Where should we turn

The Psalmist asks, “Where should we turn in a time of trouble?” The question persists. We are confronted by media and academic insensitivity regarding Israel and Jews. We also have to oppose the misdeeds of the Netanyahu government.

On the first point, last Sunday, the New York Times opinion section ran an unusual full first-page picture of a candidate for Senate in Maine, Graham Platner, whom it touted as a progressive exemplifying how Democrats should talk about a range of issues.

Not mentioned is that this candidate must make efforts to assure the Jewish community that his progressivism is inclusive of Maine’s small but valiant Jewish community. I live in Maine 5 months a year and while we are a small group there, we are comfortable with our Judaism and hope this candidate will continue to make us feel at home.

I also note the Times’ recent reporting on Lebanon. Quite properly, the paper has run front-page stories about the deaths and suffering of Lebanese due to Israeli bombardment. But has the Times reported on Hezbollah’s genocidal aggression that has caused the recent hostilities? Nor has it given much reporting on the real suffering of families in Northern Israel who face constant bombardment and death from ruthless enemies who hide among civilian populations. We do not hear the faces and voices of Israelis suffering from the war crime of bombs thrown at civilian targets by Hezbollah, whom Israel never attacked in the first place.

I also came across ads for a series of lectures at Rutgers Law that foisted disturbing one sided information about Israel. An egregious claim was made in a syllabus that American Jews were coerced into supporting Israel in the 20th century before it even existed, when in fact the largest Jewish denomination in America, the Reform movement, was definitely non-Zionist until after World War II. An additional untruth was that Jews had deserted the civil rights movement. Abraham Joshua Heschel and many Reform and other rabbis who did and continue to support the civil rights movement are ignored. And the accusation of Israeli genocide in the war was casually asserted as an established fact rather than as a subject of debate. I give the Dean credit for responding to my complaint about the series, but the issue is not free speech. The need is for more speech, so that students become familiar with different points of view, not just the anti-Zionist one.

But the Natanyahu government has not put Israel in a favorable light. The government has ignored the violence perpetrated by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. They are not punished or even held back by Israeli authorities. In fact, the army appears in some cases to assist the perpetrators in their attacks. They have even deported U.S. citizens who try to observe the violence and protect Palestinian farmers who are simply trying to pursue their livelihoods. As a result of this misconduct, the Union for Reform Judaism has prioritized a bill in the U.S. Congress, the West Bank Prevention of Settler Violence Act, which would ensure that perpetrators of such violence are not welcome here.

And this rot extends to the police in Israel. A 53-year-old man wearing a kippah with both an Israeli and a Palestinian flag was arrested and jailed. The police took his kippah and only returned it to him with the Palestinian flag torn off. Twenty percent of the Israeli population is Palestinian. They are full citizens of Israel, with voting and other civil rights. Yes, seeing their flag may be upsetting to some, but they are part of the state and are to be treated as equals according to Israel’s Declaration of Independence.

This moral blindness extends to the protection of progressive Jewish Israelis as well. Orly Erez Likhovski heads the Israel Religious Action Center. She is roughly analogous to the head of the American Civil Liberties Union in the United States. A year ago, she was viciously attacked and stoned by a right-wing mob, encouraged by some Likud politicians. Yet her case has been closed by the police. They claim they could not identify the perpetrators, even though there were videos of the violence. The situation bears an uncanny echo of the lynch mob violence in the Jim Crow era in the United States, where the perpetrators were supposedly unknown and never prosecuted.

So where do we turn? There is an answer. The forces in Israel, like IRAC, are seeking change and fairness. They litigate and advocate for the guarantees in the Israeli Declaration of Independence that Israel will be democratic as well as Jewish. Their allies in the Israel Movement for Reform Judaism also seek to restore Israel’s standing as a light unto the nations. They oppose efforts by the government to block the Israeli Supreme Court from safeguarding human rights in Israel. They have a powerful voice in the Knesset in Rabbi Gilad Kariv, the first Reform rabbi ever elected to that body. There are other such voices; for example, Hiddush, which means “renewal,” constantly battles for pluralism in Israeli Jewish religious life.

It is the task of those of us in the Diaspora who truly want to strengthen Israel to turn to and support those voices that remain true to Israel’s core mission. We are not alone. There are regional organizations of Reform and Progressive Jews in the United States, such as the Union for Reform Judaism, and similar groups in Europe, Asia, and South America with whom we can work to make sure Israel remains true to the ideals in its Declaration of Independence. The World Union for Progressive Judaism is an international voice as well. The time to turn to this effort is now. We can begin together. We can hope for Divine Providence, but the task is for us here and now. When we succeed, Israel shall be a light unto the nations.