Friday, April 13, 2012

Debate On Israel Changing Among American Jews

The US Jewish Community Has Become Increasingly Open About Criticism Towards Israel.

Courtesy Of "Al-Jazeera"



Over the last decade, more and more American Zionists are venturing beyond traditional community red lines when it comes to Israel. 

The debate revolves around the occupation, settlements, Israeli foreign policy and the United States’ support for Israel. 

What does this debate mean for the future of the Middle East, and does it go far enough? 

In this episode of The Stream, we speak to Saar Szekely, contestant on the Israeli version of “Big Brother”; Dana Goldstein (@DanaGoldstein), fellow at The Nation Institute; and Daniel Levy, co-director of the Middle East Task Force at the New America Foundation. 

What do you think? Does the debate about Israel among American Zionists go far enough? Send us your thoughts and comments on Facebook or Twitter using hashtag #AJStream.

  1. A recent protest action at the historically Jewish Brandeis University interrupted members of the Israeli Knesset. The activists' shirts read "Apartheid" in Hebrew. Photo: Tess Scheflan for Activestills. 
  2. Though polls show most Jewish Americans vote for Democrats and support liberal policies in the United States, discussion of Israel has long been dominated by American groups that support Israel's right-wing Likud party. The Emergency Committee for Israel, an American political action group, has taken out full page ads in major newspapers and billboards in American cities questioning leaders who criticise the country. 
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  4. In the ad below, which appeared this month in the New York Times, left-wing think tanks such as Media Matters and the Center for American Progress who have voiced criticisms of Israel are depicted as wolves in sheep's clothing. 
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  6. Many American critics of Israel, including Jews, have expressed the need to watch their criticisms or risk career-damaging charges of anti-Semitism or being otherwise ostracised from the Jewish community.
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  8. The Emergency Committee for Israel also has produced a half-hour documentary questioning Obama's record as a pro-Israel candidate.


Earlier this year, the Obama for America campaign released an information spot called "America and Israel: an Unbreakable Bond," featuring positive comments from high-level Israeli officials, including Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak and Danny Ayalon.





Members of Jewish Voices for Peace disrupted a speech by Prime Minister Netanyahu in 2010, resulting in their forcible removal from the auditorium.




  1. Former New Republic editor Peter Beinart, an Orthodox Jew, recently published The Crisis of Zionism, in which he states that "today, [Israel] is failing, and American Jews are helping it fail." He also recently wrote an op-ed in the New York Times promoting reinvestment in "democratic Israel" and a "Zionist boycott" of Israeli settlement products. He also advocated removing America's tax exemptions on charities that fund settlements. 
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  3. Stand With Us, a US pro-Israel advocacy group, released this video to promote a "Buy Israeli Goods (BIG) Day" in contrast with the Boycatt, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. 
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    SUPPORT Buy Israeli Goods Day - it's BIG - March 30, 2012
  5. The movement recently gained national attention in the United States for a proposed boycott of Israeli goods in a New York-based food cooperative. 
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  7. Last month, members of Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine disrupted a panel discussion with Israeli Knesset members. In a similar protest action from last year, students listed charges of war crimes against another Israeli official In English and in Hebrew, including torture and the bombing of civilians. They ended their disruption by chanting in Hebrew "Don't worry Avi Dichter, we'll meet you in the Hague."



  1. Israelis are sometimes shocked to find that voices accepted as moderately left-wing in their own country are still considered radical in some American quarters.
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    Funny: I'm echoing Israeli media reports from Jerusalem, my hometown, and right-wing US Jews accuse me of antisemitism & racism
  3. Israeli Big Brother's Saar Szekely's criticisms of Israel put a strong, some say radical, voice on prime time television.
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    Wonder what it'd be like if more of us Americans spoke like Israelis about this conflict? They're blunt, like this guy t.co/SUgdFvVO






  1. Although Saar's criticisms of the occupation and the Israeli army initially spawned multiple Facebook groups calling him a terrorist and a traitor, they died down as the show progressed and he ultimately came in third place on Monday. The picture below, depicting Saar with a digitally imposed fist in Palestinian colors, reads "the leftists are not on the side of the enemy, they are the enemy."
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