The Only Palatable Solution

January 20, 2017 Adam Stone

Israeli soldiers during a patrol at the Anzac Memorial just outside the central Gaza strip in Southern Israel. Photo by Corinna Kern/Flash90

As a simple matter of personal conscience, I can no longer reconcile myself to Israel’s occupation of the lands seized in the 1967 Six Day War.

There, I’ve said it.

Israel imposes un-elected, uninvited sovereignty over millions of people who lack basic rights, freedoms and dignities. At some point, all of this became morally indefensible to me. As a human and a Jew and a lover of Israel, my heart hurts when I see pictures of Israeli teens dancing in Tel Aviv nightclubs while 60 miles away kids in Gaza play in the dirt.

This feels wrong. (Quivering with indignation? Hate mail may be sent to adam.stone@newsroom42.com.)

I’m a lifelong Zionist, the son of a Holocaust survivor. I own the narrative: When we strive for peace, they always choose war, hoping instead to push us into the sea. Got it. We are right, they are wrong. Plus, they started it.

But the human toll of the occupation is sapping the soul of Israel. It is a weeping wound in the body of the Jewish people. The occupation is a moral vacuum, and if you are here reading this, you probably already know that this is true. We know the situation is not tenable.

How to fix it? Binyamin Netanyahu does not want a Palestinian state alongside Israel. What, then? Israel could annex the land and make all of the Arabs citizens, thus ending the demographic possibility of a future “Jewish” state. Or perhaps annex and give them all partial status — maybe two-thirds of a vote per person.

No takers?

These are all revolting solutions to a revolting situation. The only palatable option is the two-state plan. But that’s not quite my business. Those who live in the land must craft their own solution. My business is to somehow be comfortable as an American Jew with a wildly unpopular opinion.

I’m uncomfortable with my own feelings here. I was raised to support Israel without question. That’s what we do. Right now, this means mainstream Jewish institutions determinedly back the policies of Netanyahu.

A cantor once told me, “Those kids in Tel Aviv have a right to dance! The suffering in Gaza is the Arabs’ own fault.”

Man, I just don’t care whose fault it is anymore. I don’t think the Torah says: “Feed the hungry … unless, you know, they brought it on themselves.” Human suffering diminishes us all.

The cantor’s response is not atypical. If you question the occupation in a room full of Jews, or God forbid at a public gathering, prepare to be reviled. (That address once again: adam.stone@newsroom42.com.)

Do American Jews have to support the policies of Binyamin Netanyahu? Many people in Israel believe the occupation is suicide. Can’t we support them instead? Can’t we rally to their cause and still be good Jews and good Zionists?

In fact we’d be better Jews and better Zionists if we call out the occupation for what it is: A morass, a dead end, an ethical abyss. Jews should be first in line to publicly deplore the situation. Who else but a Jew has the credibility and the influence? Netanyahu cares little for the opinions of, say, the Methodists. But American Jews form a crucial political and financial base for Israel.

If federations, synagogues and other mainstream Jewish organizations spoke out against the occupation, they might alienate donors. But for every dollar the federation loses by speaking out, it will win two more from among the young, the angry, the dispossessed and the bighearted, intelligent Jews who believe Israel can and should do better.

If as human beings we oppose the situation, if as individuals we lament the suffering, then as Jews we are especially bound to say so, lest our silence be taken for acquiescence.

Adam Stone is an Annapolis-based freelance writer.