Israel Matzav

Former Labor MK excluded from 'Peace Now' conference because she opposes delegitimizing Israel

Former Labor party MK Einat Wilf was uninvited from a 'Peace Now' conference because in addition to supporting 'territorial compromise' with the 'Palestinians' she also opposes delegitimizing Israel.

Several weeks ago I was approached by Peace Now to speak at their annual conference on a panel discussing whether international pressure on Israel is necessary to promote peace. I was specifically told that my point of view (which opposes such pressure and certainly the domestic efforts to invite it) would be very appreciated in this discussion.

Yesterday, I received a call from the head of Peace Now disinviting me. Even though Yariv Oppenheimer noted that he personally did not want to disinvite me, he was outnumbered within his own organization. The reason, he explained, was due to the fact I am a member of the International Advisory Council of NGO Monitor (along with other “human rights offenders” such as Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel and Alan Dershowitz). Putting aside the way in which dogmatic thinking seems to blind people to the importance of good manners, and the inability of those who preach tolerance to hear a point of view that is not their own, I am issuing the following response:

"If the Israeli Left has no place for those who support a two-state solution and who also wage battle against those who seek to delegitimize Israel, it will not return to lead the country. Leadership is not built through self-flagellation. Defending Israel and Zionism can and should be part of supporting peace and a two state solution. Israel is under attack for its very legitimacy and the human-rights discourse serves various groups to undermine the foundational idea of Zionism that the Jewish People have a right to a sovereign state in their ancestral homeland. If people, whose work for human rights is indisputable such as Elie Wiesel and Alan Dershowitz, find it proper to fight against the demonization of Israel, then I am proud to wage this battle with them."

So is Israel's suicidal Left intolerant or is its intolerant Left suicidal? Anyway, kudos to Wilf for having a brain unlike most of her colleagues on the Left.

Labels: Einat Wilf, Israel's suicidal Left, Israeli Left, Peace Now

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:39 PM