http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4996
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Anti-Zionist charades from the
far-left-wing American Jewish community are now a daily occurrence. We
witness the manipulations of the reprehensible BDS movement, J Street’s
efforts to encourage the US Administration to pressure Israel, and the
frequent hosting by universities of radical, anti-Israel speakers. As
disturbing as these developments have been, we have tended to discount
them as the workings of the radical left.
But now, American Jewish
anti-Zionists are engaged in an aggressive campaign to gain acceptance
by the mainstream Jewish community. In the name of freedom of expression
and open dialogue, radical Jewish liberals and well-heeled Jewish
armchair progressives are pressuring Jewish organizations to provide
platforms for those engaged in vicious efforts to demonize and
delegitimize the Jewish state.
Their efforts are being enthusiastically promoted by the increasingly anti-Israeli liberal media especially the New York Times.
There is an Alice in Wonderland
element to this situation. It ignores the fact that the Jewish people
and Israel are confronted with genocidal adversaries whose barbaric
behavior towards their own people leave no illusions as to what they
would do to us in the absence of the IDF. It overlooks the reality that
anti-Semitism (primarily promoted under the cloak of anti-Israelism) is
the greatest political growth industry, and now even reminiscent of the
medieval anti-Semitism which blamed the Jews for all the natural
disasters of mankind.
Until recently the United States was one of the few countries where this did not apply, aside from the far left and on campus.
However, there is now an effort
to legitimize attitudes which, in the past, would never have been
countenanced in reputable Jewish quarters. This campaign is not about
legitimate criticism of Israeli policies in which we all indulge. It
relates to liberal Jewish intellectuals, literati and even rabbis
providing legitimacy to those demonizing the country, and even
justifying BDS.
This manifested itself last year when the venerable 92nd
St. Y, the Jewish nonprofit community and cultural center, invited
author Alice Walker and musician Roger Waters. Both are outspoken BDS
supporters. Walker has refused to authorize the translation of her works
into Hebrew and Waters has performed openly anti-Semitic programs,
including releasing a pig shaped balloon painted with a Star of David in
a 2013 concert. Following mass protests, the Y withdrew both
invitations but its initial offer signaled a new initiative to open
doors to anti-Zionists and even anti-Semites in conventional Jewish
venues.
Last month, the New York Jewish
Museum invited the prominent anti-Zionist and BDS supporter, Judith
Butler to speak. While the topic was Frank Kafka – not an Israel related
subject – this invitation provided a major Jewish platform to an
anti-Israeli fanatic. One wonders whether Leon Wieseltier, the New
Republic literary editor, who sanctimoniously proclaimed that “Judith
Butler’s misguided views should not disqualify her from speaking on
Kafka”, would also have endorsed a Jewish organization inviting Hitler’s
chief architect, Albert Speer, to address its audience, if his subject
had been limited to architecture.
Around the same time, the
Museum of Jewish Heritage, a New York Holocaust museum invited,
disinvited and re-invited author and editor John Judis to lecture on his
recent book, Genesis: Truman, American Jews and the Origins of the Arab/Israeli Conflict. The
book is an anti-Zionist diatribe promoting the Palestinian narrative
and condemning Truman for having endorsed the Zionist enterprise and
establishing a Jewish “settler colonial” state.
Now Hillel, the Jewish campus
organization, is undergoing an upheaval over who can be invited to speak
to its audiences. A number of branches declared themselves “Open
Hillels” in protest to the guidelines laid down by the President, Eric
Fingerhut, who issued a prohibition against collaboration with speakers
or groups that demonize or support the delegitimization or boycott of
the Jewish state.
But the most bizarre example of
communal nihilism was the recent crisis at Ramaz, the prestigious
Orthodox Jewish high school on the Manhattan Upper East Side, where
tuition fees can reach close to $40,000 per annum.
“Pro-peace pro-Israel”
activist, Peter Beinart, had the gall to boast that he had personally
persuaded the Ramaz student body to invite Columbia University Professor
Rashid Khalidi to address them. Khalidi is a former PLO spokesman and
probably the most influential voice within American academia savaging
Israel. The purported objectives of the invitation were “to promote open
dialogue” and “give the student body the opportunity to hear an outside
perspective”. Not surprisingly, the principal Paul Shaviv intervened
and rescinded the invitation but 250 students subsequently signed
petitions demanding that the invitation be reinstated.
One must ask whether, in their
desperation to demonstrate their “open-mindedness” and “fairness” to the
non-Jewish liberal establishment, students and parents supporting this
petition have lost their minds. How else can one explain parents of an
Orthodox Jewish school plunging to the depths of demanding that the
school provide a platform for a PLO spokesman promoting boycott,
delegitimization and accusing Israel of war crimes and practicing
apartheid?
Would these parents and
students of Ramaz have supported the invitation of a diplomatic
representative of the Soviet Union in the 1970s to promote the case for
Zionism equals racism? Would they tolerate the presence of anti-Semites
such as David Duke or others who endorse white supremacy, racism or
fascism? If not, why object to excluding an academic notorious for
demonizing and delegitimizing the Jewish state? Do they consider
demonizers of Israel and supporters of BDS more kosher than other
racists?
The media had a field day. The
New York Times provided extensive exposure to the “rifts” within the
Jewish community and the efforts by the Jewish establishment to deny
freedom of expression to dissidents and nonconformists.
Haaretz published an article by
Peter Beinart who stooped to the level of invoking the revered name of
Rabbi Joseph B Soloveitchik and accusing Ramaz of failing to maintain
the Rav’s Torah U’Madda (Torah and Worldly Knowledge) philosophy,
preposterously implying that by seeking dialogue with someone promoting
the demonization of Israel, the Ramaz students were fulfilling the Rav’s
mission.
These misguided initiatives by
museums, universities and religious schools have met with a chorus of
support by Jewish liberals. Jewish sociologist Stephen M Cohen said “I
think it’s good for Zionism to have the full range of Jewish opinion and
those of our adversaries represented.” Former director of the Jewish
Community Council of Greater Washington, Rabbi Sid Schwartz, lambasted
Hillel for its pro-Israel stand, stating “we have become a community
that is scared of the truth, and we have allowed intimidation and
censorship to take the place of civility and respect for divergent
views.”
The reality is that this has
nothing to with freedom of expression. It is about the relentless surge
of anti-Semitism which has assumed the form of anti-Zionism. Ramaz
students, like all Diaspora Jews, are bombarded by hostile anti-Israeli
onslaughts. Khalidi’s works are part of an enormous body of anti-Israeli
literature which everyone can easily access without providing such an
inveterate enemy of Israel with a Jewish platform.
A recent Gallup poll disclosed
that, notwithstanding the fact that the current US Administration has
often been at loggerheads with Israel and despite emerging strains at
the far left fringes of the Democratic Party, support for Israel is at
an all-time high - with 72% of Americans expressing a favorable view of
the Jewish state. This is reflected in bipartisan congressional support
which restrains the Administration.
But if the Jewish community is
to bring Jewish renegades into the Jewish tent and invite those
committed to promoting BDS and delegitimizing Israel to share its
platforms, it will be sending ominous signals and paving the way for the
erosion of the American public’s current positive attitude towards
Israel.
The campaign to bring these
renegade elements into the Jewish mainstream is being orchestrated by a
small, determined and well-organized noisy minority.
The leadership of the major
Jewish organizations must not remain silent. They must stand up and be
counted on this issue. Otherwise, they will fail in their leadership
responsibilities and resurrect the image of the “trembling Israelite”
leaders of the Roosevelt era. The vast majority of committed Jews
remains strongly supportive of Israel and will back its leadership if it
stands up and firmly rejects the legitimization of Jewish renegades.
The writer’s website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com
He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com
This column was originally published in the Jerusalem Post and Israel HayomSome of my recent articles:
Ari Shavit: Confusing Self-Criticism with Self-Debasement (February 26, 2014)
Prime Minister: Don’t Take Diaspora Jews for Granted (February 17, 2014)
With Jewish friends like these... (February 10, 2014)
Friends of Israel Must Speak Up Now (February 5, 2014)
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