An Egyptian proverb that is pertinent to what I want to say has a bite to it that can be shown only if, in translation, I put it in the form of a short limerick. So, here it is: Do not spit high up because the spit will come down and land on your face.
It
has an American equivalent, attributed to Benjamin Franklin who is purported to have said: He
who spits in the wind spits in his own face. However, the Egyptian saying lends
itself better to elucidating the metaphor I have in mind and so, I’ll stick
with it.
Think
about it, when you throw something up in the air, be it a stone or a spit, it
keeps slowing down while going up till it stops for an instant. It then
reverses direction and comes down. We call the moment when the thing stops
moving, a point of inflection because that’s when a change of direction takes
place.
How
can this be useful to us? We can use it as a metaphor to shed light on what
happens in society when something is done the same way for a while but then
proves to be the wrong thing to do, and society changes direction. This is
happening now to the Jewry of North America, and we have the story that tells
it in full. Here it is:
Toby
Irving is a young Jew who is enrolled in political science at CUNY, now working
on his PH.D. He tracked the debate that followed the Ben & Jerry’s decision
to end its exploitation of the Palestinian people, and did not like what he saw
or heard coming from the old guard.
Toby
Irving decided to join the debate to let the world know what he thinks of what
he saw and heard so far. To that end, he wrote an article — not about the Ben & Jerry’s decision which is
such a noble act, it needs no explanation but — about
the old guard’s reaction to that decision. The article he wrote came under the
title: “The telling Ben & Jerry’s backlash,” and the subtitle: “Even a
targeted economic pressure campaign against Israel’s settlements meets a
vitriolic response.” It was published on August 3, 2021 in The New York Daily
News.
Here
is the context in which Irving sees the unfolding of the battle of ideas
between Jews, such as Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who support peace by
fighting for Palestinian freedom, and those who fight to maintain the status
quo … peace and justice for the Palestinians be damned:
“Ben and Jerry represent an important segment of American
Jews. They remember being in shul at the start of the 1973 Yom Kippur War,
while younger Jews only know a post-Oslo world. They are liberals with a track
record of action in support of peace. And now they are willing to stake a claim
in the fight for Palestinian freedom as Jews push beyond private critique of
the state of Israel”.
Appalled
at the pressure he sees applied on young Jews by the old guard to persuade them
to love Israel no matter what it does, Toby Irving tackled the issue head-on.
He said there is much to like about Israel and much to dislike about it, but
this is not the argument. He explained that the essential thing for now, is to
secure a minimum level of justice for the Palestinian people. Because every
argument that’s made to shed light on this matter, is met with fierce
opposition by the proponents of the status quo, international pressure must be
brought to bear on Israel to force it to change its policies.
But
when a minimum level of pressure is brought on Israel, says Irving, such as the
action that was taken by Ben and Jerry’s, the old guard cries out
anti-Semitism. This is a false complaint, he explains, even if we were to talk
about the full force of the BDS movement which seeks to punish all of Israel.
But that’s not what Ben and Jerry have done, says Irving. Their action is
limited to opposing what hurts the Palestinian people without hurting Israel.
And yet, you see the professional whiners of the old guard, come out their
hiding places, and whine about it endlessly.
Irving
is also dismayed by the moves that were taken to enlist the American legal
system, and have it stand in the way of the BDS movement accomplishing the goal
of forcing Israel to soften the troubling policies it pursues toward the
Palestinians. He cited the example of the New York State controller who sent a
warning letter to Unilever, which is the parent company of Ben and Jerry’s,
reminding it of the Cuomo Executive Order that allows the State to retaliate
against those who embrace the movement whether it is a full blown BDS or it is
a milder version.
On
the other hand, Toby Irving applauds J Street and the other peace-loving
organizations that decided to fight fire with fire. He likes that they started
to push back against the legal moves of the BDS opponents by invoking civil
liberty laws, such as the First Amendment, that allow the proponents of BDS to
express themselves, not only with words, but with their pocketbooks as well.
To
end his discussion, Toby Irving has cheered the young Jews who want to live in
a world that’s different from what the old guard has given them. He also urged
those who are reluctant, such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), to join the move
to peace and justice. Here, in condensed form, is how he lamented that such
organizations have not yet made the move to nobility:
“The Anti-Defamation League couldn’t muster the courage and
clarity of mission to support the boycott. They continue to peddle the line
that BDS is anti-Semitic. It’s not like Ben & Jerry’s, or any company for
that matter, can do what the US is doing to Iran. What they can do is take
action to encourage the world to face Palestinian suffering and Israeli
apartheid head-on. They can show that the tides are shifting, and they can help
legitimize a form of nonviolent protest in the name of peace and justice that
others try to vilify”.
The old guard have been spitting high up for too long. It is time for them to step out of the way or they’ll get it on their faces.