Guernica has published an excerpt of the great Harvey Pekar’s posthumous volume on Zionism, Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me, and the promise of the title is undermined, just as I feared it would be, by the intervention of JT Waldman, a young Jew who serves as Pekar’s interlocutor in the discussion and who is constantly interjecting things like, Israel has no partner for peace; they left Gaza and got Katyusha rockets, I called a friend in Israel yesterday… Or, There must be an economic peace; give the Palestinians prosperity. These are propaganda points that a liberal Jew passes on with no awareness that they are tired old hasbara; and so the dialogue reminds us that our community– and when I say our I am putting on my Jewish hat– is reactionary on this question. Pekar (1939-2010) was a great irascible leftwing oddball who took on NBC when Letterman had him on air and who is lionized for that eruption. Yet his unvarnished thoughts on the new Jewish Question question could not be passed on without some Zionist sugarcoating. Tragic, really. And you ask how the Jewish leadership could marry apartheid? Because the conscience community was muzzled.
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I think Pekar’s working title was How I Lost Faith In Israel. Waldman glued it back from his own spit or spite, or at least, despite Pekar’s vision. Gotta keep the faith going. Pekar’s enraged in his grave!
Publishers Weekly
Instead of the single-minded polemic that the title promises, this posthumous work by Pekar functions as a multipronged exploration of religious, political, and personal histories and is all the richer for it. Pekar structures his narrative as a long-running bull session with his collaborator, artist Waldman (Megillat Esther), as they amble around Pekar’s hometown of Cleveland.
“…and is all the richer for it.”
I don’t think Harvey would agree. It’s as if Harvey had not considered what’s put in Waldman’s dialogue balloons. I bet he did in his original version of his last project.
“and when I say our I am putting on my Jewish hat”
It’s called a yarmulke, Phil. I’m surprised you didn’t know that.
“Because the conscience community was muzzled.”
Remember, an inheritance is a gift, not an obligation, or a right.
American Splendor is on HBO Go this month, so I was watching it and although I’m sad that what was published was not what he had initially intended, I can almost hear him say, “So what else is new?”
I think the fans of Harvey Pekar will see through the sugar coating.
Ok, so I’m 2/3 through this book now, and while there are parts of the history section that should be expanded on and seem a little glossed over, this book is really good.
For people deeply involved in the anti Zionist movement (which is most of us here), it might not go far enough- but for someone who raised liberal and Zionist and felt somewhat conflicted, I think this book is incredible- I wish it had been around when I was 16 or 17, when I was studying the Civil rights movement, Native American genocide, and South African apartheid- but still believed that Israel was the “good guys.” I think it’s really the perfect gift for a relative having bar or bat mitzvah, in addition to a book that goes into more detail about Sykes-Picot and Balfour, and the book by Quadnt about American diplomacy in the Arab-Israel conflict.
No matter how much Waldman tried to soften Pekars views, you still come away feeling that being anti Israel isn’t a bad thing, you’re not a traitor for thinking the whole thing is rotten. Of course, I haven’t read the last third yet, so maybe it will change.
One things for sure, Im going to leave this around the house because if Jimmy Carters book annoyed my parents, this one will really peeve my mom.
How many pages is the comic book?
172 pages and its a quick read. I finished it in 10 minutes.
It ends very abruptly and does feel unfinished because obviously it wasnt really finished, but I’m not sure what Waldman did to soften Pekars criticism, but the message is still pretty strong.
The book won’t appeal to people on this site because we are much more invested in the issue, were going to want to pick at the details and choice of words. But for a young American Jew who was raised to love Israel but comes back from Birthright feeling slightly uncomfortable with what they’ve seen, this book is perfect for them.
I made a tally of panels I had issue with and the times I said “Amen, Mr. Pekar” and the good outweighed the bad.
Thanks, MLE, for your response. I appreciate it. Just looking at the panels of the book available on some web sites, having read Pekar’s stuff over the years (and even having lived in Cleveland at different times in my life), my gut reaction is Waldman’s observation/dialogue balloons suggest to a naive person that Harvey hadn’t thought about whatever Waldman’s character says in those balloons when Harvey is talking/thinking about the I-P conflict, yet, besides many being of Waldman’s “responses” being very misleading historically, I think Harvey did think about all Waldeman’s character says, and crushed those responses when he was alive towards getting to the heart of the matter.