Just as the Arab world can be divided between the hardliners and the reformers, so too can the Jewish people. On the hardline side, there is the alliance between the orthodox community and conservative ideologies. They think Israel can do no wrong, and that any questioning of Israeli policy is anti-Semitic. On the reformer side are individuals like me — we passionately believe in the right for Israel to exist, but believe that their current policy is unjust and not reflective of Jewish values.
Before I get into this dichotomy, I should acknowledge that it’s not perfect. Like any group, Jews are all individuals and our opinions are all unique in some sense. There are orthodox Jews who don’t believe in Zionism; Jews who are liberal on everything but Israel, as well as Jews who just can’t make up their minds. That said, I still believe that this dichotomy accurately reflects the prevailing division of ideology among Jews today.
The hardline view is best explained through the lens of an Israeli boy who I grew up with; who I’ll call Elan. He was rude, opinionated, arrogant, uncooperative, and on more than one occasion, had to be physically restrained by teachers. At first, I thought this was a personal behavior problem until a social studies teacher told me about his parents. According to this teacher, Elan’s parents were even worse than he was, ruining “meet the teacher” night for everyone.
So, I went on for years believing that this was just one bad family. After all, I went to temple every week and never met anyone like that. I thought to myself that the Jews, having faced so much adversity, were all committed to social justice. It wasn’t until I spoke to my sister-in-law, who lived in Israel for a long time, that I realized how wrong I was. She explained to me that uncooperative arrogance is quite common among certain types of Jews, especially Israelis.
“Lots of Israelis and conservative American Jews are extremely rude,” she said. “They’re convinced that everyone is out to get them and that confrontation is a matter of survival.”
Later, her statements were confirmed to me, both, when I traveled to Israel myself and also when I met conservative and orthodox Jews at college. It became amply clear that my liberal congregation was far more tolerant than many Jews in the world.
I tell the story about Elan because I see lots of the same confrontational behavior patterns in Israel’s policies under the Sharon administration. The world agrees that the West Bank and Gaza are under occupation, but Sharon stubbornly denies it. The United States generously gives Israel weapons to defend herself but Sharon’s government spits in America’s face by using them in ways that we disapprove of. Of course, no widely respected non-Jewish world leader could say these things. Because of this smug, Jewish element, now represented by Sharon, the label of “anti-Semite” is quite effectively used as a threat.
Fortunately, I believe that this smug, hardline group is in the minority, and that there is a silent majority of Jews and Israelis that believe peace is a viable alternative to confrontation.
We, the tolerant Jews, feel closely connected to Israel because it is the closest thing to a home that our people have had. Anyone who claims that Jews have no connection to the region, other than as colonists, should look at the archeological evidence and realize that they’re wrong. But even though we, the silent majority, feel the connection to the land, we also understand that the Palestinians have legitimate claims as well. We hate the idea of giving up access to West Bank holy sights in places like Hebron, but we’re willing to make painful concessions if it will stop the violence. It troubles us immensely that Israel is seen as a bully and we believe that settlers in the occupied territories are basically whackos that are putting peaceful Israelis at unnecessary risk.
Peace will not come through divestment in Israel, or by comparing their leaders to Hitler. Such tactics are counterproductive and inappropriate. Peace will only come when peace-loving Jews around the world raise their voice and rescue Israel from the confrontational, smug, uncooperative policies that currently plague her.
It’s time that the silent majority of Jews start making noise, and show the world that we’re not all like Elan or even Ariel Sharon. We care as much about peace as the hardliners do about confrontation, and we are in far greater numbers.
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