Jewish Voice for Peace is growing increasing resentful of Jewish institutions that create guidelines, like the ones adopted by Hillel that recognize the right to of the Jewish people to self determination. Hillel views Israel as a core element of Jewish life and a gateway to Jewish identification for students. Hillel promotes a continuum of experiences to engage students with Israel, educate their campus communities about Israel, and advocate for Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state in peace and security. This is too much for JVP, the "proud to be ashamed to be Jewish " folks, who insist not only that anti-Israel rhetoric be part of Jewish communal life, but that it be funded by communal sources as well.
JVP has begun a new campus initiative Go & Learn: BDS Education in Jewish communities. This initiative is being promoted by the youth-led wing of Jewish Voice for peace (Youth, apparently, by JVP standards is anyone under 40) to "create a space for education about the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. Go & Learn BDS Education events are a way for Jews to continue to (or begin to) develop their own opinion on BDS, in an informed, multifaceted way."
Will JVP mention that Palestinian society has largely rejected the BDS tactics?
From Elder of Ziyon:
The number of Palestinian Arabs working in Jewish settlements has increased by 20% since the PA announced they would ban such activity. According to the head of the Federation of Trade Unions of Palestine, Shaher Saad, some 31,000 Palestinian Arab workers are now employed in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. This is a significant increase compared to the number of such workers in April, 2010 - estimated at 25,000 - when Mahmoud Abbas signed a law banning Palestinian Arabs from working in settlements.
From Haaretz Private Palestinian investors now invest nearly twice as much in Israel as they do at , with homeprivate Palestinian investment in the West Bank at $1.5 billion in 2011, compared to at least $2.5 billion in Israel.
Will JVP mention that in our area, the best place to get Israeli products are the small Arab grocery stores?
From Divest this:
A more intriguing take on these numbers has to do with the notion of civil society. After all, the BDS movement’s primary claim to legitimacy is that it represents the will of the Palestinian people, with the 2005 “Palestinian Civil Society Calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Against Israel” declaration held up as the reason why alleged “human rights activists” abroad focus on Israel to the exclusion of nearly every other human rights issue on the planet.
When BDS groups in the US and Europe approach a university, a church or even a food co-op insisting that everyone get on board the boycotter’s Israel=Apartheid bandwagon, they rarely if ever do so in their own name. Rather, they claim (again and again) that they are humbly following the will of the Palestinian people who have declared their commitment to BDS via documents like the aforementioned Civil Society declaration, and insisting that others do the same.
But as has already been noted, this alleged call by Civil Society was really a call by a group of civil organizations, with violent political groups such as Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine taking the lead and less influential groups like the Palestinian Dentists Association following behind. So does the 2005 BDS declaration truly represent the will of the Palestinian people or is it simply the will of a bunch of militant and/or coerced leaders of a hundred-odd organizations? Are we required to take Omar Barghouti’s word for it when he claims to speak for the Palestinian masses, or do we have other data to work form?
Well we do, in fact, have other data consider. For example, there are the Arab citizens of Israel terrified that the land they live on might be traded in a peace deal, requiring them to live under the benevolent dictatorship of the Palestinian Authority (or the not-so benevolent dictatorship of Hamas). We’ve got denizens of the Palestinian Authority doing whatever they can to get into Israel for healthcare, for jobs, even for citizenship (despite being told that the “Zionist entity” exists for the sole purpose of murdering them and swiping their kidneys).
And now we’ve got Palestinian workers and investors putting their money where the mouth isn’t and doubling down on Israeli investments and Israeli employers. And, as the BDS “movement” itself never tires of telling us, Investment = Political Support (which is why they advocate tirelessly, if unsuccessfully for Divestment which they claim equals an end to such political support).
So by the very math used by the BDSers themselves, Palestinian support for the Jewish state is on the increase. Keep this in mind the next time Omar Barghouti or Jewish Voice for Peace or this or that BDS organization shows up at your door insisting you do what they say because they and they alone speak for the Palestinian people.
No, JVP wont ever let facts get in the way of their increasingly shrill rhetoric. Look for "Go & learn" on a campus near you. Can't find it? Ask the students of SJP or the MSA. They'll be able to direct you
UPDATE:
The first offer of "engagement" is in, and its....still...awaiting moderation.....
From Divest this:
It looks like the youth wing of JVP (named Young, Jewish and Proud) has decided to engage with critics (and supporters) of BDS in a new program they entitle Go and Learn. Now this program is scheduled to begin in March, but given the clear importance JVP/YJP put on this issue, I have invited them to begin the debate immediately on their new Web site and just posted the following invitation in this comments section:
Why Wait?
I’m thrilled to learn that you are interested in an open discussion and education project surrounding the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) project.
As some of you may know, I represent one of those people “actively opposed to [BDS]” your invitation above is asking to engage with you. As the creator of the web site www.divestthis.com, I have been eager to discuss and debate with people like yourselves who are supportive of BDS. Until now, however, there have been very few supporters of BDS ready to engage directly on this subject in a sustained and constructive manner.
I’m glad to discover that JVP is interested in remedying this situation and recommend that we begin this debate right now on the Internet (where the world has access to our exchanges), rather than wait until March to discuss what the Young, Jewish and Proud organization obviously considers to be such a pressing topic.
I will post information on your invitation and my own at Divest This (along with any follow ups), but I recommend we have this public discussion right here since, unlike the forums you claim to not have access to, your organization is in full control of this online space. And using it to provide a globally public forum for our conversation would not just provide everyone with the discussion you clearly crave, but would also demonstrate JVP’s openness (in contrast with those places you feel you have been excluded from).
I look forward to hearing back from you and let the conversation begin!
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