November 27, 2002

WHAT DO MAYOR Willie Brown, downtown developers, and the powerful pro-Israel lobby group American Israel Public Affairs Committee all have in common? They're each making an all-out attempt to undermine Eileen Hansen's candidacy in the runoff election for San Francisco supervisor.

Brown and downtown are staking everything on Hansen's defeat. They are using big money, fear, and slander to attack her progressive record. For us, as Jewish activists making links between social justice at home and justice for Palestinians, the most dismaying aspect of these attacks is the use of accusations of anti-Semitism to try to tarnish her record of principled political positions.

Despite these attempts to use Hansen's history of principled politics against her, we must keep the real focus of this race on issues like housing, health care, and community well-being. This election will determine whether the reform-minded board first elected in 2000 will hold on to its gains or if Brown and corporate interests will be able to chip away at our hard-won victories in affordable housing, community planning, and family-friendly policies.

For her work as a legal observer for the National Lawyer's Guild, defending activists' right to protest, including in support of Palestinian rights, certain Jewish organizations have gone after Hansen, who herself is Jewish, with a vengeance. These organizations are the object of protests by Jews who oppose their policy of intertwining local charitable work with unswerving support of Israel's extremism.

Speaking out against Israel's home demolitions, assassinations, expropriation of land, and attacks on civilians is not anti-Semitism. Opposing Israel's mistreatment of Palestinians under occupation, and its system of preferences and privileges for Jews, is not anti-Semitism either. The term anti-Semitism should be reserved for words and acts of bigotry and hatred. As a state power, Israel has aligned itself with the Bush administration's war agenda. It is not anti-Semitic to assert that Israel does not speak in the name of all Jews. Unfortunately, this accusation is being levied far too often against those of us, Jewish and non-Jewish, who raise our voices in criticism of Israel.

For example, AIPAC has been twisting arms behind the scenes, appearing to attempt to fulfill a pledge that Hansen will be made to pay for her views on Palestinian rights. This is the latest effort by organizations aligned with AIPAC to give primacy to Israel's interests over local issues. For example, in Berkeley, Kriss Worthington, a city council member, was attacked for defending the right of students to legally protest campus policy toward Israel. Farther afield, in Georgia, Cynthia McKinney, a progressive congressional incumbent, was targeted by AIPAC for her antiwar, pro-human rights positions and was ultimately defeated. Student groups in Berkeley and San Francisco have been harshly attacked for their protests against Israel's human rights violations.

The message is clear: if you are in any way associated with Palestinian rights, you may become the subject of a smear campaign by supporters of Israel.

All of us who are aligned with the antiwar movement need to be concerned and vigilant against the strategies being used in this country to crush dissent. Passage of the ominous bill establishing a new office of "Homeland Security," as well as massively expanded surveillance power, the erosion of civil rights, a coercive approach to the United Nations, and the deployment of U.S. forces to global hot spots, all point to a U.S. administration entrenched in its view that we must line up in support of its declared war on terrorism. The confluence of interests between the Bush administration, the defense industry, the Christian Coalition, and AIPAC has created a bloc formidable to any dissenting politician.

Bush's ultimatum, "You're either with us or you're against us," appears, chillingly, to apply to everyone from "axis of evil" nations to local politicians.

That this national strong-arming should filter down as far as a local election is alarming. By using criticism of Israel as a litmus test, right-wing forces are attempting to discredit progressive politicians. In the process the conservative agenda continues to advance. One way to register our dissent is to make sure these tactics do not prevail in our city. Many of us fighting against war are also fighting for economic justice in our communities. After the bruising election a few weeks ago, what better way to protect our city than to get out and vote your conscience Dec. 10?