In supporting Barack Obama for president, Jewish Democrats argued that he would be good for Israel despite his relationships with antisemites and anti-Israel bigots. They continued chanting this mantra after his election, ignoring that his stated views on Israel were ambivalent at best. But even his staunchest supporters couldn’t spin his Cairo speech, that first appearance on the Arab-Israeli conflict, in which he distorted Jewish history, regurgitated the myth that Israel was a European invention foisted upon the Arabs, blamed Israel and the “settlements” for stalling the peace process, and whitewashed the long history of Arab colonialism, rejectionism and antisemitism. His behavior towards Israel since then has only compounded this shaky foundation.
Jewish discomfort is evident in polls showing that a majority of Jews question Mr. Obama’s treatment of Israel, although – incredibly – they continue to support his presidency. This contradiction reinforces the charge that Jewish liberals are more committed to progressive politics than to Israel and Jewish values. It also reflects their tendency to ignore the influence of left-wing hatred of Israel in the mistaken belief that antisemitism is the exclusive province of the political right.
Antisemitism has indeed often been a force in right-wing politics, particularly when wielded as a sword by reactionary governments and churches, radical groups and demagogues, but historically it has been no less potent in left-wing circles. As the ghetto walls came down in 19th Century Europe, Jews flocked to the nascent liberal movements in the belief that anything opposing the forces that had oppressed them was good. But they were so enamored of their apparent enfranchisement, and so eager to assimilate into European society, that they often overlooked the virulent and open antisemitism permeating the fabric of the movements that seemingly afforded these opportunities. And this false affinity carried over to New World shores where it persists to this day.
The belief that antisemitism doesn’t exist on the political left arose from an idealized view of the birth and growth of European liberalism. Most Jewish liberals are unaware that some of their most cherished philosophical icons were as antisemitic as the monarchs and despots they were rejecting. Voltaire’s hatred of Jews was well-known, as was the disdain of Diderot, Holbach, the French Utopians, including Proudhon and Fourier, and the later European socialist intellectuals. Georg Ritter von Schonerer led the antisemitic, left-wing German Liberal Party in Austria, while Wilhelm Marr, a German socialist, actually coined the term “antisemitism” in two pamphlets published in 1873 and 1880, in which he promoted hatred of Jews on political, economic and racial grounds.
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And then there are left-wing advocacy groups claiming to be pro-Israel and “pro-peace.” The most prominent of these is J Street, which boasts an agenda that chides Israel for defending herself, encourages the USA to pressure Israel, discourages sanctions against Iran, condemns Jewish presence in Jerusalem, and trumpets the so-called Saudi “peace plan,” which is a thinly veiled prescription for Israel’s demise.
Now clearly, not all liberals are self-rejecting extremists, and many probably consider themselves part of the moderate mainstream. Nevertheless, they are misdirected in their failure to view their political bedfellows critically, to hold them accountable for moral inconsistency, and to condemn “progressive conduct that is clearly antisemitic. When liberal criticism is leveled at Israel for her reaction to terrorist aggression but not at those whose vile actions necessitate the response, when the United Nations Goldstone Report condemns Israel’s retaliation for thousands of rockets, when Human Rights Watch falsely accuses Israel of perpetrating “massacres” that never occurred, or when liberal actors and artists protest holding international film festivals in Tel Aviv, liberal Jews become complicit by their silence. Their failure to speak out implies agreement with even the most absurd accusations.
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If American Jews now recognize that Mr. Obama’s policies will compromise Israel’s safety and security, they should openly acknowledge the danger that his administration poses for the region. They should vocally challenge his toxic foreign policy, which presumes an unworkable and historically unjustified two-state solution. Their objection should be grounded in history and informed by the knowledge that antisemitism is indeed a potent force on the political left, and has been harnessed to fan the flames of liberal discomfort masquerading as legitimate political discourse regarding Israel.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/9320
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