If a liberal arts university hosted a group of former American soldiers that proudly took part in war crimes in Iraq or Vietnam, attendance were limited to an exclusive group of students and the meeting were held in a confidential setting, surely there would be a public outcry. Similarly, if a student group hosted a person who unabashedly supported apartheid in South Africa, such a gathering would not pass unnoticed. On Wednesday, Brown/RISD Hillel found it appropriate to host Sgt. Benjamin Anthony, a former occupying soldier in the Israeli army who defends Israel’s apartheid and war crimes. Attendance was closed to the wider Brown community. For some reason, this is seen as acceptable.
As a Brown alum who also served in the Israeli Occupation Forces, I find this development rather disturbing. I do not wish to self-righteously point fingers at Anthony for crimes he committed, since soldiers in all armies tend to follow orders. I personally enforced a system of apartheid that ensured that Palestinians would not enjoy freedom of movement, unlike neighboring Israeli settlers, and would not be able to sleep peacefully at night due to random military incursions into homes. However, it is less clear to me why Israel is allowed to evade scrutiny for its crimes, while it is fully committed to an illegal occupation that is now in its 47th year and that shows no sign of ending, as its settlements are constantly expanding.
In the Occupied West Bank, a double legal regime applies: Palestinians are subject to military law of the occupation authorities, while Israeli settlers living in the very same area are tried in civil courts of the state of Israel. Palestinian children are frequently arrested and jailed in harsh conditions. Similarly, Palestinians do not enjoy the same access to water as Israeli settlers. Even within the 1948 borders, Israel does not treat all its citizens equally, as over 50 laws intentionally discriminate against non-Jewish citizens of Israel and Palestinian-Israelis can get arrested for Facebook posts. These actions should not pass unchallenged.
While I occupied Palestinians in the Jordan Valley, where homes are frequently demolished and water sources confiscated, Anthony stated that he served in Hebron, where apartheid is even more overtly visible. In this city, Palestinians are forbidden from walking in roads designated for Jews only, children are often beaten and arrested by soldiers, and settlers frequently attack Palestinians while soldiers look on. These issues should be brought to light and challenged, not discussed behind closed doors.
Supporters of Israel often claim that while Israel’s actions may be far from perfect, it is defending itself from terrorism. Here lies their mistake. Israel is not defending its democracy, for Jews are no longer a majority between the river and the sea. It is defending an ethnocracy while keeping 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza under an illegal siege and occupying three million Palestinians in the West Bank. Palestinians, both as citizens of Israel and as residents of the West Bank, were seen as a “demographic threat” by current Israeli leaders, as Ynetnews reported in February. Would it be appropriate to call an ethnic minority such a term in the United States? As long as Israel is occupying Palestinians, it cannot rightly claim it is defending itself.
The reality in the Occupied Territories is unbearable. Palestinian non-violent demonstrations are frequently repressed, and the Israeli army seeks to “create (a) sense of persecution” among civilians on a daily basis, as one soldier recounted in a 2011 video on the website Breaking the Silence. In besieged Gaza, anyone who gets within a buffer zone of the fence or beyond a limit in the sea is fired at. While Jews from all over the world can receive immediate Israeli citizenship, Palestinians under occupation are given neither Israeli citizenship nor an independent state.
While I used to defend Israel as a student at Brown, in recent years, my eyes have opened to the harsh reality in Palestine. More significantly, I formed many friendships with Palestinians, visited various cities and now view Palestinians as equal human beings who have preserved a rich indigenous culture, contrary to Zionist claims. I came to see that there is no reason why Jews and Palestinians cannot live peacefully in one state where discrimination on the basis of religion or ethnicity will not be practiced. Just as I made Palestinian friends at Brown and believe there is no inherent difference between myself and them, so too do I think that the same reality can prevail in the Holy Land and that attaining justice and equality are not impossible goals. Yet for democracy to replace apartheid and for the walls that separate my friends and me to fall, Israel’s crimes must be debated in an open forum, and its policies and laws must be challenged.
Joshua Tartakovsky ’08 is an Israeli-American graduate of Brown and the London School of Economics and an independent researcher and filmmaker. He supports Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel and can be reached at joshua.tartakovsky@gmail.com.
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