minority in its own right.
“There is no precedent in Jewish history for the existence of a Jewish state that constitutes a regional power and rules another people. Never before has the Jewish people possessed a combination like this of sovereignty, power, and control, which are being exploited to oppress another people,” Mr. Klein said.” We shouldn’t expect our ethno-nationalist state to be more moral and just than any other. This article helped me see how ours is falling down, with genocidal consequences.
Settled? Unsettled!
On the other hand, there Oren Kroll-Zeldin’s just-released book, Unsettled. I think I am going to have a similar reaction to this friend Oren’s book as I did to the film Israelism. When I saw Israelism, I was only expecting it to be about the other side and their pro-Israel mindset that leaves the Jewish faith behind or morphs into a “new Judaism.” I didn’t expect to see myself, and several scenes I was present at in there too. Here though, I expect to see myself reflected in its pages at some point.
I have been with Oren when I have been attacked by the Israeli military on more than one occasion. I also have been at presentations at the singular program he is assistant director of at the University of San Francisco: Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice. Special note to Chris Carlsson and Shaping San Francisco: Oren is co-founder and lead curator of the Mapping Jewish San Francisco digital project which “takes a collaborative approach to examining the complex history and unique religious, cultural, and political identity of the Jewish San Francisco Bay Area.”
You can get the book Unsettled here: https://nyupress.org/9781479821457/unsettled/ Use NYUAU30 for 30% off.
Oren Kroll-Zoll holding a #SaveMasaferYatta sign next to my dear friend, Bob Suberi of St. Louis. We were just outside Masafer Yatta with about 300 Palestinians, Israelis and internationals trying to clear boulders out of the way of a road necessary for Palestinians who live there. Settlers in the illegal outpost nearby put them there illegally. The military wouldn’t move the offending rocks and chased us away with physical blows, tear gas and stun grenades.
A couple of Israelis were detained and released just outside the illegal outpost, where violent settlers were hanging out. They were attacked and injured in their car. In this extremely rare case, there have almost been repercussions; late in 2023, four violent settlers were to be excluded from reduced visa requirements to visit the United States that Biden’s administration granted to Israelis. One of them was the man who threw the rock through their window. I think Israel and American Zionists who support the attacker prevailed in scuttling the small gesture of justice.
The Flags Tell Us: People are out for Palestine, not Hamas
I haven’t seen anyone comment on the absolute absence of Hamas flags from all the images of campus and even global protests for Palestine. I don’t see Hamas flags, just Palestinian flags, and yet they act like everyone’s Hamas. In fact that’s the only defense they put up: that Hamas is worse than them when the opposite is evidently true. Or at least Hamas can’t be any more bloodthirsty than Israel is showing itself to be. I have heard the Hamas flag’s two swords that are part of the flag’s emblem as though that indicates that they would never stop killing, and that is all that they are about. My point is that people are coming out for Palestine and Palestinians, for their lives and their National rights. It’s not for Israel or us to pick their leaders, and if Israel behaves differently, I don’t think Hamas would be likely leaders of the Palestinian people. Israeli and US militarism make it more likely not less.
The witch hunt against anyone questioning Israel/US genocide needs to be seen through and fought against quickly. We somehow need to shake people out of any initial plausibility some people may grant it. The firing of the nurse the day after she gave an acceptance speech for an nursing award in which she related her work to the situation regarding the destruction of the health care system in Gaza is just one example. The situation is surely similar in Europe, but at the same time, academic boycotts there are growing and spreading. https://sciencebusiness.net/news/universities/academic-boycotts-over-gaza-war-jeopardise-israels-place-horizon-europe
Along with purging progressives from staff and faculty as well as people in other occupations and workplaces, resources are being invested in genocidal Israel. “US State, Local Governments Bankroll Israeli Genocide In Gaza” https://popularresistance.org/us-state-local-governments-bankroll-israeli-genocide-in-gaza/ The short article has several specific examples and talks about the increase use of Israel Bonds by all sorts of institutions. I remember having Israel Bonds from Bar Mitzvah gifts. They always looked kinda cool. After their 18 year maturity, when I cashed them in, there had been pretty much no interest accrued, or maybe it accrued relative to what the person paid for it. I didn’t think the rate of return was their selling point, so I am shocked that someone with a fiduciary responsibility would put investor’s money into them.
Meanwhile at USF (actually, on sabbatical in Sweden FROM USF), my friend, professor of Middle East history, Stephen Zunes, published a piece in Truthout on May 26, 2024: “Biden Continues to Provide Israel Billions for War Crimes.” https://truthout.org/articles/biden-continues-to-provide-israel-billions-for-war-crimes/
But of course, US military spending isn’t only for Israel. “Actual U.S. Military Spending Reached $1.537 Trillion in 2022—More than Twice Acknowledged Level: New Estimates Based on U.S. National Accounts” (Monthly Review, an independent socialist review, November 1, 2023) https://monthlyreview.org/2023/11/01/actual-u-s-military-spending-reached-1-53-trillion-in-2022-more-than-twice-acknowledged-level-new-estimates-based-on-u-s-national-accounts/
I wonder if their analysis will effect next year’s War Resisters League “Pie Chart” which has a much lower figure even as it parses out “old military” expenses like servicing the interest on the federal debt due to past wars and the nuclear weapons budget that is in the energy department. WRL unmasks the “government deception” of including non-discretionary money like social security to make the military budget look like a smaller percentage of the federal budget than it really is. There is always something new and fascinating in the WRL Pie Chart. They are available in English and Spanish, nicely printed for purchase, or to download as pdfs.
In a similar vein, Tom Dispatch published a piece by on June 3, 2024 entitled, “How the Military-Industrial Complex is Killing us All” I saw it on Juan Cole’s Informed Consent. https://www.juancole.com/2024/06/military-industrial-complex-killing.html The authors David Vine and Theresa (Isa) Arriola assert, “No other industry — not even Big Pharma or Big Oil — can match the power of the MIC in shaping national policy and dominating spending.” The MIC serves the interests of Big Oil and other extractive industries though. The MIC is ready to profit any way…but peace.
Two WRL resources to bring to your attention: Could any of your groups use one of these new WRL banners? If you do bannering on a regular basis, one of these would be a great addition. I (in the guise of WRL-West) am getting one to share with people who regularly banner from the overpass on I-80 in Berkeley. Priced to move! Order them for your group here: https://www.warresisters.org/solidarity-banners-gaza
The other WRL item I want to mention is called “Salaam, Shalom, Solh: Nonviolence and Resistance from the Middle East and Beyond.” It was the 2008 Calendar/Datebook, and I compiled and edited it. As WRL continues to celebrate its centenary, a wonderful blog has been created, and I was asked to write something up about the calendar in light of Gaza and all that is at stake currently. You will learn about some inspiring historical people and efforts if you thumb through it. Some copies are even still available. You can read my reflection on Salaam, Shalom, Solh (Persian for “peace”) here: https://www.warresisters.org/salaam-shalom-solh-2008-wrl-calendar-stories-remain-exemplary-even-after-16-years
Help Gaza through the Middle East Children’s Alliance and Help KPFA Gaza Reporter and His Family
One of my synagogue groups, Kehilla’s Chavurah for a Free Palestine, decided to raise money for Gaza through the Middle East Children’s Alliance. We trust them to get the money to people on the ground who can do the most with it. The longstanding high regard Kehilla has for MECA led us to set this up, to promote Palestinian solidarity from our Jewish community. Committee rules actually bar most outside fundraisers from directly targeting synagogue members, so we are reaching outside of the box. You can donate generously here.
MECA is holding its second “Ride for Gaza” on July 21. I should have just returned from my CJNV trip, and I am looking forward to showing my support for MECA, riding with the JVP Bay Area team. Click here to donate to support out team effort, or sign up to ride with us!
I know that there area a lot of Gazans who are raising money to get out of Gaza. Gazan KPFA reporter Rami Almeghari is trying to get out with his family. Here is a GoFundMe for his campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-pacifica-reporter-flee-gaza
Some Birthday Joy with a Delightful Mix of Friends at El Rio, a Fav Mission District Watering Hole
I had such a great evening for my birthday! I had a range of attendees including childhood rocker friend, anarchist and harm reduction San Francisco and Baker Places. A delightful mix, although I see that my spotty use of the camera didn’t include when I was talking to my Baker friends. I remember though!
Jim's Approximately Monthly Missives 