Truth in Israel- Palestine conflict

Imagine walking home from class on any given day to discover that your home, apartment or dorm has been destroyed because you are an IU student. Now imagine that your landlord gave the group who ruined your home the tools to carry out the demolition.\nStudents for Justice in Palestine (SJP) strive to raise awareness and promote discussion on the IU campus. One reason this awareness is needed is because of the Israeli censorship of what is really going on in the territories. Israeli military officials routinely kick journalists out of the territories and confiscate their videos. Any footage that can be shot is then filtered through the Israeli Military Censors Office in Jerusalem. \nAnother reason is the $15 million dollars a day, funded by your tax money, that the U.S. gives Israel. This money supports Israel's illegal occupation in defiance of international law. According to Miftah, Israel has constructed 205 Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and has divided the land into 300 separate clusters to accommodate Jewish-only roads. These Jewish-only settlements and roads are built on land where Palestinians once lived. According to www.batshal-om.org, more than 9400 Palestinian homes have been demolished because they didn't have valid building permits, yet the one demolishing homes is also issuing permits. \nOn Nov. 13, SJP organized a boycott of Starbucks to educate the public of Starbucks' one-sided support of Israeli apartheid. It was ultimately aimed at raising awareness about your tax money and aid to Israel. \nMartin Spechler claims that SJP targeted Starbucks "because it's Jewish-owned" and that this constitutes "Nazi-tactics." The fact that Howard Schulz is Jewish was not the issue. It's not an attack on the Jewish people. Rather, we seek to educate the public on the Israeli governments' policy toward the Palestinians. \nRabbi Sue Shifron ("Grinding Axes with Coffee Chain," Thursday, Nov. 14) and IU student Josh Hamerman ("Don't Boycott Starbucks," Tuesday, Nov. 19) accuse SJP of being "anti-Semitic." For one thing, SJP has Jewish members and Arabs are also considered Semitic. Furthermore, we stand opposed to racism of any sort. \nSJP doesn't seek to heap the blame of the conflict on Israel. We realize that both sides inflict terror on each other. We seek to educate the public of Israel's military advantage over the Palestinians. Since 1967, the Palestinians have had to endure a military occupation that began cruel and only got worse over time. They are considered second-class citizens and are slowly being transferred off their land.\nHamerman claims that Israel is the only Democracy in the Middle East. This is only true if you are a Jew. Palestinians living under Israeli military rule do not have the right to vote and due process of the law does not apply to these people. They also have different color license plates and ID cards that distinguish them from Jews. Sounds more like apartheid than democracy.\nHamerman states that one must differentiate between constructive criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism. He then goes on to accuse SJP's criticism of the Israeli government's actions toward the Palestinians as being anti-Semitic, therefore implying that any criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic. \nThe apartheid regime of South Africa was brought to its knees through international boycotts of companies who supported this government. Does this mean that anyone who participated in the boycott was anti-white? \nBlanket statements that accuse SJP of being "anti-Semitic," "morally-corrupt" and "anti-American" are careless accusations. Not speaking up against human rights violations would be criminal. It's time we as Americans speak up and say no more, not in our name and not with our money.