TIKKUNA Bimonthly Jewish & Interfaith Critique of
Politics, Culture & Society
March/April 2004 || http://www.tikkun.org
Democrats Boost Their "Pro
Israel" Credentials
http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/index.cfm/action/tikkun/issue/tik0403/article/040304e.html
Certain that the right wing of the Jewish world represents an
indispensable constituency, virtually all of the Democratic
Presidential candidates have avoided serious discussion about how to
bring peace to Israel and Palestine, fearful that they might say
something that would alienate this section of the Jewish world. Not
one of the candidates has been willing to endorse the Geneva Accord
or even to discuss why not.
The pandering helps re-enforce the notion that the "pro-Sharon"
voices really are the voices of the entire Jewish community. Media
rarely describes the candidates as speaking to the Jewish right wing,
but instead to the "pro-Israel" or even "Jewish" vote.
The dramatic reversal of Howard Dean's stand, from calling for a
more even-handed approach last Fall, to capitulating to the
pro-Sharon camp by January of 2004, is illustrative. Faced with an
assault by Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, Mel Levine, and dozens of
others, the candidate lauded for his supposed stubbornness and
maverick tendencies did a 180 degree turn long before the Iowa
caucus.
In mid January, the Dean campaign announced the appointment of Al
Gore's national security adviser Leon Fuerth as chairman of Dean's
foreign policy team. "Those in the pro-Israel community who know Leon
Fuerth and the role he played with Vice President Gore will be
pleased," said David Harris, executive director of the American
Jewish Committee. "He has a long record of involvement and there have
been any number of encounters that demonstrate his understanding of
the region and his support for a robust U.S.-Israel
relationship."
"Leon Fuerth's appointment helps send a very strong message to the
foreign-policy world and the American Jewish community that Howard
Dean's values and policies related to the Middle East should be ones
they should be comfortable with," said Steve Grossman, national
co-chair of Dean for America and a former president of the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). While the AIPAC presence in
the Dean campaign has been overwhelmingly powerful, there has been no
comparable openness to the Israeli peace forces. Attempts by Tikkun
and others to engage Dean in a dialogue about the Middle East have
been rejected.
Meanwhile, few of the grass roots activists who were engaged in
building the Dean campaign made any significant attempts to get him
to address the Middle East. Deep commitment to the notion of "Anybody
But Bush," and to their hopes for Dean to be the one who could
replace Bush, have led many Dean activists to argue that they can't
afford to push their candidate to take a stand on an issue that might
lose him some votes.
The question of Middle East peace was raised to candidate John
Kerry on the eve of the New Hampshire primary. In a first statement,
apparently spontaneous, Kerry said that he did not see any real
leadership willing to take a stand to move from some of the
settlements, and that would be necessary. Within hours the pro-Sharon
forces had managed to get to him and, according to news reports,
Kerry reversed himself, loudly proclaiming that Sharon would in fact
be a leader who would take the steps needed for peace. Amazing
integrity! Anything for a victory at the polls.
Yet a recent poll in the Jewish world suggests that this fear may
be unfounded. It reports that no matter who the Democratic candidate
will be, close to 1/3 of Jewish voters are likely to vote Republican
in 2004, and they include many of the very pro-Sharon people who have
created the impression that "the Jews" will not tolerate any
criticism of the Occupation. The votes are already lost to the
Democrats—not because of their failure to pander to Israeli
supporters of the Occupation, but because these same right-wingers
favor the kind of militarism and pro-corporate policies that the
Republicans champion and Democrats faintly try to mimic.
