I’m heartened that the referendum calling for Princo to divest its ownership in companies that manufacture weapons passed, winning 68% of the vote. The companies listed as targets, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX (formerly Raytheon), and General Dynamics, are all American companies, which is not surprising given that the U.S. accounts for 40% of the global weapons trade.
Yet Rabbi Steinlauf ’91 claims that the referendum links Israel to the military-industrial complex, thus embedding “anti-Israelism firmly in a generally progressive sensibility and world-view.” He is the one linking militarism to Israel, not the referendum and not “progressives.” Does he really think that anyone who does not want to profit from war and its destruction is therefore anti-Israel? He may be correct that many people with a “progressive sensibility” oppose current Israeli government policy, but that is not the same thing as being anti-Israel. It seems to me that Rabbi Steinlauf’s analysis is clouded by his defensiveness about Israel.
I’m heartened that the referendum calling for Princo to divest its ownership in companies that manufacture weapons passed, winning 68% of the vote. The companies listed as targets, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX (formerly Raytheon), and General Dynamics, are all American companies, which is not surprising given that the U.S. accounts for 40% of the global weapons trade.
Yet Rabbi Steinlauf ’91 claims that the referendum links Israel to the military-industrial complex, thus embedding “anti-Israelism firmly in a generally progressive sensibility and world-view.” He is the one linking militarism to Israel, not the referendum and not “progressives.” Does he really think that anyone who does not want to profit from war and its destruction is therefore anti-Israel? He may be correct that many people with a “progressive sensibility” oppose current Israeli government policy, but that is not the same thing as being anti-Israel. It seems to me that Rabbi Steinlauf’s analysis is clouded by his defensiveness about Israel.