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<H1>On Holocaust Remembrance Day: A call to stop falsely accusing activists of
anti-Semitism </H1>
<DIV class=author><SPAN id=ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_article_control_lblAuthor
class=author><SPAN class=ExpertOrAutherLink>By DONNA NEVEL</SPAN></SPAN> </DIV>
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class=datetime>04/27/2014 23:06</SPAN> </DIV>
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<H2><SPAN id=ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_article_control_lblTeaser
class=teaser>Israeli government apologists shamelessly charge anti-Semitism as a
means of discrediting those opposing its practices and behavior.</SPAN>
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title="Protestors wave with Palestinian flags and shout slogans during a demonstration in Berlin"
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<DIV class=articleImageDetails><SPAN
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class=photographer><SPAN class=ImageTitle>Protestors wave with Palestinian flags
and shout slogans during a demonstration in Berlin </SPAN>Photo: REUTERS</SPAN>
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<DIV class=body>Since I was a child, my family marked Holocaust Remembrance Day
with reverence for the memory of the victims, vivid awareness of anti-Semitism
and bigotry, and celebration of resistance and the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. I
also had etched into my consciousness from an early age that in remembering the
Holocaust and the history of anti-Semitism, we are obliged to re-affirm our
commitment to fighting injustice in any form.<BR><BR>With this in mind, as
Holocaust Remembrance Day approaches, I can’t help but be appalled by the
reckless charge of anti-Semitism directed at those who seek justice and who call
out Israel for its human rights violations.<BR><BR>When people criticize Israel
(or any nation-state, for that matter), it is fair to challenge them – on the
merits of the argument. However, Israeli government apologists instead
shamelessly exploit the charge of anti-Semitism as a means of discrediting and
obstructing those opposing its practices and behavior.<BR><BR>These attacks,
sometimes drawing upon classic anti-Semitic images as in Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu’s recent speech to AIPAC, have most recently focused on trying to
thwart political organizing on college campuses, by both students and
professors, in support of policies and time-honored strategies – like Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) – intended to hold Israel accountable to
international law and basic principles of human rights.<BR><BR>Although this is
certainly not a new phenomenon, these charges of anti-Semitism have become
epidemic.<BR><BR>There is a pattern: Israeli government behavior has gotten
worse and worse, the movement to hold Israel accountable is getting stronger and
stronger, and it appears the only way the Israeli government and its supporters
think they can stop the momentum is to destroy the messengers, particularly
since the facts of Israeli violations of human rights and the extent of its
ongoing oppressive behavior against the Palestinian people are well-documented
and pervasive.<BR><BR>And these pro-Israeli government advocates know that there
is no better way to shut people down and discredit them than by accusing them of
anti-Semitism.<BR><BR>These false calls of anti-Jewish hatred are an attempt to
derail the movement for justice in Palestine/Israel and to destroy those
supporting that movement. And, further, these trumped-up charges of
anti-Semitism are particularly pernicious when directed at Palestinians or
Muslims or others who already face extreme discrimination and
racism.<BR><BR>Calling criticism of the Israeli state anti-Semitic also makes a
mockery of the term anti-Semitism and trivializes the memory of the Holocaust.
Conflating anti-Semitism against the Jewish people with critiques of Israel as a
state diminishes the seriousness of anti-Semitism when it occurs.<BR><BR>As
Holocaust Remembrance Day approaches, let us do justice to the memory of the
Holocaust by recommitting ourselves to challenging injustice and to honoring,
rather than demonizing and defaming, those who speak out and take action for
peace and for justice in Palestine and Israel and anywhere across the
globe.<BR><BR><EM>The author a community psychologist and educator, is a
long-time organizer for peace and justice in Palestine/Israel.<BR><BR>She was a
co-coordinator of the 1989 landmark Road to Peace Conference that brought PLO
officials and Knesset members together to the US for the first time. More
recently, she was a founding member of Jews Say No!, is a member of the board of
Jewish Voice for Peace, and is on the coordinating committee of the Nakba
Education Project, US.</EM> </DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>