universityofwhales's review
5.0
A masterwork in chronicling the intellectual journey we each must take when we encounter injustice. Each Schulman book I read takes greater hold of my mind, and this is the pinnacle of her attention to nuance and truth in the midst of trauma.
axmed's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
ironi's review
1.0
An accurate description of this book: Follow an American Jew with no knowledge on Israel, Palestine or the history of the conflict attempt to solve it! Watch as she makes it entirely about herself!
Anyway, I picked up this book because well, I'm queer, Israeli and very interested in LGBT+ issues in Palestine. I'd hoped this book would discuss the various connections between the communities. I thought it would analyze the way we, as queer people, can further connections between our scarred communities.
Unfortunately, this is not a book about Israeli and Palestinian queers. This is a book about Sarah Schulman. One day, she gets invited to speak at a conference in Tel Aviv. This leads her to learning about the boycott on Israel. So she decides to visit Israel and Palestine on a solidarity visit instead. This book describes her experiences through her trip and afterwards, as she organizes a tour of Palestinian queers in the USA.
There are many many problems with this book. I'm so disappointed because I really did think this book would be good. Also, I'm tired of people assuming the conflict is so clear-cut. I mean, look at this article. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is much weirder, theatrical and multi-layered than people (ahem, Sarah Schulman) think.
Schulman's Lack of Knowledge
Schulman is honest enough to say several times that she's ignorant about the conflict. Even in the midst of her activism, she's still surprised by basic information. Now, it's great that she's learning but somehow, despite her massive lack of knowledge, she's decided that boycotting Israel is the solution to the conflict. Instead of going to Israel and Palestine and hearing from queers what they think about this conflict, her trip is built around meeting people that already think boycott is the solution.
In this sense, she gets a very partial picture, especially within Israel. There are many Israelis that support the Palestinians (myself included) but obviously, not many Israelis support a boycott of their own country. Schulman doesn't acknowledge that there's a difference between anti-occupation and pro-boycott (and heck, there's a huge spectrum in between as well, like I do consider myself anti-occupation but I also think we've got to make sure we don't accidentally create another Gaza, it's really not as easy as just stepping out of the West Bank).
There's a point where Schulman says that she can relate to Israelis because she also comes from a country that commits crimes/ is involved in wars. However, I don't see Schulman or any American supporting a boycott of America. That sounds absurd, right? So why does Schulman assume Israelis need to do that in order to solve their problems?
And sure, I could spend time now discussing why a boycott wouldn't help anyone but I just can't get over the fact that Schulman doesn't pause and consider that there are other solutions, that Israeli and Palestinian queers are engaging in other options. She blindly follows a few people who encourage her that boycott is the right move.
Near the end of the book, Schulman claims that dialogue groups are meaningless. She mocks the idea of art as a bridge to peace. However, what has Schulman done? She wrote this book and arranged a tour of queer Palestinians in America. That's raising awareness, which is literally what art does.
Beyond that, Schulman is stuck in such an echo chamber that a solid dialogue session would have done her wonders. I wish she had gone to speak with queer religious Jews living in the settlements or with queer Arabs living in Gaza. This conflict affects queerness in more ways than just "queers need to boycott Israel".
Self- Centered Activism
Schulman says that the activists that she met are inspirational and important. She arranges a tour for them in the states in order to get other people to know them. However, we, the readers of this book, don't really get to hear their stories. I would have loved to know more about their journeys, to understand their experiences. That's literally why I wanted to read this book. However, Schulman's focus is always her own journey, rather than empowering the voices of the queer Palestinians. That's incredibly problematic and very annoying.
American and Israeli Jewry
Schulman describes that she was never told about the Palestinians as a child. Instead, she was fed an image of Israel, the land of tan strong Jews. This is a common tale among American Jews. They are told this watered down version of Israel and Israelis. It's deeply problematic because Israeli Jews have a tendency to demand of American Jews financial and political support but to get annoyed if they voice criticism. We want them to feel part of the country but never entirely. They can go to the Dead Sea and take pictures with camels but heaven forbid an American Jew criticizes us.
However, Schulman does a complete turn. She goes from, "Israel is a flawless country" to "Israel is the worst country". Within a mere 100 pages, she begins to vilify other Jews and eventually implies that Israel is part of a financial conspiracy to control all Pride parades (which, you know, sounds like pure antisemitism). Since she grew up hearing myths about Israel as a child, it seems like she doesn't bother to correct some of her beliefs about it as an adult.
I get that American Jews are struggling with reconciling their American leftist opinions and the peer pressure to have an established opinion about Israel, stuck between supporting BDS as Democrats and supporting Israel as their parents and schools taught them. I realize that this attitude is a result of flawed Israeli policy (so many Israelis still think every Jew needs to live in Israel without realizing how insulting that is towards them). However, there's a middle ground and Schulman, like many American Jews, just misses it completely.
Queer Rights in Israel/Palestine
The thing is, as much as I wish this was wrong, queer rights are better in Israel than in Palestine. Right now, homosexuality is outlawed in Gaza. In the West Bank, there are no legal protections put in place to defend LGBT+ people. Al-Qaws, the organization Schulman worked with, was briefly outlawed in 2019 and still struggles to this day. If you were to only read this book, you'd assume that Israel has a struggling queer community and Palestine has a vibrant and strong one, simply because the narrative focuses more on the Palestinian queer organizations and ignores Gaza entirely.
We can't fix problems if we don't acknowledge them. Pretending queer rights are okay in Palestine is only going to be harmful for everyone in the long run. True, Schulman spends most of this book talking about herself but come on, can't she spare a few words to talk about the actual problems of queers in this region and perhaps discuss ways to help Palestinian queers stand up against their government?
And in the same vein, the problems of Israeli queers aren't mentioned at all, simply because this book doesn't dig deep enough. In Israel, LGBT+ organizations in Israel tend to be very politically aligned with the left. I've seen people bully a right wing representative at a Pride parade. Queer rights are human rights and yet, in Israel it becomes a partisan topic, as if your opinions on the conflict also dictate what your thoughts about queerness should be. As Schulman is researching queerness and politics, I'd imagine this should have been discussed.
Additionally, in Israel queerness is almost localized to Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is a bubble of acceptance in the midst of a country that still has a long way to go in terms of education. The fact that Schulman only mentions people from the Tel Aviv bubble is so so typical and it's wrong. Instead of discussing the problems of Israeli queers, Schulman becomes part of the problem, conforming to the idea that lesbians from Tel Aviv can truly understand what's going on outside of their bubble.
Pinkwashing (I have no idea if I'll agree with this part in the future so bear with me)
In some ways, Israel is in a catch-22. Israel sees itself and wishes to be seen as a first world modern country. As such, the conflict is unacceptable. We accept much worse situations when they occur in the third world but once Israel claims to be modern, it gets held to a higher standard. This, I think, is really important.
However, people like Schulman don't want to hear that Israel is a modern and liberal country, apart from the issues of the conflict. We're not bothered by countries like Sudan being homophobic as well because we don't have that many expectations of them. Since Israel is held to that expectation, it somehow annoys people that Israel is a decent country for LGBT+ people. If Israel was awful to queer people, they'd have an easier time shrugging and going, "well, just like every other complicated geopolitical situation".
And it's ridiculous because it's Israel's liberal values that I believe will lead us towards a long lasting solution. When people blame Israel for being proud of its liberal nature, I'm just here like, would you rather we also outlaw being trans? The fact that our government understands that being liberal is a good thing is important because it means they might do more to fulfill this image. There's much work to do still but at the end of the day, things are not all bad. Countries are complicated and we have to understand that a country can be many things.
The real problem is when Israel simultaneously denies queer people of rights and also flaunts itself as a queer haven. It disgusts me to see members of my government saying in Hebrew incredibly homophobic statements ("my kids will never be gay because I raised them right"- said by our minister of education) and yet, in advertising campaigns they have the audacity to use images from Pride parades. As long as we don't have equal rights, it's messed up that our government pretends as if we do. However, I fail to see how this has to do with the Palestinians. That's just common Israeli government hypocrisy (like our behavior towards American Jews, really).
More Inaccuracies
As the last nail in the coffin, this book is also abound with inaccuracies. Here are three examples of direct quotes that Schulman just gets wrong:
1. "I met many "queerim" and "queerite" - Israeli queers who do not identify with the nationalist and assimilationist Israeli LGBT+ movement."
Queerim and queeriot (I am assuming that is what she means because queerite is singular) is simply the Hebrew for queer. That's it, there's no political meaning behind it. (And yes, it's very ironic that the word queer is gendered but that's just the fun of Hebrew).
2. "Checkpoint is an English translation of the Hebrew word. Arabs call them "barriers"".
Nope. The word for checkpoints in Hebrew is מחסום which literally means barrier. I recall hearing Palestinians use the Hebrew word for checkpoint as well.
3. ""We go to segregated schools," they said. How could I not know this? And then, how ironic that as a result of segregation the Palestinians know three languages, and the Jews only two."
(a) Using the word segregated here is odd- it implies the American segregation, as if Israel has different water fountains for Arabs and Jews. Israel has 4 different education systems because it is impossible to find one that would encompass everyone's beliefs. Glancing at the top 20 schools in the country, they're split between Arab, secular and religious schools so really, if anyone's suffering from this system, it's the Ultra Orthodox. If Israel had one education system for Arabs and Jews together, wouldn't Schulman blame Israel for brainwashing Palestinians?
(b) This is said near the end of the book so it really is questionable why Schulman doesn't know about this.
(c) Not all Palestinians are fluent in three languages. A lot of Palestinians do not know Hebrew (as I have experienced as a Hebrew teacher) and some do not have a good grasp on English. Not all Palestinian schools offer Hebrew. In fact, Israeli universities often offer pre-uni Hebrew courses for Palestinians who do not know Hebrew but wish to study in Israeli unis. Many Palestinians learn their Hebrew from working around Israelis instead of through school.
(d) Israelis do learn Arabic but they learn MSA. It's taught horribly so most Israelis forget everything. It's a political decision not to teach us a dialect but we do learn Arabic.
All this shows the way Schulman doesn't have a particularly strong grasp on much of what is going on. It feels like she wrote this book to pat herself on the back for being such an activist instead of actually engaging with more than 2 Israelis.
To conclude this long review, I can't recommend this book, which I imagine you've gathered if you've managed to read this far. I think Schulman has wronged Israeli queers and Palestinians by writing this self congratulating book. Her inability to step back and let others tell the story makes this book incredibly frustrating, as if her massive lack of information.
What I'm Taking With Me
- I identify as Jewish before Israeli. I don't think this is uncommon so really, I have no idea what Schulman is basing herself on (potentially the two Israelis she met in Tel Aviv).
- Schulman says she's doing this because she wants to know where her tax money is going. However, Iraq and Afghanistan get more aid from America than Israel, is she planning on visiting there to see where that money is going?
- Schulman says the boycott isn't against individuals. However, if an Israeli researcher wishes to share their research but they get boycotted, how is that not against them?
- Last week I heard a Palestinian describe the EU as the old rich white man between us [Israelis and Palestinians]. This is somewhat accurate for Schulman as well.
-----------------------------
Yes, I just finished another book about Israel, I think I'm starting to miss my politics classes. Anyways, this book was not great so long and ranting review to come!
Anyway, I picked up this book because well, I'm queer, Israeli and very interested in LGBT+ issues in Palestine. I'd hoped this book would discuss the various connections between the communities. I thought it would analyze the way we, as queer people, can further connections between our scarred communities.
Unfortunately, this is not a book about Israeli and Palestinian queers. This is a book about Sarah Schulman. One day, she gets invited to speak at a conference in Tel Aviv. This leads her to learning about the boycott on Israel. So she decides to visit Israel and Palestine on a solidarity visit instead. This book describes her experiences through her trip and afterwards, as she organizes a tour of Palestinian queers in the USA.
There are many many problems with this book. I'm so disappointed because I really did think this book would be good. Also, I'm tired of people assuming the conflict is so clear-cut. I mean, look at this article. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is much weirder, theatrical and multi-layered than people (ahem, Sarah Schulman) think.
Schulman's Lack of Knowledge
Schulman is honest enough to say several times that she's ignorant about the conflict. Even in the midst of her activism, she's still surprised by basic information. Now, it's great that she's learning but somehow, despite her massive lack of knowledge, she's decided that boycotting Israel is the solution to the conflict. Instead of going to Israel and Palestine and hearing from queers what they think about this conflict, her trip is built around meeting people that already think boycott is the solution.
In this sense, she gets a very partial picture, especially within Israel. There are many Israelis that support the Palestinians (myself included) but obviously, not many Israelis support a boycott of their own country. Schulman doesn't acknowledge that there's a difference between anti-occupation and pro-boycott (and heck, there's a huge spectrum in between as well, like I do consider myself anti-occupation but I also think we've got to make sure we don't accidentally create another Gaza, it's really not as easy as just stepping out of the West Bank).
There's a point where Schulman says that she can relate to Israelis because she also comes from a country that commits crimes/ is involved in wars. However, I don't see Schulman or any American supporting a boycott of America. That sounds absurd, right? So why does Schulman assume Israelis need to do that in order to solve their problems?
And sure, I could spend time now discussing why a boycott wouldn't help anyone but I just can't get over the fact that Schulman doesn't pause and consider that there are other solutions, that Israeli and Palestinian queers are engaging in other options. She blindly follows a few people who encourage her that boycott is the right move.
Near the end of the book, Schulman claims that dialogue groups are meaningless. She mocks the idea of art as a bridge to peace. However, what has Schulman done? She wrote this book and arranged a tour of queer Palestinians in America. That's raising awareness, which is literally what art does.
Beyond that, Schulman is stuck in such an echo chamber that a solid dialogue session would have done her wonders. I wish she had gone to speak with queer religious Jews living in the settlements or with queer Arabs living in Gaza. This conflict affects queerness in more ways than just "queers need to boycott Israel".
Self- Centered Activism
Schulman says that the activists that she met are inspirational and important. She arranges a tour for them in the states in order to get other people to know them. However, we, the readers of this book, don't really get to hear their stories. I would have loved to know more about their journeys, to understand their experiences. That's literally why I wanted to read this book. However, Schulman's focus is always her own journey, rather than empowering the voices of the queer Palestinians. That's incredibly problematic and very annoying.
American and Israeli Jewry
Schulman describes that she was never told about the Palestinians as a child. Instead, she was fed an image of Israel, the land of tan strong Jews. This is a common tale among American Jews. They are told this watered down version of Israel and Israelis. It's deeply problematic because Israeli Jews have a tendency to demand of American Jews financial and political support but to get annoyed if they voice criticism. We want them to feel part of the country but never entirely. They can go to the Dead Sea and take pictures with camels but heaven forbid an American Jew criticizes us.
However, Schulman does a complete turn. She goes from, "Israel is a flawless country" to "Israel is the worst country". Within a mere 100 pages, she begins to vilify other Jews and eventually implies that Israel is part of a financial conspiracy to control all Pride parades (which, you know, sounds like pure antisemitism). Since she grew up hearing myths about Israel as a child, it seems like she doesn't bother to correct some of her beliefs about it as an adult.
I get that American Jews are struggling with reconciling their American leftist opinions and the peer pressure to have an established opinion about Israel, stuck between supporting BDS as Democrats and supporting Israel as their parents and schools taught them. I realize that this attitude is a result of flawed Israeli policy (so many Israelis still think every Jew needs to live in Israel without realizing how insulting that is towards them). However, there's a middle ground and Schulman, like many American Jews, just misses it completely.
Queer Rights in Israel/Palestine
The thing is, as much as I wish this was wrong, queer rights are better in Israel than in Palestine. Right now, homosexuality is outlawed in Gaza. In the West Bank, there are no legal protections put in place to defend LGBT+ people. Al-Qaws, the organization Schulman worked with, was briefly outlawed in 2019 and still struggles to this day. If you were to only read this book, you'd assume that Israel has a struggling queer community and Palestine has a vibrant and strong one, simply because the narrative focuses more on the Palestinian queer organizations and ignores Gaza entirely.
We can't fix problems if we don't acknowledge them. Pretending queer rights are okay in Palestine is only going to be harmful for everyone in the long run. True, Schulman spends most of this book talking about herself but come on, can't she spare a few words to talk about the actual problems of queers in this region and perhaps discuss ways to help Palestinian queers stand up against their government?
And in the same vein, the problems of Israeli queers aren't mentioned at all, simply because this book doesn't dig deep enough. In Israel, LGBT+ organizations in Israel tend to be very politically aligned with the left. I've seen people bully a right wing representative at a Pride parade. Queer rights are human rights and yet, in Israel it becomes a partisan topic, as if your opinions on the conflict also dictate what your thoughts about queerness should be. As Schulman is researching queerness and politics, I'd imagine this should have been discussed.
Additionally, in Israel queerness is almost localized to Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is a bubble of acceptance in the midst of a country that still has a long way to go in terms of education. The fact that Schulman only mentions people from the Tel Aviv bubble is so so typical and it's wrong. Instead of discussing the problems of Israeli queers, Schulman becomes part of the problem, conforming to the idea that lesbians from Tel Aviv can truly understand what's going on outside of their bubble.
Pinkwashing (I have no idea if I'll agree with this part in the future so bear with me)
In some ways, Israel is in a catch-22. Israel sees itself and wishes to be seen as a first world modern country. As such, the conflict is unacceptable. We accept much worse situations when they occur in the third world but once Israel claims to be modern, it gets held to a higher standard. This, I think, is really important.
However, people like Schulman don't want to hear that Israel is a modern and liberal country, apart from the issues of the conflict. We're not bothered by countries like Sudan being homophobic as well because we don't have that many expectations of them. Since Israel is held to that expectation, it somehow annoys people that Israel is a decent country for LGBT+ people. If Israel was awful to queer people, they'd have an easier time shrugging and going, "well, just like every other complicated geopolitical situation".
And it's ridiculous because it's Israel's liberal values that I believe will lead us towards a long lasting solution. When people blame Israel for being proud of its liberal nature, I'm just here like, would you rather we also outlaw being trans? The fact that our government understands that being liberal is a good thing is important because it means they might do more to fulfill this image. There's much work to do still but at the end of the day, things are not all bad. Countries are complicated and we have to understand that a country can be many things.
The real problem is when Israel simultaneously denies queer people of rights and also flaunts itself as a queer haven. It disgusts me to see members of my government saying in Hebrew incredibly homophobic statements ("my kids will never be gay because I raised them right"- said by our minister of education) and yet, in advertising campaigns they have the audacity to use images from Pride parades. As long as we don't have equal rights, it's messed up that our government pretends as if we do. However, I fail to see how this has to do with the Palestinians. That's just common Israeli government hypocrisy (like our behavior towards American Jews, really).
More Inaccuracies
As the last nail in the coffin, this book is also abound with inaccuracies. Here are three examples of direct quotes that Schulman just gets wrong:
1. "I met many "queerim" and "queerite" - Israeli queers who do not identify with the nationalist and assimilationist Israeli LGBT+ movement."
Queerim and queeriot (I am assuming that is what she means because queerite is singular) is simply the Hebrew for queer. That's it, there's no political meaning behind it. (And yes, it's very ironic that the word queer is gendered but that's just the fun of Hebrew).
2. "Checkpoint is an English translation of the Hebrew word. Arabs call them "barriers"".
Nope. The word for checkpoints in Hebrew is מחסום which literally means barrier. I recall hearing Palestinians use the Hebrew word for checkpoint as well.
3. ""We go to segregated schools," they said. How could I not know this? And then, how ironic that as a result of segregation the Palestinians know three languages, and the Jews only two."
(a) Using the word segregated here is odd- it implies the American segregation, as if Israel has different water fountains for Arabs and Jews. Israel has 4 different education systems because it is impossible to find one that would encompass everyone's beliefs. Glancing at the top 20 schools in the country, they're split between Arab, secular and religious schools so really, if anyone's suffering from this system, it's the Ultra Orthodox. If Israel had one education system for Arabs and Jews together, wouldn't Schulman blame Israel for brainwashing Palestinians?
(b) This is said near the end of the book so it really is questionable why Schulman doesn't know about this.
(c) Not all Palestinians are fluent in three languages. A lot of Palestinians do not know Hebrew (as I have experienced as a Hebrew teacher) and some do not have a good grasp on English. Not all Palestinian schools offer Hebrew. In fact, Israeli universities often offer pre-uni Hebrew courses for Palestinians who do not know Hebrew but wish to study in Israeli unis. Many Palestinians learn their Hebrew from working around Israelis instead of through school.
(d) Israelis do learn Arabic but they learn MSA. It's taught horribly so most Israelis forget everything. It's a political decision not to teach us a dialect but we do learn Arabic.
All this shows the way Schulman doesn't have a particularly strong grasp on much of what is going on. It feels like she wrote this book to pat herself on the back for being such an activist instead of actually engaging with more than 2 Israelis.
To conclude this long review, I can't recommend this book, which I imagine you've gathered if you've managed to read this far. I think Schulman has wronged Israeli queers and Palestinians by writing this self congratulating book. Her inability to step back and let others tell the story makes this book incredibly frustrating, as if her massive lack of information.
What I'm Taking With Me
- I identify as Jewish before Israeli. I don't think this is uncommon so really, I have no idea what Schulman is basing herself on (potentially the two Israelis she met in Tel Aviv).
- Schulman says she's doing this because she wants to know where her tax money is going. However, Iraq and Afghanistan get more aid from America than Israel, is she planning on visiting there to see where that money is going?
- Schulman says the boycott isn't against individuals. However, if an Israeli researcher wishes to share their research but they get boycotted, how is that not against them?
- Last week I heard a Palestinian describe the EU as the old rich white man between us [Israelis and Palestinians]. This is somewhat accurate for Schulman as well.
-----------------------------
Yes, I just finished another book about Israel, I think I'm starting to miss my politics classes. Anyways, this book was not great so long and ranting review to come!
moh's review
5/2/17 Removed the stars because of problems I didn't catch on my first read: deadnaming of someone the author disagrees with, near-complete omission of trans people, and prejudice against Russian Jews.
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