In an important article in The Forward, TNR’s Jamie Kirchick takes on the moral relativism of the self-proclaimed “progressive” Jewish groups, particularly J-Street. What is most dangerous, he writes, is that “the organization seems to have garnered the support of the most important constituency: the Obama administration.” He suggests that J-Street will prove to provide the cover desired by the White House: that of a Jewish group that claims it is supportive of Israel, and that nevertheless approves of the administration’s one-sided pressure on the Israelis.
Both are fixated on the issue of settlement freeze, and seem to think that the settlements alone are what prevent progress towards peace. As Kirchick writes:
And who better to counter the influence of the so-called “Israel Lobby” than other Jews? J Street and the constellation of far-left “pro-Israel” organizations put a kosher stamp of approval on Obama’s bizarre hectoring and moral equivalence. By casting Israel as the obstructionist, as the “drunk” driver whose car keys need to be taken away (as Ben-Ami put it in one of his more candid moments), Obama will have a free hand to compel the parties to the peace table. And once gathered there, another Oslo accord can be forced upon a recalcitrant Israel (whereupon the disastrous consequences of that agreement — the erection of terrorist infrastructure, a deterioration of the Palestinian economy, deepening mutual distrust — will be repeated).
Finally, Kirchick addresses himself to serious collapse of support for Israel among Americans. He cites polls that reveal that now only 44% of Americans who are registered voters believe that the United States should support Israel, which is down from the high number of 71% polled a year ago. “Surely,” he writes, “the change of tone from the White House has played a substantial role.” And those who falsely call themselves pro-Israel, like J-Street, “are aiding and abetting this dark transformation in public attitudes.”
At the same time that anti-Israel Jewish groups are emerging (while pretending to support Israel), there is increased activity among Christians on behalf of the Jewish state. This week, the Washington Convention Center was the site for the annual conference of Christians United For Israel, (CUFI), where over 4000 delegates registered and spent time lobbying Capitol Hill on behalf of pro-Israel measures.
Although the group was founded by Christian evangelicals, “most of the speakers, however,” The Jerusalem Post reported, “deal with Israel and Judaism. They include Rabbi Aryeh Scheinberg of San Antonio, Texas; Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, founder and president of The Israel Project; Congressman Eric Cantor; Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; Asaf Shariv, consul-general of Israel in New York; and talk radio host Dennis Prager. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will also address the conference via satellite.”
How ironic that as some American Jews join Israel’s enemies in calling on the US Government to pressure Israel to change its policies (at a time when the Saudis refuse to budge and Iran is going nuclear), American Christians are carrying out lobbying for Israel on their own.
Progressive Jew.
I suppose it could be defined as a Jew who becomes “enlightened” by renouncing his heritage, principles and ethics and dons the robes of those who have sought his destruction for millenia. And will gladly aid and abet any and all activities that seek the destruction of his co-religionists, even to the point where he/she is stripped naked and lined up against the wall.
(Insert photos of Noam Chomsky and Chaim Rumkowski here)
Evangelical Christians and Orthodox Jews have much in common. The differences between them are not that significant. The-J Street Jews, however, are overall similar to the Unitarian-Universalists. They are essentially hard core secularists who attend religious services only on special occasions. The very existence of Israel reminds them of values long abandoned.
We have had some very good new recently: Barack Obama is now a marginalized president who will be probably unable to ever again pass any serious legislation in Congress. The other elected officials in Washington, DC, will be hesitant to embrace his Israeli policies. J-Street’s allies are being rapidly neutralized. They are in the minority.
In their rationality, “Progressive” Jews have thrown out Martin Buber with the bathwater.
Once again, it boils down to authority. Either
a person agrees with what has always been, or is
a reflection of what they were.
For the former is a reflection of the eternal, the latter shows the status quo.
I hope that figure of only 44% supporting Israel is either a mistake or misleading in some way. I don’t mind saying that it terrifies me to see Israel losing support here. Why? Support for her enemies or even neutrality is the sign of a diseased mind. Truly.
#2- I pray that you are right about the marginalization of Obama.
I support Israel.
The settlements are not the only obstacle to peace.
But they are an obstacle.
Israel will have to give this land back in a peace deal.
So isn’t Obama is wise to build credibility
with the Arabs by making Israel promise to do what it is going to do anyway.
Besides that I can’t see the logic of building residences for Israelis in the middle of enemy territory.
Attempting to absorb the West Bank would be a disaster.
OBAMA AVOIDS BIBLE VERSES !
Here are some Bible verses that Pres. Obama avoids:
Proverbs 19:10 (NIV): “It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury – how much worse for a slave to rule over princes!”
Also Proverbs 30:22 (NIV) which says that the earth cannot bear up under “a servant who becomes king.”
And Ecclesiastes 5:2-3 (KJV) advises: “let thy words be few…a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.”
Although Obama is not descended from slaves, he may feel that he’s destined to become a black-slavery avenger.
Or maybe an enslaver of all free citizens!
“I support Israel.”
No. You support a post-Zionist (in other words, post-national) wasteland.
The settlements are not the only obstacle to peace.
Dottsa nice.
I wonder where you write from. I write from Samaria, and I’ll tell you or anyone else: my home here in Ma’alé Levoná, the homes of Jews in ‘Elí, Shiló, Ariél, ReHelím, Shvut RaHél, Bet-El, ‘Ofrá, Kokháv Ya’akóv, Ma’alé Efráyim, Ma’alé Adumím, Efrát, Qíryat Arba, Hevrón, all provide a strategic depth to this tiny country that Americans and other foreigners never even think about. That is a military consideration.
Then comes a strategic consideration, another thing Americans and other foreigners never think about; if the Arabs bombard most of western Israel with missiles, where will the survivors, their homes towers of flame, run to? When Tel Aviv is destroyed (notice I said when, not if), where will the surviving Tel Avivians run to get away from the fire of war and the poison gas? Where will the residents of Netanya, Hod haSharón, Ra’anána all run to when their homes are aflame? They’ll run to Jerusalem, and they’ll run here, the mountains, the heartland of the Jewish People.
There will be no “Palestinian State”, except on paper and in the fevered imaginations of the murderers of my people. It ain’t going to happen, because before “peace” happens, war will happen. And that war will be a hum-dinger.