I am no fan of Israeli policies toward Palestinian people. I want to love Israel but, I think the settlement policy is a travesty. I am very concerned that the civil rights of Palestinian people are more limited than they should be. Israel is turning to the right in almost every way and I do not like that. With other countries that do similar things, I have thought, "They should be coerced. We must do all we can to stop this injustice. Boycott!" That is, I am sympathetic to the impulse to seek greater justice.
As a Jew by choice, it's far from obvious that I am Jewish and, so, I do not suffer antisemitism. My children do. Their Mother does. My more obviously Jewish friends all have stories. And, all Jews have relatives who have died or been brutalized by antisemites. Antisemitism is real. And, it is again on the rise.
Israel was founded mainly to provide a piece of land where Jews could be sure to survive. A place where they would not and could not ever be subject to the depredations of evil, bigoted people. For most Jews, a significant part of their sense of self and safety comes from the knowledge that Israel is there, that, when the black boots come, they could send their children to Israel where they would be safe.
Before I had children, I might have said, "People, the Holocaust is decades in the past. These are modern times. Hitler can never rise from the dead." But, having spent my adult life in, around and then becoming one of the Jews, I see that this is a completely wrong thing. You never get over genocide. A thousand years from now, Jews will be worried when some Senator makes a coded accusation – and it will happen. Jews are a distinct and distinguishable culture. Antisemitism is real.
Israel is not just a country that happens to have Jews in it. It is an essential component of Jewish psychology. It's safety. Of the healing of the wounds of genocide. It is true that being anti-Israel is not the same as being anti-Jew. It is also true that being anti-my-child is not the same as being anti-me. However, in both cases, it feels like it is. Which is to say, whatever is intended, an attack on Israel is an attack on Jewish well-being. At the thought of Israel being harmed or driven out of existence, Jews feel attacked and unsafe.
Boycott proponents claim that this is not an antisemitic thing. They are, justifiably upset by the problems of Palestinians and want to change the situation. Yet, they are also upset by the plight of workers in China. By the plight of gay people in Russia. By the dozens of countries that are listed on the Amnesty International website. Yet, for some reason, I've not run into anyone agitating for boycotts or other punishments for these places.
But, I believe them. I have dialog with some people who advocate boycott of Israel. They are not interested in this problem because Jews are involved. But, they also would not be interested in this problem if Jews were not involved. How can you otherwise explain the fact that this, of all the civil rights violations in the world, is the one that gets focus.
I suppose that most people would say that we can't do everything all at once and I agree. The choice of Israel as the one to work on today, however, puts on into common cause with Hamas, Iran, and many other vicious antisemites. Though I accept the assertion that choosing the plight of Palestinians as the first goal, instead of others, is not motivated by antisemitism, working toward the same goal as Hamas makes it close.
I add, as a postscript, the observation that no boycott advocate I've seen or heard has an actual solution to the Palestinian problem. No path or process that would make both Israelis and Palestinians safe. I have not heard any that felt like it was OK to create a blockade against the Palestinians for shooting rockets at the Israelis. That is, in addition to the curious fact that Israel, not China, not Russia, not Ecuador, not any of the other counties deserve boycott, the proponents of Israel boycott have no real goal. They want to punish Israel but, have no idea how to cause the Palestinians to cooperate, to admit that Israel has a right to exist, to stop their side of the hostilities.