The announcement on 27th September by the Jerusalem regional planning and construction committee, of the building of 1100 new housing units in Gilo has been met with universal opposition by the United States, the Quartet, Germany, France, the UK and other countries -all active supporters of Israel on the international stage.

The Israeli government argues that Gilo is merely a Jewish neighbourhood in southern Jerusalem and is entitled to build there as it would in any other part of Israel.

But there are significant reasons to reject that argument.

Introduction

Recently, the AJDS issued a statement about some BDS protests that we believe work against justice for Palestinians. The statement evoked a strong reaction and has been misinterpreted by some. It was our intention that the statement clearly articulate the concerns we have with some BDS protests, as a contribution to the overall debate about the Israeli Palestinian conflict. While our concerns with the BDS protests has not altered, we acknowledge from the feedback, that aspects of our statement needed changes.

A discussion ensued within the AJDS executive on those changes and it was decided that in addition to publishing the revised statement on our website, we would also include some of the arguments that contributed to the final version of the statement.

Update: 15 August. This statement (in an edited form) appeared as an op-ed in The Age, and was syndicated nationally online.

The Australian Jewish Democratic Society urges the Australian government, which already accepts the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, to support their bid for recognition of the State of Palestine by the UN General Assembly.

The Israeli Knesset's new law targetting those who advocate boycotts is of deep concern, as it undermines the principle of free, non-violent speech in a democracy. Merely unpopular opinions ought not be illegal.

We stand with other critical friends, both inside and outside Israel prepared to publicly stand against bad laws. As the New Israel Fund says: "many if not most Israelis oppose the settlement enterprise, and for good reasons. Criminalizing actors who refuse to perform in Ariel, or NGOs that support holding settlers economically accountable by not buying their goods or services, is appalling. We ourselves will not exclude support for organizations that discourage the purchase of goods or use of services from settlements."

The occupation is a cancer on Israeli society, and attempts to protect the occupation by law goes against everything Israel claims to be. Even the Anti Defamation League in the US, a strongly pro-Israel organization considers the legislation as dangerous.

Regardless of the diverse political views within the Jewish community, there should be general and vocal opposition to this legislation, more of which is to come. In addition, we urge the Australian government to voice its concern about the legislation which damages Israel's standing amongst its declared friends.

Useful background

In his April 1, Washington Post opinion piece, Richard Goldstone said that if more information had been forthcoming from Israel when he chaired the fact-finding mission appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the section concerning intentional killing of civilians by Israel, would have been different. That it was Israel's refusal to co-operate with the UN fact- finding mission which adversely affected the outcome, is an important qualification that has been somehow lost in the justificatory headlines and commentary that have appeared in the Australian Jewish News.

But what of the rest of the first Goldstone report, or the additional report released on 18 March by the UNHRC, a report which continues to be critical of Israel and Hamas? Has that report been "qualified" or "disowned" by Goldstone? Not at all. It also needs to be observed that the UN again spoke with Gilad Shalit's father. The UNHRC mission and the original Goldstone report called for his release.

In fact, here are Goldstone's most recently reported remarks about the report as a whole: "I have no reason to believe any part of the report needs to be reconsidered at this time."

Of 400 Israeli investigations--there have been 52 criminal investigations. So far, only three cases have been submitted to prosecution; two have resulted in convictions, while the trial of one case is still ongoing. This lack of movement is regrettable. In another case, theft of a credit card by a soldier in Gaza resulted in a far more serious penalty than using a nine-year-old as a human shield, and this has not been the only case of a light touch.

Moreover, we note that Hamas has not conducted any investigations into the launching of rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and deserve the strongly critical remarks in the most recent UNHRC report.

[This letter was published to the Australian Jewish News in an edited form on 22 April 2011]

The AJDS deplores the murder of the Fogel family in the West Bank settlement of Itamar. This is a horrific crime and heartrending tragedy for the community in which it occurred.

We hope that the person or people responsible will be apprehended and brought to justice.

AJDS Executive, 15 March 2011.

A campaign to bar a Muslim prayer group from using an East St Kilda Community House for one hour a week is being driven by extremists with an anti-Muslim agenda. The public controversy was manufactured by a group calling themselves the Q Society. The Q Society identified a need for a planning amendment to the Community House that would affect all groups that use the space.

The following message has been send to Kevin Rudd, parliamentarians, and journalists in the proposed delegation.

Hon Kevin Rudd
Australian Foreign Minister
Canberra

Dear Minister Rudd

The Australian Jewish Democratic Society believes that in its present form the visit to Israel by a parliamentary and press
delegation hosted by the Australian Israel Leadership Forum is of limited value.

The Australian Jewish Democratic Society considers the Occupation of the West Bank to be a significant obstacle to the achievement of a lasting peace, and the settlements to be one of its worst manifestations.

Its effects are numerous:

*Israel’s youth must risk their lives in policing a hostile aggrieved Palestinian population, and risk becoming brutalised by the experience;

* Jewish settlers and their Palestinian neighbours have an understandably impossible relationship which often results in openly violent and destructive behaviour;

*It breaches international law, the very system that actually made possible the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948;

*Development of Palestinian civil society and its economy, which are the prerequisites of prospects for peace, is stifled.

Many Israelis share this view. The AJDS has decided that it does not wish to give financial support to those who produce and export from the settlements, and wishes to discourage others from doing so. We are taking this stand because we hope that it will encourage people to think about the question of the Occupation, and, at a more fundamental level, because we don’t wish to be supportive of people who breach International law, with or without the approval of the Israeli Government...(more follows)

The Australian Jewish Democratic Society has become the first Australian community-affiliated Jewish organisation to adopt the view that some boycotts of Israel may indeed be justified. The decision culminated a 16-month process of discussion and expression of a wide range of views in its Newsletter.

The resolution (full text below) rejected the Palestinian civil society version of Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS): "The AJDS is opposed to any Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign aimed at the breadth of Israeli economic, cultural or intellectual activity". The AJDS only supports "selected BDS actions designed to bring about an end to the Israeli occupation, blockade and settlement on Palestinian lands lying outside of the June 1967 Israeli borders."