Fully in support of @labourstudents #livingwage campaign. Takes me back to my days in @lsesulabour when we were part of @lsesu LW campaign.
Dan Sheldon is the Campaigns Director of the Union of Jewish Students.
Find him on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and dan at sheldonline dot com
Fully in support of @labourstudents #livingwage campaign. Takes me back to my days in @lsesulabour when we were part of @lsesu LW campaign.
RT @cartoonkippah: .@sheldonline @UJS_UK “Unhelpful notions of “the left” and “the right” and why we MUST find some middle ground” http: …
Since last Monday’s debate between Jonathan Hoffman and I, there have been a flurry of accusations flying round the blogosphere and email lists. The usual internet warriors have come out to spread their bile against UJS, accuse me of supporting the “death of Jews” and call for my resignation. I have been called a prick, a “lefty wanker” and – worst of all – a former SWP member.
But that’s part of the rough and tumble of discussing Israel. As I said in my speech “Where once Israel united the Jewish community, more and more it now divides us. Every week, battles are being pitched between Jews.” Unfortunately, it’s what we’ve come to expect, but I certainly wouldn’t threaten to sue or sack fellow activists.
In his speech, which preceded mine at the debate, Jonathan repeated the falsehood that UJS are planning to hand out Palestinian flags. Following the debate, a nasty letter circulated that falsely accused me of Islamophobia.
Much criticism – in particular Alan A’s thoughtful piece on Harry’s Place – has centred on the part of the speech where I said:
“He is happy to demonstrate, side by side, with members of the EDL¹s
Jewish Division”
I shouldn’t have said that Jonathan was “happy” to protest alongside the EDL, and I’m sorry if Jonathan’s feelings were hurt by this.
It is important, however, to challenge the notion that my speech somehow played into the Anti-Zionist canard that links the EDL and the pro-Israel Jewish community.
Now, as it happens, I have a bit of a track record on exploding this particular myth. I started the UJS ‘Not in Our Name’ campaign, which attracted widespread support from across the Jewish community – from the Zionist Federation to Jews for Justice for Palestinians – in condemnation of the racist thugs of the EDL. We got plenty of hate mail for that one, too.
Likewise, Jonathan has voiced his opposition to the EDL. When the EDL attended the same demonstration as him, he told them that “I do not welcome it” and asked the police for a separate pen.
But really, this dispute has nothing to do with my remarks about Jonathan and the EDL. It has everything to do with two different approaches towards Israel engagement. Either we can draw up the barricades and shut out those with whom we disagree, or we can help build a genuinely broad coalition for Israel on our campuses. Jewish students, motivated by a positive vision of Israel, are doing the latter.
That’s the bottom line. We should be able to discuss our differences, but we must have zero tolerance for intolerance. The major bodies in the Jewish community were right to refuse to support the ‘Big Tent for Israel’ event until it was open to Reform Rabbis. And we should have no truck with those who throw accusations at fellow pro-Israel activists with whom they disagree.
Therefore I repeat the offer I made at the end of my speech – to extend the hand of friendship to all those within the Jewish community, and beyond, to work with Jewish students, not against them.
In a week when Jewish students, led by UJS, have stood up to the likes of Norman Finkelstein and Gilad Atzmon on our campuses, I dare say it would be a better use of our time than these unseemly intra-community battles.
Published in The Jewish Chronicle
A Jewish student recently asked me a seemingly innocuous question:
“But what am I meant to say?”
The question shocked me. The student – a committed political activist – was asking me what she should say when confronted by anti-Israel activists on her campus.
She, like many Jewish students, had enjoyed thousands of pounds worth of the finest Jewish education – from Jewish schools, to summer camps and trips to Israel.
It shocked me because it revealed an embarrassing truth. A diet of narrowly focused Israel education and spoon-feeding of “hasbara” (Israel advocacy) has produced a generation of Jewish students with a deep love for Israel, but with no real understanding of the case for a Jewish state.
This approach isn’t about watering down our Jewish values or connection with Israel
My response to the student was simply: think for yourself and speak your mind.
Try the exercise for yourself. Ask a pro-Israel Jewish student why they support Israel; why Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state. The answers – or lack thereof – may depress you.
When Israel becomes a passive subject on which dissent is discouraged, it’s no wonder so many young Jews are tuning out or turning against the Jewish state.
How can we hope to “win” for Israel on campus if we do not even seek a true understanding for ourselves? Until we make the shift from training our youth to “defend” Israel to allowing the space for them to properly engage with it, we stand little chance.
Changing this won’t be easy. It will mean dealing with the difficult issues in Israel, not papering over the cracks. It will mean cutting off the supply of lazy Israel education and challenging young Jews to think for themselves. And it will also mean opening up the space within our community to be a critical friend of Israel.
This approach isn’t about watering down our Jewish values or connection with Israel. It’s about strengthening them through real engagement.
However beneficial this shift will be for Jewish students, there’s an even bigger win in our sights. We’ve got a real opportunity to change the current harmful dynamic on Israel on campus.
Too often, when Israel is discussed on campus, Jewish students prepare for war. And so do our enemies. Tit-for-tat, zero-sum politics. Completely pointless, souring the campus atmosphere and harming Jewish students.
It doesn’t have to be like that.
Our Liberation campaign is a bold, fresh approach. The aim is to get down to the fundamentals: making the case for Zionism as the liberation movement of the Jewish people, establishing two states for two peoples as the only practical way to realise the competing rights of Israelis and Palestinians.
Our approach is not “hug an anti-Zionist”. It’s about challenging students to show their commitment to two states, isolating those with negative agendas.
For too long, we’ve shied away from talking about human rights, justice, equality and freedom. These are not only values upon which Israel was founded, but they’re Jewish values too. Liberation should be as much a part of the Jewish narrative as it is now that of the Palestinians’.
It’s about time we articulated all this, instead of wasting our energy on defending the indefensible, or tearing shreds out of each other. Until we change our narrative from one of fear and war to one of hope and justice, we cannot hope to engage seriously with others on Israel.
If it works, history tells us this new approach may bring dividends. Over the past few decades, UJS has made a number of policy shifts that have had a wide impact within the community and within the student movement. From supporting mutual recognition, to our long-standing commitment to two states for two peoples: UJS played a key role in leading the community and setting the agenda on campus.
Liberation isn’t about a change in policy – our commitment to two states is entrenched in our values and widely supported across our community. Rather, we – along with organisations such as the Jewish Agency’s Makom, and Israel’s Reut Institute – are making a fundamental change in our approach to Israel: from confrontation to conversation.
In 1995, Tony Blair’s Clause Four Moment symbolised the shift the Labour Party had made to reach out beyond its traditional base. It’s time for us to make the same crucial leap.
Dan Sheldon is the UJS campaigns director
RT @Callum_Munro: Just had a quick meeting with Tony Blair to chat about his role as Middle East peace envoy. #stillgotit
RT @MarcusDysch: Love that Rita mentioned @JewishChron in the Kabin in tonight’s #Corrie. Her best line since ‘help yourself to a toffee …
RT @leo_boe: Empowering convo with @rachel_wenstone about the continuing reality of antisemitism on campus, and of those who trivialize it.
