Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumThe fallacy of the 'pinkwashing' argument
Boycotting Israeli gay teenagers because of the occupation, is akin to boycotting a group of Czech beer brewers because of their nation's abysmal treatment of its Roma minority.
By James Kirchick
On March 16, a group of gay Israeli teenagers was set to meet with the Seattle LGBT Commission, a body representing the interests of the gay community before the city government. The students were touring the United States under the auspices of the Alliance of Israeli LGBT Educational Organizations, a network of groups that support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. The purpose of the visit was to exchange ideas about best practices for combating homophobia, share personal experiences and, like any cultural exchange, generally learn from one other.
Given the recent spate of tragic suicides by gay teenagers in the U.S., it would be hard for anyone, outside the confines of the gay-hating religious right, to find anything pernicious about such an endeavor. But then Dean Spade, an assistant professor at Seattle University School of Law, entered the picture. Spade is a leading figure in the movement to combat Israeli "pinkwashing," which translates into English as the Jewish state's "deliberate strategy to conceal the continuing violations of Palestinians' human rights behind an image of modernity signified by Israeli gay life," according to Sarah Schulman, who popularized the term in a New York Times op-ed last year.
You might have been under the impression that there was no outrageous crime, no horrible deed, with which Israel and Israelis have not already been charged. Injecting Palestinian babies with AIDS. Poisoning Palestinian water. "Mass graves" in Jenin. (And we haven't even gotten to the charges presented in Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer's "The Israel Lobby." ) No, not only do Israelis behave like Nazis, they have the gall to behave like gay ones.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-fallacy-of-the-pinkwashing-argument-1.422951
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King_David
(14,851 posts)'Could one imagine a group of American liberals boycotting a group of gay Zimbabweans or Iranians - people who reside in countries whose leaders, respectively, call homosexuals "worse than dogs and pigs" and hang them from construction cranes? Boycotting individuals because of the actions of their government, over which they have no control and that they may very well oppose, is absurd. Boycotting Israeli gay teenagers because of the occupation is akin to boycotting a group of Czech beer brewers because of their nation's abysmal treatment of its Roma minority, or a French opera company because of the dismal state of the banlieues. And selectively boycotting Israelis - whether they be artists, professors or gay teenagers - is nothing short of anti-Semitic. '
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-fallacy-of-the-pinkwashing-argument-1.422951
shira
(30,109 posts)Yeah, right. Not in a million years.
Boycotting Israelis (Jews) is pure bigotry. These BDS clowns and their silent supporters throughout the rest of the progressive/left should hang their heads in shame. They're proving to be no better than their extreme rightwing counterparts. The more things change the more they remain the same...
Jewish Resistance and the "Otriad"
Prior to the onset of WWII, conditions throughout occupied Poland & Belarus varied greatly. In some areas, especially in eastern Poland, which the Soviet Union invaded in 1939, and subsequently "formally" annexed, the situation was particularly volatile.
During the two year' occupation till the Soviet-German war outbreak in 1941, the Soviets carried out the ethnic cleansing of Poles considered as a potential threat to full annexation of these territories into Soviet Union.
Hundred of thousands of Polish officials, officers, soldiers, policemen, teachers, churchmen, landowners, and civilians with their families were sent to Siberian concentration camps.
[font color = "red"]Some Jews had welcomed the Soviets as liberators, [/font]believing that life under the communists might be preferable to that of the Poles. However time would soon disprove that theory.
Novogrudek Market Place 1941
[font color = "red"]"I remember we were very happy that the Russians liberated us from the anti-Semitic government of Poland[/font], and we were happy that the Germans didn't occupy our area of Belarus, but when the Russians came in, right away they took away my father's business. I was forced to go to a Russian school, instead of the Tarbut. The Russians forced my father to work for them. He was sweeping the floors because he was a capitalist, a bourgeois. He worked in his own store as a laborer...
http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/revolt/bielski.html
Not too much has changed in 70 years.
holdencaufield
(2,927 posts)Is John Barrowman Jewish?! That would be *sooooo* cool if he was.
pelsar
(12,283 posts)but it should be obvious by now, that the whole IP conflict from the "progressive" point of view has nothing to do with civil rights, gay rights, tolerance, "brotherhood of man" etc....its all about creating a racist govt, wait i didn't mean that, its about creating a govt that is governed by people of the proper genes, shit, I meant Palestinians have to be governed by Palestinians because that is what nationalism is all about.. damn this computer its keeps on correcting what i am writing.
its all about self-determination. whew!! got it.
anyways this particular self-determination is not about civil rights, its not about tolerance, its not about minority rights, its about nationalism, and nationalism as we know it is not where one finds that much tolerance for those who are different.
King_David
(14,851 posts)But we need try explain it to them.
EgaLitE
(31 posts)There never was a self-proclaimed "Palestine" until 1948, with reaction to Israel's rebirth. (the most hateful kind, usually) Notice how white nationalism started off only as a hateful reaction to the Civil Rights movement. Hate and antisemitism is what hateful people spew in response to social progress.
pelsar
(12,283 posts)what do you think the american indian wars were all about? white european against the godless red ones.
hate and anti semitism are spewed forth with change of any kind....it doesn't make a difference which way it goes.
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)Last edited Thu Apr 12, 2012, 07:45 AM - Edit history (1)
such as in South Africa, where Israel enjoyed close relations with apartheid-era South Africa, but rather less so once the African National Congress took over.
Likewise, in the US Israel is somewhat more popular with white, right-wing evangelicals and less so with African Americans, Native Americans and Irish Catholics.
Gurgen4
(39 posts)A ton of African Americans and Native Americans are pro-Israel. My best friend in middle school was a Cherokee Indian and he knew what it was like to be oppressed. He was a staunch supporter of Israel. People might pretend that they're "just" talking about the Zionists but they are just trying to cover up their anti-semitism. The most famous African-American once said quite clearly: “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You are talking anti-Semitism.”
And yes there are Republicans who support Israel but there are also tons on the far right like Pat Buchanan or David Duke who support "palestine". And of the Republicans and the far, extreme right, the Republicans are by far the lesser evil. Even Republicans don't want to bring back slavery or take away women's sufferage while the extreme right does which is probably why they get along so well with the "palestinians".
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)which is quite ironic given the moral outrage that hasbarados summon whenever the "Zionism is racism" UN resolution is raised. But I have learned that hypocrisy is like mothers' milk for some around here.
My best friend in middle school was an Apache Indian who stood seven feet tall and could operate heavy farm machinery remotely using telekinesis. He told me that your best friend was a poser who talked out of his arse.
Gosh, that line sounds familiar, in fact that precise sentence is invoked on an almost weekly basis by a regular poster here.
Amazing, that same sentence is a regular missive from that very same poster. Maybe you are long lost twins.
whathehell
(29,067 posts)Bullshit...As the late, great Molly Ivins said "Don't tell me I'm anti-semitic for
for arguing with Israeli policies, the Israelis themselves argue like hell about it".
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)Only some. A very loud and vocal minority.
pelsar
(12,283 posts)i stand corrected
shira
(30,109 posts)leftynyc
(26,060 posts)We do try to be tolerant but I agree there are issues where we bend over so far we break (to paraphrase Tevye)
shira
(30,109 posts)Consumers in the U.S. and Europe could soon benefit from the fruits of an Israeli technology that can prevent microbacterial infestation of foods and beverages. Ness Ziona-based Oplon has signed an agreement with a large multinational food manufacturer for the development of packaging materials based on Oplon’s technology. The 3-year deal is worth $8 million, not including royalties that may accrue based on the products developed, the company said.
Oplon specializes in the development of materials that ward off the growth of bacteria on surfaces. The coatings use a special set of molecules that create an electrical charge, zapping bacteria. According to Oplon, the packaging can keep food germ-free for days — and even weeks — without refrigeration or preservatives. An open container of milk, the company says, will keep for 30 days without refrigeration, with regular pasteurized milk capable of having the shelf life and attributes of UHT milk. Water stored in Oplon containers will be disinfected, even if it is drawn from contaminated sources.
more...
http://www.timesofisrael.com/keeping-milk-fresh-for-a-month/
King_David
(14,851 posts)Coming out of Israel,is suspect.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)It's just that the good things there don't justify the bad-which is true of the good things/bad things split in any OTHER country.
The way the Israeli treats LGBT people doesn't justify the way the same government treats Palestinians(or, for that matter, the destruction of the harmless Bedouin towns in the Negev).
I'm not saying anything there beyond what Ezra Nawi says.
shira
(30,109 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)(and I always make a clear distinction between the Israeli government and the Israeli people, as everyone should make with every government and every people in any country).
I think the argument is that the good somehow means the bad doesn't matter.
Our country did the same thing for a long time, and the Right in the U.S. still does...arguing that the eloquence of the founding documents somehow means that slavery and the attempted genocide against Native Americans were "no biggie", and that the survivors of the victims of those atrocities(as well as all the other U.S. injustices) should just "get over it".
I'm glad that Israel is a LGBT-friendly country...but that doesn't mean that I'm obligated to let the treatment of Palestinians slide, or, worse, that the first somehow vindicates the second.
shira
(30,109 posts)Why do you think that is?
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)so, can we move on?
holdencaufield
(2,927 posts)... to destroy the Palestinian Dairy Farmer Collective.
Eeee-ville!
shira
(30,109 posts)whathehell
(29,067 posts)
shira
(30,109 posts)And being against Jewish self-determination (Zionism) without being against anybody else's is antisemitic.
shira
(30,109 posts)The Knesset yesterday passed a law banning the use of underweight models in advertising. The so-called "Photoshop law" also requires that any ad agency digitally altering photos to make models look thinner must disclose the fact in the advert.
The legislation is an effort to change idealized perceptions of beauty that, according to evidence presented to the Knesset, encourages eating disorders such as anorexia.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/knesset-passes-bill-banning-use-of-underweight-models-in-advertising-1.419616
shira
(30,109 posts)WASHINGTON - A majority comprised of 133 states voted at the United Nations General Assembly Friday in favor of an Israeli proposal to make farming technology more accessible to developing African nations. Arab countries, who opposed the measure for political reasons, led a group of 35 nations who abstained from the vote.
The measure proposed by the Jewish state is expected to aid the Arab world among other regions, and is in line with the UN policy to eradiate hunger and poverty.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4156281,00.html
jimmie
(318 posts)
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)gosh some of those Arabs must have disliked it so much they voted twice, huh?
list of Arab countries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Arab_countries_by_population
shira
(30,109 posts)They wouldn't want to get any Zionist cooties, you know.
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)shira
(30,109 posts)...and those dastardly Zionists don't get to hunger-wash.
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)so will any of the 35 countries still benefit and I've been looking this up and cannot find exactly what benefits or tech would be available do to this resolution
shira
(30,109 posts)Palestinian kids hospitalized in Israeli hospitals go for a fun day at Mount Hermon
3 Palestinian children went to Mount Hermon in Israel on March, the 19th, with a group of Israeli children, to enjoy the mountain and the snow
Date: 16.04.12 Author: Civil Administration Blog
The children, treated in Schneider Hospital and Sharei Tsedek Hospital were accompanied by soldiers from the Alpine Unit of Tsahal, who enjoyed the day with tem.
The event was organized by the Civil Administration and the Israeli NGO “Tikva uMarpeh”.
http://www.cogat.idf.il/901-9905-en/Cogat.aspx
shira
(30,109 posts)http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/michael-oren-pinkwashes-the-truth-about-israel-and-gay-palestinians-1.429248
These anti-Israel bigots certainly have chutzpah! Especially when none of them ever show any concern for gay Palestinians in the territories.
Never.
These rightwing humanitarian racists probably feel that by standing up for gay Palestinians in the territories, it is they who would be doing Israel's hasbara (so screw the Palestinians). But it's not just that because if they did advocate for gay Palestinians in the territories they would really piss off their fellow rightwing BFF's in Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the PLO.
Can't have that.
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)I missed that article and for that picture again I missed that too
shira
(30,109 posts)...and pretty much sums up what most of the anti-zionist, faux- pro Palestinian "peace" camp is all about.
It's ugly.
But then again, what do you expect from activists who believe Hamas has every right to murder the hated Jews?
jimmie
(318 posts)I love that happy faces and the camaraderie and all the fun.
You should have seen the laughs when the Fogel family got butchered...I hear THAT was a killer party.
shira
(30,109 posts)...them with medals?
Those BFF's of Hamas are "peace" activists and "humanitarians", you know.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)I could be wrong, but I believe that is the first Free Gaza group from 2008 who were actually not prevented from reaching Gaza by Israel.
This meeting and awarding of medals appears to be a celebration by Hamas of that accomplishment.
shira
(30,109 posts)...in order to cover up US crimes like drone attacks and support for the evil Zionist entity?
shira
(30,109 posts)shira
(30,109 posts)Fatah named a summer camp after a terrorist who led an attack that killed 37 Israelis, Palestinian Media Watch reported.
Among the victims of Dalal Mughrabi, namesake of the new “Sisters of Dalal Mughrabi” camp, were 12 children. Speaking to summer camp participants, the Governor of the Jericho district called Mughrabi “a beacon for us in our activities.”
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Civil Administration hosted a three-day summer camp this month for children with cancer living in Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of the West Bank and Gaza. Activities included horseback riding and music, Israel National News reported.
http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/07/18/idf-hosts-summer-camp-for-palestinian-children-with-cancer/
shira
(30,109 posts)How does Jew-washing work? The EAPPI example is telling. Prior to the Church’s vote, the BBC hosted a debate on July 8 between the motion’s sponsor, John Dinnon, and a representative of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Jonathan Arkush. Dinnon said, “Jonathan is just one individual as well as is the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Chief Rabbi. But then you have, there are many Jews who are contacting us and saying that they think [EAPPI] is a good organization. In fact it was founded by Jews and Christians in Geneva, about five Jews were involved in setting it up.”
It is in this manner that Jew-washers provide cover for Israel-bashers. Dinnon’s undefined “many Jews” and his “five Jews” that he claims helped establish EAPPI somehow outweigh the millions of Jews who would find EAPPI and its activities both immoral and dangerous. Jew-washers help Dinnon make the absurd claim that the Board of Deputies, with its 183 constituent member organizations, are but a few unrepresentative “individuals.”
In many cases, Jew-washing is also used to whitewash the blatant theological anti-Semitism that accompanies the church-based BDS attacks on Israel. One example is Sabeel, a Palestinian Christian group that is very influential in those mainline churches active in the BDS wars. Its theology includes supercessionism – a reading of the New Testament that considers the Church to have superseded the Jewish people in God’s promises – and deicide – the charge that “the Jews” killed Jesus – that served as the basis for centuries of anti-Jewish persecution.
Giving Sabeel a thorough Jew-wash is JVP’s Rabbinical Council, which in its “Statement of Support for the Sabeel Institute” acknowledges “the more radical incarnations (sic) of some of [Sabeel’s] theological images.” Yet, Sabeel’s frequent denigration of Judaism as “tribal” and “primitive” and comparisons of Palestinians to Jesus on the cross put there by the Israeli government’s “crucifixion machine,” does not seem to affect JVP’s rabbis, who assert that it is “a mistake to dismiss Palestinian Christian theology wholesale.”
http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/on_jew_washing_and_bds
