Radiohead played in Tel Aviv this week and got endless amounts of shit for it in the press and on social media.  Any number of activists begged, pleaded, and cajoled them not to play.  There was even an open letter sent to them by various artists urging them not to go.  In the end, they decided to play.

This past Saturday, I returned to Israel for the fourth time.  As anyone who’s heard me talk about the country knows, it’s one of my absolute favorite places on the planet.  The kinship I feel with the people and the attachment I feel to the place are undoubtedly rooted in my Jewish heritage, as is my similar love for Ireland.  And as with Ireland, I have found the people to be unfailingly kind, hospitable, and open.  Now this love I feel for Israel certainly does not mean that I’m blind to its many faults and shortcomings.  I’ll get to that in a bit. What it does mean is that I believe that it’s a place worth investing in, engaging in, and trying to change for the better.  Anyone who’s ever been in an argument with an Israeli knows that this will be no easy feat.[1]  And so it is with all things worth fighting for.

I’ve gotten some flak on Facebook in the last few days from various people about my time in Tel Aviv.  Some friends have been genuinely curious about how I feel about being here and if I feel any moral qualms vacationing in Israel, given the ongoing Palestinian conflict.  Others have been less interested in having a genuine discussion of ideas.  Such is the nature of social media and having groups of friends on different sides of the political aisle.  Usually, I’m getting into with my friends on the right, but the evolution of this issue in American and international politics now means that supporting Israel in any way often brings you into conflict with the left.

I want to say that I am not unsympathetic to the arguments of those on the left or, more importantly, the plight of the Palestinian people.  The Israeli government, and by association the Israel Defense Force (or IDF, as it more commonly known), has limited the movement and therefore the economic freedom and opportunities of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.  They have used disproportionate measures in responding to attacks in which scores of Palestinians have died.  And they continue to use water and sanitation facilities as bargaining chips in the ongoing negotiations, undermining Palestinian development and public health.  These actions must stop, on the one hand because it is patently wrong and inhumane to do so, and on the other hand because Israel is far better off with a growing, developing Palestine on its border than a failed state with a history of violence and an active grudge against its affluent neighbor.

There are any number of reasons to criticize the current Israeli government and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in particular.  I do not believe that Netanyahu wants to create an independent, stable Palestine, and I think that he is weasel of a politician who will say or do whatever is necessary to stay in power, as he proved in the days before the last Israeli election in 2015.  He abruptly reversed his previous position and came out in support of a one-state solution to garner votes on the far right of the Israeli political spectrum to ensure that his party, Likud, would remain in power in the face of a substantial challenge from the more liberal Zionist Party.  Likud won the election, and Netanyahu quickly backtracked on these comments but his actions are telling.  There have been no substantial peace negotiations.  Settlements, one of the thorniest issues, have continued to be a flash point.  I supported President Obama’s decision last year to not veto a UN resolution that condemned Israeli settlements. The US should not merely rubber stamp all of Israel’s actions nor should it abet its worst tendencies.  With Trump now in power, Netanyahu feels emboldened, and the Israeli government approved the first new settlements in decades in March and just last month Netanyahu proposed that individual settlements in territory earmarked for the Palestinian state remain under Israeli authority.  Both of these moves are seriously destabilizing to the peace process and are rightfully non-negotiable for the Palestinians.  They also assure that the peace process will go nowhere.

Having lived here before, I feel that I understand the importance that both the Israelis and Palestinians attach to this land that makes issues like settlements and boundaries so very difficult.  I feel the connection to the place when I’m here.  I feel my roots.  Israelis feel it, which is why they fought to establish a state in this land.  And Palestinians certainly feel it, which is why they feel understandably aggrieved that they do not have their own truly sovereign state in the land they cherish and insist upon a right to return.  It’s also why they chafe at the settlements, as the Israeli government tries to chip away at the land Palestine was promised in 1948 and then again in 1967.  Land matters here because of its spiritual and emotional connection.  But the 1967 borders were accepted by both sides and should be honored by both, if peace is to proceed. The settlements were a dangerous policy then and they remain an affront any sense of fairness and equity.  But Israelis also deserve to live peacefully in their state, free of worries of terrorist attacks or the machinations of belligerent and ill-intentioned neighbors.

Which brings us back to Radiohead.  The call to keep Radiohead and other cultural, economic, or academic activity out of Israel has been sounded by the BDS movement.  The BDS (or boycott, divestment, and sanction) movement began in 2005 as Palestinian NGOs called upon outside business and organizations to put pressure on the Israeli government and its people to halt the occupation of Palestine and grant equal rights to Palestinians.  In and of itself, it has some goals (an independent Palestinian state and equal rights for Palestinians) that I support.  I cannot, however, support its methods.  Because BDS is aimed not at the Israeli government, which is the rightful target for this scorn, but rather the Israeli people.  It seeks to brand them as apartheid-supporting racists who unquestioningly support every decision and move that their government makes.  Some Israelis do support settlements and other odious policies.  But many do not.  Israel, like the United States, is bitterly divided about the future direction it wants the country to take.  Many Israelis, and many of my friends here, are appalled at the treatment of Palestinians and would like nothing better than to reach a viable two-state solution.  Now, they do remain skeptical that an independent Palestine would be a reliable partner for peace.  And who can blame them after the innumerable terrorist attacks which were subsequently defended by the Palestinian Authority or openly encouraged or lauded by Hamas?  But merely being Israeli does not mean that you support or even own all of Israel’s policies.  Just as being American does not mean that I own or support all of Trump’s misguided, disastrous policies.

The BDS movement wants to cut off Israelis from global trade and culture.  It paints Israel as the modern-day apartheid South Africa, which is a facile historical oversimplification of which many on the left are guilty.[2]  Telling academics not to visit Israel or bands not to play in Israel is a direct repudiation of their culture and their value.  These people are telling Israel that theirs is a society built upon lies, deceit, and deception.  The UN itself decided the 1948 borders, and the 1967 borders have been agreed upon by both sides (which Israel also needs to respect). Saying that Israel does not have a right to this territory, and to enjoy the opportunity to engage with the rest of the world in this territory or abroad, is an untenable and inflammatory position.  I am against the BDS movement not because it is anti-Israel, but because it is anti-Israeli.  Where are the calls to protest bands playing in China, which has a far worse human rights record than Israel?  The Rolling Stones played Shanghai when I lived there and no one batted an eye.  Where are the calls to stop acts playing in Russia, which routinely kills journalists and murders opposition politicians?  Israel is certainly no innocent but is held to an entirely different standard than any other country.  And the misguided BDS movement is a reflection of this.  I am not saying those who support BDS are inherently anti-Semitic, but there are definite strains of anti-Semitism in the BDS movement, and by supporting it, these forces are emboldened.

So why do I keep coming back to Israel? For one, because I love the place and feel the aforementioned connection to the place and the people.  And yes, I have to admit that on a superficial level I enjoy coming here because it’s beautiful, the beaches are fantastic, and the women are gorgeous.  There’s no denying that side of it.  But I also come here because I know that there is a better version of Israel hiding inside the current iteration.  Israel was founded as a Jewish democracy in the ashes of the Holocaust as a light to people around the world who would stand up to tyranny and fascism and repression.  That it has in turn repressed people in its own sovereign territory is a black mark that it must work hard to clean up.  Willful though the Israelis are, I fundamentally believe that they are a good people.  And so I talk, and cajole, and try to convince people that a fair two-state solution is the only way forward. That the only way Israel can maintain its status as both a Jewish state and a democracy is to grant full autonomy to a Palestinian state and its people.  And that it needs to happen sooner rather than later.  I don’t want it to morph into a modern-day apartheid state with Palestinians a permanent underclass, which is what I believe would happen under any one-state solution.  Israel is held to a higher standard and maybe it should be.  I want it to be a democratic light and example to the rest of the Middle East. And I want to be a part of that change process.  Which is why I keep coming back.

[1] An old joke that’s made the rounds for years says that wherever there are two Jews, there are three opinions.

[2] Israel has a clearly checkered relationship with the Palestinians. Of this there is no doubt.  But degrees of autonomy have been granted to the Palestinian state, and the subjugation and complete repression of apartheid South Africa is not in place in modern-day Israel.