Before diving into my response to Peter Makhlouf’s ’16 column in last Monday’s Herald, “Where is my Birthright?” I’d like to address certain things. Firstly, as we are all products of Brown’s environment, I think it is within our culture to try and understand various different arguments. Innate biases are almost impossible to completely banish, but it is essential to do our best to ignore them when discussing important issues, specifically involving human welfare. It is honorable and essential to have the ability to critique something you support (Brown/RISD Hillel advertises the Birthright program way too much, in my opinion) in order to keep you grounded in the fact that not all subjects are on the extreme spectrum of black/white.
With that, I began reading “Where is my Birthright?” with genuine openness, and not just for the “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” component. My mindset quickly transformed from non-judgmental to deciding that the author’s viewpoint was a product of extreme bias and perhaps a form of hatred or anti-Semitism.
Let me state, I truly do empathize that the author’s family is a target of unjust scrutiny in its rightful home. But this is not a single-sided issue. As far back as historical documents date, almost every single racial or religious group or nationality has faced some form of discrimination — Catholics, African-Americans, Muslims, Japanese, Roma, Germans and so on.
In particular, Jewish individuals have been the target of such radical and unjust hatred that they have become practically accustomed to these feelings. From the Holocaust’s “Final Solution” of simply lining concentration camp victims up for a firing squad or shoving them into ovens to present-day vandalism of synagogues with Swastika signs, Jewish individuals have faced extreme persecution. Within the past month, there have been anti-Jewish/Israel protests in Germany, with some screaming “Gas the Jews!” and other chants in London including “Heil Hitler” and “Oh Jew, you will die.”
Correct me if I am wrong, but I have failed to discover any protests against the Hamas violence in Europe during this outbreak. I am not oblivious enough to believe that racism against Arab Palestinians has ceased to exist, and I stand firmly against it. But it is telling how people voice their passionate stances and try to further manipulate the public opinion. For example, Makhlouf commented on America’s financial support for Israel, but failed to mention that since the 1990s, the American government has supported Palestinians with about $5 billion in assistance.
Additionally, he makes Israel seem like a Nazi regime that exterminates humans just for kicks by describing “the same Israeli soldiers who gave 2,100 Gazans the right to a cold grave this summer.” This statement, without comment on the plethora of rockets that Hamas launched into Israeli civilian areas, paints an image of unilateral brutality and immorality. In fact, during the height of Palestinian rocket launches into Israel, Israel tried to maintain humanitarian efforts by allowing the transport of supplies and food to the Gaza people.
These protests against Israel and this latest column about Birthright demonstrate that anti-Semitism is alive and well.
Perhaps what I found most disgruntling about the column was the characterization of Israel as having “apartheid policies.” It is challenging for me to restrain multiple responses to this, but I will simply state some facts. Whenever Israel plans to bomb Gaza, it sends a warning to the people, which is far from blatant, murdering apartheid policy.
It is true that during the recent war, Palestinian deaths greatly outnumbered Israeli deaths. But this is not due to overly aggressive Israeli military action. The Iron Dome system protects Israel’s people from incoming rockets launched at the nation and therefore saves countless Israeli lives that would have otherwise been taken. The Iron Dome is not infallible or even sustainable. But since the latest outbreak of violence began, Hamas has launched about 4,500 rockets in Israel, proving the Iron Dome’s necessity.
What does the world expect Israel to do during all of these rocket attacks? Just sit back and watch? Throughout the violence, there have been several cease-fires, which Hamas has almost immediately broken.
With these facts, it should be easy to understand why Israel has to be on constant alert, as well as why it wants to establish a sense of support throughout the Jewish community through Birthright programs. Every single individual I have met who has gone on Birthright said there was no “brainwashing,” but simply open discussion, spiritual connection and education.
No country practices 100 percent ethical and moral ways of conduct. Israel is not perfect, but it is a democratic state geographically surrounded by groups that only wish for its demise. I want to end by stating that I do sympathize with those unaffiliated with Hamas that are affected by this tragedy. It is important that we not tie all Palestinian individuals to the evil doings of Hamas. We must study the most inhumane historical genocides, from the Holocaust to the displacement of Native Americans to Bosnia to Rwanda to the Irish potato famine, and hope that hatred will eventually subside. Still, the call to “gas the Jews” shows that history is always bound to repeat itself, and hatred may never die.
Alana Lewis GS just wants everyone to love each other and can be reached at alana_levine@brown.edu.
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