Activism that matters

Two weeks ago, a group of pro-Israel students and I traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with congressional representatives about the America-Israel relationship. In addition to giving me new insight into the driving force behind America’s Israel policy, the experience showcased the massive divergence between Columbia’s anti-Israel activists and the American mainstream. You see, while the Columbia Palestine Forum is busy convincing everyone to boycott Israel (which is kind of tough when you can’t use Israeli-developed products like the cell phone, voice mail, instant messenger or the Pentium processor), our lobbying mission took a practical and constructive stand in favor of peace and coexistence, something that I believe is sorely lacking among Columbia’s anti-Israel radicals.

At Columbia, I find we often get caught up in debates over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that hardly exist anywhere outside our academy. For instance, the major issue on campus at the moment is the push by the Columbia Palestine Forum to label Israel an “apartheid” state and to pursue a policy of boycotts and sanctions. If these anti-Israel activists ever came to Capitol Hill, I’m pretty certain that all 535 congressmen would laugh in their faces and dismiss their proposal as nonsense. This is not because the United States Congress is trapped within the clutches of the “Israel lobby,” but because the policies being advocated by the Columbia Palestine Forum either have no basis in reality or are completely impracticable.

In the face of the apartheid claim lies the fact that Arabs living within pre-1967 Israel carry full Israeli citizenship, with Arabs having served in both the Cabinet and on the Supreme Court. In fact, Israel is one of the few countries in the Middle East where Arab women can vote in meaningful elections, lending credence to the argument that in many respects, Arabs living in Israel have more rights than Arabs living in most Arab countries. Obviously, there still exists a considerable amount of economic and political disparity between Jews and Arabs in Israel, but does a similar rift between African Americans and Caucasians not occur in the United States? I say this not to condone these inequalities but rather to question the fairness of applying the apartheid label to Israel when the United States and Europe both have deep-seated racial problems of their own.

The members of the U.S. Congress understand that Israel is in fact a very free society, which is why the Jewish state garners so much bipartisan support. In our meeting with Rep. Charlie Rangel—one of the most powerful (and liberal) members of the House—the congressman outlined a position on Israel that was both measured and productive. Like most Democrats, he wasn’t thrilled by the election of Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister, but at the same time he noted that he did not think it would be a major setback to America-Israel relations, since the connection has more of a foundation in the shared ideals of freedom and democracy than it does in the political leadership of the moment. The key to peace, he said, was to stop groups like Hamas and Hezbollah from derailing the process, a position that stands somewhat at odds with the radicals at Columbia who see Hamas as Gaza’s democratically legitimate rulers (in the same way that Hitler was Germany’s democratically legitimate ruler) and who don’t even believe that Israel should exist as a Jewish state .

Rangel was not the only congressman to voice these pro-Israel, pro-peace opinions—virtually every representative we met with that day also reiterated his or her support for Israel as a critical element of U.S. foreign policy. Witnessing this solidarity with Israel gave me a great deal of solace because it highlights just how irrelevant groups like the Columbia Palestine Forum are. By focusing solely on the demonization of Israel and flagrantly ignoring the terrorist (or as they refer to them, “resistance”) elements of Palestinian society, the Columbia Palestine Forum effectively removes itself from the mainstream discourse and thus from the policy process.

In my opinion, anti-Israel radicals have become so caught up in their twisted perceptions of the situation that they are blinded to the realities on the ground. Like it or not, Israel exists as a Jewish state with both conventional and nuclear deterrent capabilities. This means that, hard as some may wish it, Israel will never cease to be the Jewish homeland. Thus, by calling Israel an apartheid or genocidal state, groups like the Columbia Palestine Forum are accomplishing nothing other than feeding the cycle of hatred—and the bloodshed that results. The only way for peace to ever be achieved is for activist groups to be proactive and work towards the establishment of two states, not the destruction or demonization of one. This was our goal on Capitol Hill, and I am certain that it made more of a difference than screaming slogans on College Walk.

Jon Hollander is a Columbia college junior majoring in economics. Reasonably Right runs alternate Thursdays. opinion@columbiaspectator.com e-mail: jonahollander@gmail.com