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World

Boycott Consensus

Brandeis Hillel vote helps define Jewish organizations on Israel.

Stewart Ain
New York Jewish Week

New Orleans. They yelled such things as,
"The settlements delegitimize Israel,"
before they were hustled out of the room.
"Those are positions that are outside the
New York
mainstream Jewish positions with respect
to Israel," Raffel said. "Israel is damaged as
s the Jewish community strug-
a consequence of their actions ... I distin-
gles to combat efforts to dele-
guish them from members of our commu-
gitimize Israel and still retain a
nity who are struggling with reconciling
"big-tent" strategy, a mainstream consen-
Israel's dual nature as both a Jewish and a
sus appears to have taken shape in recent
democratic state:'
weeks that boils down to this: One can
Many younger Jews "growing up in an
support a targeted boycott of Israeli settle-
open,
pluralistic America may have a hard
ments and even a cultural ban against the
time
with
that concept:' he said. "Although
West Bank settlement of Ariel — as long
as one also supports Israel as a democratic 98 percent of this country is Christian, we
would not define it that way. We are all cit-
Jewish state.
izens and no one ethnic or religious group
Helping to crystallize the issue was the
has a different status in America.
Oakland, Calif.-based organization Jewish
"Israel is unique; it has a dual identity. It
Voice for Peace, which two weeks ago was
is a nation-state of the Jewish people and
rebuffed by the Hillel center at Brandeis
a state that serves all its citizens in a non-
University in Waltham, Mass. Hillel's
discriminatory fashion. We have an obliga-
board voted to reject the group's applica-
tion to provide education and experiential
tion to come under its umbrella of Jewish
opportunities to help young people work
organizations because JVP's support of a
through the process of becoming com-
boycott of Israeli settlement goods runs
fortable with Israel as a democratic and
counter to a position adopted by it and its
Jewish state. Birthright is an example of
parent, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish
how to do that:' Raffel said, referring to the
Campus Life.
program that provides free trips to Israel
Although the boycott
to young Jews.
issue was sufficient to
And if there is any one issue that
place JVP beyond the
removes one from the Jewish communal
pale for Hillel, that alone
tent:' Raffel said, it is the refusal to recog-
would not have been
nize Israel as a Jewish democratic state:'
sufficient for most other
Thus, he said, one can disagree with
Jewish groups, according
such Jewish artists as Theodore Bikel
to Martin Raffel, who is
and Daniel Barenboim for their boycott
overseeing a multimil-
Martin Raffel
of Ariel's newly opened theater but "not
lion-dollar Jewish corn-
recognizing Israel as a Jewish democratic
munal effort (dubbed
state is a completely different story:'
the Israel Action Network) to counter
Raffel's thinking on the issue of "set-
Israel delegitimization efforts.
Rather it was a combination of positions tlements-only" boycotts seems to have
evolved since the Israel Action Network
and actions that "pushes JVP over the
was formed in December. At the time, he
line,' he said.
told the Jewish Week, "I don't know that a
Among them, Raffel said, is JVP's
consensus has crystallized on this subject.
"unwillingness to recognize Israel as a
"If a person believes that Israel ought
Jewish state, its demonstrated support
to do more to achieve peace based on a
for the BDS [Boycott, Divestment and
two-state formula, the question is, will
Sanctions] movement — history has
boycotting a settlement advance the day
shown it goes beyond boycott of settle-
that there will be peace? I'd argue that no,
ments — and the tactics JVP employs of
disrupting the speeches of Israeli officials!' it will only harden positions and be coun-
terproductive," he said in December. "But
He was referring to the actions of five
being misguided in one's policies doesn't
young JVP Jewish supporters who inter-
mean one necessarily has become part of
rupted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
the ranks of the delegitimizers."
Netanyahu last October while he was
Last week, Raffel cited Meretz USA as a
addressing the General Assembly of the
group that, though it might fit his earlier
Jewish Federations of North America in

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April 7 - 2011

description of "misguided," is safely in
the tent, so to speak. The group supports
the targeted boycott of Israeli settlement
products and the cultural boycott of Ariel,
but, Raffel said, "it is fully supportive of
the Jewish state and it repudiates the BDS
movement:'
Ron Skolnik, executive director of
Meretz USA, agreed, saying that despite "a
certain similarity of tools, we are clearly
in favor of a two-state solution in which
Israel remains democratic and the nation-
al home of the Jewish people. JVP doesn't
really specify what end result it prefers."
Yet he said his organization decided
to issue a statement after the action of
Brandeis Hillel because it rejects the "idea
that a boycott of the settlements in the
occupied territories is the same as the
delegitimization of the State of Israel. ...
We believe that a targeted boycott of the
settlements (as opposed to a global boy-
cott of sovereign Israel) is a legitimate tool
to be used by Zionist organizations and
individuals ... "
Cecilie Surasky, JVP's
deputy director, said her
group's emphasis is on
"full human rights for
both people" and that it
would be comfortable
with whatever solution
Israelis and Palestinians
agree upon — be it a
Cecelie
two-state solution or a
Surasky
binational state.
"Experts are divided
between those who think we have only
a few days or minutes left before the
two-state solution is dead and those who
think the time is past, largely thanks to
entrenched Israeli settlements which have
made a Palestinian state impossible,' she
said.
Regarding Meretz USA, Raffel, who is
also senior vice president of the Jewish
Council for Public Affairs, said:
"We just say they are still within our
tent and we should discuss with them
whether their activities will advance the
cause of peace."
The JCPA and the Jewish Federations of
North America late last year created the
Israel Action Network to combat efforts
to delegitimize Israel, specifically the BDS
movement.
William Daroff, JFN_Ns vice president
for public policy and director of its

Washington office, said it "has not been
easy struggling with the issue of who
should be inside the metaphorical tent of
the pro-Israel community. We must have a
big tent of organizations and beliefs. Not
everyone will agree on many of the specif-
ics ... But we embrace those organizations
and individuals who hold core beliefs in
Israel as a democratic Jewish state that is
the eternal home of the Jewish people."
Thus, he said, the JVP by "promot-
ing the boycott of goods both inside and
outside Israel's Green Line [pre-1967
border] assaults the legitimacy of the
State of Israel. And by refusing to support
the concept of Israel as both a Jewish and
democratic state, it clearly falls outside the
boundaries of being a Zionist organiza-
tion that is inside the tent of the pro-Israel
community ... As we combat the assault
on Israel's legitimacy, our standards
should not be so watered down as to be
meaningless."
Surasky insisted that the "single great-
est threat to Israel today is the occupation
and Israel's continued settlement expan-
sion. It's the reason Israel is becoming an
international pariah, and it's what is fuel-
ing the deterioration of democracy within
Israel," she said.
There are some Jewish institutions,
Surasky said, that "are in denial about the
massive and growing opposition to the
occupation ... There are young, engaged,
smart Jews who feel very deeply about
being part of the Jewish community. They
were raised with Jewish values of justice
and healing and are simply applying them
to what is happening in Israel and are say-
ing it isn't fair. The level of engagement is
exactly what we want from this generation
of Jews, and they are sending them away."
In explaining its action against the
Brandeis chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace,
Andrea Wexler, president of Brandeis
Hillel, wrote that JVP's support of a
boycott of Israeli settlement goods con-
travened a position adopted by both her
group and her parent organization. And
she said she was mindful that the JVP
national organization supports the entire
BDS movement.
Surasky said the JVP, which was formed
14 years ago and first hired staff seven
years ago, has five campus chapters and
another six in formation. The Brandeis
chapter was the first to seek Hillel affilia-
tion, she said. Li