Last month I attended the AIPAC conference in Washington and saw a lot to admire in people there but found the values deeply out of step with modern America (that link is to my piece in the American Conservative). One thing AIPAC does well is to tell “Zionist stories.” It shows a mini-documentary about someone who is building Israel, full of moving moments, then the lights go down and the announcer says, Ladies and gentlemen, will you please welcome– and names the person you just saw the documentary about. They walk out on stage to triumphant applause. It’s very Academy Awards, but schmaltzy. I was blown away each time, and particularly by Chen Abrahams, a young woman I could relate to, who lives on a kibbutz near Sderot.
I’ve decided to start posting Non-Zionist Stories. These are short bios of people I find inspiring, who are not Zionists, or who are working for reform in the Holy Land. The key question is, How did they allow themselves to go against the grain? The first one is by Jerry Slater, an academic who helped to bring the New Historians from Israel into the U.S. in the ’80s and is the author of important work on our media’s failure to say what is really going on there. I asked Slater when the lightbulb went on for him. He wrote:
“Growing up in NYC in the 1940s and early ’50s, I encountered plenty of
anti-Semitism of the usual variety–epithets and occasional punches from
the Irish or Italian kids. Although completely secular, like just about
everyone else from my generation, I regarded myself as a fervent
Zionist.
“In fact, I once volunteered to serve in the Israeli Navy if my
skills were needed in war–I had been an anti-submarine officer on a US
destroyer in the late ’50s, and a few years after that Egypt got several
subs from the Soviets, so I wrote to the Israeli Embassy to offer to
serve as an asw specialist on one of their destroyers, if war occurred
before they had fully trained their own people. (Response: thanks, but
we can handle it.)
“What made me change: facts. As an academic–and there’s no way to say
this without sounding pompous and pretentious–my first commitment is to
Truth. My disenchantment began in the early 1970s, when it became
increasingly apparent that much of, damned near all, the Israeli
mythology was largely false. Then came George Ball’s famous article,
“How to Save Israel In Spite of Herself” [1977] which showed me my life’s work. Then
came the new historians. Then came six months I spent at Haifa
University as a Fulbright professor in 1989. That pretty much completed
the matter.
“Since then, scarcely a day goes by without my reading something that
brings my blood to a boil. Who could have possibly known what Israel
would become, and what it would do to the Palestinians?”
Nice piece.
I personally would prefer that you treated the subject of rethinking Zionism as a universal one, but if you insist as approaching is as a "Jewish story" then I nominate Jeff Halper of ICAHD as the subject for a future installment.
(BTW, I notice he has a new book out, "An Israeli in Palestine" — which I haven't read yet.)
"if you insist on approaching it as …"
The prospects for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remain poor, largely because of Israeli rigidity as well as Palestinian policies and internal conflicts. The United States has failed to use its considerable influence with Israel to seek the necessary changes in Israeli policies, instead providing almost unconditional support. The consequences have been disastrous for the Palestinians, for Israeli security and society, and for critical U.S. national interests in the Middle East. A major explanation for the failure of U.S. policies is the largely uninformed and uncritical mainstream and even elite media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the United States. In contrast, the debate in Israel is more self-critical, vigorous, and far-ranging, creating at least the possibility of change, even as U.S. policy stagnates. A comparison of the coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by the two most prestigious daily newspapers in the United States and Israel—in particular the breakdown of the peace process in 2000 and the ensuing Palestinian intifada, the nature of the Israeli occupation, the problem of violence and terrorism, and the prospects for peace today—underscores these differences. While the New York Times has muted the alarm over the dangers of the United States’ near-unconditional support for Israeli policies toward the Palestinian, Haaretz has sought to sound the alarm.
IS3202_pp084-120_Slater.pdf (169K PDF)
For more information about this publication please contact the IS Editorial Assistant at 617-495-1914.
For Academic Citation:
Jerome Slater. "Muting the Alarm over the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." The New York Times versus Haaretz, 2000-06. International Security 32 2 (Fall 2007): 84-120.
An excellent post. I want to hear more from Jerome Slater on how his views changed. Why does he think that other people who were raised as he was remain blind? I also recommend his article in International Security to Mondoweiss readers.
An excellent post. I want to hear more from Jerome Slater on how his views changed. Why does he think that other people who were raised as he was remain blind? I also recommend his article in International Security to Mondoweiss readers.
An excellent post. I want to hear more from Jerome Slater on how his views changed. Why does he think that other people who were raised as he was remain blind? I also recommend his article in International Security to Mondoweiss readers.
James, a lot of Jews in America and in Israel (yes, in Israel too!) are misinformed, just as your average American is. I don't justify it: there are ways to get informed, especially in the Internet age. Some people intentionally don't want to read the other side (I remember I myself used to skip Amira Hass' and Gideon Levy's articles in Haaretz) while others are just passive. It is not easy to "convert" like Jerome (and myself) did, even harder to start acting on the new found conviction. Think of criticizing one of your family, even if you suspect he or she might be in the wrong. One always tries to find excuses, and that if one sees a need for an excuse in the first place.
But it is an interesting point: people here seem to be more demanding of the American Jews to be informed on the Palestinian issue than of average Americans. I agree but not always for the same reasons, I guess: I think we as Jews, naturally, have a much greater obligation to straightening Israel out – again, just as one have more obligation to influence his or her family members. But, additionally, some people seem to believe that American Jews actually are fully informed but are happy with the situation. This is false. This is just a mild version of the assumed universal Jewish conspiracy. Cannot American Jews be duped the same way everybody else is?
Peter: Thanks for your comments. I do tend to agree that no one person or group has a greater obligation to be informed on Israel/Palestine or anything else. I do, however, find Jerome Slater — and your — "conversion" more compelling precisely because it must be difficult, just as you explain so well in your post. The great Henry Siegman said on the Charlie Rose program that members of his own family don't speak to him because of his views.
Peter: Thanks for your comments. I do tend to agree that no one person or group has a greater obligation to be informed on Israel/Palestine or anything else. I do, however, find Jerome Slater — and your — "conversion" more compelling precisely because it must be difficult, just as you explain so well in your post. The great Henry Siegman said on the Charlie Rose program that members of his own family don't speak to him because of his views.
I do sympathize. An American Jew is called upon to invest time and energy trying to decipher Middle East pollitics from an American interest, with full knowledge of past history. But because they know their own history from the (biased) cradle, even if only in side comments from a secular household, it should be so. Average Americans have to dig deeper, take more time, to come up with such awareness. How many Israelis know anything about Irish history?
The difference is the USA's life depends on how to handle Israel, and also, average Americans pay more for Israel in taxes than any other nation, a nation the size of NJ, and with a good average income, nation-wise; the second most money is poured into Egypt, for nothing except to buy its peace with Israel, no matter what Israel does.
How's that for an HBO movie?