Justice Includes Jews: Thoughts About Black Lives Matter, Jews and Justice

I want to talk about the recent Black Lives Matter statements about Israel for two reasons:  First, this is an issue many of us have been reading about, and are likely passionate about.  Second, it challenges us to navigate a complex political dynamic, to oppose injustice toward others while also insuring justice for ourselves.

Here are some relevant facts and some context:

Black Lives Matter  - an organization launched, according to its website, in 2012 - has sought to advocate in multiple realms for just treatment of people of color.  

At the beginning of August 2016, the organization refined and presented a platform that includes several sections, including:  End the war on black people, Reparations, Invest/Divest, Economic justice, Community control and Political power.

Individual elements within these sections include advocacy for universal health care, fighting climate change and a reallocation of funds from policing and incarcation to education, justice services and employment programs. 

In the Invest/divest section is included the topic of cutting military expenditures, in which the United State is criticized for using excessive funds on its military in order to expand territory and power.  

In that topic, under that section, are several statements pertaining to United States support of Israel.   Here’s the one that was deemed most offensive by a wide political spectrum within the Jewish community:

“ The US justifies and advances the global war on terror via its alliance with Israel and is complicit in the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people.” 

Some more context.  Numerous Jewish leaders have worked with the Black Lives Matter movement to protest unfair treatment of African Americans in this country.

Most Jewish organizations, right-wing to left, including those who have collaborated with the Black Lives Matter movement, were angered by these statements and for very good reason.  The statements are distorted, false and incendiary.  Several Jews of color have criticized the platform for being anti-Semitic.  Rabbis across the political spectrum have denounced the statements.

I saw some attempts to defend the statement about genocide on the basis that the authors were using the word differently, to indicate extreme discrimination rather than wholesale murder, but neither that nor any other interpretations were satisfactory to most Jewish leaders, and for good reason. 

Along with the vast majority of Jewish leaders, I say unequivocally that to call the treatment of Palestinians by Israelis a genocide is libelous and anti-Semitic. 

I want to identify two pitfalls that the Jewish community can fall into, neither of which are acceptable, and a possible third approach.

Pitfall number 1 – there are those who say, you know – there’s truth to the accusations and we should double down our effort to support Black Lives Matter. The group Jewish Voice for Peace issued a statement supporting the Black Lives Matter platform, including the statements about Israel.  

“We call on the US Jewish community to end its legitimization of anti-Black racism through its combined attacks on the Black Lives Matter Platform and US Palestine solidarity,” the statement said.

The danger here to me is obvious – a willingness to accept untrue, libelous, anti-Semitic statements about Israel as part of a platform that also seeks legitimate justice for people means the subjugation of one’s own legitimacy for the sake of another’s.

Pitfall number 2 – an inclination on the part of Jews to say, If this is the kind of sentiment that exists in the African-American community, then we’re going to pull away from advocating for racial justice.  It’s too fraught, and when we get involved, we get burned.  

The danger here should be equally obvious -  a people who have been on the receiving end of discrimination, a people who have at the core of their scriptural tradition the mandate to pursue justice, cannot pull away from the type of advocacy that so many Jewish groups are appropriately involved in.

There’s a third approach which many Jews are struggling to define right now, and the basic elements of the third approach are as follows.

One – we affirm our obligation to advocate for justice for everyone regardless of race, religion, ethnicity and gender.  

Two – we affirm that advocacy for everyone includes advocacy for ourselves.  It is absurd, counterproductive, and most un-just for us to ignore comments made about Jews or about Israel that are libelous and anti-Semitic.  

Related to this – we affirm that criticizing Israel – indeed even criticizing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and viewing the end to the occupation as an important goal – can be part of a legitimate conversation but that does not justify making libelous, anti-Semitic statements, statements which need to be repudiated in no uncertain terms.  

So a third approach for Jews to take involves continued commitment to advocating for racial, ethnic, gender-related justice while vociferously defending Jews and Israel against the kinds of attacks that are hardly just or deserved, as distinct from legitimate criticism of Israel.  In practical terms, the third path has involved disassociating from Black Lives Matter while strengthening alternative avenues to pursue justice.  

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Boston affirmed its commitment to finding a different partner.  In a recent statement, they wrote, “As we dissociate ourselves from the Black Lives Matter platform and those BLM organizations that embrace it, we recommit ourselves unequivocally to the pursuit of justice for all Americans, and to working together with our friends and neighbors in the African-American community, whose experience of the criminal justice system is, far too often, determined by race.”

I was especially drawn to a statement written by Rabbi Shai Held of Machon Hadar, who has been a huge advocate for racial equality and who was extremely upset by the anti-Israel sentiment in the Black Lives Matter Platform.  In his statement, Rabbi Held affirms the obligation “to speak up when Jews are unfairly maligned” and declares that the Black Lives Matter statement about Israel and genocide is “frankly embarrassing and appalling.”  At the same time, he affirms that black lives do matter, writing, “There is a long and disgraceful history in this country of devaluing and degrading black lives.  The obscenity of the charges against Israel does not change this ugly fact one whit, and all Americans are implicated in the struggle for a just and fair America.  So find an organization you feel you can work with and work with them.”

So much of the Book of Deuteronomy, which we are currently reading in our synagogues, offers an extended blueprint for creating a society that is self-protective but also responsive to others.  Our ancestors understood that our protection of ourselves and our commitment to others are equally important and can be mutually reinforcing.  

The great sage Hillel encapsulated this in a way that has been widely quoted, and I'll conclude by invoking it and adding some relevant commentary:

אם אין אני לי מי לי Im ein ani li mi li – if I am not for myself, who will be for me?  We should never apologize for protecting ourselves and our interests.  Anti-Semitism is no less egregious than any other form of bigotry and hatred.

וכשאני לעצמי מה אני Ukh’she’ani l’atzmi ma ani – if I am only for myself, who am I?  We should continue to open our hearts and hands to others who suffer injustice.  If we need to find different partners, long or short-term, so be it.  The mandate of "justice for all" cannot be abandoned.

ואם לא עכשו אימתי V’im lo akhshav eimatai.  If not now, when?  Before the next injustice occurs – to anyone.

Originally shared at Temple Israel of Great Neck on August 20, 2016