There's an old Jewish joke: Get two Jews together, you have three opinions. Well Dershowitz says that if you get 6 million Jews in America, they must have one opinion. On Israel, that is. In the JPost, Dershowitz offers a lesson in special-interest politics. He says he voted for Obama not because he agreed with him, but because– it's essential that pro-Israel Jews must not end up in one party. That way the lobby will split. And as soon as the Jewish leadership splits, there goes the influence. Dersh:
[Melanie] Phillips, for all her good work in Great Britain on behalf of Israel, has absolutely no understanding of American politics. She would turn Israel into a wedge issue, in which Republicans were seen as the supporters of Israel and Democrats as its enemy. This is precisely what has happened, with disastrous results, throughout much of Europe. In most European countries, the left-wing political parties are anti-Israel, often virulently so. The right-wing political parties are generally more supportive of Israel, though not nearly as supportive as they should be in many instances. Because young people tend to be more liberal than their elders, support for Israel throughout Europe, has also become a generational wedge issue, with younger people opposing Israel far more than older people.
This is precisely the situation American supporters of Israel want to avoid. We do not want to replicate the horrible situation that currently exists in Phillips' Great Britain. We want Israel to remain a bipartisan issue and an issue that does not divide generations.
