The North American Jewish community has taken an important step to counter the
delegitimization campaigns targeting Israel. Directed by the Jewish Federations
of North America (JFNA) in partnership with the Jewish Council of Public Affairs
(JCPA), the Israel Action Network should be a vital resource to combat these
assaults.
To emerge victorious in this political war, the network must be
armed with detailed information about the opposition, and implement an effective
counterstrategy on this basis. This involves distributing information to college
students and active community members, so they can name and shame the groups
that lead and fund demonization. NGO Monitor and other groups can provide the
Israel Action Network with this information without reinventing this particular
wheel.
The challenge is formidable. In 2001 at the UN World Conference
Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, more than 1,500 anti-Israel NGOs adopted
a plan of action that highlights the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS)
movement. In the decade that followed, these groups exploited human rights
rhetoric and international legal claims to push this immoral
objective.
The Jewish community has been largely playing catch-up ever
since. When the NGOs and BDSers invade campuses, Jewish students and local
communities scramble to respond. Similarly, when the demonizers publicize calls
for boycotts at local food co-ops, the community responds.
While the need
to refute their allegations is clear, students and community groups must also
adopt a proactive strategy to undermine the credibility and influence of these
groups. This strategy will marginalize many of the BDS movement’s central
actors, and expose the lie that BDS is a grassroots protest against Israeli
policy.
WITH LIMITED resources, NGO Monitor has demonstrated that this
approach can be very effective. Based on detailed research, the government of
Canada cut funding ostensibly provided for human rights and development, but
which was actually used for hatred and incitement. Similar discussions are under
way in European governments regarding funding for some of the more poisonous
NGOs involved in BDS.
And in the Jewish communities, this information has
allowed donors to make informed decisions, providing funds for groups that
contribute to Israel in a positive way, as distinguished from demonizers and BDS
proponents. The new JFNA initiative will provide much-needed resources to expand
this process.
For example, the organization known as Electronic Intifada
is very active in BDS efforts, routinely abusing terms like “apartheid” and
“ethnic cleansing.” Nigel Parry, a cofounder of EI, conflates victims of terror
with terror leaders, and justifies Palestinian mortars fired into Israeli
settlements by stating: “The dilemma in which the Palestinians find themselves
is like that of a man who, falsely imprisoned for most of his life and demonized
by society, finds himself in a dark room being raped by a highly decorated
prison guard, when... he suddenly notices a rocket launcher lying within reach.”
Parry also compared Israel’s targeted killing of Hamas head Ahmed Yassin to a
“bus bombing.”
EI’s other founder, Ali Abunimah, who appears on many
campuses to promote BDS, calls for a one-state solution, meaning the elimination
of Israel. Abunimah also compares Israel to Nazi Germany, referring to the
Israeli press as “Der Sturmer.”
Other BDS groups must be exposed for
their overtly anti-Semitic language. Leaders of Sabeel, a Palestinian Christian
group, employ “Palestinian liberation theology,” which identifies Palestinians
with Jesus and revives the concept of Jewish deicide for political gains. In an
Easter message, Sabeel founder Naim Ateek told followers: “It seems to many of
us that Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians
around him... The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating
daily.”
This rhetoric, fraught with deep-seated anti-Semitic imagery, is
common at Sabeel events in churches throughout North America. This needs to be
confronted systematically.
In addition, an expanded framework for
combating the BDS movement will allow for the distinction between hard-core
anti-Israel campaigners and those who have been persuaded to lend their names to
this cause. It is important to develop alliances with the latter group,
including labor union members, Protestant churchgoers, students and university
professors who will find the hatred that emanates from the demonizers repulsive.
If we can convince these individuals to end their passive support for BDS, the
NGOs that promote these campaigns will find themselves exposed as the fringe
groups they really are.
The committed and organized Jewish community will
be a great asset in these efforts. With federations and community relations
councils throughout the country, the infrastructure exists to implement this
proactive strategy. We need to face our opponents strategically, rather than on
an ad hoc reactive basis.
Exposing their abuses and funding sources, and
forcing their campaign leaders and participants to respond to us will change the
dynamic in this battle.
Gerald Steinberg is professor of political
studies at Bar-Ilan University and president of NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based
research institution that promotes accountability and transparency among
nongovernmental organizations that claim to protect human rights in the Middle
East. Jason Edelstein is communications director of NGO Monitor.