(note: this is a draft of a petition that will be circulated through change.org)
Netroots Nation is an annual gathering of internet-based activists, largely centered around the website Daily Kos. In the past, Netroots Nation has focused on a variety of topics of Democratic Party and progressive interest, often in panel discussion format, and has had the participation of a number of mainstream Democratic Party figures.
This year there is a proposal to include a panel discussion at Netroots Nation about the Israeli-Arab conflict. The proposed panel is entirely one-sided, illiberal, and against universally held Democratic Party and progressive principles. As proposed, there will be no representation on the panel from a pro-Israel perspective. The two 'sides' of the proposed discussion will both consist of extremists who favor the elimination of Israel and its replacement with an Arab-majority state. The only effective disagreement between the two proposed sides of the discussion is the method by which this outcome will be acheived. The most famous proposed participant is blogger Ali Abunimah, who has explicitly called for the elimination of Israel and for a "third Intifada".
Furthermore, some of the proponents and promoters of the proposed panel have a long history of tolerating and promoting explicit antisemitism at the website Daily Kos. As documented extensively in summaries such as available at http://progressivezionist.blogspot.com/2012/03/resources.html, many of the proponents tolerate and promote traditional antisemitic rhetoric such as charging Jewish Americans with disloyalty to America and intent to control US foreign policy, promoting conspiracy theories involving the USS Liberty, pushing the debunked Khazar hoax, and many other staples of antisemitic rhetoric. Many of these same panel proponents have excused the rhetoric of the Iranian regime and expressed support for both Iran and Hezbollah acquiring nuclear weapons.
If the proposed panel is included, it will be a forum for some notorious internet promoters of antisemitism to push their hateful ideas, as well as a forum for extremists alone to promote their preferred outcome to the Israeli-Arab conflict: the replacement of Israel with an Arab-majority state, in direct contradiction to the positions of the Democratic and Republican Party platforms and every major elected official in the United States.
We call on all politicians and elected officials to avoid any association with Netroots Nation if the proposed Israeli-Arab panel is included in the program. Such extremist ideas are the antithesis of the true mission of the Netroots, the progressive movement, and the Democratic Party.
We the undersigned pledge to withhold all contributions and votes from any politicians or elected officials who participate in Netroots Nation if the proposed Israeli-Arab panel is included.
Excellent petition fiz. I seriously hope NN12 will reject this one sided idea for either no panel or for a panel that actually adresses the Progressive solution which would be the realization of the legitimate rights of both Israelis and Palestinians to their own National State.
ReplyDeletePersonally having One Staters on the Panel would be ok with me AS LONG AS equal numbers of Two State proponents that advocate for a true Two State Solution are there.
Either a truly balanced panel or no panel at all.
ReplyDeleteWhat people need to understand is that the people who are promoting this panel have absolutely no interest in dialogue. They are all about promoting Palestinian propaganda, and in particular, BDS. Even the pro-palestinians' useful idiot Norm Finkelstein has recently admitted that the deliberate failure of BDS proponents to explicitly support a two-state solution is a dishonest attempt to dodge their true agenda -- the elimination of Israel. It is fundamentally dishonest for them to deny Jews the same rights that they insist upon for Palestinians -- the right to self-determination and statehood. And nobody is fooled by their too-cute-by-half ambiguity. Part of me is OK with letting them do their Durban IV panel the way they want, because it would expose them for the extremists that they are, and show everyone just how out of step their views are with the mainstream of the Democratic party and the American population, for that matter. But I do enjoy denying them a forum for their anti-semitic hatred and propaganda.
ReplyDeleteI am concerned that the existence of the panel will be used (rightly) to slam Democrats.
DeleteI long ago contacted my senators and rep to tell them to stay away from Kos. This panel is a joke that WILL be used against Democrats...unfortunately, those who will part of it have no interest in the goal of Daily Kos....to elect more and better Democrats.
ReplyDeleteInjecting the word "anti-Semitic" (and various misspelings thereof) into your discourse will not render your argument truthful. Ali Abunimah has repeatedly stated very explicitly that he is opposed to ideological Zionism, and definitely not to Judaism or Jews. In fact, many of the people and organizations with whom he has been working over the years are Jews, who care deeply about the fate of the two peoples living in historic Palestine. If you wish to engage in true dialogue, please do just that, rather than quash the opportunity to do so because you are afraid that your rivals' argumentation may be stronger than your own.
ReplyDeleteWho TF is this guy? Criticizing my spelling by spelling things incorrectly? Celtic Merlin? Mitzner? UI? Someone else from that brain trust?
DeleteIn any case, we might just leave the comment up to enjoy the humor.
Where's the "misspeling" [sic], Uri, because I don't see it?
DeleteI mean, apart from yours.
Or is it that, perhaps, you are (like so many other antisemites), trying to redefine antisemitism, so you dislike the non-hyphenated version as it makes your task so much harder. Yeah? Is that it?
Well Uri... not quite. Abunimah has explicitly stated that he wants to see the end of Israel and the creation of a One State solution that denies the Jewish people their legitimate right to self determiniation. Because he works with Jews in this endeavour does not make his attempts to end Israel's existence any more palatable.
ReplyDeleteNot too mention that the fantasy of Palestinian Civil Society is just that... a fantasy. The creation of a secular multinational State has almost no support within the Palestinian population. So realistically what would the results of his efforts be.
But more than that. Many of us objected to this panel NOT because there were Pro-Palestinian voices there BUT because there were no strong Pro-Zionist voices included as well. We object because the whole truth is not served when this kind of thing happens. I can say the same to you Uri about dialogue, if you want it - then you need to be able to have both sides presented.
Oh, and one other thing Uri... if you are going to complain about people's spelling.... Don't make spelling and grammatical mistakes yourself. The word you said was "misspelings" is actually spelled "mispellings".
Just saying.
errr misspellings...
DeleteGuys, thanks for covering this. I'm going to try to get the word out a little this weekend.
ReplyDelete