No Free Pass For Anti-Semitism

The following is an op-ed that I wrote, which appears in the current edition of The Jewish Press (1/19/18). Entitled “No Free Pass For Anti-Semitism,” it discusses Israel’s latest efforts to combat the BDS movement.

NO FREE PASS FOR ANTI-SEMITISM

By: N. Aaron Troodler

The news that Israel is taking proactive steps to prevent entry by individuals associated with groups that actively advocate for a boycott against the country is not as shocking as the named groups make it out to be.

The boycott championed by BDS activists has significant economic and cultural implications for Israel. It is barefaced anti-Semitism, and therefore warrants a strong and substantial response.

The twenty organizations singled out have only themselves to blame. Their actions fueled this decision by the Israeli government. For any of them to feign surprise and outrage is absurd.

The organizations deliberately turn a blind eye to the fact that it is the Palestinians themselves – not the Israeli government – who have the ability to extricate themselves from the current situation, which their leaders and some compatriots created.

Painting Israel as the aggressor is incongruous with reality, and implying that Israel wantonly subjugates another ethnic group and stifles human rights is farcical. Israel’s actions to safeguard its citizens are necessary responses to overt threats of violence, heinous acts of terror, indiscriminate rocket attacks, and blatant incitement. Contrary to the misguided assertions of the BDS activists, self-defense cannot and should not be categorized as some sort of oppression.

The list of organizations affected by the travel ban includes six American-based groups; namely, American Friends Service Committee, American Muslims for Palestine, Code Pink, Jewish Voice for Peace, National Students for Justice in Palestine, and US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

What’s particularly striking is that American Friends Services Committee (AFSC), a century-old Quaker organization that purports to “promote lasting peace with justice,” was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 for its efforts to assist Jews who were persecuted by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

In his presentation speech on December 10, 1947 at the University of Oslo, Nobel Committee Chairman Gunner Jahn noted that although World War II did not strike the Quakers personally, they undertook relief work and aided the refugees, despite the fact that countries occupied by the Nazis were closed to the Quakers.

In a statement issued by AFSC in response to its inclusion on Israel’s list, Joyce Ajlouny, the group’s general secretary, invoked its Nobel Prize win, noted that her group has “stood with communities facing oppression and violence around the world,” and then proceeded to make a series of troubling remarks.

“All people, including Palestinians, have a right to live in safety and peace and have their human rights respected,” she said. “For 51 years, Israel has denied Palestinians in the occupied territories their fundamental human rights, in defiance of international law…. The ban on entry to Israel for activists who support the Palestinian-led BDS movement is part of a larger effort by the Israeli government to silence and constrain human rights and anti-occupation activists…. Therefore, as long as these and other human rights violations persist, we will continue to support Palestinian-led boycott, divestment, and sanctions efforts as effective nonviolent tools for realizing political and social change.”

Clearly, AFSC’s efforts relative to the Jews during World War II are notable and laudable. At a time when most of the world turned its back on the Jews in their time of need, this organization did not.

That being said, its magnanimous actions during the Holocaust do not entitle AFSC to a free pass for its current anti-Israel activities. Its efforts more than seventy years ago are certainly admirable but it in no way provide license to boycott Israel today.

AFSC’s actions and those of the other BDS activists are unequivocally anti-Semitic, and for them to not understand that speaks volumes about their true intentions regarding Israel.

Have they ever contemplated why Israel was forced to impose certain security-related measures that impact the Palestinians? Have they ever considered that if the Palestinians took the very basic steps of acknowledging Israel’s right to exist and condemning terrorism, the situation would be vastly different? Have they ever pondered the fact that Israelis also “have a right to live in safety and peace”?

When Israel takes measures to combat BDS, it is not repressing people’s rights, as BDS proponents allege. It is simply taking the necessary and appropriate steps to protect itself against an anti-Semitic and anti-Israel effort of epic proportions.

When he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of AFSC in December 1947, Professor Henry J. Cadbury declared that “the common people of all nations want peace.”

Unfortunately, that statement is not entirely accurate in today’s world. Israelis definitely want peace and long for a time when they can live their lives without having to look over their shoulder to see if a terrorist with a knife or a martyr with a bomb strapped to his chest is lurking in the shadows.

The question the people at the American Friends Services Committee and other BDS activists should be asking themselves is, do the Palestinians genuinely want peace? Until the Palestinians prove otherwise, it appears the answer is “no.”

N. Aaron Troodler is a communications professional with experience in government, politics, issue advocacy, and the Jewish non-profit world. Follow him on Twitter: @troodler