Allan C. Brownfeld's Letter to the NYT Magazine Editor in re: Nathan Thrall's Article

To the editor,
New York Times Magazine

Congratulations to Nathan Thrall for his thoughtful and even-handed article, “The Battle Over B.D.S.” (March 31)

Whether or not one agrees with the movement of “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” to protest Israel’s 50-year occupation and denial of basic rights to millions of Palestinians, such an enterprise is fully within the American tradition.  It is free speech, protected by the First Amendment.  Examples of such boycotts include the Montgomery bus boycott to protest segregation and the boycott of South Africa to end apartheid. It is also clearly within the Jewish tradition.

Those groups which seek to criminalize free speech, allegedly in defense of Israel, are, in fact, violating both free speech and Jewish values.

What Mr. Thrall omits is the long history of Jewish opposition to Zionism.  Using the term “anti-Semitism” to characterize Israel’s critics would have to include untold numbers of Jews. It trializes real anti-Semitism which, sadly, is on the rise in many places.

Zionism, or Jewish nationalism, has been a contentious issue from the beginning.  In 1897, the Central Conference of American Rabbis adopted a resolution disapproving of any attempt to create a Jewish state.  It declared:  “Zion was a previous possession of the past...as such it is a holy memory, but it is not our hope of the future. America is our Zion.”

In 1938, alluding to Nazism, Albert Einstein warned an audience of Zionist activists against the temptation to create a state”imbued with a narrow nationalism within our own ranks  against which we have already had to fight strongly even without a Jewish state.”

The Jewish philosopher Martin Buber spoke out in 1942 against “the aim of the minority to conquer trrritory by means of international maneuvers.”  In Buber’s view, “This sort of ‘Zionism’ blasphemes the name of Zion;  it is nothing more than one of the crude forms of nationalism.”

Judaism is a religion of universal values, not a nationality.  It believes that men and women of every race and nation are created in the image of God and entitled to the same basic human rights.  Israel claims to be a “Jewish” state, yet it treats its non-Jewish citizens, more than 20 per cent of the population, as something less.  Prime Minister Netanyahu says Israel is not their “nation-state.”  It is hardly “anti-Semitic” to point this out, and lament its exclusionist sentiment.

Sincerely,
       Allan C. Brownfeld,
           Publications Editor,
           American Council for Judaism