Tikvah: Students for Israel’s false hope
Yesterday, members of Students for Justice in Palestine held a die-in on campus in solidarity with the people of Gaza, 116 of whom were killed by Israeli attacks over the past few days.
In typical fashion, a small number of people from the new organization Tikvah: Students for Israel appeared to counter-protest. Their counter-protest consisted of a sign displayed ahead of our protest that read, “Victims of Palestinian Terror,” meant to confuse passers-by as to the purpose of our action.
Tikvah’s actions are consistent with Israel advocacy campaigns in this country. They rely upon introducing a false binary. If Palestinian deaths at the hands of a state army are mentioned or acted upon, members of Tikvah and other such groups will instead attempt to draw attention to Israeli civilian deaths–as if it were impossible for both to be repugnant, and as if it weren’t the case that all of SJP’s events over the past 3 years that did not revolve around a specific incident mentioned both Israeli and Palestinian civilian deaths. Rather than recognize the deaths of all people, Tikvah instead engages in a competition to prove that the Palestinians are in fact “more evil” and thus that their deaths should be overlooked or ignored in favor of Israeli deaths.
Last month, Tikvah celebrated something it called “Israeli diversity.” In this sense, one must concede that Israel is indeed very progressive. In its recent attacks on Gaza, it did not discriminate between men, women, children, militants, or civilians. According to B’tselem on March 3 (before the death toll rose by another dozen), over half of those killed by the Israeli military in Gaza were civilians. According to Maan News, at least 1/3rd were children. On the other hand, according to Tikvah (pictured to the side–I will not link, but the URL is at the top of the image), Israel “eliminated about 110 terrorists.”
The number on their website has since changed to 90, but Tikvah’s message is clear: all the Palestinians killed by the Israeli military, be they children, be they unarmed civilians, are terrorists. Further, Tikvah has dehumanized Palestinians to the extent that they do not even die. They are not killed or murdered; they are not even casualties. Like pests, they are “eliminated.” Maybe Tikvah does not even think Palestinians had a life to begin with. Given the conditions they live under, it is hard to disagree.
A friend of mine a few weeks ago related to me his deep dismay that the organization calls itself “Tikvah,” the Hebrew word for hope. “That is not hope,” he said. It’s even worse on their website, where they write “HaTikvah”–”the hope.” Two days ago, I came across a blog that is written by a civilian in Gaza and another in Sderot. The blog claims that it is looking for “an opportunity… to find new paths out of this senseless and hopeless reality.”
While I don’t have a sense of what the writers of that blog advocate, I do believe that such a possibility does exist, though it is not found in Tikvah, the Israeli government, or the Palestinian Authority. Whether you are more outraged by Palestinian deaths in Gaza or Israeli deaths in Sderot, the point of convergence where all people can come together is to stop, think, and take a look at what is going on. The real conflict is not a competition about whose deaths are more valuable or less justified.
To stop the violence, step back from it. Recognize the legitimate grievances of all people in Israel and Palestine. The United States will not solve this issue; there will be no impartial or neutral arbitrator or judge who will issue a verdict that all people will follow. Cheer-leading squads for Israel like Tikvah will do nothing that can even change the status quo, let alone construct a path towards resolution and reconciliation. It is up to us to escape the suffocating influence of state narratives and to create opportunities and possibilities for the future with our own hands.
Update: Isabel has posted beautiful photographs, and Hossam has posted as well.
15 Responses to “Tikvah: Students for Israel’s false hope”
By stop this bs on Mar 4, 2008
The die-in was clearly biased in that it completely ignored the causes for the conflict; the protest also completely ignored the suffering of Israelis.
The binary you talk about was caused, in this case at least, by SJP because they organized a one-sided protest. How can you claim tikvah created the binary when SJP came out with a biased, one-sided event that tries to boil everything down into an absurd, hateful claim that Israel is committing genocide?
I didn’t see anything in the advertising for the die-in about the causes of the conflict, about Israeli suffering, etc. And I didn’t expect to see any of that, because SJP is named SJP for a reason; it’s an anti-Israel advocacy group.
Protests are usually one-sided, and the clever use of a sign by tikvah actually added more depth to a useless event.
By Wassim on Mar 4, 2008
I can sense your frustration in dealing with people who seem like they are ’supporting’ their side as they would a football team rather than dispassionately and objectively decide on their position based on some ideal of justice. Still, sometimes I wonder whether your approach towards this issue is not, from the beginning, doomed to failure.
You say that the real issue is not which sides deaths are more painful or less justified, which I agree with, but when you say that people need to take a step back and take a look at what is going on what do you mean exactly? Surely the entire ‘essence’ of what is going on is what is in fact the heart of the dispute, whether Zionist grand narratives of returning to a people without a land or the usurpation of Arab Palestine. Leaving that aside, your belief that there is some way forward in terms of reconciliation and resolution is also problematic. For one thing, and I think I might have mentioned this to you before on different discussion posts, you put too much faith in people. I’m not saying it is a naive belief in the inherent goodness of humanity, but that there exists some kind of ‘us’. What do you mean by that and is that even a good idea?
I agree there will be no neutral judge or arbitrator, especially not the United States, and I don’t expect someone to wave a magical diplomatic wand and resolve the issue, but to believe that some gradual grassroots initiative will arise and take matters into their own hands, and that this will provide a final and just resolution of this is…well, great if it happens, just as it would be great if we had world peace. The problem is that this kind of dialogue seems more like a mental choloroform rather than a proposed solution of any kind. At some stage we still have to wake from it and deal with lifes problems.
Nothing I have read that was written by anybody has changed my belief that the struggle with Israel is existential and that this is non-avoidable. There seems to be an almost critical mass which is now unstoppable on both sides that leads me to believe the only way to avoid some an Israeli inflicted ‘Samson option’ is the complete decapitation of Zionism as an ideology, or the complete and utter subjugation of the Arab world along the lines of Egypt, Morrocco and Jordan. Israel would never allow a strong, confident and thriving Arab world around it, nor should we as Arabs find it acceptable to live under the Damocles sword of an Israeli nuclear arsenal, just so they can feel ’secure’.
I’m so sorry to waffle on!! That be my 2 pennies worth. ( A penny is about 2 cents at the moment ;) )
By yaman on Mar 4, 2008
stopthisbs, for one, maybe you should think about what you are asking for when you accuse us of being “biased” with our event. I love how you denounce the idea that you are using binary logic at the same time that you employ it–what does “bias” the way you use it rely on, if not that kind of logic? Do tell.
Our event was organized in response, specifically, to the events of this past weekend. That was a prudent response. We did not claim that this was a protest summarizing the past 60 years or the totality of the history behind this issue. There was no claim that Israel is committing genocide–we were quoting the words of Matan Vilnai as reported by Reuters and the Associated Press. There is disagreement as to the translation of that term, but that is a different issue. I think you’d look pretty stupid and callous if you went to Birgmingham in 1963 and protested against the Black Panthers outside of a bombed out church… or if you do what Tikvah did yesterday.
By yaman on Mar 4, 2008
Wassim, we are talking from two very different perspectives here. You are talking about the grand solution to things, on a plane that does not have anything to do with us as people who have the ability to act. I don’t even know who the actors are in your analysis. I am not disagreeing with what you’ve written, I am saying that we are talking about two different things, and your comment does not speak to me in a way that allows me to do something. In my post, I am not offering an analysis of Israel, I am offering a viable course of action that we have the power to take. As for what do I mean by ‘us:’ anybody who cares to be a part of it.
By misunderstood on Mar 4, 2008
Yaman, I think you misunderstood the purpose of the banner held up by members of Tikvah. They were not trying to change the message of SJP’s die-in and “trick” people into thinking that the people on the floor represented the Israeli victims of terror. Rather, it was highlighting the fact that the Palestinians who were killed in Gaza were victims of terror committed by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Hamas sent rockets into Israeli towns, killing unsuspecting civilians (women and children) who were not involved in the conflict at all. In the defense of its citizens right to life, the Israeli government took action to stop the firing of rockets from Gaza, and in killing the ones firing the rockets, inevitably also killed some civilians. Therefore, these Palestinians were indirectly victims of the terrorism that Hamas committed. The real problem here is not about Israeli vs. Palestinian government. It is about Hamas’ actions which are making life horrible for both Israelis and Palestinians.
By yaman on Mar 4, 2008
Haha ok misunderstood. That’s an even better one. And the civilians killed in Sderot and Ashkelon are victims of the Israeli occupation.
By Wassim on Mar 5, 2008
You make a good point – we are talking past each other. Whilst your perspective is focused on some kind of ‘us’ as you put it who would have this power you speak of to effect change, I tend to discount the individual ( the woman on the street) as relevant or even committed enough to pursue such a change. Even if they could be, it is unlikely that a considerable amount of people would be able to organise themselves towards your goal (which I’m not sure I understand yet) in a way that would make them effective and that would provide some lasting solution or “it” that anybody who wishes to join “us” would like to be a part of. The “us” you speak of is in fact what seems unrelated to anything which can make an impact on what is happening. It is an “us” devoid of historical, cultural or religous meaning, a position which, should you advocate it, will make you a target for both parties in the conflict and at best, an actor to be manipulated to undermine and ideologically disarm an opponent.
All this focus on one area of what you are speaking of is misleading however, because my main problem with your approach is not your “us” but “them”. Let me put it this way:
us + us = us
us + them = them
them + them = them
The approach that the “them” introduce to the world be it war, finance, greed, weapons, politics and ideology makes all other forms of political action and organisation, that cannot meet them with the same means, obsolete. In these three scenarios, it is what the “them” dictates which defines the type of outcome. This Clinton-esque logic of “there is no “them” only “us” “fails to make it out of election rhetoric and into the real world of politics and power. Sorry for the short essay but my creative juices have been quite stimulated this morning ;)
By yaman on Mar 5, 2008
Wassim, the purpose of organizing is to build a community with political potential and efficacy. You are presupposing a community, but I say you are defining it along superficial lines which sometimes can be mobilized, and other times are not mobilized (indeed, very often they are deliberately demobilized because their mobilization is a threat to those in power). If a community already exists, then it is time to politicize it. I’m afraid you’ve misinterpreted what I’ve been writing and my position as some sort of idealist utopian vision for the future. That is not where I stand. I am saying, we have the power to do things, and I am not running for office so it is not election rhetoric. We have to create an “us” in the first place which exists specifically around our political ends. There’s no guarantee of success and it is not a short-term idea. It takes patience, strength, and courage to not give up on this.
By Jerry on Mar 6, 2008
You make some good points, but I think you miss the point of the “Tikvah” protesters.
They are trying to say that the civilians who died recently in Gaza (less than 116, because that number includes terrorists) are victims of Palestinian terror.
I’m surprised you didn’t understand their message.
By yaman on Mar 6, 2008
Somebody mentioned that, and I responded above.
By stop the bs on Mar 10, 2008
HAHA,
Yaman, I appreciate your response to me. It’s nothing but a personal attack (ad hominem). You don’t address my points at all. Nice try.
Just for the record YOU ARE THE ONE arguing that tikvah is guilty of using the binary.
You said that the die-in was responding specifically to last weekend, and therefore the binary it creates (which you admit it creates) is justified. Nice try. The approach SJP took to last weekend was clearly one based on a narrative in which Israel is bad…a binary. Your event could have discussed the rocket attacks that led to Israel’s actions, but you didn’t . You could have included a number of issues relating to the weekend, but you didn’t. Best of all, you could have referenced Israeli civilians who have died from terrorism (like the student at Sappir college), but you didn’t. After SJP claimed to ALWAYS MENTION ISRAELI AND PALESTINIANS you have an event making up lies about “massacres of hundreds.” Stop the bs…