2006-02-09—Green Party-Divestment

                                    An appeal to friends of Israel
                   to challenge the Green party's
                  platform calling for divestment


jewishsightseeing.com, January 19, 2006

By Gary Acheatel

Recently, the Green Party of America adopted Resolution 190. It encourages the government and civil society to divest its assets in any company doing business with Israel. Advocates for Israel (AFI) is now serving as headquarters for the campaign seeking rescission of Resolution 190.

As the founder of AFI, I will now address the question so many of my friends have asked: Why should we care about the posturing of a fringe party? To start, I don’t believe the Greens to be so inconsequential. Did you know that the Green Party is organized and active in over 40 states and that it is the only party on the Left that can claim a growing number of office seekers and elected officials? Because of this its candidates are invited to debates and merit coverage in the mainstream press. This enables the party to exercise an influence beyond its numbers. Of course this is often case with third party movements. While America is generally governed by the center, that center is pulled and shaped over time by the edges. At the risk of sounding like Smokey the Bear, saying we should ignore the Greens because they are small party is like telling a hiker to ignore a smoldering pile of coals because it’s just a campfire. 

Now I have been encouraged by some friends to sound the alarm and to compare the Greens to Jew-baiting parties like the Nazis and Hamas, which we all recall also started out as fringe parties. But the analogy isn't a fair one. The Green Party has earned good repute because it puts forth an agenda full of progressive ideas most of which make common sense. That such a well-meaning group would become side-tracked by the crowd that equates Zionism with apartheid and worse is more evidence of a debate too long forfeited by the Jewish Community. 

My point is that the anti-Israel campaign in which Resolution 190 fits is not a campfire; it's a full-fledged forest fire, already burning out of control on the Left. There isn't a day that goes by that activists at a campus rally somewhere or other don't issue uncontested statements of solidarity with the Islamo-fascist Palestinian factions fighting to destroy Israel. On a daily basis, the drumbeat from Left indicts Israel for alleged failures to adhere to the highest standards of ethical behavior while holding Israel's enemies to none. The logic of this boils down to the age-old assertion that Jewish lives are not worthy of defense. Is this not anti-Semitism, plain and simple? How is it that we have let the truism  that it is possible to criticize Israel without being anti-Semitic to become a catch-all defense for all manner of propaganda, counter-factual assertions, smears, libels, and lies about the Jewish State? 

Ignoring this campaign is dangerous given the evidence of its success in the mainstream, such as the Presbyterian Church, joining the divestiture campaign. Unless this campaign from the left is contested, it won’t be surprising if, before too long, the Democratic Party itself starts feeling this tug.  

Rather than asking: Why bother?; we should be asking: Why has it taken us Jews so long to respond? Is it not up to us as Jews to formulate a response to this? Why are we in a state of denial?  

Recently I approached a large American Jewish organization seeking a letter of endorsement for 190-rescission. A leader told me not to be too concerned about the Left's posture given that the Right, including the Republican Party, is becoming more hospitable to Jews and is resoundingly pro-Israel. This is like being told by a realtor that I should be happy to sell my house in a deteriorating neighborhood for a loss, because another neighborhood across town is up and coming.   

The Exodus of Jews from the Left is not something we should celebrate. It does not come because Jews are any less progressive but because increasingly we are not welcome in a movement we helped forge out of the Labor and Civil Rights movements. A loss is a loss and it’s dangerous to call it anything else, for when we give up ground in politics, particularly without a fight, we don't satiate the takers we just make them hungrier. The old rule that smears, lies, and propaganda that go uncontested become accepted truth is even truer in our era of instant Internet communications, making it urgent for us to speak out now.  

As a party with democratic impulses, the Greens are susceptible to reasoned debate, making this a promising opportunity to start taking back lost ground on the Left. The enemies of truth and peace are not going away, this will be a long fight. 

What can you do? Become informed and implore the organizations you are affiliated with to get involved. Join with others in your community. Implement easy programs that will assist in taking back the moral ‘high ground.’  Assist your friends and neighbors who are also interested making the case for Israel.