[Peace] Fwd: Anti-Semitism

[Karen Kohn]

I forgot to mention at the last meeting that I've been in touch with Ronen
Eidelman, the man from Indymedia-Israel whose e-mail was forwarded to the
Peace List about a month ago.  He is going to be in the U.S. doing
presentations (He has many topics he says he can cover, including the
Israeli peace movement).  I told him that I was concerned we wouldn't have
the money to get him here, since his other engagements are in New York and
San Francisco.  Giving the discussion that's gone on today, though, are
people willing to try to find the money?  It would cost about $300 to fly
round trip from New York.

I think it can't be said too much that anti-occupation is not equal to
anti-Semitic and doesn't mean supporting suicide bombings either.  To me it
seems the best way to address this is by bringing Jewish groups to speak
about why they oppose the occupation.  Anti-occupation is NOT "the
Palestinian side," nor is it anti-Zionist.  I think even people who usually
pay a lot of attention to words mix those up, which probably means that we
haven't seen enough examples of people who are anti-occupation AND
pro-Israel (but not in favor of current policies).  It is hard for Jews,
like me, not to feel fragmented by the desire to connect to our own Jewish
community and the desire to support the politics we believe in.  It means a
lot to me to find places where those aren't in conflict.  So I'd be very
supportive of something like what Al said- speakers who are Jewish and
pro-peace.  I'd prefer that to what Charlotte suggested, since it might set
up AWARE against Hillel, although I do want to thank Charlotte for bringing
up the issue.

Karen