Matthew Yglesias of Think Progress unwisely waded into Israeli politics once again last week, writing about a phenomenon that he terms “post-Jewish Zionism.” This is his theory that Christians and conservatives are becoming increasingly pro-Israel, a concept that isn’t exactly groundbreaking.
But according to Yglesias, the impact of this is that American Jews—who are typically politically liberal—are becoming “decreasingly relevant to the politics of Israel.”
“The existence of Christian Zionists is, of course, not new,” Yglesias wrote. “But what is new is that Israeli politics has drifted toward the hawkish right over the past ten years even as Jewish Americans remain on the progressive left.”
The insinuation is that American Jews have a more “progressive” perspective on how to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than either Christian Zionists or Israelis themselves, and that these conservatives may hijack the issue and push solutions that don’t mesh with the values of typical American Jews.
It’s true that some (though not all) Christian Zionists don’t support a two-state solution, which puts them out of sync with the politics of most of the American Jewish community. However, while American Jews are progressive on social issues, they take a far more pragmatic and conservative stance on Israel.
In fact, when it comes to Israel, it is the progressive left that appears to be the most out-of-touch with the politics of the Jewish community. A recent poll conducted by Frank Luntz for CAMERA showed that nearly three-quarters of Jewish Americans opposed the idea of Judge Richard Goldstone appearing before Congress, while only 5 percent supported it. This puts it firmly at odds with the left-leaning lobby J Street, which actually facilitated meetings between members of congress and Judge Goldstone.
Further, 81 percent of American Jews say they would be more likely to vote for a representative who signed a letter deploring Palestinian incitement. Compare this to J Street’s position: back in March, the group publicly opposed a Congressional letter condemning Palestinian incitement.
As for the new Palestinian-Hamas unity deal, 77 percent say Israel should “refuse to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority until Hamas renounces terrorism and officially recognizes Israel’s right to exist.” This seems to contradict with President Obama’s recent speech to AIPAC, in which he said that “no matter how hard it may be [for Israel] to start meaningful negotiations under the current circumstances, we must acknowledge that a failure to try is not an option.”
And when it comes to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement—an anti-Israel campaign promoted by many left-wing fringe groups—71 percent of American Jews are opposed.
On the central issues, 78 percent believe it is either “very necessary” or “100% and totally necessary, no exceptions,” for Palestinians to accept Israel as a Jewish state. 84 percent believe that the Israeli government is committed to establishing a genuine peace with the Palestinian people. And 77 percent consider Palestinian incitement to be a major obstacle to peace, in contrast to 12 percent who believe the settlements and another 12 percent who believe the “occupation” is to blame.
So to say that Zionism in America is drifting away from the Jewish communities is simply untrue. If anything, the polling shows that, when it comes to Israel, there’s a divide between American Jews and the larger progressive community.
George Will is a major conservative intellectual – probably on the libertarian end of the spectrum which is reluctant to intervene overseas except in self defense. Do not confuse him with liberals in any way shape or form.
Is that because you are impervious to evidence?
Only the brain-dead Democrat Yamit will have a problem with this decision because he hates anyone who is likely to depose Obama, even though he is the most anti-Semitic president in US history. They both share a contempt for America you see.
How can one convince someone who is brain dead? 🙂
Eagle,
I am also concerned, that Obama may pull off a victory in 2012 — despite his having ruined the country, and betrayed Left and Right alike.
BTW, I did some lookups on George Will. He turns out to be quite “conservative”, after all — except for his noninterventionist and antiwar stance, which puts him more in league with old-line “progressives” like LaFollette. It all just leads me to dismay at ever being able to discern who the “Left” and “Right” are. Concerning Obama supporters, though, whichever side of the body they think they hang from, I have discovered the following:
I looked up the following sites:
http://correlate.googlelabs.com/search?e=jesus&t=all# and
http://correlate.googlelabs.com/search?e=krishna&t=all#
which log the number of searches, by state, for “jesus” and “krishna” respectively. Almost state for state, the “jesus” searchers corresponded to the states that went for McCain, and the “krishna” crowd went for Obama. Maybe we should re-label “Right” and “Left” as “Christian” and “Hindu”. We could then blame the Beatles for our current woes, and probably not be far off.
Hairy Hare
AE,
I don’t really have any Jewish American (or American Jewish) friends. They are all too damned liberal for my politics, and I think liberalism is poisoning our western civilizations. As I was growing up, I learned that such specimens don’t much give a damn about the Jewish nation or for that matter, the State of Israel. And I’ve come to the conclusion they have the same rotten attitude about America as well.
Character to me is everything. And when I listen to these people (rarely) on radio or television, or read what they have to say, I come to the conclusion those folks are the kind I would like to grind under the heels of my shoes.
Am I a real Jew? You can bet your asses I am. But I’m inclined toward the Rav Meir Kahane kind of Jews, and folks such as me tend to horrify these bastards.
So don’t ask me to talk politics with them.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Please don’t kid yourselves, folks. The only poll that counts is on November 6, 2012. Make sure all your Jewish American friends are lucid on that date. Don’t forget you are working against some massive guilt feelings and pro-black racism, insane notions that governments can best help the downtrodden, a belief that a human conception can be dispatched at will, and some very powerful Jews from Emanuel to Dershowitz, from Adler to Axelrod, from Nadler to Schumer, and Pritzer to Wasserman-Shultz, not to mention Hollywood and the entire 4th. Estate, who will say and do almost anything to get Obama re-elected so that they can stay in power – and to hell with the rest of us including Israel.
It is a tragic self deluding setting they walked themselves into. Regretfully, it is very hard to get out of that since people that betrays and undermines cannot regain credibility that easily.
We will keep an eye, albeit with not that much interest,on their performance in 2012. Until then, well, they will be decidedly losing influence both here and in the US.
I am pleased to see the support for Israel manifested by the polls. My grandfather voted for the Progressive candidate, Bob LaFollette, 1n 1924. La Follette’s platform called for “government ownership of the railroads and electric utilities, cheap credit for farmers, the outlawing of child labor, stronger laws to help labor unions, more protection of civil liberties, an end to American imperialism in Latin America, and a referendum before any president could again lead the nation into war.” I imagtine that many American Jews also supported his agenda. It’s a shame,that the current leader of the movement, Barack Obama, has decided to dedicate his efforts to bankrupting America, supporting an international cartel of bankers, and working towards the demise of Israel. I don’t consider those policies particularly “progressive”. I wonder if progressive Jewish-Americans are also reconsidering this.
There is an interesting article in the New York Post by George F. Will, whom I would not consider a conservative:
Obama has been trying to court Right-wingers with his gung-ho warrior ethic in Libya. If George Will is opposing him now concerning this, maybe his support is beginning to wane among progressives. The conventional wisdom, I suppose, is that they will vote for him anyway because they have no alternative. Maybe so; but maybe they will also feel betrayed enough by this opportunist two-timer of a President, to either not vote or vote against him.
None of this is a surprise to me. Irrespective of being a Jewish American, I voted Republican in just all the presidential elections since I turned 21 in 1955. I even served as a teen-age volunteer at the Republican National Convention in Chicago in 1952, where I served the campaign of Senator Robert Taft of Ohio as one of a number of “go-fers”, fetching them coffee and whatnot. So I voted for Eisenhower in 1956, Nixon in 1960, Goldwater in 1964, Nixon again in 1968 and 1972, Ford in 1976, Reagan in 1980 and 1984, GHW Bush in 1988 and 1992, Dole in 1996, GW Bush in 2000 and 2004, and McCain in 2008. I will be voting for whomever the Republican nominee shall be in 2012.
At the state and local level, I have voted for Democrats as well as Republicans. But there, the issues are state and local taxation, along with stopping urban sprawl on the extensive farmlands all across the southern part of Wisconsin. But I also support voter ID, checking the national of Latinos and turning them over to the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency for deportation if they cannot prove their right to residency here, along with removing the labor unions from control of public agency bodgets. And above all, my right to keep and bear arms for personal protection, which is now enjoyed by residents of 48 or the 50 US states.
Am I friendly to Christians? At least to the extent that I observe they respect me as a Jew. For that purpose, I am active with Christians United for Israel (CUFI), whom I let know from the get-go that I was born a Jew and shall die as one.
Nobody ever succeeded in convincing me of anything against my will, and only fools have tried.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI