The New York Review of Books And Israel
It’s hard to say that anything new about Peter Beinart’s blockbuster New York Review of Books essay on the failure of the American Jewish Establishment has been under-discussed, but one little niggling bit of criticism of it that hasn’t been properly addressed is the argument that Beinart somehow erred in having his essay be published in the New York Review, which, in the words of Jeffrey Goldberg is, “the one-stop shopping source for bien-pensant anti-Israelism” and that ”If Beinart’s goal is to talk to the great mass of American Jews who support the institutions of American Jewry but who are troubled by certain trends in Israeli politics, this is not the way to do it.”
Yes, it’s true that the New York Review published Tony Judt’s call for binationalism and the authors who write about Israel tend to take a pretty dim view of settlements, settlement expansion, wars Israel fights and so on and so forth. The thing is, the people taking these views also tend to be Israeli intellectuals. The New York Review is one of the few American outlets for liberal Israelis to write long, substantive essays about Israel. As Peter Beinart pointed out on Twitter, “if the NYRB is anti-Israel how do you explain its publishing Margalit, Avishai, Grossman, Elon? Are Israel’s best intellectuals anti-Israel?”
Beinart is right: it’s very hard to argue that a journal that is committed to “bien-pensant anti Israelism” would publish pieces by Avishai Margalit and Michael Walzer, two liberal intellectuals who, yes, are both occasional critics of Israel but also obviously Zionists (the former being himself Israeli). Or what about David Grossman, whom Goldberg has written about movingly?Another harsh Israeli critic of Israel’s policies, but still hardly anti-Israel.
With the exception of the Judt pieces, what the New York Review seems to be doing is giving Americans a taste of what the Israeli equivalents of the American intellectuals who write for the New York Review are saying about their own country. So unless you want to argue that the journal also is anti-America for publishing the likes of, say, David Cole, David Bromwich and Garry Wills, then it hardly seems plausible that the Review has some core anti-Israel animus.
- Original article
- Login or register to post comments
Comments
Overarching Consciousness?
If there is one thing that Jews do exceptionally well, it is worry. During the past few decades, Jews have agonized about how they and Israel are perceived by the world. As Palestinians have become more effective in manipulating public sentiment, many Jews have begun to wonder if perhaps added concessions are necessary, in order to placate Palestinians and soothe ruffled global diplomatic feathers.
Israel was a Jewish kingdom 3,000 years ago. That predates Islam by 1,500 years and Palestinians by about 2,000 years. No Jew should question Israel’s status as the ancient homeland of the Jewish people. Yet, in every generation, a powerful nation or religion has decided to expel, enslave, torture or murder Jewish people. And, while one might hope for progress in global tolerance, the 21st Century is not likely to appear much different. The world loves to hate anyone who appears dissimilar. Jews have been in those crosshairs for ages. If the world was about to acquire tolerance, the Holocaust would have generated it. Instead, we have seen Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur.
Each time Israel has given away land, Jews are punished in return. Whether it was Sinai, Gaza, portions of Jerusalem or the West Bank, donating land to Palestinians has been met with more rocket launches, suicide bombers, sniper attacks and even bulldozer attacks. Yet, Jews continue to consternate over their own behavior. In reality, Palestinians have never demonstrated the slightest willingness to recognize Israel’s right to exist. Jews give them land. Palestinians launch more attacks against Jews. In fact, the only time that Palestinians have reduced their level of attacks has been directly after Israel’s military response. I’m not suggesting that Israel continuously launch military action against Palestinians. But appeasement obviously backfires on the Israeli government.
It’s time for Jews to stop worrying so much. Palestinians will not accept Jews in our grandchildren’s lifetime. Tolerance is a pleasant fictional dream. This doesn’t mean that Jews should not try to engage the world in friendship. It means that Jews should stop feeling bad about doing whatever it takes for Israel to survive.
Charles Weinblatt
Author, Jacob’s Courage
http://jacobscourage.wordpress.com/