The Coming Storm: Obama and American Jewry

There's a storm coming. It will pit a well-organized community of substantial resources but also substantial insecurity (particularly when it comes to charges of dual loyalty) against a popular president of considerable eloquence but misguided policies that identifies Israeli settlements as the main obstacle to Middle East peace. The inevitable clash will separate sunshine Jewish patriots who back Israel when convenient against those who stand with Israel even when it means losing their invitation to the White House Chanuka party.

The bogus issue of settlements is already being swallowed whole by many well-meaning Jews. Last week Dan Fleshler, a leader of Americans for Peace Now wrote in the New Jersey Jewish Standard that Obama has no choice but to pressure Israel because "it is fruitless for a well-armed, occupying power to negotiate the terms of a viable settlement with an almost defenseless occupied people unless a third party mediates and presses both sides." In reading Fleshler, one wonders whether he has been himself occupied with building a settlement on the moon with no knowledge of event's on earth. Is he seriously suggesting that the thousands of Katyusha rockets and non-stop suicide bombers that have killed more than a thousand Israelis (the population equivalent of thirty thousand dead Americans) have come from a 'defenseless' foe? Would Fleshler likewise argue that the United States ought to have pressure from, say, Russia or China to make peace with the terrorists in Afghanistan, seeing that America now represents a 'well-armed, occupying power' against the comparatively defenseless Taliban? Or is it only Israel that is forbidden from defending itself. Sorry Mr. Fleshler, but Jewish values do not dictate that the only moral Jew is a dead one who refuses to fight in the face of a sixty-year terror onslaught.

Any return to the 1967 borders, which is what Obama's attack on the settlements represents, is simply suicide for Israel. The borders are utterly indefensible. The Arabs know it, which is why they press for it. Had Israel not dismantled its settlements in Gush Katif, Gaza would not have become a terrorist state ruled by Hamas, an organization that kills even more Palestinians than it does Israelis.

But misguided Jewish apologists aside, are the rest of us prepared to speak up against the policies of the administration? By this I do not mean the drunken racist rants of the American Jewish hooligans who got attention disgracing themselves on YouTube last week, their bigoted drivel against our democratically elected President representing an abomination to Judaism. I have already written several columns lamenting how a small minority of the large and praiseworthy contingent of Jewish youth who go to Israel from the United States after High School ostensibly to study in Yeshivas end up instead hanging out on Ben Yehudah Street making asses of themselves. That they have no proper supervision and that they are allowed to go through their year in a drunken stupor is an outrage that must be finally addressed by the institutions who host them.

Rather, I mean courageous and intelligent criticism that accepts the President's praiseworthy efforts in making peace but decries his soft posture on tyranny when he bows to an Arab potentate who oppresses women and warmly embraces the dictator of Venezuela.

Asher Lopatin was one of the first students I met at Oxford and the University's first orthodox Jewish Rhodes scholar. Today he is the successful rabbi of one of Chicago's most youthful congregations. He is also Rahm Emanuel's Rabbi. But that did not stop him from criticizing the White House Chief of Staff in Newsweek for his unfair pressure on Israel. Rabbi Lopatin could easily have basked in the aura of being Rabbi to one of the most influential men in the world. Instead, he spoke truth to power.

In promoting the new translation of his Hebrew prayer book, Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks constantly reminds us that he studies Bible with the Prime Minister of England. That's nice. But a few years ago Rabbi Sacks spoke out publicly against Israel, telling London's Guardian newspaper, "There are things that happen on a daily basis which make me feel very uncomfortable as a Jew." Sacks is a brilliant man but with a long history of pandering to whatever audience he happens to be addressing. He would do well to remember the admonishment of Mordechai to Esther on the responsibility of being close to political power: "If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place."

But while Europe and the UK are significant, the main battle lines will be here in the US and now is the time for American Jewry to organize. From schools to Universities to Shules and JCC's we must make it clear that when seventy-six percent of Jews voted for Obama and filled his campaign coffers with cash it was not in the expectation of biased policies against Israel. We're upset, disappointed, and we won't take it. We'll march in the streets, write op-eds and blogs, and publish ads making it clear that America should be standing with the Middle East's only democracy and America's most reliable ally. As Charles Krauthammer pointed out, our President undermines his moral authority when he pledges that henceforth America will "forge partnerships as opposed to simply dictating solutions," but then only applies that pledge to Iran, Syria, Cuba, and Venezuela, but not to Israel.

Last year, right after Obama captured the democratic nomination, I received a phone call from his campaign asking if I would serve as one of the national chairs of 'Rabbis for Obama.' It was a tempting offer. I was moved by the candidate's remarkable personal story, his iron discipline, his soaring oratory, and most of all, the fact that his victory would be the culmination of my hero Martin Luther King's dream of a man being judged by the content of his character rather than the color of his skin. In the end I declined because I feared that Obama would draw a moral equivalence between Israel and the Palestinians and pressure the former to appease the latter. But even I never suspected that it would happen so quickly and so lopsidedly.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is the founder of This World: The Values Network. His upcoming book is The Blessing of Enough: Rejecting Material Greed, Embracing Spiritual Hunger.

Comments

[abqsailor]

Israel forbidden from defending itself?!? The only country in the Middle East allowed to have nuclear weapons, which it doesn't even acknowledge possessing, (let alone sign any treaties for) with a zillion dollar military paid for by the US, is not some helpless population barely hanging on.
I would call on the author of this piece to have some tiny measure of compassion for the native inhabitants of "Israel" who have been driven like animals from their homes and slaughtered in far greater numbers than the Israelis who are living on stolen ground. Remember, Rabbi, that 1400 people were killed only in the recent Gaza massacre, the vast majority of them innocent civilian refugees forced to live in a giant Warsaw Ghetto. And that number doesn't include those starved and malnourished by years spent living under an Israeli siege that denies the Gazans food and medicine. And we haven't mentioned the many hundreds of Palestinians and Lebanese who die when Israel periodically attacks their neighbors. The bottom line on settlements is this: since the Israelis have stolen 80% of Palestine, they can surely leave the native inhabitants alone in the tiny enclaves of the West Bank and Gaza.
America is largely a terror target because of our unconditional support for Israel. It's time to end lobbying of Congress by any foreign power and conduct a fair minded policy in the Middle East. If the Israelis resent our meddling in their affairs, then they can return our billions in aid.

[Freenation]

amazing just amazing, a spiritual person writing articles of this nature...shalom (peace) be with you...no point in writing anything else....

[bordeaux]

It was tough to read this article through to its end, especially with comments like "in the face of a sixty-year terror onslaught". It is the Palestinians who have experienced a sixty year terrorist onslaught with the theft of their land, their homes, and their lives. These people have a right to defend their land and their history, not only in the West Band, but in all of greater Palestine.

[tophat123]

For 60 years the Palestinians could have had a country and a border dispute -- instead they chose a border dispute and no country. Meanwhile, Israel accepted what the UN offered and created a thriving country. This is the Palestinian tragedy.

[abqsailor]

So, tophat123, if your country was invaded, and the United Nations offered to partition your country, you would gladly allow the invaders to steal your land? My country is America and I would never accept its invasion by foreigners.

[bordeaux]

It was tough to read this article through to the end. Especially in light of comments like " in face of a sixty-year terror onslaught". It is the Palestinians that have been subjected to a 60 year terrorist onslaught with the theft of their land, their homes, and their lives. There is nothing legitimate about Israel, and I for one am sick of seeing my tax dollars go fund to the destruction of an entire people. Long live Palestine.

[DarkSlope]

Here is my response to you, Rabbi:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michal-lewinepstein/netanyahus-speech-one-ste_b_216151.html

[Theou]

Rabbi Rokeach writes:

"The inevitable clash will separate sunshine Jewish patriots who back Israel when convenient against those who stand with Israel even when it means losing their invitation to the White House Chanuka party."

Rabbi, that is quite a mouthful. Are Jewish Americans supposed to by patriotic Americans or patriotic Israelis? To imply that the two are always and everywhere identical, is palably untrue.
How can you defend your statement against accusations of "fifth-columnism"?
Split loyalty is liable to provoke resentment or as Abe Fox might express it "anti-semitism"

It is particularly egregious to censure American Jews who oppose the entirely illegal so-called settler movement as unpatriotic.

[morganhoyle]

Now, I'm going to show you where does the fish pee. (It sounds much cooler in Hebrew)

"The boarders are utterly indefensible." The Palestinians are basically unarmed people, with no military force the deserves the name, (no armor, artillery, warships, or aircraft) they are in daily confrontation with one of the world's best armies.

[S1m0n]

"The borders are utterly indefensible. "

You guys picked the location, and you knew whom your new neighbours would be when you did it. Nobody forced you to go there. There is no such thing as a 'right' to defensible borders, and Israel's right to defend itself doesn't trump anyone else's, especially Israel's neighbours.

[EspressoAtNoon]

Will you ever put truth, what's right, over tribe? I fear not.

[chirps]

"The bogus issue of settlements is already being swallowed whole by many well-meaning Jews."

I made it that far and stopped reading. Bogus? What's bogus is the continued theft of Palestian land.

[Sentientbeing09]

Heh, he caught me too with that line.

Im glad it didnt go unnoticed.

[lastyellowdogintx]

Just a thought Rabbi - you have ONE friend on the planet earth. The majority of us living
in your only friend on the planet earth want to see a Palestinian state. I don't have the
answers on how to get there but if you lose us,and we are running out of patience, then
what chance do you have?

[arvay]

" . . .when seventy-six percent of Jews voted for Obama and filled his campaign coffers with cash it was not in the expectation of biased policies against Israel. "

A suggestion. Fill the coffers of the Israeli government with enough cash so that it doesn't need American money for these settlements.

A prediction: American Jews will not foot the bill. Why do I think this? Because i think most of them realize how utterly stupid and provocative these settlements are.

Your call for American Jews to undermine Obama's foreign policy and your implication that Jewish money elected Obama is a gift for the anti-Semitic whack-jobs who are desperate for some issue that will give them a hearing in the marketplace of ideas.

They appreciate your support.

[winterthur]

U$A gives $10million/day to I$rael to build illegal settlements, grant free higher education and give universal health care to every Israeli citizen while American taxpayers haven't yet rebuilt Ne Orleans and desperately need health care to get thru this economic crash.

I$rael's free ride is over; especially since Israelis are now calling our President names; their arrogance is astonishing and will no longer be funded by American taxpayers.

[arvay]

I hope you're right, Obama has taken a very effective first step here.

[CanisLatrans]

"Any return to the 1967 borders, which is what Obama's attack on the settlements represents, is simply suicide for Israel. The borders are utterly indefensible. "

Rav, I have to differ with you, vehemently. Keeping the 1967 territorial gains is suicide: slow, internal, demographic suicide that will lead to the destruction of Jewish values. By forcibly keeping a million Palestinians in Israel's borders, we risk turning our home land into an Apartheid state (some say it is already at that stage).

Before the common use of the regional ballistic missile, Israel needed that land buffer to protect itself from invading Arab armies. Iraqi Scud missiles prove that a determined Arab enemy can hammer at Israel from a thousand miles away without rolling a single tank-- so why keep a million Palestinians penned in, a simmering 5th column in Israel's borders?

The Palestinians aren't going anywahere. All the ones who were going to pack up and leave have done so. The only way we can get rid of them now is to adopt forcible relocation plans that are known in some parts of the world as "ethnic cleansing". It is morally indefensible for a Jew to proscribe such.

I am an American Jew who loves Israel, lived there for 4 years before returning to the USA. Sure, the Palestinian terrorists are evil people. I'm not saying we should bow to the terrorists. I'm saying we should pay homage to our sense of right and wrong, and let those people go.

[TommyMcCarthy]

A very sensible comment by "CanisLatrans"...

A more extensive comment hasapparently been scrubbed...

In short..... Israel should be moving forcefully to regain some of the ENORMOUS loss of goodwill FOOLISHLY and brutally squandered during January's Gazan massacre......Words are one thing actions are another.

It seems a particularly BAD time for Isreal to adopt an intransigent and bellicose stance regarding the oppression of the Palestinia­ns........­..since millions of solid lifetime supporters of Israel have begun to question who is the victim and who...the oppressor......for the first time in our lives

regards
tm

[Sentientbeing09]

Nothing new from Boteach about Palestine / Israeli issues. Nothing but attempts to preserve the status quo and to pour more sand into the gears of the peace process.

Theres nothing in his post that we havent seen a hundred times by anonymous posters here on huffpo. Where is the leadership and any honest attempt to break the deadlock in the peace process?

Just more of the same. Reflexive pro-Israel and pro-occupation talking points with no imagination.

[NedroidPrime]

Bring your "storm", and see what it gets you. No charges of anti-semi or anything like that, as you are throwing the first stone.

I hate no one, but you are pushing it. Do you really want me to start thinking about the names in the financial mess?

The US has given Israel a ton of leeway, and with your threatening posture, it is sounding more and more that you are pushing an agenda that will lead to violence.

If you are the chosen people, carry your own weight, and stop dragging my country down. We have babysat you for long enough