Jewish Identity & Palestinian Rights - Diaspora Jewish Opposition to Israel. David Landy. Z Books, London/New York, 2011.
Review by Jim Miles
December 5, 2011
The mainstream media does not cover this kind of topic and only hints at it in the form of criticism of those calling
for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. David Landy’s academic study of the trends within the
Jewish diaspora provides a beginning insight into the social climate within the Jewish community, in particular in Great
Britain, Europe and the United States, and the nature of the discussions in opposition to Zionism.
The study is pretty much a current affair, recognizing that while there have always been voices within Judaism that
counter the Israeli/Zionist expressions of the religion, the true opposition started after the second intifada.
In short, Landy says that there is a slowly growing number of Jewish diaspora members who are successfully questioning
the Israeli/Zionist narrative that is commonly accepted in the mainstream. It is a qualified success, with several
problems that rise within the groups.
One of the problems are the differences between Britain, Europe, and the U.S. The former areas have not seen as much
success with changing the narrative for two main reasons. First is the smaller size of some of the European Jewish
communities and the lingering guilt of war experiences. Secondly is that of gentrification of the Jewish population, as
it is part of the more complacent middle class, part of the establishment, not prone to being activist within their
community. In the U.S., the Jewish population is more cosmopolitan and younger, more questioning, leading to more
success with achieving awareness of the situation of oppression in Palestine.
Even that success has to be tempered within the community. Activists promoting BDS are generally seen as successful by
Landy. That stems from an increasing awareness, from actual tours provided to the Jewish diaspora to visit the
Palestinians in West Bank, and from the generally accepted trend of accepting Jewish concerns for peace, truth and
justice which they find lacking within their own community.
Within that success is the problem of being too successful, in that the groups concerned do not want to alienate their
community. It becomes a balance of finding what is effective for the purpose of maintaining the message, of still being
able to discuss it, and therefore some softening of the message has been necessary in order to continue. Also, Landy
identifies the activists, not as being “self-hating Jews”, a convenient phrase thrown to the media, nor as being
concerned about their own identity within the group, but as people genuinely looking out for truth and justice, and the
most efficient and effective means in which to deliver the message.
Palestinians fit into this movement in an oblique way. Palestinians are recognized as “important on a personal level,
but on a group level they aren’t needed to reaffirm the movement’s legitimacy in the same way that Israeli’s are.” The
participants recognize that the Palestinians are not their target, that the Israeli people are. The tours that visit the
West Bank help “fight against the dominant Zionist narratives of Palestine that either render Palestinian’s invisible or
represent them as terrorists.” Most importantly for Landy is the “importance of the potentially transformative knowledge
acquired in Palestine.”
There are two main goals for the activist groups, both complementary. First is the recognition of the oppression and
occupation under which the Palestinians live, and the desire for that to be done away with. The second goal is “the
liberations or diaspora Jews from ethnocentric Zionism.” The commonality being the truth, justice, and peace that is
seen as being the core of Judaism.
The success of the group is limited but growing, especially in the U.S. It has succeeded in “putting Jewish opposition
to Israel on the agenda, encouraging non-Jews to express their doubts about Israel.” It allows that “people who are
unconnected with activism of any type to feel they can criticise Israel without being against ‘the Jews’.” It allows the
Jewish people a way to be “both Jewish and Israel-critical.” It is also “loosening the automatic correspondence between
Jewishness and Zionism.”
With much work for the activists yet to do, Landy ends on a hopeful note , that “Jews may one day no longer be a barrier
to Palestinian freedom,” and have begun a model of “walking with the Palestinians in their struggle for liberation while
fashioning a new future for themselves in the diaspora.”
The insights in this work are an important addition to the library of ideas concerning Israel/Palestine. It is a well
researched and academically sound approach to the topic. It is quite heavy on the academic emphasis, with considerable
discussion concerning the sociological study methods used and a related high usage of sociological terminology that may
detract from the lay readers ease of reading. But the message is well worthwhile and by the end of the work, the
sociological terms begin to have some definition for the academic outsider (where I obviously reside).
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Jim Miles is a Canadian educator and a regular contributor/columnist of opinion pieces and book reviews for The
Palestine Chronicle. Miles' work is also presented globally through other alternative websites and news publications.