The Antizionist’s Dilemma

It’s not easy being an antizionist these days. Especially if you’re determined to live in accordance with your most important moral imperative: the denigration of the world’s only Jewish state.

Let me show you why.

Karyn L. is having a dinner party for a dozen friends. She’s an excellent cook, and this morning she went to her local co-op to purchase produce.

Her meal will consist of Middle Eastern specialties: baba ghanoush, hummus with techina, an assortment of grilled meats marinated in olive oil and za’atar and a large salad that will sit in the middle of a long table as a centerpiece. It consists of Persian cucumbers, feta cheese and cherry tomatoes.

Just before her guests arrive, she learns that many of the modern cherry tomato varieties now sold in supermarkets were developed by Israeli agricultural researchers—a country she abhors.

Does she throw out the salad? Pluck out the tomatoes and leave just the cucumbers and feta? Or quietly hope no one notices?

Edward F. is late for a critical business meeting somewhere outside Salt Lake City. It could mean the difference between a substantial raise and losing his job.

He finds a paper map from the rental car agency in the glove compartment and struggles to unfold it across the passenger seat. He can’t drive and navigate at the same time. At this rate, he’s almost certain to arrive late.

“I’ll just use Waze,” he tells himself. “There’s still plenty of time.”

He’s right.

Or rather, there would have been.

Just as he starts the engine, a friend calls.

“Dude, Waze was built in Israel,” the friend says. “It’s bitch-ass Zio tech.”

Edward places his phone in the cupholder and searches the map for Interstate 80.

Alex T. owns an organic vineyard in central California. Two consecutive years of drought have pushed him to the brink of bankruptcy.

An agricultural specialist recommends installing drip irrigation, a technology pioneered in Israel that has transformed farming in arid regions around the world. It would dramatically reduce water usage, improve yields and perhaps save the vineyard his grandfather planted.

But Alex has pledged never to benefit from anything that comes from Israel.

He ponders whether it’s better to let the vines wither and die.

Angela M. has spent the last five years urging everyone she knows to boycott Israel.

This afternoon she’s driving her teenage son to look at a college in the Hudson Valley. Somewhere along the Taconic Parkway, she glances down for just a second to take a sip of coffee. Her car begins swerving into the next lane.

Instantly, the steering wheel nudges itself and gently guides the car back into position.

Later she learns that the driver-assistance technology that may very well have saved both their lives was developed by Mobileye, an Israeli company.

Should she disable the feature?

Robert H. has been experiencing unexplained internal bleeding for months. His gastroenterologist recommends a PillCam — a swallowable capsule developed in Israel that contains a tiny camera capable of photographing parts of the digestive tract that standard endoscopes often cannot reach.

Robert has long supported a complete boycott of Israel.

He thanks the doctor and asks whether there is a “less Zionist” way to look at his innards.

The doctor thinks for a moment.

“There are other tests,” he says. “I just don’t think they’re as good for what we need to see.”

Robert nods and stares blankly at the doctor.

Daryl B. is having a rough go of it this morning.

His mother is undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of cancer, and her doctor has recommended a promising new course of treatment. Daryl has taken on the role of liaison between physician and patient. The data suggest the treatment may be particularly effective against the very form of disease his mother is suffering from.

Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be a big deal. But Daryl, a longtime advocate of BDS — the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel — understands the treatment’s potential, yet he’s deeply troubled to learn that an important component of the technology behind it was developed in Israel.

He now finds himself weighing his mother’s health against his disdain for the Jewish state.

Come what may, stalwart antizionist Jeremy C. has made the decision to live entirely in accordance with his principles.

Zero Israeli products.

Zero Israeli technology.

Zero Israeli innovations.

He sits down at his computer to make a list of everything Israeli he needs to eliminate from his life.

He gets no further than turning it on.

“The goddamn chips,” he mutters. “They’re all developed in Israel.”

Wearing an uneasy expression, he goes in search of a stone and chisel.

Peter Himmelman is a Grammy and Emmy nominated performer, songwriter, film composer, visual artist and award-winning author.