An Open Letter to My Fellow Liberal Jews

Hiya guys,

Karmafish here.

I thought that I would drop by to have a little chit-chat.

As you may, or may not, be aware, we have a small problem on our hands. The problem is that as liberals, or as progressives, whatever you want to say, we are part of a movement that goes back quite a long ways in the United States, at least to abolitionism, but that now... if I may be blunt... seems to be in direct opposition to the well-being of the Jewish people.

The progressive movement in the United States started with abolitionism, but then merged into the early labor movement of the late 19th century. It's the same movement that influenced Teddy Roosevelt to sign legislation regulating the cleanliness of our food. It's the same movement that inclined Franklin Roosevelt to propose New Deal legislation. It's also the same movement that emerged as the New Left in the 1960s.

I wasn't really there then, but the anti-war movement, second wave feminism, environmentalism, Gay and Lesbian rights, not to mention the Civil Rights Movement, of course, were all important parts of our political movement... as was / is the counterculture.

And, for as long as I've had political consciousness... up until now, anyway... it was my movement, too.  I am too young to have opposed the Vietnam War, but I opposed it anyway.  I favor a woman's right to choose and I favor the regulation of polluting industries and I oppose the death penalty and I marched against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

{And on and on and on... blah, blah, blah.}

The thing of it is, tho... what we must acknowledge... what we must face... is that the progressive movement has now, in the west, become the home of a sub-movement that has directly targeted the Jews. I know that it's very inconvenient to face this fact, and I do not like it any more than you do, but it is unquestionably the truth. The progressive-left has become the home of anti-Zionism. Anti-Zionism is a movement that seeks to rob Jews of self-determination and self-defense via BDS, boycott, divestment, and sanctions.

The Jewish state is the only country on the planet wherein western progressives ponder whether or not they should allow it to continue or whether they should actively work to see its demise. You know those people on the Left calling for BDS? What they want is to see Israel eliminated as a Jewish state. That's what BDS is about. That's the whole point of anti-Zionism.

Now, I understand that the BDS activists and anti-Zionists only make up a small percentage of the liberal-left.   I know.   I am not saying anything else.

BUT...

But we only make up a small percentage of the liberal-left, now don't we? I mean, Jews only represent 2 percent of the American population and about .02 percent of the world population. We are a tiny minority. Sure, we punch well above our weight, but that's not the point. The point is that the progressive-left as a movement is becoming more and more comfortable with expressions of hatred toward the Jewish state and this hatred cannot help but slop onto us.

There are people who would say, "Oh, well, Karmafish is always conflating Israel with the Jews. The two are not the same. Criticism of Israel is in no way meant to reflect poorly on the Jewish people as a whole."

Yes.  How nice of them to spare us.

Of course, it's nonsense and the sooner that we recognize this nonsense as nonsense the sooner we can prepare to defend ourselves. You know as well as I, or you certainly should, that these attacks on Israel throughout the progressive-left and on political blogs like Daily Kos, the Huffington Post, and the UK Guardian, among many other places, do not represent criticism, but defamation.  And this is a defamation that does not only reflect on Israel and that does not only hold consequences for Israel, but reflects on, and holds serious consequences for, the Jews as a whole.

When these people, for example, insist that Israel is an "apartheid state," what they are saying is that Israel must be eliminated. That's not criticism. What it is is nothing less than a call for the genocide of the Jews.

You get that, right?

Anti-Zionism means the single state solution and the single state solution means nothing less than genocide and war if it is to be achieved.

This means that we are actually supporting a movement, the progressive movement, our long-time political home, in which it is now politically acceptable to call for our genocide, so long as the language is the language of anti-Zionism, rather than that of anti-Semitism. The progressive-left thinks of itself as anti-racist and is, therefore, just as opposed to anti-Semitism as it is to any other form of racism or sexism or bigotry, in general.

So it is in theory, anyways.  In practice... not so much.

I just broke off a number of on-line friendships that did, in fact, mean something to me. I did not want to do so, but I do not see where I had any choice. I had been associated with a particular progressive political blog and was friends with the site-owner. Unfortunately, she chose to associate herself with another political blog that features BDS and the owner of that blog has, in the past, said some spectacularly nasty things about Jews.

So, what am I supposed to do? I do not even blame the nice lady whose blog I will no longer associate myself with. It's not really her fault. Without quite realizing it, I think, she put herself into the position of having to choose between a helpful political alliance and the well-being of the Jewish people. She chose the political alliance. I have no doubt that when she did so the very last thing on her mind was the Jewish people, for chrissake, but that's kinda beside the point.

The point is that we are all of us, more and more, being put into precisely this position. We can associate with a political movement that is comfortable with BDS and anti-Zionism or we can refuse to associate with that political movement.

In effect, the progressive-movement, as a group, as a whole, is forcing us to choose between the movement, a movement that we have been integral to for a very long time, and ourselves.

I have chosen to be in opposition to the movement.

Anyway, I imagine that many of you do not share my concern on the matter.

I would, however, ask that you consider the case and consider the following question.

Do we, or do we not, wish to associate ourselves with a political movement that is also a home to anti-Zionists?

I think that it is a vital question and one that we have no choice but to consider.  To my mind, at least, associating with anti-Zionists is not a whole lot different from associating with Nazis.

And just as the Nazis justified violence against Jews on the grounds that the Jews did bad stuff to the Germans... Hitler thought that we were mean to the Germans... it still blows my mind... so anti-Zionists justify violence against Jews on the grounds that Israelis do bad stuff to the Palestinians.

In every generation they tell themselves that they have good reason to target us, even in this one, which is why they could care less about the thousands upon thousands of Qassams and Katyushas that have landed in southern Israel in recent years.

And so, my fellow liberal Jews, I request that you give the issue further consideration.

Karmafish