[Peace-discuss] Op-ed from San Jose Mercury News

Fri Aug 11 17:16:14 CDT 2006

	Posted on Fri, Aug. 11, 2006	
	It's time for Jewish dissenters to challenge Israeli policies
	By Henri Picciotto

I grew up Jewish in Beirut. Although I left nearly 40 years ago, my 
memories of Lebanon -- vibrant and multicultural -- have stayed with me. 
And so, my wife and I had started talking about taking a trip there.

I would show her the neighborhood where I grew up, the beaches where I 
swam in the warm Mediterranean waters and the small mountain hotel we 
loved to stay at in the summer. I would also show her my school, where 
Jewish, Christian and Muslim children learned and grew together.

After the past few weeks, we may never be able to take this trip. 
Israeli bombings have killed more than 700 Lebanese civilians. Hundreds 
of thousands -- more than one-fifth of the population -- have become 
refugees, uprooted from their homes. Lebanon's civilian infrastructure 
has been systematically destroyed.

We, as Americans, bear a special responsibility for this carnage. If 
Washington would withhold its unconditional military, economic and 
diplomatic support for Israel, the Israeli government would waste no 
time in starting genuine negotiations. Current U.S.-backed cease-fire 
proposals are so unfair to Lebanon that the Lebanese government has 
already indicated it cannot accept the terms, which do not even include 
a full Israeli withdrawal.

This one-sided U.S. policy is the result of a combination of factors, 
but it thrives on the myth that all American Jews stand uncritically 
behind the Israeli government.

Many believe that American Jews unanimously and unconditionally support 
the Israeli government. That what we learned from the Holocaust is to 
shoot first and ask questions later. That our commitment to justice and 
equal rights is a quaint feature of our past.

There is a saying ``two Jews, three opinions.'' Now we are told ``1 
million Jews, one opinion.''

In fact, our community is profoundly divided:

• Hundreds, if not thousands, of Jews all over the country have 
demonstrated to demand an end to the bombing of Gaza and Lebanon. In one 
of these demonstrations, 17 Jewish protesters were arrested in an act of 
civil disobedience.

• In the past few days, thousands of Jews have signed a petition 
demanding that the United States intervene to stop the wanton killing of 
Lebanese civilians by the Israeli war machine.

• Jewish organizations that sponsor such demonstrations and petitions, 
such as Jewish Voice for Peace (on whose board I serve), are 
experiencing exponential growth. Jews are looking for ways to express 
their outrage at the actions of the Israeli government, and of the blind 
support accorded by the Jewish establishment in this country.

We are appalled by the Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israeli cities, just 
as we were the earlier attacks by Israel on Lebanese cities. We mourn 
the loss of Israeli, Palestinian and Lebanese lives equally. We are 
outraged by the destruction of Lebanese airports, roads and bridges, the 
bombing of homes and private cars, the killing of children, and the 
other horrors visited by the Israelis on their neighbors.

It is this kind of past Israeli behavior that gave birth to both Hamas 
and Hezbollah, organizations that have strengthened immeasurably in 
recent weeks. Israeli intransigence has made Israel a pariah state, and 
is the biggest enemy of all the people of the Middle East -- Arabs and 
Israelis alike.

Jewish American leaders work tirelessly to promote the myth of Jewish 
consensus. Their tactics include refusing to rent space to dissenters, 
threatening funding cuts when Jewish institutions question Israel's 
actions and canceling meetings when they suspect debate might occur. 
Their most ubiquitous weapon is the hurtful charge of anti-Semitism, 
hurled at both dissenting Jews and Gentiles.

Many Jews question Israel's policies, but are afraid to speak out in 
their congregations or even to their families. But the time has come for 
Jewish dissidents to challenge the policies of the Israeli government. 
In the short run these policies kill Arabs, mostly innocent civilians; 
in the long run, they can result only in disaster for Israelis and Jews 
worldwide. Our silence in this time of crisis is complicity. We need to 
help bring about the peace that would one day make my visit to Beirut -- 
and the visit of all Jews -- possible.

HENRI PICCIOTTO of Berkeley is a mathematics educator and chairman of 
the board of Jewish Voice for Peace (jewishvoiceforpeace.org). He wrote 
this article for the Mercury News.