Until comparatively recently, Israel could count on the backing of Jews in the Diaspora with the exception of a few outspoken writers and intellectuals such as 82-year-old Professor Naom Chomsky, who, last week, was prevented from entering the West Bank from Jordan to deliver a lecture at Ramallah's Birzeit University.
This wasn't to say that Jews in America and Europe necessarily agreed with Israel's policies. Israel's founding father David Ben Gurion used to say "for every two Jews there are three opinions". But those who disagreed tended to keep their thoughts private; perhaps because they didn't want to appear disloyal to the Jewish state. Or, alternatively, because they refused to allow facts to get in the way of their belief in Israel as a moral entity that was forced to ignore international law for the sake of its very survival.
In the past, it was easier to turn a blind eye to Israel's crimes as until the advent of Arab satellite channels and widespread use of the internet, the Palestinian narrative was given little voice. But things are changing with increasing numbers of Jews having decided that Israel is its own worst enemy. Rather than proffer blind allegiance they are doling out tough love in the way some concerned parents treat a wayward or addicted child.
This revolutionary wave of Jewish thinking began in 2006 when 300 British Jews, including many prominent personalities, signed a petition condemning Israel's onslaught on Gaza.
Calling themselves ‘Jews for Justice for Palestinians' they published their petition in the form of a newspaper advertisement. The group's spokesman said, "There are those in the community who say that Jews should not criticise Israel. But Israel is damaging itself through this kind of action."
Then in April 2008, J Street was formed as an alternative to AIPAC and other traditional pro-Israel lobbying organisations. J Street believes putting dialogue before confrontation will "advance US interests in the Middle East and promote real peace and security for Israel and the region". The group backs the Arab Initiative as a potential framework for peace and condemns Jewish colonies on the West Bank.
It goes without saying that J Street has come in for more than its fair share of criticism. Barry Rubin, the editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs believes J Street could be an anti-Israel front for Iranian interests, which is so ridiculous it reflects negatively on his editorial credentials. J Street has lobbied Congress for anti-Iranian sanctions and opposes international anti-Israel cultural and trade boycotts.
Now, European Jews have come up with their own answer to J Street — JCall. More than 4,600 have signed ‘European Jewish Call for Reason', a petition against ‘morally wrong' Israeli colony policies that reads: "Systematic support of Israeli government policy is dangerous and does not serve the true interests of the state of Israel."
Earlier this month, the petition was presented to the European Parliament by former Israeli ambassador to France Elie Barnavi, former Israeli ambassador to Germany Ali Primor, Daniel Cohn Bendit, a member of the EU Parliament's Green Party and Bernard-Henri Lévy, one of France's best-known philosophers.
The signatories say they plan to create a movement on the lines of J Street that is "committed to the state of Israel and critical of the current choices of its government."
It's unlikely that either J Street or JCall will be inundated with Jewish support any time soon. Old habits die hard and the majority of American and European Jews feel viscerally bonded to the Jewish state even if, at times, they are embarrassed by its leadership. However, the very fact that these groups exist represents a breaking down of taboos, allowing Jews with a conscience to speak their mind in the knowledge they are not alone.
Staunch Zionists are not amused by the new trend. The right-wing law professor and commentator Alan Dershowitz has written it off, saying the reason why liberal Diaspora Jews criticise Israel is "they want to disassociate themselves because otherwise they won't be invited to dinner parties."
Far less glib is Israeli political scientist Shlomo Avineri. An article published in Haaretz headlined ‘What's happening to Diaspora Jews?' voices his concern. "Something bad is happening in the relationship between Israel and important Jewish communities abroad and it's not just a political issue," he writes. "It's not just anti-Zionists like the Neturei Karta sect and Noam Chomsky who have been criticising Israel and its policies lately."
A situation "in which Jews for whom Israel is a significant part of their lives feel alienated from the state of the Jews is simply intolerable from an Israeli perspective as well as a Jewish one," he says.
What is truly intolerable is the treatment Israel metes out to a people whose land it continues to illegally occupy, its unwillingness to quit colony building, its imprisonment of the residents of Gaza and its belligerence towards its Lebanese and Syrian neighbours.
Those Jews around the world who have the courage to say it like it is should be applauded. And, who knows, if the day comes when their numbers reach a critical mass, they — more than the US, the EU and the Quartet — could make a difference.
- Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She can be contacted at: lheard@gulfnews.com.
