The Hill says that "Jewish donors" may be "chilled" by Obama’s criticism of Israel.
Privately, these Democrats say that the administration’s criticism of Netanyahu was excessive and will embolden Israel’s enemies.
Jewish Democratic fundraisers and donors say Obama could lose significant financial support and votes, although they caution it is too early to say with certainty.… The impact on the Democratic Party could be significant.
Jewish Democratic donors are believed to make up 25 to 50 percent of the party’s major contributors — those who give more than $25,000 — according to sources familiar with Jewish fundraising.
Some Jewish fundraisers estimate pro-Israel donors give $20 million to $30 million to federal races in an election cycle….
“The Jewish American community is vital for Democratic administrations, and I think this administration understands that and will have to pay attention in the coming weeks and month,” Forman said. [Ira Forman of National Jewish Democratic Council]
Good reporting, though I am confused by the 25-50 percent figure. The Washington Post once said 50 percent. What a range! Also: notice that there is no talk of Christian Zionists here, the usual straw man for the Israel lobby (though yes, on the Republican side). Notice that Ed Koch, the troublemaker in the story, wandered over to the Republican side in ’04 because of these issues. Just as the neocons went from party to party over Israel.
Notice that American Jews are married to Jim Crow in Palestine — the issue here is the frikkin settlements, which American presidents have said they were against for four decades but have done nothing to stop. Notice that the piece fails to distinguish the conservative money crowd from the new J Street money crowd. I believe that J Street is making real headway among anti-settlements Jews. I’m not saying it makes a difference for Palestinian freedom, but you have to give them credit for trying to fracture the monolith.
My bottom line: Palestinian statelessness is an American Jewish achievement. Were it not for us, I believe, and the blind and influential support for ethnocracy that the Hill chronicles, the U.N. and world community would have gotten a state there by now. Years ago I helped out a friend who was thinking of running for Congress in upstate NY, and a political friend in the city advised us that at the very first fundraiser in NYC someone would raise his hand and say, How do you feel about the settlements? So this is a line that the Jewish community has enforced: dispossession. Stand up and be counted.
Update: There’s a great new book out called Capitalism and the Jews, by Jerry Z. Muller (Princeton). It begins with the premise that Jews have "been particularly good at" capitalism for cultural reasons. "For Jews, Jewish economic success has long been a source of both pride and embarrassment. For centuries, Jewish economic success led anti-Semites to condemn capitalism as a form of Jewish domination and exploitation, or to attribute Jewish success to unsavory qualities of the Jews themselves. The anti-Semitic context of such discussions led Jews to downplay the reality of their economic achievement–except in internal conversations."
So I’m a journalist trying to deal with reality. Let’s be brave and honest and have faith in America.
