By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM–This hasn’t been an easy week for J Street, the American-Jewish lobby that claims to be an alternative to the Jewish establishment in the United States. The AIPAC convention with its record attendance, belying the contention by David Remnick I cited the other day that it represented primarily old and rich Jews, has dominated the scene and attracted a lot of media attention.
A J Street member at the convention even suggested that he was given a hard time by other delegates; the most publicized dressing down came from Alan Dershowitz.
Perhaps to regain something of the momentum, J Street has just published a poll that supports its stance that American Jewry isn’t as united as the cheers at the AIPAC meeting may suggest. Despite the current tensions between the United States administration and the Israeli government, many American Jews appear to believe that Obama should get tough with Israel – not in order to punish the Jewish state but to make its leaders more amenable to concessions.
Though in Israel the criticism of Obama continues and though there was no love-in when Netanyahu visited the White House, Obama’s approval rate in the Jewish community remains 15 points higher than among other Americans. By a 71-29 percentage margin Jews are said to want the President to exert pressure on Israel.
The announcement about the 1600 housing units during Vice President Biden’s visit is generally assumed in Israel not to have been the cause of the present situation but an excuse for creating it. 60% of American Jews seem to disagree and believe that it has inflicted serious damage to US-Israel relations. The new announcement of building 20 units in the Arab Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah will make things much worse.
Though Netanyahu wants to talk about Iran and not about home building in Jerusalem, a majority of American Jews believe that building there is the real sticking point. Of course, Iran matters a lot, but perhaps they think that it’s up to the United States to deal with it in its own way, which may also mean restraining Israel from taking unilateral action. Now when health reform is out of the way, Iran may top the US agenda.
Though the Prime Minister may have impressed the AIPAC delegates with his strong assertion about the Jerusalem as Israel’s eternal undivided capital, when it comes to the moment of decision, further concessions may be inevitable. The stronger his public rhetoric the more difficult it’ll be for him to change course. The fact that there was no press conference after his meetings with Clinton and Obama may be point to the pressure under which he finds himself. There’s nothing to write home about via the media.
What this will entail and how it’ll be presented is unclear. What the J Street poll seems to suggest is that at the moment of truth it’s going to be tough for Israel. Some may say that such tough love is what the government needs to come to its senses, other will be understandably alarmed.
The view that a united American Jewry with its strong leanings towards the Democrats will compel Obama to go easy on Israel in order to contain his anticipated losses in the forthcoming US mid-term elections is more wishful thinking than fact.
Which brings me to my version of wishful thinking: the extreme right of the Netanyahu government will leave and centrist Kadima will take its place. Amen.
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Rabbi Marmur is the spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. He now divides his time between Canada and Israel.