I guess Jeffrey Goldberg created some problems for himself when he made himself the arbiter of who can and who cannot remain “inside the Jewish tent.” Probably, he is guilty of little more than seeing red when he read a Tweet by President Carter’s National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski that claimed that the Obama/Kerry team is the best foreign policy duo since Poppy Bush and James Baker. Z-Big also noted that Congress is getting embarrassed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to “dictate” U.S. foreign policy.
Mr. Goldberg interpreted those comments as a slur against the Jewish people and erroneously responded, “Jews run America, suggests ex-national security adviser.”
Of course, that brief retort contains many logical errors and fallacious assumptions:
1. That Benjamin Netanyahu is representative of all Jews.
2. That Benjamin Netanyahu isn’t trying to bully American politicians into following his preferred foreign policy.
3. That Benjamin Netanyahu not getting his way is somehow proof that Jews run U.S. foreign policy.
4. That some members of Congress are not embarrassed (or annoyed) by Netanyahu’s efforts.
When a member of the J Street staff upbraided Goldberg for falsely accusing Z-Big of anti-Semitism, Goldberg responded haughtily, “I continuously defend @jstreetdotorg’s place inside the Jewish tent. But the behavior of its employees makes such defenses difficult.”
He, thereby, aroused the wrath of a lot of people who don’t think Goldberg has any right to decide who belongs inside the Jewish tent.
To me, this whole controversy is just a microcosm of a bigger issue, which is that Israel’s government is straining their country’s relationship with the American people, and with the American Jewish community more specifically, because they are now politically misaligned.
If the misalignment were only about the treatment of the Palestinians, the problem would be bad enough. But the disconnect is much broader than that. Netanyahu represents an unreconstructed neo-conservative policy in the broader Middle East that is thoroughly discredited here in the United States, particularly among liberal Jews. And, by attacking the Democratic administration is such harsh tones, and by nakedly endorsing the candidacy of Mitt Romney, Netanyahu has turned the vast majority of American Jews into his political enemies. The longer Israel goes on supporting right-wing parties, the more friction is going to be created between Israel and the American Jewish community. And this is certainly exacerbated when right-wing Israeli politicians interject themselves not only into our political fights but our presidential elections.
If you believe, as I do, that Israel cannot afford to be politically isolated from the United States and the American Jewish community, then you will agree that Benjamin Netanyahu is an existential threat to Israel’s future. You can be fervently pro-Israel and still not disagree with that statement.
