by Howard Feldman
Anytime now. Maybe even as soon as Wednesday, but Thursday at the very latest, I intend to start a new organization. It won’t be Friday, because I have a lot to do and I am sure it will take up most of the morning (at the least).
I have yet to decide on the name of the group but know that it will for sure include the word “Jew” and “Palestine” and “Justice”. It might even have “Voices” thrown in for good measure – because then it implies that we have finally found ours. And although it has taken us a few thousand years, finally on Wednesday (Thursday at the latest) ours will be heard.
And it will be (heard). Because strangely the minute a Jew is involved in a Palestinian cause, they receive all the publicity they require. They are interviewed and quoted and pictured-provided that their name is a Jewish one. Cohen and Greenberg are the real winners but I know that Feldman (with an “F” and not a “V” will do the trick). There is almost nothing sadder than a Jewish member of a Palestinian organization with a non-Jewish name. It’s a ticket to obscurity…. No one will ever hear from them again.
The reality is that South African Jews should know better and should get behind the Palestinian cause. They have witnessed first-hand what denial of democratic rights does to a society and the time that it takes to recover from such. The twenty-three years that has distanced South Africans from Apartheid has thus far not been sufficient, and there is little doubting that it will take generations to rectify the imbalance. And with Hamas in power in Gaza, and
On the Names of the Winds and Their Effects – Olaus Magnus
the Palestinian Authority in the so called West Bank, there is little pretense of a democratic process. Palestinians have been denied the most basic of dignities, from the education of Palestinian children to healthcare to the freedom to voice dissent and to vote. The situation is deteriorating daily. And along with this denial of rights comes the dangerous polarization of society.
In South Africa, the Jewish community were at the forefront of the anti-apartheid community. Many of the those who had the courage to stand up to the brutal and oppressive regime were Jews, refugees themselves, who understood well the consequence of bigotry.
Around the world, Jews have stood on the front lines in the war against racism. And although they suffered anti Semitism throughout history, they have not been jaded by the persecution – at least when it comes to the rights of others. Rather, they have turned it around and have used their experience to empathize and to support. Be it for the disenfranchised, for freedom of expression or for gay rights.
The recent discovery of tunnels under an UNRWA school, the execution of so called “collaborators” without a trial, the consistent denial of rights to women, to Christians and to the gay community demand that the world pays attention to the real issues that are a constant in Gaza. And as Jews who are sensitive to this, we should be at the forefront of this cause.
The BDS and other organizations have purported to support the Palestinian people. Nothing could be further from reality. Their focus is undeniably the destruction of Israel and not the concern about the disenfranchisement of the Palestinians. They are silent when it comes to Hamas, to the PA and to the atrocities committed in their so-called area of focus.
In doing so, they have successfully managed to hijack an important cause but to pervert it so that the very people that they purport to represent suffer further from their strategy. Worse, they have successfully intimidated Jewish support away from the Palestinian cause. By making it purely an Israel issue, they have colonized the area for their own agenda. In essence, the BDS have kept Jews clear of an area that they would have, and should be involved in.
And in doing so, they win.
Which is the reason that there should be more Jewish movements that support Palestinian humanitarian causes. And I will be starting one. Wednesday or Thursday at the latest. All I need is a name!
