What Jews Really Think

Here is an interesting opinion piece from J Street criticizing former Mayor of New York Ed Koch for his strident attack on US President Obama and criticizing his attempt to equate the lack of Jewish support for Israel's hard line right-wing government and its policy of expanding Jewish only settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to the holocaust.  "J Street is the political home of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement."

Ed Corrigan

Ed Koch and What Jews Really Think
By MJ Rosenberg, Media Matters

Edward Koch was mayor of New York (elected in 1977) and, although long retired, he still has a following in some circles.

That is why when he likens US pressure on Israel to the Holocaust - as absurd and obscene as his analogy is - Koch needs to be forcefully rebuked. 

In a column written for Realclearpolitics.com and The Huffington Post, and excerpted in Rupert Murdoch's New York Post, Koch accuses the American Jewish community and members of Congress of unspeakable evil for not speaking out against President Obama's stance on Israeli settlements.  Koch considers Obama's criticism of the Israeli government as indicative of disrespect and hostility to the State of Israel and to Jews. (No matter that Obama's highest ranking aides are Jews.  Koch, like Prime Minister Netanyahu, sees them as "self-hating," the all purpose label for Jews who deviate from the line.) 

"President Obama's abysmal attitude toward the State of Israel and his humiliating treatment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is shocking….

"In the 1930s, the Jewish community and its leadership, with few exceptions, were silent when their coreligionists were being attacked, hunted down, incarcerated and slaughtered. Ultimately 6 million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust….

"Where are our Senators, Schumer and Gillibrand? And, where are the voices, not only of the 31 members of the House and 14 Senators who are Jewish, but the Christian members of the House and Senate who support the State of Israel? Where are the peoples' voices? Remember the words of Pastor Niemoller, so familiar that I will not recite them, except for the last line: 'Then they came for me, and by that time, there was no one left to speak up.'"

Not too subtle.   While most of those who defend any and all Israeli policies only hint at Holocaust analogies to smear their critics, Koch drops the H-bomb with shameless abandon. 

And, of course, Koch is no foreign policy expert.  His experience in global issues is limited to marching in the St. Patrick's Day (and Pulaski Day, and Columbus day, etc) parades.  

Nor does he know anything about Jewish history.  Proudly uninterested in any aspect of Jewish history except its worst moment, he compares everything negative that happens to mass murder. 

But, in his time and even now, he is one of those who has an audience when he screams "anti-Semitism" because he is a self-styled Jewish spokesman, who once held the position called "the second hardest job in America."

But Koch, a Democrat, is first and foremost a neocon. He believes George W. Bush was a great President.  In fact, he bolted the Democratic party in 2004 to support Bush over John Kerry because he was grateful that Bush and company took us into Iraq.  Koch thought that the war would be good for Israel.  It was, in fact, disastrous, eliminating Iraq as the counterweight to Iran. 

But being wrong never deters the neocons.  If it did, they would have gone out of business long ago. Instead, they hang out in their bunkers hoping for some disaster that will enable them one more "I told you so. Dialogue never works. " 

Koch, of course, gets his 20th century history wrong too.  The American Jewish community was not silent about the Holocaust.  But there was not much they could do other than enlist in the US effort to defeat Nazi Germany (and Imperial Japan), which they did in numbers out of proportion to their percentage in the population.  What would Koch have had them do?  Demonstrate in New York and Washington against Hitler? (Actually, they did that but Hitler was not impressed.) 

But then there is the contemporary issue.  Are Jews silent in the face of Obama's opposition to Netanyahu's settlement policies?

Yes, I think they are.  But I think that the silence of the community - in contrast to the mindless hollering by conservative Jewish organizations - is telling.

Most American Jews - no, make that most friends of Israel - are not protesting because they understand that President Obama's strong stand against expanded settlements testifies to his concern for Israel. 

After all, the number one threat to Israel today is the occupation itself and the settlements, which are designed for the purpose of perpetuating the occupation.  If Israel retains the occupied lands (and people), Palestinians will constitute a majority of historic Palestine within the next few years.  Either Israel ends the occupation or the occupation will end the Jewish State of Israel. 

That simple fact is the reason racist Israelis like Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have advocated "transfer" or ethnic cleansing.  It is why more sophisticated racists like Prof. Martin Kramer advocate suppressing the Palestinian birth rate.  

They recognize that the occupation will be the death of Israel unless extreme measures are taken.

They, of course, do not consider the "unextreme" method that will preserve Israel's security and its future: exchanging. 

In the words of David Remnick, the very pro-Israel editor of the New Yorker, "Without the creation of a viable contiguous Palestinian state, comprising a land area equivalent to all of the West Bank and Gaza (allowing for land swaps), and with East Jerusalem as its capital, it is impossible to imagine a Jewish and democratic future for Israel. There is nothing the Israeli leadership could do to make the current fantasy of an indifferent American leadership become a reality faster than to get lost in the stubborn fantasy of sustaining the status quo."

And the community understands that. 

That comes out loud and clear in a Gerstein-Agne poll of American Jewish attitudes conducted during the current crisis:

American Jews by a four-to-one margin, 82-18 percent, support the United States playing an active role in helping the parties to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, with 73 percent of American Jews supporting this active role even if it means that the United States were to publicly state its disagreements with both the Israelis and the Arabs.

And by a 71-29 percent margin, American Jews support the United States "exerting pressure" on both the Israelis and the Arabs to make the necessary compromises to achieve peace. An earlier J Street poll last March found a similar level of support.

A majority of all American Jews, 52-48 percent, still support an active role even if the United States were to publicly state its disagreements with only Israel. 

The bottom line: Jews are not taking to the streets to defend Netanyahu and bash Obama. And their representatives are, with few exceptions, not issuing statements of support for Netanyahu either.

The reason is simple.  They understand that supporting Obama's stand is what you do if you are pro-Israel.  Screaming and foot-stomping is what you do if you only want to get attention or raise money by scaring potential donors to death.

Koch should be ashamed.  He isn't.