Scrutiny is appropriate but it should be fair and objective. Would you let a stranger who conspires to destroy your home or family into your home or close to your family? It is not a question of free speech. BDS is a group that urges destructive ACTION against Israel. At its core, BDS is anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish in every way imaginable, and it is mainly driven by groups who not only harbor these perverse prejudices against Jews, but who are actively seeking to destroy Israel by waging economic warfare and a misinformation campaign. Israel’s Palestinian policy can be debated and even anti-Semites can peddle their hate and venom. That is free expression and democracy in action. But Israel cannot be faulted for refusing to give aid and comfort to a sworn enemy or blocking their agents, particularly a non-citizen, from crossing its borders.
8
I have high regard for Ms. Weiss and Mr. Stephens and this article but to associate Ms. Alqasem boycotting of Israeli goods as a statement of protest with Nazi tactics is not only off the mark but irresponsible.
Nazi Germany was the oppressor of its own citizens that schemed to eliminate any vestige of Jewishness, anywhere in the world and boycotting Jewish merchants was one small part of that horrific, unspeakable package. Nazi's weren't trying to make political statements as Ms. Alqasm apparently is - they were cold-blooded murderers.
Ms. Alqasm is standing for a political position that many Americans and many Israelis hold in trying to find peace between two groups of people and keeping the Israel government accountable for its present occupying behavior by reminding it of its esteemed humanistic past.
12
PTSD, an entire nation consumed by it.
Also, what Balaam said.
2
I seriously doubt Lara Alqasem is going to Israel to study. Alqasem just wants a long term stay in Israel to help the BDS movement and almost certainly aid terrorist organizations that murder civilians.
Why would a hater of Israel go to an Israeli university, spending money for tuition, consume items, pay rent, and put money in Israel? A country Alqasem wants to destroy. She is obviously not there to study.
Lara Alqasem should show us on a map thousands of years old showing "Palestine".
As for the "Palestinians", if Israel wanted to it could bulldoze them into the sea, the way some "Palestinians" want to do to Israel. But Israel doesn't. Also, check out the "Palestinians" that use Israeli hospitals.
10
hear, hear
1
Why does this openly anti-Israel and BDS supporter want to go to Israel at all? What is her real motive? If she longs for the time before 1967, she should go to school in Jordan. The West Bank was part of Jordan, which became part of Jordan when Jordan attacked in 1948. Go to Jordan to study, young lady, and boycott Israel.
9
Trump has emboldened the far right in Israel but he won't be there forever.The Palestinians will.
If "Israel is [also] a state that prides itself on being a liberal democracy," then why use "whatabout-ism" and fault activists for not displaying, as they claim, the "same passion" against China's occupation of Tibet or Russia's occupation of Crimea? These countries are farthest from being (or even claiming to be) liberal democracies, and it's false equivalence to compare them with Israel.
7
Netanyahu is absolutely the wrong person for Israel. His politics breeds a dangerous historical resentment around the world, towards the jewish people and Jewish state.
He adapted extremist far right policy that lead the country to more isolation and condemnation.
Is it any wonder that trump, Putin and Saudi all embracing him.
I'm non-religious jew myself, but watching what's going on in Israel in terms of evaporating democracy gives me chills.
9
Israel isn't just another country, it is one that the US unequivocally and strongly supports. Its policies must determine our level of support.
The Palestinian issue is a humanitarian one the world overwhelmingly has passed judgment upon--- and the UN would long ago have formalized condemnation of Israeli apartheid if the US had not blocked such votes.
The wisdom of whether or not to hit Israel in the pocketbook (through a boycott of its products) is one issue; whether Israel should be able to intimidate Americans from voicing their opinions on that is unconscionable.
8
Israel isn't just another country, it is one that the US unequivocally and strongly supports. Its policies must determine our level of support.
The Palestinian issue is a humanitarian one the world overwhelmingly has passed judgment upon--- and the UN would long ago have formalized the condemned of Israel if the US had not blocked such votes.
The wisdom of whether or not to hit Israel in the pocketbook (through a boycott of its products) is one issue; whether Israel should be able to intimidate Americans from voicing their opinions on that is unconscionable.
1
"the same activists who obsessively seek to punish and isolate Israel for its occupation of the West Bank rarely if ever display the same passion for protesting against China for its occupation of Tibet, or Russia for its occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine."
U.S. taxpayers are not supporting these occupations. Nor do Americans fly Chinese and Russian flags in American neighborhoods, as they do the Israeli flag. It is because of the support, financial and otherwise, that Israel receives that there is a backlash. We have a right to speak out against a brutal (and some say racist) military occupation that we support.
And, yes, people do believe that refugees should be given the right to return home. This isn't code for anything. It is basic human rights.
And you suggest that Israel invite critics to visit. Would they be allowed to see what is going on in the occupied territories? This student was not only asked to renounce any support for BDS but she also had to promise to not visit the occupied territories. American Jews on birthright trips have been demanding to see the occupation and have been leaving their trips to do so. Good for them.
5
The writers forget to mention that these pro BDS activists don't visit with the purpose of sunning on the beach or visiting ancient sites-- they are there to film, disrupt, and agitate. The writers can misrepresent the purpose of these "visitors" by saying that letting them in will "open their eyes", but the reality is they have already visited, or have been so poisoned by the BDS movement it doesn't matter.
Yes, a "liberal democracy" should allow free entry and freedom of speech, but they have no obligation to let people in whose sole purpose is to inflame tensions, film propaganda to take back home, and breach the peace.
6
The opinion writers' suggestion;
"Here’s a better way for Israel to confront its young detractors, including those who support B.D.S.: Invite them to visit. No restrictions; no minders; no lectures. Perhaps they’ll find their prejudices confirmed. But we suspect that more than a few of them — those capable of keeping an open mind and appreciating the complexity of life and politics in the region — might find their views changed."
My question to them is; if you are wrong and the Israeli Security Services are correct, will it be your son's and daughter's risking their lives to protect the Land of Israel and it's People? Or will it be my children, and most other Israeli parent's children in uniform?
Of course you are entitled to your opinion, but your opinion may be risking my children's lives. I am offended.
American idealists, particularly teens and twenty somethings, do not grow up the away Israeli kids do. The speak their mind, and act accordingly - irregardless of their surroundings and the likely outcome of their actions. Once again, it will be our children in uniform, 18 - 22 year old conscripts that will go into Jenin, Ramallah or wherever - when your children's right to voice their opinion takes a wrong turn. All Israelis would love to able to express their opinion wherever and whenever they want to, but here it is not always responsible wherever and whenever. It is not worth risking the lives of IDF and other security services to satisfy your entitlement.
4
The argument that the BDS activists don't protest against China or Russia for their oppressive policies is a ridiculous one. It's like criticizing people who fight animal cruelty but are not conspicuously (or maybe they are) expressing similar outrage against human cruelty. We all pick the battles which most call us, which in no way means that other issues have no import to us.
4
Is anyone going to challenge the claim that Herzl envisioned a pluralistic society? My memory may be failing me, but my academic studies a while back made clear that the vision of an Israeli state was always part of a larger trend of colonialism. The Jewish quest for colonial conquest just came at the end of that long history, when opinion toward colonial land taking was negative.
1
...Andrew Sullivan described each of us as a “Zionist fanatic of near-unhinged proportions.” It was a cheap shot. The word “near” should not have been a part of the sentence.
Otherwise, we happily plead guilty as charged....
[ This admission tells me that the judgement of the writers is simply not to be trusted. What a shame. ]
4
One only has to read the papers to see that antisemitism remains alive and well around the world. Today’s most fervent antisemites no longer hide in the shadows, they reside comfortably within the anti-Israel movement. (We don’t hate Jews, simply Israel.) The State of Israel was created as a safe refuge to for the Jewish people, they are justified to close their borders and protecting its citizens from people whom have demonstrated an anti Israel /Jewish bias.
18
Hmmm...why is Israel - those in power - scared of an outspoken, young person? Who doesn't agree with everything they decree inerrant?
Same reason those in power in the US are equally scared. They cant relate, and in fact, refuse to relate and address the concerns of American youth. Its very simple. Thos in power in the US have dismissed their duty, refuse to listen and comprehend their role as elected employees of the public, of either party, or independents, and chosen to do as they please, as well as their donors.
If nothing else the whole debacle of the Kavanaugh nomination and hearing process pointed to how little the old, white, withered males of the GOP in the Senate give a hamsters tail-hair about the concerns of young Americans, esp. females.
They're scared that because they refuse to get out of their echo chambers, and therefore do not relate to most of the American public who hold their futures in their voting hands, are savvier then they (GOP legislators) believe and will be motivated to do something about shedding these out of touch, callous, dismissive and deplorable old white men from their too long held seats. (some of them are just there too long, Grassely, Graham, Hatch, etc.)
That's what they're scared of...the not too distant future that dismisses them, and deems them unnecessary. Much like Hatch deemed women in general last week. I hope he managed to skim enough from his campaign coffers to live comfortably...actually not...
1
A brave and confident nation would not behave as Israel has. It is showing itself to be fearful of those who hold beliefs it finds objectionable.
Worse, Israel's actions are glaringly anti-democratic. By barring visitors, Israel is reinforcing the increasingly widely held belief that this former beacon of democracy is losing its way and lapsing into an authoritarian status.
Those who opt to boycott Israel should not be condemned for taking political action against a government they find reprehensible.
A boycott is not terrorism.
8
"Liberal societies thrive not by expelling critics but by tolerating and even assimilating them — and therefore defanging them." This wishful thinking is naive (and dangerous) when a liberal society is faced with religious fundamentalist/terrorists who have no desire to be "assimilated" but instead expect YOU to be assimilated (or else beheaded). Does Israel face an existential threat from those supporting BDS? Quite possibly. The threat looks especially real if you live in a liberal college town (as I do, in Berkeley) and can see growing antisemitism on campus, deliberately fueled by such groups.
7
Good column. Great point about how such visitors may see the good in Israel.
People separate being Jewish and being Zionist, so they can criticize Israel and not be called anti-Semitic. There is only one problem with this. As Theodore Herzl envisioned it, Israel has not been Zionist for a very long time.
The IDF committed and is still committing war crimes in Gaza. Israel is run by right-wing zealots. American Jews have to call them out and stop foreign aid until Israel's government becomes democratic again, and there is a two-state solution.
8
The question is why isn't this young American scared to live in Israel - an apartheid country which does not welcome non-Jews? Anyway, there is nothing illegal, dangerous or violent about the BDS movement. As for people not protesting China's occupation of Tibet as much - Tibetans are not being pushed off their land or being starved (or put on a diet) or deprived of water rights or having their houses bulldozed or their farms confiscated - that is what Israel has been doing for decades to Palestinians.
More power to the BDS movement and these brave Americans who go to Israel and protest.
4
She is a combatant in war against Israel and its people. So why in earth should they let her in?
19
I am for the boycott against Israeli businesses in occupied territories and resent the implication that I am something akin to a Nazi. The horrific persecution of Jews by Nazis does not give the state of Israel a free pass for its own human rights violations. I'm not at all certain that those who are aghast at Israel's treatment of Palestinians have turned a blind eye toward China's treatment of Tibetans. To the extent that this may in some instances seem to be true I imagine that those who criticize Israel for its illegal actions against Palestinians would make the same complaints against China and Russia's treatment of some of their minorities just as vociferously if it wasn't for the fact that they are busy protesting these two countries many human rights violations against their general population as a whole.
4
The Israeli government and many of its supporters want to keep the BDS movement outside the Rawlsian "tent of reasonableness". That is, anyone who associates with the BDS is beyond the pale and deserves only condemnation; we don't debate nazis and members of the BDS. A person who has at any time been associated with a nazi organization will be shunned by society possibly for life, and the Israeli government wants the same to be true for anyone who has associated with the BDS movement. This also creates a chilling effect for someone contemplating supporting the BDS. It is thought that this strategy will ensure that the idea of apartheid type sanctions against Israel etc. never reaches the mainstream (at least in Israel and the U.S.). So Israel isn't afraid of Lara Alqasem. It is concerned that BDS' ideas could possibly gain ground over the long run and it is implementing a general policy to prevent this.
It appears that Bret Stephens believes Israel would gain by engaging with current of former supporters of the BDS, but the Israeli government disagrees. Regardless of reason or what happens in other parts of the word, the humanitarian condition for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza is unsatisfactory. As a result, debating the BDS might well be challenging and the Israeli strategy may therefore be wise from their viewpoint.
1
Once you cross the moral boundaries there is nothing else to stop you, ever!
It is shocking to read that the writers describe themselves and with a certain degree of smugness as “Zionists fanatics of unhinged proportions.” They compound there position by referring to the Jewish State. when it is convenient other supporters of Israel describe it as a democratic state.
By espousing Zionism they believe "in the development and protection of a Jewish nation in what is now Israel." As such they are either classifying the Palestinians as not only having no rights, but non-existent. It seems that other types of extreme racisim would not be found in these pages.
2
The accusation that the BDS movement in the US is anti semitic because it focuses on Israel rather than China is disingenuous. The US could exercise substantial leverage via military aid, not voting to block UN resolutions, etc to alter Irsreali settlement policies if it chose to do so. The BDS knows this and thus lobbies the US to use this leverage. The same cannot be said for China and Russia.
4
Yes, BDS stands for boycott, disinvestment & sanctions, but they're just tactics. The overall strategy of the radical Palestinians supported by this movement see Zionism as the true enemy. And by opposing Zionism as a legitimate concept they seek to make the very existence of Israel illegitimate. These folks are out to nullify the state & give the land to Palestinians. But who would really wind up with this land? Whoever is able to hold on to it. Presumably they wouldn't be the 6 million-plus Jewish Israelis who lost their state. Those folks would become refugees.
Does any country on earth think it's a good idea to admit entry to people who are out to topple the state that grants the visas? It makes no sense.
17
Each illiberal act by Israel is moving it towards its destruction. I appreciate is the military and economic superpower in the Middle East. Israelis also have a certain disdain for American Jews. Yet, it still needs the financial and political support it gets from both the U.S. government and American Jews. They is coming when that support won't be forthcoming. Then what?
2
The so called democracy of Israel has a right to question an American's motives when that guest who lives in Israel apparently forgets they are a guest in a foreign country. As a guest, you mind your business and don't create havoc. However, as we all know, in recent decades, Israel has changed, and it appears she has become more and more like those Arab countries she despises when it comes to religion, gender rights and civil rights in general. So if you travel there watch your P's and Q's.
USA inspect the background of any person who applies for a visa to visit the country, despite USA is not under the danger that face Israel. Why the complain against Israel?
8
Jeez I get it that it's tough times for more normal conservatives, but do ya think it's really necessary to couch this OpEd in in pro Israel terms? If you are so convinced of Israels right to exist, as am I, you should be equally convinced of the rights of the Palestinian people to basic dignity, a right that has been purposefully denied them by the hard liners in Israes government. You've got one foot on the proverbial platform and one on the train.
5
Boycotts and divestment are peaceful means of registering political opinions. Martin Luther King led a boycott and we honor him for it. Boycotting didn't make him a hater; it made him a leader. Any country that will imprison peaceful people for advocating boycotts and other peaceful means of protest is asking for violence to be used. Israel, let our people go!
7
Should a any person who has lead groups and demonstrations in Russia accusing the U.S. as a sponsor of global terrorism and is an active supporter of BDS , that also praises globally named terrorist groups , be allowed entry into the country?
2
Kill one terrorisr and you create three more as the saying goes. Deny one student(who by logic can’t fully support a boycott by agreeing to attend not just an Israeli university but it’s most famous and symbolic one that literally sits on disputed territory) and she will go back to the USA and create 10 more boycotters by personally affirming her experience with Israel. Israel needs to ask itself if it’s worth it to guarantee more inexperienced haters with no personal experience with the state or to take its chances that a future leader may broaden her perspective (she’s only 22) and return with a nuanced and new understanding of day to day life in Israel. We always complain that there’s a lack of young, modern and moderate leadership on the Palestinian side so why are we denying the opportunity to foster one? Maybe she’ll go back as an increased hard liner but maybe she won’t also. Isn’t the latter worth it? I think it is.
4
The recent Michael Moore movie spends a couple of minutes on NY Times coverage of a young Adolph Hitler. Turns out that even in 1939, the Times had a "puff piece" on him, so it's not simply - as one might think - that they "couldn't have seen what was coming."
The connection is that 5-10 years into the ascendancy of a VERY "hard right" Israeli government, an article this tone deaf is just plain embarrassing.
Here's the most glaring of a number of "Hey, are we talking about the country sandwiched between Egypt & Jordan here?!" paragraphs.
--
But Israel is also a state that prides itself on being a liberal democracy — a fact that goes far to explain the longstanding support for Israel among American Jews and non-Jews alike.
--
Yes, Israel *WAS* once a state that prided itself ...
It amazes me how the Times has "red-lined" Trump (yes, wisely!), ... but can't bring itself to deal with others EXACTLY like him in other countries - some of whom were Trumpish when he was just a moneyed thief & boor.
Netanyahu obviously has deep ties to not-so-liberal Jews & non-Jews in the U.S., and it's pretty clear that that includes - regardless of their ethnicity - key figures at the Times.
In the interests of "fairness," Israel is looking less to 1930's Germany in prizing "correctness" over freedom. They're looking at S. Africa ... and reacting the way that once evil nation did when it prized power over justice. Time will tell whether Israel's tactics are hastening its downfall.
1
welcome to Bibi's private Idaho.
2
As an American secular Jew, I fear the right wing turning the US into a Christian state. So I can sympathize with Muslims whose land has been turned into a Jewish state. A religious state is inherently unfair to those not of the state religion, whether the state is Christian, Muslim, or Jewish. Arguing for a secular state where everyone is treated equally is certainly not antisemitic, as many Israel supporters assert to deflect criticism of Israel's policies.
9
Why is it certainly not anti Semitic if it results in the nullification of the reasons for its existence.
3
Lara, by refusing to renounce her advocacy for boycotting the very country in which she's now chosen to pursue her studies, reveals either a disappointing lack of understanding or a surprising lack of all common sense. Israel isn't the villain in this case. Lara herself needs to hunker down and finally choose which side of her bread she wants buttered.
5
The Israeli government has to take an important, historic step that will offer some hope, dignity and a way forward; follow the semi-secret plan of years back and establish East Jerusalem as the sovereign, 'administrative center' for the Palestinians. Of course there is little realistic chance with a government that has little courage while under the protective wing of the United States. And the countries that could take some action are not united enough or influenced by the weak stature of Arabs.
Why is Israel scared?
For no sound reason, and not dissimilar from Ms. Weiss's efforts at Columbia to deny tenure to scholars with whom she disagrees. It would be one thing if Ms. Weiss acknowledged her utter hypocrisy; but she hasn't done so.
6
Of course that those who feel like Gods are going to be threatened by any human being exposing their mortality and limitations.
2
It seems ironic that a person who advocated boycotting Israel nonetheless wanted to study there. What better chance to learn? How can Israel possibly be threatened? If she wanted to boycott 100%, she wouldn't live there for any length of time.
2
Your comment " And the same activists who obsessively seek to punish and isolate Israel for its occupation of the West Bank rarely if ever display the same passion for protesting against China for its occupation of Tibet, or Russia for its occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine." is a telling. Israel is different from Russia and China, but less so each day.
4
thanks you mr stephens
9
BDS does not believe in Israel’s right to exist or in self-determination. When your very right to exists is questioned, no quarter should be given. Period. It’s not about the West Bank, tear gas or soldiers at check points; it’s about your right to exist as a country AND no one has a right to questioned that.
Having said that, since her visa was issued, even by mistake, it should be honored. Lara should be allowed to remain in Israel for time and purpose allotted. However, it should be conditioned that as a guest and a visitor she cannot be involved in any political activities or provocations.
Not that she is likely to change her mind about the country, but It will show that Israel is a country that honors its rules and adhere to its democratic principles, even for people who express support for its demise.
2
Keep in mind that this is from the Netanyahu government, and is not the view of the millions of moderate Israelis who do not support ultra right-wing policies. Just as Trump doesn't represent all of America, Netanyahu (and other national leaders of their authoritarian ilk) doesn't represent all of Israel. Not one bit.
5
I agree with the argument of the writers that barring BDS activists is unethical and self-defeating. But in this case, I have a straightforward question: by going to study at Hebrew University, doesn't Alqasem ipso facto reveal that she is NOT a supporter of BDS (and therefore, whatever she has said in the past, is moot)? According to the BDS movement, the boycott of Israeli academic institutions is one of the "planks" of the strategy, given the supposed "complicity" of these institutions in the occupation (an argument I strongly disagree with, since, like in the US, Israeli academia is where you will find some of the most ardent Israeli opponents of the occupation). By choosing to study at Hebrew U, she is in fact in violation of BDS guidelines. This should be encouraged, not punished.
50
@md
You're just wrong and buying propaganda. Here's HuffPost, hardly a right wing bastion to correct you.
"The BDS Movement Is About Dismantling Israel, Not The ‘67 Occupation"
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/the-bds-movent-is-about-d_b_...
And I quote: "The [BDS] demands make clear that the movement’s goal is ending Israeli statehood, not just the post-1967 occupation. There is no reference to 1967 nor any invocation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions (242 and 338) which require the end of the 1967 occupation while preserving Israel’s right to security and self-determination."
No reason Israel has to let its enemies in. We don't. Asking Jews not to do what we do is...let me say this nicely....holding them to a different standard than that to which we hold ourselves. There's a name for that. I'm sure you can figure it out.
Time to live in the real world.
4
Well written and by extension sound advice for Trump-Pence-GOP's USA.
1
It is hard to read this story and not remember Rachel Corrie in Gaza 2003/ Very likely this female of Palestinian descent was intent on following a similar path to martyrdom. Sure, the student part was a great cover. But, prove me wrong, that her real intent was to join the Palestinian resistance in the West Bank. It has happened before. But then the female was not Palestinian, this person has Palestinian parents living here in the US. I can already see her on a pile of rubble claiming its her ancestral home and planting the flag in a cloud of tear gas. And you can't see a reason to deny her entrance into Israel? Excuse me
6
I try to imagine how both Israeli and Palestinian families feel. Often in this paper I read strong denunciations of Palestinians yet I wonder if your land was arbitrarily taken and given to another family how you would react. Add to this complexity unstable people such as Trump and Netanyahu who both worship at the altar of weapons and death and you have this mess. To an outside observer the horrors that the Jewish people have suffered for thousands of years now seem to be used as a weapon by them to justify treating Palestinians the same way. I always have been impressed by Jewish scholarship across many subjects but they lose my respect when I see current ways they treat others.
71
@Mark Schlemmer Have you willed the stolen land you live on to one or more Native Americans? And by the way, the Palestinians and other Arabs in the Middle East have turned down every offer of land, starting in 1948. At Camp David in 2000, Arafat was offered most of East Jerusalem and the West Bank and he turned it down. Basically, since 1948 the Arabs have turned down every Israeli effort to come to terms short of Israelis committing political suicide and giving up their state. Realize Nasser in 1967 blocked Israel's southern port which precipitated Israel's response. The bottom line is that the Arabs have not accepted Israel and want to destroy it. Arafat in 2000 crushed my belief that peace was possible. It's a tragedy, but unfortunately, the current reality.
5
Lara Alqasem advocates a boycott of Israel, essentially, advocating the economic demise of the nation. Why should Israel allow anyone in who wants to bite the hand that feeds him/her?
That said, why isn't there a boycott of every Arab nation that stole the possessions of every Jewish citizen before exiling them penniless. Hundreds of thousands of Jews with centuries of history in Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq were exiled. Thousands were brutally murdered. Hardly a word.
I have no empathy for Lara Alqasem or anyone of her fellow terrorists who advocate the destruction of Israel. Neither should you, Brett and Bari.
17
As a Jewish American I agree with them Messrs Weiss and Stephens that Israel should of course not be stopping dissidents/dissenters/BDS activists from entering the country, But I vehemently part company with them when they can't help in the process slurring the BDS movement - linking it to boycotts of Jewish businesses and even suggesting that "promoting the right of refugees to return to their homes" is somehow code for promoting the destruction of Israel. The demonization of BDS by them, and the Israeli government, and New York and other states that are punishing firms who support BDS in the U.S. is completely unacceptable. And abhorrent to our notion of what is and should be allowed as peaceful protest against the policies of the current Israeli government.
4
Donald Trump has shown us that bigotry is okay, now, so maybe we shouldn't call it bigotry anymore. Let's call it Nationalism.
The authors write of, " young American Jews, who are increasingly alienated from Israel because of its hard-line policies."
At 59 years old I'm hardly young. As an American Jew who was raised to love and revere the nation of Israel, I can state unequivocally that I am now fully alienated from Israel because of its hard-line policies.
3
I don't often agree with Bret Stephens and Bari Weiss on things Israel-related.
But here, they are spot on.
Israel denounces academic boycotts of the nation, arguing that they stifle discourse and free exchange.
However, by barring Ms. Alqasem from studying in Israel, the authorities are doing just that - stifling discourse and free exchange. In a way, they are engaging in a reverse academic boycott.
Inconsistency of arguments doesn't suit you well, Israel. Many American Jews (myself included) are looking at you with a very critical eye. This isn't helping.
4
Criticism is necessary to maintain integrity and credibility. What is Jewish scholarship but a continual questioning and discussion of it's holy writings? It seems when this is expanded into politics it is considered heresy.
2
Weopine: What a way to make real, potetentially violent enemies. Opinions do not necessarily translate into nefarious action if they can be voiced and acknowledged as possibly helpful and beneficial.
I grew up Catholic, Irish Catholic, in the 1960s , in an integrated neighborhood with many Jewish friends. I swam and played basketball at the Jewish Community Center. The old men had crude forearm tattoos my father told me were from the concentration camps. I became a long and fervent supporter of Israel.
No more. What they have done to the Palestinians is, geeze, what is the word I’m looking for... oh, yea, it’s genocide. And they do it using my tax money. Enough.
6
The United States denounces China and Russia but not only doesn’t denounce Israel, this administration encourages them. Big difference and the need for American citizens, whose taxes heavily support Israel, to find sources to voice their dissatisfaction.
I’m sure you both are equating the boycott by right wingers of Nike to Nazi Germany as well. A bit of a stretch.
6
This so-called anti-BDS campaign is really an an ethnic cleansing campaign that will soon be applied to Arab "citizens" within Israel. In time, these "troublesome" Arab citizens will be expelled from Israel because of their political viewpoints, political associations, and for exercising free speech.
We are only seeing phase one, directed mostly at non-citizens. This program will soon accelerate. A few left wing Jews will even get caught up in this Palestinian dragnet, but the right wing Jews won't care.
2
You write: "Here’s a better way for Israel to confront its young detractors, including those who support B.D.S.: Invite them to visit. No restrictions; no minders; no lectures. Perhaps they’ll find their prejudices confirmed. But we suspect that more than a few of them — those capable of keeping an open mind and appreciating the complexity of life and politics in the region — might find their views changed. "
That's a great liberal view, but I fear that most people who would take ypou up on that offer would be there simply to confirm their prejudices. The results all depend on how open-minded today's youth is, and how able they are to "appreciat[e] the complexity of life and politics in the region". Sadly, this openness isn't typical of most of the youth that I come across today. They are more likely to find circumstances that they will use to confirm their prejudices - just look, for example, at the screaming mobs protesting about Brett Kavanaugh's appointment. Mostly young, almost all pre-judged the case (which after all is the very definition of the word "prejudice") without leaving any mental room for facts. Why should BDS supporters who were invited to Israel, and for many of whom the word "Zio" is the worst insult you can throw at someone, be any different?
5
Mr. Stephens and Ms. Bari suggested that if Lara Alqasem and other supporters of the BDS movement spent some time in Israel, they might be persuaded to change their views. I would urge the authors to visit the occupied territories to see the the apartheid conditions under which Palestinians are forced to live.
3
BDS isn’t “thinly veiled bigotry” it’s the same tactic in opposing state sponsored apartheid that worked successfully against South Africa in the 1980s. No doubt that is why Israel is sufficiently alarmed by it to react in this odious despotic manner.
3
Actually it’s thickly veiled by the fog of political correctness used to feel self righteous and not to confront real low grade antisemitism on the left(I sit to the left). It’s old and easily recognized by many though not all Jews. We need to recognize it and figure out how to set a good example without withering in self deprecation or being fodder to those that seek or are apathetic to our destruction. It’s difficult and it’s hard to trust though to it’s credit Israel has tried many times and reaching out a hand was perceived as agreeing with old time bad press and an indication that Israel is ripe for the taking.
2
As time goes by, BDS is gaining more strength.
1
While I found these writers ideas largely noteworthy, I find the unfounded Israeli insistence on being a victim tiresome. It is by far the strongest power in the region and the only nuclear power. It is true the country was attacked ... two generations ago, but the West largely ignored some of the underlying reasons for Arabic hatred like the treatment of Palestinians even at that time - remember, it was their country the British gave away.
Israel wants to be considered an enlightened Western nation, but it continues to repress a minority. The West's reaction was similar to South Africa. We don't expect the same from communist China, that comparison is a false equivalency. It may be true that Jews faced boycotts in Nazi Germany, but their treatment of Palestinians is far worse and is a better parallel. Israel seems like the abused child committing the same crimes on its children. It would be nice for the NYTimes to recognize both sides of the issue instead of continuing its relentlessly pro-Israel bias.
4
I think you are on some pretty thin ice claiming that Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is worse than the Nazi's treatment of Jews. At least so far, we have not seen mass exterminations and the other horrors that the Nazis visited upon the Jews of Europe. However, such a comparison is unnecessary and distracting from the fact that the US, as well as several European countries supply Israel with billions of dollars in advanced weaponry that Israel chooses to use against civilians in the territories that they have occupied in defiance of UN resolutions and international law (treaties they have signed on to) and that they have engaged in communal punishment, restrictions of movement, destruction of infrastructure, establishment of Jewish "settlements", a parallel system of roads forbidden to Palestinians, appropriation of water supplies, and other inhumane practices that are evocative of the Nazi treatment of Jews prior to mass extermination. The moral lines that successive Israeli governments have been willing to cross over the past 70 years --- while happily accepting military aid from the US, Britain, and others --- is not only losing them the sympathy from the Holocaust that they have exploited but is turning the tables as far as who is the victim.
1
Israel is an authoritarian state, known to be one. Plenty of those kind of countries around.
No news here.
3
I have a young grandson whose maternal heritage is "secular Jew." I'm advocating for his religious upbringing to be focused on his maternal lineage ( effectively counteracting his paternal Christian evangelical family currently "worshipping" Trump.) BUT the fascist acts of Israel give his secular mother pause. So his Protestant step-grandmother (me) will continue to celebrate Chanukah (sp) and Christmas concurrently for all my gathered grandchildren (with the blessing of all the mothers) - even as I acknowledge that the political acts of Israel are alienating many of the legitimate children of the diaspora like my grandson and reducing the probability of a meaningful exposure to his maternal theological heritage. Politics have intimate familial consequences.
25
@Post motherhood Post mortherhood, please take an intellectually curious approach to the problem. I would suggest you begin with the failed peace agreement of December 2000. Arafat agreed with Barak, at a series of meeting at Camp David, to recognize Israel and lay down arms and Barak agreed to return more than 94% of the disputed territory. As things worked out, upon return to Ramallah, Arafat reneged and began the 2nd Intafada (18 months of suicide attacks in Israel).
The most recent return of a 20 year old Palestinian girl who spent several months in an Israeli jail for repeating striking an Israeli solder, found Abass greeting her with open arms, hailing her a hero, and for her part, she told those assembled she will continue her approach.
You see, the situation is not one sided. There is ample blame to share. And, all along the way, as Dennis Ross documents in his book 'The missing peace' it has been the Arabs who have refused to negotiate. Unfortunately, this has resulted in the undesirable Likud and other right wingers replacing the more grounded Labor.
4
@Post motherhood
Please invite me to your next Thanksgiving dinner.
2
Israel is a flyspeck size country fighting for its very existence. The US, however, even now, is the most powerful country in history. We have no business telling the Israelis what they must do to survive. There is no reason for them to let the fox into the henhouse. Ms. Alqasem wishes to be in Israel to foment rebellion and destroy the country. She and others who are clearly enemies of Israel should be kept out of the country. The Israelis would be foolish to let her and other like her into their country. We have no business pontificating to the Israelis. We barely can keep our own house in order and lately we have not been doing a very good job of that.
10
Bret, Bari, could it also be true that activists who obsessively seek to punish and isolate China for its occupation of Tibet, or Russia for its occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine, rarely if ever display the same passion for Israel for its occupation of the West Bank?
1
My father was a Holocaust survivor. I've supported Israel my whole life, I still do. But Netanyahu's speech to Congress at the invitation of Republicans while Obama was president changed everything. His defiant act was a slap in the face, if not a knock-out blow, to the bi-partisan support Israel previously had. Netanyahu is Trump with a higher IQ, and his blatant support for Trump in the 2016 election was calculated as a way for him to stay in power and avoid responsibility for following the law as the authoritarian head of state that behaves the way Mr. Stephens describes. If this is the future it is very sad for Israel, as it is for us here in the United States.
6
Let me summarize my opinion...
1. It is perfectly OK for any Israeli citizen to criticize and/or boycott Israel.
2. It is perfectly OK for any non-Israeli citizen to criticize and/or boycott Israel.
3. It is perfectly OK for Israel not to allow any non-Israeli citizen to enter Israel who criticizes and/or boycotts Israel.
4. #3 above is OK not necessarily prudent.
2
@PaulN
And not necessarily democratic. Or does that even matter to Israel any more?
@Jensetta What is "undemocratic" about not allowing entry into your country to people who don't believe it has the right to exist, and have sworn to destroy it ? Ask the INS if I could be allowed into the US if I belonged to an organization that was bent on the overthrow of its government, and see what their reply might be.
@Jensetta Just a reminder that our great democratic US of A for a very long period refused to issue visitor visas to members of communist parties.
One has to strain hard to envision an Israel “seeking peace with its neighbors.” For many American Jews including this one, Israel’s increasingly extreme and aggressive right-wing policies represent the antithesis of a modern democratic values.
We want to support Israel as a safe, vibrant and respected home for Jews as well as the other diverse peoples of the region. Sadly, Israel is becoming ever more racist, militaristic and repressive in its official policies.
For Israel to have a sustainable future, Jews inside and outside of the country must do all we can to push back against authoritarianism and xenophobia. That includes standing up for the right to peacefully dissent.
2
totally agree but that also has to include recognizing pervasive antisemitism as the oldest bigotry(except women) and that it contributes tremendously to anti Israel attitudes.
After 10 minutes visiting Israel for the first time last fall. I saw Hebrew written in Biblical form on planes and buildings and not stamping my passport, it was perfectly clear why Israel needs to exist as a Jewish State. The next day I walked up to the door of a Mosque in Tel Aviv across from the venue where concert goers were killed years ago. The gate was open, no guards armed or unarmed greeted us. Yet I couldn’t visit a synagogue in Florence because the gates were locked and had a hard time finding the largest synagogue in England because the front entrance has to be hidden. Being any religion in Israel is easier than being Jewish in most countries. All street signs are required to be in Hebrew, English, and Arabic. Can’t even find English in Quebec in many places. Applaud Israel for the miracle it is and keep praying and fight for it to be better. It needs tolerance but it also needs celebration.
2
Unhinged? That's letting people into your country with an agenda that wants to see the demise of said country. What exactly is she studying? They have universities in Cairo, Beirut, Amman, Riyadh, Istanbul. Freedom of speech? Let me know when countries like Saudi Arabia allow a Jew with an Israeli passport into the country to study. That's without them showing biases against the Saudi government.
Liberalism? Bret Stephens tries to bash it whenever an opportune moment arises. He's a staunch conservative who bent over backwards defending Kavanaugh, distorting the nonexistent argument over due process while ignoring his unsuitable temperament and obvious disdain for "liberalism."
With allegedly staunch supporters like these two authors, who needs enemies?
10
You do not need an Israeli passport to be denied entry to Saudi Arabia.
Merely an Israeli stamp or an Israeli visa in your non-Israeli passport is enough for them deny the entry (that’s the law).
That’s one of the reasons Israel does not stamp foreign passports but prints out separate entry/departure slips.
12
I love this absolutely spot on statement in your article:
"If liberalism is about anything, it’s about deep tolerance for opinions we find foolish, dangerous and antithetical to our own."
Can you engrave this on a small plaque, and distribute desk-copies to your editorial board and commentators.
I look to the NYT for exactly the liberalism you suggest. What I find is a group of folks unhinged and polarizing. I can understand that from Fox News and MSNBC. But it's particularly disturbing and dangerous when coming from the NYT.
6
Israel shoots itself in the foot and America stumbles to its knees wounded. In Turkey an eminent US based Saudi reporter disappears and is presumed gruesomely murdered and trump cant get the Saudi's foot out of his mouth long enough to demand an accounting. Putin, Jin, Park run amok because we no longer have any ethical anchor. Morality in trump world is transaction based. Little Jared is our acclaimed ambassador to Israel, the embassy changes its address and Palestinian aid is cut. Could Ivanka be next at the UN? president trump hires the toxic Bolton and watches Fox News to get his unhinged foreign policy ideas while America's standing in the world--allies and autocrats alike--is reduced to laugh lines and tweets. Is it any wonder that a young woman sympathetic to long suffering Palestinians would outrage Netanyahu's Israel basking in unmitigated American support.
Israel shoots itself in the foot and America stumbles wounded....
56
@Chris Parel
Golda was hoping that Israel would not become a nation as corrupt as other nations !
1
I find it odd that Mr. Stephens, a political conservative, advocates liberalism for Israel but finds the word repugnant as it applies to the United States.
2
Who says Israel is scared of the young lady? They just don’t want her in their country. There are many people I wouldn’t like to have in my home but I can’t say I’m scared of them.
7
At Ms Alquasem's age a few years ago a young American woman I know,who is as slight and threatening, was questioned at length at the airport leaving Israel and asked, whether she was with them? Why did she raise suspicion? She had a small rug and a Koran in her luggage!
She was returning from a Hebrew University program designed to make foreigners sympathetic to Israel. Worse still, she could have stayed in Israel under the law of the return thanks to Jewish ancestry.
Israel is worn out by seventy years of conflicts with their neighbors and with Palestinian Arabs. They are angry and out of patience. If they had the power, they’d just conquer the whole region and throw everybody out. Anyone who is not an enthusiastic supporter are their existential enemies. Their siege mentality is destroying their ability to tolerate freedom of conscience and of expression. Their inability to make peace with everyone has turned their state into a garrison state, which exists only to make war. It won’t be long before the government starts jailing Israelis who fail to show unconditional loyalty and obedience to to popular will.
1
“If they had the power they’d just conquer the whole region”. Really ? They have the power, they’ve had it for years. Perhaps, you should be questioning by your logic, why they haven’t. They are about the size of New Jersey and the country today is SMALLER than it was a decade or more ago. In case you missed the news, they’ve given up The Sinai, Gaza, parts of the West Bank and southern Lebanon. Doesn’t quite sound like a country who would conquer the entire area if they could.
2
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of this piece is how illiberal is its authors' liberalism. These "liberals" still present with a palpable paranoia--thus, Students for Justice in Palestine is described by a chain of insinuation: the group gets funding from another group whose leaders are "flagged" to have links with groups that in turn have links with Hamas. If taken seriously, such conspiracy chains come close to discrediting the opinions of much of the planet's population. How many more degrees of separation still inspire suspicion in completely closed societies such as North Korea?
As for the authors' substantive views of Students for Justice in Palestine, they somehow find it obvious that “promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes” is "code for dismantling the Jewish state."
Between such Israeli "liberalism," tangled in a welter of imagined codes and insinuations, and the illiberal government of Israel, which actively seeks to exclude critical voices, there's little reason to think of Israeli is not now what these authors fear it is in danger of becoming, viz., a "...a discriminatory police state."
1
It is absurd (self-refuting) for a boycott Israel type to want to go to Israel. By the same token, it is even more absurd for Israel to keep them out.
Or maybe they just want to bar someone who advocates for the destruction of Israel. Because if you support BDS, then you do support the destruction of Israel as a country. Please read the pronouncements of the founders and supporters of BDS. They advocate for the destruction of Israel, not just withdrawal from the West Bank. There is a reason they chant "from the river to the sea." That is the Jordan River to the Mediterrranean--all of Israel. Please don't be fooled by this nonsense.
7
Ms Alqasem was given a very generous option to renounce her affiliation with the group (BDS) that is promoting genocide of the citizens of the country she is seeking to enter. I don't care how they word it. This is not about limiting free speech any more than refusing non-violent neo-Nazis is. She can say whatever she wants. Israel can grant entry to whomever they want. See how this works? No country, including the US, would grant entry to a foreigner who is affiliated with an organization like that - and they wouldn't even be given the option to renounce it.
11
Let my people go!
But Israel is not “seeking peace with its neighbors.” That’s the problem.
4
You are judging Israel (harshly) again some nebulous term/concept: DEMOCRACY. Their situation is unbelievably complex and nuanced with a overlay of the real possibility of existential annellation as stated by their enemies. It's not so much that you offer criticism, rather the unbelievably DIS proportionate and biased (unrelenting) double standards. The U.S., for example, is banning anyone from the Canada(permanently) who says they ONCE smoke marijuana right now. Why? So they "protect" our nation. Yet, when Israel attempts to protect themselves from groups who has a stated purposed in the actual extermination of the Jewish people (in Israel), somehow that is out of line. When people talk about the restrictive policies of Israel, I always ask them how they would respond if groups across the order, say Minnesota/Wisconsin were trying to annihilate them, not metaphorically, but literally. It's easy for us, comfortable to "solve" Israel's problems here in the comfort of our own homes in the U.S.
6
Israel portrays itself as an open, democratic state (maybe not so much so in light of the recently passed "homeland" legislation), but whenever anyone observes a crack in that facade, it covers itself in its "Jewish State" cloak and cries "anti-semitism", never considering that it is possible to criticize Israel for its ACTIONS without criticizing Jews for their ETHNICITY or FAITH.
The article's flailing "whataboutism" concerning China and Russia are weak attempts to don the cloak.
3
Israel has the right to exist.
If that right can only be exercised by occupying land other people are already living on, shouldn't we be asking whether it deserves that right?
1
Weiss and Stephens suggest that pro-BDS visitors to Israel might find their views changed. I suggest Weiss and Stephens visit the West Bank and Gaza. Perhaps they would find their views changed as they experienced the feel of occupation - checkpoints, soldiers everywhere on rooftops and vehicles, "souvenir" tear gas canisters in every house, families with members dead or in prison for non-violent protest. That's what this American Jew found when I was there.
136
@Jeff Edmundson They're saying people should see for themselves. Why are you objecting?
1
@Jeff Edmundson
If Israel did not have checkpoints, soldiers everywhere on rooftops and vehicles,etc., racist Palestinians would be firing rockets & mortars at innocent Israeli civilians from the West Bank. Remember why the West Bank is occupied. In 1948, Palestinians could have declared independence. Instead, they asked for union with Jordan so when Jordanians attacked Israel it was also Palestinians attacking Israel. The occupation was the result of that attack.
Unlike other occupiers (e.g. China, Turkey, Russia, Morocco) Israel offered to end the occupation in return for a peace treaty. So far the Palestinians have refused to sign on the dotted line.
8
@Jeff Edmundson
Have you considered how the 'earned' those 'souvenir' tear gas canisters. When Israel, Israeli borders, and Israeli citizens and visitors are attacked it is the obligation of our security services to protect us. These attacks also sometimes, unfortunately, result in imprisonment, injury or death. Their would be no checkpoints, if there was nothing to check. Our sons and daughters would prefer to go to college at 18 like American kids and Israeli Arabs, rather that serve in the IDF for 3 - 6 years. But you see the outcome of 'Palestinian' aggression but ignore the cause. The Jordanians gave up on the 'Palestinians' after Black Sunday. Israel inherited this burden, and the burden of every country in the EU and the US believing that they have a veto vote over complex Israeli security issues.
Mr. Edmundson, I am afraid everything you observed in disputed territories on the west bank of the Jordan River and in Gaza are correct, but you completely ignored the context of those observations.
6
Those talking about dissidents seem to leave the fact that she is NOT an Israeli citizen. There is an open and thriving Israeli dissent.
This young lady is a foreign alien agent looking to stir up, protest, advocate and meddle in a foreign country.
12
One of the signs of a theocracy operating normally, from their point of view, that is.
3
This article reinforces the view that Israel is not a country but an occupying force that is bound to end. No real country behaves the way ‘Israel’ does.
2
And no real country has been faced with neighbors on all sides who are seeking its destruction...
Because 26 Arab countries are simply not enough for them. Israel takes up 1/600th of the Middle East but Arabs can never accept that.
4
@American
Except of course....ours. We keep people we don't like out all the time. Look in the mirror. Would you let an enemy into your home? Why should the Jews?
2
when will people, including the authors of this article, understand that BDS is not about settlements or Netanyanhu (both if which i strongly oppose).
BDS calls for the "right of return" of 5-6 million palestinians (maybe tens of thousands of who actually ever lived within the boundaries of Israel) to Israel. Death by demographics.
Support BDS if you will but let's be clear about what it means and what are it's goals
7
Societies that bar their critics aren’t protecting themselves.
[ This is simply untrue, there are non-citizens who wish to undermine a society who can legitimately be prevented from doing harm by simply denying them entrance. I have no right as a non-citizen to go to Japan and urge the removal of the Japanese government....
There is no right for a non-citizen to come to the United States and urge replacing the government. ]
3
Let me see if I understand this correctly - protests against any government malfeasance aren't valid unless the protesters protest against all government malfeasance - do I have that right? And any Palestinian that wishes to return to his or her homeland is really trying to destroy Israel?
8
Either there is political freedom or there is no political freedom. The Israeli government can like or dislike political organizations, but Israel, if it is a real democracy, does not have the right to discriminate against any political organization, like Jewish Voices for Peace or the Boycott movement. The author of this article, subtly, and with hypocrisy, suggests that Israel has this right because it "sees the BDS campaign as a thinly veiled form of bigotry". This is censorship. I see the Declaration of Israel as "a Jewish state" as a not "thinly veiled" form of bigotry, but I do not think that people should be prohibited from expressing this opinion. These actions of Israel have to be condemned by anybody who believes in freedom, Jewish or Gentile. Mr. Stephens did not do that.
4
BDS isn't just critical of Israel. BDS seeks to DESTROY Israel. There is a big difference. The NYT has dumbed down to a leftist readership and loses.
14
The pen may be mightier than the sword, but the pen is not a sword. BDS supporters criticize Israel's government. They are not destroying it, as many commenters falsely accuse.
Here is the US, President Obama was criticized, often unfairly, and often from abroad. He still didn't ban his critics from entering the country, nor should he have. Instead, he made his case, allowed his opponents to make their cases, and was elected twice.
Netanyahu, et al, diminish Israel. Rather than winning control of a free state, they're seizing control of an unfree one.
2
This is another example of expectations of Israel being higher than that of any other nation. Every nation has a right to determine who can enter and who cannot. Try entering the US while associated with any of several organization that the US deems harmful. Unless you're a US citizen, you won't be admitted and you won't be given a choice to "renounce" the association. Israel is going out of its way to give her a reasonable chance to enter.
The BDS is not just any organization, as the authors point out. It is calling for (promoting) removal of Israelis from their nation, based on their race, religion or ethnicity. There is a word for that. I agree that, in purely practical terms, it might be more practical to let her enter. But this is not just a practical question. (The PR war has already been lost by Israel.) It's a question of principle.
The only reason this is being reported on at all, is because she is a US citizen. Were she from any other country, we wouldn't be hearing about this case. And, again, she is given a CHOICE to renounce her affiliation.
12
Why this morbid and frankly suspect fascination by the left and the right (not the middle, interestingly) about ascribing a moral score to every policy of the Israeli government? What chance is there that an article would appear in the Times if any Muslim or Asian or African country declined to allow entry to a visitor for any reason whatsoever, let alone because the person belonged to a group opposing that country's policies? Israel has its failings, but it does not have to apologize for treating itself as a sovereign nation with the right, like any nation, to control its borders. No matter how pleasant and smiley the face is of the person denied entry.
10
Why are we not discussing the main issue of protecting ones citizens by this and our previous administrations? I do remember Nikki Haley's speech at the UN that we would only provide aid to countries which follow our lead and treat us fairly. Is it fair for a foreign country to treat our citizen with such disregard and Ms. Alqasem is not the first American nor would she be the last US National subjected to such humiliation at the hands of Israel. Israel believes that they own the Americans and can do anything to us without consequences very similar to what MBS currently believes.
Israeli government may be correct in their belief because our Congress would not dare do anything to enrage the Israelis because the hardliners do come out to vote. Israel is the only Foreign Country that can dictate and manipulate our elections – no other country has the audacity to even come close, not Russians, not Chinese, Iranians or North Koreans.
It is time that the US Congressman and the present Administration of Donald Trump takes this matter seriously and provide protection and security to their citizens even in Israel.
3
Every country on the planet behaves in their own best interest. Israel is no different.
4
Israel is a sovereign country and an bar anyone it wants to from entry, just as the US may do at its ports of entry. It bothers some that Israel is sovereign and has sovereignty. Too bad.
For example:, advocating the violent overthrow of the United States would make a non citizen inadmissible to the United States, as is association with terrorist organizations, or even general foreign policy grounds that a persons presence in the US would have potentially serious adverse consequences for the US.
Just like any other sovereign country, The Israelis can decide to whom they want to let in (admit) and those whom they do not want to let in (inadmissible). It is condescending to complain about it.
10
Everyone from individuals to countries has the right to decide who comes into your 'house'. The analogy for this young lady's situation is someone who is asking my community to boycott me and claims I have committed some hideous injustices etc etc. The 'someone' then asks me if I could please invite her in to have a cup of coffee in my house. It's perfectly naturally for me to say no thanks, your're not welcome. That's Israeli's position which I venture to say is what most of the countries on this planet would do. You don't have to be nice to someone who is trying to do you in.
8
Notwithstanding the efforts of sovereign countries in the Western hemisphere to impose non discriminatory immigration policies as a condition precedent, Israel will not conform to that definition of liberalism any time soon. Whether the greatest existential threat to the survival of the State of Israel comes from the continued occupation of the West Bank, settlement activity, rockets fired from Gaza, or Iranian militancy, Israel has determined that internal dissent must be controlled.
Not a surprise. Bibi's new putative ally is MBS of the Kingdom. That a journalist with American residency can be sliced and diced at the Saudi embassy in a NATO country without severe repercussions from the US illuminates the danger for freedom of the press and those critics of authoritarian governments. Bibi has joined Trump in the "enemy of the people" attacks on the press. Using the levers of government as an ATM to reward yourself, your family, and your friends is what binds Trump, Bibi and MBS together.
4
I was struck by this sentence:
"Israel is also a state that prides itself on being a liberal democracy — a fact that goes far to explain the longstanding support for Israel among American Jews and non-Jews alike. "
How is Israel a liberal democracy, if Palestinians do not have equal rights, are forced off land for settlements, cannot travel freely and are walled off into restricted areas?
And, I find it hard to swallow that US support for Israel (including moving the embassy to Jerusalem) is based on our admiration of the purity of Israeli liberalism. Don't the "Build the Wall" folks in the US point to Israeli walls as being the model, with an Israeli company being one to the contenders to build Trump's wall because of its deep expertise?
My sense is that your lead is not the real thrust of what you are trying to argue about Israel, but rather are a rational sounding digression used to package one-sided assertions about Israel and the US that are much more serious and troubling questions that should be addressed.
5
@Mark
Israel is far from the authors description of being a "liberal democracy."
Who in their right mind would describe the governing coalition of right-wing political and religious extremists formed by Likud/Kulanu/The Jewish Home/Shas/UTJ/Yisrael Beiteinu, and led by Netanyahu, as "liberal"?
It's preposterous.
1
In that case, the US too is not a liberal democracy. There are many here who do not have equal rights. American Indians, blacks, gays, women, Asians...and the same could be said about most democracies.
3
As an American-Israeli with strong roots in both countries, I agree with the authors and most of the comments. However, there is a glaring naivety about Israel’s rightward turn, and the authoritarian wave occurring around the world has nothing to do with it. It’s simply a convenient development that Bibi is taking advantage of. You need to understand that everything that happens in Israel comes down to one thing – interests. The Ultra-Orthodox only make up 12% of the population, but they have just enough political power to bring down almost any government, so they get what they want if they really, really want it. They are also vastly outnumbering every other demographic group when it comes to birth rates, and in 40 years will be 25% of the population. Bibi is more of a centrist than you realize, and he would act like it if he could get elected as one, but he can’t. His interests are keeping Israel safe and staying in power. Catering to the right wing is how he does both. Op-eds like these are nice, but they don’t do anything meaningful except fill space on the internet. The people who read them already agree with you. The people who don’t, couldn’t care less what you have to say in English from your computer across the Atlantic. Israel is now a major power and is acting like one. If you really want to see a change in Israel’s behavior, the only way to do it is to move here and change the demographics. Otherwise you’re better off spending your energy on fixing America.
5
@Yoni Leviatan This structure sounds eerily familiar.
1
@Meagan familiar to what?
Over the last two decades, Israel's march to the right has been coupled with increasing contempt for liberal American Jews and other liberal supporters (who can forget Bibi's cabinet minister referring to Obama's envoy as "little jew boy") - and the Likud's glee with replacing those supporters with religious Christian and Jewish Zionists who embrace the right wing nature of the ethno-state model. The march away from liberal democratic norms is a feature, not a flaw, of the Likud's design in maintaining far right support.
It is clear how little Bibi and the Likud care for democracy, the same way Republicans in the US let their greed for power undermine democratic norms (no surprise that Bibi loves Trump so much). Mr. Stevens' and Ms. Weiss' well thought out criticism will unfortunately fall on deaf ears. The Likud takeover of Israel is complete, and criticism from the secular left is about as effective as criticism of Mitch McConnell from the same sources.
3
"And the same activists who obsessively seek to punish and isolate Israel for its occupation of the West Bank rarely if ever display the same passion for protesting against China for its occupation of Tibet, or Russia for its occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine."
Neither China nor Russia is the number 1 recipient of US foreign aid. That distinction goes to Israel. My (US) government does not support the subjugation of Tibet or Ukraine by foreign interests. It does support the illegal and inhumane treatment of the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza. Your false equivalency is disingenuous but not unexpected.
2
"Maybe they’ll even see what we see in Israel: an imperfect but striving and inspiring nation seeking not just security, but also peace with its neighbors."
__________________________
There is absolutely no evidence that the coalition of right-wing political and religious extremists (Likud, Shas, Yisrael Beiteinu, Israel Home, etc) who hold the Knesset, Israel and the peace process hostage to their extremism is seeking peace with its neighbors.
No evidence whatsoever.
Israel has not been seeking peace with its neighbors since the Knesset fell into the hands of the right-wing splinters and their unholy alliance.
Israel -- as represented by the ruling coalition in the Knesset -- is not even seeking peace with its own non-Jewish Israeli citizens.
3
@justamoment
So they did before that and no one else responded? Seriously most people in Israel would trade land for peace but no one is trading unless Israel gives up their sovereign rights including a haven to Jews. How do I know this? They did it three times but the third did not get peace. They offered it 50 yrs ago and many times since so “just a moment”. 2000 led to Intifada. Part of sovereignty is not having to blame others. Who other than Israel wants that? Certainly not the Palestinian leadership now or in the past.
2
"And the same activists who obsessively seek to punish and isolate Israel for its occupation of the West Bank rarely if ever display the same passion for protesting against China for its occupation of Tibet, or Russia for its occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine."
Are the writers suggesting that unless we be outraged at every injustice in the world, our protests in one specific case are meaningless?
1
Earlier today Israeli minister Gildad Erdan stated that if Ms Alqasem renounced BDS as "illegitimate" then the government will reconsider "their stance." This sort of tactic - forcing prisoners to renounce their principles and affiliations for propagandistic purposes - brings Soviet show trials to mind. Do the Israelis really want to go down that path ?
4
And having millions of people shaming Kanye West, or anyone else on tv, Facebook, Twitter and in musical lyrics simply because he has opinions that differ from other celebrities...that is no different. And campuses all over the US that silence those that differ from the masses ( or simply conservative opinions)....the end result is the same...if you have an opinion that differs from ours, then we don’t want to hear it.It is THAT type of behavior that really scares me to death.
5
Left out of this op-ed are a few simple facts.
1. This innocent student led a drive to have groups boycott an Israeli speaker, thereby undermining the freedom of speech at her university.
2. She conveniently erased her social media to hide the record of her activity, diminishing the integrity of her application.
3. For what it is worth, BDS's founder and leading members openly acknowledge that the goal of the organization is to challenge Israel's right to exist. Not just in the disputed areas of the West Bank, but in Tel Aviv, Haifa, or at all.
There is a limit on what any state has to endure. No state has an obligation to admit those who advocate for its destruction. Not even a democracy.
18
Bari Weiss writes--"Israel, like all countries, has a right to protect its borders".
There it is, the PROBLEM, right there! Israel has no internationally recognised borders. It accepted a geographic part of historic Palestine as its national entity, but has greatly enlarged its territory since then by means considered illegal under international law.
By doing so, it has burdened itself with the indigenous people living in the territory it has annexed, and appears to have no acceptable plan for these people. Citizenship would be reasonable: "Bantustans" or expulsion would not.
3
As I understand it, an Israeli court blocked a deportation order: https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-court-freezes-deportation-of-us-st... . It is clear that many Israeli's are not so fond of these detention policies. Other Jewish communities have likewise criticized the government's action.
Another narrative has developed--that the goal is to ultimately discredit culturally liberal and academic groups within Israel. If so, then BDS and the current Israeli government are on the same page: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-this-is-the-real-game-israe... . From that essay:
"So a misbegotten alliance emerges: the Israeli government and the BDS core may not agree on much, but they certainly agree that Lara Alqasem shouldn’t go to Hebrew University to study. But this connection is more than just an idiosyncratic odd-coupling. It is reflective of a broader, and more dangerous, decay in the basic liberal ideals that animate free societies."
I have enough trouble untangling competing political narratives and odd alliances here in the USA. It does not appear that BDS is much of an economic threat to Israel, but they could be used as a political foil to further a turn Israeli politics to the right.
1
Sure, BDS is expressive, but it's not solely expression.
It's an economic action. It's like the U.S. sanctioning Iran or (not ironically I suppose) the Gaza blocakde. It is direct action with real life consequences -- not as part of an intellectual debate or as a matter of simply free speech, but to Israel's economy and welfare.
You could go as far to call it economic warfare. So I support anti-BDS actions taken by Israel.
Now if BDS wants to hold a conference or debate or something like that, let them go ahead and debate out the issues.
8
Violent protest is not a good thing for anybody. The BDS movement is a form of non-violent protest. It should be embraced as such.
Here's an extension of the Stephens/Weiss plan. Invite not just BDS people to visit, but all the anti-BDA people that go on the many tours of Israel that are offered by many religious and secular organizations. Show them a great time, but also show them the Israeli settlements scattered throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the impact these settlements have on the former occupants of that land. Have them speak with local Palestinians, so they can find out how their lives compare to the settlers. Maybe even meet with some former occupants who were forced from their land and now live in other countries. They might come back with a different picture as well.
4
On a micro level, I tend to agree with the notion that Israel should refrain from excluding dissidents from entry. This is, of course, assuming that they can be reasonably assured that violent terrorism is not the underlying goal.
On a macro level, Liberals are no less likely to shut down dissent than are Conservatives. For example, college campuses today will aquiesce to the left regarding not inviting conservative speakers. The whole fight over our new Supreme Court Justice was intended to not allow a conservative judge to sit. Here in California, there is a Proposition in the ballot next month related to repealing a gas and car tax increase. To obfuscate the situation, the state AG developed a title for the Prop on the ballot that was so misleading that he had to mail a correction to voters.
So, let's just be more honest when it comes to characterizing political views, everyone is guilty.
I agree that squashing dissent is bipartisan but the Republicans are trying to use the government and churches to do that. Kavanaugh was very partisan and dishonest before DrFord was on the scene and does not show the need to respect the majority and protect the minority. He hid many of his actions and way out the mainstream views and demonstrated stark partisanship and belongs in the court a lot less than Neil Gorsuch did any the questioning reflects that. Merrick Garland got railroads along with our Constitution. So get real please.
3
@Rich "Everyone is guilty" is the language of political nihilism that stalks our country. The fight over Kavanaugh was not a case of the left trying to "shut down dissent" by opposing a "conservative" judge. The same liberals who had voted for earlier conservative judges opposed Kavanaugh for his glaring unsuitablity as a judge (a history of highly partisan legal work; misleading testimony at his confirmation; a mind open to conspiracy theories; a language of melodrama and bluster--oh, and probably lying about his high school days).
That liberals resemble conservative in wishing to shut down dissent is the complement that the lie gives to truth. Liberals do have strong opinions, and some marginal liberal persons with no public roles are sometimes intolerant (some college kids). But conservative performance in filling Supreme Court vacancies shows the conservative avidity for shutting down dissent: they suppressed any discussion of the merits of Garland for the court, and for a reason that they simply reversed when Kavanaugh's nomination was up--that is, the proximity of an election.
No, it is conservatives today who have been vigorously shutting the doors of dissent (including by voter suppression) in the halls of power. Until we call them on it, and stop the foolish "all sides do it," we'll continue to loose our practice of critical political debate.
3
I had to look up what BDS is- this should have been put in first paragraph.
3
"I had to look up what BDS is- this should have been put in first paragraph."
Good point. The fifth paragraph mentions "a boycott, divestment and sanctions policy", but it is not obvious that "BDS" is the commonly used abbreviation for corresponding "movement".
The linked news article by Isabel Kershner has a similar problem in the third paragraph:
"... a 2017 law intended to combat the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, a loose network whose goals include pressuring Israel into ending the occupation of the West Bank. Israeli officials consider the B.D.S. movement ..."
Israel inspiring? Democracy & theocracy in one state are antinometric per se. Demography alone adumbrates a secular Israstein or Palestrel c. 2070 CE. Survivors in the enlightened future will be welcome here, as they should have been in 1945.
1
Israstein? I love your spelling. A clever way of combining Israel and Palestein.
Would the USA let someone come into our country and actively campaign for AL-Qaeda and advocate for the destruction of the USA?
I highly doubt it - so why should Israel let a BDS person - whom has devoted her life to Israel's destruction in for a free education? She obviously lied on her application for school and for her visa.
14
Israel is a fascist theocracy. It cannot accept that there are good people who oppose their brutal, inhuman treatment of the Palestinians. Any other state which did as Israel does to attempt to destroy the Palestinians and steal all of the Palestinian lands would be vehemently condemned for its brutal, and illegal actions.
23
Fascists are always scared of people telling the truth. Every fascist regime is alike on this area. No matter if it's Soviet, German WW2 nazis or what ever.
9
"Every fascist regime is alike on this area. No matter if it's Soviet, German WW2 nazis or what ever."
The Soviets were not "fascists". Indeed, the Soviets were virulently ANTI-fascist.
Do a Google images search for "soviet anti-fascist posters".
Israel is not scared of this person. They, like every country, including ours (in case you haven't noticed) have a right to decide who is entitled to visit and/or live there for any reason.. Get over it.
13
Simple solution. Israeli students studying in the USA should be expelled.
6
This doesn't surprise me in the least. Why would anyone consider Israel's normal behavior to be worthy of a lengthy news article? There's nothing new here.
The Devil's advocate "good reasons" you give for viewing the B.D.S. boycott as bigoted are slippery. Israel, as a Jewish state, is certainly a complex case. But is it honest to blithely equate the B.D.S. boycott of a nation-state with Nazi Germany's vile persecution of a minority population? Or to make the bad faith argument that boycotting just one country is somehow inherently insincere and / or incriminating? By your own logic, would you say that anyone boycotting China over Tibet is just a blinkered hypocrite if they aren't also boycotting Israel and Russia? Where does that end? Is someone who boycotts Israel, China, and Russia still morally suspect if they aren't also boycotting Brazil, Vietnam, the Philippines, ad absurdum? I don't question your right to present your political point of view, but this is the New York Times, not Fox News. I expect views and opinions expressed here to be supported by solid reasoning, not sophistry.
10
Does this include the Democratic party?
1
Oh please. Boycott the boycotters. Seems fair and reasonable to me. Not to mention, this "former" activist now suddenly wants to study in Israel?
11
@Hugh: You when young NEVER belonged to any organization anyone else thought wrong? Every organization has some that think it’s wrong & all members should be at least ostracized, if not deported (even the Decendents of the Mayflower). They wouldn’t be hard to deport as all were from England.
I would suggest that all universities in Israel (even those run by US Universities) have their degrees declared invalid in every other country in the world. The best professors would then emigrate to other countries where all students could study with them.
If the world boycotted anything both Israeli & Palestinian, no exporting to them, importing from them, selling, buying, allowing them to obtain visas to any other country for any reason. If they can’t play well with each other,they shouldn’t be allowed to play with the rest of the world. After a few decades maybe they will stop this stupidity & make it one secular based country, with all allowed to vote. No fundamentalists of any religion would be allowed to have religious schools that teach non religious courses, no government owned facilities would have religious based rules/hours/or memberships. Israel was declared by entities who had no right to do so, because they felt guilty of not allowing Jews (who are not necessarily Israelis) to immigrate to other countries. If Israel (thousands of years ago), then Palestine (more recently) should have been allowed to fight their own war for possession of that land, with no aid, arms, help.
"But Israel is also a state that prides itself on being a liberal democracy — a fact that goes far to explain the longstanding support for Israel among American Jews and non-Jews alike." Does anyone really believe this? BDS is focused on the devious settlement project that flouts international law and scoffs at any notion that Palestinians inside or outside Israel have the kinds of rights that liberal democracies generally afford their populations. Surely there must be some pro-BDS Israeli Jews. Are they targeted for deportation under the country's right-wing policies?
5
Israel is scared of the BDS movement for the same reason Kavanaugh was angry for having to answer questions about Dr Ford's allegations, a guilty conscience.
Comparing this to the Russia/Ukraine or China/Tibet situation is typical Israeli propagandstic use of false comparatives that they try to frame as correct. The BDS campaign has to do with Israel's fraudulent claim to being a liberal western democracy. Liberal western democracies do not have walled in ghetto's where they refuse to govern nor would they regularly bomb them for any reason.
How is wanting their home back code for anything but wanting their homes back!?
What you want to say is that civilized societies tolerate differences and do not imprison, subjugate torment and communally punish/murder the citizens who happen to disagree with the government, instead of treating all people equally.
The simple fact is if Israel were the state falsely portrayed here, there would be a police force in Gaza who looked for and arrested bombers and terrorists and enforced the law and made daily life peaceful and good for the citizens.
That would encourage them to stay and be productive and would lift some of the pain and agony of the daily torment that is imposed on them by Israel to force them to leave. It surely would not bomb the walled in ghetto killing innocent people and claim "they deserve it" when "they" have no choice in the matter.
5
All arguments aside, why would Ms. Alqasem want to study at the University of Jerusalem when she’d boycott its professors if they came here to lecture?
13
As we're correcting sentences, let's work on this one: "But it (expelling visitors who favor the B.D.S. movement) powerfully reinforces the prejudice the Israel is a discriminatory police state."
The word "prejudice" should be replaced with "perception," perhaps "widespread perception."
8
Why is it Israeli Jews and their supporters demand that they be given communal innocence?
They have no problem imposing communal punishment or communal condemnation and otherwise acting to prevent correct parsing of any incident in which they can be shown to have acted wrongly.
Israel has a correctly parsing situations problem. Because they do not want to have to be engaged in actually being a Western Democracy which means they respect all people as equal human beings. The last thing they want is to allow any nonJew to feel like an equal human being.
5
Wow! How long until Israel ceases deporting its critics and starts arresting them altogether? The only democracy in the Middle East?
1) Not any more!
and
2) Hello, Tunisia!
11
How ironic that Lara Alqasem demands the same privileges for herself that she would deny others.
Political Thoughts vs Dangerous Actions
*Lara Alqasem was the recent head of SJP on her campus and worked to prevent pro Israel speakers, like Hen Mazzig, from voicing their ideas on campus.
*SJP support BDS which advocates for the exclusion of Israeli academics and encourages professors Not to write recommendations for students who wish to study in Israel. (See recent Washington Post article about University of Michigan professors who refused recs for study in Israel).
*She advocates for economic boycotts which cause job losses to both Israelis & Palestinians and undermines the economy of Israel.
*BDS singles out one nation - the only Jewish nation on earth.
And that is antisemitism.
*Is there any other country that has allowed an individual who openly calls for its destruction to enter?
It is her choice to appeal deportation (2x) and remain in the airport.
She is free to leave at any time.
15
Israelis have lived under martial law since the 1940's. Martial law has never been lifted. It's amusing how many people proclaim Israel's liberalism (just as the white South Africans proclaimed) and fail to mention the whole martial law thing, where newspapers, radio shows and people can simply disappear without a trace.
7
@Marco Philoso
Say what? What is the evidence for this? Or is evidence no longer important?
2
NY Times headline today:
"Turkish Officials Say Khashoggi Was Killed on Order of Saudi Leadership"
I don't blame you for picking on Israel and not Saudi Arabia. As "journalist" you look only risk looking completely silly (and pandering), not dead and in pieces.
7
Netanyahu represents an insecure state of mind in the Israeli body politic, that has been obvious for years. Suppression of criticism is to be expected. Psychologically, it’s just like the child who fears the dark, of what might lurk just out of sight. They fear to look because of what they might see looking back.
3
It's high time the US stops its unconditional support and aid for Israel. The crackdowns on dissent, the massacring of peaceful protesters, the ongoing occupation of the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza, increased illegal settlement building, all against numerous UN resolutions, means that Israel is acting like a rogue state. It must withdraw to the 1967 borders, allow East Jerusalem to be the capitol of Palestine and adhere to the principles international law. Unfortunately Israel is undermining the two state solution and its own role as a safe place for all Jews, with some Jews being denied access because of their opposition to the occupation. Natalie Portman's decision to reject the award was correct. Israel needs a morality wakeup call.
5
Peaceful protesters do not throw Molotov cocktails or fire kites that set fires to many acres of orchards and national parks. Wherever you’re getting your news from, you’re not getting the truth. I’ve spoken to people down on that border.
4
BDS does not advocate the boycott of “Jewish businesses”, but of Israeli institutions and the products of Israeli occupation and settlement policies. Conflating Israel and Jews in order to tar critics of the former—a sovereign state—with the brush of racism, merely reinforces the underlying principle of real antisemitism, which views all Jews as an indistinguishable and single-minded mass.
Many have commented on the spuriousness of the argument put forward by Mr. Stephens and Ms. Weiss that BDS-supporters are somehow insincere (and therefore antisemites), because they do not give equal time to other violations of human rights around the world. Beyond the irrelevance of the argument itself, what is it based on? How do Mr. Stephens and Ms. Weiss know the motivations or other commitments of enough BDS-supporters to justify such a sweeping statement about the entire movement? Do they include Palestinians (the founders and leaders of BDS) in this category? Can they really think of no reason why a Palestinian, for example, might be more committed to this cause than to any other?
8
Why would a foreign alien be allowed into a country to campaign, promote, advocate and meddle in its affairs?
Foreign political meddling is a crime and Israel treating here very lightly.
Last time I checked, Russian Maria Butina who allegedly did just that in our country is still locked up awaiting trial.
10
@Frank Savage: Why did they give her a visa? Don’t try the ‘application wasn’t truthful’. They took months to give her a visa, then ‘knew’ she wasn’t to be allowed in between the time she got on the plane & got off in Israel (how many hours?). It was a set up. Pure & simple. Dictatorships love doing this sort of thing (Trump, the dictator wanna be, keeps trying this sort of thing). But, because evil men tried to wipe out, not just a religion, but an ethnicity, they get to do it to a bothersome ethnicity they wish to see gone from this earth. If it was wrong for the Germans (and it WAS), it is wrong for the Israelis. The term antisemite has a bigger ugly factor than antiblack, antinative american, antiarab, antiwoman, antidisabled, antiasian, etc, because the rest of the world didn’t care back then about Jews. If all Germany had been killed, there would have been no trials,executions, incarcerations. Just a quiet ‘oops’. Jews in the rest of the world would have gone underground & still be there now. It’s why many Jews in the US marched with the Blacks during the Civil Rights movement. Though now the bigots work hard to make those of color feel that Jews hate them. Check out the religion/ethnicity of most of the whites killed by bigots back then. Wasn’t the ‘wonderful’ Christians in the south. Or even Christians who went south to help. It was Jews, both southern ones & northern ones.
Lara Aqasem has grandparents from Palestine yet she is unable to set foot in the country of their birth, yet any Jewish person is able to claim citizenship in Israel and get financial assistance no matter where his/her family is from because ancestors were there 3000 years ago. Isn't this a little strange? I am not allowed to go to Ireland and kick someone out of her home because my relatives were there 100 years ago.
Palestinans want to live like normal citizens, not shut behind a wall, subject to 500 checkpoints, guns pointed at their children, unable to travel, their homes demolished.
BDS is a tactic to end the occupation called for by Palestinian civil society. The majority of Palestinians do not seek violence, they have been resisting non violently, like through strikes and BDS for generations. Some Palestinians will be violent when they see no hope for their future.
10
It wasn’t quite like what you describe. Perhaps reading a history book will help you understand. Jews didn’t simply go into Arab homes and kick the tenants out. There was a war going on, a war declared by 5 Arab nations the day after the UN voted on statehood for Israel. The goal was to destroy the new country. Israel, at that time, barely had an army or much military equipment. The well established Arab armies, on the other hand, were well prepared, or so they thought. Many Arabs fled immediately....typical of wars. Arab leaders encouraged their locals to leave the areas so that their armies could come back in and take over the Jewish neighborhoods. The Jews had no option, they knew that if they lost, they’d be slaughtered and they had good reason to believe that. Miraculously, the Jews were able to push back the Arab forces. The Arabs ended up losing land AND creating a new refugee problem. The rest is history...study it.
2
I would like to know why Ms. Alqasem chose to study at the Hebrew University? Something does not smell right! Maybe she did it to get publicity. If so, it worked.
8
um, Jordan who's territory the West Bank was, attacked Israel along with Syria and Egypt. Jordan Lost, Israel won. There was nothing unjust in it. Nor was it Palestinian Territory it was Jordan. And by the way, Jordan who shares cultural, religious and ethnic affinity with Palestinians will not lift a finger to get its territory back - because it comes with the Palestinians.
20
Right on target. It has been said by some Palestinians that they went to bed in the beginning June a Jordanian and woke up a Palestinian.
2
"Maybe they’ll even see what we see in Israel: an imperfect but striving and inspiring nation seeking not just security, but also peace with its neighbors."
Just like the southerners in the US who only saw/see goodness in the Confederacy and Jim Crow.
It is willful blindness. The evil is clear for all to see.
7
"Israelis [may] have good reason to see the B.D.S. campaign as a thinly veiled form of bigotry." But the BDS movement may help Israel to see the folly of a strictly Jewish state, just as it helped Afrikaners see the folly of apartheid. "Theodor Herzl’s vision for a Jewish state was not the 'ethnostate' of Bannonite fantasy but an open, pluralistic society." Israel today needs to be nudged in that direction. Separate Jewish and Palestinian states will not resolve the bitter conflict between Jews and Arabs, who both have legitimate claims to the land. We need one state, Jewish-Arab, "an open, pluralistic society." The B.D.S. campaign can help.
1
When Arabs ruthlessly kill their"brothers" all over the mideast(Syria, Yemen, Iraq, libya), why would Israelis feel safe in a binational state? That ain't never gonna happen!
2
@Gene Fisher: Why do Jews have a legitimate claim to the land? The majority left. Over 1000 years ago. The ones who stayed were with the Arabs a part of the whole. Now that government wants to BE the whole, ridding the land of all others. It’s like saying, because of the government of the time (Roman), I left my home for many generations. Then I came back & saw others living on my land. I wanted them out, my imposed government agreed. I’m happy. Those who lived on ‘my’ (really?) land for 1000+ years are not. Who’s right?
I really admire Bret Stephens -- he is about the only conservative writer I do. And I guess I have to agree with him here -- albeit reluctantly. My reluctance stems from something he writes here: "The [B.D.S. movement] seeks to end Israel’s 'occupation' ... [with] language that has long been code for dismantling the Jewish state." You got it. The core problem with this movement is its core belief: that Israel has no right to exist. Not that Israel is wrong or reactionary -- but that it is illegitimate. And by extension all who love Israel as the fulfillment of Jewish national liberation are illegitimate. Why should Jews tolerate people who believe that they and what they hold most dear are illegitimate? Well, OK. Mr. Stephens makes a good case for why. And, as noted, I must reluctantly agree with him. But you really have to meet some of these activists -- people like Alqasem - to understand how deep their hatred of Israel and Jews, runs. I have. I've opposed B.D.S. activists in my small upstate town and let me tell you: the experience has been chilling -- and very sobering. The hatred I've encountered -- frequently crossing the line from political dissent to medieval Jew hatred -- has severely tested my tolerance.
20
Agree. It’s so widespread that it’s accepted and while there is improvement this the basic structure and fuel of antisemitism. Don’t stop speaking up.
4
@Barry Schreibman: Israel stopped existed well over 1000 years ago. Most Jews left. Then came the British who took the area over (then called Palestine & full of Arabs with some Jews who never left). They started the Arab bigotry. Before WW2 Jews from Europe started trying to move to Palestine. The British threw them out when they caught them. They kept trying, more desperately the closer WW2 came. Most countries refused to take Jewish refugees even during the war. After, Jews with NOTHING tried to go to what they thought of as Israel (still didn’t exist, but, I understand because of their trauma). Some came here. Again with nothing, except numbers tattooed on their forearms. Started businesses, worked hard & were often successful (bigots hate that, cause they never want to work hard enough to become successful, they want it handed to them). There was still discrimination against them. Still is some places. The British decided Palestine wasn’t worth fighting over, & they would have had to if they had stayed. So they kept all the Jews they could out (kept the Arabs quiet, more or less). Then the UN declared Palestine was now Israel. One year exactly before I was born. Why I’ve always been interested in it. The Arabs felt betrayed, the Israelis hated everyone not a Jew (except a few who saved Jewish lives, makes them ‘fair’). To some extent they still do. We give them money, so they can buy our weapons (companies like that, the rest of us, not so much). Was it fair? NO.
In this, Israel is correct.
Why bring headaches into the country ? She is not Israeli.
8
Before all else, BDS is non-violent resistance. It is David v. Goliath, and Goliath knows what's coming. It should surprise no one when cynics and hasbarists ascribe to it other characteristics, like anti-semitism.
No one should expect Netanyahu to embrace BDS, but American patrons should demand that Israel-- "the Shining Light of Democracy in the Middle East"-- defend it and the Rule of Law.
3
@NDGryphon
575,000 Iraqi children died from sanctions.
2
I don’t see Israel as “ seeking not just security , but also peace with its neighbors.”
It’s looking for ways to make the occupation of the land they took over in 1967 permanent.
The BDS movement, and other forms of resistance , are legitimate resistance groups and Israel is mistaken it it thinks they can be stopped at airports or by propaganda.
5
@Ran
Every time Israel offers to end the occupation, the Palestinians say “No!”
Even Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia (certainly not a Zionist) said that Arafat’s refusal to accept the January 2001 offer was a crime. Thousands of people would die because of Arafat’s decision & not one of those deaths could be justified.
As Bill Clinton later wrote in his memoir:
It was historic: an Israeli government had said that to get peace, there would be a Palestinian state in roughly 97 percent of the West Bank, counting the [land] swap, and all of Gaza, where Israel also had settlements. The ball was in Arafat’s court.
But Arafat would not, or could not, bring an end to the conflict. “I still didn’t believe Arafat would make such a colossal mistake,” Clinton wrote. “The deal was so good I couldn’t believe anyone would be foolish enough to let it go.” But the moment slipped away. “Arafat never said no; he just couldn’t bring himself to say yes.”
4
Perhaps that’s because these neighboring countries have initiated several wars against Israel with the expressed goal of ‘pushing the Jews into the sea’. And even after losing the ‘67 war, they tried once again in ‘73. No country on the planet, in Israel’s predicament, would want anything less that totally secure borders, considering the past behavior of their neighbors.
6
Those talking about 1949 borders can stop wasting their breath.
Why would a country that has been attacked by every neighbor state and terrorist since then and defended its existence would give back any inch of a land that it rightly gained during the wars?
It’s like saying the United States should give back Texas to Mexico.
The easiest solution it seems is Israel’s neighbors granting asylum to remaining Palestinians and integrating them into their societies with a generous Israeli aid.
15
The writers write: "[T]he same activists who obsessively seek to punish and isolate Israel for its occupation of the West Bank rarely if ever display the same passion for protesting against China for its occupation of Tibet, or Russia for its occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine." This is a common and unfortunate trope in essays by right wingers like Bret Stephens to undermine critics. They argue that each critic must individually display ideological purity and consistency across the full spectrum of every wrong in the world, or else. The argument is transparent nonsense.
4
Dissidents are important for free societies. The GOP should take note.
1
Stephens & Weiss write that BDS activists "rarely if ever display the same passion for protesting against China for its occupation of Tibet, or Russia for its occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine." I think many of them realize Judea and Samaria will remain part of Israel forever; settlement has gone so far as to be irreversible. They just want an end to the the racist policy of allowing Jews there to vote for their rulers in the Knesset, but not all their non-Jewish neighbours living there. I won't say "Palestinians," because virtually all Israelis these days will tell you there's no such thing. But they are human beings, are they not?
2
I am not Jewish. But I spent my third decade in NYC from the mid-60's on with friends mostly Jewish and became a Zionist by osmosis. Got somewhat disillusioned visiting Cairo in '73 seeing the decrepitude of Egypt, barricades across the Nile to stop floating mines, buildings falling down while under construction, even the universal baldness of tires! Was Israel the bully in the '67 War? The occupation of the West Bank and the strategic building of Jewish villages there seems to be catering to old Jewish stereotypes and taunting the rest of the world to be anti-Semitic. Why in heaven's name do this? The rightward path Israel's government has taken lately is, I agree, a sign of weakness. Lara Alqasem is not Israel's enemy. Studying in Israel, she could likely become a friend, by which I mean someone who could come to work to make Israel a better country while she works to improve the lot of the Palestinians.
The US under trump (will the Pledge of Allegiance soon include 'one nation under trump'?) is behaving much the same way as the Israeli government.
It reminds me of countries with anti-blasphemy laws (viz. Pakistan in the news right now about the appeal of the Christian woman Ahsiya Noreen Bibi's death sentence). The people there show their fear that their God (or actually His Prophet in this case) is weak and must be protected by draconian laws lest He dwindle away. Our own religious extremists are no better.
I had such great hopes for Israel.
4
@VJBortolot
Khaled Abu Toameh, the Arab journalist who reports for the Jerusalem Post, U.S. News & World Report and NBC News, talking about life for Arab Israelis: "Israel is a wonderful place to live ... a free and open country.”
Arab women in Israel live longer than Arab women in any Arab country.
Arab babies in Israel have lower infant mortality than Arab babies in any Arab country.
Hadassah University Medical Center in Israel established a registry for Arab donors of bone marrow and stem cells to facilitate life-saving transplants. The registry at Hadassah Hospital is the only one in the world for Arabs and will no doubt save the lives not only of Arab Israelis but also of some citizens of Arab countries, not a single one of which has a registry of its own.
5
@m1945 That's good news, but it doesn't address the issue at hand.
The authors took exception to their being described as “Zionists of NEAR unhinged proportions”. I’m going to return the favor by taking exception to their specific concerns about YOUNG American Jews, who are increasingly alienated from Israel because of its hard-line policies.
I’m 75 years old and appalled by those hard-line policies. But, as an American, I’m equally appalled by Benjamin Netanyahu’s interference in our politics through his collusion with the GOP in opposition to President Obama and through his support for Donald Trump - which contributed to the disaster that is his presidency.
4
Oh, my.
Does this piece really criticize Americans who object to our Israeli friends repression of Palestinians for their failure to protest "... China for its occupation of Tibet, or Russia for its occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine." (The US doesn't politically and financially support China and Russia.)
And the piece worries that some American protesters get some funding from a group "some of whose leaders have links to groups flagged by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for their ties to the terrorist group Hamas." (Good grief. Leaders with 'links' to 'groups flagged' for 'ties'. Do you hear yourself?)
I lived in Israel as a young man, spoke and even taught the Hebrew language. Its treatment of some non-Jews, even Christian Arabs was reprehensible. If I didn't love Israel I wouldn't care half so much how it acts.
3
BDS does not seek to dismantle Israel. It seeks equality for all residents. Zionism by its definition gives preference to one group of people to the detriment of another.
6
@penney albany
Omar Barghouti. Founder of the BDS Movement. Graduate of Tel Aviv
"definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No Palestinian, rational Palestinian, not a sell-out Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state,"
4
I am organizing a campaign to boycott, divest from and sanction China until it withdraws from Tibet and gives full independence to the Tibetan people. I think we will call it B. D. S.
The Tibetans are a peaceful people who never engage in violence of any kind, and certainly not terrorism. None of them has ever assassinated a U. S. Presidential candidate, shot up a school or bombed a crowded bus. Tibetans need Westerners to pressure China.
5
A country determines its own longevity when it attempts to force its path to enlightenment.
2
This article seems to suggest that hundreds of western dissidents, protesters and pro Palestinian rights activists are being detained or banned from travel, business or study in Israel. Cursory research indicates the number to be 15 to 20.
2
Reading this I am reminded of a talk Islamic Expert Prof. Bernard Lewis gave at Hebrew University about a decade about the Sunni-Shia split.
He spoke about how he had been in Jordan with a Jordanian and an Iraqi watching Israeli TV. There was a news broadcast where an Israeli Arab (or was it a Palestinian) was speaking charging the Israeli gov. with abuse of some sort.
The Jordanian and the Iraqi were stunned. The Iraqi said, "I would let Saddam break both my arms and both my legs to be able to speak like that in Iraq."
Residents of surrounding countries are jealous of what they see in Israel.
The problem with peace is not Israel but lack of Palestinian leadership willing to sign a peace agreement. Since 2006 there has been one govt for Gaza and a different one for the West Bank. Neither leadership has a democratic mandate to lead, the elections were supposed to occur in 2010.
It ironic that Arabs from surrounding countries are aware how great the Israeli gov. is while American youth appear not to understand it.
I have been to Israel many, many times for work and pleasure and I have always been treated with respect. I recognize that I am a guest in that country and I should act like a guest. Many of these people listed in this article were not acting like proper guests. In that case, they should be turned away until they decide to act like guests.
11
Liberal democracies do not confuse dissent with existential threats because they seek consensus amongst people not control over them and what they think. They are not happy with criticism but they do not fear it. Israel fears criticism and dissent, not just angry mobs, but those who disagree with them. The decades long conflict over the land has begun to disrupt the country that those who founded it hoped to establish. It is becoming a land with a siege mentality, with an us verses them perspective on everything. It’s a state which is becoming a garrison state. It’s only purpose being to defeat it’s enemies. Once they begin to think like that countries only exist to be at war.
5
@Casual Observer
Israel will only exist if it defeats its enemies.
"Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight . . . The mining of Sharm el Sheikh is a confrontation with Israel. Adopting this measure obligates us to be ready to embark on a general war with Israel." – Nasser, May 27, 1967
"We will not accept any ... coexistence with Israel. ... Today the issue is not the establishment of peace between the Arab states and Israel .... The war with Israel is in effect since 1948." – Nasser, May 28, 1967
"We are now ready to confront Israel .... The issue now at hand is not the Gulf of Aqaba, the Straits of Tiran, or the withdrawal of UNEF, but the ... aggression which took place in Palestine ... with the collaboration of Britain and the United States." – Nasser, June 2, 1967
“We knew that by closing the Gulf of Aqaba it might mean war with Israel. [If war comes] it will be total and the objective will be to destroy Israel.”
- Gamal Abdel Nasser
(Washington Post, May 27, 1967)
“With the closing of the Straits [of Tiran], Israel faces two possibilities, both of which are blood-soaked: either it will die by strangulation in the wake of the Arab military and economic blockade, or it will die by shooting from the Arab forces surrounding it in the south, north and east.”
- Egyptian government broadcast
(Radio Cairo, May 27, 1967;
2
Why not identify what B.D.S. stands for? It would have been helpful.
2
@David from Hartford
BDS stands for Barely Democratic State. Netanyahu is well on his way to joining the League of Dictators whose members include Mohammed Bin Sultan, Vladimir Putin, Rodrigo Duterte, Recip Tayyip Erdogan, Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping and, an eager plebe, Donald Trump.
1
I don't support Russia's invasion of Ukraine with my tax dollars. I don't support China's occupation of Tibet with my tax dollars.
The U.S. supported the creation of Israel with the condition that it did not remove the indigenous population. We have an obligation to the Palestinian people, whose land was unjustly taken and occupied. If Israel can't understand that, we need to do something loud to get its attention.
15
There is so much love for the good side of Israel and ethical Israelis in America. Many of us have connections to Israel, and have at least some sense of the complexity of the issues facing both the Israelis and the Palestinians. I wish the government currently in power in Israel were not so intent on losing the public relations war that is never ending. By aligning with Trump and Adelson's Republicans, they have consciously made their bed with a party that, paradoxically, contains anti-semitic elements along with the evangelical Christians, who are always so inclined to view the world through a 13th century lens. please do not alienate American liberals further, as we will naturally be your last defenders in a crisis.
4
The authors of this piece compared the BDS movement with the boycotting of Jewish businesses in Germany. That's a stretch, in my opinion. The German boycott hinged on the merchants' religion. The BDS movement isn't aimed at Jews, it's aimed at the Netanyahu government's policies.
I would never argue that the groups that would destroy Israel should be given a fair hearing, but there is room to argue that Bibi and his cohort have done as much as they can to frustrate the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people, a group that was effectively tossed out of its homeland in 1948. I can understand their anger, especially when the Israeli government reacts disproportionately to Hamas' belligerence.
I grew up in a largely Jewish neighborhood in the New York City suburbs. My Jewish neighbors always struck me as empathetic people who were guided by fundamental principles. The behavior of the Israeli government is difficult for me to comprehend, given my understanding of Jewish values. Even though I am not involved with the BDS movement in any way, I support their objective of reminding the Israeli government that it is not living up to the country's founding ideals.
16
@Bill McGrath under that logic this would make sense. “I’m not sexist. I like women I just don’t like their business practices.”
1
Koplow, the chairman of Brandeis University’s board and a pro-Israel philanthropist was aggressively interrogated at the airport after security officials discovered a brochure in his luggage called “This Week in Palestine.”
Book burning will be next
6
@Gerhard
What makes you think they aren't already doing it?
If Ms. Alqasem supports BSD, why does she want to attend an Israeli university?
12
Now, why would a BDS leader want to study in Israel? Boycott Israeli academics, but go there to study? Study what?
There is an article in another MSM publication (WAPO, Oct. 9, 2018) about instructors at the U. of Michigan refusing to give letters of recommendation to their Jewish students seeking to study in Israel - because of their BDS creds.
Maybe Stephens should be better informed about the reality of the issue. Israel is what it is, but so is American academe.
7
The hypocrisy of those who hate Israel is as wide and deep as the Mediterranean Sea. The BDS movement demands the dismantling of the state of Israel, nothing less.
It refuses to address the failed, corrupt, hopelessly incompetent, un-democratic Palestinian leadership. Hamas, of course, calls for the extermination of all Jews in Israel, a second Holocaust, but this barely registers with those who defend would-be genocide by simply refusing to address it time and time again.
It doesn't fit well with their narrative of the brutal, oppressive Israelis and the put-upon Palestinians. The fact that the Palestinian leadership has turned down peace proposal after peace proposal without even countering is, likewise, never mentioned. It is so much easier to argue your point when facts are glibly ignored. Ask Trump.
17
Speaking of corruption, how’s Bibi’s trial goin’?
8
Man this is a pretty weak criticism of an act that should be outright condemned. There are zero, let me repeat that word for you, zero excuses for what Israel has done here. I checked this out just because it has the Bret Stephens tag on it. And I'm not surprised by how pitiful this column is. The NYT seems to be slipping, and so is my will to maintain my subscription.
7
Advancement of human knowledge is possible only through access to information and data, peer review, and the scientific method. Moreover, the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake requires the freedom to do it. Freedom here is a binary component.
The Israeli government is hiding behind its security imperatives disguised as national sovereignty. They of course have every right to do that; they just can't pretend it's compatible with academic freedom.
2
For what does B.D.S. stand?
@Charlie Browne
Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions
It is the same model that forced South Africa to finally end Apartheid. It is intended to force Israel to finally Honestly make peace.
They have had no intent of ever making peace so far. This is proven by what they have done.
5
The Zionist fanatics start quite well: Thanks.
But then...
The authors argue that Israel is a good place, but its defensiveness keeps critics from appreciating this liberal democracy.
Well, there are some other problems.
First, the authors urge the authorities to reach out to those who might appreciate "the complexity of life and politics in the region."
Ah, the magic word "complexity". Throughout the world, a favorite concept of regimes who are doing something they shouldn't do. The spiel is usually something like the following:
---We know you don't like these measures. It's complex. We don't like them either. But we don't give an inch to terrorists.
Tienanmen, Algerian War, Vietnam War: all were "very complex situations".
Second, BDS is surpassingly evil: "Boycotts of Jewish businesses have a particularly foul pedigree in Nazi Germany."
But, in conquering Palestine, boycotts of Palestinian labor were fine. Before the Nazis.
Your calling us Nazis is OK. But, we become US-Government-certified antisemites if we say, e.g, that the retaliation ratio for Gaza, 100 to 1, exceeds the Nazis' reprisals [it does].
Check it out: "US Department of State"; search for "antisemitism"; click on "defining antisemitism"; read down the list of defining features, and find:
--- "Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis."
They can say we're Nazis, but we can't return the compliment? Huh?
Back home in SF, that's called dirty pool
11
@alyosha BDS is not trying to HELP anyone or fight for clean water, schools,health care or a better life for Palestinians, right? BDS just wants to destroy Israel is all - just like their terorist sponsors.
I'm so over people who just want to destroy - and not make the world a better place. This approach has been disastrous for the Palestinian people - and BDS is just another way to keep the hate flowing.
2
On a related topic, I recently heard a disturbing report about a Homeland Security official denying entry to the US to a Canadian couple for a much less serious reason than the actions of Ms Alqasem. This is a second hand report but I trust the person who told me and she claimed to have heard the report directly from the couple involved. Still, I sincerely hope it is not true or that there is more to it. The reported incident was that the DHS official asked the couple what they thought of Trump. When they gave less than a positive response, they were told to turn their vehicle around and return to Canada. DHS officials have very broad authority to deny entry to foreigners and the appeal process for an inappropriate use of that authority is lengthy. We love to spend time in your country but we will now be prepared for the worst the next time we arrive at your border.
5
The difference between injustices in China, Russia, and Israel is that we do not fund the first two with American dollars. Everything Israel does, it appears to do with our approval because we pay for it. And, a lot of people are tired of conflating being against Israeli policies and being against Jews -- so please drop the Nazi analogies.
22
@John
Precisely. Thank You.
2
So the enjoyment of free speech and peaceful protest is predicated upon prior government scrutiny of what you plan to say or do? Such prior-restraint strikes at totalitarian control and is antithetical to a true democracy. We must learn from the mistakes of history; lest we tragically repeat them.
10
Problem with this quote is that our Governments are not complicit in Russia or China. With Israel it is left for the citizenry alone to protest. So no comparison.
Quote: same activists who obsessively seek to punish and isolate Israel for its occupation of the West Bank rarely if ever display the same passion for protesting against China for its occupation of Tibet, or Russia for its occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine.
1
To be a Zionist and not get the irony of it all, considering the emphasis on looking back at Nazi Germany...it's rich.
If you believe you are part of a Chosen group (supremacy) that must remain pure (intermarriage illegal in Israel, few refugees or non-Jewish immigrants, non-Jewish people having lesser rights), you build walls, expand at the expense of others, and are compelled to conquer (in politics, on land, in industries), well, you are part of the problem as much as any other conquering group and greedy organization.
You are not contributing to the peace and prosperity of this planet.
Being religious is one thing. Being a religious supremacist is the root of almost all problems in every corner of this planet.
13
Illiberalism is on the rise everywhere. All of the authoritarians enable and normalize one another. Even if Erdogan and Bibi have little else in common, they see each other’s actions to suppress dissent, and go “a little bit father” each time. The big dog of authoritarianism, our ersatz president, accelerates all of them. I applaud Ms. Weiss and Mr. Stephens for calling out this absurdity, but it will make little difference. I fear we are in the middle of a long backslide to historical norms of ignorance, authoritarianism, and nationalism.
138
@purpledog
It breaks my heart that people who founded a state from the ashes of the Holocaust can behave so cruelly to the "other"--expelling them, forcing them into internment camps (and yes, the PLO aren't angels either).
Now little Jared, whose grandfather was a Holocaust survivor, has cut food and medical supplies to these desperate people.
If you wonder where the next generation of Isis terrorists are, look no further.
2
Your title says it all; when a nation is afraid of it's own shadow (look at Turkey, China, Russia, etc), they reveal tehir deep weakness by disallowing any criticism. And without healthy, constructive criticism, there cannot be democracy. As is the case here. We humans are by nature imperfect, at times striving to be better, and contribute to justice and peace in the world; but more often that not, we behave badly; but this bad? Is our ego so fragile, and our arrogance so entitled, that we tend to believe we are indispensable and irreplaceable, and that abusing the power we have is a god-given right?
2
Comparing B.D.S. to boycotts of Jewish businesses in Nazi Germany is absurd. The latter could not conceivably be read as efforts to influence government behavior; the former, at least conceivably, can. That some support BDS for anti-Semitic reasons doesn’t mean there aren’t valid reasons to support it.
It’s also not wrong for Americans to scrutinize Israel more than China. Because U.S. backs Israel financially, militarily and diplomatically, Americans feel responsible for Israel’s acts more than for China’s.
5
It is not possible to have a liberal democracy without a separation of church and state. In the U.S. these days there is a strong movement to make Christianity our state religion. By that, I mean that religious conservatives are trying to make their religious beliefs the law of the land. This is the biggest threat to our democracy. What about Israel in this regard?
3
The problem Israel faces is that BDS is premised on the false notion that the so-called "occupation" of the "Palestinian Territories" is the result of the Palestinians not being offered their own state. That is a false premise. The offer originally mandated by the UN and repeatedly offered countless times by numerous Israeli administrations (and supported by many US administrations) has been rejected because it comes with one condition - recognition of Israel's right to exist.
12
@RCS
No, it has been rejected because it requires Palestinians to give up East Jerusalem and the Islamic sites in the Old City. "Eternal, undivided Jerusalem" has been defined by the nationalists to include Jerusalem's expanding boundaries.
"But Israel is also a state that prides itself on being a liberal democracy — a fact that goes far to explain the longstanding support for Israel among American Jews and non-Jews alike."
The support of the rightwing Evangelicals is founded a lot more on a vision of the Rapture. Rightwing Christian rhetoric applauding Israel's being a liberal democracy has no corresponding trend in the Evangelicals' American domestic politics.
3
@Mostly Rational
Absolutely. Most US Evangelicals attend churches that bar women from being pastors and have congregations with nary a single dark face among them. Liberal democracy isn't high on their everyday agenda and ditto for their support for Israel.
8
You state that Israel should not be like other countries where institutions boycott Israeli academics. You acknowledge that Israel is singled out for it's occupation in the West Bank while other countries seem to march along. So, in fhe face of all this, you expect Israel to be more open and accommodating than any other country in the world. Why? Why should Israelis have to deal with international condemnation in ways that Russia and China don't? Do they roll out the red carpet for the vehement critics? Do they bend over backwards to "accept" diversity? Israel is governed for and by Israelis. They voted for the government they have. They will deal with the issues as best suits their needs. As to 22-year-old graduate students from Florida, I'm sure there are many universities in the world where she can study - Birzeit University???
3
Sunlight, no matter where it shines, is still the best disinfectant, of course. Stifling speech, no matter whose speech it may be, is a recipe for undermining the foundation of any democracy.
The larger question suggested by this piece is whether or not Israel can be both a Jewish state and a liberal democracy. To this writer, it appears the terms are mutually exclusive.
1
Why do I criticize Israel's human rights violations and not Tibet's?
The U.S. gives over $3 billion a year to Israel. This money goes directly to the Israeli government, supporting its policies and actions.
The $24 million the U.S. gives to Tibet every year goes to cultural and humanitarian institutions, NOT to its repressive government.
7
How much to Egypt Saudi Arabia and China?
1
There's an illiberal "democracy" much closer to home than Israel, and one that we have even more ability to influence. Perhaps Bret and Bari should direct their critique of illiberal policies towards the Democratic and Republican politicians and the US states and institutions that have endorsed and instituted laws that punish the very thing that they claim in this article that Lara Alqasem should be able to do openly and freely: support the movement for B.D.S.
I missed the explanation of why she wanted to attend an Israeli university if she is in favor of BDS. I would think that the BDS movement would include a boycott of Israeli universities, including attending an Israeli university.
9
It’s simple, she is there to campaign and advocate.
Would we allow a foreign alien into the USA who advocates for boycott and sanctions on America and meddles into our politics?
6
@Craig
She doesn't support BDS. But, anything less than 100% support of Israel's current government is considered a threat by its leaders.
1
Concepts like democracy are intellectual tools and we need to keep them clear and sharp. So, keep in mind that democracy is always a matter of degree, of more or less. Every country is democratic to some degree--even the most brutal dictators pay some attention to the will of the people if only through a fear of assassination. It is always inaccurate to see democracy in binary terms, i.e., that some countries are democracies and some are not.
1
"Israelis have good reason to see the B.D.S. campaign as a thinly veiled form of bigotry. Boycotts of Jewish businesses have a particularly foul pedigree in Nazi Germany. "
This is quite a cheap shot. The assessment of anything--including a boycott--has to consider context, intent and consequences. Lumping BDS and Nazis does non of this.
14
Which harms Israel more, letting a college student in or getting all kinds of press for being bullying, closed-minded, and uncaring about what young Americans, Jews and non-Jews, think about Israel? Oy vey.
4
If I were the editor of this op-ed, I would have pruned it down to the first sentence in the 14th paragraph; "Israel, like all countries, has a right to protect its borders and to determine who is allowed in and out." Enough said.
10
God granted the The Zionists Israel in 6,257 BCE, and they are only taking back what is theirs. The West Bank and Gaza are the last pieces needing liberation and settlements by the Chosen Ones. It is so written...long ago! Problem is moving the Arabs to other Arab lands and Syria is in dire need of immigrants but is resisting the irresistible despora. Why?
1
@Moe Def
That's why religious influence on secular government is so pernicious.
1
@Moe Def
I don't think that is possible or is it relevant to this article.
1
@Moe Def
Its difficult discerning whether this is satire or what people actually believe.
1
Brett: I enjoyed reading your overreaction to Israel’s overreaction. The out rage you express is practically convincing. You know full well that it is the responsibility of shin bet etc to over react, not under react. Of course one must at times excise a tumor to determine if it is malignant (or if it has fifth column potential).
They, of course, must be reminded that you are ever vigilant. You, like them, are a watcher, and a guardian. You are both doing your jobs very well. Kudos. All the best.
NS
1
I am all for free speech. BDS organizations are a hate group. Accusing Israel of apartheid is an Anti-Semitic and racist. In theory I can agree with Brett but in the Middle East reality takes precedence. Israel and it supporters see BDS as another form of terror that needs to be countered. BDS and its advocates are not innocent of violent hate speech because there true mesage i eradication of Israel.. Israel is correct in not giving this not so innocent young American permission to enter.
11
@Henry Blumner
"Accusing Israel of apartheid is anti-Semitic and racist."
No, sir. Locking millions inside an open-air prison, shooting medics, reporters, and children, denying full civil rights to an ethnic minority--these are tactics of an apartheid state. They are also all things the current government of Israel is doing.
A knee-jerk defense of Israel does it no favors. Its friends should be open to criticize it and help it understand where it has gone so wrong. By supporting this behavior, we encourage more of it. Just because Jews were once victims of genocide and oppression does not mean Israel is incapable of those things--in fact, at this rate, it's quite likely they will take the current situation of oppression and turn it into genocide. There's nothing restraining them.
3
What is the reason for that attitude of the Israel government? The immigrants that have suffered the most in the history of mankind are the Jewish People. Israel can't be like the rulers that oppressed their dear brothers and sisters during so many centuries..
2
Israel is a sovereign country and reserves the right to decide who gets to enter its borders (something American liberals have forgotten about US borders but I don’t mean to digress).
Despite her smiles and professions of simply wanting to study in Israel Ms Alqasem is a member of an organization that rejects Israel’s right to exist in any way, shape or form. True, they might be using “nonviolent” resistance but the end result of their goals is to wipe out Israel.
Allowing Ms Alqasem to stay in Israel and have her visit a kibbutz or eat a falafel on the beach in Tel Aviv or visit a hi tech company will not change her views about Israel. In fact, Israel’s very many succcesses - compared to the violent and failed states that surround Israel - is what angers the BDS crowd in the first place.
92
@Sherman
"In fact, Israel’s very many succcesses - compared to the violent and failed states that surround Israel - is what angers the BDS crowd in the first place."
Well said.
4
@Sherman How do you know her views can not be changed. Oh. In your opinion, you mean.
1
@Sherman
Sherman, simple question.....what is Israel afraid of? Does it have blood in its hands?
2
I applaud the authors for their courage and believe they are correct. A young American of Lebanese descent in the 1990's, I read much about the Israeli-Arab conflict (as it tended to be called then) and had a number of beliefs about Israeli society. I took a trip to Israel with a left-leaning group out of SF in 1999, to learn more. I was heavily questioned coming into and leaving Israel, ultimately allowed in even though my next stop was Beirut. I came away from that trip to Israel, the WB and Gaza, with a deeper understanding of how complex Israeli society is, learned that there are groups organizing migrant workers from Africa and other poor countries, that Israelis are not a monolithic group, the situation there is full of so many considerations. That doesn't mean Israel doesn't engage in practices I find immoral in their war against Palestinians; my own country engages in immoral practices, and I have considerably more connection and ability to affect change here. In a world where people increasingly tune out opinions and facts that don't suit our worldviews, the thinking expressed in this piece is so wonderful., true and needed.
3
A note from a historian. Boycotts of Jewish goods and services HAD a particularly virulent pedigree in Nazi Germany. The idea that criticism of Israel's current policies or attempts to use economic pressure to induce compromise is somehow rooted in Anti-Semitism and or racist interpretation similar to those which drove the Holocaust in dishonest. The Israeli government, of all authorities, should be able to determine the difference between racism and honest, considered dissent that disagrees with its occupation policy. It should also, if it retains its pride as a liberal democracy, be able to rebut those criticisms without resort to rank emotionalism. The Palestinian issue is not the Holocaust and the Palestinians are not Nazi Germans. The entire situation would do well to abandon such trite emotionalism and stay focused on facts and solving actual problems. Why is Israel still occupying Palestine? Some honest answers to that question might drive something a little more practical that invoking Nazi Germany.
31
@Eric G
The Nazis tried to exterminate the Jews.
Racist Palestinians are trying to annihilate the Jews.
Racist Palestinians are the new Nazis.
Here's what Palestinian children see on Palestinian TV:
• A song in a children’s cartoon includes the lyrics, “Zionist man, run away, Zionist woman, run away, very soon you’ll be killed by a car.”
• A Palestinian singer is shown in another clip, singing the lyrics, “Oh Martyrdom-seeker, make them cry. Make the fire engulf them. Turn them into body parts, roast them.”
• A Palestinian child declaims in a speech into which he has been indoctrinated, “Oh sons of Zion, oh the most evil of creatures, oh barbaric apes.”
• In a children’s TV show, a Mickey Mouse figures asks a child, “How will you sacrifice your soul for the sake of Al-Aqsa? What will you do? The child replies, “I will shoot. We want to… We will annihilate the Jews”
13
@m1945 None of which has anything whatsoever to do with the Palestinian question. The idea that the Palestinians have control of a massive state and industrial complex geared toward murder or are holding committee like the Wansee Conference to lay out the apparatus of state sanctioned mass murder as the real problem in need of solving is, at best, incredibly disingenuous. One way or another, Israelis and Palestinians are neighbors. The sooner they figure out how to exist as neighbors the better. The constant invocation of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany is antithetical to that end. Calling the resort to such language trite is valid criticism. That Israel has stooped to jailing and harassing those seeking to cajole it beyond hyperbole isn't the fault of the Palestinians. That action lies squarely on the Israeli government, and at any point the Israeli government could change tact. It chooses not to do so, and people the world over are free to acknowledge that choice. The Israeli-Palestinian Question is not the Holocaust.
Pertinent history that rarely comes to light in reporting on this conundrum is that prior to 1850, only a “handful” of Jewish families, likely less than 5% of the population, lived within the borders of what is currently Israel and what was then Palestine. At the time of the British Mandate and the Balfour declaration during WW I, approximately 1914-17, the population of Jews had only increased to 10% - with an 80% Muslim majority and 10% (primarily Arabic-speaking) Christian minority, most of whom were displaced from their ancestral homes over the following 50-70 years.
It is a fallacy to compare advocacy for Crimea and Tibet against oppressive Russian and Chinese regimes to Palestine/Israel; in this case, Western powers enabled the formation of Israel and US policy/military aid empowered the takeover. We, American taxpayers, financed radical population shifts, and aided and abetted wars that displaced the non-Jewish Palestinian people from their homes. Western democracies who can now recognize this injustice (which was specifically stated as NOT to happen in the Balfour declaration) are trying to find myriad ways to rectify the situation.
This reality makes it very difficult to equate Israel to a pluralistic liberal democracy. The harsh attempts to quash criticism further that dichotomy. Personally, I support a pragmatic two-state solution with fair land distribution, some restitution for infrastructure and policies that support economic potential.
15
@athomedoc
Statistics can be deceiving. In 1850 the population of Jerusalem was 50% jewish.
8
@athomedoc
Statistics can be even more misleading. My Palestinian Jewish grandmother was born in Jerusalem, and a resident thereof as a young woman in 1913. None of her family lived in Jerusalem from then until 1920. Why? The Turks drove out almost all of the Jewish populations of Jaffa and Jerusalem, worried that they would support the Ottoman's enemies in the war. My grandmother's family went to Alexandria; after years of waiting, she and her sister continued to North America. Her mother and the other siblings, returned to Jerusalem. They were not counted in 1917, or even in the first British census--which took place before the (first Palestinian) refugees were allowed to return. So, yes, the numbers counted in that era....would suggest there weren't many of them. They'd been kicked out, only to return later.
8
@athomedoc
No one would have been killed, displaced or lost any land if racist Palestinians had not tried to exterminate the Jews.
The day after the UN Partition Resolution in November 1947, racist Palestinians started a genocidal war to exterminate the Jews. Haj Amin el-Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem – “I declare a holy war, my Muslim brothers! Murder the Jews! Murder them all!”
The war started with Palestinians attacking a Jewish bus driving on the Coastal Plain near Kfar Sirkin killing five and wounding others. Half an hour later they ambushed a second bus from Hadera, killing two more. Arab snipers attacked Jewish buses in Jerusalem and Haifa.
Wars create refugees!
9
The boycott part of BDS includes academic institutions. The lady seems confused if she finds herself unable to renounce the movement while seeking to live and study in Israel.
10
@Neill
You seem confused that it is a legitimate ask for anyone to ask anyone to renounce anything.
1
@Neil
If Israel were right they might have been relaxed enough to see your POV and use it as a POV to counter BDS.
But they know BDS is right so they do what they do to all things right which they do not want to be right, they do their best to kill it. DOn't be shocked when they start actually killing people over this, it is the inevitable progression they always take things to.
1
Grounds for refusing entry is a far lower bar than protected speech once you're in, that's true in the US and UK as well as Israel. The US has barred entry to people for ill advised tweets, and if you wind up on the inaccurate no fly list you'll spend a lot of time renouncing various groups to try to get off it.
I don't actually agree with Israel banning BDS proponents, or with BDS proponents themselves, but countries do have the right to refuse entry to perceived troublemakers based on whatever grounds the country in question likes to set.
@magicisnotreal
Many people see the B.D.S. campaign as a thinly veiled form of bigotry because the B.D.S. campaign IS a thinly veiled form of bigotry!
18
@JH
So the BDS campaign that ended Apartheid in South Africa was really anti white bigotry?
Get a grip!
1
@JH
So anti-Israeli government policy = bigotry. Does that also follow for those trying to counter the government policy of other countries? If Canadians try to boycott American goods because of Trump's unfair tariffs on Canadian imports, is that boycott bigotry?
2
"Invite them to visit. No restrictions; no minders; no lectures. Perhaps they’ll find their prejudices confirmed. But we suspect that more than a few of them — those capable of keeping an open mind and appreciating the complexity of life and politics in the region — might find their views changed."
I think the a comparable invitation and in the same spirit should be offered to Bari and Bret to live in Gaza.
8
@Robert Roth
"I think the a comparable invitation and in the same spirit should be offered to Bari and Bret to live in Gaza"
Many Jewish people lived in and visited Gaza. I know of many in peace movement willing to do that and being prevented from doing so. But crossing to Gaza is restricted by Israelis and by agreement with Israelis, by Egyptian government.
There were Jews on a various Freedom Flotillas, alas, they were intercepted in international waters and prevented from going to Gaza.
I agree.
As a Jew and strong supporter of the state of Israel, this makes me sick. This is not the action of a strong, secure and democratic country. It is what we expect from the other governments in the region, not from the only democracy there. If Palestinians and their supporters use the non-violent BDS movement to achieve their aims, rather than an armed insurrection, so much the better. A just peace and an independent, democratic Israel and Palestine are more important than the sales volume of Sabra hummus.
272
BDS does much more harm than good. Many of the people who manufacture the goods subject to the boycott are Palestinians and Israeli Arabs. Soda stream is an example of this.
6
@Richard Rubin
Right that Israel is overdoing their scrutiny of this student, wrong that BDS's goal is merely ending the occupation of the West bank. It's goal is one, Palestinian state, with perhaps (not to be understated) some token Jews so that the alleged "secular" country isn't just another Arab/banana republic. BDS does not differentiate between the West bank and pre-67 Israel. Please do the readings and be honest with yourself.
7
@Richard Rubin You might think differently if you were within artillery range of HAMAS and Hezbollah.
3
Nobody has a "right" to enter any country. She might encourage terrorist activities. Send her home and don't even allow here to change her position, that would be fake.
7
Around 20 years ago Mr Netanyahu was asked if American Jews could feel confident that the Law of Return would apply to them. He gave an evasive reply, and at that moment I stopped supporting Israel. He and his party want an ethnic state, with an ethnic and political purity that rivals that of, say, Burma.
When I was about eleven our Sabbath school teacher at Congregation Tifereth Israel in Cleveland lectured us on the subject. The Arabs had to be expelled, said she, for their birthrate was so much higher than that of the Jews. "How would you like to be a minority in your own country?" she concluded.
"I _am_ a minority in my own country," I thought but did not utter. I am, however, an American, and ethnic and religious states did not make sense to me and never did. And the bloodshed in Israel shows how swell the basic idea is.
My grandfather, Charles C Goldman, was a lawyer whose clients included the Cleveland Jewish mob--think Bugsy Seigel. "Jews," he said, "are generally law-abiding, but when they go bad they go really bad." And I'm afraid that particular distinguished branch of our ancient faith are the people who have been running Israel for many years now.
Israel contains much that is good and much that is great, but its dark side--like ours--has become emboldened. My rabbi, Abba Hillel Silver, pushed the United Nations into creating a Jewish homeland. I do not think he would be entirely pleased with its current mindset. I certainly am not.
7
Re: “promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes” — language that has long been code for dismantling the Jewish state.
The authors should be ashamed of making that smear. "Code" indeed. Plenty of people, like me, for example, support the Palestinian right of return without thinking Israel should be dismantled. (There should either be a two state solution or Israel should become an actual democracy and not a colonial power.)
6
@kat
True shame that one of the proposed states in the two-state solution refuses to recognize the right of the other to even exist!
1
@kat
Israel was ranked 29 out of 167 on The Economist's Democracy Index.
That's better than Belgium, Greece, Cyprus & at least a dozen other European countries.
Israel has maintained democracy even though it's been under continual attack.
By contrast, we Americans locked American citizens of Japanese descent in concentration camps during world war 2 & we confiscated Joe DiMaggio's father's fishing boat because he was of Italian descent.
Israel was ranked #26 by Global Democracy Rating
Even Palestinians think that Israel is a democracy.
“57% say democracy in Israel is good or very good”
2
Support for the 'right of return' has never been thinly veiled anti-Semitism as critics constantly claim. The Oslo Accords included the right to return as part of the final status negotiations. Would Israel have agreed to 'negotiate' an issue that was, as the authors claim, designed to eliminate the state of Israel?
Of course not. The negotiations that have ocured show that this was one of the issues that was almost settled between the two sides. The PA would agree not to seek enforcement of the right, in exchange for border adjustments and monitory compensation.
Surely the authors know this.
What was always critical in these negotiations was the recognition that Palestinians have rights recognized under international law, a fact that Israel had never acknowledged.
At Oslo the PA recognized the state of Israel. Since Oslo, Netanyahu has decided that Palestinians have no rights at all.
Sadly, the authors blind condemnation of BDS supports Netanyahu's goal that Palestinians exist under Israeli military authority and only have apartheid rights, both in Israel and the occupied territory.
Make nice trips to Israel, even by its critics won't change this.
The response should be recognition of a Palestinian state, not an anti-BDS campaign or repeating the false accusation that the right to return is anti-Semitic.
3
@drspock
South African MP Rev. Dr. Kenneth Meshoe wrote in the San Francisco Examiner, “As a black South African who lived under apartheid, this system was implemented in South Africa to subjugate people of color and deny them a variety of their rights. In my view, Israel cannot be compared to apartheid in South Africa. Those who make the accusation expose their ignorance of what apartheid really is.” Meshoe made this statement upon visiting San Francisco, where he was shocked to learn of posters posted within the city comparing Israel to the apartheid regime in South Africa. He asserted, “As a black South African under apartheid, I, among other things, could not vote, nor could I freely travel the landscape of South Africa. No person of color could hold high government office. The races were strictly segregated at sports arenas, public restrooms, schools and on public transportation. People of color had inferior hospitals, medical care and education. If a white doctor was willing to take a black patient, he had to examine him or her in a back room or some other hidden place. In my numerous visits to Israel, I did not see any of the above.
4
I couldn’t have dreamt of a more fantastic puff-piece from this particular pair of writers.
I’m a Jew. I did the ‘Taglit’ thing. It was the best brainwashing I’ve ever had.
That said, I would never support an organization like BDS, because I have some idea of how complex this matter is, and history didn’t begin with the Dreyfus Affair.
The State of Israel regularly carries out actions which are anathema to my values. If I am a heretic for having this view, so be it.
I would be more fussed about Tibet or Crimea if I were subsidizing- directly- the governments of China or Russia.
But I’m not.
The West Bank/Gaza and the state of Israel are, respectively, number 1 and 2 in US foreign assistance per capita.
As a result, I and EVERY American taxpayer get a say in how the people who live in those places act.
Don’t like it? Don’t take the money.
And I don’t appreciate being called an anti-Semite bigot for disagreeing with some of Israel’s policies or being told to mind my own business. As noted above, it IS my business.
Instead, a thank you would be nice.
But I won’t hold my breath.
9
@Objectively Subjective
But you are subsidizing Saudi Arabia, with money and the full might of our military.
1
“Students for Justice in Palestine has received funding and other assistance from a group called American Muslims for Palestine, some of whose leaders have links to groups flagged by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for their ties to the terrorist group Hamas
Wait - this is four degrees of separation between Students for Justice in Palestine and Hamas.
As the ENTIRE population of the planet is, on average, separated by six degrees of separation, and even wildest conspiracy theorists go for no more than three degrees of separation to find malevolent links.
This, of course, is independent of opinion of majority of world countries that see resistance groups like Hamas as legitimate in the eyes of international law.
You guys are really, really scraping a bottom of the barrel here trying to smear those students.
7
Israel, as does every country, has the right to decide who to allow to visit, immigrate, or otherwise admit.
This person is part of the BDS movement, or was recently, before she scrubbed her internet footprint. So why not make it apply to her, and keep her out, rather than allow an activist in? She advocated boycotting Israel, so stay out and boycott it.
This one Palestinian activist who is not getting everything she wants from Israel is getting as much, or more, press as the Saudi who was murdered in Turkey.
Contrast her with the Jewish guy who needed a letter of recommendation to attend school abroad, and the professor said sure. The the BDS professor in Madison saw that he wanted to study in Israel, and that professor refused the recommendation on that basis.
Makes you wonder.
10
Detaining or barring potential terrorists who desire to visit or study in Israel is a no-brainer. But harassment of those who are advocates of BDS or critics of the Israeli Prime Minister only gains sympathy for these individuals and their followers. Israel has always been a bastion of freedom of expression and exchange of ideas and views. Regardless of her diabolical political motives, Alqasem should be allowed to study at the Hebrew University. And let her misguided views of BDS be challenged by Israelis and Palestinians who are both harmed by such policies.
Isnt'it the BDS the right moral choice and action when a colonial power has been occupying and oppressing a native people on its own land? Why the double standards when it comes to Israel? It's easy for instance to denounce China for its occupation of Tibet, but after more than a century, the Palestinian occupation remains taboo and largely off limits in American media.
2
Israel denied entry. Then, there is the Saudi Arabian method... let them in, then kill them, as increasingly seems to be the case with dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi's visit to the Saudi consulate in Turkey. Which culture do you think better represents humanity? Yes, openness is generally a better policy to promote an exchange of ideas. At the same time, in any comparison between the Islamic dictatorships, terrorists, and Israel, there is no comparison. For anyone who evaluates a government based on its ideas rather than the racial composition of its citizens, Israel's is by far a better government, and on that basis alone is a better steward of all the disputed territories.
4
Americans and many American Jewish have a complete misunderstanding of Israel.
In Israel, the land is viewed as belonging to a proud people of color (brownish), with Semitic roots, not as Zionist.
Often Palestinians in America find an ally in liberal Americans, and American Jews.
In the United States, the liberal American Jew mostly comes from a European/White background.
This is not the case in Israel.
The BDS is an organization which looks at Israel, through the eyes of American Democracy. This is wrong.
Recently 5 brownish Israelis were in a local café in the USA, when a women came in and apologized for how
“You Muslims were being discriminated against with the Trump travel ban”
Palestinians have grouped with many liberal American Jewis, who do not understand Israel.
Jewish from Africa are now pouring in Israel, making for an even more homogeneous mix of Jewish cultures. They are not Zionist.
Before protesting Israel, I would urge the White American Jews who have joined the Palestinian/BDS cause, to look at this issue through the eyes of Middle Eastern/ African Jews who are the majority in the Israel.
3
Israel - slowly becoming just another penne-ante theocracy in the Middle East, with God on their side, as all the others have.
A lesson to us here in the US, if we have sense enough to consider it - especially with the current brand of leadership in place.
9
@MassBear
A theocracy is rule by the clergy. Israel is not a theocracy. Netanyahu is not a rabbi. Israel is a democracy - rule by the people.
2
"Theodor Herzl’s vision for a Jewish state was [...] the open, pluralistic society"
Theodor Herzl's attitude to natives: in "Zionism at 100":
Yussef Ziah el-Khaldi, wrote to the chief rabbi of France, Zadok Kahn: "Palestine is now an integral part of the Ottoman Empire, but what is even more serious, it is inhabited by people other than Israelites." Herzl responded that the Jews "have long since lost the taste for war. They are a peace-loving people, happy to be left in peace...You see another difficulty in the existence of a non-Jewish population in Palestine. But who would want to expel them? Their well-being and individual prosperity will increase as we bring in our own."
[...]
There is, of course, a great irony in referring to "our" country when discussing a land already inhabited by others. When Herzl himself visited Palestine, he seemed to ignore the local residents almost completely. Ernst Pawel : "The account of this visionary's journey through both past and future is notable for one conspicuous blind spot. As Amos Elan has pointed out, the trip...took him through at least a dozen Arab villages, and in Jaffa itself, Jews formed only 10 percent of the total population. Yet not once does he refer to the natives in his notes, nor do they ever seem to figure in his later reflections. In overlooking, in refusing to acknowledge their presence—and hence their humanity—he both followed and reinforced a trend that was to have tragic consequences for Jews and Arabs like."
4
@Eva Smagacz I equate your statements to what happened in this country. I find it incredible everytime there is an aricle like this one that no one seems to see that Israel is to Palestine, what the European Americans were/are to the natives ("Indians"), who remain imprisoned in reservations or pueblos and generally remain wards of the government.
1
@Eva Smagacz
Herz''s "Altneuland ...described a Jewish state that is perfectly multicultural and tolerant even when judged by the most rigorous of modern standards. At a time when Europe was experiencing violent spasms of ethnic nationalism and America was still racially segregated, Herzl imagined a multi-racial society in which citizens were judged not by the color
their skin but by the content of their contributions. The Jewish state Herzl envisioned in Altneuland is built in Palestine. Yet the cities of Herzl’s “New Society” are still dominated by Muslim minarets. The best neighborhoods in these cities contain Arab houses “in the Moorish style” built right next to modern Jewish homes. The book’s hero passionately battles to maintain full civil rights for all. The villain is a politician who wants to relegate non-Jews to second-class citizenship."
2
This action by Israel provides me with yet another reason I shall never even attempt to visit my family members who moved there after WW II and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, let alone that branch that moved there in the early days of Zionism.
No true Zionist pursuing the Herzl ideal would accept what Israel has become, so I am not sure what Zionism the authors actually espouse. Their brand, however, seems closer to one I can accept than the "Zionist" cloak of entitlement that Israel has tended to wrap itself in, much as the false patriots of the US wrap themselves in the flag.
IO shall remain an anti-zionist, always remembering that a theocracy, which Israel is, will always find it very difficult to also be a democracy.
3
@Peter Meyer
Israel is not a theocracy.
2
Why is Israel scared? "Scare" is your word, I suppose it refers to the refusal to allow Madam Alqasem enter the country. Kindly consider the title, "Why is Israel Wise?"
I am glad Israel took this step. Look around all over the world to see how subversives create an out-sized negative impact. Just because we allow Russian operatives to corrupt us here, and allow domestic subversives to burn crosses does not mean other countries should let in people who wish them destruction. Can you estimate the impact if the joker who took weapons to that McDonald in DC based on rumors floated by domestic and foreign subversives? Why would Israel chance it, when it does not have to?
My suggestion to Madam Alqasem; "Palestinians need help. Help them abandon violence as a means for getting what they want, and embrace non-violence. You can study Israel at a distance, and learn what application of brainpower, instead of mindless violence, can accomplish. There are many in Israel, and certainly many here, who think a two-state solution is possible, and peace and harmony can break out suddenly, and in an overwhelming manner. Consider working with them. Thank you."
8
I find the premise ... barring critics is weakness... interesting. Does that apply to global media services such as FaceBook and Twitter who try to "protect society" against such evil thoughts that conservatives may post?
"Hate crimes" (thought crimes) no longer need such colloquialisms since all thought that is considered offensive is now a thought crime to be pursued with vigor. So, why single out Israel for denying entry to someone who has a history of association with groups that have actually been violent toward Israel?
4
It is heartening to see two 'near fanatic Zionists' argue that Israel should allow people like this woman into the country. Doubtful, however, that Bibi, et al will do so given their paranoid like sensitivity t criticism. Do the country's borders include land it has taken, occupied, and settled without any formal, let alone international, agreements? When/how will Bibi, et al realize that their occupation of the West Bank does not enhance the country's security?!? As long as Trump endorses it, it will continue unabated.
1
I thought this was a fair article . I have always felt that exposure to the freedom and tolerance of Israeli society would encourage support for Israel --support which is desperately needed in light of terrorism , a constant threat and omnipresent . In the Barkan Industrial Park--where of 7000 employees about 4000 are Arabs , receiving the same pay as Israeli workers, the Arab terrorist who murdered two Jews and wounded another was a trusted employee, who could enter without being searched and took advantage of that permission. Israelis are hardened by such episodes, where children and women are often the victims, and tend to become excessively suspicious of even innocent, non-threatening visitors.
But when your authors say [I paraphrase] that Herzl's vision was "not an ethnostate of Bannonite fantasy" but an "open, pluralistic society", I must take issue. If Israel were to become one state, with Arabs being trusted to enter freely into all areas we would face more incidents such as occurred at Barkan. Too much of Arab education and propaganda [consider Hamas charter and pronouncements] stresses "return to all our land which was stolen from us by the Jews." Furthermore, given the demographics , were we to have true equality between Arabs and Jews in one , pluralistic society with Arabs outnumbering their Jewish neighbors, we would have the same kind of unfairness we have in the present American government where Democrats are powerless.
4
@shimr
"Furthermore, given the demographics , were we to have true equality between Arabs and Jews in one , pluralistic society with Arabs outnumbering their Jewish neighbors, we would have the same kind of unfairness we have in the present American government where Democrats are powerless."
I wish people who keep repeating this--who I think deeply believe it--would just consult a few political scientists. MOST of the world's countries are deeply pluralistic, containing large ethno-national population blocks. Many political structures have been developed to address this kind of fundamental pluralism in order for the resulting national political system to be reasonably fair and stable.
So check it out!
1
@NormBC
Hi Norm. Thank you for your thoughtful comment. But you have to bear in mind that the Arab block teaches its youngsters to hate their Israeli neighbors --making sahids out of terrorists and naming streets and public squares after them. Just like it is difficult to have a functioning democracy without an educated citizenry, it is impossible to have a pluralistic society where one group is set on eliminating the other. Think of Myanmar and the Rohniga.
@shimr
Hi there. A newly minted single state of Israel would initially have its work cut out for it, to be sure. As for "education", in fact a lot of studies of ethnic and race relations (and I have done a few of them) show that the best route to good inter-group relations is for folk on both sides to be required to ACT equally with respect to each other on a level playing field: they then rather soon tend to THINK more equally. The opposite approach--changing ideas in order to change resulting behavior--is very costly and often backfires.
Comparing activism regarding the occupations of the West Bank, Tibet and Crimea is a classic fallacy known as false equivalency. Of the three occupying powers, Israel is the only democracy and therefore the only one that might be expected to accommodate protests by persons exercising their democratic rights. The authors should know better.
223
@John Walker
That makes no sense. If people are interested in justice and the end of occupations, why are they not calling for a boycott of China?
4
@John Walker
They do know better. They are just doing their job as gadflies, as they should. This tension is necessary and healthy.
@John Walker
The authors don't care. Of all the governments to pick on in the Middle East...Israel?
2
"Israelis have good reason to see the B.D.S. campaign as a thinly veiled form of bigotry. Boycotts of Jewish businesses have a particularly foul pedigree in Nazi Germany. "
I find this comment in this op-ed piece particularly offensive. As I support the BDS movement that in no way makes me anti-semitic or a fascist.
Israel is no more a democracy, it is an apartheid state which oppresses the Palestinians and deprives them of their rights.
1
@Jordan Davies
You may find it offensive. That doesn't make it untrue. You may support BDS and not be anti-semitic--there are likely a few of them--but it's not guaranteed by your strong assertion of your offense.
Israel is a democracy, Israeli Palestinians have full rights (and affirmative action at Israeli universities). Area A and Area B Palestinians have limited interactions with Israel; that's 90-95% of the population of the West Bank Arabs. Gaza Arabs have no one but Hamas to blame for their predicament....and then there's the 5-10% of the West Bank Arabs in Area C. They work in Israeli factories, at salaries identical to those of Israelis--see the Barkan industrial center attack of a few days ago. They are more limited by the Israeli presence. There's an easy solution--negotiate an end game.
5
Interesting. According to Stephens and Weiss, any person who criticizes Israel is prejudiced, meaning they are wrong. Why is it that supporters of Israel take on critics without acknowledging the over two million suffering people--with little hope for a better life-- living within the country's borders? There is a reason so much of the world condemns the government for its brutal treatment of the Palestinian people. How about factoring that in when pointing out the "prejudice" of Israel's critics.
1
I can't believe I find myself agreeing with Bret Stephens and Bari Weiss, despite their condescending tone towards those who support BDS. A truly democratic society does not silence nor turn away from dissent. It has an open dialog with it.
The UK bars people from entering for having views that aren’t aligned with their values even if it has nothing to do with the safety of the country. She supports a group whose goal is to eliminate the state. I would comepletely understand it if Israel never issued visa to begin with.
12
It is now impossible to view Israel as a "liberal democracy;" the authors own argument makes that clear. Incident after incident of censorship, denial of entry, and harassment of non-violent dissenters shows that Israel is a lethal combination of a quasi-theocracy and military state. A democracy - by definition - permits and, indeed, encourages dissent; it is tragic that Israel has fallen so far from the ideals of its founders.
1
Isn't it intellectually dishonest on Ms Alqasem's part to boycott Israeli Universities yet at the same time take advantage of their excellent academic opportunities?
10
An interesting and thoughtful piece, but it's not just young American Jews who are becoming alienated from Israel. Lots of Baby Boomer generation Jews have become alienated as well. You can chalk that up to Netanyahu and the religious fanatics who are so vital to his ruling coalition. Not all that dissimilar to what we're dealing with in this country, with Lord Voldemort in the White House and all his religious fanatics and billionaires cheering him on. A plague on both their houses -- figuratively, at least.
It would appear that sporadic flashes of sanity that may occur in the Mid East stand little chance against the visceral enthusiasm for stupidity. Now that I think of it, that brings on a disturbing sense of local familiarity. . . got it: those ads for WWE telecasts. . . or a Trump rally. . .
It is interesting that the author compares Israel with China and Russia. Well I guess that would be a reason right there to support BDS.
Also to equate boycotting Israel with Nazi Germany's boycotts of Jewish business is ridiculous and disingenuous. Israel's occupation and continued expansion into the West Bank is sufficient reason to sanction and boycott Israel.
2
Short-sighted Israeli's and their absolutist supporters cannot get out of their own way. Settling things with all the Palestinians (soon to be a majority) is enlightened self-interest, not an anti-Israeli screed. They hated Obama but cannot even acknowledge his point. Oh well.
One would hope that conservatives so steeped in American constitutional "originalism" would understand the long-term corruption of mixing religion and state. But alas, it is now impossible to tease out what is state and what is God in Israel. And who wants to go against God?
In 1988, the Palestine Liberation Organization published the Palestinian Declaration of Independence relying on Resolution 181, arguing that the resolution continues to provide international legitimacy for the right of the Palestinian people to sovereignty and national independence. A number of scholars have written in support of this view.
Good luck with unending wars and violence. At some point with all the debt and global warming damage, the US billions will dry up and you will yearn for the old proposed resolution.
As Forrest Gump said, stupid is as stupid does.
1
@Almighty Dollar
International legitimacy for the rights of the Palestinian people is based on UN General Assembly Resolution 181? That's got to be quite a logical stretch....firstly, GA resolutions are never more than advisory; they don't establish international law.
Perhaps more relevant would be that the Jewish Palestinians accepted GA 181. The Arabs, not so much. So having rejected 181 when it was relevant, it now provides legitimacy? That's quite a hoot....
4
Great headline.....Israel has never been scared of anything. Israel is the Hamlet that makes the headlines every day. We should watch and learn from them.
3
Why would she want to study in Israel when she is part of an organization that strongly vocalizes criticism at them? I cannot think of any reasonable explanation other than to understand the enemy from within. Israel was within it's rights and reasons to view her as an imminent/future threat. Why would you nurse a young Asp in your midst in the name of free thought and democracy? Seems a bit self destructive to me.
7
"Israel is a liberal democracy"? Must be using a very loose definition.
6
Maybe her recommendation from the American Studies Department professor at the University of Michigan did not arrive. Oh wait-he and others would never want someone to study in Israel. This woman cannot have it both ways. If she supports BDS then don't come to Israel to study. Why is it ok for you to take advantage of the rich offerings of Israel when it is not ok for others to do so? Hypocrite.
7
"Israelis have good reason to see the B.D.S. campaign as a thinly veiled form of bigotry. Boycotts of Jewish businesses have a particularly foul pedigree in Nazi Germany."
This is what happens when one wraps politics up in religion. BDS is a boycott of *Israeli* businesses, not Jewish businesses. The two are not one and the same. But then, equating supporting political measures to put pressure on the state of Israel for its political policies with antisemitism and the Nazis has been a tactic of Zionist fanatic of unhinged proportions proportions for quite some time now - it's very handy for shutting down debate.
Another common tactic is the "what-aboutism" displayed in the comment "And the same activists who obsessively seek to punish and isolate Israel for its occupation of the West Bank rarely if ever display the same passion for protesting against China for its occupation of Tibet, or Russia for its occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine."
2
To all the Palestinians: stop your squawking, because China occupies Tibet and Russia occupies Crimea. Everyone knows that two wrongs don't make a right, but according to Stephens and Weiss three wrongs do make a right! Utter nonsense. B.D.S. worked in South Africa, so that is probably why Israel is afraid of it.
2
America bans Muslims and our Supreme Court looks the other way. Is banning and harassing visitors because of their politics any different? And once those policies are accepted in these so-called liberal democracies, the next short step is policing the politics and religion of citizens. Welcome to China.
This is as painful to me to read as it was for the authors to write.
Israel to me is a miracle. After two thousand years of expulsions, pogroms, forced conversions and attempted extermination, Jews have a homeland to return to. And since 1948 most of its neighbors and many internally have been plotting and attempting its destruction. After so many years of war, suicide bombings, missile attacks and random knifings and car ramming, Israelis have somewhat of a siege mentality.
Yet when I visit the country, it’s clear to me that it’s thriving economically and culturally. Tel Aviv and Haifa are booming; the beaches and restaurants are filled and beautiful. Jerusalem is a gorgeous mosaic of people of all religions, with stone structures and temples, mosques and churches preserved for thousands of years.
But the current hardline government has taken a wrong turn. Its capitulation to the ultra-Orthodox on what it means to be a Jew, its detention of BDS advocates trying to enter the country, it’s seeming unwillingness to move the peace process forward is not consistent with its prior commitments and democratic values embodied in its laws and in its Declarations of Independence.
I will always support Israel’s mission of forming a homeland and protectorate for the Jewish people, and I understand the threats it faces every day, but I hope it soon elects new leaders that are more tolerant and conciliatory, and more committed to the vision of its founders.
185
@Steven Roth
It is not thriving it is on welfare from the US.
1
@Steven Roth.
Mr Roth, forgive me bringing a fact to your notice. Nether the United States of Trumpism, UST, nor the Zionist Entity recognize PRIOR COMMITMENTS. Neither believes in facts, both are devoted to Alternative FACTS. Both believe that Democracy is a pose for deluding others; both believe in the use of POWER for resolving issues.
@Steven Roth I respect your views very much but, I feel that the miracle that is Israel will be incomplete until an enduring peace is achieved. The tide of history is pushing hard on Israel and I fear that deep divisions within their society will seal her fate as much as any external enemy.
1
US Republicans invited a far right wing speaker from Israel to try and derail US policy toward Iran. Lets stop pretending Israel has free speech modeled after the US example.
3
Whether or not Palestinians have suffered more than Jews in their endless conflict, it still has caused terrible psychological and political damage to both sides.
In war, adversaries generally think of their opponents as animals worthy of extinction, and yet, when war ends and treaties are signed, somehow all can be forgiven.
However, an endless war gradually destroys both sides as growing hate feeds the conflict. I pity both sides- they have been very ill served by their leadership. I blame Israel more- I set a higher standard for them as they are supposed to be the "enlightened" democracy in the fight.
82
@alan haigh
Setting a higher standard for Israel is setting a lower standard for the Palestinians. That's called the racism of low expectations.
6
@alan haigh If you hold Israel to a higher standard, to what standard do you hold the Palestinians?
What have the Palestinians in Israel done to advance the peace process?
Demanded no Palestinian or Arab-centered terrorist groups leave Israel alone so all can live in peace there?
Instituted their own peaceful protests and boycotts--not working for Israelis or patronizing their businesses or not attending their free colleges & universities?
Refused to reward Palestinians who attack Israelis with pensions and cash awards?
To what standard do you hold the Palestinians?
5
@m1945 "Setting a higher standard for Israel is setting a lower standard for the Palestinians. That's called the racism of low expectations."
Except they are the same "race"- at least the minority of Israeli Jews with an actual long history on that land instead of a religious tribal fantasy of what went down thousands of years ago. Semites- Palestinians and Jews both, and not only with similar history but very similar cultures.
What I was talking about was cultural and not racial. Israel is strongly affected by European culture, the source of modern democracy.
I recognize not many will agree with me, but in my observation for the last seventy years this beautiful planet is firmly in the grip of demons. There might be exceptions in some peoples soul and minds. As a humanity we are taking the path that descends into darkness. Maybe there is time left. I don't know!
3
I’m a Jew and I love israel and have lived there and I don’t think BDS is a “thinly veiled form of bigotry”. It’s goal is to uplift the horrific living conditions of the Palestinians through economic pressure on Israel. To me, that sounds like the promotion of Jewish values.
6
When you chant "from the river to the sea Palestine would be free" you are not looking to uplift any living conditions.
You are looking to destroy the nation state of the Jewish people.
6
Unfortunately the movement does not have those values.
3
You are both right and wrong. Ms Alqasem should be allowed entry into a democratic country such as Israel (unlike Israel’s Palestinian neighbor) and be free to criticize the Israeli government. It is unfair, however, to claim that a person or country is “afraid” of someone because they bar that person’s entry. Disagreeing with someone does not mean you fear them. Claiming that Israel is afraid of this young woman is a cheap semantic trick, employed by the writers to ridicule or demean Israel. It should be enough to state the facts and level honest and reasonable criticism. This type of inflammatory language allows dissenters to simply ignore the opinion piece because of blatant bias. And so the parties continue to insult one another....
3
ok ,then , let's get to the basics . #1 - what are Israel's boundaries ?
1
The authors both sound very wise....until we reach this: “those capable of keeping an open mind and appreciating the complexity of life and politics in the region — might find their views changed.”
Talk about wishful thinking!
No, the activists spouting BDS nonsense do not have an open mind, they do not see shades of gray, they are not going to change their views.
Kick ‘em out.
8
Israel is a democracy but not a liberal democracy for millions of people who live within the borders of Israel are denied the right to vote.
The threat to the security of Israel by the B.D.S. is trivial but the Israeli disproportionate response to B.D.S. suggests how fearful Israel is of public opinion in the West. And rightly so for their policies have cost them dearly in the court of public opinion.
201
@Edward Blau who lives in Israel and is a citizen yet can't vote? The answer appears to be none. Now if you are not a citizen you have serious issues.
1
@Edward Blau. You must look around you far more carefully. We have not been a liberal democracy now for about 5 to 10 years. And every year that passes more of our citizens are disenfranchised: dropped from voter rolls, gerrymandered, unable to get photo IDs, have their polling location moved etc. Our government as a consequence is dominated by legislators representing a minority of the population and answering to corporate America and the richest one percent. While you weren’t looking, Paul Ryan cut taxes for them — again — expect your Social Security and Medicare to be cut.
1
@Edward Blau Exactly what is the practical difference between your description of Israel as an "illiberal democracy" vs as an apartheid state?
3
The sad truth is that Israel is slowly but surely moving in the direction of becoming a semi-authoritarian state. When even your strong Jewish-American supporters are questioned and harassed for daring to go off the reservation, as Mr Koplow was, it isn’t a good sign for the future of individual rights and freedoms in the country.
5
@Chris
IT just occurred to me that Israel began its turn into this dark hateful state at about the same time that the GOP began its turn to using communist tactics and practices (propaganda, sowing division, the government is bad let us be the government etc.) in the Nixon Admin.
I wonder since the GOP so unquestioningly supports anything Israel does if there is a connection twixt the two.
Amazing to see how supposedly enlightened persons still try to dehumanize and delegitimize the Palestinian people at every opportunity. Israel has been brutally suppressing and attacking Palestinians for over 70 years, when BDS is tried as a non-violent form of resistance Israel's defenders decry the unfairness of the tactic, no surprise.
7
Interesting that the authors would cite Herzl's vision. Any who have studied Herzl's ideas and goals would know that this distinguished man is rolling over in his grave in anguish every time the name Netanyahu is spoken.
The reason I don't protest Russia and China for their respective occupied territories is because they are neither democracies nor one of our closest allies. Israel is, or, at least, is supposed to be.
Also, you somehow missed the fact that we have sanctioned Russia for their occupation of Crimea. So, you are not only creating a straw man argument, but you aren't even being truthful when attacking your straw man.
6
Sounds like she’s there for less than altruistic reasons.
Israel can decide who is welcome or not and she seems like another American youth troublemaker our for her 15 minutes of fame.
Here, you got it, no go away and stop making trouble.
10
The authors routinely conflate anti-Jewish [anti-Semetic?] behaviors with anti-Israeli policies. The two are very different. The anti-apartheid boycotts did not target Whites or Zulu; they targeted the policies of a repressive regime in South Africa.
The analogous distinction can be made here.
2
They may be different but definitely not distinct. If you choose Israel as the main target out of many, there is very little difference. Try talking about Christians in Christian countries that way and all the aggressive violence and come up with examples and then let’s talk. Imagine the response. Also try to come up with a Christian country that their neighbors and several billion people don’t want them to exist and don’t care where they go including into the ocean. Start with those facts. Also start with returning conquered land from a defensive war to make peace and rejected the offer 50 years ago from ALL their neighbors.
Easy to say but try to prove so.
3
i'm sorry but you the authors miss the point of BDS and unfortunately too many others are ignorant of it as well. BDS is not just about boycotts or about settlements - at it's core is support for the "right of return" which would mean the end of the state of Israel as we know it. No country has to, nor should, allow in people devoted to it's destruction.
14
I agree with the authors. This policy of preventing critics and even haters of Israel from crossing its borders, provided they don't arouse any feasible security concerns, is useless and pathetic, and should be abandoned. State of Israel is strong enough to endure their presence on its soil, just as it is strong enough to endure stupidity of its certain politicians standing behind this policy.
102
"Societies that shun or expel their critics aren’t protecting themselves. They are advertising their weakness."
Thanks for the lecture. Yours is as welcome as Susan Collins's recent civics lecture was applauded by the NYT and the "resistance."
I hope your next column on the spate of anti-Semitic acts taken agains Jewish students on American college campuses. They run the gamut from physical intimidation to a professor at the U. of Michigan refusing to approve a student's semester to study in Israel. How is that for a "society which "shuns or expels its critics?" In this case, the "critics" are merely Zionists and proud Jews.
I am grateful that Israel returns the favor to these "young Americans." They are being funded by people who wish harm to the only Jewish state. Israel displays not "weakness," but rational self-protection.
However, I have no issue if anti-Israel American Arabs wish to travel to say, Lebanon, for a year abroad. They could mix with Hezbollah and see if their experience in democracy is enhanced by the cultural exchange.
When Israel-hating "young Americans" extend their boycott to, say, Syria, or Iran, I'll certainly re-consider my views. I'd like to see my kids be able to study abroad in Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, Indonesia, etc., while entering with their Israeli passport, with no hassle. But that ain't happening anytime soon.
But I have no problem with a boycott by these same folks against racist Hamas. When do we leave?
7
The article references Israel's founding as an open and pluralistic society. When you present high standards to the world the world may hold you to those high ideals.
The Israelis seem to be circling the wagons around their religion, ethnicity, and shared history. Perhaps it is unavoidable but it precludes and open and pluralistic country.
I wonder how the Zionist founders of Israel would react to today's reality.
1
As far as I know, neither China in Kashmir nor Russia in Crimea keep natives in buntustans so they can have great chunks of it to itself, and, funny that, they provided occupied people with full citizenship rights. Russia went so far as, shock! horror! carrying a plebiscite (which they overwhelmingly won) of Crimeans asking if they want for Crimea to re-join Russia.
None of these are extended to native Palestinians by Israel. So don't compare apples with pears because it only makes you look deceitful, or ignorant, or both.
1
Yes, that plebiscite while under occupations, with 102% turnout. Russia obviously loves democracy.
Kashmir wasn't mentioned-Tibet was. You'll find the Chinese behavior in Tibet against unarmed and peaceful civilians to be significantly worse and less justified than Israel's attempts at keeping those bent on its destruction from achieving their goals.
3
Do you buy goods from China, natural gas from Russia?
3
Israel has been on a long path to essentially becoming what they fled after WWII. I have a feeling the one year anniversary of the joke of an American embassy will contain more goose stepping this year. How long exactly is America supposed to continue to prop them up? Just curious. After 70 years they are no closer to peace then when they started, even farther away in fact. It's like booting millions of people off their lands and burning down their houses to insert people from across the planet there instead because they were victims of a 3rd party was a bad idea or something. I wish Israel luck but it's time to cut the apron strings and let this country be a country and stand on it's own two feet. We need to stop flushing trillions of dollars down this toilet. After all Trump needs that money to continue throwing children in detention camps.
2
When Israel became independent it was invaded by all of its neighbors and some nations that didn't even share a border with it (Iraq, Saudi Arabia).
The Arab coalition told Palestinians to flee because they intended on killing the Jewish inhabitants of the land and didn't want to kill Muslims by mistake.
This attempt at extermination was foiled, with thousands of Palestinians now stuck outside of Palestine in places like Jordan.
Since then, Egypt and Jordan have made peace with Israel. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the Gulf States, and Pakistan are too involved in the US-power bloc to become openly and actively belligerent towards Israel. Syria and Lebanon are incapable of leading any sort of offensive into Israel.
To say that peace is further now than during the Arab-Israeli War illustrates an utter ignorance of history.
3
So I think it is time for Time to recognize that Israel is no longer a Democracy. Time and time again I read collums stating Israel as a Democracy. They are not. Israel has changed there laws to make Arab Israelis less than equal. Israel is now a Theocracy. Please correct your employees
1
Can you please also write your opinion on the failure of the American Cleveland Clinic to make sure that Israeli citizens are allowed into Abu Dhabi to receive medical care from that branch of an American hospital?
2
The openness of Zionists in Israel to other views is neither here nor there. What matters is what the Zionists are doing. What the Zionists are doing is taking Palestinian land, house by house, "settlement" by "settlement". They take the land and they don't pay for it, and they treat the people who they evict like non-humans who have no rights.
2
I disagree with you 90% of the time but thank you for your column today on Israel.
2
If Israel wants to put asbestos in their bread, who are we to protest against it? It only goes to their own citizens, or do they export it to the US?. We should mind our own business with Israel. We should mind or own business with Russia, Syria, Eritrea, or even Alabama.
Of course, Alabama does not get $3,000,000,000 in a blank check every year-- oopsI I may have said too much!
Maybe a movement like BDS is what it takes to save Israel from itself and move it towards a democratic, pluralistic society for all its residents.
2
No matter how Zionists try to frame it, Israel is a new state established on lands forcibly occupied from other people - the Palestinians. There is nothing wrong with Palestinians calling for the full return of all their lands, even if it means dismantling the ethnically-religious based "Jewish State".
2
Ok to take Palestine from Palestinians for hundreds of years, make your fortune from selling oil to Western States and still not supporting a Palestinian state when it was entirely in Saudi Arabia’s power to do that. Better to keep your people poor and dependent and imprison their thinking and then blame Israel for existing. You’re point of view is all too common and if I were an Israeli I would find that old thinking and say see this is what we have to put up with. All else is lies. Great way to build trust
2
Include a trip to the West Bank and Gaza, and yes, let's see if they see what you see in Israel.
Thank you for defending the ethos of open inquiry.
It has always struck me that the most intelligent and damning criticisms of Israeli policy with respect to Palestine and the region comes from Jews who live in Israel. While you disagree with them, you express their right to do so, and you also encourage Israel to tolerate dissent and open borders even to critics, and for that you are to be commended.
2
Extraordinary! The Israelis refuse entry to those who wish them harm. Wonder which other country may be doing the same?
8
You need to stop the casual slandering of the BDS movement as anti-semitic. Just because the charge seems plausible to you doesn't mean it is true.
If Israel is "scared" , what is the United States? They are blocking citizens from entire countries and incarcerating refugees. It seems to me that the United States is terrified of muslims, immigrants of color, and mothers and children escaping terror.
1
The 2- state solution is dead. Israel needs to give every Palestinian equal rights (including equal recognition of Islam and christianity) and be done with it.
3
That's a recipe for disaster, genocide, and the elimination of any form of Israeli democracy.
3
In what way do Christians and Muslims not have religious rights in Israel?
4
I'm not scared by this young American. But I'm very scared at the
world hatred that's being directed toward Israel and very often
here by Muslim, especially Palestinian, Americans who've created
a fifth column against it. I don't and have never supported the
Israeli right or the settlements movement. But the combination
of antiSemitism, often masquerading here as anti-Israel, is
what troubles me even more than Israel's misplaced move to
bar this young woman from study at the Hebrew University.
3
The same things were said about the efforts to boycott apartheid South Africa as are now being said about BDS movement. If there is any justice in the world, the outcomes will be the same.
3
"Perhaps they’ll find their prejudices confirmed. But we suspect that more than a few of them — those capable of keeping an open mind and appreciating the complexity of life and politics in the region — might find their views changed."
"Keeping an open mind"? Really! That train has left the station for some time now. What we have now are "battle lines" where you are either "with us or against us" is the guiding principle.... and this refers to America!
After decades of unresolved war aimed at the destruction of Israel and under continuing threat of terrorism and all out wars of annihilation by Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, Israel has never really stopped being on some level of war footing since its inception.
Is it then that difficult to understand that a nation faced with a movements that demands the world to "Boycott, Divest, and Sanction" Israel are simply seen as war by other means regardless of how others choose to see it?
65
Good piece.
As for defending Israel, its not great when your best argument is 'but China and Russia do it too'. I wouldn't go as far as to say the Israeli govt is as bad as those two, but I support putting pressure on them to get them to be better actors.
Antisemitism is still a huge problem, and undoubtedly there are people with bad motivations within the BDS movement, but I disagree with the argument that their strategy is inherently antisemitic. The steps taken to pressure each actor will be different depending on their position and power. Israel undeniably has both good and bad characteristics, and anyone taking one side 100% over the other is oversimplifying. What I can say is I disagree with the unquestioning pledge of support for Israel that so many politicians make.
5
Obama's 'tough love' criticism of Netanyahu's policies should have been a wake up call to Israel, but instead Benny's right wing government took it as an assurance that they need to rely on and support Republicans and evangelists here.
Israel has a reputation of being thorough in how they comprehensively review anyone entering their country.
My question is, why give her visa at all in the first place to enter the country? They must have known her background when the visa was issued. Once the visa was granted, why detain her? It is hard to imagine that Israeli security was not aware of her background until she landed in Israel.
Israel has a right to decide who does and does not enter their country. However, the way they have handled this case raises concerns about an ulterior motive to make her an example to the world to get attention to their cause.
She is an American citizen and should be treated as such. It would have been so much better had Israel declined to give her visa.
63
@jay
US citizens do not need to get a visa to get to Israel. Just a valid US passport.
The visa is granted (or not) at the border.
2
@jay It works the same as in the United States. Just because a US Embassy or Consulate issues a visa does not mean that the individual is entitled to enter the United States - that determination is made at a Port of Entry by US Customs and Border Protection.
1
@jay
You don't need a visa to go to Israel.
All you need is a passport.
5
Mr.Stephens: have you visited the occupied territories, what you Zionists affectionately call "Judea and Samaria"? Have you met real, human Palestinians like Sam Bahour, Mazin Qumsayeh,phD Biologist; Palestinian Christian Daoud Nassar whose family farm of 100 acres outside of Bethlehem has a deed for their land from Ottoman times, is surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements whose rabid residents raid his land and destroy his fruit trees; Zoughby Zoughby with advanced degrees in Peace studies from the U. of Notre Dame; Emeritus Archbishop Elias Chacour of Ibilin, a Galilean city (i.e. in Israel) of mostly Palestinian-Israeli 2nd class citizens in your wonderful "democratic state" who are now certified 2nd class in the Apartheid state of Israel by your recently passed nation state law. These are all now my friends, since I just visited them for the 3rd time. As for Osama Abuirshaid of the American Muslims for Palestine which you link to, is now a naturalized U.S. citizen, having proved your Hamas-labeling witch hunt to be a sham. I met him last week in my home town. He is an articulate husband and father who has told his daughters, "don't believe what you read when you Google me." He is a principled fighter for Palestinian human rights. And on Sept.29 I personally heard Rep. Betty McCollum, author of a bill deploring Israel's, arrest and detention of Palestinian children declare Israel to be an Apartheid state. BDS is a non-violent response to racist oppression.
21
@ron caldwellI
I have visited Judea and Samaria and these are not made up terms.
Perhaps if you read the Bible, you would know that those terms come from The Bible.
Here is a fact. The lands are Jewish and they occupied by others including the Ottoman Turks.
If you to actually visit Israel as I have this is readily apparent from the ruins that are dug up from thousands of years ago.
So, instead of just stating incorrect information, please go to Israel (as a guest) and see the ruins for yourself. The ruins are historic proof that these are Jewish lands.
BTW, Bethlechem is Hebrew. Beit means "house" and Lechem means bread.
2
@David MD
Just because a Jew touched something 2000 years ago doesnt make it the property of the Jewish people in perpetuity. Those lands did not belong to the Jewish people for more than 1000 years. Some Jews who lived there converted to Christianity and Islam, they married Arabs and learned to speak Arabic. They inherited the land by being there, not being in Russia and Poland. The land belongs to those Jews, the Palestinian Arabs, not to Europeans like Ben Gurion.
@Joe
Jews lived there until the Romans (the superpower of the day) kicked them out. Arabs invaded much of the world including Israel and southern Spain. The Spanish kicked out the Arabs in 1492 because the Arabs invaded land that belonged to Spain.
So too, the Jews have come back to claim their land that was taken by others.
Nobody has the right to say that Jewish land is not Jewish land any more than they had the right to say that southern Spain was no longer Spanish prior to 1492 simply because invaders had occupied it.
1
This is a lapse from Mr Stephens' usual displays of common sense. There he is, safely in New York, lecturing a country that faces almost daily acts of terror, that it has some sort of "obligation" no less to admit people who are its outspoken enemies and who by word and sometimes deed advance the cause of its enemies. And not just any enemies, but enemies who outspokenly call for the state's liquidation as well as the extermination of its Jewish population.
There is no need to speculate on that. Between 1948 and 1967 when Arabs occupied a part of Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, not a single Jew was permitted to live there.
And why don't we see anything similarly critical said by these authors about the prevailing practice of Arab/Muslim countries of excluding not just Jewish people, but persons of any nationality whose passports are "contaminated" by evidence of previous visit(s) to Israel?
What these authors badly need to do is to read a book by Tuvia Tenenbom, entitled "Catch the Jew!" which was on the Israeli bestseller list when published and is available at Amazon. With wit and insight it tells the story of various foreign NGOs and their anti-Israel work in Israel.
11
She chose to boycott Israel, and Israel can choose to boycott her.
11
Israel urges dissenters and 'enemies' as it milks us for billions for its defense.
2
"Israel, like all countries, has a right to protect its borders"
But this is the crux...it's what the Zionists say they believe but opposed by the vast majority of the rest of the world. It is not like all countries because it has illegally, in the eyes of the vast majority of the world, stolen the land of the indigenous people. And don't give me this nonsense of the Jews being in Palestine for the past 2 thousand years.
" Boycotts of Jewish businesses have a particularly foul pedigree in Nazi Germany. "
And, of course, the Holocaust card. Gets tiresome. Nothing at all similar. People in the PDS movement are not out of control anti Semitic nationalists. Quite simple they are people with a strong sense of justice that see the Zionist state, with the aide of the world's sophisticated military power, traumatizing and murdering defenseless Palestinians.
10
As Israel gets closer and closer to being an outright apartheid state, it's no surprise that it is behaving in a more and more fascistic way with regard to thought control. Too bad for Israel that it is helpless to control thought in America, and thought among young Americans, their professors, and young American Jews is clearly turning against Likud Israel. Israel can no more stop this process than Canute could stop the waves. Let's face it: young Americans are often idealistic, and no idealist can support where Israel is heading. Too bad for Israel that we're moving more and more into a world in which Israel's only friends are Russia, Saudi Arabia, and America, a world in which Israel simply cannot afford to lose America's support. So far, right-wing American Jews have done a superb job of controlling our Congress, and our White House when Obama was not in it, to guarantee that America remains joined at the hip to Israel's rogue regime. Too bad Israel's staunchest American backers, the old, are inexorably dying out, to be replaced by young Americans who judge Israel by the same moral standards they, like Europeans, apply to all other nations. This is why Likud's current hubristic course, egged on by its ventriloquist's dummy in the White House, is going to be so utterly disastrous for Israel in the end.
21
@Fred White
Israel is very far from being an apartheid state.
Benjamin Pogrund
“…during 26 years as a journalist in South Africa I investigated and reported the evil that was apartheid. I saw Nelson Mandela secretly when he was underground, then popularly known as the Black Pimpernel, and I was the first non-family member to visit him in prison.
I have now lived in Israel for 17 years, doing what I can to promote dialogue across lines of division. To an extent that I believe is rare, I straddle both societies. I know Israel today – and I knew apartheid up close. And put simply, there is no comparison between Israel and apartheid…”
2
Except for the fact that ideology breeds violence there, I'd agree that ideology is just that. Except there.
Dismissing the right of return of the 750,000 Palestinian men, women and children were forced from their homes to make a Jewish-majority state possible as “code for dismantling of Israel” is an admission of the original crime.
Massacres were used to trigger mass flight. People were trucked to the borders while others fled for their lives. More than 530 villages were razed by the IDF, their names erased from the map. Anyone found attempting to return to their home was shot as an “infiltrator.”
This human catastrophe was not some accident of war, and still less a willing act of the victims, but an absolute prerequisite for the creation of a Jewish State in a land in which Jewish immigrants from Europe comprised less than a third of the population.
Discussions among Zionists of "transfer" go back for decades and David Ben-Gurion, who led the military campaign that expelled 3/4 of a million people, had written more than a decade earlier "We must expel Arabs and take their places.” He later wrote: “We must do everything to ensure that they never do return!”
UN Resolution 194, called on Israel to allow the refugees to return and Israel's admission as a UN member was conditional on its acceptance of UNR194 and return to the Partition borders. Israel has steadfastly refused to comply with these and other Resolutions for 70 years, even as it continues to expel Palestinians (most recently in Khan Al-Ahmar) and replace them with Jews. Both the Nakba and its logic are alive today.
11
Israel is not on a suicide mission.
Why should they grant entry, which is a decision that is wholly within their sole discretion, to people who advocate for the destruction of the State as it currently exists?
22
Because in this case a US citizen is being denied entry. The US allows Israeli's into the US to lobby for money, arms, political favors, many that are not in the interest of the US or it's citizens.
That US aid is provided by US citizens through taxes regardless of their religion or political beliefs. US citizens deserve both entry and protection from the Israeli government just like Israeli's who travel to the US deserves it from the US government.
How would you have felt if the US denied entry to Netanyahu when he came to speak to the US congress for the purpose of disrupting US foreign policy.
2
When Trump says that he wants to rewrite libel laws, this is what he wants: to cease any dissent.
Pay attention. This could absolutely happen here.
2
Stephens acknowledges one single truth in this column, and that is that the longer Lara Alqasem is detained, the more Israel's reputation will suffer. It's an important point, but one might also argue that the longer Lara Alqasem is detained and kept in jail-like conditions, the fewer will be the number of critics of Israel who will attempt to enter Israel.
As a liberal American Democrat, I'm not sure Ms. Alqasem detention can make Israel's reputation worse. Stephens perhaps recognizes this by surrounding his criticism of Israel with great white fluffy clouds of Zionist adulations of Israel.
2
The University of Florida student should be required to present a long treatise on the effects of colonization on the native American tribes indigenous to Florida, and then allowed in.
1
Only “liberal democracy” can lead Israel to the brighter future. However, reality on the ground is different.
2
Horray. Seriously. Because it’s time those people who are proud to be “fanatic” supporters of Israel who are similarly proud to support democracy are use platforms to acknowledge that today’s Israeli government act in ways that corrode basic democratic norms. Personally, my problem with Zionism grows stronger the more systematic I see such institutional attacks on such norms extending beyond visitors but to occupants- specifically non-Jews like Bedouins and Palestinians whose land ownership is threatened by a state who doesn’t just have the ultimate power to appropriate their land but increasingly acts on that power. Hopefully more Israeli “supporters” will voice their dismay at such basic violations of democratic principles. I am no fan of the demonization of Israel as practiced by some members of BDS. Blanket denial of the vibrancy - nevermind complexity - of Israel’s history and multilayered existence is often disingenuous and does little to help the non-Jewish populace who struggle for rights equal to Jews in this small bit of geography. But as government sanctioned violence of Israel grows against those populations (in the form of anything from denying freedoms of movement to its critics internally - to refusal to stay vigilant on acting forcibly against actual attacks against non-Jews in Israel) I find it difficult to argue that Zionism is generates codes and institutions that serve more than a increasingly narrow section of people there- or anywhere.
3
So the supporter of a boycott that many view as overtly anti-Semitic is not allowed entry into Israel. Countries routinely reject individuals who seek to subvert their way of life, and public actions have consequences, so this is news? Or is it that anti-Semitism still remains an acceptable bias among academics, hence the column.
14
Hmmm, really? "..striving and inspiring nation seeking not just security, but also peace with its neighbors." Just not with the Palestinians, whose land they continue to take.
9
Bibi was Trump before Trump. His father was pro-fascist, as Trump's was a racist. Both have taken fascist methods (lie, lie again, and eventually the public will believe it) and used them to win elections. Both have governed according to their own wallets, with no sense of what is best for their citizens. Ms. Alqasem is the moral equivalent of an immigrant to the U.S.
Maybe, maybe the electorate from both countries will see through the haze and put in leadership capable of finding peace and governing in the public interest.
2
So much for a country that always brags about being "the only democracy in the Middle East." Like Iran, Israel is a theocracy and, under Netanyahu, it is becoming more authoritarian by the day. The United States should have stopped supporting it long ago -- before Israel acquired nuclear weapons -- and let the chips fall where they may.
3
Ok, but we are talking about a country whose national air liner (El Al) has been known to interview people for over two hours before they board a flight to Israel and has been known to deny people passage. A huge portion of the world wants nothing more than for Israel to be destroyed, and in this environment of "circle the wagons" it's easy to see how something like Ms. Alqasem's predicament came about. I worry that Israel, as the only democracy in the middle east, is giving up too many of its democratic ideals in the name of security.
2
The myth of a monolithic Israel standing firm against a monolithic Palestinian/Arab/Persian enemy appears to be a convenient shibboleth of both sides. Devoid of each other, these monoliths would be revealed to be highly fractured and no doubt would succumb to internecine struggles that would likely doom them to irrelevance.
1
I am not Jewish and so have no emotional ties to Israel or the concept of a Jewish homeland. It does strike me, though, that if the objective is for Israel to remain the official Jewish homeland, then it could not expect to remain so if the majority of its accredited future voters were to be those who consider themselves Palestinians --- either Muslim or Christian. Current birthrates within its borders clearly point in that direction, and an end to the Jewish homeland concept might be assured if former residents, who are not Jewish, were given the right of return to their former homes. They see the same terrain as their homeland. At least, that is what Palestinians among my acquaintances have told me.
6
This is the exact reason why a true one-state solution would be so difficult to achieve. If there was one, it would have to be like Bosnia-Herzegovina's current arrangement, with each ethnicity (Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats) having its areas and own laws and legislature. Israel/Palestine could have that as well (Jews, Arabs, maybe something for smaller minorities like Druze, Samaritans, Circassians).
However, the potential for a more populous Palestinian nation within the country raises all sorts of other issues anyway. Two states is the only way to go that eliminates any second-class forms of citizenship.
Even a broken clock is ... Zionism is too important a cri de conquer of our awful history to criticize. But the Israeli state is different and stands as one of the gravest errors of international policy in the 20th century. As an accommodation to domestic politics in the leading states of the west, the U.N. recognized what was a forced European colonization of underdeveloped Arabia. As such it is a source of constant conflict that has morphed, out of existential necessity, an antidemocratic theocracy and police state domestically incapable of treating its Arab citizens equally. As a consequence it is rapidly losing the support of those in the industrial world who were once its greatest supporters, while its antisemitic opponents have become it's great ally. The anti-jihardist wars of the west are bound to fail as long as the antagonism the Israeli state inspires in its neighbors remains. What to do about it? Perhaps an Israeli return to Zionist liberalism would work. But that is unlikely to happen. Yet it should consider that the America First movement, which Mr. Stephens defends, appeals primarily to those who are tired of supporting the international role that has made the U.S. Israel's only constant ally.
1
I don’t agree with the authors.
Why would any country welcome someone that label it as illegitimate? Why would you welcome someone that boycott you? Someone that actively campaigns against you?
Critics, foreigners or nationals, should be welcome and heard - when their critics and concerns comes from a place of respect and looking for a genuine solution, even if they positions are harsh or hard to accept, but inviting someone that do not have your best interest at heart and is a bigot against you is not a sign of liberalism it’s a sign of stupidity.
If she thinks Israel is illegitimate and should be boycotted and dismantled, she should not seek access to it, neither be welcome.
Either you boicot and stay out or accept and come in. At the very list one would hope the president of SJFP Florida, should have the power of her convictions and not try to enter a country she deems illegal- it’s hard for me too see what’s the benefit of letting her in when her mind is already made.
2
What the authors fail to capture is that fanatical Zionism breeds this kind of contempt for basic human rights -- as do all fanatical movements. Israel has all the cards in this ceaseless and tiresome conflict with Palestinians that has cost the US taxpayer hundreds of billions of dollars since the Camp David Accords. It is time for the Israeli Government to come up with a unilateral solution that creates the possibility of peace with its neighbours so we can stop paying taxes to support Israelis who really don't need our money.
2
Come on! While I oppose BDS, Israel has been an illiberal democracy since shortly after Netanyahu took power for the second time nearly a decade ago. In fact, he is one of the illiberal leaders who helped set the ugly tone we now see in the United States. Remember the GOP having him speak in front of them so he could savage our noble, respected, and truly thoughtful previous President? You can’t have liberal democracy when leaders are willing to lie and do whatever it takes to maintain power, and a large part of a population are either so frightened, ignorant, or, for selfish or bigoted reasons, willing to blindly follow an ideology.
7
I'm sick of hearing countries described as "liberal democracies" when their very existence is based on killing and displacing other people. That includes the US.
1
Yes, Israelis wants peace with their neighbors--a peace with terms that Israel dictates.
6
Consequences of her actions. Will she lie to stay there?
3
I appreciate the support for this American student. But the logic of the argument is strained: 'Israel should not behave like a repressive ethno-state because it isn't a repressive ethno-state.'
This is where one begins thinking about creatures that walk like a duck and quack like a duck.
2
Brett why are you so “ sensitive” over boycotts with respect to Israel and yet you would destroy willfully Iran, Venezuela or any other countries that you don’t happen to agree with with the full knowledge that sanctions hurt only the poor: the wealthy whether in Iran, Israel, Venezuela or Timbuktu will be congregating in the watering holes of the rich like Palm Beach, mostly attending the same parties, synagogues and churches until the threat of revolution passes and the rich have achieved their goals. When will people wake up and realize it’s not nations it’s individuals that are the problem, rich, powerful individuals that stay that way through manipulation, force or yes sanctions.
2
The answer to miss Alqasem is in her BDS playbook. She intends to study at Hebrew University. Groups of students should follow her everywhere,disrupt classes that she attends, and harass the lectures and seminars of any of her lecturers. Classrooms and buildings should be inaccessible in the name of free speech as the heads of American universities have stated as they do nothing to protect Jewish or/and pro Israel students from threats and bodily harm.
6
Three card Monte Alert!
And the same activists who obsessively seek to punish and isolate Israel for its occupation of the West Bank rarely if ever display the same passion for protesting against China for its occupation of Tibet, or Russia for its occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine.
Yes but they do not take Billions from the US, nor are their armies fighting with US supplies, nor do they get 40% of our Foreign aid budget ANNUALLY.
We have spent Billions propping up a country and destabilized the enter Mideast as their proxy for war due to their influence ( NEO-CONS). Now they are annexing the Golan Heights.
1
I disagree. All countries, even liberal democracies have the right to control their borders. And that extents to deciding who can enter and barring people who have expressed rhetoric hostile to their potential host seems legitimate. If people line up at the Canadian border to enter the US and protest against our government I have no problem denying them entry.
4
I used to understand why Israel existed. I understand the need for a country which presumably one could live without fear of your house being burned down because one is Jewish (especially with the uptick in anti-semitism currently unleashed by the administration). I also understand the problem and issues with uprooting people who lived in a country for generations without so much as a “how do you do” and the unintended consequences that at best a well meaning but ill thought out solution incurred. But to constantly refer to Naziism for anyone who protests the Israeli government for its own divisive policies diminishes the real nazis out there. Yes, I know the government has a right to protect itself but to put people in ghettos and make Palestinian Israelis second class citizens only betrays a moral failing. Israel is by far not perfect, and does equally horrendous things to Palestinians. To critique is the right of any democratic country, as Israel claims to be. They should live up to that standard.
1
It's pretty scary when a young lady is detained for her thoughts and a pamphlet. Israel is starting to look like apartheid in the 80s. Democracy stands on free speech. I know that more than 60% of the Jews in this world are feeling a bit ashamed of the actions of the Israeli leadership.
After watching what took place in American with the placement of another" accused" sex offender to our Supreme Court, I am now one of the 60% of Americans that is hanging his head with shame.
What fear has brought us here.
3
Israel is not afraid. Why should Israel reward people with entry to Israel when the goal of these people is Israel’s destruction?
12
What if Israel is barring critics precisely because it is NOT scared to do so? I surmise that Bret Stephens and Bari Weiss know full well that a goodly percentage of pro-Palestinian protesters are anything but open-minded vis-a-vis Israel. The Jewish Voice for Peace ideologists proclaim to High Heaven that they love their Jewish heritage, but this is a canard. Many don't know very much Hebrew and are so far out of touch with normative Judaism and authentic Jewish culture that their claim of being a Jewish "voice" is utterly hollow. With Israel being a strong and proud Jewish state, gone are the days when sycophantic insecure Jews anywhere should have to lower their breeches, bend forwards and say "Kick me hard" to curry sick favor. I believe that Jewish New York Times columnists who criticize Israel need to ask themselves whether they are not so pandering out of an insecurity that they need to be better accepted among their sophisticated peers and readers. It has long been a Zionist truism that it is more important what Israel does than what diehard critics think; and barring such implacable (face it) critics is just one sensible and healthy practice.
7
She is a provocateur. BDS is a sinister organization committed to Israel’s destruction. The fact her chapter was small does not change her or its intention. If visiting Israel would show her the truth about Israel and how wrong BDS is, then why has anti-Semitism and racism persisted, since nothing Jews or African-Americans do should warrant the hate against them. Hate is hate. It doesn’t rely on facts. It relies on propaganda.
Why does she want to go to Israel in the first place? Why not go to an American or Arab University?
Yes, she can see that Israel is good. But she can always find a disgruntled Palestinian to tell a very different story, just as you can always find someone claiming the were done wrong by a Jew or black man.
8
Israel is now about as liberal a democracy as Iran. Netanyahu is a nationalist who has refused things such as elections.
It is what it is.
Who buys anything Russian?
Who can avoid buying anything Chinese?
I boycotted Israel just as I supported Israel, based on my beliefs. Israel has become no more worthy of my support than Iran. That is based on human rights, the level of democracy, and freedom of religion within its borders. Now it turns out Israel was helping sexual harassers and abusers. It turns out they helped people who were assaulting Jews within the U.S. Well, if Netanyahu supports NeoNazis and sexual abusers in America who in America can really support Netanyahu?
2
There is a blatant contradiction at the core of Israel, and it constitutes the country's greatest weakness. Israel was created after the Holocaust, with the founding principle of "Never Again."
So far, so good. But what about the people who already lived in Palestine? Here's where the problem begins. Without realizing it, many Israelis coped with the trauma of the Holocaust through what psychoanalysis calls "identification with the aggressor"--the wish to be just as powerful as those who threatened one's safety or very existence. Doing to others what was done to oneself. Most transparently, when an officer of the Israel Defense Forces admitted the IDF was studying to tactics used by the Nazis against the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, in order to apply those same loathsome tactics against the Palestinians.
An Alcoholics Anonymous adage is apposite: "Hurt people hurt people." In other words, victims may have a blind spot for their own victimizing behavior.
No, it is not anti-semitic to point out this crucial fact. It debases valid accusations of anti-semitism to misuse that label for anyone making a valid criticism of Israel.
10
Israel is correct. The US should be doing the same.
3
"...perhaps they'll find their prejudices confirmed." They will if they visit the so called settlements and connecting roads on the West Bank, as well as the Israeli road blocks and check points used by Israeli's to keep Palestinians confined.
1
As an American Jew. My religion comes first. Israel is NOT my religion. And i find an inherent conflict with being an “ American Jewish Zupnist”
That being said , the steps thst Israel takes to quell dissent remind me of Trump .Mini fascist steps leading to bigger suppression steps
Add the Israrlii business who helped trump in 2016.?
Thx but no thx israel
No $ from me
No support
As long as Netenyahu is PM
As long as the histrionics of the radicals control our perceptions of their society.
3
It is good to see at least two Times columnists confess to being “unhinged Zionist fanatics.” I can think of at least a couple others, but maybe Weiss and Stephens view Friedman and Cohen as too soft.
The question now is why doesn’t the Op-Ed page have room for a single non-fanatic anti-Zionist? You know, someone who supports the demand for a democratic, secular state based on one person, one vote, with equal rights for all. This is the perspective of a large and growing fraction of Palestinian opinion (as well as that of many young American Jews).
It’s great to see Stephens and Weiss advocate for the right of a Palestinian-American critic of Israel to visit her ancestral homeland without being detained for thought-crime. But isn’t it high time that the Times Op-Ed Page reflect the actual diversity of opinion in the United States on Middle East politics?
Ms. Weiss, who cut her political teeth trying to get dissident Arab voices silenced at Columbia, was recently rewarded with the position of Editor of this influential page. She could go a long way to correct the widespread impression that this was deliberate insult to the Times’s Arab readers and their friends by bringing a regular sober and principled anti-Zionist voice onto the page to give it at least a little balance. Until then, forgive me if I view this call for the most modest change in Israeli treatment of its critics as largely performative.
8
detaining and interrogating people who are not starry-eyed supporters of Netanyahu is fascist, plain and simple. Many of these people are very "pro-Israel" but are naturally uncomfortable with the current regime. And the reason activists single out the Israeli occupation and oppression of the Palestinians while ignoring Chinese and Russian conquest and colonization is simply because people expect no better from those dictatorships, and SO much more from a democracy founded in the wake of the Holocaust. If Jewish survivors can oppress a relatively helpless minority, the world is a hopeless mess...
3
The Israeli givt will do whatever is necessary to preserve the Jewish State. The Palestinians will do whatever they can to destroy it. At present Jews have more power. If it was about borders it would have been solved already. Palestinians live within 1967 borders on Israel and Jews could do similarly in Palestine if peace was really a goal
2
Well intentioned, but incredibly naive! Israel remains a 'tinderbox'--her destiny linked inexorably with history, which is re-enforced by America's unwillingness to approach Israel as anything other than an icon to be revered (into the ages of ages--in would appear!) Today's anti-Islamic paranoia complicates things further. A question! At what point does criticism of Israel become ipso facto anti-Semitic? Who defines this? Jews? Israel? The pope!! What are the standards for measurment?
Thank you. We must end the idea that loving Israel means blindly and mindlessly supporting all of its policies.
2
The majority of educated young Americans of all backgrounds see Israel much more critical than their parent generation, and for good reason, they see Israel through an open mind that is not corrupted by nostalgia.
Today Israel is no longer a liberal democracy. Israel is on the way to become an apartheid state. The government sanctions and encourages the discrimination of non-Jewish citizens. It further has sealed off the West Bank and the Gaza Strip creating ghetto-like living situations for Palestinians.
Only “nearly unhinged” Zionists can’t help themselves seeing reality objectively.
But maybe this article indicates that the two authors have started to notice the chasm between what they want Israel to be and what it has become.
3
I am wondering if the authors have visited Palestine...And if he has, what are their impressions? Thank you.
America could learn much from Israel, where they have had success imprisoning Presidents and other elected Officials. The political corruption travels of Bibi $ Sarah are a Page 6 centerfold. This is a rich, vibrant society with drama, angst and bare knuckle politics take center stage.
The more Israel let’s others see the gritty underside of its tortured soul, the better. When a State Iron Domes itself from diversity of opinions a silo is the result.
I propose a Metudela ice-cream parlour summit. Over parfaits and tea a discussion of diversity and inclusion. To those who fear, be not afraid of the voices you cannot see. You may find in the darkness, the denizens desire the same as you.
The US would never admit people who came here trying to overthrow our Government. Why should Israel?
12
Perhaps this outraged activists should protest the Muslim countries in the Middle East that persecute gays and women rather than the only democracy. Oh that might be to hard or politically unpopular or they might wind up stoned to death please stop with the phony politically correct outrage grow up the world isn’t always black and white and perfect, but you sometimes have to choose the lessers of two evils and the Israelis way is much better than its neighbor
3
Or maybe the Trump administration should demand from Saudi Arabia information about the disappearance of its citizen in Istanbul?
Oh right the Saudis are our allies against Iran, like Israel.
It’s shameful. The US has lost its status as an unwavering defender of democracy and human rights. Our new allies are autocratic states such as Hungary, Poland, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Russia
I don't know any country that would admit a person bent on the destruction of that country, which is the goal of BDS towards Israel.
25
Not true. For many of us that support BDS it’s about Israel’s internationally recognized illegal occupation of Palestinian land as stated in UN resolutions 2334. I for one and many other BDS supporters do not challenge Israel’s right to exist.
2
Started using the "you're scared" technique, have we?
No country has to permit others entry. I know for a fact that the USA has, on occasion, denied entry to people. What's the matter, Bret? Scared?! Ya yaa!
Israel does not bar criticism. Israel has chosen to deny entry to people supporting Israel's destruction (even if by non-violent means).
In Israel, criticizing the government is almost a national sport. But very few need or want foreign BDS supporters. Go to France and call for the destruction of France. How long before you are politely escorted to the airport and sent home?
Israel is under zero obligation to let "this young American" in. It is not a crime. Not in the USA either.
11
Maybe simple justice would be enough. Maybe if the Holocaust was explored from the perspective of the behavior of Nazis and Fascists toward those whose possessions and property that they seized, Justice would inform policies.
1
These are awful stories, and they reflect badly on Israel, which is currently ruled by Orthodox religious men.
But does the nation of Israel rip children from their parents, send those children off to hot tent camps (in Texas), and seriously consider distributing these children to well-to-do Americans eager to adopt somebody small?
Pot calling the kettle black.
Look at what’s happening in your own backyard. Think about it.
1
Imagine a world without organized religion...
2
@Diego
We don't have to imagine. While it existed it was called the Soviet Union.
2
@Maven3
Lenin was their god. Stalin was their Jesus.
Israelis are allowed to disagree with their government - in fact, the governing representatives often disagree. But, Israel should be allowed (without outside criticism) to deny entry to those who seek to destroy them. On a more personal note - do you allow people into your home who want to destroy you? Why does the NY Times devote themselves with constant criticism of Israel? Do you ever author articles about what a great country it is?
3
Would Israel be deporting her? Or merely assisting her in her boycot?
2
She wants to go to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to study law. Somewhat peculiar for someone who supports a "movement" that advocates boycott against Israeli academia. The word hypocrisy comes to mind, but something would be missing there. The inane nature fo Lara Alqasem's endeavor calls for a new noun . Any suggestions?
2
Mr. Netanyahu is just another, earlier in fact, version of Trump. Men like him are infesting many countries threatening decades of hard won liberal democratic world order seeking to bring back tribalism and war. With Trump in office, America has no moral stand to chastise Israel for its transgression nor has any intention to.
3
This young lady was the leader of a campus association that harrasses Jewish student organizations, disrupts pro Israeli speakers, seeks to harm the Israeli economy, and spreads vicious lies about Israel and its people. And, when identified, she lied about her participation in boycotts. Please help me understand why you would want to invite her to live in Israel and take advantage of its wonderful education system. Sorry, I think there are consequences to bigotry. I'm not inclined to turn the other cheek.
12
@youngerfam
"This young lady was the leader of a campus association that harrasses Jewish student organizations, disrupts pro Israeli speakers, seeks to harm the Israeli economy, and spreads vicious lies about Israel and its people"
Evidence, please. Not shrill claims of victimisation, but evidence.....
3
It's hard to pretend to be a democracy while also being a tribe and a religion. Isreal needs to choose one or the other.
1
That would be Israel.
"Here’s a better way for Israel to confront its young detractors, including those who support B.D.S.: Invite them to visit. No restrictions; no minders; no lectures." Unfortunately that would lead to exposure of Zionists chief enemy: The Truth.
2
Rabbi Greenstein's (Temple Israel in Memphis) recent Kol Nidre sermon addressed this very thing. It is on YouTube on the Temple's channel. It speaks for itself.
https://youtu.be/BDyIZe_-Px8
For Netanyahu's government, tilting at windmills is a strategic matter for one reason only: The Ballot Box. If there's something they afraid of, it is losing votes to far far right party, The Jewish Home. This is a Bibi Kabuki dance to rally the fanatics behind the Likud.
3
"But Israel is also a state that prides itself on being a liberal democracy ..." Whatbia that, standup?
2
Israel. Is there a more deservedly paranoid country on this planet ? After the way the have treated the Palestinians, with all that "promised land and Chosen People" nonsense.
They, Israel, invaded and took over a country they had no legal right to, and now they wonder why there are people that do not like them and criticize them. I guess hypocrisy must breed paranoia and intransigence, or is it the other way around ?
10
"Israelis have good reason to see the B.D.S. campaign as a thinly veiled form of bigotry. "
Wrong.
Opposing the policies of Israel is NOT the same as antisemitism. Pointing out the apartheid imposed on the Palestinians is not prejudice. Protesting the ongoing construction of "illegal" settlements on the West Bank is not a security threat.
If anything is "thinly veiled", it is the sorry attempt to dismiss any and all criticism as antisemitism. I mean, Israel can do no wrong, amirite?
21
Foreign enemies have no right to enter Israel. The USA should take notes. Democrats are domestic enemies of the USA and Israel.
3
Are these two self-admitted "unhinged Zionists" really unable to see the difference between Americans who oppose a 50-year illegal military occupation which their own government and their own tax dollars support, and the crimes of Russia and China, over which average Americans have no control?
What next? Americans who protest the Trump administration will be told that they're hypocrites and racists, because other countries are worse?
3
I don't know about the particulars discussed here, but I know weak claims and evidence when I read them:
"Israelis have good reason to see the B.D.S. campaign as a thinly veiled form of bigotry.Boycotts of Jewish businesses have a particularly foul pedigree in Nazi Germany. And the same activists who obsessively seek to punish and isolate Israel for its occupation of the West Bank rarely if ever display the same passion for protesting against China for its occupation of Tibet, or Russia for its occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine."
No, this is not evidence for "good reason" to see bigotry. The authors are asserting that because the particularly foul actions of Nazis were racially motivated not only the Palestinian, but all actions in opposition to Jewish businesses are so motivated. Absurd on its face. But, the real doozy is the sillyexample which follows. If one doesn't protest all acts of a type, tean one doesn't truly oppose them? Let's apply that to the authors. Please list the urls of all the articles about China-Tibet, Crimea-Ukraine relations you have written.
If I am an advocate for improved health and I run in breast cancer 10Ks and contribute money to fund raising and post pink ribbons on my Facebook page, but don't do the same for prostate cancer that is flimsy evidence that I somehow am not really in favor of improved health or that I'm secretly opposed to men's improved health. If that's the best evidence you have, then you are right, you are zealots.
9
I find the argument that " the same activists who obsessively seek to punish and isolate Israel for its occupation of the West Bank rarely if ever display the same passion for protesting against China for its occupation of Tibet, or Russia for its occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine" to be a weak justification for trying to stop a nonviolent social protest like BDS. In my mind, this discrepancy should be a call for the people who recognize it to start pushing for more justice in situations like Tibet and eastern Ukraine as well, rather than trying to stop a nonviolent social justice movement on the grounds that there are other bad things happening around the world that aren't being addressed. Let's not lower the human rights bar just because it is low in some countries-let's raise it for ALL nations.
1
The security challenge of liberal democracy is very different today than in mid twentieth century - there is fear from soft aggression. The Islamic terrorism had proved that sovereign countries are more vernable from soft aggression than hard military attacks. Most of the liberal democracies are trying to figure out how to tackle this destructive force as there focus of attacks are not territory but soft structures like economic system, social cohesion, religious and ethnic fault lines - look at American elections, Kashmir conflict, Maoist movement, breaking India forces. These are looked like legitimate political descents and liberal free speech and right to organize descents - In reality these are devastating powers to stop growth and prosperity in a country to creTe chaos. The question is how the state find out which one is right liberal descent in democracy and which one is breaking the society forces. There is subtle boundary between them - security forces are trying to understand that, a very challenging question. Look to Muslim Brotherhood or communist movement organized during the middle of last century and see what type of devastation they made to humanity. Israeli security apparatus is not perfect - they are only trying to maintain the economic integrity of their country - the soft structure of economic forces are very fragile and any moment it can collapse in Middle East.
6
Once again the tired trope that western critics of Israel don't bring the same vigor to their protestations against the equally immoral activities of countries such as Russia and China. Even if true (and I'm not sure it is), those countries are adversaries over which we have minimal control, though we seek to exert it for example through sanctions (which we do not subject Israel to). But we did not create those nations, nor do we give them massive aid as is the case with Israel; nor do they hold themselves out as liberal democracies while carrying out a decades long oppression of another people. Israel has a unique relationship to the US (in particular) which makes heightened scrutiny of their intransigence entirely appropriate.
657
@Pharsalian I agree with the article. However, are you forgetting our ally and "best friend" Saudi Arabia, with whom we share a "special relationship?"
10
When’s the last time you bought something made in China? Yes they’re our adversaries. It’s tired behavior and bias. we spend more on Chinese goods in months than the total we have given to Israel in its existence.
@Pharsalian Except that according to Trump and GOP, Russia is no longer are enemy and many of our allies (NATO, Canada, and Mexico) are now are adversaries.
1
"Ms. Alqasem is the latest in a growing list of visitors to Israel who have faced deportation or harassment because of their political views."
No, she's being deported not because of her views, but because she's actively waged economic warfare against the state. Blocking entry to a puppet of terrorist organizations is a reasonable move.
32
@John
"...she's actively waged economic warfare against the state"
Do you people listen to yourselves?
Israel, in the telling of people such as yourself, has become the vile political love child of '1984', Stalin, and 'Farenheit 451'.
You can't see it but your one clear target, the end of all your comments (and Bret's and Bari's) is mind-controlled acquiescence to whatever Israel and its leaders feel like doing at the moment.
Lara Alqasem wants what you want: some dignity, support, and security for her people. Is that so hard to understand?
The thing is, in its recent incarnation, Israel is the rude bully shoving everyone aside and screaming "Me first!"
With Netanyahu and his politically and economically corrupt cronies in perpetual power, Israel screeches "None for you!" to the rest of the world.
You justify this behavior and those people. You have supported rude and ugly action by the country snd its leaders.
Israel is no golden Eden.
It is a country apparently determined to make life as brutish as possible for itself and its neighbors, to cry 'poor me' till its tears give out, and to hide the fact that it houses an upper class as self-interested, mean, and brutal as the Kochs and DeVos' of America, uncaring about Israel but willing to use it as a rallying cry so long foolish people respond.
So stop.
2
Bari Weiss and Bret Stephens - yes, both definitely of the "unhinged" school of making excuses for almost everything Israel does - are to be commended for actually criticizing Israel. But that's about it. On every other score, their article underlines the delusions under which both writers labor. Israel is not a "liberal democracy"; it was always a state that discriminates against non-Jews. Israel is/was closer in its values to liberal democracy than most Middle Eastern states but it has always been exactly what the writers claim it is not - an ethnonationalist state. That is precisely why Bannon loves it; it is why Anne Coulter and other figures on the extreme right in the US have held up Israel as the state they want the US to emulate - a country that keeps people out and throws others out if they are of the wrong religion, that brutally oppresses its indigenous population and does so without apology and even, bizarrely, with the fig leaf of support from "liberal" supporters in places like the US. But there is no way to square that circle. It is impossible to be "liberal" and support Israel. One final point: the difference between criticism of China or Russia is that criticizing those states, calling them out for their abuses, is not controversial. It is stating the obvious. Calling out Israel for its clear human rights abuses IS controversial. Israel is the only major HR abuser in the world that enjoys that status. That is why it is singled out for special criticism.
14
Sorry but the indigenous people of Israel are Jews. They have had a 3000 year history of an uninterrupted presence there. Just last week a 2000 year old relic was uncovered with the name ‘Jerusalem’ written out in Hebrew. Arabs are the indigenous people of Saudi Arabia.
5
@Malone Cooper
Your understanding of what makes a person "indigenous" is anachronistic. Ben Gurion was not indigenous to Palestine. He was from Poland. His father was from Poland. So was his grandfather and so on for hundreds if not 1000 years. Jews did not spring up out of the ground in Jerusalem. They came there from elsewhere. The Torah says so.
Besides, you understand Jews converted to other religions right? You understand that Jews married non Jews right? Some of those Jews converted to Christianity or Islam, some of married Arabs or Samaritans. Their children are Palestinian Arabs and they are probably more Jewish than some of the Polish and Russian Jews who moved to Palestine in the early 20th century.
Not everything a Jew touched 2000 years ago belongs to the Jewish people in perpetuity.
We are not scared of this American. We simply detest her and treat her as she would have us treated. Aside from which, she arrived under false pretenses having lied deliberately on her visa application. Israel, like any normal country, is not obligated to provide hospitality to its enemies. Full stop.
33
@JJ Gross
Yeah, see, that's the thing.
You guys do too much detesting.
A little listening might serve you well. And a little less fraidy-cat appeals to your threatened condition on earth.
Another commenter blasts BDS advocates for their rude, yelling, inhospitable behavior, noting they refuse to speak with Jews.
Then she follows up with a vague assertion of the violence experienced by Jewish people on campuses throughout America.
This is how you shut people up. This is how you foreclose dialogue. You've done it this way for years.
Why would anybody imagine, especially people seeking a course correction from Israel, that there is any chance of constructive interaction?
You ruthlessly seek to ban, defund, delegitimize anyone who says anything you don't happen to like about Israel, then sit back and bemoan the isolation you inflict upon yourselves.
The world is wising up. Many of the supporters in the US who have permitted and even encouraged this infantile behavior are wising up. Our politicians, your uber-wealthy and unthinking advocates in the West are wising up, and (to your detriment) your self-created enemies are wising up.
If you're honestly concerned with "the survival of Israel" its time to grow up, sit down with the enemies you made for yourselves, and begin to talk.
Which, everywhere but in your fevered imaginations, is all anyone is asking.
1
A Jew questions. At least that is what I was taught at Hebrew School. I guess I missed the second part - A Jew questions...but not too much.
22
@Youareverywrong
Actually, the second part is: A Jew questions in good faith. This is a moral duty if you have the Torah in front of your eyes. Occupation (and the misery that follows) is wrong plain and simple.
Hypocrites rarely notice their hypocrisy. One part of BDS is that Israeli scholars and universities should be boycotted. Yet here we find Israel boycotting a scholar - it's hard to see this as anything other than an endorsement of the basic idea that BDS promotes.
Indeed, in its lobbying for the USA to cut off humanitarian funding for clinics, hospitals and schools in the West Bank and Gaza, its securing of the closing of the Palestinian office (embassy) in Washington DC, its denying of visas to anyone identified as supporting Palestinian rights of any sort, its efforts to exclude NGOs that do not slavishly follow the Likud line and its economic boycott and blockade of the West Bank and Gaza - Israel regularly demonstrates that it believes in Boycott, Sanction and by wielding economic destruction, Disinvestment.
It is hard to argue that BDS is not the correct approach to dealing with Israeli policy when by its actions Israel consistently shows that it believes applying and lobbying for the same strategies to be applied to Palestinians.
24
Traditionally, America has been an “open, pluralistic society,” like the one envisioned for Israel by Theodor Herzl, the Zionist intellectual who played such a pivotal role in the creation of Israel.
Over the last 40 years and gaining speed under Donald Trump, there has been a Republican effort to destroy a diverse American culture where people can freely criticize their leaders without fear of retribution.
Unfortunately, that same repressive mindset now exists in Israel under Benjamin Netanyahu, who tries to dehumanize Palestinians in order to make Israeli expansion and violence palatable to the West.
Bret Stephens and Bari Weiss are correct to speak out against the effort of the current Israeli government to insulate itself from criticism by denying visitor visas to outsiders with ideas offensive to the Netanyahu regime.
Hopefully, Stephens and Weiss will show similar vigor and conviction regarding the behavior of the Trump administration in the United States, which blindly supports Netanyahu.
3
No one has a "right" to enter a foreign country. It is a courtesy granted by the host country. Once you enter Israel you are provided protection by the security apparatus which is extremely expensive and dangerous to operate. What happened to Taylor Force demonstrates unfortunately this security system doesn't always succeed. When tourists are injured or killed by terrorists Israeli society has to pay once again in reputation, medical care, and investigative work.
Israel is under no obligation to allow "Rachel Corries" into its country. Ms. Corrie, an American, entered Israel as a tourist, went to Gaza, and was on the front page of American newspapers burning American flags. She was killed while interfering with an Israeli security operation and then her family spent years suing the Israeli government. The conclusion, if you want to be a human shield you run the risk of accidents. Israeli courts determined her death was an accident caused by a decision to interfere with the Israeli army's legitimate defensive operations.
Israel is not required to allow "tourists" into its country so these people can interfere with functioning of its police and army. It is not required to pay to protect people who weaken or threaten the protection it provides to its citizens.
This ignorant woman was the president of SJP which provides protection for terrorists. If Israeli security determined it was likely she'd interfere with security then I hope she enjoyed her flight home.
20
Can you imagine how I would be treated by the media if I advocated a boycott of Muslim owned businesses because of their treatment of gays and women. Do you think I would be welcome to enter a majority Muslim country while I was advocating for the entire world to not do business with that country? Would I be defended by these writers? We all know the answer.
26
@Shamrock
If one were to earnestly protest endorsed mistreatment of gays & women by Muslims; while also making clear no inherent problem with Muslims, but only some of the current mistreatments; I DO believe many would understand and see the dignity that would be the principle of that objection and that advocacy. Unfortunately, I have seen a minimal of this dignity by those who do advocate against Muslims.
That is THE essence in ALL we do. Is there a respect for the dignity of others. The primary principle I see in this women's advocacy is a restoration of the missing dignity for the Palestinians.
@Shamrock
Apple and oranges. All Muslim countries offer citizenship to gays and women. None of the Muslim countries occupies and helps themselves to other people's land for over half century and argues that unless occupied will start loving the occupier, the harsh treatment and military occupation will continue indefinitely.
@Shamrock
Most Muslim majority countries in the middle east are authoritarian theocracies. Israel calls itself a democracy so that is why expectations from it are different.
BDS worked well in aiding the end of apartheid in South Africa. It is a proven strategy for change. Israel could do much to calm the storm by withdrawing it's citizens from the illegal settlements in West Bank territory. What would be Israel's reaction if West Bank Palestinians tried to establish settlements in Isreal? Exactly.
Israel is the most heavily armed country in the region. Its existence is not threatened. Denying entry to critics just reinforces its image as the armed aggressor and only makes the struggle of Palestinians more just in the eyes of the world..
51
The B.D.S. is an anti-Semitic organization fueling hatred against Israel and should be observed.
Tina Kastein
Germany
2
If you sincerely believe that Israel’s existence is not threatened, then you’ve been living under a rock. Israel is the one country in the world that is constantly being threatened with annihilation. Iran, alone, makes that clear at least once a month and even marks their missiles with ‘death to Israel’. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have vowed to never make peace with Israel as Hezbollah has thousands of missiles pointed directly at Israel. And these enemies continue to brainwash the youngest ones in their societies so as to guarantee that this hatred will continue. If their own Palestinian state is all that is missing, they could’ve had it at any point before 1967 when all that land was in their hands. Generous offers by the Israeli government in the past have all been rejected. The problem is and has always been, that a state is not as important to them as much as the destruction of Israel is.
4
I wonder why Ms. Alqasem isn’t spending her time protesting the beliefs and practices of Palestinian leaders whose failure after 70 years to make even an inch of progress toward a settlement with Israel is dooming her people to continued, possibly permanent, lives of hardship.
15
And why is she not protesting the millions of Palestinians rotting away in camps all over the Middle East ? These countries have been treating these Palestinian refugees as total outsiders with few if any civil rights for over 70 years. In recent years, Syria has slaughtered thousands of these people and made many more into homeless refugees...but this catastrophe is rarely even mentioned in the media. If these were Jews instead of Palestinians, I can assure you that Jews around the world would be protesting non-stop.
5
Think of Ms. Alqasem as a communist agitator coming to America to "end the oppression" caused by America. But, she doesn't say that outright. She wants "justice" and "equality" and other nice sounding buzzwords. But when you go to an event to try and debate her, or to hear "both sides" you quickly discover that Ms. Alqasem's movement is not interested at all in talking. There is no open discussion, no debate.
Quite the opposite. Anybody who opposes them is shouted down and ousted, guaranteeing her colleagues can pound their chests claiming they are in the right, because nobody is around to oppose them.
She may personally be in favor of 'peace', but the movement she represents rejects any Palestinian-Israel contact or bridge building. They reject outreach programs, which they claim are "normalization" that entrenches the "occupation". So, it is almost impossible to find a little league soccer game between Israelis and Palestinians, because Ms. Alqasem's movement adopts the warped Palestinian view that sports outreach is evil, and Israeli and Palestinian kids should not get to know each other until after the conflict is resolved.
So Ms Alqasem, despite the smile and baseball cap, is actively or passively working against peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and my government recognizes the virulent hate campaigns waged by the movement she is a part of. Why should any country allow known agitators who are trying to sow chaos into their borders?
28
I live in a college town and let me share that the students who support BDS on campus are not interested in meaningful dialogue with groups that support Jewish students. They are loud, angry, divisive and care only about disrupting and disrespecting Jews, Israel and the institutions that support Israel. While I appreciate the author’s intentions, their whole premise is naive and will lead to violence against Jews as is the experience on many US campuses.
48
There is nothing democratic about a state that continues to gobble up and occupy land because an invisible man told them 2000 years ago it was theirs.
16
As a Jew I am not allowed to enter many Arab States.
Why are there no articles in the Times about this.
Not allowing people who have not only made statements that are not only anti Israel but have encouraged others to do actions that will make Israel a dangerous place to live seems reasonable.
Also worth mentioning Israel has done this to Jews which proves to me that not stopping Lara Alqssem from entering the country was not because she is a Palestinian and is being given a hearing where she can give a reason they should not deport her.
32
@lucky so this is bar to which Israel should be held? That of authoritarian monarchies and dictatorships? I thought Israel was a democracy?
@lucky
You will be pleased to know that as a Jew you are able to enter any Muslim country following normal visa procedures.
As an Israeli, you may not be able to.
Maybe your country should try harder to resolve the Middle East crisis?
Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 is on the table and has been re-endorsed repeatedly by Arab League. All the elements of peace plan from era of Carter and Oslo onwards is there. Alas, Likud does not approve!
@JDS78
I fail to see your point.
This does not make Israel a monarchy or a dictatorship.
Israel is a Democracy
Do a search on Democracy.
You will find that policy to determine who enters your country is not mentioned.
1
While unconstructive, extreme, one-sided, and hateful anti-Israel criticism is rightfully combatted, this is not to say that innovative ideas for the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are not to be welcomed. One such was that of Ehud Barak, former Prime Mininister, who wrote of skyways which would link centers of one population above the centers of the other population. President Rivlin has written of different realities two generations hence. I can foresee a multi-ethnic one-state solution in which the Israeli flag would have Muslim and Christian symbols as well as a Jewish Star and Muslim and Christian music besides Hatikvah (which I remember) as the finale of radio programming in the late evening.
2
"Here’s a better way for Israel to confront its young detractors, including those who support B.D.S.: Invite them to visit. But we suspect that more than a few of them — those capable of keeping an open mind and appreciating the complexity of life and politics in the region — might find their views changed."
When Edward Said--opponent of Israel, author of "Orientalism," and Columbia University professor was allowed into Israel, he took part in the intifada by hurling rocks at Israelis. Let that sink in. Edward Said, an Ivy League professor admitted on intellectual exchange. Hurling rocks at Israelis.
If the authors think this young woman will wake up and realize BDS is a destructive policy...there is no hope for them as journalists or even adults.
12
@Uncommon Wisdom
Hurling rocks of land of Palestine is directly linked to biblical story of David using sling to hurl rocks at Goliath.
It is stones, rather than rocks and directed at Occupier, who should not be there to be thrown rocks at in the first place. It is a symbol of resistance coming straight from the land of Palestine.
It is also a long tradition of Hasidic Jews showing their displeasures when non-religious people are trying to exercise their rights in Israel.
I will condemn any native Palestinian who throws a stone on a person who isn't / wasn't a military, or a settler.
Please do try to dig out some examples.
Israel has turned into what is claims to despise. It will only get worse. Demography is not working to enhance Israel’s long term survival.
2
"It’s also true that Students for Justice in Palestine has received funding and other assistance from a group called American Muslims for Palestine, some of whose leaders have links to groups flagged by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for their ties to the terrorist group Hamas."
If this is a reason for barring Ms. Alquesem, how do you justify any American in Israel as the US government has close ties to Saudi Arabia - a supporter of Al Quaeda.
3
ALL righ-wing governments veer toward repression based on identity and ideas.
16
Notice how the writers describe the problem as being denied entry for “political views”, as if they just disagree about which leaders to vote for, rather than being an admitted enemy of the country.
20
I recognize that this is not a news story or even a new analysis. And I can't say I'm in favor the BDS. However, it is unfair to say that it has no peaceful goals. It is also completely improper to gloss over Israel's policies toward the Palestinians - historically or right now. A fuller description of the movement, its goals, its detractors, and the treatment of the Palestinians can be found here -- and Mr. Stephens and others might give some attention to the treatment of the Palestinian citizens of Israel:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/aug/14/bds-boycott-divestment-sanc...
And here is a list of the States in the United States which are boycotting any companies that participate in the boycott.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/anti-bds-legislation
So, I guess that we still have the right to state our principles, but, according to these states, we do not have the right to act on them. This determination in a country where, when it comes to our elections, corporations have the same rights as natural persons, according to the Supreme Court.
7
Why would a country enable those who seek its destruction?
Israel has the right to block active BDS activists from coming in. They are free to express themselves online and elsewhere.
121
@Freda Pine
If Israel were not a member of the Empire of the United States, I would be inclined to agree with your commend 100% but since it is and only remains as a country thanks to American tax dollars, we do have the right and responsibility as Americans, to point out when Israel is in conflict with our values. Their treatment of Palestinians is not a policy Americans can condone, except by wearing ideological blinders and claim that the ends justify the means. What are those ends? The preservation of a Jewish State? Hasn't a study of Jewish History taught us anything about that racism?
3
Why does free expression stop at the border?
@Freda Pine
My sense is that Israel bans any who think that the Palestinians simply have a valid point of view. The policy not only limits those "who seek its destruction" but also those who love Israel by caring enough to challenge its cruelty towards tens of thousands of Palestinians. It takes courage to challenge a country while also loving it. It took courage for those few white southerners who challenged their region's racism and policies that stripped black people of basic human rights.
2
Israel has the right to refuse entry to those who pose a danger to it. Israel has the right to establish the guidelines as to what constitutes the danger. Any sovereign country has those rights.
However, in doing this one would expect that those in charge exercise common sense and do their homework. This seems to be extremely lacking of late.
Israel has intelligence agencies which can do the impossible. I do not know how involved they are in these latest decisions.
Let us assume that Ms. Alqasem, whose grandparents were from Haifa, not Jenin, was involved in SJP. Can she not change her mind? Is one judged forever on what one does as a teenager (we are not talking criminal action here)? I changed my mind politically every 15 minutes as a teenager. So what.
Ms. Alqasem, from what I have read in the Israeli press, changed her mind enough to show maturity. She applied for a student visa in the Israeli consulate in Miami. She was vetted there. She applied to and accepted by Hebrew U. She wants to learn; let her.
The process has turned into a farce. It cannot be defended as it is now.
Dangerous people should be kept out. Time to re-evaluate what dangerous is. There op-ed writers in the Israeli press more radical than she.
For my purposes, I would welcome her in my class, and I speak obviously for myself and not as a representative of my university, although I doubt she would interested in my arcane subject.
Enough is enough.
13
The founding principles for the land that became Israel over 100 years ago were:
Inhabitants would work with their hands
They would speak Hebrew (a new language at the time)
They would defend themselves
While there was no declaration of democracy, there was an assumption that the people would be guided by the laws and precepts of the Torah. I've only been studying it for about 60 years, so I am no expert, but I am pretty sure that the current leadership in Israel is not familiar with this work at any level. How did the government of Israel become so morally bankrupt? It is not just Netanyahu.
24
I don’t know about the others but, in Ms Alqassem’s case, what if the article misses the point? Maybe she’s refused entry on grounds of hypocrisy. She seems to be against the state of Israel itself, globally, not against this or that political group or discourse, it’s not a matter of “political ideas” but one of pure - and divisive - hatred. Why then come to that country which she hates in order to benefit from those advantages which maybe exist - at least in part - because of what that country is?
I sometimes think the US should do the same thing. Not against political ideas, only against those individuals who proclaim and profess their unhinged hatred for our nation as a whole, for what our country represents.
32
@Etodem,
I believe that this is an important part of the authors’ argument. What you call hypocrisy, they call the potential for an open mind that might be won over by lived experience of Israeli society. The capacity to challenge and change one’s views should never be dismissed as hypocrisy or irresolution - it requires tremendous moral courage to acknowledge the possibility of error.
1
The problem is deadly attacks attributable to Western-financed propaganda and activity.These include courses for children on anatomical sites for stabbing Jews.
This is a life and death issue, not just a theoretical one. If it were only the latter, we would all agree with the distinguished authors.
The teenagers responsible for the recent murders outside a popular supermarket and in the Barkan coexistence model had been propagandized to murder to achieve a sanctified goal and to receive life-long "salaries",already paid, via Western taxes and encouraged by Western NGO's.
13
Selective Democracy is the new trend. We can see it is in high fashion, not only inside the present Israeli government but within the present U.S. government as well.
Of course what is at stake is quite high: There is a fear in Israel that factions within and out could tip the balance of political thought causing a negative outcome for the state. In America there's also fear and it stems from the Salem Witch Trials of the 1692-93. We make up things as we need them. We always have.
The age-old Israel/Palestine question has been rattling about for 70 years: Does Israel deserve to exist? It's a question that gets blood boiling on all sides of the issue.
There is historical precedence for a claim to the land by Israel. There was an opportunity to distribute it after the loss of the land by the Ottoman Empire at the end of WW1 and the UN carved it all up in the 1940s to the happiness of Israelis and dismay of the Palestinians. Everyone can understand the Palestinian rejectionist attitude. Many of us would've felt the same if we were in the same situation. But it was carved up and the Palestinians used their free will to reject it. That was a big mistake! Because they started playing a game called war-poker and in that game when you lose, you lose big. They lost in 1967. They lost in 1973 and they will keep losing with their present political posture. The truth is, they will not get even one more inch of land back. That game has really high stakes and they're not playing it well.
6
@William P
Read some history books.
Jews have been present in the land since pre-Roman times. In the 1800's Hertzl asked the ruling government (Ottoman empire) for permission to buy land which was granted. Jews from abroad began to BUY land from the then owners. At exorbitant prices ("special for Jews only").
in 1916/7 the UK (who at that time ruled the area) promised a Jewish national home in Palestine
(which included all of Jordan AND Israel). The Jews were *buying* land on both sides of the Jordan River. After WWI, the UK was given a Mandate over Palestine, the Hashimites were thrown out of Saudi Arabia (their native country) in a civil war. One Hasheimite brother was given Iraq to rule. This was an "insult" to the other brother. To allay this "insult", he (Abdulla) was given 75% of the land promised to the Jews. That land in now "Jordan".
Much land was "State" (i.e., not owned by any person). Arabs came from everywhere to build Haifa port and to work in the economy that the Jews had jump started. These Arabs are considered by many to be native "Palestinians" (as are those who had been there for centuries). Remember though, that the Arabs initially conquered the land with the advent of Muhammed. They did not buy anything. The killed the previous owners (Jews) and took the land. The Jews who came BOUGHT the land from those who took it.
6
"Maybe they’ll even see what we see in Israel: an imperfect but striving and inspiring nation seeking not just security, but also peace with its neighbors."
Seriously?
That may have been true for decades but no longer.
Wake up, Israel is no longer a liberal democracy.
46
@Mimi you mean as oppossed to all those liberal Arab democracies and the liberal Palestinian Authoroty and the liberal Hamas govt in Gaza - all of which support BDS.
Give me a break - Israel is far more a democracry than even the USA. Please keep the double standards to a minimum.
5
As an American I am bothered by the very concept that a nation- any nation- would define eligibility for citizenship by faith while subjecting people born within the nation to a lesser standing and that would be true regardless of the faith or the nation. It amazes me that America and the rest of the world bows before the concept of multiculturalism while Israel is increasingly ruled by a cast of the most Orthodox members of a faith group all the while projecting itself as an open democracy.
The modern state of Israel was found as a secular state but has in recent decades become increasingly one ruled by what could best be described as a clique of some Orthodox members of the Jewish faith. It should be noted that they also treat Conservative and Reform Jews many times as being something less.
If one looks at the geography and demography of the Levant and then factors in climate change, Israel is staring at some very harsh realities in the not too distant future. The nation is putting it's head in the sand by not facing up to and squaring up with the realities that Jewish people will not always be the majority group within the boundaries of modern Israel. Denying people who challenge the prevailing policies is not going to change the facts on the ground.
Being neither an Israeli or a Jew, what I offer is observational from outside, but it does not look good. Why I comment is because USA foreign policy is deeply intertwined with that of Israel before anyone objects.
12
@David Gregory Separation between church and state is under great threat in the USA. Fundamentalists in both USA and Israel have their own interests in mind and the politicians of the republican party in US have intermingled interests disastrously for our future. Both democracies are at risk.
1
@David Gregory
Gee. For millennia non-Jewish nations denied "eligibility for citizenship" to Jews. Even during WWII the US and every other country had quotas on the number of Jews who could enter. They had no problem sending tens of thousands back to Germany to be gassed and burned.
I guess you have a short memory David. Since nobody wanted Jews, Jews got together and BOUGHT land in what was the ancestral home.
Or do you maintain that a few hundred ex-tailors and silversmiths and librarians came to the great country of Palestine that was filled with millions of people, pushed them out and made them refugees?
Through 1960 - the Arabs called Jews "Palestinians". Bank Leumi was then known as the "Anglo Palestine Bank". The Jerusalem Post was then called "The Palestine Post". Etc.
The PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) was founded in Amman Jordan in 1964 (when all of the West Bank was ruled by Jordan and there was not a single Jew there).
Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
2
@David Gregory
There are over a million and a half Muslim Arabs who are Israeli citizens. How many Jewish citizens are there in Arabia? A few dozen?
3
Equating the BDS movement with a boycott of "Jewish" businesses is unhelpful. The BDS movement as I understand it is about protesting against the actions of the Israeli government and state, not a blanket refusal to accept anything Jewish. There is a clear distinction which unfortunately is consistently ignored or deliberately glossed over.
88
@Veronica Blazer
The "B" in BDS stands for boycott which is a form of economic warfare overtly designed to harm Israel economically, so Israel has every right to exclude people who waging such warfare against it.
3
If you think BDS is simply about protesting then you do not understand BDS. It is about tearing down the State of Israel. That is their ultimate goal. And destroying Israel is antithetical to “everything Jewish” (your term) and Jews everywhere. In any event, that is not the issue the article addresses. It is whether from an Israeli standpoint it makes sense to block entry into Israeli of those advocating or actually taking action to bring about its destruction. The answer to that question is unequivocally yes. This does not make Israel look weak, as the article seems to suggest. It is an appropriate and well principled policy and response.
7
@Veronica Blazer Among the central tenets of the BDS movement is the right of return of all Palestinian refugees. If you believe that's a good idea then by all means support BDS. It is tantamount to the destruction of the state of Israel. One should not be fooled into thinking otherwise.
1
Sorry. I have no sympathy for Alquesam. Why in the world should the Israeli Government welcome with open arms and bestow benefits upon an advocate of boycott, divesture and sanctions? She has the right to express opinions, however foul and misguided they may be, and she has a right to advocate for political action. But she has no right to reap the benefits of a society whose destruction she seeks. Israel is right to keep her out.
53
@Jeffrey Zuckerman
Uhh, but she’s a citizen of the country who makes their existence possible. It seems pretty bad form for Israel to block American citizens from entering their country because they don’t like their opinions. These are the people who pay taxes to fund their nation’s defense. Taking some criticism from a college student seems a tiny price to pay.
If they don’t want to depend on our protection, they should start being serious about a peace process. Don’t get me wrong, the Palestinians deserve plenty of blame for their predicament, but the current Israeli government has no desire to make peace. Criticizing their government is not evidence of seeking their destruction.
I attended SJP and JVP (Jewish voice for peace) meetings as an undergraduate. I agree with the assessment that Israel is clearly in the wrong in detaining people with political beliefs that do not conform. However, the authors take a cheap shot at SJP. I never witnessed any collaboration or coordination with any groups other than JVP. Of course this may not have been the case at other universities, but to say that all SJP chapters are in cahoots with nefarious anti Semitic organizations is an absolute falsehood. Case in point, the local SJP President was himself Jewish.
9
Theodore Herzl has little to do with today’s political Israel. Rather, Israel reflects more the ethno-nationalism of Zev Jabotinsky and the ardent Revisionist Zionism that the Netanyahu family and Likud grew out of. To borrow from Jabotinsky, today’s Israel is building iron walls in attempts to isolate itself from Arab offenses, physically as well as socially, politically and otherwisely.
Given historical Arab intransigence on Israel, anti-Semitism and other concerns Israeli positioning here is understandable. But it is wrong. One does not build for peace by closing oneself in but reaching out. Engagement, not stifling relationships and discussion, is what is warranted.
For that matter, the columnists’ perspective should also be trained on the Trumpification of the United States. Paranoia runs deep, not only in Israel’s political classes but even more in the Republican Party of 2018. Stephens and Weiss must speak out more than they already do on that score, especially now that the rot of anti-Semitic conspiracy theorizing has mainstreamed its way as this week’s preposterous Soros allegations made plain.
Israel and the US thrive because of openness. They are both teetering off in the wrong direction.
14
Mr. Stephens and Ms. Weiss mistake a feature for a bug.
Authoritarian (whether Netanyahu or Trump et al.) regimes are invariably weak and are therefore always afraid of criticism and must either contain or expel dissent.
15
We could say much of this about the current state of affairs in many countries. It also serves as a warning for Americans as the Trump administration gives cover to the hard right in Israel and seeks to limit opposition news at home. I would leave out the section that details degrees of separation from unsavory groups. That is a tactic of the extreme right and it doesn't serve a column like this well.
5
The only intriguing question is whether Israel will self destruct before global warming destroys it.
6
„Theodor Herzl’s vision for a Jewish state was not the “ethnostate” of Bannonite fantasy but an open, pluralistic society. Liberal societies thrive not by expelling critics but by tolerating and even assimilating them — and therefore defanging them.“
Theodor Herzl would be rolling around in agony in his grace if he could read these lines. Israel is a Jewish state by definition; it was only meant to be a pluralistic society as long long as Non-Jews (or more derigatorily Gentiles‘) could exercise full military and national superiority, which is does today over the Christian and Muslim population living within and around its borders. This article is a thinly veiled racist insult to all the people who have had to endure Israel‘s policies of humiliation and discrimination. Pretend you‘re a Muslim while trying to fly into Israel through Tel Aviv. Just once. Just for fun. See what happens.
12
@Shirine Dajjani: Be a Yazidi woman in ISIS-controlled territory. Enjoy the ministrations of your Muslim Bros. Feel good about your value in a slave market.
BTW, if Christians are mistreated in Israel, it is one of the best kept secrets in modern history. Are they worse off than Arab Christians in Hamas controlled Gaza?
4
"And the same activists who obsessively seek to punish and isolate Israel for its occupation of the West Bank rarely if ever display the same passion for protesting against China for its occupation of Tibet, or Russia for its occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine."
I'm guessing if you ask these "same activists" their views on these occupations they would be against them. People can only commit themselves to so many causes and they will pick the ones that are the most meaningful to them. There are probably activists against the occupations of Tibet, Crimea and easter Ukraine that "rarely if ever display the same passion" for the occupation of the West Bank. This is a disingenuous argument.
44
The same question could be asked, why is America scared of a few young Russians sitting behind their computers in Russia?
And it all comes down to meddling, campaigning and influencing country’s policies of which one is not a citizen.
Let’s put it in perspective, if the same Russians suspected of meddling in our elections were to arrive at JFK they too would be detained, questioned and most likely even prosecuted, jailed and then deported.
We even jailed our OWN citizens who campaigned/lobbied without proper registration.
This young lady (and others of the BDS) should consider herself lucky she is not being prosecuted for the same.
In that regard, Israel’s treatment of her (and others) is a shining beacon of dignity, humanity and hope, that outshines our own (regrettably).
22
@Frank Savage
"We even jailed our OWN citizens who campaigned/lobbied without proper registration"
Seriously? Aipac leadership is behind bars?
1
Ahh Eva from UK you wouldn’t know.
Paul manafort was charged and is still in jail for failing to register as a foreign agent.
And there are many more before him.
Now, can we please lock ms Lara up as well?
2
The argument is made here that "Liberal societies thrive not by expelling critics but by tolerating and even assimilating them — and therefore defanging them". However Israel does not view those who are working to advance a boycott of Israel as critics, as a critic is a person who has opinions and views that are critical of policies of the country.
Israel's view of the BDS movement is that its about destroying Israel outright, something that is worse than physical warfare. No country would grant entry those it views as trying to destroy it. And while Israel has nothing to fear from a single individual that supports its destruction, it has much to fear from the success of the BDS campaign.
And the reason Israel does not grant entry to those who have an agenda of destroying it is not as a punishment. It is because they will use their time in Israel to further their cause in all sorts of ways. This can be done for example by going to the west bank and "documenting" the "brutality" of the occupation and how Palestinians are mistreated by Israel by taking photos of Israeli soldiers beating up a Palestinian for example and taking the photo out of context. Such as that Palestinian was not simply going about his business but is in the process of being arrested for throwing a molotov cocktail at an Israeli army vehicle.
18
Israel should be required by the international community to return to its 1948 borders granted by the United Nations. Until they do, international sanctions similar to those imposed on North Korea should be imposed. The double standard we allow Israel needs to end. Make peace or be ostracized by the world community.
39
@Mike While the Balfour Declaration was not terribly clear about the UN/British intent, the original 1948 border of Israel (after the British ceded it) included the West Bank, which was part of Mandatory Palestine (now Israel). This changed after Israel lost it the Arab-Israeli war in 1949. Trans-Jordan (the other half of the Palestinian territories) was supposed to be the homeland of Palestinian Arabs in many readings of the Balfour Declaration. So, I don't agree with you because it is not practical at this point to force Israel to take the West Bank into its formal borders, but a two state solution is more practical.
@Mike: As long as the UN remains essentially a Manhattan tourist attraction, largely dependent on US hospitality and funding, it can be considered no more than a debating club (of not great standing) where other countries send their politicians in training (like Netanyahu) or nuisance progeny of their wealthy families, as so many other countries do. What it "should" do and what it actually can do are miles apart.
@Mike
By your logic would we also have to return the American Southwest to Mexico?
3
Israel is illegally occupying Palestinian lands and denying basic rights to Palestinians in their own territory. There should be an outcry of indignation at these wrongs, and yet even this article simply says the young student has a right to speak up without condemning the outrageous Israeli acts themselves! Stop the silence Israel and address the real injustices here.
53
@ken wightman
Israel's occupation of the West Bank is legal because Israel was attacked just as America's occupation of Japan was legal because the USA was attacked.
Khaled Abu Toameh, the Arab journalist who reports for the Jerusalem Post, U.S. News & World Report and NBC News, talking about life for Arab Israelis: "Israel is a wonderful place to live ... a free and open country.”
Arab women in Israel live longer than Arab women in any Arab country.
Arab babies in Israel have lower infant mortality than Arab babies in any Arab country.
Hadassah University Medical Center in Israel established a registry for Arab donors of bone marrow and stem cells to facilitate life-saving transplants. The registry at Hadassah Hospital is the only one in the world for Arabs and will no doubt save the lives not only of Arab Israelis but also of some citizens of Arab countries, not a single one of which has a registry of its own.
1
America leads the list in preventing those it doesn't agree with from entering the US.
10
@katherinekovach
"Leads the list?" This is simply not true.
1
This isn't the first time a persecuted minority has become the oppressor once they gained power. The Puritans had their own problems from the new Massachusetts Colony that simply got tired of the rigor of puritanical life. The Puritan elders in Boston saw no contradiction in lobbying the Republican Government in England to withdraw support for the Massachusetts Colony. Ironical, eminent Puritans that returned to England after Cromwell executed James I, discarded the simple life and enjoyed the luxuries offered up in London. The Israelis need to carefully look at what happened to the well meaning Puriatans.
2
"Societies that bar their critics aren’t protecting themselves. They are advertising their weakness."
Pro-Israel lobbies invest massively in silencing critics of Israel in the USA for many decades -- and until recently with near total success. Are they too advertising their weakness? Yes, their intellectual and moral position is weak, but they more than offset this with their powerful multi-faceted censorship machinery.
15
@Al-Makhzan: Why are Palestinian students taught to be Holocaust deniers? What is the intellectual and moral positions involved here. What is the record of Hamas in respect of Arab Christians in Gaza?
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And some of these societies continue to get away with this kind of behavior
As long as the USA continues to support, it will never end.....
Long term, "welcome to Jordan"
Barring the entry of this student is an embarrassing overreaction. Even the minister Erdan, not the sharpest pencil, seems to slowly get it and suggested that he'd admit her if she states that she does not support this boycott. And she appealed to the district court, which will rule in this case later this week.
Sadly, the real issue here is internal politics within the Likud party. Menachem Begin's old Likud, though hard line, always included a core of leading party members who were genuinely dedicated to principles of freedom, human rights, decency and democracy.
Netanyahu, a cynical politician whose only goal is to stay in power (and out of prison), managed to get rid of anyone in the Likud party who could threaten him. He's now surrounded by sycophants, all vying for placement in the Likud primaries which would happen at some point in the next year. The Likud party members are more extreme than the average Likud supporters, so politicians feel that they can gain points by appearing to be tough against threats, real or trumped-up, or otherwise sticking it up to the "leftists", other considerations being secondary.
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I am anti-Trump Administration, but pro-America. I can be both at the same time, because the political beliefs governing our present are not universally held. We still have ideals to live up to.
I can be against the Netanyahu government and many of their policies, and still be for the continuation of Israel. I can believe that nation has ideals to live up to and not be anti-Zionist, or anti-Semitic. I can choose to hold a nation that has relied on US support for much of its existence up to a high standard of fairness and democratic action.
Yes, the Netanyahu government has taken a hard turn right, just as we have, and just as we have become ugly in many ways, so has Israeli politics. The boycotts are reaction to nationalistic ugliness spreading through western nations.
Israel's problem, like ours, is that they have swung into ugly anti-democratic territory. They don't automatically deserve support for their positions anymore than our own hard-right politicians do.
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@Cathy
That's why they have elections.
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@Cathy
Israel was ranked 29 out of 167 on The Economist's Democracy Index.
That's better than Belgium, Greece, Cyprus & at least a dozen other European countries.
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@Cathy
Well said.
I confess you made me go and check. It was a nice surprise to find that the hamlet of Hopewell Junction does in fact exist, up in Duchess County. But you've soaked up the spirit well!
Best wishes!
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Mr. Stephens fails to draw the logical conclusion from Theodor Herzl’s premise that Israel should be an open and pluralistic state. That would require citizenship not based on religion or ethnicity: a single state in which all have the right to vote and to seek justice in the courts.
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@Mark Conway Herzl's premise was a Jewish homeland. What is your basis for your characterization of Herzl's premise?
@Mark Conway. The existential problem with this solution is that a “retentions of Palestinians and all their progeny for the last 70 years” is like having the former owners of your home move in all at once. Think you’ll get the big bedroom and a bathroom? I love people who suggest solutions but rarely, if ever, one solutions imaginatively to see what the consequences would be. In most of these cases, the result is the elimination of the state of Israel.
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@Mark Conway: Very interesting. Try to be a Christian in a Muslim country - and then, if still alive, write an op-ed.
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The immigration laws of the United States, and indeed most countries, restrict admission to those who advocate against the sovereignty of the nation and advocate for the disruption of its functioning. BDS is about collective punishment of all citizens (be they Arabs, Jews, or others) for political reasons. It is unclear from this piece whether or not this individual, as many in the BDS movement, also supports organizations like Hamas that advocate for the violent destruction of Israel and murder of her civilians. She may not take it that far. However, this is absolutely analogous to the bars to admission that exist in the U.S. for avowed members of Communist parties.
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At first I didn't understand the reaction of the Israeli authorities but on reflection I have the impression that "this young American" is not being entirely honest and that, given her activity in the United States, her aim in studying at the Hebrew University is to engage in politics rather than study. How would the American government react to a foreign student wishing to study in the US who is known to deny the right to existence of the United States and of whom it can be assumed that she will engage in political activities in the country? If Ms. Alqasem really wanted to study human rights in the Near East, she could of course have registered at Birzeit University.
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When have you ever heard of any other country besides Israel using the notion of denial of “right to exist”?
The honest answer would be, you never have, because there is no nation in the Middle East that could realistically come close to threatening the existence of Israel. The notion that the Palestinians could ever threaten the existence of Israel is just plain silly.
A denial of a country’s “right to exist” are just words when issued by an agent that lacks the ability to ever come close to actually threatening the existence of Israel.
Iran, if it were allowed to develop nuclear weapons, would only use them as a deterrent, and Hisbollah has never been more than a relatively minor nuisance that organized for the purpose of deterring Israeli aggression against Lebanon.
If Israel wants peace, they need to stop oppressing the Palestinians and stop attacking their neighbors.
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@Ed Watters
"Iran, if it were allowed to develop nuclear weapons, would only use them as a deterrent..."
how do you know that ?
Hitler also said he would stop after taking the Sudentenland. How'd that work out for you ?
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@HaNosseah
BDS does not deny Israel’s “right to existence”. Your analogy is convenient rather than accurate.
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Sorry, but the more leadership veers to the right, the more repression of dissenting views takes hold. That should have been front and center in this article. However, the sympathies of the authors prevented that. They present oppositional views to current Israeli policies as monolithic, which is pandering to fear and prejudice.
No one can possibly criticize Israel for the security nightmare that is their daily existence. However, current leadership is not liberal and has often embraced ardent Zionism. People in adverse situations, whether under constant danger like Israelis or American workers losing out, often gravitate to easier solutions like strongmen. Diversity and our better inclinations are always the first casualties. Both US and Israeli leadership do look weak because they cater to fear. As to whether that makes them stronger or provokes increased criticism of their national character is a debate worth having. However, leaders who can only seem to see black and white, enemies or patrons, are poor vessels for liberalization and acceptance of diverse views. What did the authors expect?
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@Tom. The real issue is there is no one for the Israelis to negotiate with. Hamas steadfastly calls for the extermination of all the Jews in Israel. So that's not particularly promising.
The Palestinian Authority, in the 11th year of a 5 year term, has refused 3 deals that would give them nearly the entire West Bank. But seemingly the deal they want is one that assures the end of Israel. If the Palestinians were a credible negotiating partner, pressure could be put on Netanyahu et al to negotiate. The Palestinian's recalcitrance gives him a free pass.
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@Sparky. Thank you andIam mot arguing that. My response is the pidgeon-holing of dissenting voices as all the same by implication. Trump does this in spades. The move of our embassy to Jerusalem was tone deaf at best, inflammatory and totally unnecessary. It comes from "us" versus a delegitimized "them". Some mistake these types of policies for statesmanship instead of brinksmanship.
By having this policy it brings a huge amount of attention to her ideas whether they are correct or not. Open discussion and debate will lead to progress for both sides.
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Societies that bar their critics aren’t protecting themselves.
[ The United States however has indeed done just this repeatedly. ]
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And the US has done it not only to foreigners, but to its own citizens.
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@Nancy
I'm wondering specifically who you have in mind?
One question that the occupying power needs to answer is: what is its long-term vision of the fate of the occupied? What is the goal it is committed to working to achieve? It's too easy for the occupier to blame the occupied for the predicament the occupied inhabit. Yes, the occupied have flaws, some serious. However, those flaws do not justify the failure of the occupier, which has nearly all of the power, to do anything to better the situation. And nothing justifies the occupier purposefully deciding to make the situation worse by taking the lands of the occupied for its own sovereign purposes.
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Netanyahu has been very clear on this: he wants a two-state solution, and he wants Israel to have jurisdiction over security in both states. That's a non-starter for the Palestinian Authority; but then, apparently, so is every deal they've ever been offered. Back in the 90s when Rabin was prime minister, the Palestinians were offered everything they asked for in exchange for peace, and the only thing Israel asked for in return was that they share Jerusalem. So, if everything except one-half of every religion's holiest city isn't enough, then what is it exactly that the Palestinians want?
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@Gordeaux
Successive Israeli governments since 1992 have sought a means of transferring to Palestinian control the territories Israel occupied as a result of the 1967 war. Remember Rabin and the Oslo Accords? Ehud Barak and Camp David in 2000? Ehud Olmert some years later, and his plan that Arafat rejected?
The Israelis have tried.
The Palestinians, however, continue to not miss opportunities to miss opportunities.
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Just ask Hamas- they want Israel gone, or as Iran says “wiped off the map.”
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What constructive views does the BDS movement have? It's not sufficient to ask that a power structure be torn down. It's necessary to have a viable and benevolent proposal for a power structure to replace it. Otherwise, the goals of the movement are not viable ideals. When it does not promote viable ideals, a movement cannot be viewed as an internal function of society. The alternative is that it is external, which means that any energy devoted to it is inclined toward tearing down the society it targets. That form of energy is threatening to the targeted society, and does not qualify for diversity-of-opinion protection within that society's norms.
Second, it is erroneous to treat a subject people devoted to the destruction of the state that subjects them as an oppressed people who seek an opportunity to contribute to the society that oppresses them. The goals of the disadvantaged population matter. If you wish to argue that the forces advocating the destruction of Israel do not represent the Palestinians, then work against those forces and leave the Palestinians to benefit when the actual conflict is resolved.
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@Bruce Esrig
From what I can tell, Bruce, you are trying to explain why it is okay for Israel to keep ideas they disagree with from entering the country, even with a visa issues by Israel.
It seems the logic of the argument is that the woman being kept out of the open, principled democratic state Israel claims to be belonged to a group that has failed to offer "a viable and benevolent proposal for a power structure to replace" the status quo.
Thus, the logic continues, until Israel believes this group (or any other group) is offering a "viable ideal " they can be treated like terrorists and kept out of the country.
Seems to obvious to ask but I will anyway: What exactly is Israel's 'viable and benevolent' idea for dealing with the Palestinians. Exactly how long do they think the current status quo can continue? Trump and Jared won't be around much longer. Where to, Israel, what's next?
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Did you not read the article?
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@Bruce Esrig When you say that "it is erroneous to treat a subject people devoted to the destruction of the state that subjects them as an oppressed people who seek an opportunity to contribute to the society that oppresses them," you need to consider the mote in your own eye ... the current Israeli government is transparently devoted to destroying the Palestinian state, such as it is, established by the Oslo accords.
And this is the big problem with opposing BDS and defending Israel, the whiff of obliviousness to Israeli policy, if not outright hypocrisy.
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We face a great deal of uncertainties here in Israel. As people do all over the globe.Every day. Whoever we are. Where ever we came from; if not native born. Uncertainty, Unredictabilities, randomness and lack of total control no matter the types, levels and qualities of what we do, by ourselves, and with others, over time, are the ever-present, ongoing dimensions of reality. And in a real world, not the planned for one of professional policy-makers, whatever their beliefs, and ideological commitments, in addition to power seeking, planned for outcomes can and do have unexpected outcomes. Ranging in levels of positive, negative and mixed ones. National security continues to be both a critical and necessary State, with many helpful, viable options,many with dimensions of built-in failures as well as a constantly misused mantra. Israel has much to be praised for. Much to be criticized about. From its very beginnings. Many Israeli policymakers continue to mix up mantras with missing- menschlichkeit. Many Israeli policymakers, and the diverse population at large continue to enable facts, fictions and fantasies to be goulashed. Loyalty to created lies continues to be promoted. Here, in the less than Holy Land, as well as in every other country in the world. Personal unaccountability continues to be part of daily life. In harmful voiced words and and done-deeds. As does the absence of much needed words and actions for daily menschlichkeit and equitable well being. For all.
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@s einstein
"Loyalty to created lies continues to be promoted."
We in the US feel your pain. Not to be reductionist, but the phrase is pretty much applicable to Fox news and the Trump driven GOP.
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@s einstein. Whatever. Fine. Just pay for it yourselves and leave the American taxpayer's out of it.
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@Blackcat66 A reasonable request. What are you yourself, privileged to live in a democracy, doing about those fellow Americans, ranging in earned and unearned wealth, who loop-(w)hole out of paying taxes? Or about tax money in the USA not being used, as just one example, of existing limited human and nonhuman resources to create and sustain viable levels of equitable wellbeing? How can we help one another, with and beyond words, to create a much needed culture of daily personal accountability for each one of US?
It's telling for the supporters of the boycott-divest-sanctions movement that Israeli national policy treats the movement as an existential threat. Those originally behind the movement should be proud.
Can you really blame Israel for excluding supporters of the movement from their country?
It doesn't seem too far afield from US judges imposing harsh penalties on people who advocate "jury nullification" in the courtroom.
It also doesn't seem too far off from Chinese national policy imposing stiff economic and political penalties on companies who say that Taiwan or Tibet exist.
Organizations which are gravely worried about their sovereignty will, no doubt, take draconian measures and use what power they have to try to stay intact.
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@Michael
One reason to further limit "what power they have."
Which is one reason this --our-- country was founded.
But no longer of great concern, it seems. The trend goes the other way. I do hope it is a pendulum about to turn and that this planet still supports life when it does.
@Michael
Perhaps Israel's ally Saudi Arabia has the answer to silence their opponents. Chop them to pieces, perhaps.
Let's see if the U.S. administration endorses or at least gives cover to the practice.
As for the China comparison. How much U.S. financial aid does it receive per capita of its population.
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If BDS was really concerned about Palestinians, they would be advocating against the PA and Hamas who are just criminal in their negligence of their people. BDS would be trying to get Palestinian leaders to fix their water, sewage, economy, healthcare and education systems.
Instead, BDS is just mirroring the directives of their terrorist funders which is NOT to help the Palestinians but to destroy Israel.
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