The immorality of anti-normalization
Last week the Israeli film Let There Be Morning, directed by Eran Kolirin, debuted at the Cannes Film Festival. But instead of making headlines for its cinematic achievements, the film was embroiled in public controversy because the Palestinian actors in the film chose to boycott the film festival over the fact the film was classified as “Israeli.”
The irony, of course, is that this same film was bankrolled in part by the State of Israel. The Culture and Sport Ministry contributed NIS 2 million to the production. Interestingly enough, we didn’t see the Palestinian actors giving back their paychecks.
This petulant stunt by the actors is a political statement without any actual moral backbone, and one that serves only to push Palestinians and Israelis further apart on (exclusively, in this case) the international front.
While these actors were happy to work with an Israeli director on an Israeli film, when it wasn’t classified as “Palestinian” abroad they protested, even though the film was the creation of an Israeli director, not a Palestinian.
This story is symptomatic of the larger problem of anti-normalization which is being actively fostered in Palestinian society.
Proponents of anti-normalization operate under the false premise that if they work with Israelis or Israel, justice will be neither prioritized nor achieved for the Palestinians.
Anti-normalization is also the very foundation of the largely failed but noisy BDS movement. The reality is that anti-normalization and BDS efforts result in the perpetuation of misunderstandings between Israelis and Palestinians – in other words, they intensify the conflict and push peace further away.
The ignorance and bigotry that fuel violence and hate on both sides are only aided by anti-normalization activity such as this behavior of the Palestinian actors last week, but it doesn’t occur only in the international spotlight.
For years, the Palestinian Authority has been paying lip service to an anti-normalization policy which has repeatedly proven to lead to worse situations for the Palestinian people in a variety of ways. Even while other Arab states reject anti-normalization, the Palestinians continue to dig their heels in, even cutting off their nose to spite their face.
Just days ago, anti-normalization efforts in the West Bank picked up, with Abdullah Kmeil, PA governor of the Salfit region, ordering all Palestinian businesses to remove Hebrew signs. The “strict order” came down as a result of Palestinian cities near Israeli settlements that were appealing to Jewish customers, and the PA stated that the signs were contributing to “obliterating the features of the Palestinian identity.”
Meanwhile, in Israel, Arabic language is more popular than ever, public services are available in Arabic and Hebrew, road signs are in Arabic, political campaigns are in Arabic, businesses proudly display Hebrew and Arabic signs, and thousands of people, both Arabs and Jews, are working together to enhance cooperation, despite historical tensions.
Language, like music and the arts, is a tool for communication and understanding. When we begin censoring or shutting down tools of communication, we are actively pushing peace further away. This is what anti-normalization does.
The fundamental problem with anti-normalization is that if we cannot come together to resolve problems – and if both sides are giving the “silent treatment” – neither side achieves anything. There is an inherent contradiction in using that which is intended to bring people together, like the arts or language or even business, to sow bigotry. Any artist who thinks they are promoting justice by signing on to division is doing the opposite. The State of Israel isn’t going to suffer from BDS, and the racist movement is never going to achieve its ultimate agenda of destroying the State of Israel.
If we want justice for Palestinians, we must pursue accountable leaders on both sides of the conflict, and encourage more cooperation with Israel, not less.