{"id":725,"date":"2006-02-24T21:16:33","date_gmt":"2006-02-25T02:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/2006\/02\/24\/725\/"},"modified":"2006-10-08T10:21:09","modified_gmt":"2006-10-08T15:21:09","slug":"725","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/2006\/02\/24\/725\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Jews campaign against party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Israel divestment resolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am quoted in the JTA<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am concerned by the anti-Semitic undertones of the proposal,\u00e2\u20ac\u009dNikolas Schiller, an officer of the Washington branch, said after listening to Clement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s presentation. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I agree with the more global aspects\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of an alternative that would take a range of nations to task.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a rather crappy article though…”branch”….ummm….a branch grows on a tree and a party is the place to be….
\nread the rest of the article:
\n<\/p>\n

\n

Green Jews campaign against party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Israel divestment resolution<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

By Ron Kampeas
\nFebruary 23, 2006<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (JTA) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Audrey Clement biked across
\nnight-darkened bridges and through driving winter rain to make her
\npoint: Her party \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the Green Party \u00e2\u20ac\u201d made a fundamental mistake in a
\nresolution calling for divestment from Israel.<\/p>\n

She waited patiently for the DC-Statehood-Green Party to wade
\nthrough its monthly agenda items of procedural items, reports on
\nefforts to revive schools and libraries in afflicted areas of
\nWashington and a lengthy discussion on making the Web site
\naccessible to all members.<\/p>\n

Then she rose and launched her critique of a resolution that calls
\nfor total divestment from Israel for its alleged abuses of
\nPalestinians: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What I am addressing is what I believe is subliminal
\nanti-Semitism,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n

Clement appealed to the Washington branch at the Feb. 2 meeting
\nbecause her Virginia branch of the party had ignored her request for
\na hearing.<\/p>\n

Her appearance \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and a debate now raging throughout the party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rank and
\nfile \u00e2\u20ac\u201d was the result of a hard-driven campaign by Gary
\nAcheatel, a banker in Portland, Ore., launched not long after the
\nGreen Party passed the resolution in November.<\/p>\n

Acheatel said the resolution was the final straw in what he said was
\nIsrael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s diminishing profile on the left. He joined the Greens and
\nstarted contacting the delegates who voted against Resolution 190
\nlosing a lopsided 55-7 vote.<\/p>\n

Acheatel said one national Jewish group rebuffed him because the
\nGreens are on the fringe of American political life. The party has
\ndiminished substantially in status since Ralph Nader\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s run for the
\npresidency in 2000. They were not a factor in the last elections,
\nand the party currently has slightly more than 300,000 registered
\nvoters.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe the Greens to be so inconsequential,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Acheatel
\ncountered. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Its candidates are invited to debates and merit coverage
\nin the mainstream press. This enables the party to exercise an influence
\nbeyond its numbers.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Acheatel contacted Lorna Salzman, a veteran Green Party activist
\nfrom New York City and they launched the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let 190 Go\u00e2\u20ac\u009d campaign,
\nheadquartered on the Web at www.advocatesforisrael.org. It has made some inroads.<\/p>\n

In addition to Clement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s appearance in Washington, a number of
\nJewish veterans of the party are appealing for the resolution to be
\nrescinded, including former candidates such as Stanley Aronowitz of
\nNew York, and Marakay Rogers, a candidate for governor of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The credibility of the U.S. Green Party has been badly damaged;
\nresignations from the party are occurring and letters are coming in
\nto the media committee expressing anger and disappointment with
\nthe party,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Aronowitz and Rogers wrote in a letter to the party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s
\nnational committee. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We will continue to lose prospective members
\nand we need to take these criticisms seriously.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Acheatel said he has an additional goal: empowering Jews on the
\nleft, who Acheatel believes are not as versed in combating
\nanti-Israel activism as their peers on the right.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is a perfect avenue for Jewish advocacy on the left to gain
\nthe taste of victory,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Acheatel told JTA.<\/p>\n

On that score, Acheatel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s campaign has scored a considerable
\nsuccess, enlisting a number of synagogues and progressive Jewish
\ngroups. The San Francisco-based Tikkun Community and the
\nProgressive Jewish Alliance have each made appeals to the party.<\/p>\n

National Jewish groups are playing a role too. The Jewish Council
\nfor Public Affairs organized a conference call on the issue for
\nabout 15 Jewish community relations councils, and the
\nAnti-Defamation League distributed material to Green Party delegates.<\/p>\n

Much of the debate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s focus is on how the resolution singles out
\nIsrael, while ignoring human rights abuses in a number of other
\ncountries, including many in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am concerned by the anti-Semitic undertones of the proposal,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nNikolas Schiller, an officer of the Washington branch, said after
\nlistening to Clement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s presentation. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I agree with the more global
\naspects\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of an alternative that would take a range of nations to task.<\/p>\n

Other chapter members favored keeping the resolution as is, saying
\nsingling out Israel did not by itself constitute anti-Semitism. The
\nmeeting concluded with a decision to discuss it further.<\/p>\n

A statement accompanying the resolution takes other recent
\ndivestment proposals a step further by calling for the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153serious
\nconsideration of a single secular, democratic state as the national
\nhome of both Israelis and Palestinians.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

It is that call that has sparked the most acrimonious debate.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t support Israeli aggression but I do support its right to
\nexist as an independent state,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Salzman said in an exchange with
\nRon Francis, the co-chairman of the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party,
\na major backer of the disinvestments issue. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, then come
\nout and say it straight, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t beat around the bush.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Francis had referred, in the exchange, to his state party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s
\nstatement supporting \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a secular, democratic governing entity for all
\npeople in the geographic region of historic Palestine (today
\nreferred to by some people as Israel, the West Bank and Gaza).\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Other considerations drive the debate. Some Green Party activists
\nresented the passing of the national resolution without debate at
\nthe local level \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a hallmark of the party that grass-roots members
\ncherish.<\/p>\n

At the Washington chapter meeting, members berated the national
\ndelegate for failing to raise the matter with them before she voted
\nfor the resolution.<\/p>\n

Others say the party is betraying its feminist component by singling
\nout Israel while ignoring the repression of women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rights by the
\nPalestinians and other Arab nations.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Israel is a proxy for a larger issue, and that issue is women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s
\nrights in the Middle East,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Clement, 56, a computer programmer
\nfrom Arlington, Va. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I see these states trampling the rights of
\nwomen as absolutely as they trample Israel.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Finally, some opponents of the resolution question the paradox of
\nsingling out the region\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strongest proponent of environmental
\nprotections.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Resolution 190 violates the environmental bent of the Green Party,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nsaid Jason Rosenwach, an American University student who attended the
\nWashington branch meeting.<\/p>\n

Rosenwach told the meeting that Israel has the region\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most
\naggressive green policies, including a commitment to plant more
\ntrees than it uses.<\/p>\n

The U.S. party also ignored the international green movement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s
\ntradition of consulting the relevant regional branch before
\ncommitting to a policy.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are very disappointed that our sister party in the U.S. did not
\nconsult with the Israel Green Party before passing this resolution,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nPeer Visner, the deputy mayor of Tel Aviv and the chairman of
\nIsrael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Green Party, said in a statement. He called the resolution
\na \u00e2\u20ac\u0153breach in trust.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am quoted in the JTA: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am concerned by the anti-Semitic undertones of the proposal,\u00e2\u20ac\u009dNikolas Schiller, an officer of the Washington branch, said after listening to Clement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s presentation. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I agree with the more global aspects\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of an alternative that would take a range of nations to task. It’s a rather crappy article though…”branch”….ummm….a branch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,220],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-green","category-in-the-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":42,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}