semitism.net

Brad Brooks-Rubin writing here again, thanks to Andrew’s graciousness (and if you’ll permit, I have a few more things in the works). This was an op-ed I sent around but got no bites on. So I expanded just a little bit, added a couple links — and very interested in comments:

A law professor of mine said that whenever he saw the word “obviously,” he knew the point to follow would be anything but. As they respond to the current crises in Lebanon and Gaza, American Jewish leaders would be wise to heed my professor’s words, if they truly care about the future of the community. The more they continue to call Israeli actions “obviously moral” and “obviously justified,” the more they stifle dissent and deny Lebanese or Palestinian civilian casualties, the further away young American Jews – and many of their elders — will continue to go.

Maybe quietly, well below the radar, but go they will. And this is not just my thought as someone on the left, someone outside the mainstream organizations. This is what the organizations and their surveys show. That is, when, as now, push comes to all-out shove, it’s not they don’t listen to me; they don’t listen to themselves.

Consider two publications from last year. First, in early 2005, the Jewish Agency released the results of its biennial National Survey of American Jews The survey showed that American Jews felt less connected to Israel and Israelis, had less understanding of and interest in Israel, and were more willing to criticize Israeli policies. For example, 67% either agreed with or were not sure about the statement “I am often disturbed by Israel’s policies and actions;” only 33% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed.

Just a few months later, an organization called The Israel Project, an advocacy group “that works to strengthen Israel’s image in order to help protect Israel, reduce anti-Semitism and increase pride in Israel,” issued an alarmist report called “America 2020: How the Next Generation Views Israel.” The report, conducted by Republican pollster/consultant Frank Luntz, proclaimed that Israel is losing the public relations battle — along with the hearts and minds of young Jewish leaders — to the Palestinians. That young American Jews expect to hear alternative viewpoints, to understand the suffering of the other side, not just of Israel. And that the American Jewish community’s leadership had better respond to these issues quickly, or fear losing the future altogether.

How to overcome this crisis?

The report recommends that people “express [their] genuine and sincere recognition that the average Palestinian has suffered,” and provides scripts to be used as apologies for specific instances of Palestinian suffering. Apologies, in other words, should not be uttered spontaneously or sincerely: they should be conveyed via canned sound-bites, and for the sole purpose of disarming the opposition. And the speakers must be trained like those learning a foreign language — just pronounce the sounds, forget the meanings.

The most startling recommendation provides “messaging” ideas, like referring to the Palestinians as Arabs because “‘Palestinians’ evokes images of refugee camps, victims and oppression. ‘Arab’ says wealth, oil and Islam.”

Read that again — a major Jewish advocacy organization suggests in a published report that it would be a good idea for pro-Israel advocates to use the term “Arab” and not “Palestinian” because “‘Palestinians’ evokes images of refugee camps, victims and oppression. ‘Arab’ says wealth, oil and Islam.”

The remaining recommendations focus on other ways to show some concern for the average Palestinian, to encourage some level of discussion and exchange, yet always making sure to come to the overall point that Israel is, and will always be, on the “right side.”

In the end, the Israel Project’s recommendations are, at best, cynical and pragmatic: acknowledge superficially those who might question Israel and feign sympathy for the other side, but never imply there might be different answers. They are, at worst, racist and demonstrative of the worst of the American Jewish community.

(In the wake of the controversy over the Mearsheimer-Walt paper about the strength of the Israel Lobby, it is worth mentioning that 15 of the Israel Project’s Board of Advisors are members of Congress. Fifteen members implicitly endorsing the notion that “Arab says wealth, oil and Islam.”)

One can — and I do — take significant issue with the viability, the morality, of this approach, but now consider the organized American Jewish community’s reaction to the crises in Lebanon and Gaza. Instantaneous, overwhelming, and unanimous support of any and all Israeli military actions; “Stand with Israel” rallies; talking points and templates for letters to the editor and Congress. No discussion of possible policy alternatives or of the innocent civilian casualties on the other sides. No apologies.

Thus, as if it’s not enough that a mainstream Jewish organization would make the recommendations the Israel Project made, the leadership has not even taken the path of cynical understanding; yet again, we are told to ignore everything but Israel. Of course, they say, Lebanon and Gaza are different; they are “obviously” justified, legal, moral, and in any event, temporary. The leadership appears to have forgotten that, once upon a time, 39 years ago, those same arguments were made to defend Israel’s holding on to the West Bank and Gaza.

The intervening years have not only eroded those claims, but also the connection felt by many American Jews with Israel. And while that may well be the fault of Israeli policies, it is also the fault of the American Jewish leadership who tells us, and the rest of America, that we have no choice but to support those policies and Israel. Always. And then tells the world there is “zero dissent.”

Perhaps they are right, there is very little public dissent. But the dissent that matters, the dissent we should focus on is what people don’t yet feel comfortable saying in public. The dissent at the core of what people feel because what they really feel makes them act. And the more they feel alienated from Israel, from the Jewish community and its leadership, because they perceive no room for their concerns, for their ideas, for their sentiments, then
the less they will act. They will just go.

And, sadly (this is a whole different post), we on the left have not managed to figure out how to give them a place either.

When will we, will our leaders, finally understand that meaningful, lasting connections come through honesty, understanding, and respect, not talking points and forced/claimed unanimity, on whatever side? For while it may seem obvious to the leadership that American Jews will always rally around Israel at a time of crisis, slowly, quietly, one by one, more and more will walk away. And someday, when Israel really does need us, they may well find that battle has been lost.