[NYTr] Is There a Kosher Way to Criticize the Israel Lobby?
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The American Prospect via Alternet - Jan 26, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/47148/
Is There a Kosher Way to Criticize the Israel Lobby?
By Matthew Yglesias
Retired General Wesley Clark is, like me, concerned that the Bush
administration is going to launch a war with Iran. Arianna Huffington
spoke to him in early January and asked why he was so worried the
administration was headed in this direction. According to Huffington's
January 4 recounting of Clark's thoughts, he said this: "You just have
to read what's in the Israeli press. The Jewish community is divided
but there is so much pressure being channeled from the New York money
people to the office seekers."
This, of course, is true. I'm Jewish and I don't think the United
States should bomb Iran, but Thursday night I was talking to a Jewish
friend and she does think the United States should bomb Iran. The
Jewish community, in short, is divided on the issue. It's also true
that most major American Jewish organizations cater to the views of
extremely wealthy major donors whose political views are well to the
right of the bulk of American Jews, one of the most liberal ethnic
groups in the country. Furthermore, it's true that major Jewish
organizations are trying to push the country into war. And, last, it's
true that if you read the Israeli press you'll see that right-wing
Israeli politicians are anticipating a military confrontation with
Iran. (For example, here's an article about the timing of the selection
of a new top dog in the Israeli Defense Forces; Benjamin Netanyahu is
quoted as saying that the new leader "will have to straighten the army
out, rebuild Israel's deterrence and prepare the defenses against
threats, first and foremost, against Iran.")
Everything Clark said, in short, is true. What's more, everybody knows
it's true. The worst that can truthfully be said about Clark is that he
expressed himself in a slightly odd way. This, it seems clear, he did
because it's a sensitive issue and he worried that if he spoke plainly
he'd be accused of trafficking in anti-Semitism. So he spoke unclearly
and, for his trouble, got ... accused of trafficking in anti-Semitism.
James Taranto, who writes the hack "Best of the Web" column for the
online version of The Wall Street Journal's hack editorial page,
likened Clark's views on this to the notorious anti-Semitic forgery The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Scott Johnson of the influential and
moronic right-wing Power Line blog argued that "Clark's comments are
not simply 'anti-Israel,'" and asked "[i]s it a only a matter only of
parochial concern to American Jews that they are now to be stigmatized
without consequence in the traditional disgusting terms -- terms that
used to result in eviction from the precincts of polite society -- by a
major figure in the Democratic Party?"
Needless to say, Clark did not stigmatize American Jews. Indeed, he
went out of his way to note that the American Jewish community is
divided on the issue. Michael Barone's sneering attack on Clark also
managed, almost incidentally, to reveal Barone's own understanding that
Clark's remarks are substantially correct. Barone observed that it's
"interesting to see a Democratic presidential hopeful denounce 'the New
York money people,' people whom Clark spent some time with in 2003-04."
And, indeed, it is interesting, for demonstrating the bizarre rules of
the road in discussing America's Israel policy. If you're offering
commentary that's supportive of America's soi-disant "pro-Israel"
forces, as Barone was, it's considered perfectly acceptable to note,
albeit elliptically, that said forces are influential in the Democratic
Party in part because they contribute large sums of money to Democratic
politicians who are willing to toe the line. If, by contrast, one
observes this fact by way of criticizing the influence of "pro-Israel"
forces, you're denounced as an anti-Semite.
Needless to say, the increasingly ridiculous Abe Foxman, head of the
Anti-Defamation League, was swiftly located in order to ply his
trademark tactic of accusing people of anti-Semitism that he knows
perfectly well aren't anti-Semites. As The Jewish Week reported, "The
ADL leader told Clark that he had 'bought into conspiratorial bigotry'
that increasingly sees Israel, Jews and American Jewish organizations
as the driving force behind U.S. involvement in Iraq and Iran." What's
more, "Foxman said Clark's comments are particularly worrisome because
of the context, coming in the wake of," among other things, "a book by
former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who accused Israel of
pushing for war with Iran."
The context, I would say, is worrisome. "Israel" is not a unitary
actor, but clearly some Israelis are pushing for war with Iran. More to
the point, many American Jewish organizations are pushing for war with
Iran. And before Foxman comes to lock me up, he might want to check out
his own outfit's website, complete with a section on "The Iranian
Threat." Meanwhile, over on AIPAC's site we can learn about the
"escalating threat" from Iran. A group called The Israel Project has an
Iran Press Kit page, linking only to alarmist takes on the Iranian
nuclear issue and to a hawks-only set of expert sources. (Shockingly,
none of these organizations are especially concerned that Israel won't
join the Non-Proliferation Treaty Framework.)
For another example, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
gave Senator John McCain its "Scoop" Jackson Award in December; in his
remarks accepting the award, McCain argued that "[t]he path to future
success for Israel will not be an easy one, and there will be a number
of difficult issues. Foremost on many minds, is, of course, Iran." He
characterized "Tehran's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons" as "an
unacceptable risk" -- language clearly designed to lay the groundwork
for war.
With this last bit, we not only see the accuracy of Clark's remark,
but, once again, the stunning hypocrisy of the anti-anti-Semitism
brigades. It's clear that McCain, just like Clark, sees American Jewish
organizations as key players in the Iran-hawk movement in the United
States, and also that he sees concern for Israeli security as
motivating those groups. Nobody, however, is going to label McCain a
Jew-hating conspiracy theorist -- because, of course, McCain wants to
help these groups push the United States into a military confrontation
with Iran. Thus, McCain gets an award, and Clark gets called an
anti-Semite.
Since Clark would like to have a future in the politics game, he ended
up backing down from his remarks, explaining he didn't mean what he
said. Mission accomplished for those who smeared him. But would I ever
suggest that Democrats have been unduly timid on the Iran issue because
they fear crossing powerful "pro-Israel" institutions? Never. Only
anti-Semites think stuff like that.
[Matthew Yglesias is a Prospect staff writer.]
Copyright B) 2007 by The American Prospect, Inc.
B) 2007 Independent Media Institute.
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