In a scathingly written piece, the editors of the Jerusalem Post tell the ZOA and AFSI, in particular and others in general, to stop protesting Israel's policies and start supporting them. This comes down to the age old debate of whether staying negative (as the ZOA's track record proves they are) is more or less effective than staying positive. I agree, as does a former ZOA staffer with whom I spoke about this yesterday, as do many others. It's worth reading in full (I've provided the link above), but here's part of it:
Ouch!Spearheaded by the Zionist Organization of America, Americans for a Safe Israel and certain Orthodox leaders, the Jewish Right promised to rally against "Sharon's deportation plan." Disengagement, say its American opponents, is a continuation of Oslo, the result of delusional thinking by Israelis under siege.
That is where the US Jewish Right is most mistaken.
Disengagement is not Oslo redux. The plan, though abysmally articulated by Sharon, doesn't promise a New Middle East, or even an end to hostilities.
Indeed, disengagement is a reaction to post-Oslo realities.
...
Our advice to the American Jewish Right and its Christian allies is: Accept the changed realities. Rather than opposing disengagement, strengthen the government's hand in securing Ma'aleh Adumim, Gush Etzion and the other "consensus" settlements.
And while your anger is focused on Ariel Sharon, Thursday's planned visit to Washington by Mahmoud Abbas may have escaped your notice. On May 15, "Nakba Day," Abbas reiterated the old, maximalist PLO demand for a Palestinian "right of return." While pro-Israel energies are being dissipated in an effort to block disengagement, that old mantra for the destruction of Israel by flooding it with millions of "refugees" is being peddled right under your noses.
Disengagement was explicitly proposed as a package deal: leaving areas that almost no Israeli believes we will ultimately hold, while solidifying control over the settlement blocs. Despite his letter to Sharon in April, Bush has far from explicitly signed on to the second half of the bargain, and also has not rejected the "right of return" as forthrightly as he could, in that the US is still treating it as a negotiable issue.
The US Jewish Right and its evangelical supporters need to stop undermining Ariel Sharon and invest their energies in holding Abbas to account and encouraging Bush to go beyond his April letter in bolstering Israel's position. We could use the help, but tilting at windmills will not contribute.
[Update: Because not everyone is subscribed to JPost, I've posted the full and unedited article in the comments section below.]
posted by Michael at 10:15 AM
6 Comments:
Because some people are not subscribed to the JPost and could not access the article, here is the full and unedited text of the article:
Passionately pro-Israel Americans – Jewish and Christian – opposed to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plans for unilateral disengagement from Gaza and parts of northern Samaria can finally tell the premier what they think of him, to his face.
Sharon arrived in New York on Sunday and is spending Monday and Tuesday in the Big Apple and Washington seeking to bolster support for disengagement inside the pro-Israel community.
On Sunday in Manhattan, he addressed a large gathering of communal leaders. The highlight of his visit is a scheduled speech to 5,000 delegates in Washington Tuesday morning at the closing session of AIPAC's 2005 Policy Conference. Then he plans to meet with evangelical leaders.
Most US Jewish groups support disengagement. Twenty-five organizations – including the Union for Reform Judaism, the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, ADL and Hadassah – proclaimed their adherence in a full-page ad in Sunday's New York Times. And most American Jews, 65 percent, support disengagement.
But some of Israel's most ardent stalwarts, on the Jewish Right and among Christian Evangelicals, feel alienated by disengagement and confused about where Sharon is taking Israel.
Spearheaded by the Zionist Organization of America, Americans for a Safe Israel and certain Orthodox leaders, the Jewish Right promised to rally against "Sharon's deportation plan." Disengagement, say its American opponents, is a continuation of Oslo, the result of delusional thinking by Israelis under siege.
That is where the US Jewish Right is most mistaken.
Disengagement is not Oslo redux. The plan, though abysmally articulated by Sharon, doesn't promise a New Middle East, or even an end to hostilities.
Indeed, disengagement is a reaction to post-Oslo realities.
The American Jewish Right no longer campaigns against the administration's "talking to the PLO"; after the US initiated a dialogue with the PLO in 1988, reality changed. It does not campaign against Israeli leaders meeting with Palestinian leaders; after the establishment of a Palestinian Authority in Ramallah 12 years ago, reality changed. It does not campaign against the security fence; with 1,000 Israelis killed since October 2000, reality changed.
Most Israelis across the political spectrum accept that the presence of 8,000 Jews among one million hostile Palestinians does not serve Israel's interests. Moreover, far from seeing disengagement as a defeat of the settlement enterprise, many see it as the best chance to save as much of it as possible, thereby expanding Israel's eventual permanent borders beyond the pre-1967 lines without threatening the nation's democratic character.
All this explains why a poll in Friday's anti-disengagement Makor Rishon newspaper said that 60% of Israelis support the premier's Gaza plan, while only 37% do not. A Friday Maariv poll showed that were elections held today, Sharon's Likud would again dominate the Knesset while the parties most opposed to disengagement would capture a mere 15 Knesset seats.
Our advice to the American Jewish Right and its Christian allies is: Accept the changed realities. Rather than opposing disengagement, strengthen the government's hand in securing Ma'aleh Adumim, Gush Etzion and the other "consensus" settlements.
And while your anger is focused on Ariel Sharon, Thursday's planned visit to Washington by Mahmoud Abbas may have escaped your notice. On May 15, "Nakba Day," Abbas reiterated the old, maximalist PLO demand for a Palestinian "right of return." While pro-Israel energies are being dissipated in an effort to block disengagement, that old mantra for the destruction of Israel by flooding it with millions of "refugees" is being peddled right under your noses.
Disengagement was explicitly proposed as a package deal: leaving areas that almost no Israeli believes we will ultimately hold, while solidifying control over the settlement blocs. Despite his letter to Sharon in April, Bush has far from explicitly signed on to the second half of the bargain, and also has not rejected the "right of return" as forthrightly as he could, in that the US is still treating it as a negotiable issue.
The US Jewish Right and its evangelical supporters need to stop undermining Ariel Sharon and invest their energies in holding Abbas to account and encouraging Bush to go beyond his April letter in bolstering Israel's position. We could use the help, but tilting at windmills will not contribute.
Sharon's supporters claim that 65 percent of American Jews support disengagement. I'm sure that if asked whether Israel is their top priority, these people would problably put it behind social security, filibusters, gay marriage, etc. At least the other 35% know the truth about how dangerous disengagement would be if caried out!
And stop calling opponents of disengagement, such as ZOA and AFSI as negative. At yesterday's rally, while Sharon was shedding crocodile tears claiming " it's painful, but we gotta do this-" outside, it was like an Orthodox Woodstock. People were cinging, praying, and speaking out for a stronger Israel. The Orange Revolution is one built on positive energy that we can win without appeasement, that this is our land, and that the Moshiach will come in our time.
How do you have the audacity to make generalizations like that? Your arguments are not worth answering - probably the reason no one responded to your first post. But your ignorance is just irritating so I'll take over for Michael and other readers and take a stab at it.
You are clearly implying that Republicans are pro-disengagement as you list social security, filibusters, and gay marriage as the main concerns of the majority of American Jews who support the Israeli government. Those are all key Republican issues. I'd bet, but will not take for granted like you so often do, that the Democrats are more likely to subscribe to the "land for peace" and "appeasement" that you speak of than hard-line conservative Republicans (see Bill Clinton, Richard Holbrooke, Madaline Albright, Jimmy Carter, John Forbes Kerry, Joe Biden etc). If you disagree, go take an international politics course and learn something about political theory. But since there is no way to prove my point or yours I won't get bogged down debating it and neither should you.
Until you do your own scientific poll there's nothing with which you can support your argument so just swallow it and deal with reality.
The author's comments about the ZOA being negative had nothing to do with yesterday in particular and everything to do with their history over the past many years. Just visit their press page and look at the press releases for 2005: "ZOA criticizes" "ZOA dismayed" "ZOA condemns" "ZOA troubled by Bush Administration" "ZOA opposes" "ZOA strongly condemns" "ZOA condemns" (4X). That's pretty negative to me. And, by the way, are you still opposed to the Road Map like they are three years after the fact? When they try to lobby Congress and they say "Oh, we really support ___" and all any congressional staffer needs to do (and they do it) is say, "Really? That's not what your press release says." And then what? "We really disapprove of the President and the Israeli Prime Minister's position but won't you please support the Israeli government anyway?"
A pro-Israel organization based in America that consistently berates and expresses its disapproval of American and Israeli government policies will simply not be taken seriously. And while the ZOA touts itself as the oldest pro-Israel organization in the nation, compare how many people attend their annual dinner and then compare that number to the number that attend AIPAC's version. I'll give you a hint, it'll be a fraction. This does not mean that AIPAC's policies are always better but this is one reason they're more successful. Consistent negativity just doesn't win support.
"Orthodox woodstock"? LOL-'nuff said. You'll be hard-pressed to get the Lubavitch you stood next to characterize it in a similar fashion.
People were "cinging." You did say you're in college, right?
I agree, Israel is our land but I think that your comments, and those of other ZOA members, only damns us to another generation of exile. You and your friends chanting "Shame on You!" as they walked out will not help bring Mashiach in our time. And your support of people that created a chilul HaShem yesterday will not either. Stop with the self-righteousness and work on yourself before giving mussar to others.
Michael has it right...and before you respond, you should read the JP article he posted earlier. As I did research for this response I noticed that the article included the phrase "Oslo redux" which was clearly yet another reference to ZOA negativity. You don't have the support of the American public and you don't have the support of the Israeli press (well, aside from the pirate Arutz Sheva which claimed there were "up to 3,000" of you). Why don't you wake up and smell the coffee?
I know you hate us because we are gaining momentum. Our Orange demonstrations are growing, poll numbers supporting withdrawal are decreasing. A hotel in Gush Katif has reopened. New schools and homes are being built. last month alone, 100,000 Jews and 50,000 Christians have visited Jewish Gaza in a show of solidarity. Hunger strikes, petitions, road blocks, human chains- the same nonviolent tools that Gandhi and Martin Luther King used in their struggles for justice.
May HaShem view our efforts favorably and grant us the privilege of welcoming the Moshiach in our lifetimes.
Talk about a red herring! Mike, this guy should get out of his Hillel and go to class.
Looks to me like he needs some serious working on his spelling and reasoning because both are fatally flawed.
Keep up the strong work and don't be afraid of the Orange Revolution or Orthodox Woodstock...LOL!
keep up your negative and personal attacks, you got no real fuel to run on! Anonymous? sounds like mike in disguise agreeing with himself.
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