- In Jewish political life, there are little Jews and big
Jews. Little Jews might be college presidents or retired accountants, but
they vote (for Democrats mainly), write letters and give money. Big Jews
head Jewish organizations. They are the leaders and fund-raisers of the
Israel lobby, which lately would appear to be a monolith supporting the
Sharon government.
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- This is a story about a big shift among the big Jews.
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- Last month, the Bush administration readied itself to
release the "road map" leading to a Palestinian state and a secure
Israel by 2005. Drafted by a foursome that includes the United States,
the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, it calls for steps from
both sides toward peace, beginning with political reforms, an end to violence
by the Palestinians and a freeze on settlements in the occupied territories
by the Israelis.
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- After drafts of the timetable got around, the Israeli
government raised objections, and a drumbeat of opposition began among
Jewish organizations. The plans were attacked by Abraham Foxman of the
Anti-Defamation League, Mortimer Zuckerman of the Conference of Presidents
of Major Jewish Organizations, James Tisch of the United Jewish Community,
and by the Washington Institute, which has connections to the leading pro-Israel
organization, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC circulated
a letter in Congress aimed at countering the road map by saying that the
Palestinians bore the burden of achieving peace.
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- There were rumors that big Jews had resolved to roll
up the road map. Because Secretary of State Colin Powell had lost on Iraq,
he was weak and dismissible. The Israel lobby could work with hawks in
the Defense Department to bring the Bush administration around"and,
oh yes, remind politicians about next year,s elections.
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- Then the monolith cracked.
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- At the end of April, 16 big Jews"most of them leaders
of the federation system that coordinates Jewish giving around the country"held
up their hands to say: Enough. Led by Edgar Bronfman of the World Jewish
Congress and Larry Zicklin of the New York Federation, they sent a letter
to Congressional leaders saying they enthusiastically supported the road
map and were alarmed at the opposition.
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- "We are writing to express our concern over recent
efforts to sidetrack implementation of the Road Map,," they wrote.
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- "This is the upper echelons of the organized Jewish
community," marveled Lewis Roth of Americans for Peace Now. "These
are machers," said a Washington insider, using the Yiddish word for
a big Jew. "They,re mostly Democrats, and what they,re saying is:
We support Bush,s efforts., And to Ariel Sharon, they,re saying: Pull yourself
together, buddy"this is the President of the United States. Don,t
alienate him.,"
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- Jonathan Jacoby, the founding director of the centrist
Israel Policy Forum, which helped pull the letter together, said: "This
letter is significant because it shattered the perception that the active
American Jewish community is against the road map. No one can question
the bona fides of the people who signed this letter. They are leaders of
the center of the community."
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- It has been a rule of the Israel lobby that it must speak
with unanimity. After all, it is a special interest, a concerned and knowledgeable
fraction of the polity trying to leverage an indifferent majority. Its
power lies in mobilizing money and votes to influence the outcome of elections.
If that small group begins to speak in different voices, its power is dissipated.
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- The 16 signers are specifically dissipating that power
on this issue. They feel that a major opportunity has arisen, and that
the Israeli lobby could blow it. They are signaling to Congress and also
to George Bush: If you support the road map, you won,t be scalped in the
2004 election cycle.
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- "For a long time, the American Jewish community
was asked to love Israel unconditionally without saying: We agree with
this; we don,t agree with that,," said Judith Stern Peck, a New York
Federation board member and former chairwoman who signed the letter. "Whatever
it was, we were supposed to stand behind it. I,m passionate about Israel.
Very passionate. What I,ve learned to do is love Israel with all its contradictions.
And what we,re saying is that it,s O.K. to talk about those contradictions."
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- Another of the 16, Marvin Lender, says the group represents
American Jewish opinion. "We could have gotten 200,000 signatures,
but we didn,t."
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- Why did this happen? What are the possible consequences?
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- Following the collapse of the Camp David initiative and
the onset of the suicide bombings in 2000, the American Jewish community
became conservative, giving wide support to harsh measures against the
Palestinians.
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- Nearly three years later, the intifada has had grim consequences
for Israel. The economy is in shambles, there are few American kids on
the street, and there is the endless international questioning of Israeli
actions. The letter,s signers are pragmatic people"some with stakes
in Israel"but they are also passionate about the place, and they seem
to worry that amid these brutalizing realities, the idealistic dream of
Israel as a joyful, sunny place is dying.
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- "We,re witnessing Israel at a critical time, when
it,s been pushed right out to the edge by this intifada," said Marvin
Lender. "The society is being threatened on every level."
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- The last couple of months seem to offer a way out. With
Saddam gone, the "eastern threat" that many in Israel feared
is diminished. The election by the Palestinians of Mahmoud Abbas as prime
minister is a positive sign, as is the appointment of a finance minister
to take on corruption in the Palestinian Authority.
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- "After a long period of darkness and despair, when
everyone including the peace movement in Israel was feeling a sense of
hopelessness, there seems to be, under this Republican administration,
hope," said Dan Fleshler, a public-affairs and media consultant in
Jewish advocacy causes.
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- The letter contains two heresies.
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- First is its statement that the road map offers the possibility
of "escape [from] the bloody status quo," thereby endorsing the
view that Israelis and Palestinians are involved in a cycle of violence.
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- Belief in a "cycle of violence" has long been
unacceptable in the mainstream Jewish community, which has accepted the
Sharon government,s militaristic response to bombings. "Not all violence,
is alike, and not all violence, is illegal or even worthy of condemnation,"
wrote Robert Satloff of the Washington Institute. He and other critics
of the road map say that its evenhandedness is offensive, that its neutral
language lends moral equivalency to Israeli violence and Palestinian violence"for
instance, calling for an "immediate end to violence against Palestinians
everywhere."
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- There is a "sham, even indecent, parallelism between
Palestinian and Israeli behavior," Mr. Satloff wrote.
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- Many of the 16 signers would agree with the analysis
but are simply weary of the argument. "The extremists have been driving
this process for two and a half years," said Alan Solomont, head of
the Boston Federation and a signer. "I accept the fact that the Israeli
policies have probably reduced the level of successful terrorist actions.
But there,s no future in that. We cannot sustain that; it,s not a solution."
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- The second heresy in the letter is its view that, post-Saddam,
the United States needs to regain its credibility and "improve its
relations with key allies around the world, particularly in the Middle
East," and that this will serve Israel. The signers are worldly Americans
who believe that our government must demonstrate its independence from
Israel so as to be a credible broker with moderate Arab governments.
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- The letter signals the emergence of a liberal-centrist
bloc in American Jewish opinion. It is almost radical in its effort to
convince Congress that evenhandedness is not a third rail, that it could
even be a political winner.
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- Amazingly, the letter also holds out the possibility
to George Bush that if he stands firm against the hawks, he could actually
pick up Jewish votes. "We,re saying we,ll work on Florida for you
on this issue," said one person close to the letter. "We will
help you in the Jewish community."
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- "I met with George Bush his first week in the White
House," said Joel Tauber, a Michigan manufacturer and signer. "Since
then, this President has demonstrated real support for the Israeli position"not
in words, but in action"in a host of ways. He won,t do any harm to
Israel, and he may do some real good."
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- "I don,t think any of these people thought that
George Bush was going to extend himself on this issue," said M.J.
Rosenberg of the Israel Policy Forum. "But George Bush can do things
that Bill Clinton couldn,t. It,s almost a Nixon-goes-to-China thing: If
this conservative Republican is going to support the peace process, then
it,s viable."
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- The letter has already had distinct effects. Right after
it came out, AIPAC published an official statement that, while lukewarm,
was more welcoming to the road map than previous signals had suggested.
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- Now Democratic Congresswoman Lois Capps, of Santa Barbara,
Calif., is circulating a pro-road-map letter on Capitol Hill and citing
the support from the big Jews. Her letter has bipartisan support, including
Republican Darrell Issa, an Arab-American from California, as well as Barney
Frank, the senior Jewish Congressman who represents the affluent Boston
suburbs, and John Lewis, the civil-rights figure from Georgia. "There
isn,t as dominant a view that Congress should never stick its neck out
on behalf of pushing both the Palestinians and Israelis to compromise as
you might think," said Jeremy Rabinovitz, Ms. Capps, chief of staff.
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- How many will sign on? And what political cover will
they give President Bush? To be continued.
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- For now, a struggle has commenced over the American role
in the peace process"and there are, at last, big Jews on both sides.
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- You may reach Philip Weiss via email at: pweiss@observer.com.
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- COPYRIGHT © 2003
- THE NEW YORK OBSERVER
- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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- Comment
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- From Spacek
- 5-17-3
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- Looks like 'big Jews' are still big hypocrits. They
still think they run things and rule the U.S.
- The following is really what they think. "Iraqis
are turned into 'Arabs' and 'Arabs' turned into 'Muslims' and 'Muslims'
become 'terrorists', they depart the world of humanity and enter a demon
world, where only monsters live. Once dehumanised, they can be destroyed
without the 'inconvenience' of a conscience."
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- And they really believe they can get away with it. They
are willing accomplices in the genocide of Muslims and Arabs. They are
very 'passionate' about Israel. Well, isn't that special? Some are
finally starting to see how this worship of the false god, Israel, is going
to backfire on them. Bush is going to schtup them. He's been bateing their
trap, at Americas and Arabs expense, for a while, now. Remember, you don't
let friends drive drunk, but bush&co. has been letting Israeli minions
drive drunk with their own power, right over a cliff. Many Americans will
not bat an eye at their demise, either. Most will watch them die and be
annihilated, just as easily as they watch Palestinians, Afghans and Iraqis
die and be annihilated. America doesn't give a rat's ass about Jews, either,
especially when they see all the money they suck up for Israel out of American
pockets. A few even take umbrage at the way they kill young peace activists
with bulldozers and bullets.
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- No, we'll just sit by and watch Israel and it's chosen
people destroy themselves. Why should anyone care? Who do many Jews care
for, besides their own kind, their own kids, their own livlihoods, property,
orchards, lands etc.? They obviously have no respect for other people.
Check out their Talmud, their behavior, their willingness to kill others
children in wars, 'clashes', settlements, towns and villages in Palestine.
Why should anyone care about people who act like this. Christ doesn't really
need these nuckleheads and their second or third temple to come back.
That is bullbiscuits. Propaganda to fool stupid fundy 'Christians'.
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- Belief in a "cycle of violence" has long been
unacceptable in the mainstream Jewish community, which has accepted the
Sharon governmentÕs militaristic response to bombings. "Not
all ÔviolenceÕ is alike, and not all ÔviolenceÕ
is illegal or even worthy of condemnation," wrote Robert Satloff of
the Washington Institute. He and other critics of the road map say that
its evenhandedness is offensive, that its neutral language lends moral
equivalency to Israeli violence and Palestinian violenceÑfor instance,
calling for an "immediate end to violence against Palestinians everywhere."
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- You see people, "not all violence is alike",
there is no moral equivilancy between violence done to Palestinians, they
deserve no evenhandedness, this is a Jewish perogative. Are we this stupid?
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- There is a "sham, even indecent, parallelism between
Palestinian and Israeli behavior," Mr. Satloff wrote.
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- That's true. Palestinians are victims of Israeli violence,
race hatred, murder, theivery and blatant oppression. Some Jews are way
too stupid to see the irony and hypocrisy in their hatred of others. Play
in your sandbox for a little longer, then dry up and blow away. See
if anyone cares.
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- <http://www.observer.com/pages/frontpage4.asp#>
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