Voices of reason
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November 16, 2011
From its inception, the Occupy Wall Street movement has faced attacks from those who resist its agenda. Some of the strongest attacks have come from pro-Israel groups on the right, who focused on some isolated incidents and sign-holders to tar the entire movement as anti-Israel and worse. By proudly rejecting an explicit platform and formal leadership structure, OWS has left itself open to such attacks.
Now the movement is facing a challenge from some pro-Palestinian groups who are insisting that their one-sided anti-Israel agenda deserves to be heard among the movement’s various talking points on domestic economic disparities. Happily, a number of Jews who share the OWS agenda are fighting back. One such activist, Dan Sieradski, has collected signatures from over 1,000 sympathetic Jews, including New Yorkers Mark Green, Eliot Spitzer, and Randi Weingarten, defending OWS against charges of anti-Semitism. In a fascinating exchange on the pro-Palestinian website Mondoweiss, Sieradski tries to make the perfectly reasonable — and tactically obvious — point that the Occupy movement would lose mainstream Jewish support by promoting a specifically anti-Israel cause, and that it should remain tightly focused on its core issue: economic justice. It is depressing how his interlocutor, Adam Horowitz, pushes back, accusing Sieradski of maintaining a “hard line” over the issue.
Sieradski, a New Jersey native, is a Jewish insider (he was webmaster at JTA) who, as he puts it, “spent the last 10 years working inside the Jewish community to change attitudes about the occupation and to create a more open space for dissenting voices.” Left-wing Zionists like him have walked a fine line. It is heartening to see him take the fight for sanity on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict directly to the other side.
For now, Jewish Occupiers have kept the movement from being co-opted by anti-Israel forces. These activists, too, are fighting against the forces of de-legitimization. They deserve thanks, and support, from a Jewish community that may have mistakenly thought the battle was lost.
Comments
Bob Schultz
November 17, 2011
ASC wrote:
“Some of the strongest attacks have come from pro-Israel groups on the right, who focused on some isolated incidents and sign-holders to tar the entire movement as anti-Israel and worse.”
It seems that ASC’s liberal sensibilities prevent him from acknowledging that there is more than a whiff of anti-Semitism at OWS.
Citing the names of Mark Green, Eliot Spitzer, and Randi Weingarten on a document “defending OWS against charges of anti-Semitism” is meaningless. While Green and Weingarten do identify as Jewish, neither is known for actively promoting Jewish causes or Israel, except to ingratiate themselves with Jewish constituencies. The only thing Jewish about Spitzer is his name.
I find it a bit disingenuous that ASC chooses to ignore the anti-Semitism of OWS, while accusing Glenn Beck of anti-Semitism for criticizing George Soros. Andrew, the enemy of your enemy is not always your friend!