Here is something else about Ruth Wisse. You can see that she is going to be hosted at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center this spring as part of a program from the Jewish Forward, a generally progressive newspaper. Does the Forward endorse her ideas of young American Jews serving Israel as an intellectual army in the U.S.? Abe Foxman, who has opposed recognition of the Armenian genocide, is also on the Forward’s list. What is the Forward promoting here?
A related point. Joe Lieberman (whose daughter not long ago married Ruth Wisse’s son) lately endorsed John McCain for president. McCain is anti-abortion. Lieberman presumably endorsed him because of his hawkish views on the Middle East. I see the endorsement as emblematic. Norman Podhoretz left the Democratic party in the 70s, with the other neocons. Today another iceberg is calving: Some Jewish liberals appear to be casting away traditional political concerns (abortion) for the core concern of Israel. In this way neoconservatism and Democratic neoliberalism become indistinguishable.
