What does 'pro-Israel' even mean? -- By Mitchell BARD (Jerusalem Post -- Nov. 5, 2009)
[Comment: The ideas canvassed here by Mitchell BARD are fundamental to and relevant for all discussions about the Middle East. PmR]
What does 'pro-Israel' even mean?
By Mitchell BARD
Jerusalem Post
Nov. 5, 2009
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1256799098894&pagena...
The term "pro-Israel" is used routinely to describe Americans sympathetic toward the State of Israel. Increasingly, however, one hears questions raised as to what this term really means. The "pro-Israel" community was never monolithic, but the number of critics of Israeli policy and the volume of their complaints have grown to the point where some people are confused about the definition.
Does it mean support for the people of Israel and/or the government? Can someone be pro-Israel and criticize Israel?
Historically, there have always been American Jews (and non-Jews) who believed they knew what was best for Israel and argued that their views, despite their divergence from the mainstream of the pro-Israel community or the policies of the government of Israel, were "pro-Israel."
What may be called the "chutzpah lobby" treats Israelis like children who don't know what's good for them and substitutes its judgment to save Israel in spite of itself.
As someone who has been involved in academic research on US-Israel relations as well as advocacy for Israel for more than 20 years, I do not see any confusion.
HERE IS a set of criteria for distinguishing someone as pro-Israel:
1. Believes the Jewish people are a nation entitled to self-determination in their homeland, which is Israel.
2. Respects Israeli democracy and does not substitute his judgment for Israeli voters'.
3. Emphasizes the good in Israel while acknowledging the faults, rather than emphasizing the faults and ignoring the positive aspects of the nation.
4. Criticizes Israel within the family. Israel may be the only country whose prime minister regularly meets with citizens from other countries to hear their views. The easiest way for a Jew to get attention - the man-bites-dog story - is to be the Jew who publicly castigates Israel. Israel's best interests should trump personal ego.
5. Rejects the idea that it is okay to publicly criticize Israel just because Jews in Israel censure their government. America is not Israel; Israelis have a common narrative and shared experiences. Americans, even American Jews, do not have the same level of knowledge or experience with regard to Israel, so criticism is interpreted differently. Criticism is also not justified by Israeli encouragement, as they do not understand the American context and typically only bless critics who agree with them (leftist Israelis are happy to encourage American Jews to speak out against rightist governments, but are furious with criticism of leftist governments and vice versa).
6. Respects Israeli military judgments. Israelis are not infallible, but armchair American generals typically have no qualifications for challenging Israeli military experts (even US military generals can be wrong, as proved by George Marshall's prediction that the Jews would be routed in 1948).
7. Believes in trying to act by consensus. Sometimes this leads to a watering-down of positions, but unity is one of the principal advantages the Israeli lobby has over the Arab lobby.
8. Knows the history and facts about the contentious issues, including the Palestinian narrative.
9. Doesn't substitute wishful thinking for reality. Everyone wants peace, but objective conditions cannot be ignored (e.g., hoping Hamas will change won't make it so).
10. Does not join forces with Israel's enemies. Some organizations claiming to be pro-Israel find common cause with groups that have long records of hostility toward Israel and trying to undermine the US-Israel relationship. By doing so, they bring peace no closer and only weaken the political strength of the pro-Israel community.
11. Knows its audience and recognizes that as a Jew its words are magnified. Comments made before an audience that shares its feelings about Israel are likely to be understood one way while the same remarks may be misconstrued by an audience that has mixed or anti-Israel feelings.
12. Supports Israeli government efforts to make peace even when the risks seem high from the comfort of America.
13. Is pro-peace; however, being pro-peace does not necessarily make you pro-Israel as many groups and individuals who say they favor peace advocate positions that are damaging to Israel. In fact, those who believe Israel should disappear can claim that is a pro-peace position.
Undoubtedly some people will take exception to this list, especially those who believe that the "establishment" which accepts these criteria does not represent the majority of American Jews. They are free of course to call themselves pro-Israel or anything else they want, but those who do not subscribe to these criteria are more likely to weaken the US-Israel relationship than to help it, and to become pawns of Israel's enemies.
___________
The writer is the author of over 20 books including 48 Hours of Kristallnacht: Night of Destruction/Dawn of the Holocaust and Will Israel Survive?
What does 'pro-Israel' even mean?
By Mitchell BARD
Jerusalem Post
Nov. 5, 2009
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1256799098894&pagena...
The term "pro-Israel" is used routinely to describe Americans sympathetic toward the State of Israel. Increasingly, however, one hears questions raised as to what this term really means. The "pro-Israel" community was never monolithic, but the number of critics of Israeli policy and the volume of their complaints have grown to the point where some people are confused about the definition.
Does it mean support for the people of Israel and/or the government? Can someone be pro-Israel and criticize Israel?
Historically, there have always been American Jews (and non-Jews) who believed they knew what was best for Israel and argued that their views, despite their divergence from the mainstream of the pro-Israel community or the policies of the government of Israel, were "pro-Israel."
What may be called the "chutzpah lobby" treats Israelis like children who don't know what's good for them and substitutes its judgment to save Israel in spite of itself.
As someone who has been involved in academic research on US-Israel relations as well as advocacy for Israel for more than 20 years, I do not see any confusion.
HERE IS a set of criteria for distinguishing someone as pro-Israel:
1. Believes the Jewish people are a nation entitled to self-determination in their homeland, which is Israel.
2. Respects Israeli democracy and does not substitute his judgment for Israeli voters'.
3. Emphasizes the good in Israel while acknowledging the faults, rather than emphasizing the faults and ignoring the positive aspects of the nation.
4. Criticizes Israel within the family. Israel may be the only country whose prime minister regularly meets with citizens from other countries to hear their views. The easiest way for a Jew to get attention - the man-bites-dog story - is to be the Jew who publicly castigates Israel. Israel's best interests should trump personal ego.
5. Rejects the idea that it is okay to publicly criticize Israel just because Jews in Israel censure their government. America is not Israel; Israelis have a common narrative and shared experiences. Americans, even American Jews, do not have the same level of knowledge or experience with regard to Israel, so criticism is interpreted differently. Criticism is also not justified by Israeli encouragement, as they do not understand the American context and typically only bless critics who agree with them (leftist Israelis are happy to encourage American Jews to speak out against rightist governments, but are furious with criticism of leftist governments and vice versa).
6. Respects Israeli military judgments. Israelis are not infallible, but armchair American generals typically have no qualifications for challenging Israeli military experts (even US military generals can be wrong, as proved by George Marshall's prediction that the Jews would be routed in 1948).
7. Believes in trying to act by consensus. Sometimes this leads to a watering-down of positions, but unity is one of the principal advantages the Israeli lobby has over the Arab lobby.
8. Knows the history and facts about the contentious issues, including the Palestinian narrative.
9. Doesn't substitute wishful thinking for reality. Everyone wants peace, but objective conditions cannot be ignored (e.g., hoping Hamas will change won't make it so).
10. Does not join forces with Israel's enemies. Some organizations claiming to be pro-Israel find common cause with groups that have long records of hostility toward Israel and trying to undermine the US-Israel relationship. By doing so, they bring peace no closer and only weaken the political strength of the pro-Israel community.
11. Knows its audience and recognizes that as a Jew its words are magnified. Comments made before an audience that shares its feelings about Israel are likely to be understood one way while the same remarks may be misconstrued by an audience that has mixed or anti-Israel feelings.
12. Supports Israeli government efforts to make peace even when the risks seem high from the comfort of America.
13. Is pro-peace; however, being pro-peace does not necessarily make you pro-Israel as many groups and individuals who say they favor peace advocate positions that are damaging to Israel. In fact, those who believe Israel should disappear can claim that is a pro-peace position.
Undoubtedly some people will take exception to this list, especially those who believe that the "establishment" which accepts these criteria does not represent the majority of American Jews. They are free of course to call themselves pro-Israel or anything else they want, but those who do not subscribe to these criteria are more likely to weaken the US-Israel relationship than to help it, and to become pawns of Israel's enemies.
___________
The writer is the author of over 20 books including 48 Hours of Kristallnacht: Night of Destruction/Dawn of the Holocaust and Will Israel Survive?
Tags: bard, israel, jerusalem, mean, mitchell, post, pro, pro_israel, what
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Oliver Haack on
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"Can someone be pro-Israel and criticize Israel?"
Yes! Honest criticism is a part of every friendship - whether among nations/states or among individuals.
OK, I'll take some time, and try to 'test myself' according to the authors's 13 criteria:
1. agree
2. agree
3. agree in part: sometimes of course "faults" have to be emphasized rather than just acknowledged. it depends on the gravity of the presumed faults.
4. agree in part: "Israel's best interests"? What is that? Nothing else than the sum of individuals' best interests. So public criticism - in every liberal democracy - is not only inevitable but also indispensable.
5. agree in part: democracies must be 100% open to criticism (from both inside and outside)
6. agree in part: some military judgments are alright, some not. in a democracy, military judgment is generally subordinate to political judgment, and political judgment, in the end, is again people's judgment. if you see this point from that perspective, "military experts" are relatively weak (although in Israel they're not).
7. agree
8. agree - both narratives must be known to both sides
9. agree
10. agree in part - i consider myself as 'pro-Israel' but i'm not an Israeli, after all. Anyway, 'joining forces' can also mean seeking a path towards effective diplomacy with enemies. Long-term peace in the region requires peace treaties with those Arab countries which for the time being are considered enemies with "long records of hostility toward Israel".
11. agree
12. agree - honest "efforts to make peace" should be supported by everybody ; peace, however, shouldn't be one-sided or imposed.
13. agree - but...the author should be clearer on what he means by "damaging to Israel". If it means the destruction of Israel, we should all know how to react, but if it means that a peace resolution could contain land concessions, for instance, the case becomes a different one.
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Permalink Reply by Paul RETI on -
Thanks for your honest answers Oliver. :-) I hope that others do the same. Later, I will too.
And yes no attempt to formulate points like Bard did can be perfect. I think that his is an intellectually honest attempt. .
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Looking forward to your replies :)
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Permalink Reply by Fred Schlomka on -
I'd like to focus on Mitchell's #1 definition for the meaning of 'pro-Israel'"
1. Believes the Jewish people are a nation entitled to self-determination in their homeland, which is Israel.
As an individual, I am home - here in Israel/Palestine. My family came has lived here for over 200 years and I was a first generation born outside the country. So I came home.
Now this is a far cry from someone whose lineage stretches back into antiquity without any ancestor setting foot in the Holy Land for hundreds or years, or more. Thus the definition of 'homeland' and 'Jewish people' are a little vague, and always have been. Perhaps a tribe of Native Americans will rise up in a thousand years or so and conquer and retake control of North America. They are not about to forget their ancient nations who were decimated by European conquerors, so why not? Like the Jews, they were also are slaughtered and oppressed, so why not? They still have a presence in the land, so why not. Even if Native Americans are dispersed around the world over the next two millennia, why shouldn't they come back and claim their ancient rights? They could, but only with the sword. Future residents of North America will certainly not hand it over.
The idea today that tribal peoples who have been displaced could return in a couple of thousand years and and claim the 'right' to conquer what was once theirs for a relatively short period of history seems ridiculous. Yet this is the underpinning of Zionism, hence the creation of Israel as a Jewish-controlled state. Ethnic states no matter what the political cover, just are not compatible with democracy in the 21st century. However the State of Israel does exist, and it's not going away. So those of us living here need to be doing what people have done in Europe and the USA for the past couple of centuries - battle for political reform and liberal democracy so all citizens can have equal rights protected within a constitutional framework.
Western European countries used to be similar to Israel today. Controlled by Christian forces, with everyone else unequal or denied rights. They changed, so can we. Just as European countries, and the USA, are what I call Christian flavored democracies, hopefully we can become a Jewish flavored democracy. Imagine an Arab prime minister of Israel . . . . . . Yeah, so laugh about it, but when I arrived in the USA in 1970 the idea of a Black President was equally ludicrous, and yet today (for better or worse) Obama is in the White House.
So self-determination for a single ethnic group (my bunch-the Jews) within a multi-ethnic/religious country, defacto means some form of political/regulatory system that guarantees one group the CONTROL of the country. Then democracy tends to go out the window, as various measures are enacted to ensure the continuing control of the dominant group. That has happened in Israel for the past 60+ years
Mitchell equates 'pro-Israel' with 'pro-Zionist'. However It is possible to be pro-Israel and not support Zionism as the state ideology. - ie: to support the nation state of Israel as a democracy for all the citizens.
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