Democratic Palestine : 32 (ص 40)
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- Democratic Palestine : 32 (ص 40)
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are those which grew out of the non-
Zionist organizations rather than the
Zionist movement itself. They have the
advantage of involvement in the overall
American agenda, while at the same
time functioning as a single-issue bloc.
It was the 1967 war that did most to
reinforce «lIsraelization.» Israel sup-
port work became the no.1 item on the
agenda of all these organizations. A
variety of reasons are cited for this,
ranging from the need to fill the
vacuum caused by the weakening of
traditional religious values, to the war
itself with its early evocation of
holocaust memories and later boosting
of Jewish self-confidence. According to
the author, this was further reinforced
by the perceived danger to Israel in the
1973 war, and the international support
gained by the Palestinians in the ensu-
ing years. The book also presents the
permise of Steven Cohen that pro-
Israelism emerged as «the politics of
ethnic survival... a mass-based move-
ment supplanting liberalism as the
centerpiece of activity for most major
Jewish organizations.»!
Today, it appears somewhat
paradoxical that it is the Zionist war of
conquest in 1967 that did most to ce-
ment the American Jewish
community’s ties to Israel. Even before
the Palestinian uprising broke out to
pose the question of the 1967 occupied
territories with unavoidable urgency,
there were signs that American Jews
were not unilaterally comfortable with
all the consequences of that war,though
public criticism was non-existent
or muted. For example, a survey done
by Steven Cohen in 1983 showed that
only 21% of Jewish community leaders
felt that Israel should maintain perma-
nent control over the West Bank.
Rather, 74% contemplated territorial
compromise in return for peace
guarantees; 73% thought Israel should
talk to the PLO if it recognizes Israel
and renounces terrorism; and 51%
thought the Palestinians have a right to
a homeland in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip, if this doesn’t threaten Israel.’
No comparable percentages have yet
been registered by surveys of Israeli
opinion. However, surveys done during
the 1982 invasion of Lebanon showed
that the percentage of Americans Jews
rejecting territorial compromise in-
creased at a time when Israel was sub-
ject to criticism. All in all, the relation
between American Jewish organiza-
38
tions and Israel is a complex matter.
O’Brien’s book has provided a wealth
of useful information and observa-
tions, but important questions still re-
main.
THE EROSION OF
LIBERALISM
The most interesting sections of the
book deal with the dichotomy between
the liberal traditions of the American
Jewish community, and the demands of
Israel support work which lead to in-
creasingly reactionary positions and
alliances. Here one best sees the col-
ossal disservice done to Jews by
Zionism, and the resulting distortion of
a number of organizations. A prime
example is the evolution of the B’nai
B’rith’s Anti-Defamation League
which for over, 50 years struggled
against anti-Semitism and for civil
liberties for all, opposing the extreme
right (the American Nazi Party, KKK,
John Birch Society, etc.). In 1967, the
ADL hailed the June War as «The
Miracle Victory» and by the mid-1970s,
its main thrust was fighting what it
considered the «new, more dangerous
anti-Semitism» - critics of Israeli
policy, including dovish Jews and
Others advocating Palestinian rights.
Today, the ADL is aligned with the
New Right and its «vigilance» is ac-
tually surveillance of solidarity and
peace activists, with information being
turned over to the US and Israeli in-
telligence services.
O’Brien notes that while the position
of Jewish community organizations
continues to be liberal on most social
issues, major pro-Israel organizations
supported Reagan’s inflated military
budgets and increased US military
presence in the Middle East. This cor-
responds to the rise of the extreme right
in Israel and of the New Right in the
US, in a period also characterized by
the erosion of American liberalism
generally, with leading liberal ad-
vocates switching to the neoconser-
vative camp. In this context, Commen-
tary magazine, funded by the American
Jewish Congress, has transformed
from a liberal literary journal into a
main mouthpiece for neoconservatism
in all fields. This began with the 1967
war, when Commentary argued that
only a «strong America» could
guarantee Israel. Thus, Commentary
added its sophistication to the thrust of
AIPAC (American Israel Public Af-
fairs Committee), the official Zionist
lobby, which works for Israel becoming
a staging base for the RDF, and ad-
vocates US interventionism generally
The shift to more clearly militaristic
positions has also led to the
establishment of new organizations
such as the Jewish Institute for Na-
tional Security Affairs, founded in
1977, to promote Israel as a «strategic
asset» in close cooperation with the
Pentagon, surpassing the traditional
reliance on political lobbying alone.
The alliance of Jewish establishment
organizations with the New Right has
elicited criticism from other voices in
the establishment. One example was
when Rabbi Alexander Schindler,
president of the United American
Hebrew Congregations, termed it
«madness - and suicide» when in 1982,
the ADL invited as a speaker Pat
Robertson, the New Right’s favorite
Christian fundamentalist. In 1983,
another respected rabbi, Balfour
Brickner, publicly criticized the Con-
ference of Major American Jewish
Presidents for stifling dissent. He led a
delegation of 18 rabbis to Washington
to explain to congressmen that there
were Jews who disagreed with Israeli
policies in the West Bank.
Developments in the coming period
will show if this long-standing
dichotomy in the American Jewish
establishment will serve as the axis for
cracks in the pro-Israel consensus,
under the impact of the ongoing
Palestinian uprising, the PLO’s peace
offensive and the US decision to open a
dialogue with the PLO. It is noteworthy
that US Jewish leaders were cautious,
but not vehemently critical of the US
decision to talk to the PLO, in stark
contrast to the reaction of Israeli
political leaders. In fact, Rabbi
Schindler called it a «step in the right
direction» when a Jewish delegation
met with PLO Chairman Arafat in
Stockholm in December. In any event,
American Jewish Organizations and
Israel should be required reading for all
those following these developments. @
I steven M. Cohen, American Modernity and
Jewish Identity, 1983.
2Steven M. Cohen, Attitudes of American Jews
Toward Israel and Israelis: The New National
Survey of American Jews and Jewish Communal
Leaders, Institute on American Jewish-Israe:
Relations, American Jewish Committee, 1983.
(This survey is included an an appendix in Lee
O’Brien’s book.)
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