StandWithUs Draws Line on Israel

[Scurrilous]

Growing Advocacy Group Pushes Pro-Government Agenda

<snip>

"A decade ago, during the height of the second intifada, Roz Rothstein, a family therapist and child of Holocaust survivors, watched the news coming from Israel from her home in Los Angeles with growing frustration. Feeling that Israel was not getting the backing it deserved in the United States, she and her husband, Jeremy, set up their own small group, with a stated mission of “supporting people around the world who want to educate others about Israel.”

Ten years later, StandWithUs has become a major player in the pro-Israel world, with 15 branches in the United States, Israel and Europe, close relations with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a constantly growing budget. Initially, marvels Rothstein, “All we wanted was to organize a demonstration and to meet with the editors of the L.A. Times. It is hard to believe how far we’ve come.”

Today, the group, with a budget of more than $4 million, is active on campuses around the country, waging a fight against those whom it believes delegitimize Israel. The group is engaged particularly in fighting the movement to boycott, divest and sanction the Jewish state.

But in a time characterized by burning debate among Jews regarding what it means to be pro-Israel, SWU’s stance has provoked some strong criticism. Those who claim to be Zionists and supporters of Israel while publicly criticizing its government’s policies towards the Palestinians, says Rothstein, are not supporters at all. For SWU, said Rothstein, supporting Israel means “respect the elected government of Israel.”

Rothstein rejects the claims of critics who say this constitutes a right-wing agenda. But a close look at SWU’s learning material and talking points reveals a right of center narrative on issues relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One activity for teachers discussing Israel and the Palestinians suggests playing a “true or false” game regarding the facts of the conflict. “The Israeli settlements in the West Bank are legal,” is one of the statements, with the correct answer marked as “true” — though no country other than Israel holds this position. Another lesson, devoted to the refugee issue, emphasizes that Palestinian refugees “were not the result of Israel’s founding but of the war Arab nations launched against Israel.” For many years, though, histories by Israeli historians have accepted that there were numerous cases in which the Israeli military engaged in mass expulsions of Arab civilians during the 1948 war that established the state. After the war Israel also barred Arab civilians who fled or were forced from their homes from returning."

Read more: http://www.forward.com/articles/146821/#ixzz1evakAzZR

[LeftishBrit]

1. Ugh. 'Supporting Israel means respect the elected government of Israel'

Well, they'd better not suggest that supporting Britain means respect the elected government of Britain, because I most certainly don't.

Anyway, in both cases, the word 'elected' needs quotation marks around it, as neither Cameron nor Netanyahu got anything like a majority of the votes.

There is an old American saying, sometimes attributed to Thomas Jefferson: "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism".

[aranthus]

2. Half of Israel doesn't respect the government of Israel.

And how can supporting the rightwing government of any country not be considered a rightwing agenda?

[King_David]

3. Thanks for Posting

:thumbsup: