Since I’ve taken the anti-zionist left to task again here, I’d like to add a comment on the lamentable state of affairs within the Jewish community.
Last week sometime on PBS’s Newshour, there was a segment airing the responses of American Jews to the Israel/Hezbollah war. For one young woman on an organized “Birthright Israel” tour, the matter was quite simple: “They [the Arabs] don’t want us here,” she said, then began to cry. The moment was instructive. Many diaspora Jews have a view of Israel that is not simply uncritical, but pre-political and purely emotive. This standpoint is encouraged and reinforced by mainstream Jewish institutions (“Birthright Israel” is by no means a project of the radical right). It is reflected in Hebrew school curricula and propounded by teachers who are simply unqualified on the subject of the modern Middle East.
While it’s not true across the board, Israelis tend to have a far more critical and informed view of their country, and I imagine quite a few would scoff at the word “us” in the sentence I quoted above. I believe it is harmful for young diaspora Jews to be fed the illusion that they are part of the Israeli polity. The time for questioning the notion of “birthright,” the distorted “we” of Jewish nationalism, is long overdue. Young diaspora Jews must be taught to think independently. (The Israeli “Law of Return” is a matter for another post.)
To be clear, I am not raising the reactionary bugaboo of “dual loyalty.” There is nothing wrong with diaspora Jews developing connections — cultural, spiritual, intellectual, etc. — to the state of Israel. But this shouldn’t come at the expense of informed citizenship.
Not long before he died, Arthur Hertzberg spoke at NYU in a forum with the Palestinian scholar Rashid Khalidi. In his introductory course on Zionist thought, Hertzberg recalled, he would always put the following essay question on the final exam: “Make the case for Arab nationalism.” One student was deeply offended and lodged a complaint with the dean, who then raised the issue with Hertzberg. “She answers the question or she fails the course,” Hertzberg said, standing firm. Unlike so many others, Hertzberg is someone who truly earned the title of “leader.” The Jewish community needs more like him — thousands more. Enlightened diaspora leadership is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for progress in the Middle East.
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