Life is full of ups and downs, and this is certainly the case when it
comes to Israel’s status in the community of nations. What is unique is that
Israel find herself on a high and a low - at the same time.
The annual United
Nations resolution entitled “The Occupied Syrian Golan” was scheduled for a
vote on Friday, November 16. In previous years, the United States has abstained
from voting on this resolution. However, given the resolution’s anti-Israel
bias, as well as the militarization of the Syrian Golan border, and a worsening
humanitarian crisis, this year the United States has decided to vote no on the
resolution.
UN Ambassador
Nikki Haley said, “The United States will no longer abstain when the United
Nations engages in its useless annual vote on the Golan Heights. If this
resolution ever made sense, it surely does not today. The resolution is plainly
biased against Israel. Further, the atrocities the Syrian regime continues to
commit prove its lack of fitness to govern anyone. The destructive influence of
the Iranian regime inside Syria presents major threats to international
security. ISIS and other terrorist groups remain in Syria. And this resolution
does nothing to bring any parties closer to a peace agreement. The United
States will vote no.”
It is encouraging
that Israel has found support and partnerships with a growing number of nations
to a greater degree than ever before. And yet, at the same time, Israel
continues to be singled out by countries and companies, in ways unlike any
other country. Just this week Airbnb,
the online rental marketplace, announced that it will be removing 200 listings
of homes in Judea and Samaria. Though admitting that “We are most certainly not
the experts when it comes to the historical disputes in this region”, this did
not prevent the company from concluding that “we should remove listings in
Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank that are at the core of the
dispute between Israelis and Palestinians." Israel’s long standing
position is that the territory in the West Bank is disputed, not occupied. And
the fate of the settlements should be resolved in direct negotiations with the
Palestinians.
Eugene
Kontorovich, director of international law at the Jerusalem-based Kohelet
Policy Forum and a professor at George Mason University, suggested that Airbnb
was on weak ground. “This is not about disputed territories, as Airbnb has
listings in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara, Turkish-occupied Cyprus, and
more,” he said in a statement. “So it is only Jewish properties in the Jewish
homeland that are banned. Airbnb’s approach of singling out Jews from all the
disputes in the world will put it at odds with U.S. state B.D.S. laws and
principles of discrimination.”
At the beginning
of Parshat Vayishlach, Yaakov prepares to reunite with his brother Eisav. One
way that Yaakov prepares is by praying to God. (Genesis 32:12) “Rescue me,
please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav…”
Tradition typecasts the struggle between Yaakov and
Esav as the ongoing struggle between the Jewish People and her enemies.
Sometimes these antagonists present themselves as full-blown enemies (like
Eisav). But sometimes these antagonists present themselves as “brothers”: ie
justifying their singling out of the Jewish People/ Jewish State on grounds of
“human rights” or “peace-seeking”.
However, we know that the singling out of Jews (or Israel: the Jewish
State) is one of the oldest and most prevalent forms of anti-Semitism. We must
be ready to identify and call out both types of anti-Israel activity, thereby
doing our part to protect the State of Israel and the Jewish People.
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