I’ve been coming to Hardwick for many years. I live in Annapolis, Md., but I love being here too. I am invested in Hardwick emotionally as well as financially, and although I am only here for short periods throughout the year, I feel a strong bond to it. Consequently, I felt deeply betrayed by the four-part resolution approved at the Hardwick Town Meeting in March, particularly part four: “WE PLEDGE to join others in working to end all support to Israel’s apartheid regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation.”
I strongly disagree with all parts of this statement; however, my purpose is not to argue these points. There is plenty of argument about them already.
But I do want to point out that like many American Jews, I have relatives in Israel who owe their lives to the existence of Israel. I have friends there. I see all the good that Israelis do throughout the world. None of which makes the situation in Gaza any less heartbreaking. Reasonable people may disagree deeply about the causes and characteristics of the current hostilities and what is needed to end them, but these disagreements don’t reflect indifference to suffering. They reflect the genuine complexity of history.
So when the town adopts language like “apartheid regime” and “settler colonialism,” terms that carry enormous weight and are fiercely contested even by scholars of the subject, it doesn’t feel like a humanitarian stand. It feels like a flag planted in a debate that has divided families, communities and institutions that are far better equipped to address it than this small Vermont town. And it sends a message, intentional or not, to some of its own residents: You have to prove your loyalty.
I don’t think that was the intention. I believe the people who voted for this resolution care about justice and the sanctity of human life. I share those values. And for anyone who is keeping score, I think Bibi needs to go. But I ask you: Is this resolution on Israel just virtue signalling? Or does it have a chance of effecting change internationally. It certainly has a chance of causing discord here at home, and I think it should be repealed at the first opportunity.
