More Lannan: Pappe & SFMEW member responses, and Alice Walker

In this blog posting:

1. Ilan Pappe – a Fabricator of History, sponsored by Lannan Foundation
2. Alice Walker – anti-Semite coming May 8, sponsored by Lannan
3. AIPAC Policy Conference – not too late to sign up

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1. Ilan Pappe – a Fabricator of History

On January 23, 2019, Lannan hosted Ilan Pappe in conversation with Dima Khalidi. the usual anti-Semitic tropes were uttered, and no questions from the audience were permitted to challenge those tropes. As we reported back in October, SFMEW Media Committee Chair Kristina Harrigan had written an op-ed in the New Mexican warning potential audience members about the fictional accounts Pappe uses, and urging Lannan to consider his talk “with the novelists, not the historians.”

In response to Pappe’s talk several letters to the editor have appeared in the New Mexican. Here they are reproduced:

Lannan misfires

Lannan once again showed its anti-Israel leanings by featuring Ilan Pappé and billing him as a “historian.” Pappé predictably violates every ethical rule of the American Historical Association. He fabricates evidence, omits evidence that runs counter to his perception of Israeli history and consistently misinterprets the historical record in order to score political points. He has fabricated evidence regarding Israel’s supposed plans for Arabs during the period preceding Israel’s independence. He omits evidence that disproves his assertion that Israel practices “ethnic cleansing,” e.g. that the number of Arabs living in Israel increased eightfold between 1948 and 2002; that the life expectancy of Arabs living in Israel is 10 years longer than that of Arabs living in neighboring countries. He misrepresents the historical record of Arab violence against Jews in the 1920s, when Arabs murdered hundreds of Jews in vicious and unprovoked attacks.

Karen Milstein, published on February 1, 2019

In response to Karen’s letter, two letters were published, the first on February 3, 2019:

Questioning narratives

I am writing to respectfully challenge Karen Milstein’s portrayal of Ilan Pappé (“Lannan misfires,” Letters to the Editor, Feb. 2). Pappé has written 18 books. I’m not a historian, but I doubt that one is published 18 times if it’s all “fake news.” He and the other revisionist Israeli historians are reexamining the origin myth of Israel and the effects of settler colonialism on Palestinians and Israelis. Pappé does reference the Nakba, the mass eviction of 700,000 Palestinians during the 1948 war that created the current exploding refugee crisis. This event is not well-known or is often overlooked.

Now there are generations of Palestinians suffering from the traumas that accompany refugee status side by side with Israelis who still suffer from the effects of historical persecution and Holocaust trauma. Yet, there exists no compassion on either side for the other, which then precludes the possibility of constructive solutions.

As a Jew, I was taught that we should never be afraid of questioning narratives that support the oppression and exploitation of our fellow humans (or any narrative for that matter). When that happens, as Albert Memmi stated years ago in The Colonizer and The Colonized, both sides lose their humanity. I urge Milstein to consider this: A critical examination of the past and present prevailing narratives regarding Israel could benefit Israel and Palestine and all of us who care about both populations.

 

Ellen J. Shabshai Fox, LCSW

There are major flaws in Fox’s statements, including:

1. The number of books or papers any individual publishes says nothing about the quality or veracity of those books or papers, or of the statements an individual makes in a speech.
2. Fox ignores the 700,000 Jews that were (often) by force evicted from Arab lands.
3. Fox uses the hyperbolic term “colonial” – a buzzword meant to evoke an emotional response, but indeed not accurate for the complex historical facts of the Arab dispute with Israel going back before the 1948 war, and subsequent 1967 war.
4. Most importantly, even Pappe admits he doesn’t care about the truth in writing history. As historian David Pryce-Jones writes regarding Pappe’s book, “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” published in 2006: “Pappe regularly explains: ‘We do [historiography] because of ideological reasons, not because we are truth seekers… there is no such thing as truth, only a collection of narratives’. Fox should know that revising history is not necessarily accurate history. In Pappe’s case it is done to support his ideological positions, not the facts of history. Anyone who believes facts matter shouldn’t be gullible enough to buy Pappe’s tropes.

The second letter was published on February 10, 2019:

No misfire

In a letter to the editor (“Lannan misfires,” Feb. 2), Karen Milstein condemns the Lannan Foundation for sponsoring a lecture by Ilan Pappé, whom she viciously attacks, saying he “fabricates evidence” and “misrepresents the historical record” with regard to Israeli history.

Pappé has faced severe the criticism before: He has been condemned by the Knesset, which understandably wants to avoid the true story of Israeli displacement of Palestinians, and which may well be the motive of Dr. Milstein’s opposition to him.

Lannan has not misfired. We are deeply thankful to Lannan for the broad range of speakers it brings to the Lensic, who have brought us new and deeper understanding of many issues of our day, in the arts and literature, and in politics.

Richard C. Rowe

Rowe also makes major logical errors:

1. Pappe does fabricate history and misrepresents the historical record. Putting those items into quotes as if they are only opinions from Milstein doesn’t make her comments untrue. There is plenty of evidence that Pappe has made up history, for example when he made up a quote from David Ben-Gurion in his 2006 book, and continued to use that quote after it was clearly reported that it was a fabrication. (See the article, “The Liar as Hero” on three of Pappe’s books by historian Benny Morris in The New Republic, March 17, 2011.)
2. Just because the Knesset condemned Pappe doesn’t mean they want to whitewash history, or that Pappe’s fictionalism is accurate or credible. Indeed Pappe works in the UK partially because his own former Israeli colleagues, most of whom are quite liberal, have discredited him.

Susan Raku (February 12, 2019) and Zev Guber (February 20, 2019) responded accordingly:

Misrepresents Israel

Ilan Pappé, who was part of the Lannan Foundation’s “Readings and Conversations” series at the Lensic Performing Arts Center on Jan. 23, intentionally misrepresents Israel as a nation practicing apartheid. Apartheid would exist if the Israeli government forced Arabs to live in Arab ghettos; prevented them from participating with Jewish citizens in civic, sports and cultural activities; or prohibited marriage between Arabs and Jews. None of this happens in Israel. Israeli Arabs can live

wherever they wish. Israeli Arabs serve in the Knesset (Israel’s Congress), sit on the country’s Supreme Court, compete in sports and win popular cultural awards. Israeli Arabs are free to marry Israeli Jews or Christians. In fact, as a Palestinian political scientist has found in survey after survey of Palestinian opinion, “since 1996, Dr. Khalil Shikaki has been polling Palestinians about what governments they admire, and every year Israel has been the top performer, at times receiving more than 80 percent approval.” This does not sound like “apartheid.”

Susan Raku, Santa Fe

Existential struggle

I want to thank the Lannan Foundation for the wide range of speakers offered to the Santa Fe community. I have long wondered why no time is offered for questions and response. I feel it robs the community of open discourse on the central issues of our time. This has been particularly apparent when it comes to the questions of Palestinian-Israeli relations, which I see as a sad affair for both sides. I fail to see what is gained by giving a platform to anti-Israel speakers and yet not having an opportunity to question their assumptions and conclusions. Personally, I suffer for and with each side, but blame alone will take us no further and seems only to confirm one’s biases. My belief is that the Lannan Foundation owes the Santa Fe community a more balanced presentation, especially when both sides feel they are locked into an existential survival struggle.

Zev Guber, Santa Fe

Yasher Koach to Kristina Harrigan and Susan Goldstein for monitoring the Lannan activity and documenting the speaker’s errors, and to Karen Milstein, Susan Raku, and Zev Guber for their responses. If you see logical fallacies like in the Fox or Rowe letter be sure to write your own letters to the New Mexican to set the record straight.

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2. Alice Walker coming May 8

Lannan continues its anti-Semitic offerings on May 8 with a clear anti-Semite: Alice Walker. Walker’s animus is truly anti-Semitic, not “just” anti-Zionist (as some might excuse it). Walker recently expressed in the New Times Book Review that she unqualifiedly endorses (and even after criticism of the Book Review article doubled-down on) the British anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist David Icke’s book, “And the Truth Shall Set You Free.” The ADL (Anti-Defamation League) wrote about Walker’s own 2013 book:

…“The Cushion in the Road” (The New Press, 2013) devotes 80 pages to a screed on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict replete with fervently anti-Jewish ideas and peppered with explicit comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany. 

The 12 essays of the section, titled “On Palestine,” which make up a quarter of the book, are rife with comparisons of Israelis to Nazis, denigrations of Judaism and Jews, and statements suggesting that Israel should cease to exist as a Jewish state.  Walker’s book also attempts to justify terrorism against Israeli civilians, claiming that the “oppressed” Palestinians should not be blamed for carrying out suicide bombings.

“Alice Walker has sunk to new lows with essays that remove the gloss of her anti-Israel activism to reveal someone who is unabashedly infected with anti-Semitism,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  “She has taken her extreme and hostile views to a shocking new level, revealing the depth of her hatred of Jews and Israel to a degree that we have not witnessed before.  Her descriptions of the conflict are so grossly inaccurate and biased that it seems Walker wants the uninformed reader to come away sharing her hate-filled conclusions that Israel is committing the greatest atrocity in the history of the world.”

Walker’s anti-Semitism is deep-seated. Lannan should be ashamed of its continued line-up of anti-Semites, at least 20 since 2001 (see the list here). If you feel the same way, be sure to express these views to your friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and the media.

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3. AIPAC Policy Conference

It’s not too late to sign up for the AIPAC annual policy conference in Washington, DC, March 23-26. With 90+ new members of congress (MOCs), including two new House members from New Mexico, it’s more important than ever to attend AIPAC and lobby/educate our MOCs. And learn a lot more about the upcoming elections in Israel, occurring only a couple of weeks after the policy conference. All of the major party leaders, from the US and from Israel, have been invited to speak. From the AIPAC PC website:

The AIPAC Policy Conference is the largest gathering of America’s pro-Israel community. The conference is a celebration of the U.S.-Israel partnership and the premier opportunity for every attendee to lobby their Congressional office to advance the U.S.-Israel relationship. 

The Policy Conference is also a rich educational experience and inspirational booster shot. Attendees will hear keynote speeches by American and Israeli leaders, attend intimate educational sessions, and be wowed by moving stories of U.S.-Israel partnerships, Israeli heroism, and groundbreaking Israeli innovations that are changing our world. 

More information is available here.

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SFMEW is a beneficiary organization of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico.