Americans for Peace Now has launched a new campaign, “Stop the Violence, Stop the Hatred,” calling on supporters of Israel to condemn the recent rise in hate speech and anti-opposition violence in Israel:

We are witnessing a systematic attempt, by the hard-line Israeli right, to delegitimize dissenting voices. Almost every day we see more expressions of hatred and intolerance directed at peace activists, human rights organizations, and pro-democracy forces in Israel….

In light of this recent ugly wave, we are calling on those who hold dearly the vision of a democratic Israel to raise their voice, with us.

Israeli author David Grossman and American-Jewish authors Michael Chabon and Letty Cottin Pogrebin have contributed statements to the campaign, along with several other interested and interesting parties such as – wait, who’s this? She looks familiar!

In my contribution to the project, I briefly trace my own experience with Israel’s life in the shadow of conflict, and write that what stands in the way of a peace agreement today

is not decades of regional enmity, but other Israelis. Israelis (and their supporters) who threaten and frequently carry out acts of violence, who threaten and attack not only peace activists but members of Knesset, cabinet members, and – once an unthinkable thing – soldiers serving their country. … If people like me are no longer safe in their own home because saying the wrong thing could get them killed – what is left of the dream of a Jewish democracy?

…If we establish peace with the Palestinians, we will have secure borders and the sort of freedom to grow and develop that only peace can bring – but if some Israelis and their supporters act to derail any and all attempts at peace, stifling dissent through violent means, then we will, I fear, be witnesses to a slow-moving self-destruction for which we will truly have no one but ourselves to blame.

To read the rest of my statement, click here; to learn more about the campaign and read others’ statements, click here.

And while you’re there, please consider signing the petition, or even submitting your own comments on the problem.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may those who love you prosper! Let there be peace in your homes, safety within your borders. For the sake of my people, my friends, I pray you find peace. For the sake of the house of the Eternal our God, I will seek your good. – Psalm 122:6-9

Speedily and in our days, amen, amen.

Turns out it’s been more than a month since I last really blogged about Israel/Palestine. Now, I’ve had some good reasons, ranging from Disney World to dying people, but still. This is supposed to be my (occasional) gig!

I think it’s almost a result of an embarrassment of riches. There’s the assassination of Hamas militant Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. There’s the upsurge in settler violence. There’s the government’s case of the vapors regarding J Street. And, as the husband so helpfully pointed out, there’s the Education Ministry’s Chief Scientist, Dr. Gavriel Avital:

“If textbooks state explicitly that human beings’ origins are to be found with monkeys, I would want students to pursue and grapple with other opinions…. Part of my responsibility, in light of my position with the Education Ministry, is to examine textbooks and curricula,”[Gavriel] said. “If they keep writing in textbooks that the Earth is growing warmer because of carbon dioxide emissions, I’ll insist that isn’t the case.”

So, yes. A certifiable embarrassment of riches.

But there’s another piece to my not-blogging — and this piece comes in pieces. To wit:

1. I did not, for one single solitary moment, seriously consider that anyone but Israel was behind the al-Mabhouh slaying. Which is another way of saying that I did not, for one single solitary moment, not think that the Israeli government was and is lying. After a quarter of a century of experience, it’s what I expect.
2. The settler violence, while troubling and important, is neither surprising nor new. It’s a regular feature of Palestinian life — just one of the many daily horrors that the occupation has unleashed and about which the outside world says little — and it’s not even all that unusual to see it directed at Israeli Jews with whom the settlers disagree, including the very military the praises of which they are so likely to sing.
3. The J Street thing is so infantile that it just enrages me. It’s a living, breathing example of all of the worst of Israeli political behavior, wherein shouting = reasonable tool of debate and censorship = reasonable tool for shaping opinion, and Israelis assure each other that Americans are lily-livered bleeding hearts who Don’t Really Understand Arabs.
4. The Chief Scientist? Oy. Mah nishar? What’s left? If the Israeli government is willing to sacrifice its entirely justified reputation for scientific and technological prowess on the altar of party politics, filling government slots with hacks and idiots, what can I possibly say? It’s just further indication of the downward cultural slide that the country is on, one that started years ago and can be seen in such things as growing classroom size and falling test scores and is part of why I moved away.

All of which is to say that all of the above things are, in a very real sense, old news — and not just old news, but old news that I’ve been screaming about for years. And oy I am so tired of screaming into the (apparently widening) void.

What’s a blogger to do?

But, hey now, what’s this? As so he so frequently does, MJ Rosenberg rode to my rescue yesterday, bringing my attention to something I had managed to miss:

Last week, the Israeli government took the unprecedented step of refusing to meet with a group of five Democratic House members who were visiting Israel with J Street, the pro-Israel, pro-peace group.

It was an incredibly stupid move. Israeli officials never refuse to meet with American legislators (1) because that is not how normal nations behave and (2) the American Congress provides Israel with more than $3 billion a year in foreign aid.

Of course, this act of moronitude is related to point # 3, above, but still: For Israel to have taken the step of officially snubbing American Congressmembers is, well — it’s new. Even though (as Rosenberg mentions later in his post) Israel tends to think of itself as the dog wagging the American tail (and not without reason — has anyone other than of George Bush Sr. ever done anything at all to actually halt West Bank settlement growth? Just, you know, for instance?), this attitude is part and parcel of a long-standing relationship which depends on the fact that the US is a superpower, and Israel its client state. Due deference is given, even if only in photo ops and mealy mouthed speeches.

What this says to me — and I stress that this is a gut feeling — is that Israel is losing it.

The desperate scrambling on everyone’s part to appease the local wingnuts — religious settlers, their apologists, and the various shades of Israel-Do-Or-Die-ers — is just that: desperate. And it has the Netanyahu government losing the plot.

I honestly think that the only way for Israel to actually lose America (or, more appropriately, sharpen America’s attention and demands) would be to offend its government. Flouting international treaties and ignoring American-brokered agreements hasn’t done it, for reasons that have an awful lot to do with America’s own wingnuts and domestic politics. But as a nation, we — and most especially our politicians — are nothing if not prideful. Blatantly disrespect us and our $3 billion dollars often enough, and we are likely to get huffy.

All of which, oddly enough, makes me happy. Whatever it takes to get Washington to sit up and demand responsible behavior — behavior that would not only be best for Israelis and Palestinians but also American security interests, behavior that would lead to an end to bloodshed and the possibility of real peace and true security — whatever it takes to achieve that? Is ok by me. I can only hope that scores of Congressmembers — hey, maybe even Special Envoy George Mitchell! — get similarly snubbed in the coming weeks and months, and a hue and cry is raised as American Honor Is Defended. Please God, speedily in our days, amen.

And I never really thought Bibi had a terribly good handle on the plot to begin with.

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Update, important clarification: On J Street’s blog, Amy Spitalnick clarifies that while the Foreign Ministry did dance an odd boycott dance around the J Street delegation,

[t]he Delegation was not boycotted by the government of Israel. In fact, the Delegation was pleased to meet with representatives of the Israeli government, including both political leadership (Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor) and staff of various ministries around substantive issues such as veteran’s health and the mental health impacts of conflict.

The Foreign Ministry’s clumsy decision to not meet with five members of Congress (a decision that J Street only learned of when their representatives were contacted by the Israeli media about it), and their subsequent even clumsier efforts to deal with the gaff, were and are a pretty damn big deal. To quote Rosenberg again, “that is not how normal nations behave.”

But it is honestly comforting to know that not all of the Israeli government has lost its damn mind (though, theoretically, that could destroy the potential for Israel giving grave and policy-altering offense to the American government. Hmmm. I’m torn about how to feel here).

Anyway, it’s an important thing to know, and now you do!

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Earlier:

Israel/Palestine: the basics.

Israel/Palestine peace advocacy – places to start.

Israel/Palestine – a reading list.