by Isi Leibler
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I would hesitate writing this
column had I not served as a national Jewish leader who faced similar
dilemmas to those confronting the American Jewish leadership today, many
of whom I was engaged with in various battles against enemies of the
Jewish people and Israel.
Yet, with considerable regret
and notwithstanding notable exceptions, I believe that today the major
leaders within the American Jewish establishment are failing to stand up
and be counted, despite chilling signals that the United States
administration is about to abandon Israel, effectively revoking the
U.S.-Israel alliance on which we are deeply dependent. There are even
hints that U.S. President Barack Obama may forgo the U.S. veto at the
United Nations Security Council that protects Israel from censure and
sanctions -- which could have disastrous repercussions. This is taking
place at a time when much of the world regards Israel as they did
Czechoslovakia in the 1930s.
Another serious issue is that
Obama has again breached a solemn undertaking and appears prepared to
consummate a deal with the Iranians, enabling them to achieve nuclear
status.
Tensions have escalated over the
past 12 months and the vicious and humiliating manner in which the
Obama administration has treated Israel, its purported ally and the only
democratic state in the region, is unprecedented. The administration’s
condemnation of Israel‘s “disproportionate response” and directive to
withhold replenishment of arms during the Gaza war, is hardly the
behavior of a genuine ally.
In contrast, the Obama
administration serenades Iran and Qatar which promote global terrorism,
kowtows to Saudi Arabia despite its horrific abuse of human rights, and
embraces Turkey’s anti-Semitic President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas has failed to make a single concession, opting to merge
with the genocidal Hamas. He deliberately incites hatred of Israelis,
having just last week hailed the murderer of the 3-month-old Israeli
baby as a shaheed (martyr) and extended condolences to the family of
Rabbi Yehuda Glick’s attempted assassin, whom he described as “rising to
heaven while defending our people’s rights and holy places.” Abbas’s
adviser Sultan Abu Al-Einen said that the “bullets were a beacon that
will continue to shine for years to come.” Yet the Obama administration
remains circumspect and respectful of Abbas while Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu is treated with contempt and derision.
What is especially galling is
that in the midst of regional upheaval with millions of people being
displaced, hundreds of thousands butchered and the world confronted by a
snowballing threat of Islamic barbarism from ISIS and other terrorist
groups, Obama remains obsessed with Israel’s need to make concessions
that would undermine its security and create long-term existential
threats. It is bizarre that he spends more time condemning Israel for
building homes in Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem than on the carnage
taking place in the region.
And yet, despite all of the
above, the Jewish leadership seems to have hibernated. The only voices
consistently protesting against the bias and condemnations directed
against Israel are the Zionist Organization of America and the Los
Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, which was the first to respond
with a well-deserved fusillade against the “chickenshit” outburst,
demanding an apology and repudiation.
The Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations, in a rare criticism of the White
House, demanded that the anonymous official whose remarks were
“inappropriate” and “counterproductive” be “held to account.” But Abe
Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, effectively
trivialized the incident, saying that “the White House statement [which
distanced itself from the comments without condemning them] should
bring closure to the issue.”
Amazingly, the National Jewish
Democratic Council condemned the outburst in harsher terms than the
Jewish establishment, expressing “surprising disappointment at the
profane and inappropriate language” employed.
The issues at stake here are far
beyond the vulgar language and the hostile exchanges between Obama and
Netanyahu. They relate to the foundations of the U.S.-Israel alliance.
These are times when one would
expect the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (whose raison d’etre
is surely to respond to such situations) and the American Jewish
leadership to publicly protest at the manner in which Israel is being
treated.
Remaining silent and relying on
the ZOA and other small groups to defend Israel, conveys the false
impression that the committed American Jewish community is alienated
from Israel and prefers to remain aloof while the Obama administration
bashes the Jewish state.
Most Jewish leaders with whom I communicate admit that they consider Obama’s behavior toward Israel as reprehensible.
Many seek to rationalize their
behavior by stressing that they are lobbying vigorously behind the
scenes and maintain that public criticism of Obama would encourage him
to become even more extreme.
This is the classic Diaspora
approach of the “Trembling Israelites.” It has been proven wrong in the
past and American Jewish leaders, to their credit, were always robust
and outgoing in exercising their democratic right to promote the Jewish
standpoint. We have learned over the years that while shtadlanut (silent
diplomacy) is indeed necessary, it can only be effective when backed up
by a public campaign.
At this crucial turning point in
the relationship with Israel, my real concern is that American Jewish
leaders are simply fearful of directly confronting the president and
that the allegedly powerful Jewish lobby lacks the backbone to stand up
and be counted.
The absence of direction and
leadership has already resulted in further erosion as displayed by Gary
Rosenblatt, the respected editor of The New York Jewish Week, who
produced an editorial titled “Bibi takes on the world” blasting
Netanyahu for confronting the “leader of the free world” and
“jeopardizing Israel’s relationship with its most important allies” for
electoral reasons. Rosenblatt is a Zionist and a courageous and
outspoken journalist. Only two weeks earlier, he had penned an
editorial, “Blaming Israel isn’t the answer,” castigating the global
anti-Israeli tsunami.
But his latest editorial was
unfair and extremely damaging. The Jewish Week was founded by the Jewish
Federations, and Rosenblatt conceded to Jeffrey Goldberg of The
Atlantic (who exposed the “chickenshit” comment) that in the past there
would have been “hell to pay in the community” for such an editorial on
Israel, but now “that is no longer the case.”
Goldberg cited the editorial as
evidence that Jewish leaders were “uneasy” about Israel’s direction. He
referred to discussions by unnamed Jewish officials questioning
Netanyahu’s policies. He went on to state that Israel should be trying
to “negotiate in good faith” with the duplicitous Abbas and impose a
settlement freeze on Jerusalem and the settlement blocs until such time
as negotiations with the Palestinians have clarified which territory
will remain within Israel. Needless to say, pigs will fly before the
Palestinians agree to such an accommodation.
This is the approach that the
Obama administration will adopt in their forthcoming effort to renew
negotiations after the mid-term elections. Whereas most Israelis feel
that the prime minister would be well advised to cease making public
announcements about construction, the vast consensus would never agree
to a construction freeze in the settlement blocs and especially not in
the Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
Certain myths and falsehoods
need to be dispelled. Israel is not creating new settlements. To the
contrary, the only real change on the ground in the last decade has been
the dismantling of settlements in Gaza which were transformed to launch
rockets. Nor are any Arabs being displaced or Palestinian land being
appropriated. The entire area engaged in current settlement is about 3%
of the former Jordanian occupied territories. The Oslo accords never
required limits to settlement growth and certainly not natural growth of
existing communities.
That is the message that AIPAC
and Jewish leaders must urgently promote. They must also firmly and
publicly condemn the biased policies adopted against Israel by the
administration and lobby Congress to prevent Obama from abandoning
Israel during his remaining two years in office.
Failure by the Jewish leadership
to act now will massively undermine the entire Jewish community as a
political force in America, sending a message to the American people and
Congress that American Jews are distancing themselves from Israel. This
would invariably impact on the very high levels of support that Israel
currently enjoys.
It will also weaken the will of
Jewish students to stand up and fight for themselves at the campuses,
many of which have been transformed into anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic
cesspools.
The Jewish leadership has an
enormous responsibility to provide direction. Hopefully they will move
in this direction, preventing analogies between today’s American Jewish
establishment and the disastrous era of Rabbi Stephen Wise and his
colleagues, who failed to stand up to President Franklin Roosevelt’s
indifference to the plight of Jews during the Holocaust.
This column was originally published in the Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom
Isi Leibler may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com His website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com
Source: http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=5376
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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