Why We Stand With Israel

, by Wesleyan United with Israel ,

Wesleyan is a campus that prides itself on its openness. Yet when Israel comes into the conversation, any dialogue that supports the country is prematurely dismissed. Here, being pro-Israel is ostracizing. Any pro-Israel sentiment is painted as a disregard for Palestinian life, which could not be farther from the truth. The humanitarian tendencies of Wesleyan students blind many to the real facts of the situation. So let us set the record straight.

Like the majority of students on campus, and the official policy of the Government of the State of Israel led by Prime Minister Netanyahu, we support a two state solution. We hope to see two autonomous, fully functional states coexist peacefully for the sake of both Palestinians and Israelis. We recognize the struggle of the refugee, and hope for a resolution. We value the innovative resources that Israel provides the international community, which include agricultural, technological, and medical breakthroughs. But most importantly, we acknowledge that Israel is a beacon of democracy, and has historically been the United States’ primary ally in the Middle East. This is an alliance built on shared values and strategic interests.

Wesleyan United with Israel supports a country that gives its citizens, regardless of their race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity equal rights and protections before the law. Israel is home to the only gay pride festival in the Middle East. Israel is the only country that has had a woman Prime Minister, a woman speaker of the Parliament (Knesset), and a woman Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the Middle East. Israeli Arabs, of Muslim, Christian, and Druze faiths, serve in prominent roles in Israeli society and its Government, including Supreme Court justices, ambassadors, generals, and members of the Knesset. Israel boasts the freest press in the Middle East.

Whatever problems one may have with the Israeli government, delegitimizing or ignoring these contributions is wrong. How can critics say that Israel is fundamentally against human rights when presented with these facts? Israel values life above all, demonstrated by their consistent efforts to be among the first to send medical teams to help disaster zones worldwide. Israel’s regard for life is also prevalent in a military context. Over the summer, in the midst of the war, Israel delivered food and medical supplies to the citizens in Gaza. Even more telling was Israel’s determination to help the Gazan people by repairing the power lines that Hamas destroyed with their rocket fire into densely populated Israeli civilian areas. So when we say that we are pro-Israel, we are saying that we support a country that goes to unprecedented lengths to minimize civilian casualties. The Israeli Defense Force, like any other military, is not perfect. They have made mistakes in military operations, but we don’t believe that these mistakes warrant putting Israel under disproportionate scrutiny, nor do they warrant condemning the entire nation.

In 2005 when Israel forcibly removed its own citizens from Gaza to give up this land for peace, Hamas built rockets and tunnels from those territories to terrorize Israelis. While we do not support the expansion of settlements, make no mistake; settlements are not the cause of violent opposition to Israel’s existence. Withdrawal from settlements will not lead to peace on its own. Hamas proved this. But peace can lead to the withdrawal of settlements. The Camp David Accords proved this.

We do not believe boycotting Israeli products is an effective strategy for pursuing peace: nor does President Obama, nor does the J Street national organization, nor does Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas. The Boycott harms both Israelis and Palestinians. Many Israeli businesses employ both Israelis and Palestinians, and offer better work conditions than most businesses in the West Bank. Boycotting does not pressure bureaucrats on either side to create peace. We must instead urge the United Nations and the United States’ Government to encourage the Palestinian Authority to sit down in direct negotiations with the Israeli Government. Only through direct negotiations can a sustainable peace be created on the principle of two states for two peoples.

Time and again, Israelis have willingly traded land for peace. Today, the peoples of Egypt, Jordan, and Israel live in peace as a result of face-to-face negotiations between their governments. Wesleyan United with Israel fervently hopes to see the Palestinian and Israeli peoples enjoying a similar era of peace and cooperation.

Wesleyan United With Israel defines itself as an organization which supports Israel, opposes divestment, and wants peace. We are not a right wing organization, and we support the right of Palestinians to a state of their own, living side by side, in peace with the State of Israel. We want a Wesleyan community that can have an open, unbiased, and fair conversation about Israel.

Feel free to contact us at weswithisrael@gmail.com with any questions or interest.

  • Danteshek

    So… How do you feel about the thousands killed in Gaza a few months ago?

    Do you have any remorse at all for what you have done?

    Do you know of any other “beacons of democracy” that promote apartheid?

    • L

      I would prefer apartheid to genocide, the expressed goal of many of Israel’s opponents, though the choice is not a happy one. And if you want an example of a beacon of democracy that has promoted apartheid, look no further than the United States. We are still trying to overcome it. It does get complicated. If forced to choose, would you feel safer and more free in Tel Aviv or Baghdad? Israel or Iran? Jerusalem or Karachi?

      What if you were gay? Jewish? A Coptic Christian? Any Christian at all? Etc? Etc?

      Have you ever lived in a place surrounded by people dedicated to killing you?

      • peace

        Bravo. Well said

      • racism=#1qualityforUSallies

        Way to avoid the question about the Gaza massacre. Bravo spin artist, and surely Israel is a great place for Gays if you’re white but if you’re Palestinian the Israeli intelligence services will use your sexuality to blackmail you and try to get you to inform on your neighbors.

      • DavidL

        Since you obviously have adopted the buzzword “Gaza Massacre” (Google it–it’s a buzzword), there is going to be no way to satisfy you. But I will return to my original argument. You are surrounded by people who are dedicated to killing you. There are many thousands of them and they have been firing weapons at you for many months (and also for many decades.) These people live among tens of thousands of other people who might not mind that they are trying to kill you, but they are not active participants. They would prefer not to kill anyone if given the choice. These people are called civilians.

        However the people who are trying to kill you not only live among the civilians, they store their weapons where the civilians live and they hide among the civilians while firing the weapons designed to kill you. If you do not fight back, they will keep trying to kill you. If you do fight back, some of the civilians are going to be killed or injured. The people who are trying to kill you are willing to have the civilians die, in part because it protects them but also because they can use these deaths as propaganda to persuade other people (residing safely on college campuses in Connecticut, for example) that the terrible Jews are engaged in a plan to massacre the muslims surrounding them. This is quite helpful because in actual fact it is Muslims (some of them acquiesced by many others) who indeed want to slaughter the Jews. If they could kill every last Jew, some of them would gladly do so. Others would prefer to kill just hundreds of thousands or (with the right weapon) millions and drive them away.

        It’s a war, sir. Wars are not pretty. The war will not end until either (1) the Muslims surrounding the Jews rise up and expel the leaders who want to kill and banish the Jews (2) or the Jews are in fact slaughtered and driven out.

        In my view if our “Western Civilization” again allows the Jews, who are part of the bedrock of our culture, to be again victims of a genocidal slaughter, our civilization deserves to be overwhelmed by whatever source gets there first.

        This is my answer to your question, but of course you will not understand it. Have a nice day in Connecticut.

      • Guest

        We have yet to coin a term for the horrors Israel has inflicted on the Palestinians. The gradual nature of a program to systematically eliminate a specific population in a systematic manner does not cure it of its genocidal character. It is just a matter of time before we speak of a Jewish Hitler.

      • DKE Bro

        We have yet to coin a term for the horrors Israel has inflicted on the Palestinians. The gradual nature of a program to systematically eliminate a specific population does not cure it of its genocidal character. It is just a matter of time before we speak of a Jewish Hitler.

      • DavidL

        Palestinians are not white?

  • Henry Rops
  • erm

    who wrote this? wespeaks arent supposed to be anonymous, even when posted by groups

    • answer

      A number of members of Wesleyan United with Israel collectively wrote it, so they didn’t want to put just one name on the article. Not anonymous, just a group effort.

      • welllll

        then those who wrote it should all undersign the article…thats how collective wespeaks have been done in the past

  • Anonymous

    Modern Muslims have religious conflict with: Hindus in Kashmir; Christians
    in Nigeria, Egypt, and Bosnia; atheists in Chechnya; Baha’is in Iran; Animists
    in Darfur; Buddhists in Thailand; each other in Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and
    Yemen; Jews in Israel; Why is Islam involved in more sectarian and religious
    conflicts than any other religion today? In fact, why is Islam the only
    religion in conflict with every single one of today’s major world religions?

    But you think belligerent pugnacious Islam has legitimate grievances in this
    constant conflict, and that, for example in Palestine, Islam is just defending
    its own reasonable interests?

    No, not at bottom. At bottom what we have in Islam is a violent,
    expansionist totalitarianism. That’s why Islam is in conflict all over the
    world with every other religion.

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