Liberal Zionists (at last) say non-Jews have a right to criticize Israel

Eric Alterman Center for American Progress
Eric Alterman Center for American Progress

Writes a friend:

In two of the responses to The Josh Block Affair, you can see liberal Zionists at last allowing reasonable non-Jewish non-Zionists to enter the debate. Both these men wave around their ethnicity and Zionism, but at least they exclaim that they shouldn’t have to do this, and non-Jews should be allowed to criticize Israel, too.

First, Eric Alterman, who was smeared by Josh Block as borderline anti-Semitic, writing in the Nation (my bold):
 
Now as part of my “pro-Israel” credential, I could have mentioned that in the context of the Nation readership and many of its writers and editors, I am often attacked as no better than AIPAC and some sort of Zionist fifth-column. And to be perfectly honest, I find myself a little bit shamed by the fact that I rolled off my credentials as a Jew in response to the attack, though I did so as a time-saver. (In a pinch, I can still recite my haftorah if need be.) The fact is my colleagues at CAP who are not Jewish have the very same rights to criticize Israel regardless of whether they have the ethnic standing I  happen to enjoy. And I’ve been, I admit surprised, but admiring that CAP has been willing to try to expand the envelope on this issue. It’s 
a tricky thing. I wish J Street had endorsed Palestinian statehood at 
the UN, though, it might have meant that it had no hope of being a 
meaningful political actor in the near future. But look, these people are bullies. And the only way to stop bullying is to stand up to it and hope that others join in. My tsoris aside, it’s a shame that Politico allowed itself 
to be used this way.
 

Then this University of Chicago public-health professor Harold Pollack, who doesn’t like Mearsheimer, but slips in a hall pass for non-Jews nonetheless:

 
The idea that one might want what is best for Israel and believe some of its current policies set it on a morally and strategically disastrous course seemed beyond Mr. Block’s comprehension. Alterman deserves better. Many non-Jews deserve better, too. There’s enough real anti-Semitism in the world these days, borderline and otherwise. We shouldn’t throw charges around unless they’re warranted.
 

It’s beginning.

Weiss: I would add to this a simple political equation: As this issue becomes politicized, at last, Liberal Zionists Need Non-Jewish Liberal/Realists for Numbers the same way that Rightwing Zionists Need Christian Evangelicals, for Numbers.

And if you extend the principle to Israel and Palestine: Reasonable Israelis Who Want to Fight the Settlers CAN BEST DO SO BY COMBINING with Reasonable Palestinians Who Want to Fight the Extreme Islamists. Together they make up a large majority of their COMBINED societies. And for the sake of peace, those reasonable sides should join, and cashier the wornout ideology of Zionism, and build a democracy. It’s political arithmetic. Beinart knows this.

82 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

As far as I have seen, some of the best and most cogent criticism of the entire situation have been from non-Jews. I’m not just talking about the interior Israeli politics, as this conflict have reverberations far and beyond the region – Walt/Mearsheimers decision to publish the Israel Lobby is a case in point. I highly doubt that these two, or other liberal intellectuals, look upon the belated and grumbling ‘aproval’ from these silent fellow travellers as worth anything.

This is more symbolism, and it underlines just how far ‘liberal’ Zionists have to come, in order to shed their ethnocentrism and bias and truly look at the situation with clear eyes.

They have been behind the curve the whole time. Beinart, Friedman and the rest of them(like Remnick) came very late. Goldberg is still out to smear everyone from Max Blumenthal to Steve Walt(he called him a Jew-baiter in a tablet mag piece not too long ago).

Just like the American South situation was ended against the wishes of Southern Whites, so too will the Israeli situation. It will be a situation full of despair and psychodrama but I do not believe they are able to put aside their subjective ethnocentrism. Although I cannot prove it, I have a feeling even Chomsky is victim of that. Finkelstein is another candidate. The latest Mearsheimer/Finkelstein interview in Amcon Mag was almost delusional.

Either he thinks, against all odds, that removing the settlers will be very easy or he is bluffing, because he doesn’t want to admit just how far down the apartheid road Israel is.

Gideon Levy, Joseph Dana and many other Israeli liberals, in comparison to their American counterparts, have been much more forceful – both intellectually and morally.

I’m not so enthusiastic. Judging from the snippet you posted, Pollack seems to be taking the traditional “It’s OK to criticize Israel from the point of view of saving it from itself, but not OK to criticize it from the point of view of defending Palestinian rights” line. Alterman does this too, with his slam at Abunimah and Palestine solidarity. So different voices are welcomed to the conversation, as long as they all say the same thing.

Thanks Phil and good for Eric Alterman and Professor Pollack. The very good news is that although thoughtful and conscientious people may begin to “date” J Street and its positions, they are not going to be satisfied and will fall into the arms of a fairer and more logical and universalist position like that of JVP/ Rebecca Vilkomerson. To paraphrase Christopher Hitchens, once you begin to understand the history of Israel’s troubled genesis, you can’t un-know it.

Weiss: Liberal Zionists Need Non-Jewish Liberal/Realists for Number. For Number? “Need” as in: “Uses”?

How generous.

The Gentiles are allowed to debate!

Do we still have to ask for bathroom breaks?