Wonderful piece in Haaretz by JJ Goldberg saying that the American Jewish community is shaming itself through its reflexive orthodoxy in support of Israel.
[W]hatever word comes forth from Jerusalem, we adopt it as holy writ. You’d think somebody would be embarrassed by now, but that doesn’t seem to be the case….
Enter now the lobby:
[T]here’s a larger community, more than the sum of all those small communities, that operates on the national and international plane and involves us all, like it or not. It consists mostly of a handful of big-budget organizations and assorted tycoons and activists speaking in our names and defending what they think are our interests.
And while we may not pay them much attention, others do. They’re recognized in Washington, Berlin, Cairo and beyond as the representative voice of America’s Jews. Princes and prime ministers continually beat a path to their doors, seeking to trade favors. In the last month alone they have variously hosted America’s secretary of state, national security adviser, White House chief of staff and chief of the Central Command, the celebrated General David Petraeus, all coming to pay court and seek their — and presumably our — good will.
How do the leaders of this network decide what to say? It’s a mixture of expressing their own beliefs, following Jerusalem’s lead, consulting their boards and big donors, and — here’s the kicker — listening to the Jews. That is, they read their mail, take phone calls and address gatherings.
Well they don’t listen to me, JJ! This is good stuff; note the sadness about the young people being turned off:
The people they hear from, naturally, are the ones who show up. And since most of us don’t bother, their public tends to be a self-selected group of the angriest, most frightened and most insistent among us. They hear from folks who are itching to warn them of the devious Arab mind, the evils of France, Europe and liberals and, lately, of Obama’s Muslim roots and nefarious designs.
…Bit by bit they become the visible face of our communal culture. It’s not a face that wins friends for our beleaguered tribe, and it surely won’t rekindle the loyalties of our skeptics and young folks.
It’s a pity. Once, not so long ago, our community was a fierce voice for justice in America’s ongoing public dialogue. Lately we’ve let ourselves be reduced to a vaudeville slapstick character, the guy who walks on stage, delivers a gag line and then gives or gets a smack in the face as the crowd laughs. It’s the new Punch and Judaism show.
