THERE ARE FEW QUESTIONS I desire to answer less than this: do I support a boycott of Israel, or some variation of the now-familiar BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement? At the juncture of the two main worlds in which I dwell, the American university and the universe of progressive Jewish politics, the boycott question persistently lurks, hovering like an unwelcome stranger at the corner near your house — as is his right, and to your increasing discomfort.

Would that we could just will the unwelcome stranger away! But alas, we can’t. The reality beneath which the boycott question rests — Israel-Palestine tout court — is too morally and politically urgent to ignore. In thinking about it, we are, alas, poorly served by the shrill town criers in the opposing camps. There are those among the “Israel advocacy” crowd who vehemently oppose the boycott because they believe that Israel is a beacon of ethical virtue in the world and incapable of anything more than the slightest misdeed. And there are those among the BDS crowd who seem to regard Israel as the only or most egregious criminal actor in the international order. Between these two unreasonable positions lies what I consider the sane center, where one can be fully cognizant of the destructive nature of Israel’s occupation, the unsavory nature of Palestinian politics, and the unhealthy interplay between the two.

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