Reclaiming The Pro-Israel Mantle

by Hannah Rosenthal
Special To The Jewish Week

The 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel is prompting much debate about the country’s health and well-being, and about our role as American Jews in helping shape its next 60 years.

This is a debate with which I am well familiar, given my five years as executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), the umbrella organization for the Jewish community relations councils in North America.

Six years ago this week, JCPA was one of many organizations that helped bring thousands of Jews, and hundreds of our friends and allies, to Washington to support Israel at a National Israel Solidarity Rally. It was an historic occasion, and I recall much of that day with fondness and pride.

also recall the many rally attendees who pulled me aside to ask why the word “peace” was so absent from the proceedings. How could we talk security without talking peace? Where were the voices representing the will of the broader American Jewish community? Why were there no speakers giving voice to a pro-Israel vision of a secure Israel living side-by-side in peace with its neighbors?

Throughout this day of speeches and rallying cries, I began to ask myself the same questions: Where was the pro-Israel, pro-peace message? Why was the voice of so many American Jews absent from this rally?

How did we arrive at a place where pro-Israel events had come to be dominated by narrow, ultra-conservative views of what it means to be pro-Israel?

It is a question I have been asking myself ever since.

As American Jews, we pride ourselves on our liberal values — and rightfully so. For decades, we have heeded the call of tikkun olam — repairing the world — and been leaders on a range of social justice issues, from civil rights to poverty; from the Deep South to Darfur. Recently, we have traveled in the thousands (thanks in great part to the leadership of the JCPA) to the Gulf Coast to help rebuild areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Yet when it comes to Israel, the voices that are heard are so often at odds with these same values.

The progressive voice in our community has been far too quiet on Israel for far too long.

Perhaps out of fear, perhaps out of timidity, we have failed to stand up to those who favor military solutions to political problems or oppose peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian and Arab-Israeli conflicts in the name of promoting Israel’s best interests.

Six years after I stood with thousands of other American Jews in Washington in support of Israel, Israel remains mired in conflicts with its neighbors. There is no security. There is no peace. And there is no real political leadership here in the United States that is prepared to change this reality and engage in meaningful and consistent diplomacy.

But unlike six years ago, I know there is something we can do to about this.

Israel’s 60th anniversary happens to also be a milestone year in American politics. Change is in the air. Long-held assumptions are being questioned and political power is being reshaped.

For progressive Jewish Americans, this is a moment to re-assess how we express our love for Israel and to give voice to our values when it comes to Israel — just as we do on all other issues that capture our attention.

To me, this is an ideal moment for a new political movement to emerge, rooted among American Jews who love Israel, to express loudly and forcefully that it is pro-Israel to press for more active American leadership role in bringing peace to the Middle East. That it is in the best interests of Israel for us as American Jews to stand up and say what we believe and reclaim the pro-Israel mantle from those who purport to be pro-Israel, but whose policies and politics are far from it.

In a year that is likely to bring change for America, I’m excited at the emergence of a new political voice in our community that can open up new political change and perhaps bring change that will benefit Israel, the U.S. and the American Jewish community.

Hannah Rosenthal is a member of the advisory council of J Street and JStreetPAC, a new lobby and PAC that is pro-Israel and pro-peace.