Jewish leftists need to have the Talk [View All]

Jewish leftists need to have the Talk

Why bother bringing up the right of return now? Why should Jewish leftists go out of their way to discuss ROR in depth with one another, with other Jews, other leftists, and, if possible, with Palestinians as well?

By Bradley Burston


These days, it's a little too easy for Jewish Leftists to avoid having the Talk. The Talk, an open-minded consideration of the Palestinian right of return, might well be divisive, corrosive, just one further blow at a time of Israeli – and world Jewish - apathy and depression and paralysis. It's certainly more comfortable to let the issue run in the background, as many groups on the left have done, either coming down at one stroke on one side or the other, as if the issue were not breathtakingly complex, or, alternatively, deciding not to decide.

It's much, much easier to simply get off the betrayed-by-Israel bus altogether, as Village Voice film editor Allison Benedikt suggests of friends in her much-shared Life after Zionist summer camp. "Most of my Jewish friends are disgusted with Israel," she writes. "It seems my trajectory is not at all unique. My best memories from childhood are from camp, and I will never, ever send my kids there."

The lack of real ROR debate on part of the Jewish left is fostered by the holding pattern of Middle East peacemaking. There is no dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians, barely any between Israel and the American administration, and at this point, next to none within Israel or the Jewish community. So why bother to bring up the right of return now? Why should Jewish leftists go out of their way to discuss ROR in depth with one another, with other Jews, other leftists, and, if possible, with Palestinians as well?

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http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/jewish-leftists-need-to-have-the-talk-1.368082