It seems that the column I wrote last week on divestment made quite a splash with certain people. I was very happy to see this because this means people are thinking about this stuff. Since ignorance is one of the greatest evils that need to be confronted when discussing the conflict in Palestine, this dialogue that has been created is a promising step. However, it is important to again stress the need for divestment. The movement has become widespread and needs to be thought about.

Many people might write this off as being some crazy radical movement that only people with excess facial hair and ragged clothes would support. This movement or any movement should not be thought of that way. This is a movement that should unite students against oppression. Yesterday it may have been African-Americans and today Palestinians. But the Palestinians’ time is now. This is a movement that should be supported by any student who stands opposed to oppression.

Oppression has been one of the greatest evils of our time and has been the evil that many of our ancestors faced. What is amazing is that this should be a common evil to all humanity. Every person, from every group, nationality, race, gender and ethnic background has experienced this in some manner. African-Americans have fought for their civil rights in one of the most liberal countries on the face of this earth, not to mention a struggle against slavery. The struggle they experienced is the same struggle the Palestinians face today. We need to recognize that we are all working against a common evil.

Becoming educated in an American public and private school system I learned a lot about the Holocaust. It seems that the Holocaust is one thing that is taught in every school. This makes sense I suppose. Since we have all learned about this evil at some point we should all know about oppression. Especially those who remember the holocaust the most, the victims of it, Polish, Roma, Jews, gays and others that were on Hitler’s hit list. We have been taught of this evil, I suppose to learn a lesson for the future. The evil that happened during World War II and the horrors of slavery and the oppression of people everywhere has to tell us that we cannot permit it to continue.

There have been cases in the past where certain areas of the world have experienced forms of oppression. Ethiopia and Eritrea, Bosnia, and Cambodia are just a few. However these nations share more in common than bloody recent histories. In fact, another thing that these nations have in common is that they have all had arms embargos placed on them by either the United States, the European Union, the United Nations or all of the above. Again this makes sense. Arms suppliers around the world have noticed the conflicts that have been erupting in these nations and have said that they will not fuel the fire of hatred that burns within the borders of those states. This is not the case however with the conflict in the Middle East. And a divestment movement would help us convey the message that we want it to be that way. A divestment movement will publicly state that it is time to remove support for Israel.

Now, some have said that this is racist or have even tried to label it anti-Semitic (an overused term that is beginning to lose its true meaning). But if the United States is only supporting Israel in the conflict, how would it be racist if we stopped supporting them. I can understand the argument had we been supporting the Israelis and Palestinians equally. If that were the case and we were to remove support for the Israelis then, yes it would be unfair.

But that is not the case. The United States blindly supports Israel in the conflict. It is time to reconsider this stance and look at other cases in history. If we truly want to talk about peace or a political settlement the United States has to be even-handed. The United States cannot claim to be even-handed when American-made bombs are dropping over Palestinian houses. It’s time to take a step back and do things right.

I have heard other critics of divestment say that they would not support the movement because the United States is a traditional friend of Israel and Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. I have written columns in the past about how democratic Israel really is and can write many more columns on the same issue. This is not what bothers me about the argument to support Israel.

The idea of Israel being a traditional friend really bugs me though. My first issue is with “traditional.” This makes me think about America’s relationship with Israel and its history. Many times supporters forget how America’s recognition of Israel was really not about sympathy or valiant things like that. But the decision was purely about the balance of power in the region, the then Cold War, the accumulation of peripheral satellites and control of a resource-filled region. But even if the relationship was based on hypocrisy it may not bother some people because it still is a relationship and Israel’s best friend is the world strongest power.

Don’t get me wrong. I am totally for supporting your friends, especially in fights. I would jump into a fight for any of my friends because I care about them and their relationship with me is very important. I would gladly help any of my friends who were in trouble or were getting hurt. But I wouldn’t help my friend at all if they had cornered a 6-year-old paraplegic and began beating him. In fact I would stop my friend from doing this, and for the safety of the weaker kid, hold my friend down and slap some sense into him. For my friend’s own good I would talk to him and tell him that it was wrong to do such a thing to such a weak person. And I would under no circumstances whatsoever tell my friend what he did was just or help him out because that would be wrong.

Israel may be a friend of the United States and that’s fine, but if the United States is a true friend they would stop supporting Israel’s brutal occupation against a weaker divided and starving population and slap some sense into them for their own good.