Criticizing violations of human rights is not anti-Jewish.
“For years, under the banner of defending Israel, advocacy organizations have launched attacks against those who advocate for Palestinian rights and express political criticism of Israel, often deploying spurious charges of anti-Jewish bigotry . . . they have helped shape problematic definitions of anti-Semitism in order to limit open debate on college campuses, and intimidate students, faculty, and administrators.”
—from Jewish Voice for Peace, STIFLING DISSENT
The ongoing campaign to muzzle political criticism of Israeli policies has escalated recently into national lobbying efforts to label criticism of Israel’s human rights violations as anti-Jewish hate speech. Constitutional and academic freedoms are under serious threat, as campus organizations are attacked and 28 states have enacted anti-constitutional measures against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
As anti-racists, we are committed to resisting actual hate crimes against Jews in Pittsburgh, Charlottesville, and elsewhere. As anti-racists, we must also resist the corruption of genuine anti-racist concerns when they are weaponized to suppress resistance to racist policies and actions by Israel or any other state.
SeaMAC’s Virtual Symposium gathers statements by authors and activists — some Jewish, some Palestinian — which specify crucial human rights violations by the State of Israel and place those criticisms in the wider global struggle for justice and equal rights.
“A new consensus is emerging – one in which equality and basic human rights for Palestinians is not only widely supported but also integrated into global struggles for justice, liberation, and self-determination. Young people who reject racism in American society also oppose racist social order in other countries, including Israel.”
— from Jewish Voice for Peace, STIFLING DISSENT
ISRAEL’S ABUSE OF CHILDREN
by Nada Elia — special to SeaMAC
The frequency of reports about Israeli abuse of Palestinian children is alarming. Almost every day, one can read about Israeli soldiers shooting a Palestinian child in the eye, in the legs, kidnapping children from their beds in the middle of the night and, most disturbingly, routinely torturing these children. Based on the pattern of injuries they are treating, doctors have determined that Israeli snipers are “shooting to maim” an entire generation. Within the Israeli detention system, there is widespread and systematic abuse of Palestinian children, as exposed by the No Way to Treat a Child Campaign . . .
Read the full article here.
from Women’s March Privileging Victimhood
by Alice Rothchild
In Israel there has also been the rise of the ultra-Orthodox who are controlling personal law to the grave detriment of women’s and gay rights and of a more racist, fascistic element that characterizes many in Netanyahu’s increasingly rightwing coalition.
Read the full article at Mondoweiss: https://mondoweiss.net/2019/01/womens-privileging-victimhood/
ISRAEL’S SEGREGATED TOWNS
by Aisha Mansour — special to SeaMAC
Har Gilo is one of the 121 illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. It is located between my family’s house in Beit Jala and the village from which my family originates, al-Walaja. More than half of Walaja’s land has been expropriated by Israel since May 15th, 1948, what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba (the catastrophe). Many residents of al-Walaja have moved within the village to adhere to the new boundaries set forth by the colonial state of Israel, or have been displaced to surrounding refugee camps.
This loss of land is still ongoing . . .
Read the full article here.
and also SeaMAC’s background article on Israel’s settlements: http://seamac.org/index.php/segregated-towns/
PERMISSION DENIED: Gaza children struggle to get medical care
by Jen Marlowe
With severe medicine shortages and an overstretched health care system in Gaza, children in need of medical treatments can only find them outside the strip. Yet Israel’s convoluted, arbitrary permit process leaves them waiting in pain, often missing life-saving care.
Noha Saleh called me at seven in the morning on March 18 from Erez, the only crossing point from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Her 12-year-old son, Mohamed, had a surgical appointment in Jerusalem later that day . . .
Read the full article at +972 Magazine: https://www.972mag.com/gaza-children-health-israeli-permits/
ISRAEL’S ILLEGAL ANNEXATION
by Huwaida Arraf
Annexation is prohibited by Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and Article 47 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Annexation also constitutes a crime of aggression under Article 8 bis (2)(a) of the Rome Statute, the 1998 treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC) . . . .
Read the full article here.
and more about Israel’s war crimes here.
from Women’s March Privileging Victimhood
by Alice Rothchild
Political Zionism as a movement that led to the formation of the Jewish state was premised on the expulsion of the indigenous Palestinian population and the privileging of the (white) Jews who led the movement and settled the land.
Read the full article at Mondoweiss: https://mondoweiss.net/2019/01/womens-privileging-victimhood/
and also SeaMAC’s background article on ethnic cleansing: http://seamac.org/index.php/ethnic-cleansing/