David Shasha at 3 Quarks has analyzed the 92d Street Y's program of events on the Upper East Side of NY in the coming year and concluded that while a plethora of non-Jews are invited to speak on many subjects, no Arabs are included in the programs that address the Middle East. And the roster of progressive Jews–two:
There is precious little balance in terms of the Israel-Palestine
matter on the program for the season: Rabbi Michael Lerner (10/30) and
Gershom Gorenberg (2/5) appear to be the only critical voices that will
be heard in the series. Not a single Arab or Palestinian voice is to be
allowed into the discourse. From Right Wing ideologues like Bret
Stephens and Abe Foxman (3/24) to Ed Koch (10/30) to Cynthia Ozick
(10/29) to more moderate Zionists like Aaron David Miller (5/7) and a
panel on the new liberal lobbying group J Street (3/16), the basic idea
is to appear to be presenting a wide-range of ideas, but in reality
only affirmations of Israel will be presented. It is important to note
that Gorenberg will be presenting in a series on the media and Rabbi
Lerner will be part of a four-person panel where he will likely be the
only participant critical of Israel in any way. And by no means should
we think that Rabbi Lerner’s voice can truly represent a Palestinian
vision, even if it is sympathetic to that position.
Most importantly, the series will have two programs that deal with
the hysteria over Israel and the sense of embattlement that is a
central part of Zionist thinking at present. There will be (12/8) the
now-obligatory panel discussion of anti-Israel sentiment on college
campuses – a panel loaded with Right Wing ideologues including a member
of the U.S. Congress. There will be another panel called “Why Zionism
has Become a Dirty Word” (3/24) that will in effect be another
uncritical look at the current situation in the Middle East.
This is my favorite issue: the color bar even in liberal Jewish circles. Where is Jimmy Carter? Where are Walt and Mearsheimer? I'd note that Lerner is the only guy here who has endorsed Walt and Mearsheimer. (The usually-right Gorenberg has also attacked them.) Amazing that Abe Foxman and Ozick and Elie Wiesel, who didn't want gypsies in the Holocaust Memorial, are here. Where is David Zellnik? Tony Kushner? Joel Kovel? Alisa Solomon? Norman Finkelstein? You'd only have to give Norman subway fare–and get a world figure on your stage from Brooklyn.
Parochialists aplenty. Shasha says that Bret Stephens, a neocon at the WSJ who supported the Iraq war, is making two appearances at the 92d Street Y this year. Egad. Stephens is the guy who challenged Ian Buruma's right to write about Israel critically with this brilliant line: "Are you a Jew?" The sadness is that the 92d Street Y is offering a haven to neocons, and accepting similar limits on speech, in the greatest city in the woild. Shasha again:
any alternative perspective from the “other” side. I note here the
presence of two non-Arab Muslims on the schedule. Both Fareed Zakaria
(10/15) and Azar Nafisi (1/6), moderate Muslim secularists, have been
welcomed into the discourse as benign commentators who do not espouse
any views that would be deemed by mainstream Jews as controversial or
unacceptable. Finally, we must well-note the ubiquitous presence of the Ashkenazi
Arabic speaker Noah Feldman (9/11) who seems to “represent” Arabs for
the Jewish community (and even for the U.S. government as Feldman has
famously written the Iraqi constitution in the wake of the American-led
invasion).
It is of course a reflection on the 92d Street Y's community. Older Jews, even liberal Jews, aren't ready to hear from the Other re Israel.
