semitism.net

I’m very proud to welcome a new voice to this site. Brad Brooks-Rubin visited members of Congress with an Israeli refuser. The encounters say a lot about American politics around the issue of Israel, and the importance of Jewish dissent. The account below was written by Brad. He will be posting regularly on Semitism.net. First off, thanks to Andrew for allowing me the space to provide some commentary on this extraordinary site. I am Brad Brooks-Rubin, and, among other things, I am a board member of an organization called the Refuser Solidarity Network. RSN works to support all of the courageous Israelis, whether reservists, pilots or conscripts, who refuse to serve the Occupation. (One quick moment of PR — the most recent group of 250 high school seniors just announced their planned refusal. You can learn more about them here. The main focus of my work with RSN is to bring refusers to Washington, to meet with Congressional staff, think tank thinkers and Jewish community leaders. Now, I have no particular "ins" with any of these groups, but with some persistence, insistence and downright annoyance, I am usually able to put together a few days that are packed from morning ’til night with meetings. A few weeks back, I had the honor to escort Yonatan Shapira to Washington, for the second time. Yonatan spearheaded the refusal letter issued by the Israeli Air Force Pilots in Fall 2003, the letter that touched off so much controversy in Israel, given the pilots’ elite status in the Israeli military. Last August, in an interview posted elsewhere on this site, Dov Weisglass told Ha’Aretz that the Pilots’ Letter factored heavily in the government’s decision to pursue Gaza disengagement. Weisglass called Yonatan and the rest of the pilots "really our finest young people." And let me say up front that on this Dov Weisglass and I agree (and it may be the only such point of agreement): Yonatan really is one of the finest people you will meet. My hunch is he will be back many times to speak in the States. If you ever have a chance to hear him, or to read anything he has written, take it. Having spent much of the past 10 years listening to people from one side or another talk about Israel, about the situation, about their beliefs, few do it with as much eloquence, honesty and clarity as Yonatan. So with this fine fellow I trod the halls of Congressional office buildings and D.C. office buildings. As with our trip last summer, in nearly all cases, the meetings were eerily similar. Those on the other side of the table begin by expressing nothing but admiration for Yonatan and his fellow refusers. Some go so far as to say they would like to believe they would do the same were they in his shoes. And they quickly follow that sentiment by saying they are glad to hear voices from "the other side," to meet with credible folks from the opposition to the mainstream, even when they themselves define the mainstream in all its glory. Inevitably, what follows after Yonatan tells his story is a long litany of excuses, of rationalizations, of head-scratching. About why even though they are in a position to demonstrate their own courage, to refuse to give into the dominant beliefs and currents of their milieu, as Yonatan and the others have done, they do not. Time after time, we hear “I am with you personally, but…” But the Jewish community. But our constituents. But the media. Translating these statements into militaryspeak – "I’m just following orders." Yes, civilians too can suffer from the same syndrome as soldiers seeking immunity from war crimes. At first, I’ll admit I was excited just to be able to get in the door. And perhaps over-enthusiastic about the power of the refusers to start shaking the foundations of the mainstream’s understanding of and activity around the situation. But with time, with more meetings, and with optimism about the chances for peace growing by the minute, I find myself increasingly pessimistic. Why? Because we are repeating history. So soon after the failures of Oslo, here we are again, an American/American-Jewish mainstream giddy over the idea that this tragic conflict can come to an end with little cost to them. The excitement over Oslo brimmed because here was a chance to do what the civil rights legislation of the 1960s had done in the U.S. – give leaders a chance to sign some papers and try to believe/convince others the slate is clean, without changing the overall structure that created the problem. Oslo showed us that, without a true and deep understanding of what has happened during the Occupation, the progress is only superficial; the second intifada began because the Occupation never ended. And until the mainstream understands, truly, what the Occupation is and means, then it cannot end. Sadly, at the moment, I see no one looking to understand; I see only people looking to walk away. I heard time and again in Washington that peace was around the corner, that the refusers needed to change their tone because things have changed so much. But with the planned construction in Ma’aleh Adumim and the imposition of full closure for Purim, I ask someone to show me what has changed beyond the surface. And so, for years to come I fear, the courageous refusers will continue to listen to people tell them they’d like to see peace, but their orders don’t permit it just yet.