Say it again: Gaza has struck a blow to the Israel lobby. Here (thanks to Eva Smagacz) is a long column by Jerusalem Post editor David Horovitz that teems with anxiety about the delegitimization of Israel in the eyes of Diaspora Jews.
Horovitz is worried about "those who are internalizing the degree to which
Israel is being demonized and delegitimized post-Operation Cast Lead…" (Internalizing means taking in outside criticism; I wonder if this is not a traditional apprehension about Jews listening to non-Jews.) He states "that the reprehensible 'humorous' T-shirts are not a widespread phenomenon."
And while seeming to concede that there was a "massive civilian death toll in Gaza," he defends Gaza by saying that 700 of the dead had "firm terrorist identifications" (this strikes me as absurd on its face; the number surely includes those policemen) and only 295 were civilians. Only.
Others [Diaspora Jews], I'm sure, have peeled off in one of four directions: to
join the chorus of under-informed or ill-motivated [I think he means anti-Semitic] criticism, to silent
noninvolvement, to a perceptive if uncertain sense that Israel is being
defamed, or to a misguided I-don't-want-to-know because
Israel-can-do-no-wrong mindset that precludes necessary discussion.
The real difficulty, Horovitz, is that while the reprehensible T-shirts may not be "widespread," they are surely spread: they reflect some strong current in your society. Diaspora Jews are now waking up to the fact that Israel is a militant country that has lost the ability to make sober judgments about the minority in their midst; and Horovitz's argument for the necessity of Gaza, an assault that destroyed the civil infrastructure of a besieged population and built Hamas's prestige, will only increase that wakefulness.
Of course, Horovitz calls for two states to save Zionism.
Israel needs to separate from the Palestinians if
we are to remain at once a majority Jewish state and a democratic one.
That goal should be advanced by any and every government, and restated
at any and every opportunity.
It's always demographic. Tough sell, when we just elected Obama.
I'd note that Horovitz was an honored speaker at last year's AIPAC policy conference, which, again, ups the ante. AIPAC cannot proceed this year as though the climate has not drastically changed. Per Horovitz, it cannot adopt a "misguided I-don't-want-to-know because
Israel-can-do-no-wrong mindset that precludes necessary discussion." Again, I'd urge AIPAC to engage that necessary discussion, and invite Walt and Mearsheimer to debate.
