Conveniently overlooking history with Israel and Palestine – The Register-Guard
Posted By admin on June 19, 2021
Craig Weinerman| Register-Guard
In his guest view from May 23, M. Reza Benham engages in identity politics by falsely framing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in terms of race ("What Black Americans and Palestinians share").
The Black community's struggle for civil rights in the United States and its reliance, for the most part, on peaceful resistance to bigotry and oppression is in sharp contrast to Palestinian terror groups such as Hamas, whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews wherever they may be found.
Hamas is a radical Islamist terror group financed by Iran. It seeks to replace Israel with an Islamist Palestinian state. The U.S., Canada, European Union and Japan have designated Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Behnam: What Black Americans and Palestinians share
Hamas committed war crimes when it indiscriminately fired more than 4,300 rockets at Israel's civilian population during the recent 11-day Gaza war. Its aim was not only to murder Israeli Jews but in so doing endangered Israel's Arab population of approximately 1.9 million. Many Hamas rockets misfired and landed in Gaza killing and injuring Palestinians.
Hamas stores and launches it rockets next to hospitals, mosques, schools and residences. It uses its civilian population as human shields, which is another war crime.
Those who insists on putting a racial spin on the conflict are mistaken. An examination of the demographics of Israel reveals that it is multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-ethnic country.
Israel has a population of 9.3 million, 74% are Jewish, 21% are Arabs and 18% are Muslim.
Mizrahi Jews are brown-skinned descendants of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa. Mizrahi Jews make up approximately 45% of Israel's Jewish population. Ashkenazi (European) Jews constitute 32% of Israel's Jewish population. The majority of Israeli Jews are brown, not white.
Israel's conflict with the Palestinians is not about race. It is about whether both sides are willing to recognize the legitimacy of the presence of the other and agree to partition the land into separate states.
Jews and Black Americans have historically been close allies. Many American Jews were active participants and leaders in the March on Washington with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963.
In 1968, Jews and Black Americans mourned the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian man, who murdered Kennedy because he was a strong supporter of Israel. Kennedy supported civil rights, the war on poverty and an end to the Vietnam War. Sirhan profoundly changed the trajectory of American history.
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs and its affiliated Jewish Community Relations Councils mobilized to address racial injustice following the murder of George Floyd. It supports criminal justice and police reform. It advocates against racism, antisemitism, hate and bigotry.
White supremacy is a common enemy of Jewish and Black Americans.The hundreds of white nationalists marching through the University of Virginia campus carrying burning torches in 2017 chanted "Jews will not replace us." This was eerily reminiscent of Nazi Party rallies in Nuremberg, Germany, during the 1930s.
The targeting of Jewish-Americans and Jewish institutions with violence and hate (i.e, "Hitler was right") during and following the 11-day Gaza War was distressing, confounding and terrifying.
Those who demonize Israel and hold it to a double standard for defending itselfconveniently overlook history. Gaza was captured by Israel during its Six Day War with Jordan, Syria and Egypt in 1967. In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew its military and settlements, which housed 8,000 Israelis who lived in Gaza. Israel hoped that the result of its disengagement would be an economically thriving Palestinian enclave on the Mediterranean.
Gaza soon became a terror enclave after Hamas won elections. It started launching rockets into Israel leading to wars in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021.
The Palestinians have rejected at least five comprehensive offers of statehood since 1947. They are unwilling to accept any compromise that would result in partition of the land into Jewish and Palestinian states because it rejects the legitimacy of a Jewish state in any part of Israel's ancestral homeland.
Those who engage in racial identity politics to explain the conflict should consider the insights of Rep. Richie Torres (D-N.Y.), who cautions against "reducing everything to an overarching narrative. Every country, every conflict has its own history, its own particularity, its own complexity and none of that should be ignored in favor of an overarching ideology that purports to explain everything."
Craig Weinerman was chairman of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Lane County from 2005-2013.He lives in Eugene.
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Conveniently overlooking history with Israel and Palestine - The Register-Guard
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