Books

Jeremy Versus Goliath ’s Brave Effort to Promote Peace in the Middle East By Scott MacLeod

A New Voice for : Fighting for the Survival of the Jewish Nation. By Jeremy Ben-Ami. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. 242 pp.

eremy Ben-Ami has written a valuable book that should be read by everyone affected Jby the Israeli–Palestinian conflict—Israelis, Arabs and especially by Americans. The title may suggest to some that this is another volume of familiar pro-Israel boosterism. The author believes that Israel’s existence is under threat and this is the focus of his effort. Yet, he has written a very different sort of book than we are used to seeing from Israel’s die-hard supporters in America. Part of A New Voice for Israel is an account of the deep roots of Ben-Ami’s family in Israel. The book also serves as an insider’s guide to J Street, the pro-Israel lobby group that Ben-Ami founded in 2008. In that aspect, he tells the story of a struggle under way for the soul of America’s Jewish community, and J Street’s role in it. At its core, Ben-Ami’s book, like J Street’s work, is a courageous effort to rewrite the Israel- driven narrative of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict that is too unquestioningly accepted and parroted in the West. This is an impassioned plea for , U.S. politicians, and Israelis to get on the right side of history in the Middle East. Ben-Ami debunks the mythology about Israel’s founding, embraces the need for a peace settlement that provides dignity and jus- tice to the Palestinians, criticizes Israeli politics for undemocratic tendencies, and blasts Washington’s uncritical support for Israeli policies. “The present path that the State of Israel is on is unsustainable,” he writes. “The occupation of another people and denial of their national aspirations and their rights is not only morally unacceptable, it is a fatal threat to the entire enterprise of the State of Israel.” Elsewhere Ben-Ami writes: “The un- sustainability of the present course seems clear to just about everyone except the present Israeli government and some of the leadership of the American Jewish community.” The message is not a new one, of course. What makes it meaningful is a messenger who came to deliver it after honest self-reflection. His thinking is well in line with

CAIRO REVIEW 3/2011 95 BOOKS dovish Israelis. Many American Jews mother was in Austria as the Anschluss or agree with him, and some of them have German annexation approached. She fled joined or donated to J Street. But in the to the , but countless rela- U.S., few figures in the political - main tives who did not escape perished cruelly stream have been as brave as Ben-Ami in in Nazi concentration camps. expressing strong and valid views critical Ben Ami’s father, Yitshaq, was born of Israeli policies and of Israel’s Ameri- in Tel Aviv in 1913, and grew up as the can supporters. We might wager that struggle for Palestine, involving Zion- the boosterish title on the cover, which ists, the Arab population, and the British skirts any reference to the criticism found Mandate authority, turned bloody with inside, was given in the hope of deflecting the outbreak of anti-Zionist rioting in the the backlash that books critical of Israel 1920s. He became a follower of Vladimir tend to ignite in the U.S. As he notes in Jabotinsky and went on to play a leading the book, opponents of J Street call “my role in the Revisionist Zionism move- colleagues and me fanatics, anti-Semitic, ment. At nineteen, he joined Jabotinsky’s extremists and self-hating Jews.” Betar youth group, becoming commander Ben-Ami is hardly any of those things, of the Jerusalem branch, and eventually or even a political lefty. He spent a twenty- signed up for the Revisionist’s under- five-year career embedded in mainstream ground militia, the Irgun Zvai Leumi. Democratic Party politics, starting in his Revisionists believed that a Jewish state hometown of New York City. He served was essential and that violence was a nec- as deputy domestic policy advisor in the essary instrument to be used against Arabs White House during President Bill Clin- and the British in achieving it. The Irgun, ton’s first term in office. led by Menachem Begin, who would later Giving the author’s critical views start the hard-line Likud party and serve great poignancy and standing are Ben- as prime minister of Israel, was a terror- Ami’s deep family connections to the ist group blamed for atrocities such as the Zionist movement, , and Deir Yassin massacre and the bombing of Israel’s war of independence. Both sets the British military headquarters at the of his paternal great-grandparents were King David Hotel in Jerusalem. In 1937, among the early Zionist settlers, arriv- Yitshaq went to Vienna to run the Irgun’s ing in Palestine in 1882 and 1891 respec- illegal immigration efforts, and two years tively. His paternal grandparents, Mena- later he arrived in New York on a mission hem and Sara, were among the sixty-six to alert American Jews to the Nazi threat Jewish families that founded Tel Aviv in to European Jewry. 1909—and as a descendent Ben-Ami fea- Ben-Ami, born in 1962 and raised in tured in the city’s centennial celebrations New York, where his father had chosen two years ago. The family of Ben-Ami’s to settle after Ben-Gurion crushed the

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Irgun, obviously grew up in a differ- moving passage. “There was, however, ent era and has found himself involved one huge gap in my learning about the in another type of advocacy concerning history and the culture of the region and Israel. Yishaq remained a hard-liner until the land. I never learned about the Pales- his death in 1984, the year his son gradu- tinians. I knew them simply as the ene- ated from Princeton University. At that mies of my people. Back then, we called time, Ben-Ami seemed broadly in sync them simply Arabs. My father and his with his father’s views. He defended friends were, to me, the true Palestinians. Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and I understood that the Arabs had tried— reflexively complained about “media more than once—to destroy Israel and bias” against Israel. But he undertook a make the Jews leave. But never once did I deep reevaluation of his views on Israel hear their side of history. Not one book in and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict while our house told their story. Not one class residing in Israel after serving in the in Hebrew school exposed us to their cul- Clinton administration. Having decided ture, their backgrounds and lives.” to reconnect with his family’s roots, he By the time he returned to the U.S. enrolled in an intensive Hebrew language after two years living in Israel, Ben-Ami course and discovered that some of his says, “my perspective on Israel and the classmates were Palestinians from Gaza. Middle East had been thoroughly altered.” The experience was an epiphany. He was determined to put his new outlook “After thirty-five years of knowing little in the service of Israeli–Palestinian peace. more than caricatures on which I had He would soon experience the serious dis- been raised,” Ben-Ami writes, “I was connect between American policies in the now getting to know pharmacists and Middle East and the realities in the region schoolteachers, fathers and sons, real as he now understood them. people with real stories—and I opened Back in the rough and tumble of a window into a history of which I had American politics and working for Mark been totally unaware.” Green’s mayoral campaign in New York The Palestinians shared their stories in 2001, Ben-Ami was appalled when of national catastrophe, displacement, Green’s charitable donation to Ameri- and occupation in the wake of Zionism’s cans For Peace Now caused Green’s great triumph. “As with so many young opponent, a politician with connections Jewish Americans being exposed to Israel to West Bank settlers, to question his can- in that era, I was thoroughly steeped in— didate’s pro-Israel credentials. Later, as and loved—the mythology of the State the national policy director for Howard of Israel, its miraculous founding and the Dean’s 2004 presidential bid, Ben-Ami astonishing accomplishments of its brief was driven to similar outrage when oppo- history,” Ben-Ami writes in a particularly nents staged a furor over Dean’s comment

CAIRO REVIEW 3/2011 97 BOOKS that the U.S. should be ‘even-handed’ in alike who fail to see the urgency of address- the Arab–Israeli dispute. “These are but ing the existential crisis and believe that two minor examples of what happens the conflict can be “managed.” every day, everywhere in the country, Like most groups of its kind, J Street when American politicians interact with raises money for and provides campaign Israel’s most vocal supporters,” Ben-Ami backing to politicians running for seats in explains. “Strip away the spin and the the U.S. Senate and House of Representa- politics, and what was so terrible about tives, lobbies the Congress and American what Dean said or what Green did?” administration to support its outlook on Those experiences and others led Ben- the Middle East, and engages in nation- Ami to establish J Street as a ‘pro-Israel, wide grassroots organizing to promote pro-peace’ lobby group and political its efforts. Ben-Ami believes that only action committee based in Washington, the U.S. can persuade Israeli leaders to DC. With the help of liberal Jewish phi- take a different, more sensible course. lanthropists, including , But American politicians fail to do so, Ben-Ami oversees an operational budget he argues, because they are heavily influ- of nearly $7 million and a staff of fifty in enced by “traditional pro-Israel eight cities. In effect, J Street’s calling is groups” that “employ a powerful combi- to convince American Jews and the U.S. nation of political assistance for those who government to save Israel from itself. Ben- follow the line and a healthy dose of fear Ami believes that Israel’s continuing occu- for those who don’t.” Ben-Ami points out pation of Palestinian territory, in a time of that these groups also have an influence on advances in weapons technology, religious the American Jewish community itself. polarization and unfavorable demographic The answer, he believes, is to give a trends, threatens the existence of the state greater voice to moderate American Jews, of Israel. If Israel does not grant Palestin- who would in turn provide political cover ians voting rights, he suggests, Israel will for U.S. leaders to take a more critical face increasing international isolation over approach to Israel, which in turn would apartheid-style domination. Yet if it grants push Israeli leaders to make greater efforts Palestinians the vote, eventually an Arab to negotiate the fair and just peace deal with majority will override Israel’s Jewish char- Palestinians that Israelis require for their acter through democratic means. Failure own long-term survival–or else face pain- to seize the opportunity for a ‘two-state ful political consequences. Ben-Ami argues solution,’ Ben-Ami argues, will see Israel that peace is “a fundamental national inter- “endure a fate of deeper and bloodier vio- est of the United States,” and the lack of lence, deteriorating democracy and grow- an agreement undermines U.S. security–by ing international isolation.” He derides the damaging American credibility and fueling complacency of Israelis and Americans Muslim extremism, for example.

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Ben-Ami makes the case that with constitute a hard-line, right of center bloc political will, a solution to the conflict can that promotes unwavering support of be found. Simply put, it would require an Israeli policies–including the occupation end to Israel’s forty-four-year occupation of Palestinian territory or military opera- of the West Bank and the establishment of tions against enemies–in the belief that an an independent Palestinian state there and iron-clad U.S.-Israel alliance best ensures in the . He is correct in point- Israel’s security and also serves American ing out that teams of Israeli and Palestin- strategic interests. ian negotiators have worked in public and He traces their power to a tradition in secret for nearly twenty years to greatly from the early days of Israel when Jewish narrow the differences on the key issues American leaders believed that the cred- of mutual borders, Palestinian refugees, ibility of their minority community Jewish settlers, and sovereignty in Jerusa- depended on speaking with a unified voice lem. The of 1993, the Camp that brooked no dissent from within. The David Summit and Clinton Parameters of organizations, or otherwise their affiliates 2000, the Arab peace initiative of 2002, the and individual members, raise money for of 2003, and the subse- political candidates and advocacy work, quent discussions between Israeli Prime and have outreach branches to connect Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian with local Jewish communities. They are leader collectively point supported by a well-funded network of to a historical ‘end of conflict’ agreement think tanks, polling groups, media watch- that would receive widespread interna- dogs, not to mention by allied right-wing tional backing. groups representing ‘Christian Zionists,’ In his mission to save Israel, how- such as the John Hagee Ministries and ever, Ben-Ami is up against an Ameri- Christians United For Israel. can Goliath. As executive director of J Ben-Ami rejects exaggerations of the Street, he presents an insider’s account influence of these groups over U.S.- for of how the influential pro-Israel lobby eign policy as a whole—a criticism of The stifles debate and helps skew American Israel Lobby, the 2007 book targeted for policies for the Middle East. Among the venomous attacks by pro-Israel forces. ‘traditional’ groups he identifies are the But Ben-Ami agrees that the ‘traditional’ American Israel Public Affairs Committee organizations have “masterfully written (AIPAC), the American Jewish Commit- the chapter on Israel in the rulebook of tee (AJP), the Anti-Defamation League American politics.” It starts, he explains, (ADL)—and the Conference of Presidents when a politician first runs for office and is of Major American Jewish Organizations, engaged by Jewish community represent- itself an umbrella group of more than atives who provide position papers on the fifty Jewish organizations. They broadly Middle East. “The talking points become

CAIRO REVIEW 3/2011 99 BOOKS the basis for standard responses the can- legitimacy of the State of Israel”—includ- didate will memorize and fall back on ing through association with the Boycott, for the rest of his or her political career,” Disinvestment and Sanctions movement. Ben-Ami says. “After all, they know how Ben-Ami rejects such tactics as a form of important it is to their political future prior restraint and guilt by association. that they learn the proper way to be ‘pro- Ben-Ami goes so far as to compare the Israel’—meaning no criticism of Israeli tactics to the McCarthysim of the 1950s, policy, no vocal opposition to settlements and he has regularly been on the receiving and no talk of active American leadership end of them. After of to achieve a two-state deal.” Even candi- (a mainstream monthly mag- dates elected to local offices will often be azine) asked Ben-Ami to renounce the invited by AIPAC or other groups to take support of Stephen M. Walt, co-author of an escorted trip to Israel for briefings on The Israel Lobby, Ben-Ami replied, “One ‘security threats’ facing Israelis. of the reasons I won’t answer your call All of that is part of American democ- to quote-unquote renounce him is that it racy, which is notoriously encumbered by really smacks of witch-hunts and thought the disproportionate influence of ‘special police.” Ben-Ami observes that many in interest’ groups, including those that pro- the Jewish community throw up their mote the right to bear arms, the tobacco hands and walk away in such an atmos- trade, and the concerns of retired citizens. phere. “The taunts, the funding threats But the tactics used by some pro-Israel and the guilt by association all add up to hard-liners raise disturbing questions an undemocratic and un-Jewish pattern about intolerance and intimidation. of limiting dissent,” he says. Ben-Ami reports on how pro-Israel An important part of J Street’s mis- donors seek to bar community institu- sion is to convince Washington policy tions that they support from hosting makers that the traditional pro-Israel programs or speakers they deem unac- groups do not truly represent the views ceptable. One example was in 2009 when of the majority of American Jews and that the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival their continuing influence is due mainly screened Rachel, a film about an Ameri- to their impressive coffers and organiza- can activist named Rachel Corrie, who tional talents. Ben-Ami offers up polling was killed while protesting in front of data collected for J Street that supports an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza. After the the assertion. While a tiny minority of screening, five festival board members American Jews make Israel the central resigned and financial backers withdrew cause of their political lives, the vast their support. The local Jewish Federa- majority do not primarily cast their votes tion declared that it would not hence- on the basis of a candidate’s position on forth fund programs that undermine “the Israel. Another survey, in 2010, found

100 CAIRO REVIEW 3/2011 BOOKS that 78 percent of Jewish Americans because they are morally wrong, and the support a ‘two-state solution,’ and by a treatment of the Palestinian people and margin of 82 percent to 18 percent under- the condition in which many of them live stand that such a solution is necessary to should trouble Jews, who, as a people, sustain Israeli’s security and Jewish and have themselves experienced far too democratic character. much discrimination and mistreatment in The polls belie the perception inside their history,” he writes. the Beltway that American Jews repre- Ben-Ami bemoans the fact that “to sent a “single-issue voting bloc that cares raise these moral questions opens you first and foremost about U.S. policy to scathing attack and to being labeled toward the State of Israel and the broader as ‘virulently anti-Israel.’” He says that Middle East.” That perception, Ben-Ami the nationalist obsession with strength complains, leads politicians to falsely and security is understandable, given believe that to win Jewish political and the immense tragedies in Jewish history, financial support, you have to be ‘pro- but argues “strength and survival do not Israel,’ and the best way to show that is require sacrificing the moral core of what to “tack as far right politically as possi- it means to be Jewish.” ble.” Ben-Ami is palpably aghast when Ben-Ami highlights a notable fea- he writes: “This political dynamic goes ture of the current communal struggle: a long way toward explaining how the disillusion and disenchantment among United States—the world’s sole super- young Jewish Americans, who are grow- power and the most generous patron of ing up not on the heroic stories of Israel’s both parties to the Israeli–Palestinian founding and spectacular military victo- conflict—is unable to find a way to end ries, but with constant headlines about the conflict when both the need and the Israel’s armed misadventures, human solution are so evident.” rights abuses, and international isolation. The emergence of J Street is itself one They are being turned off from organized of the signs of the struggle within Amer- Jewish life and its attachment to the state ica’s Jewish community over everything of Israel, Ben-Ami argues, partly because from Jewish political clout and the rela- of the way traditional pro-Israel advocacy tionship of American Jews with the State groups have shut off open discussion of of Israel, to the question of Jewish values. the issues in favor of “a simple us-versus- Ben-Ami reveals his deep angst over the them formulation that demands unques- latter when he argues that Israel’s occu- tioning support for Israel.” He cites the pation of the West Bank and blockade “seminal brief” by writer Peter Beinart in of Gaza should end, not simply because the New York Review of Books in 2010 they undermine Israel’s security and U.S. “indicting the American Jewish estab- national interests. “They should end lishment not just for rigid adherence to a

CAIRO REVIEW 3/2011 101 BOOKS hawkish orthodoxy on Israel but for driv- J Street, it seems, is anxious not to veer too ing young, liberal American Jews away far from the American Jewish establish- from Israel and from their community.” ment so as to nurture its mainstream cre- Nonetheless, the awful record of the dentials in the face of harsh questioning of Obama administration on the Israeli– its political orientation. J Street has, how- Palestinian conflict suggests that the ever, strongly opposed punitive moves to ‘silent majority’ represented by J Street cut off U.S. aid to the Palestinian Author- is far from having a significant impact ity. It also opposed plans to withdraw U.S. on American policy. Despite Obama’s funding of the Economic, early pledges to make peacemaking a Scientific, and Cultural Organization after top priority, which Ben-Ami applauded member states voted to grant membership as “clear from the start,” his administra- to Palestinians. tion ignominiously retreated in the face The work of J Street is vital as a new of resistance from Israel’s prime minis- era dawns in the Middle East. The hard- ter, . The leader of line policies of Netanyahu’s government the hard-line Likud party, Netanyahu have further deepened Israel’s isolation in maintains strong support from the tradi- the region and the world. Obama’s acqui- tional pro-Israel groups as well as from escence to them has undermined whatever Congress. Just how surreal Washington little Arab faith remained in American remains on the issue is illustrated by the moral leadership. The Israeli and Ameri- fact that instead of focusing on Obama’s can leaders at times seem clueless about the spinelessness, the conventional wisdom shift in Arab foreign policy–to one that is inside the Beltway questions the presi- more independent, nationalistic, reflecting dent for having pressured Israel in the popular sentiment, and critical of the U.S. first place. Obama initially enjoyed a and Israel–that is inevitable after the Arab high standing in the Arab world, but his Spring. The ever-looming showdown popularity plunged still further recently over Iran’s nuclear program is a constant when his administration moved to block reminder of how dangerous things can a Palestinian diplomatic effort to receive still get in the Middle East and why sound United Nations recognition of Palestin- American policymaking is critical for the ian statehood. Writing more than two security of everyone in the region. years into Obama’s term of office, Ben- J Street has made a start. A New Voice Ami accurately states that the peace proc- for Israel, as with J Street’s lobbying ess is in “shambles.” efforts, is helping rewrite the narrative of J Street’s support for Obama’s rejection the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. That is a of Palestinian UN membership perhaps task of profound importance. It will take reflects the continuing influence of the time and won’t be easy. But in that effort, traditional pro-Israel groups like AIPAC; Ben-Ami is an honorable voice.

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