Free speech

 

http://www.chijewishnews.com/editor.jsp

 

Evidently, what is good for the Jews is not good for the gander.

 

Last month, Jews protested the fact that an ugly mob denied the people of Toronto the right to hear what Benjamin Netanyahu had to say about Israel.

 

This month, some people tried to keep two Israelis from sharing their views in Chicago. But this time, the people who tried to keep those men from speaking were Jews.

 

The reason they tried to keep those views from being shared was because one of the Israelis is a Palestinian, and the talk was sponsored by Shalom Achshav, Israel's peace movement.

 

Turn your web browser to the name of the Palestinian speaker, Sari Nusseibeh, and you will find countless references to his efforts over the past 20 years to help Israelis and Palestinians get to the negotiating table.

 

Concerning his attempts to get Palestinians to make compromises, read a press release from the Palestinian Return Centre in London which "strongly condemns Sari Nusseibeh's latest attack upon the rights of the Palestinian people. His action is part of a sinister war conducted against the Palestinian people by the Israeli-U.S. alliance."

 

But apparently, Nusseibeh is not only part of a secret Zionist conspiracy, he is also a closet terrorist. That is what you would believe if you had received one of the flurries of emails that circulated before his appearance in Chicago, which accused Temple Sholom and its rabbi of giving a forum to an enemy of Israel.

 

In a frantic attempt to keep Nusseibeh from speaking, protesters flooded the temple with outraged emails, phone calls, and crude attempts at intimidation. Apparently, the viewpoints of this man are so dangerous that we must be protected from them at any cost.

 

Having heard their talk, I think I can summarize the viewpoints of the speakers: Violence and force will not bring peace to Israel. Only a return of both sides to the negotiating table with the sincere intention to make meaningful compromises and commitments will bring us security.

 

Obviously, a thinly-veiled terrorist ultimatum.

 

It is not the protesters who mobbed the synagogue steps that scare me, nor those who used vulgarities to condemn the hosts and sponsors of the event. Nor is it those who came inside in order to disrupt the event, interrupting the speeches half a dozen times, who scare me.

 

It is those respectable members of the community who felt it was their duty to protect us all from hearing the point of view of a Zionist organization that happens to disagree with the Likud, that makes me shake. I am afraid of Jews who want all of us to believe that, unless we march in lockstep with Ariel Sharon, we are traitors to Israel in her hour of need. And I am afraid of those willing to mount a campaign to defame a synagogue that gives a forum to those views. I am very afraid of those who have decided that we Jews can't disagree in civil tones, and that, in the words of President Bush, if you're not with us, you're against us.

 

I hope that this serves as a wake-up call. I hope we can all discuss why it is that freedom of speech only applies, in some minds, to what Netanyahu has to say in Toronto, but not what Nusseibeh has to say in Chicago. Will our community, in the name of klal Yisrael, refuse to confront the ugliness of what happened? Must we go along with self- censorship in the name of supporting Israel?

 

I am afraid of Jews with a righteous, narrow agenda, afraid of their threats and vitriol, and, regretfully, I am afraid to sign my name to this letter.

 

-- A Chicago Jew in support of Israel and of tolerance