Well, that didn’t last long.
Last week, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) issued a joint statement calling on Jewish organizations to sign a “unity pledge” on how to treat Israel in the run-up to the 2012 elections.
The press release from the two groups explained that the initiative was intended “to rally bipartisan support for Israel while preventing the Jewish State from becoming a wedge issue in the upcoming campaign season.”
“If there is one thing candidates for high office and people of all political stripes can agree on, it is the importance of the long tradition of bipartisan support for our friend and ally, Israel,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris.
However, on Monday afternoon the honeymoon was over. Actually, the Jewish lovers of Israel never even packed their bags.
The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) fired back with a press release rejecting the amity accord.
“An open and vigorous debate on the questions confronting our country is the cornerstone of the American electoral process,” said Matt Brooks, RJC executive director. “Allowing the American people to see where candidates stand, pro and con, on critical issues, is the hallmark of our free and democratic political system. For this reason, the RJC will not be a signer to this pledge.”
The RJC statement branded the ADL/AJC unity pledge as an “effort to stifle debate on U.S. policy toward Israel.”
And JTA reported on Tuesday that the Emergency Coalition for Israel (which has been playing up some expressions of anti-Semitism at the Occupy Wall Street protest) also rejected the unity pledge.
“This attempt to silence those of us who have ‘questioned the current administration’s foreign policy approach vis- Ã -vis Israel’ will reenergize us,” the coalition said in a statement. “Nor, incidentally, should those who support the administration’s approach to Israel be bashful about making their case.”
As the Jewish World was going to press this week, Abe Foxman, ADL national director, responded to the conservative critics of the unity pledge. He denied that the initiative was an attempt to stifle discussion of political candidates’ positions on Israel. Rather, Foxman said, “Our principal concern in calling for the pledge is to put Israel ahead of politics to reinforce the broad-based support of the American people for Israel and to project it as bipartisan whenever possible.”
In any case, the horses have already run out of the barn, so to speak. In May, some might recall, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney responded to a major Middle East policy speech by President Obama with this: “President Obama has thrown Israel under the bus. He has disrespected Israel and undermined its ability to negotiate peace. He has also violated a first principle of American foreign policy, which is to stand firm by our friends.”
During the continual, mind-numbing series of televised Republican presidential debates — where the contenders play Whac-A-Mole on whoever has won the latest straw poll — unyielding, unthinking fealty to the government of Israel is a given. The support for the Likud-led coalition is often of the Christians United for Israel variety, which leans on biblical citations and is colored by anti-Muslim bigotry.
The game here for the Republicans is peeling off Jewish voters from the Democratic column — it happens in every national election cycle. And the Republicans are emboldened after winning the traditionally Democratic, 9th Congressional District special election in New York — the seat formerly held by Anthony Weiner.
So, Obama bashing, vis-Ã -vis his policies toward Israel, likely will reach a frenzied pitch in the coming months. I would just point out that Obama’s Sept. 21 address at the United Nations, which opposed the Palestinian bid for statehood, was praised by both AIPAC, the mighty pro-Israel lobby, and Agudat Yisrael, the umbrella group of Orthodox congregations. Rabbi David Zwiebel, of Agudat Yisrael, called the president’s stance “courageous and principled.”
He said nothing about throwing any Jewish state under any mass transit vehicle.
Finally, American Jews pay little attention to the alphabet soup of national Jewish organizations and their various pronouncements. Some Jewish leaders have gained their posts based on the strength of their check-writing arms. No one voted these guys (and they are overwhelmingly male-gendered) into office.
The 2012 elections are underway and Jewish voters should have their rain gear handy. Buckets of slime are in the forecast.
—Â Mordecai Specktor / editor@ajwnews.com
(American Jewish World, 10.28.11)
