I've noticed what may be a new phenomenon in the Israel-Palestine debate as it plays out in the US. I call it pre-emptive censorship. A number of non-Jewish organisations have denied supposedly controversial speakers or organisations the right to speak or perform due to the anticipated reaction of the local Jewish community.
Richard Silverstein of Tikkun October 9, 2007
"If authors are not being smeared and accused of sinister motives...they are ignored altogether...as has happened to other books which have been buried alive."
Uri Avnery, author, peace activist, member of Israeli army of 1948
The Israel lobby has enormous capability to manipulate the public debate on Middle East policy not only through friendly venues in the media, but also through its ability to pre-empt speech that it disagrees with. It's one thing for pro-Israel groups to smear, disparage, demonize, and denigrate speech critical of Israel. This happens routinely in the pages of the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. At least comments deemed critical by AIPAC et alia see the light of day. It's something else to pre-emptively censor speech by using behind the scenes tactics of intimidation and fear.
In the last several years the Israeli lobby has moved beyond the usual staple of smearing and vilification to pre-emptive censorship of speech it deemed critical of its agenda. Consider these recent successes:
--Postponed New York performance of the acclaimed play My Name is Rachel Corrie at the New York Theater Workshop
--Cancelled Chicago appearance of Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs
--Cancelled concert by Marcel Khalife at the Joan Kroc Theater in San Diego
--Cancelled speech by Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu at St Thomas University in Minneapolis
--Cancelled talk by Tony Judt in New York City
In each instance appearances were nixed in anticipation of or because of the response from the Jewish community.
The Israeli lobby creates a climate of intimadation to coerce collaboration. Tony Judt describes his experience:
I was due to speak this evening, in Manhattan, to a group called Network 20/20 comprising young business leaders, NGO, academics, etc, from the US and many countries. Topic: the Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy. The meetings are always held at the Polish Consulate in Manhattan
"I just received a call from the President of Network 20/20. The talk was canceled because the Polish Consulate had been threatened by the Anti-Defamation League. Serial phone-calls from ADL President Abe Foxman warned them off hosting anything involving Tony Judt. If they persisted, he warned, he would smear the charge of Polish collaboration with anti-Israeli antisemites (= me) all over the front page of every daily paper in the city (an indirect quote). They caved and Network 20/20 were forced to cancel.
"Whatever your views on the Middle East I hope you find this as serious and frightening as I do. This is, or used to be, the United States of America." -- Tony Judt