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Monday, Nov 9, 2009
Any new attempt by more moderate voices to influence the Middle East debate in this country faces a long battle. There are many divisions among the leftish groups. Americans for Peace Now, for example, has long-standing tactical disagreements with other pro-peace groups like the Israel Policy Fund that keep them from working together. And when asked how any new peace coalition might try to combat the entrenched power of other conservative Jewish groups and leaders, Roth remained vague, mentioning letter-writing campaigns and discussions about taking out newspaper advertisements.
But voices on the right have grown steadily louder, particularly after a Palestinian suicide bomber struck during a Passover seder in Netanya, killing 28 people. Many Jews who had previously toed a more universalist political line are suddenly rallying to support Sharon's incursions into the occupied territories.
In recent months, the most powerful of the Jewish groups, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, has tried to influence the administration to take a hands-off approach to Israel. Though the conference contains a handful of peace-inclined groups among its members, including Peace Now and the Israel Policy Forum, the overall tenor of the conference remains strongly pro-Sharon.
Liberal Jewish leaders like Roth say the power of the increasingly bellicose conference and its lobbying arm -- the American Israel Public Affairs Committee -- is disportionate to its share of American Jewish opinion about the Middle East conflict. Part of its hardening stance is due to the influence and guidance of leaders like media baron and conference chairman Mort Zuckerman and executive vice chairman Malcolm Hoenlein, as well as the change in attitudes of centrist groups within the conference.
But Rebecca Needler, a spokeswoman for AIPAC, says that her organization's priorities and views reflect the views of AIPAC's 60,000 members and does not pretend to speak for the entire Jewish community.
But AIPAC's tremendous political influence has left many other groups -- both within and outside the conference -- struggling to find a new soapbox.
"One of the things that is of great concern is the fundamentalist or Christian right/neo-conservative alliance with some of the more hard-line elements of the pro-Israel community," said one left-leaning American Jewish leader who declined to be identified. "Not only because of Israel, but also because of what the implications are for other domestic issues that are important to American Jews."
The American Jewish vote has gone solidly Democratic -- they voted 4-to-1 against George Bush in 2000 -- and many Jewish leaders on the left bristle at what they see as a new, unholy alliance between conservative Republicans and pro-Israel hawks. Conservatives like New York Times columnist William Safire continue to taunt American Jews, telling them to reconsider who their friends really are, and claiming it is Democratic leaders like Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who are thwarting efforts to show American support for Israel.
There have been overtures from conservative Jewish groups to support the administration on high-profile domestic-policy fights in hopes of garnering more support from the president on the Middle East. Earlier this month, in a transparent political ploy, a group of Orthodox rabbis came out in support of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In one of the last-ditch efforts to gain support for ANWR, Republicans tried to link drilling in the refuge to oil security for Israel. Republicans introduced an amendment that would have allowed oil tapped from ANWR to be only exported to Israel or used for domestic use. Sen. Joe Lieberman criticized the amendment as "incredibly cynical."
Conservative Jewish leaders counter that it is the doves who are trying to use domestic political pressures as leverage against the hawks. "I think the doves have taken on a different tack. They're focusing on more U.S. involvement," said one conservative Jewish organization official. "That's code for pressure on Israel. That's become very attractive as a political issue for Democrats. Democrats have got to criticize the president for something. So they're getting into this 'You need to do more; you're not doing enough.' From our perspective, doing something is fine as long as it's criticizing Arafat. The doves have a kind of tough-love approach toward Israel, and that's a big difference between us."
