Dwight Bullard, a progressive
African American state senator representing Florida’s 39th district, is under
attack from Israel lobby groups for visiting the Israeli-occupied West Bank in
May on a delegation hosted by the Dream Defenders,
a group that supports the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions
(BDS) movement.
Unbowed, Bullard has told The
Electronic Intifada that he witnessed “segregation and injustice” in Palestine.
Leading the attack against
Bullard is the pro-Israel group Miami United Against BDS.
In a press
release last week, it accused Bullard of meeting with “terrorists.”
“Bullard took a trip in May to
territories under Palestinian control where he met with the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an organization listed by the State
Department since 1997 as a foreign terrorist organization,” the group stated.
The US and Israel consider
virtually all Palestinian political factions and resistance organizations to be
“terrorist” groups.
A desperate smear
Pro-Israel groups are pointing
to photos posted to social media during the trip as proof that Bullard met with
the PFLP.
In the photo
at the top of this article, originally posted to the Dream Defenders’ Instagram
account, the delegation is seen posing for the camera in Israeli-occupied East
Jerusalem with Mahmoud
Jiddah, identified in the caption as their tour guide.
Jiddah is an African
Palestinian who was
a member of the PFLP in the 1960s. He was arrested with his brother and
cousin in 1968 and spent 17 years in Israeli prison, accused of planting bombs,
before being released in a prisoner exchange.
Today Jiddah is a leader in
the African Palestinian community and works as a tour guide in the Old City of
Jerusalem.
He can be seen in this 2011 video produced by
the Alternative Information Center, talking about his own life and the history
of his community in Jerusalem.
“Meeting with the
Afro-Palestinian community in East Jerusalem is a must for anyone seeking to
understand the continued Palestinian struggle for liberation,” Ahmad Abuznaid
from Dream Defenders told The Electronic Intifada.
“The Dream Defenders did not
meet with the PFLP, but this attack on the senator shows the true desperation
of the efforts to hold back our movement,” he added.
Speaking with The Electronic
Intifada, Bullard also rejected the accusation that he met with terrorists.
“When they showed me the
picture [of Jiddah], I was like, you mean the guy who gave us a tour of Old
Jerusalem? He’s a tour guide,” said Bullard, laughing.
Pro-Israel groups are also
outraged over Bullard’s meeting with Omar Barghouti, a
Palestinian human rights defender and a co-founder of the BDS movement, which
Miami United Against BDS calls “anti-Semitic.”
Amnesty International, among
other organizations, has expressed
concern at Israel’s threats to retaliate against Barghouti for his
political activities. In apparent fulfillment of those threats, Israel has
effectively imposed
a travel ban on him.
“It is unthinkable to accept
that there is someone in the Florida legislature who is willing to meet openly
with terrorist groups and other hateful organizations whose values are
diametrically opposed to those of Floridians and all Americans. It is our duty
to condemn this form of hate and defeat it,” Joe Zevuloni, an Israeli American
businessman and founder of Miami United Against BDS, said in the press release.
Zevuloni did not return The
Electronic Intifada’s calls seeking comment.
The only national group to
throw its weight behind the protest so far is The Israel Project,
a politically connected right-wing organization that specializes in feeding
anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim
propaganda to journalists and policy makers.
“Any Florida state legislator
who would go to Israel and choose to meet with those groups, it’s more than
troubling, it’s deeply disturbing,” Ken Bricker, The Israel Project’s Southeast
regional director, told
the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
“I have to wonder if the
constituents in his district [are] aware of who he is and what he believes in,”
added Bricker.
Bullard was also attacked as a
supporter of hatred by Uri Pilichowski, a West Bank
settler.
“Floridians should know about
Dwight Bullard’s associations with groups that seek the destruction of Israel
and the Jewish People and call for Bullard to cut those ties,” Pilichowski wrote
in The Times of Israel.
Picking the “wrong” side
Bullard told The Electronic
Intifada that he went on the trip to “develop an understanding” of the
Palestinian side that is often missing from the mainstream narrative. He added
that he is willing to go on a trip hosted by a pro-Israel group as well, though
he is unhappy with the reaction he has received from such groups since his
return.
“Had I gone on an AIPAC trip
or toured with the [Anti-Defamation League] there would be no outrage or
Palestine group protesting outside my office,” argued Bullard, referring to two
of the major national pro-Israel lobby groups. “It’s only a news story if you
pick the wrong side.”
American lawmakers routinely
travel to Israel on delegations hosted by Israel lobbying groups like AIPAC –
it’s practically a requirement for politicians at the national level.
Bullard was especially
frustrated by the demands from Israel’s supporters that he shut out
constituents based on their political views.
“As a public servant I’ve meet
with a number of groups that I fundamentally disagree with on 85 percent of issues
but I still meet with them. I’m a strong pro-choice advocate but I meet with
all the pro-life folks,” he said. “And we go all through it on why I can’t
support their issues. I won’t close the door on them.”
Attacking Black leaders
The smear campaign against
Bullard is just the latest fault line between pro-Israel groups and African
American activists and leaders affiliated with the Movement for Black Lives.
Early this month, pro-Israel
groups attempted to discipline
MBL for expressing solidarity with Palestinians in its platform.
The Dream Defenders, which
endorsed the MBL platform and whose members helped draft it, strongly denounced
the reaction from Zionist groups.
After meeting with
Palestinians who support BDS and seeing the repressive conditions they live
under, Bullard has come to understand the boycott as part of their struggle for
their civil rights.
“I think what people need to
do is recognize why an African American would feel a sense of alignment with
oppressed people,” said Bullard.
“It’s not just hearing about
injustices happening to the Palestinian people. When you see it first hand,
that’s a game changer,” he added.
“The fact that it was so in
your face, you realize your own privilege even in circumstances related to
race. We talk about driving while Black [in the US]. The idea that [in
Palestine] you have to be carrying a particular ID in order to move freely
within spaces in a place that you call home, that stuck with me,” he said.
Bullard was so disturbed by
what he witnessed, he felt compelled to wear a kuffiyeh – a Palestinian
checkered headscarf – at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia
last month, “to show solidarity with Palestine,” he said.
A Jewish Telegraph Agency
reporter noticed Bullard’s scarf and snapped a photo
of him that was published with a story on Bullard’s trip to Palestine.
“There’s segregation and
injustice going on over there,” said Bullard, “and in the words of Dr. King,
injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Bullied into voting against
BDS
Florida is one of several
states to have passed anti-BDS laws that
bar state investment in, or business with, companies that boycott Israel.
The Florida law
is especially draconian in that it makes no distinction between “Israel” and
Israeli-occupied territories, effectively punishing even those who boycott
goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which even the US recognizes
are illegal under international law.
Bullard initially opposed the
anti-BDS legislation, voting against it twice in subcommittee meetings because
he viewed it as a violation of free speech that he said “screams un-American.”
However, Bullard told The
Electronic Intifada he was ultimately “bullied” into voting for the law.
“It was the first time I felt
pressured to vote in a particular way,” he recounted, adding, “there are
probably three or four votes that I’ve taken in my tenure in the legislature
that I’m very uncomfortable with having taken.” The anti-BDS vote “is easily in
the top three,” he said.
Bullard served in Florida’s
lower house from 2008, until he was elected to the senate in 2012.
Israel as a wedge issue
The Miami Herald endorsed
Bullard early this week, indicating that the accusations have gained little
traction.
Still, Bullard’s district in
South Florida is home to a well-organized Jewish
voter base that is older and strongly
pro-Israel.
In order to capitalize on
this, Miami United Against BDS is organizing a protest outside Bullard’s office
on 28 August, two days before the Democratic primary election for his senate
seat in a redrawn district.
Bullard’s opponent is Andrew
Korge, the son
of a major donor to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Korge has tried to turn
Bullard’s visit to Palestine into a wedge issue on at least one occasion,
during a homeowner’s association meeting last month, according to Bullard.
Rejecting the insinuation that
he’s anti-Semitic, Bullard said, “I’ve had a pretty solid relationship with
Jewish groups. I’ve advocated for and represented Jewish causes, Holocaust
memorial and education funding.”
But when it comes to showing
support for Palestine, Bullard observed, “all of that easily gets forgotten.”
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