Israel Matzav

Flap over young Jews' visits to Holy Land

Israel Matzav

I wonder what Michael Steinhardt and Edgar Bronfman have to say about this (although we here in Israel were aware of this and other than its becoming an official program - which I don't recall seeing - it has been written up in the JPost before).

Flap over young Jews' visits to Holy Land
(Hat Tip: SoraDeetza)

About 10,000 young Jews from 29 countries will enjoy a generous gift this winter: a vacation to Israel - with the Israeli government and Jewish philanthropies picking up the tab for transportation, food, and lodging.

Those who fund the trips say the opportunity to experience Israel is the birthright of every Jew. But to donors' chagrin, handfuls of young activists have used the trips in recent years to volunteer for pro-Palestinian organizations in the West Bank - some of which directly oppose the Israeli government and Zionist ideology.

The small movement has some in the Jewish community wondering whether the Taglit-birthright Israel program is being hijacked. But as the Holocaust shifts from memory to history, it also points to efforts of young diasporal Jews to define their own ideologies, symbols, and institutions within a religious tradition that has long been at the forefront of social change.

"They have the right to explore" all sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but not using the money given "to explore certain values," says Allyson Taylor, with the American Jewish Congress's Western Region. "You have the right to buy a movie ticket, but do you sneak into another theater to see a different movie?"

While some American Jews say the issue is much ado about nothing, others see a premeditated attempt to defraud the Israeli government and Zionist advocacy groups. Some young Jewish leftists, meanwhile, say volunteering in the occupied territories is in keeping with the goals of Taglit-birthright Israel: It is an essential part of their Israel experience.

...

Among pro-Palestinian organizations aided by non-Israeli Jewish activists - including an unknown number of former Taglit-birthright volunteers - is the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The organization, according to its website, is "committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles." The Israeli government, though, accuses it of supporting terrorism. Since the group's founding in 2001, several activists have been killed or injured while participating in ISM protests and nonviolent resistance efforts.

"If you go to an organization like ISM, which clearly advocates suicide bombers and things like that, I would say it's not a very honest way of using this program," says Meir Shlomo, Israel's consul general to New England.

ISM advocates an end to Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, says cofounder Huwaida Arraf [The other co-founder is her husband, self-hating Jew Adam Shapiro, who is best known for having breakfast with Arafat in the Mukhata in Ramallah when Arafat was under siege there. CiJ]. But members deny that ISM endorses violence or supports political terror. Beyond that, says Ms. Arraf, ISM does not specifically encourage its Jewish volunteers, which she estimates make up about 25 percent of the group's staff, to travel for free via Taglit-birthright.

"Birthright Israel does nothing to expose these students to the occupation that the Palestinians are living through," says Arraf. "To ... take the initiative to see more than what the Birthright organizers want them to see - we guarantee their lives will be changed."

Last summer, this reaction to the Taglit-birthright program became more institutionalized. Birthright Unplugged, a group that gives guided tours of the West Bank, offers "an educational project that primarily seeks to expose young Jewish people to the realities of Palestinian life under occupation," its website states. By design, the six-day Unplugged tours coincide with Taglit-birthright Israel's programs. Geographically, chronologically, and ideologically, Birthright Unplugged picks up where Taglit-birthright leaves off.

Last year Taglit-birthright Israel filed a "cease and desist" complaint for trademark infringement against Birthright Unplugged and charged it with "unfair competition." A lawsuit is pending.

Read it all - and weep.....

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:06 AM