When Vancouver-based songwriter and musician Daniel Mat\u00e9 wrote on his public Facebook page that he had declined an invitation from Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver to accompany some singers on Yom Hazikaron, since he \u201ccouldn\u2019t in conscience do that as long as we don\u2019t honor the far more numerous victims of the terror \u2018our\u2019 side inflicts,\u201d he received an invitation from an Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) member to get involved in their group.<\/p>\n
Sarah Levine was that IJV member. \u201cIt\u2019s important to me to stand with other Jews who are working for Palestinian human rights,\u201d she told me. \u201cI think we have a particular role as Jews to think critically about Zionism, since the state of Israel often claims that it does things \u2018in our name\u2019 and with our support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along the political spectrum of Jewish groups in Canada devoted to matters pertaining to Israel and Palestine, IJV \u2013 which bills itself as a human rights organization \u2013 tries to carve out a space rejecting traditional Zionist principles. In an organized Jewish community where conservative positions on\u00a0Israel prevail, this doesn\u2019t make it many friends.<\/p>\n
Writing in the Huffington Post<\/em>, IJV campaigns coordinator Tyler Levitan cites the silent treatment he regularly receives from an array of Jewish institutions when he seeks to publicly debate issues including Jewish National Fund discriminatory land-lease policies and the boycott, divestment and sanction movement. IJV considers BDS \u201ca last resort,\u201d as the group\u2019s website says, and, while most observers would characterize IJV as anti-Zionist, it says that it \u201cdoes not define itself in terms of Zionism.\u201d<\/p>\n I spoke with Levitan. \u201cEroding that support base [for political Zionism] would be weakening the glue that binds the community,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the fear. But we at IJV feel that having difficult and honest conversations is what makes the community stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n For several years, I\u2019ve watched IJV operate from close quarters. As a self-defined progressive Zionist, I have not signed onto IJV\u2019s platform. But, as someone who values serious debate within the Jewish community, I have twice participated in an IJV-hosted forum. Mostly, I find it a sign of community weakness that most of the engines of the Jewish community attempt to shut IJV out of the conversation entirely.<\/p>\n Some Jewish papers (namely this one and the Jewish Post & News<\/em> in Winnipeg) are open to including IJV perspectives, but the Canadian Jewish News<\/em> and the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin<\/em> keep a wide berth around IJV. Yoni Goldstein, CJN<\/em>\u2019s editor, will not grant IJV editorial space. As Goldstein put it, \u201c\u2026 even though we promote inclusion as a virtue, there are limits to how inclusive we\u2019re willing to be. Abetting BDS and rejecting Israel\u2019s future as a Jewish state crosses the line.\u201d Goldstein added: \u201cIndependence has its benefits, but the comfort of community is not usually one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n With the exception of the Peretz Centre in Vancouver and the Winchevsky Centre in Toronto, no Jewish community locale will host IJV events \u2013 or even rent space to them, according to Levitan. But they\u2019re not giving up on trying to be heard within Jewish community walls. \u201cWe\u2019re persistent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n To reject Zionism indeed does place IJV outside of the mainstream community tent. It is this way, but should it be?<\/p>\n Like all political \u201cisms,\u201d Zionism\u2019s meaning comes from the effects of the policies with which it is associated. While the debate between statist Zionism and those who foresaw other possible arrangements for Jewish liberation in the early 20th century was robust and active, non-Zionist voices receded as Jewish statehood emerged. But now, almost seven decades later, Israel is in crisis. It may be time to ask whether Jewish privilege should be rolled back in favor of some more inclusive and democratic arrangement. A frightened community, however, may view this very question as akin to treason.<\/p>\n IJV\u2019s adherence to the Palestinian right of return is the biggest stumbling block for those who support Israel\u2019s identity as a Jewish and democratic state. But even here, consider the wording on IJV\u2019s website: \u201cPeace will only be possible when Israel acknowledges the Palestinian refugees\u2019 right of return and negotiates a just and mutually agreed solution based on principles established in international law, including return, compensation and\/or resettlement.\u201d<\/p>\n Any solution \u2013 even a two-state one \u2013 will likely involve some return, some compensation and some resettlement. While IJV does speak in terms of \u201crights,\u201d in practice we might see their call as somewhat more pragmatic than many assume.<\/p>\n The thing is, even reasoning out these complicated dilemmas as I\u2019m trying to do here is well-nigh impossible as long as groups like IJV remain excluded by the sort of herem<\/em> (excommunication) with which they\u2019ve been saddled. One thing on which Levitan and mainstream Jewish community leaders seem to agree is that there\u2019s a lot of fear. And, sadly, we know all too well the kinds of politics to which fear can give rise.<\/p>\n Mira Sucharov<\/strong> is an associate professor of political science at Carleton University. She is a columnist for <\/em>Canadian Jewish News and contributes to <\/em>Haaretz and the <\/em>Jewish Daily Forward, among other publications.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Vancouver-based songwriter and musician Daniel Mat\u00e9 wrote on his public Facebook page that he had declined an invitation from Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver to accompany some singers on Yom Hazikaron, since he \u201ccouldn\u2019t in conscience do that as long as we don\u2019t honor the far more numerous victims of the terror \u2018our\u2019 side […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2873,4882,5638,1581],"class_list":["post-18196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-op-ed","tag-free-speech","tag-ijv","tag-levitan","tag-zionism"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}