John Judis of the New Republic begins this very thoughtful article about Jim Moran in an angry way, by saying that the congressman’s statement that we wouldn’t be invading Iraq were it not for the Jewish community’s support was "false and reprehensible." Then the article goes on to actually support a lot of Moran’s beliefs, vis-a-vis AIPAC. For instance, Judis asserts that AIPAC was "quietly lobbying" for the Iraq war back then. And also importantly, Judis notes that Jewish public opinion was for the war by 2 to 1, back when AIPAC was quietly paving the way.
Judis won’t turn over the next card: that Jewish neoconservatives and neoliberals who cared about Israel were the leading thinkers behind the war, and that their partnership with Bush (who can’t think) and Cheney was crucial to the disastrous decision that has so damaged our country (Walt and Mearsheimer’s argument/proof). But I believe that Judis believes it. He has already bravely raised the issue of dual loyalty. In this article on Moran, he is basically saying, Let’s talk about AIPAC. I can only imagine the pressure on Judis, working for TNR.
His intellectual honesty is truly admirable, and his struggle suggests that the conversation I have been pushing for a year now will one day take place: liberal Jews will undertake a public soul-searching, to understand the extent to which militant/nationalist Zionist ideology, absorbed over 40 years of criminal occupation through a relentless p.r. campaign in our own community, provided a basis for the U.S.’s tragic misstep in the Middle East…
