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Jewish World Review /Jan. 27, 1999 / 10 Shevat, 5759
Jonathan Tobin
Israel and Us:
LAST WEEK, PHILADELPHIA JEWS spoke out on the plight of Ethiopians who
claim Jewish identity and have not yet been brought to Israel. But while
this development wasn't considered news outside of the inner circles of the
Jewish community, most people -- in Israel and in the United States -- were
lapping up the latest news about another story that concerned
Israel-Diaspora relations. The break-ins at the Washington offices of the
Israel Labor Party's American pollster got a lot of people thinking about
the heavy involvement of American advisors and political contributors in
the upcoming Israeli elections.
Both stories illustrate the fact that the always-shaky boundary between
areas that are the responsibility of American Jews and those that are
strictly Israel's business seem to have become more blurred than ever.
The problem is, Israelis don't know how to keep us at a distance on the
issues where they wish we would shut up, while still keeping us engaged on
those where they still want our help.
What's going on here? And, even more important, what should the rule of
thumb be for American Jews who speak out about Israeli affairs?
WHEN AMERICAN JEWS TAKE THE LEAD
The Ethiopian issue was also largely championed by a small group of
American Jewish agitators while Israel debated whether the Ethiopians were
actually Jewish. Eventually, Prime Minister Menachem Begin expressed an
interest in the issue, and a rabbinic ruling affirming the Ethiopians'
Jewishness set the stage for the heroic Israeli airlifts of Ethiopian Jews
to Israel.
The conclusion to draw from this is that when it come to the plight of any
group of Jews around the world, there should be no timidity about American
Jews speaking up. It is ultimately Israel's responsibility to defend and
take in Jews, no matter what their color or origin. And if it takes a nudge
from Americans to help them see their duty, then I say nudge away.
ISRAELI POLITICS AND AMERICAN JEWISH MONEY
Is there something wrong with this? Americans have taken great umbrage at
the idea of foreign contributors (Bill Clinton's Chinese friends come to
mind) playing a part in our electoral process. But Israelis are used to the
flow of money from abroad for a host of reasons, and that may explain why
they aren't quite so touchy about it.
As for the propriety of American Jewish investment in Israeli elections,
I'm not outraged either. Despite the sanctimonious drivel about political
contributions that is standard fare these days, I'm one of those who
believe that such contributions are the purest form of political speech.
Sure, when it comes to war and peace, American Jews aren't putting their
lives on the line as Israelis do, but that's an argument that cuts both
ways, whether you are sympathetic to the left or the right. If Americans
want to help Israeli candidates, what's the great moral difference between
political contributions and individual support of a host of causes, many of
which have political aspects?
EXPERTS GIVE ADVICE, BUT WILL AN ISRAELI LISTEN?
It is also hard to imagine the phlegmatic and intellectual Ehud Barak
profiting much from James Carville's cajun style of political calumny.
And in a country where television ads are free, how much success can
American money buy? We should remember Shimon Peres' famous 1988 expedition
to America to collect millions from Charles Bronfman and friends. That only
bought him the fourth of his five election defeats.
But the bottom line is that no matter what we say, Israelis are still going
to do what they think is best. The real question isn't whether we believe
they are right or wrong on any given issue. It is whether we will back them
even if many of us disagree with their conclusions.
Heaven help us - and them - if we fail in that
Putting Up or Shutting Up
Ironic, isn't it? Just when the conventional wisdom of the day has it that
American Jews are less interested in Israel, we seem to be sticking our
noses into more places that many Israelis wish we would stay out of. While
American Jews are talking about concentrating on their own needs -- like
education and finding ways to express Jewish identity not based solely on
memories of the Holocaust or solidarity with Israel -- we just can't seem to
help involving ourselves more intimately in Israeli affairs.
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) logo
The dispute about whether Ethiopians who claim to be Jewish should be aided
is far from unprecedented. This is not the first time American Jews have
gotten out in front of Israel on an issue. The recent resolution passed by
the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia calling on Israel to act on
the status of the Kwara Jews and Falash Mora was very much in the tradition
of the Soviet Jewry movement of the '70s.
Though it is not often remembered, initially, the State of Israel was not
in the forefront of agitation on behalf of Soviet Jews. That was left to
American Jewish troublemakers who set the pace with noisy demonstrations.
Understandably preoccupied with wars and survival, Israel didn't take the
lead until long after obstreperous Americans (motivated in no small part by
the memory of American Jewish silence during the Holocaust) had won
battles, such as the enactment of American trade sanctions against the
Soviet Union.
But the most interesting variation on the Israeli-Diaspora minuet involves
American Jewish involvement in Israel's elections. The stories about
Watergate-style burglaries at the offices of Stanley Greenberg have drawn
greater attention to the fact that Israel's political parties have been
acting as if they were farm teams for American campaign gurus. In recent
years, Republican experts have helped the Likud while Democrats have been
aiding Labor.
This goes beyond the Clinton administration's preference for Labor. The
open secret of Israeli politics is that the "expert" advice that Labor
candidate Ehud Barak gets from Greenberg and Bill Clinton pal James
Carville has been paid for by American Jewish donations. The services
rendered by GOP hired-gun Arthur Finkelstein for Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu are likewise believed to have been paid for by a prominent
American Jewish billionaire and others who support the prime minister.
Since 1994, direct foreign donations to candidates for prime minister have
been illegal, but since then -- as well as before -- a lot of the money
funneled from American Jews to Israeli candidates went via nonprofit
"educational" funds. Charitable causes aren't the only ones to have
"American friends."
Barak
Besides, the inside story on the high-priced American political consultants
working in Israel is that their Israeli clients don't always heed their
advice. Even the dreaded Finkelstein, (a.k.a. "The Prince of Darkness") who
helped elect many conservatives to the U.S. Senate (although lately he is
on a losing streak having gone down with the count with the lamented
fervently pro-Israel Sen. Al D'Amato) before taking part in the Likud's
victorious 1996 campaign, has, according to my sources, complained that
Bibi doesn't listen to him! Characteristic Israeli arrogance will trump
Diaspora opportunism every time.
In the end, the Israelis will sort out their own candidates and make their
own decisions. We American Jews have the right -- even the obligation -- to
let the Israelis know what we think about their issues and their politics.
For example, Israelis should know how we feel about the lack of religious
pluralism, because it is only when Israelis (and not American Jews) change
their minds about this issue that pluralism will have a chance.
JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
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