Commentary… an Organization When You Lose a Vote Is the Kind of Approach That Undermines Civil Discourse

בס״ד JNF-KKL decision עש"ק פרשת אחרי מות-קדושים 11 Iyar 5781 ISRAEL NEWS was made in a April 23, 2021 A collection of the week’s news from Israel democratic vote by all the Issue number 1342 various groups, from left to right, From the Bet El Twinning / Israel Action Committee of Jerusalem 6:34 represented on its board. You Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto Congregation have to accept votes that you lose Toronto 7:53 just as you accept the ones that you win. Threatening to boycott Commentary… an organization when you lose a vote is the kind of approach that undermines civil discourse. The Threat to Boycott JNF Threatens American Jews Second, the boycott is a threat to the orderly functioning of the By Moshe Phillips Jewish community. None of the opponents claim that the policy In February 2021, the board of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) – violates any laws or agreed-upon principles. All they’re saying is that Keren Kayemet L’Israel, which has been developing the Land of Israel they don’t agree with it. If you boycott everybody you disagree with, for over a century, voted to authorize the purchase of private land in or balkanization ensues, in which each side seals itself off in its own adjacent to Jewish communities in Judea-Samaria (the West Bank). A camp, associating only with like-minded factions and refusing to final vote will be held next week. interact with those who differ. Such extreme disunity is not only In response, some liberal Jewish groups, such as J Street and the perilous for Jews, but also for the cause of Middle East peace. New Israel Fund, threatened to boycott the organization on the In one very important way, however, the boycott threat could grounds that Jews buying land there “sets back the chances of a clear away some of the smoke that has been clouding this whole peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and irrevocably debate. The organizations threatening to boycott the JNF include harms the credibility of the Jewish National Fund in Jewish American Friends of Peace Now, J Street, the Reform Zionist youth communities around the world.” movement and the New Israel Fund. In their literature and press These threats to boycott the JNF are deeply troubling on many releases, these groups deny that they favor dividing Jerusalem. levels. But they also present a welcome opportunity for some serious But when these groups say they will boycott JNF over buying clarification of the broader Jewish debate on these issues. land in the “West Bank,” they are, in fact, adopting language that the There is nothing improper about the policy of making such Palestinian Authority uses to refer to the “West Bank” and Jerusalem. purchases. As JNF-KKL chairman Avraham Duvdevani pointed out, To the PA, anything beyond the 1967 line is “occupied Palestinian the JNF has been buying land in those regions for more than a century. territory,” be it a Jerusalem neighborhood such as Gilo or a Jewish In fact, Duvdevani’s predecessor, Danny Atar of the Labor Party, town in the heart of Judea-Samaria. They don’t make any distinction approved and presided over such purchases on an even greater scale between the Western Wall Plaza and a Jewish settlement near Hebron than what the new authorization will cover. The only difference is that or Ramallah. It’s all the “West Bank.” (They also call Israel within the new authorization puts the ongoing policy officially on record. the 1967 lines “occupied Palestine” — but that’s a separate issue.) There’s nothing wrong with that. (Note: The JNF-USA raises funds in But Peace Now or J Street have not specifically announced if the United States for land development but is legally and operationally their boycott threat applies to purchases of land in parts of Jerusalem separate from the JNF-KKL.) that are past the 1967 line. As a result, we must assume that they are Jewish land purchases in Judea-Samaria weren’t always a point of boycotting those parts of Jerusalem, too. contention in the Jewish world. The last time a government attempted If the Jewish left intends to boycott Gilo or Ramot or other parts to restrict such purchases — in the British White Paper of 1939 — of Jerusalem, that’s their prerogative. But the Jewish public has a there was wall-to-wall opposition among world Jewry. right to know if that’s what their position is. Their threat to boycott After the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel’s Labor-led governments the JNF puts the ball in their court concerning Jerusalem. They have established the first Jewish communities in Judea-Samaria, creating 36 an obligation to tell us: How, exactly, do they define the “West such towns from 1967 to 1977. All the storied leaders of Labor Bank”? Where do they draw the line? Precisely which parts of the Zionism — some retired, some still active — supported those efforts. Land of Israel do they believe belong to the Palestinians and should David Ben-Gurion. Golda Meir. Yitzhak Rabin. Shimon Peres. Yigal be off-limits to Jewish development? Allon. Ultimately, it is Israelis, not American Jews, who will decide the There now seems to be some division of opinion within the Labor shape of the country’s borders. American friends of Israel can still movement over the issue of land purchases. For example, Habonim hope that our views will be taken into consideration by our Israeli Dror, a Labor Zionist youth movement, is one of the signatories on the brothers and sisters. But if we expect Israel to pay attention to our public letter threatening boycott. On the other hand, the Labor Zionist views, we need to clarify exactly where we stand. Israelis have a right women’s movement, Na’amat, was one of the groups that voted in to know where left-wing Jewish critics stand on Jerusalem. favor of the purchase. (Jewish Journal Apr 16) Another vocal opponent of the JNF-KKL policy is Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the Union for Reform Judaism. He released a statement asserting, “Especially at this moment when Israel is looking The Strategic Implications of the Damage at Natanz to forge a strong relationship with the Biden Administration this By Eran Lerman unilateral move could be inflammatory and harmful.” But that’s a self- The Iranian regime is eager to generate a sense of urgency in the fulfilling prophecy: If the Biden administration decides to harangue West, pushing the Biden administration to give up its sanctions Israel over these private land purchases, it will be, in part, because leverage and return to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Israel’s Jewish critics are leading the charge. U.S. officials always nuclear agreement. The recent damage caused to the Natanz keep an eye on what American Jewish leaders say on such issues and enrichment facility can change this equation. In any case, as Munich are sometimes influenced by them. 1938 taught, it is dangerous to try to buy time at the cost of Rabbi Jacobs could help head off that anticipated tension by mollifying an ambitious totalitarian regime. explaining to U.S. officials that it’s morally wrong to prevent Jews The Iranian regime blames Israel for the blast, that seriously from buying plots of land from Arabs. Jews should be free to live damaged the facility. It decided to “retaliate” by commencing anywhere in the Land of Israel; this is not a right-wing position, but enrichment to the level of 60 percent uranium 235. The IAEA has rather a sacred Zionist principle that has been at the center of the confirmed this, putting the Iranians one step closer to the goal of Zionist movement since its inception. Banning Jews from buying land enrichment to 93 percent (military-grade fissile material). The is not only morally wrong, but also a threat to several cherished decision was made in the context of ongoing “indirect” talks with the Jewish-American principles: United States, and direct talks in Vienna with the other five First, boycotting JNF is a threat to democracy in Jewish life. The signatories to the JCPOA. The talks seem headed toward an agreed mechanism for a return to the JCPOA and the removal of sanctions on Iran. World War II could have been avoided since the German High Iranian conduct reminds us of three basic realities: Command was ready to overthrow Hitler. The time supposedly 1. The Iranian nuclear project has one and only one purpose: the “bought” by Chamberlain’s weakness at Munich came at the cost of production of a nuclear bomb. Lame excuses aside, there is no other 60 million lives, the devastation of Europe and Asia, and the reason to enrich uranium to 60 percent (or even to 20 percent, given Holocaust. that Iran does not have and will not have nuclear-powered submarines The two cases are not quite similar, except for this one central or other vessels). Sixty percent is simply a declared way-station to the lesson. Once the wish to gain time drives a willingness to accept the stockpiling of military-grade fissile material. demands of a ruthless, totalitarian regime hell-bent on subversion and Iran also is working on tooling metallic uranium and has been in destruction, the tragic consequences are inevitable. It is this insight possession of basic bomb-making technologies for nearly two decades that should be imparted to friends in American politics and (as the captured Iranian nuclear archives prove). In effect, the false diplomacy. (JNS / Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies Apr 20) Iranian pretense of “civilian purposes” has been dropped.

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