An Anti-BDS Bill Goes Down to Defeat in Massachusetts
Have I ever shared with you my oral and written testimony before a Joint Committee of the Massachusetts Legislature in July 2017 opposing a bill sponsored by the local Jewish Community Relations Council which it disingenuously promoted as an anti-discrimination bill but in reality was aimed at punishing anyone supporting the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestments (BDS) Movement. Fortunately the bill died in the legislature because of the massive opposition.
TESTIMONY OPPOSING ANTI-BDS BILL
(S.1689/1685)
To: State
Administration and Regulatory Oversight Committee (SARO) Members
From: Ronald W. Fox
Re: Opposition to Anti-BDS Bill (S.1689/H.1685)
Date: July 18, 2017
ORAL
PRESENTATION
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Ronald
Fox. I am a Jewish 78 year old involved with the Jewish community nearly all my
life and a strong opponent for the last 45 years of Israel’s oppression of
Palestinians.
I am appalled that the Jewish Community
Relations Council wants to punish those pressuring Israel to end its violations
of international human rights.
The occupation of the West Bank
began 50 years ago and is the longest lasting occupation in the world. In 1967,
the first settlement there was approved despite an Israeli government lawyer concluding
that it violated the Fourth Geneva Convention.
For 5 years I advised Harvard Law
School students pursuing public interest careers. For the last 25 years, I have
advised unhappy lawyers on how to find satisfying careers in the law.
Will
this new bill prohibit me, a BDS supporter, from providing outplacement
for lawyers leaving legal positions in the Commonwealth?
The Jewish
Community Relations Council is not attempting to fight anti-Semitism but rather
using this claim as the basis for intimidating and censoring legitimate
criticism of Israel, a foreign government, the only beneficiary of this bill.
The
JCRC asks you to support these violations of international human rights laws by
Israel:
The 50 year occupation
The 123 settlements
Killing and injuring of over 100,000 Palestinians
Torturing of over 10,000 Palestinians
Stealing Palestinian
land and control of over 40% of the West Bank;
Demolishing over
48,000 Palestinian structures
Building a wall
85% inside the green line;
Destroying over
800,000 olive trees;
Distributing water
unequally;
Imposing military
law for Palestinians and civil for squatters (trespassers);
Establishing
hundreds of disruptive, humiliating checkpoints and barriers;
Holding thousands
of Palestinians in administrative detention without trial
The deaths and
destruction from 4 Gaza invasions since 2006 (killing 2000 in 2014).
The
JCRC’s bill will lead to more such human rights violations as over 4 million Palestinians
in the occupied territories continue to
be victimized, terrorized and humiliated
by Israel.
The JCRC’s support of this
unconstitutional bill:
is inconsistent with American values of democracy,
equality, and justice;
violates core
values of Judaism, especially “relieve the
oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow” and “Justice, Justice
shall you pursue”; and
is hypocritical as
contrary to its own stated principle. “We .. remain vigilant in promoting our
nation’s commitment to civil liberties, equality under the law, and social
justice, the mighty pillars on which our nation stands”.
The JCRC is surely on the wrong side of
history. Its bill
supports the death of the two state solution and eventually finding Israel
guilty of the crime of apartheid.
I
urge you to soundly reject the JCRC’s un-American, anti-democratic, unjust,
racist, unconstitutional, pro-apartheid bill punishing those pressuring Israel
to pursue peace with justice.
WRITTEN TESTIMONY
PROPOSED ANTI-BDS LAW
I
am appalled that the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) wants to punish
those non-violently pressuring Israel to end its violations of international
human rights, civil rights and criminal laws. The JCRC is not attempting to
fight anti-Semitism but rather to intimidate and censor legitimate criticism of
a foreign country, Israel, this bill’s only beneficiary.
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
I
am a Jewish 78 year old born in Lynn who left for college and law school. I spent
three years in the US Army JAG and have lived in Marblehead since 1968 where I
and my wife, Joan, raised our two children.
I
have been involved with the Jewish community nearly all my life, serving on the
boards or committees of local Jewish temples, a JCC and a federation. My wife and I, in 1971, established a Havurah
(Jewish Fellowship Community) celebrating Jewish holidays in our homes and
other venues, such as a sunrise Rosh Hashanah service at Plum Island.
About
this time I became aware of the conflict between the Israelis and the
Palestinians and, since 1972, for the last 45 years I have been a constant
observer, speaker and writer/blogger on the conflict between the Palestinians
and the Israelis, primarily as a critic of Israel’s actions.
Related to that I: signed a June
12, 1980 New York Times ad titled “End Middle East Bloodshed” reading in part,
“We are deeply saddened by the failure of the leadership of the Government of
Israel to end its settlement policy and to restrain Jews from hostile actions
in the territories”; put on a debate
on “Israel in Lebanon – Invasion or Self-Defense” (1982); formed a
sister-community relationship with a Bedouin village in Israel whose homes were
being demolished; and publish a blog “Judaism and Israel”. I also support these
Israeli peace with justice groups - B’Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied
Territories, Rabbis for Human Rights and the Israeli Committee Against
House Demolitions.
HOW THE LAW WOULD
AFFECT ME
I
am proud to support BDS
Since
illegally entering Hebron in 1968, the Jewish Israeli squatters there have subjected
Palestinians to the worst abuse in the West Bank through killing, taking
property, harassing schoolchildren, attacking farmers harvesting olives and
destroying their olive trees. Greater Hebron’s population is 120,000
Palestinians, the old city being home to 30,000. One thousand IDF soldiers bar
access of Palestinians to a main street where most Palestinian businesses are while
giving free rein to 650 lawless Jewish squatters. Qiryat Arba is a Jewish
Israeli settlement in Hebron founded in 1968 with a population of 7,108 which
produces Hebron Wines. I will
never purchase Hebron Wines and would work diligently with others to encourage a
boycott of the product of these religious fanatics zealots.
From 1984-89 I advised Harvard Law
School students pursuing public interest careers and since then have
advised lawyers seeking satisfied positions in the law. I
assume this law would punish me by prohibiting me from providing outplacement
for lawyers in transition from state positions.
THE OCCUPATION
The occupation of
the West Bank began in 1967. On November
22, 1967, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 242 noting its
charter commits states to renounce the acquisition of territories and then saying
compliance requires “Withdrawal of Israel
armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.” Israel
has been in violation of the United Nations Charter Article 2 and Resolution
242 for 50 years as of this past June 10.
THE SETTLEMENTS
In early September 1967,
Prime Minister Levi Eshkol approved the first settlement in the West Bank by
Jewish Israelis, Kfar Etzion , despite the opinion of Legal Counsel to the
Foreign Ministry, Theodor Meron, who wrote unequivocally, "My conclusion
is that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the
explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention"; i.e., “The Occupying
Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into
the territory it occupies”. Recently,
Judge Meron, now on an International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, wrote recently
that his opinion has not changed.
Since then, each successive Israeli government
encouraged and often gave financial incentives to encourage Jewish Israelis to
move to the West Bank.
In a conversation in 1973 with Winston Churchill III,
Ariel Sharon said “We’ll make a pastrami sandwich of them. We’ll insert a strip
of Jewish settlement in between the Palestinians, and then another strip of
Jewish settlement right across the West Bank, so that in 25 years time, neither
the UN nor the US, nobody will be able to tear it apart”. In July, 1977,
Menachem Begin refused President Jimmy Carter’s request to freeze settlement
activity. In September, 1977, Ariel Sharon, as minister of agriculture, unveiled
“A vision of Israel at
Century’s End” calling for the settlement of 2 million Jews in the occupied
territories. In an April 21, 1978
opinion, the Legal Adviser of the Department of State in the administration of
President Carter, reporting to Congress on the legal status of Israeli
settlements in the occupied territories, stated, “the establishment of the
civilian settlements in those territories is inconsistent with international
law.”
By 1980 there were 53 settlements with approximately
12,500 Jewish Israelis squatters.
Also in 1980 the UN Security Council passed Resolution
465 stating, "Settlements and International Law – 5. Israel's policy and
practices of settling parts of its population and new immigrants in those
territories constitute a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention … a
serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace”
By 1988 there were 110 settlements with approximately
63,600 Jewish Israeli squatters
As of 2017, there are now 123 settlements where
approximately 350,000 Jewish Israeli squatters live in government subsidized or
privately financed settlements built on confiscated Palestinian land plus 200,000
squatters in East Jerusalem under Israel’s unrecognized claim of annexation.
West Bank’s squatters
are citizens of Israel, live under its civil code, and have full Israeli voting
rights while its
2.5 million West Bank Palestinians
live in 100% segregated communities under military law.
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS
VIOLATIONS CAUSED BY SETTLEMENTS
In
addition, the existence and support of the settlements has led Israel to
violate many other human rights laws in its treatment of Palestinians,
including:
killing
and injuring over 100,000 Palestinians;
torturing
over 10,000 Palestinians;
unequal
access to water, restricting
the availability of water for the Palestinian population while providing ample
water to squatters for
irrigation and pools;.
theft
of Palestinian land, - using extrajudicial
process to now control 60% of the West Bank;
destruction of homes/other structures, about 27,000 since 1967 (2% for security reasons);
building
a wall 85% in the West Bank, separating Palestinians from lands and schools;
destroying
800,000
olive trees (equal to destroying all the trees in Central Park 33 times), the
source of income for many Palestinians;
establishing
two separate legal systems - one (military) law for Palestinians and another
(Israeli) law for squatters as well as failing to enforce criminal laws against
squatters for killing Palestinians while punishing Palestinians for minor
infractions;
restricting
movement by creating numerous checkpoints,
most not for security purpose but simply to harass and humiliate Palestinians
by waiting in long lines to enter Israel for work or medical treatment or to
get from one West Bank town to another for family or business reasons;
placing
in administrative detention thousands of Palestinians for prolonged
periods of time, without informing them of charges and/or without trial, 446 as
of July 2014.
In addition, on four occasions since 2006, Israel has
chosen to invade Gaza through wars of choice, using excessive force (which some
believe amounts to war crimes), including in 2014 in which over 2000
Palestinians, mostly women and children and two-thirds civilians, were killed
and over 96,000 houses and structures were destroyed or damaged.
B’Tselem
has documented such acts in frequent reports. I have 42 of them issued from 2001
to 2014 containing over 2000 pages of testimony of witnesses to, and victims
of, the brutality of Israel’s illegal occupation. These actions would be abhorrent and illegal
in the United State (substitute Native Americans and Blacks for Palestinians)
and yet the US not only fails to pressure Israel in the UN but has now passed a
10 year $38 billion military aid deal.
VLADMIR
JABOTINSKY
Vladimir Jabotinsky, in the 1920s, preached a ``Greater
Israel," on both sides of the Jordan with a Jewish majority outweighing
the Arab population, to be won by force and guarded, in his famous phrase, by
an ``Iron Wall". He admonished the Jews to stand up straight, to stop
cringing and making excuses, and to tell the goyim ``to go to hell." The
Israeli governments since 1967 have pursued an approach consistent with his philosophy,
making life so miserable for the Palestinians they will emigrate from the West
Bank. Israel’s delays and excuses for
not engaging in good faith negotiations have been a cover for the goal of ultimately
annexing “Judea and Samaria” (the West Bank). The government of Israel has no
intention of supporting the establishment of a viable contiguous Palestinian
state.
WHO OPPOSES THE
SETTLEMENTS
The
UN General Assembly has passed hundreds of resolutions since 1967 critical of
Israel. In 2015 the UN General Assembly passed 23 resolutions condemning
countries - 20 targeting Israel (exploitation of natural resource, nuclear
proliferation, Palestinian self-determination, human rights, settlements, etc.)
and 3 aimed at the rest of the world).
The
US - Since 1972 the US has vetoed 88 UN resolutions condemning and otherwise
criticizing Israel but has voted in favor of 20.
International
Criminal Court – In 1998, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
defined the transfer by an Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian
population into the territory it occupies as a War Crime.
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (1966) - Israel has signed but has violated these
rights in the declaration including the Right to Self-Determination, the Right
to Equality, the Right to Property, the Rights to an Adequate Standard of
Living and the Freedom of Movement.
Israeli Officials including former
heads of Shin Bet - In the documentary “Gatekeepers”, six former heads of Shin
Bet deplored most of Israel’s political leaders, not for being too weak but for
being too rigid, hypocritical or indifferent to negotiate with Palestinians.
One, Mr. Shalom, said, “We have become cruel. To ourselves as well, but mainly to
the occupied population”.
On
April 14, 2002, Rabbi Ben-Zion Gold at Harvard Hillel said; “Building of
Israeli settlements in parts of the West Bank has frustrated their
(Palestinians) hopes. ... the conflict cannot be solved by power alone.
Then by what? By removing the basis for the conflict. The Jewish settlements on
the West Bank are a grave and dangerous mistake that have done much harm to
Israel. Micah. ‘He has told you, O man, only to do justice and to love
goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.’ By all means, Humbly.”
Also in 2002, Archbishop Desmond
Tutu said, “Israel is certainly more democratic that most of its
neighbors. This does not make dismantling the settlements any less of a
priority. . Each one is a step away from the safety deserved
by the Israelis and two steps away from the justice owed to the
Palestinians. If apartheid ended, so can the occupation, but the moral
force and international pressure will have to be just as determined.”
An Israeli -Yitzhak
Frankenthal on July 27, 2002 said, “My
beloved son Arik, .. was murdered by Palestinians. The Palestinians … have been
ready to make peace with us; it is we who are unwilling to make peace with them
.. as an occupation force it is we who .. crush the liberty of Palestinians and
it is we who push an entire nation to crazy acts of despair. ”
Nine
mainstream Christian denominations/organizations, including the Methodists, are
so opposed to settlements that they have adopted resolutions not to buy
settlement goods.
Foreign
governments – as of September 14, 2015, 136 (70.5%) of the 193 member states of
the United Nations have recognized the State of Palestine.
US
presidents Carter, Bush 41 and Obama opposed the settlements.
Secretary of State John Kerry – the NYT reported on
December 4, 2016, that he accused right-wing Israelis of deliberately thwarting efforts to
broker a peace deal with the Palestinians and warned the building of Israeli
settlements was undermining any hope of an agreement to allow two states to
live side by side and in
the view of the US government, Israel’s accelerated building on
Palestinian-owned land is a deliberate obstacle to peace.
American Jewish groups, JVP, J-Street
and Peace Now oppose the settlements.
A
Pew Research Center survey in 2013 that found that “just 17% of American Jews
think the continued building of settlements in the West Bank is helpful to
Israel’s security; 44% say that settlement construction hurts Israel’s own
security interests.
WHO SUPPORTS THE
SETTLEMENTS
The
Congress of the United States, President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner and
his Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman.
IS THE TWO STATE
SOLUTION DEAD
The close to terminal case of the two state
solution has been caused by Israel’s aggressive settlement policy allowing
illegal settlements and military control areas in the West Bank, thereby making
a viable contiguous Palestinians state nearly impossible, physically and
politically. There now
are just too many Jewish squatters (Israel calls this “facts on the ground”) scattered
throughout the West Bank. Israel has control over Area C which covers 60% of the West Bank and
contains all the settlements. Palestinians are not allowed to have any economic
activity in Area C or receive permits to build there.
Jimmy
Carter, in a recent interview published in the Prospect, a UK magazine, said
“At this moment there is zero chance of the two-state solution… (Israel’s Prime Minister) .. does not now and
has never sincerely believed in a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.”
Thomas Friedman in an
op-ed published on February 10, 2016, “The peace process is dead. It’s over, folks, so please stop
sending the New York Times Op-Ed page editor your proposals for a two-state
solution between Israelis and Palestinians.” “At
least one good thing
came out of the election in Israel on Tuesday, when voters appeared to return
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to power. Going forward, there will be a lot
fewer illusions about the hawkish prime minister, who once supported a
two-state solution with the Palestinians but explicitly rejected it during the
campaign.” Boston Globe editorial on March
20, 2015.
WILL IT BE, OR IS IT
ALREADY, APARTHEID
While
there is some debate over whether Israel is now guilty of the crime of
apartheid, soon the combined population of the region will include more
Palestinians than Jewish people. At that time, there will be only two options –
a Jewish apartheid state or one democratic state. Passage of anti-BDS bills like this one will
have to take some credit or blame for the eventual end of the two-state
solution and the eventual establishment, perhaps, of one democratic non-Jewish
state.
Recently,
the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)
issued a Report in February entitled “Palestine and the Israeli Occupation,
Issue No. 1 Israeli - Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question
of Apartheid.” The Executive Summary begins “This report concludes that Israel
has established an apartheid regime that dominates the Palestinian people as a
whole. Aware of the seriousness of this allegation, the authors of the report
conclude that available evidence establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that
Israel is guilty of policies and practices that constitute the crime of apartheid
as legally defined in instruments of international law.” In the full report
appears this recommendation for “national Governments of Member States”, “National
Governments should support boycott, divestment and sanctions activities and
respond positively to calls for such initiatives.” Under pressure from the
United States, the UN Secretary-General demanded the head of the commission
withdraw the report. Rather than do so, she resigned her position. The next
day, the full report and the executive summary were deleted from the website.
No attempts have been made to refute any of the findings or facts which led to
the conclusion that Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid.
FOUR ARGUMENTS USED
TO BLOCK CRITICISM OF ISRAEL
There
are four arguments made every time there is criticism of Israel.
The
first is that any action against Israel is anti-Semitic. This canard has been
used for more than 50 years by Jewish individuals and organizations to
intimidate and pressure clergy, public officials and anyone seeking justice for
Palestinians. I do not recall in the 80’s those opposing apartheid in Boer
controlled South Africa getting smeared as anti-Calvinists.
The
second is that the conflict can only be resolved by the two parties themselves
without preconditions. Israel has a powerful military, including nuclear
weapons, and for 50 years it has victimized terrorized and humiliated the other
side – Palestinians – and some continue to argue in the face of this that the
priority is Israel’s “security”. This is
similar to the “dark ages’ here in the United States – when some suggested abused
wives should return to their homes and stop upsetting their husbands or suggesting
in the 1800’s that slaves sit down and negotiate with their plantation owners. The
solutions were to demand first the end of slavery, to demand first the end of
spousal abuse. There should be preconditions. Israel must first end violating
international human rights laws before negotiations begin. As an example of
such perverted thinking, US Senator Ben Cardin’s proposed law would fine
companies that participate in a boycott of Israel and says “We cannot allow
these attempts to bypass direct negotiations between Israel and the
Palestinians to go unchecked”.
The
third is the Palestinians first need to recognize Israel, a Jewish state which
discriminates against its Palestinian and Bedouin residents in Israel and
brutally oppresses Palestinians in the occupied territories. We recoil in
horror at proposals the US become officially a Christian nation but some demand
Palestinians accept a Jewish theocratic state.
The
fourth is “Why are you picking on Israel when there are so many countries where
worse things are going on.” Not only has Israel over the last 50 years violated
nearly all international human rights laws, it is maintaining the longest
lasting occupation in the world.
We
in the United States are outraged that President Trump is trying to implement a
Muslim ban and has no compassion for the victims of human rights abuse while there
is widespread support in state and federal legislatures for Israel’s 50 year
abuse of Palestinians.
JCRC’S ACTIONS
VIOLATE THE CORE VALUES OF THE JCRC AND JUDAISM
The
JCRC said on November 4 “Our commitment to justice and equality in our nation remain
steadfast” and on the election of Donald Trump “We ..remain vigilant in
promoting our nation’s commitment to civil liberties, equality under the law,
and social justice, the mighty pillars on which our nation stands”.
The JCRC, as prime mover of this
proposed law, is acting contrary to its own principles and Israel continues to
violate these core values of Judaism:
Exodus
22:20-21 - You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were
strangers in the land of Egypt”;
Deuteronomy
20:19 “When you besiege a city .. you shall not destroy its (fruit) trees ..
for you may eat from them and you shall not cut them down.”;
Exodus 12:49 saying there shall be
one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you;
Isaiah 1:17,27 “Learn
to do well – seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead
for the widow;
a
basic definition of Judaism “What is hateful unto you, do not do unto your
neighbor” and,
especially, a gross violation of
the most fundamental value of Judaism.
Deuteronomy 16:20
“Justice, Justice shall you pursue, that thou may live and inherit the land
which the Lord has given you (and in a footnote in the Hertz Second Edition
1980) “there is international justice, which
demands respect for the personality of each and every national group, and
proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or
territory, its language or spiritual heritage.”
CONCLUSION
The
JCRC is trying to convince the legislature this bill simply attempts to
prohibit discrimination in state contracts. As stated in its Action Alert,
“This bill would extend to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (“BDS”)
movement against Israel and would prevent the state from awarding contracts to
those who boycott Israeli businesses and goods manufactured in Israel solely on
the basis of national origin.”
JCRC
knows better that BDS is not anti-Semitic but rather a Palestinian-led movement
inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement with a goal of pressuring
Israel into ending its injustices towards Palestinians. BDS’s underlying
principles are consistent with both Judaism’s and America’s – freedom,
democracy, equality, dignity and justice, JCRC’s values.
The JCRC will not deny any of the
claims of Israel’s human rights violations but will instead use the above
arguments to both deflect criticism and smear those presenting legitimate
criticism of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. .
The JCRC is on the wrong side of
history. Its bill supports: the maintenance of what is now the longest
occupation in the world; increased illegal transfers of Israeli citizens to
settlements; more extensions of the illegal wall; continued violations by
Israel of international human, civil and criminal laws with attendant deaths
and destruction of property; the death of the two state solution and eventually
finding Israel guilty of the crime of apartheid.
I
urge you to soundly reject the JCRC’s un-American, anti-democratic, unjust,
racist, unconstitutional, bill punishing those pressuring Israel to pursue
peace with justice.
