The Left and Right Divide

By Ted Belman

I attended this lecture today at the JCPA.

Prof. Steven M. Cohen on  Annoyed, Ambivalent and Ashamed: Jewish Liberals, Pro-Israel and Not

Over the last few years, American liberals, both Jewish and not, have adopted less positive images of Israel with consequences for their feelings of attachment. These trends have implications both for understanding younger American Jews today, as well as for contending with BDS sympathizers, be they focused upon ending the occupation or seeking the elimination of the Jewish State of Israel.

He proudly billed himself as a left-wing Zionist of liberal Zionist without defining his terms. He argues that many such Zionists love Israel, know the facts and the law and shouldn’t be disparaged as anti-Israel or anti-Zionist or know-nothings. He drew heavily from the recent PEW survey which portrayed the divide.

Needless to say that most of the select audience, who for the most part were on the right, weren’t buying it.

He begged for acceptance and dialogue. I argued that all issues were talked about during the elections and what more is there to dialogue about. The right won.

By chance one person introduced himself to me as Amb. Shlomo Avital and went on to praise me for my comments. I mentioned to him that my daughter, Aliza, was a diplomat in the Israel Foreign Ministry. Much to my surprise he told me that she served under him in Zaire, now the Congo. What a coincidence.

I then went for coffee with Prof Richard Landes whose article on BDS I just published today.

In a couple of days, a video of this lecture will be available a the website of JCPA.