When doves cry

Michael Lerner and Cornel West have teamed up to combat the pro-Israel lobby. But so far Ariel Sharon isn't losing sleep over it.

By Anthony York

Apr 12, 2002 | As Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon tries to combat Palestinian suicide bombers with a massive military assault on the West Bank and Gaza, the voices of American Jewish doves are harder than ever to hear. So Berkeley, Calif., Rabbi Michael Lerner and Harvard professor Cornel West have teamed up to form a new movement, the Tikkun Community, to speak on behalf of what they say is a silent majority of American Jews who oppose Sharon's military moves.

But Thursday's Tikkun Community rally outside the State Department showed just how far Lerner and West have to go. Even after taking out a full-page ad in the Washington Post this week, they turned out only about 300 protesters. And in what seemed like a symbolic mistake as well as a logistical one, they forgot to bring a microphone. Their mostly baby boomer audience had to strain to listen, while Lerner and West cupped their hands around their mouths, so folks in the back could hear, as they spoke of the need for "a new planetary consciousness" and the power of "redemption and love."

Meanwhile, pro-Israel groups are making plans for a Monday rally on the steps of the Capitol, to support Israel's self-defense. That rally, led by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, an umbrella group of the nation's largest Jewish groups, is expected to bring thousands of people to the nation's capital, including the hawk many think will be Israel's next leader, former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. You can count on one thing: They won't forget their microphones.

Lerner, West and their supporters are of course up against one of the best-funded, best-organized forces in American politics, the pro-Israel lobby. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the largest pro-Israel lobbying group on the Hill, has an annual budget of nearly $20 million, and according to records from the Center for Responsive Politics, spends more than $1 million on lobbying politicians annually. Although AIPAC does not give money as a political action committee, its supporters do: Writing in the American Prospect, Michael Massing conducted an analysis of campaign contributions that showed that from 1997 to 2001, members of AIPAC's 46-member board gave more that $3 million in political contributions.

And the group is proud of its clout. "AIPAC is considered by Fortune Magazine as one of the top five lobbying groups, representing more than 50,000 pro-Israel activists," said AIPAC spokeswoman Rebecca Needler, "and it continues to advocate and support a strong relationship between the United States and Israel." AIPAC also has an extensive grass-roots organization among its 60,000 rank and file members. That strong grass-roots support is part of the reason turnout for Monday's demonstration will be so high.

But Lerner insists that while AIPAC may have the ear of most American politicians, the group by no means speaks for the majority of American Jews. Lerner refers to his organization as "the progressive, pro-Israel alternative to AIPAC and the voices of Jewish conservatism and conformism" -- voices Lerner claims are an impediment to the United States playing a constructive role in the Mideast peace process.

"That is ridiculous," said Needler. "AIPAC's record stands for itself. We have worked for years with Congress and various administrations in support of finding peace."

While polls show American support for Israel remains high, there are growing signs of opposition to the Sharon government on the American left. This week, demonstrations broke out on college campuses around the country. At the University of California at Berkeley Tuesday, police arrested 79 pro-Palestinian protesters who stormed into a classroom building, following a day in which several hundred protesters took to the streets. Some campus activists are trying to cast Israel as a 21st century South Africa, a land of apartheid that must be isolated by the rest of the world, which was a major thrust of the U.N. Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa last September.

But Lerner is pitching his message to American Jews, not the secular left, and he'll have an uphill battle. Already, mainstream pro-Israel groups are fighting back.

"I think they are a fringe of a fringe," said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, when asked about the Tikkun Community. "They represent no significant constituency as an organization. I do not think of it as a productive contribution." Hoenlein criticized Lerner and West's call for a comprehensive peace treaty while Israeli civilians are being attacked. "Right now there are no political issues on the table, the issue is Israel's security. Those other issues can be addressed, and they will. We're not a monolithic community. But right now the issue is Israel's future, Israel's security. It's under assault. The issue now is ending the killing of Jews."

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