David’s book is about a process of
reconciliation that he went through with the family of the terrorist who tried
to kill his wife.
To make a really long story short, the
reason that they have cancelled his speaking events is because in July 2012 he
wrote an article in Tikkun entitled: Today, I’m coming out in Favor of BDS (Boycott,Divestment, & Sanctions against Israel.)
Some of you might jump up and say,
“Great, ban his ass.”
But I’m going to tell you why that’s
not the right answer.
David has over and over and over and
over clarified his position on the issue. He has most recently written in
Haaretz after being banned by the DCJCC that he “views
economic sanctions as a legitimate form of nonviolent protest for Palestinians
to use, despite my opposition to some tactics used by the BDS movement and its
implicit goal of a bi-national state.”
I don’t see why any Jewish organization
or Jewish leader would not be okay with that statement, especially given the
fact that when Palestinians used a violent form of protest, his wife paid a
high price and their friends were murdered.
He is saying, “Go ahead, use a non violent form of protest to make your
point” and I am adding, rather than setting off bombs and killing innocent
civilians.
Why David felt the need to write that
article in the first place, I really don’t know. But find me a politician who
hasn’t changed his or her mind about something, or clarified a position, since
July 2012. Remember Barack Obama’s red
line? Remember Netanyahu’s not-so-subtle support of Mitt Romney? It happens all of the time, and I don’t know
why executive directors or donors feel the need to ban someone like David from
speaking about his book – which has nothing to do with BDS.
As David keeps reminding us, he is a
Zionist and he is a Jewish studies teacher. I knew David and his wife during a
period when they were becoming more observant. I hung out with David while he
was at the West Bank Yeshiva. I went to their hippy Jewish wedding. I visited
them a few months after the bombing in Jerusalem. I saw them when they lived in
DC. David stayed at my place in Chicago a couple of times, once to visit a sick
relative and the other to attend a conference on teaching Israel in the
classroom. His wife came to my wedding reception 18 months ago. I can tell you
with absolutely no hesitation that David has no inclination to destroy the
state of Israel or the Jewish people. He will not convince the college students
at Hillel to boycott Israel or Federation donors to stop giving their dollars
to campaigns. He will not make JCC
members not want to attend a Yom Haatzmaut celebration.
He will tell the story of his book,
sign a few copies, and offer a unique, tragic and hopeful perspective to the
Israeli-Palestinian narrative.
I am finding it hard to swallow the
bitter pill that the power players in the American Jewish community, a
community in which I worked for 12 years as a Jewish educator sending thousands
of people to Israel, can be acting so reprehensibly to one of its own. It’s also just a big mistake. Every Jewish
communal organization talks about “engagement, engagement, engagement.” No one,
especially not Millenials, wants to be engaged by organizations resembling
dictatorships with 501(c) (3) designations.
And the excuse of “unwavering for
support for Israel” or “campuses are under attack” just doesn’t cut it when you
are essentially ostracizing someone based on your own ignorance, rhetoric
bulimia and lack of nuance rather than a true threat.
David is not harming Israel. Just ask
the first Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion who said the following: The test of democracy is freedom of criticism.
