U.S. Jews Growing Deeply Divided On Israel

U.S. Jews Growing Deeply Divided On Israel

 | By RACHEL ZOLL

Posted: 06/09/2014
9:54 am EDT Updated: 06/09/2014
9:59 am EDT

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/09/us-jews-israel_n_5472866.html?utm_hp_ref=world&ir=World

 

NEW
YORK (AP) — Once a unifying cause for generations of American Jews, Israel is
now bitterly dividing Jewish communities.

Jewish organizations are withdrawing
invitations to Jewish speakers or performers considered too critical of Israel,
in what opponents have denounced as an ideological litmus test meant to squelch
debate. Some Jewish activists have formed watchdog groups, such as Citizens
Opposed to Propaganda Masquerading as Art, or COPMA, and JCC Watch, to monitor
programming for perceived anti-Israel bias. They argue Jewish groups that take
donations for strengthening the community shouldn't be giving a platform to
Israel's critics.

American campuses have become ideological
battle zones over Israeli policy in the Palestinian territories, with national
Jewish groups sometimes caught up on opposing sides of the internal debate
among Jewish students. The "Open Hillel" movement of Jewish students
is challenging speaker guidelines developed by Hillel, the major Jewish campus
group, which bars speakers who "delegitimize" or "demonize"
Israel. Open Hillel is planning its first national conference in October.

And in a vote testing the parameters of
Jewish debate over Israel, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish
Organizations, a national coalition that for decades has represented the
American Jewish community, denied membership in April to J Street, the
6-year-old lobby group that describes itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace and
has sometimes criticized the Israeli government. Opponents of J Street have
been showing a documentary called "The J Street Challenge," in
synagogues and at Jewish gatherings around the country, characterizing the
group as a threat from within.

"I believe this has reached a level of
absurdity now," said Rabbi Sharon Brous, founder of the IKAR-LA Jewish
community in California, which is considered a national model for
reinvigorating religious life. "Even where people are acting from a place
of love and deep commitment that Israel remains a vital and vibrant state, they
are considered outside the realm. It's seen as incredibly threatening and not
aligned with the script the American Jewish community expects."

In 2012, when Israel carried out an offensive
in Gaza after an upsurge in rocket fire, Brous wrote an email to IKAR members
that was published in The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. She supported
Israel's right to defend itself, while also urging recognition of Palestinian
suffering.

The result? She was overwhelmed with hate
mail, and inspired competing op-eds and letters in the Journal from Jewish
clergy and others until a prominent rabbi called for an end to the
recriminations and name-calling.

American Jews have always vigorously debated
Israeli policy, but mostly within the community and with an understanding that
differences would be set aside if the Jewish state faced an existential threat.
But the discussion within the U.S. has become more reflective of the very broad
debate within Israel.

"It's a very old issue that many
countries face and now Israel faces: to what extent should domestic debate
carry over when you're abroad?" said Jonathan Sarna, a Brandeis University
scholar of American Jewish history. "The critics of J Street and the like
say, 'Of course, it's fine in Israel because the minute they call up the
reserves, all politics disappear. Moreover, they have to live with the results
of their decision.' Their argument is that there should be a great difference
between what you can do and say in Israel and what you can do or say in
America. There are all sorts of enemies who make use of the words in America
differently than they do in Israel."

Internal American Jewish conflict has
worsened as many Israel advocates have come to feel under siege in the U.S. The
international boycott movement against Israel over its treatment of the
Palestinians has gained some momentum in the U.S., and critics increasingly
draw analogies between Israeli policies and South African apartheid.

The clashes among American Jews are partly
colored by the sharp tone of overall left-right debate within the U.S. Earlier
this year, the Brandeis chapter of J Street and one of its most vocal
antagonists on campus, Daniel Mael, accused each other of harassment and made
complaints to campus police. Mael, a 21-year-old Orthodox Jew, wrote a series
of posts for the conservative site truthrevolt.org
accusing J Street of bringing "Israel bashers" on campus.

J Street has said its opponents often distort
the group's statements. The liberal lobby created a "Myths &
Facts" page on its website challenging the claims.

Many leaders of the older, more-established
organizations say the divisions are not as broad or deep as some claim.
Defenders of the presidents' conference argue their 50-member association
includes liberal organizations with similar views to J Street, and they blame
the lobby group for whipping up a backlash to the vote.

The presidents' conference was formed in the
1950s in response to what was considered a failure of U.S. Jewish leaders
during World War II to speak to American policy makers with one voice. Members
were expected to keep internal discussion and voting private.

Among the 17 conference members who voted for
J Street in April were the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Council for
Public Affairs, and the Conservative and Reform Jewish movements. Twenty-two
conference members voted no and three others abstained. The remaining member
groups did not send a representative to vote.

Farley Weiss, president of the National
Council of Young Israel, an association for Orthodox synagogues, dismissed J
Street's members as students with a skewed understanding of Mideast history
because of the "one-sided, left view" on U.S. college campuses. Weiss
was among the few members of the Conference of Presidents who campaigned
publicly to block J Street's admission to the group.

"Their views are not part of what I
consider the mainstream of the Jewish community," Weiss said.

"I wouldn't characterize them as enemies
of Israel," Weiss said. "I would characterize it that their
self-avowed statement that they are pro-Israel is not accurate."

The split among U.S. Jews has its roots in
the Jewish settlement building in the occupied territories after the 1967 Six
Day War, which sparked debate in the U.S. and in Israel over whether the
settlements helped or hurt Israeli security.

At the same time, American Judaism was
splintering. The strictly traditional Orthodox population grew, but so did the
number of Jews who left organized religious life. Jews were marrying outside
the faith at a high rate, and their families were generally less involved in
the Jewish community and less tied to Israel.

"We now have more people who care deeply
about Israel and more people who care very little about Israel," said
Steven M. Cohen, a professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute on
Religion who specializes in research on the American Jewish community.

Meanwhile, liberal Reform Judaism, which has
worked for years to underscore its deep commitment to the Jewish state, grew to
become the largest movement in American Judaism. The result: a pro-Israel
American Jewish community largely split between conservatives and liberals,
both emotionally attached to Israel but with conflicting outlooks on many Israeli
policies.

At Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel, a Reform
Jewish synagogue in South Orange, New Jersey, Rabbi Daniel Cohen struggles to
hold the ever-shrinking common ground among his congregants over Israel. Before
Cohen delivers a sermon on the subject, he re-reads what he wrote and asks
himself, "How are they going to hear it?"

From the pulpit, he tries to weave together
the views of doves and hawks among the 850 families in his congregation,
comparing Israel to a flawed friend who nonetheless should be defended against
slander. Still, he hears complaints — about his personal involvement with the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the long-established lobbying group,
and his simultaneous support for congregants active in J Street.

"I'm very, very careful to focus on the
importance of Israel and the American Jewish community and being involved in
activism. I'm not proscriptive about how people should get involved," said
Cohen, the temple's senior rabbi for 16 years.

A Pew Research Center survey conducted last
year found more than two-thirds of American Jews feel somewhat or very attached
to Israel, but only 38 percent believe the Israeli government is sincerely
pursuing peace with the Palestinians and 44 percent said settlement
construction hurts Israeli national security. (In the same poll, just 12
percent of U.S. Jews said Palestinian leaders were making a sincere effort to
resolve the conflict.)

Many Jewish leaders worry the infighting
could not only undermine U.S. support for Israel, but also drive away the
younger American Jews who are pressing for a broader definition of what it
means to be pro-Israel.

"The attacks are stronger and more
vicious sometimes ...," said Cohen. "If you're not hearing other
perspectives, I don't know how you can have an honest, open debate."

COMMENT:

It is time
to judge an individual or any group/ groups by taking into the evidence of past
and recent events that took place where in US citizens addresses Israel's
Zionists as the best friends and the US government agrees and goes one step
ahead and publicly announces Israel as the most trusted ally in Mid East.

Under such exceptional relationship how can Americans accept Israel's this
Zionist governments of Netanyahu without the knowledge of the relevant
authorities of US stole Ammunition from US Depot. This is not the only thing.

Israel's this Assassin PM Netanyahu's even before the recent events allowed to
kill by his security force the Americans children as street dogs knowing as
such that they were Americans and over and above without any remorse and
apology. He even denied equity of Justice.

After these entire events, how could the Zionist
lawmakers of the lone supper power go publicly to protect Israel's Genocide
Committal Government and blacken the face of the American Nation in front of
the World Community of Nations? How can the American Nations adjust with such a
basically Terrorist entity?

The supporters of Israel before giving sermon to
others and the American Nationals should publicly admonish Israel and start
kicking the butts of all Zionists of both Israel and US Congressional Members
and teach all Zionists to behave as is required to be a friend of the Lone
Supper power.

Having done that then go to the Zionists and ask
them to catch the legs of the Saner Jewish community living in US and also of
the American Nationals and apologies. May be Americans consider pardoning. In
addition, has to vow not ever again to raise the head in front of US citizens.