I Like To Think Of Jews As ‘Those People With No Political Rights’

By Jeremy Ben-Ami, director, J-Street

You’ve heard me say it many times, and you’ve seen our publicity campaigns: we’re a pro-peace, pro-Israel organization. In practice, that means we suborn our idea of “pro -Israel” to our idea of “peace.” To us, peace means removing Jews from their ancestral heartland so Palestinians can get what we claim is all they want, and recasting Israel itself as a non-Jewish state. In short, I like to think of Jews as, “those people with no political rights.”

My organization is a staunch supporter of national self-determination, if you’re Palestinian. Of course any Palestinian state would have to be Muslim, because, well, that’s what Arab states do (and a few non-Arab ones, such as Iran, Pakistan, and Malaysia). Their faith is an integral part of their ethnicity. No problem. If you’re Israeli, not so fast. A Jewish state would prejudice the non-Jews living there. We couldn’t have that. Israel, yes; Jewish state, no.

In taking that position I am hardly alone. Millions of Palestinians agree that Jews do not constitute a nation, but a religion. That might sound rich coming from a people that only emerged as a coherent political identity in the last ninety years, and were only widely referred to as “Palestinians” fifty years ago, but whom are you going to believe, the facts or my vision? They, and I, are free to wave away the collective identity of Jews, forged over thousands of years, regardless of their individual adherence to religion. We will have to, if the dream of an independent, Muslim Palestine alongside an explicitly not-Jewish Israel is to be achieved. Remember, we’re pro-Israel and pro-peace. If that means redefining Israel to fit what we think would bring peace, that’s fine. It all comes down to Jews not having political rights.

History is with us on this one. Jews were denied political rights in 1930’s Germany, and look where the country is today: leading Europe economically, politically, and, I would argue, morally, given its openness to Muslim migrants from the Middle East and Africa. Spain expelled practicing Jews outright in 1492, and within a century became a premier naval power. The Soviet Union famously barred Jews from all sorts of politically sensitive positions, and look at Russia today, the USSR’s successor: boldly leading the fight against the Islamic State. Those precedents point the way forward not only for Israel, but for the hoped-for State of Palestine: both countries must treat Jews as lacking political rights if they wish to meet success in their endeavors.

Palestine has already declared its commitment to that principle. Will Israel?

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