Time to face hard truths

It is wonderful to be well-liked and considered fair-minded.  Fair mindedness, however, is not an excuse for refraining from espousing hard truths.  Such is my take on the April 20 column by Rabbi James Rosenberg, “The boycott crowd,” which took on some of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) rhetoric lampooned by celebrated Israeli cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen. In an effort to appear impartial, the author criticizes Kirschen for lumping together objectively false claims like “Israel = Nazism” with “objectively true” claims such as “Israel occupies Palestinian lands.”  

However, this last claim is objectively not true. The lands and territories adjacent to Israel are at most disputed, not occupied.

The U.S. State Department fully recognizes this objective fact. There are no Arab lands in Israel to occupy because there is no sovereign over them except Israel.

No “Palestinian” sovereign has ever existed. These lands, all former territories of the defunct Ottoman Empire, were administered by Great Britain under the mandate of the League of Nations after World War I and earmarked for the re-establishment of the Jewish Homeland. Some of these lands (including Jordan) were allotted to the nascent state of the Jews under the U.N. partition plan, and all became part of Israel after defensive wars with neighboring Arab states bent on its annihilation. 

In light of the fact that the Jews only received 22 percent of the original land promised in the Balfour declaration (78 percent went to create Jordan), and the Arabs still occupy numerous acknowledged Jewish holy sites (such as Hebron, Joseph’s Tomb and the Temple Mount), one could just as capably say the reverse – that Arabs occupy Jewish lands. 

The Jewish claim of being the indigenous population is rather obvious: Only the Jews have a continuous history of three millennia in these lands, and only the Jews pray for Jerusalem – and facing Jerusalem – three times every day. The point is, and it is worth repeating, that it is not objectively true that Israel occupies Arab lands. It is understandable why Jew and Israel-hating people might employ a fake argument to make their point. It is not as understandable why some Jews avoid, perhaps out of desire to appear impartial, condemning it.

The author also condemns Kirschen’s labeling of the epithet “Jesus was a Palestinian” as cut from the same anti-Jewish cloth. But this is another hard truth that must be faced.

This is not an innocent statement. It is intended to persuade Christians that Israel’s approach to the Palestinians is actually an affront to the Christian religion. Some Christian groups are ardent friends and admirers of Israel and the Jewish people. But there are other denominations that have taken an active role in promoting BDS, some with millions of followers. Do we really need yet another religion to enlist in the war against Israel?

Kirschen is quite correct to label these statements for what they are: poisonous falsehoods used by proponents of BDS to demonize Israel.

Let us join with him to firmly rebuke those who espouse them, even at the expense of making us look as if we are not impartial. And let us be proactive in emphasizing Israel’s miraculous and life-affirming contributions to the world in the areas of science, medicine, technology and moral warfare.

If we abdicate this responsibility, even well-intentioned people may fall prey to such falsehoods, and unwittingly allow BDS to do Israel great harm.

RUSSELL D. RASKIN Esq. is a member of Rhode Island Lawyers and Judges for Israel.