One of the interesting things about Israel is that it is much more self-critical and contemplative than most people give it credit for. All you really have to do to prove this to yourself is to read their left-wing press. You’ll quickly discover that Jews living in Israel consistently publish things in the newspaper that our mainstream media would never allow to see the light of day. An example that proves my point is running right now in the New York Times. Helene Cooper’s Washington Asks: What to Do About Israel? is already a bit risque for our domestic press.
Why?
She explains:
Some topics are so inflammatory that they are never discussed without first inserting a number of caveats. And so, when Anthony Cordesman, a foreign policy dignitary in this town’s think tank circuit, dropped an article on Wednesday headlined “Israel as a Strategic Liability,” he made sure to open with a plethora of qualifications.
First, he noted, America’s commitment to Israel is motivated by morality and ethics — a reaction to the Holocaust, to Western anti-Semitism and to American foot-dragging before and during World War II that left European Jews slaughtered by the Nazis. Second, Israel is a democracy with the same values as the United States. Third, the United States will never abandon Israel, and will help it keep its military edge over its neighbors. And America will guard Israel against an Iranian nuclear threat.
But once Mr. Cordesman had dispensed with what in the newspaper world is called the “to-be-sure” paragraphs, he laid out a dispassionate argument that has gained increased traction in Washington — both inside the Obama administration (including the Pentagon, White House and State Department) and outside, during forums, policy breakfasts, even a seder in Bethesda. Recent Israeli governments, particularly the one led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Cordesman argued, have ignored the national security concerns of its biggest benefactor, the United States, and instead have taken steps that damage American interests abroad.
That the New York Times is willing to publish Ms. Cooper’s piece is actually a departure from common practice and demonstrates that things are actually changing in a much more serious way than Cooper is even allowed to suggest. But you could have read stronger, more accurate, analysis along the same lines from left-wing Israeli outlets at any time over the last decade.
The Anshel Pfeffer piece I linked to above is hardly unique for Haaretz, but it would be jarring to see a piece that critical of the Israeli leadership and its citizenry in a ‘respectable’ American publication.
One thing that I found interesting about Pfeffer’s opinion piece is that he ultimately blamed Israel’s diaspora (meaning the Jews who do not live in Israel) for Israel’s shortcomings and mistakes. He’s basically making the argument that the diaspora has been too supportive of Israel’s bad decisions and that it is their responsibility to stand up and make Israel change its course.
If only we had some real friends, friends we could trust implicitly, who could point out the error of our ways. This could be the shining moment of the Jewish Diaspora. They love us, but they also see things from another perspective. We need a strong, unified voice from the Jewish leadership in the United States and Europe telling Israelis enough is enough, you are hurtling down the slippery slope of pariahdom and causing untold damage to yourselves and us. Lift your heads above the ramparts and see that the world has moved on.
Instead, we find the establishment of the Jewish world crouching with us in the bunker.
I don’t want to overhype them, but J Street is trying to fulfill that function. It’s a new organization and it’s influence is just starting to be felt, but they look at the Israel/Palestine question from a pro-Israel progressive point of view. I know there has been a real thirst for this kind of leadership among progressive Jews in this country, and they don’t deserve to be blamed for inaction in the face of bad behavior on the part of right-wing Israeli governments.
“The prior administration’s worldview lined up more with the Israeli government,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, founder of J Street, a liberal Jewish lobbying group. “Now we’re seeing a reflection of a different worldview, that gives you a completely different set of policies and priorities.”
Mr. Ben-Ami says he represents Jews who support Israel, but not all of its policies. Some of them are raising the issue of Israeli government actions as a strategic liability for the United States,
It really comes down to the settlements. There is a degree of discomfort on the left in America about Israel’s desire to be simultaneously a Jewish state and a democracy. And there is a degree of guilt about Israel being a kind of post-modern European colonial imposition on the Third World. But that is all manageable. What the left finds indefensible is the expansion of settlements. So far, America has been willing and able to defend Israel, right or wrong. But that’s changing. If J Street fails to make an impression on Israeli politics, the next generation of American Jews is likely to outright oppose the very existence of Israel. It’s not anti-Semites who are driving a wedge between the United States and Israel. Most anti-Semites in this country are strong supporters of right-wing Israeli politics. The wedge is being driven by the Israeli government itself, because most American Jews are progressive in their political outlook, and they don’t support the settlers.
What’s strange is that it is okay to talk about this in Israel, but not okay to talk about it here.
