Peter Beinart's recent text, "The Crisis of Zionism," deserves to be read by every American, and certainly every Jewish American, who has even a passing interest in the past, present and future of the 65 year history between the United States and the nation of...
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Peter Beinart's recent text, "The Crisis of Zionism," deserves to be read by every American, and certainly every Jewish American, who has even a passing interest in the past, present and future of the 65 year history between the United States and the nation of Israel. Israel was born out of WWII and the Holocaust, but has early roots in the Balfour Declaration (Nov 2, 1917) transmitted to Zionists by the English government in the middle of WWI. Its primary ideal was to build a democracy in a secular state which would provide a homeland for Jewish people wishing to return to the region after nearly 2000 years of displacement. Beinart argues that in the current political environment, these goals may be unachievable. He fears that political forces in Israel, today, may force an end to democracy.
Israel has been locked in conflict since 1948. A pawn in the Cold War, an American client during the wars between Israel and its neighbors; and now the central focus in the Muslim/ Western conflict initiated 30 years ago with the Iranian Revolution, and recently the 9-11 tragedy followed by "War on Terror," established by the Bush Administration.
These conflicts, and the desire of American Jews to preserve the integrity of the nation of Israel, has, according to Beinart, promoted an American "Jewish" lobby whose primary purpose is to argue the cause of Israel often in conflict with the best interests of the United States. Beinart discusses the shift in the pro-Israel lobby from its original roots in early to middle 20th Century progressive Zionism, into a more right wing force whose members have only limited connection with most Jewish Americans. He describes the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), strongly dedicated to the preservation of a Jewish State in Israel, by supporting the politics of the current conservative, and, often, religious orthodoxy prevailing in Israeli today. This political sentiment may run counter to American Middle Eastern foreign policy which has focused on a two-state solution to the conflict for over 20 years.
Beinart explains how the liberal Zionism which created the state of Israel in 1948, with consistent support of every Unites States administration from Truman to Obama, has moved to the political right, embracing principles in conflict with its original progressive ideals. Today, the expansion of Israel into the captured territory of the West Bank to establish a modern Jewish state in the region of the Biblical Judea and Sumeria, is a idea far beyond those which created the 1967 cease-fire line following the Six-Day war. Beinart describes how the current policy of Prime Minister Netanyahu, could well destroy Israeli democracy, a point, also made by former President Jimmy Carter, using the term "Apartheid" to define what may result in a future relationship between the Israeli government and the West Bank Palestinian population. Such an outcome is inimical to a secular Jewish democracy.
Beinart expands on the theme by arguing the US government must reject the pressure from the Washington "Jewish" Lobby, now supported by the Evangelical Right and many Republicans, or we shall never be able to broker a rational settlement between Israel and the Palestinians on the West Bank and in Gaza, to achieve a stable two state solution in which both sides can find peace and prosperity . As the recent election results in Israel indicate, "Crisis in Zionism" may not be the last word in the Arab/Israeli conflict in the Middle East; but it is certainly a major source of information that will help reasoning readers to sort out the wheat from the chaff in the excessive rhetoric that fills our newspapers and our airways.
Jonathan Weisbuch, MD
Peter Beinart's recent text, "The Crisis of Zionism," deserves to be read by every American, and certainly every Jewish American, who has even a passing interest in the past, present and future of the 65 year history between the United States and the nation of Israel. Israel was born out of WWII and the Holocaust, but has early roots in the Balfour Declaration (Nov 2, 1917) transmitted to Zionists by the English government in the middle of WWI. Its primary ideal was to build a democracy in a secular state which would provide a homeland for Jewish people wishing to return to the region after nearly 2000 years of displacement. Beinart argues that in the current political environment, these goals may be unachievable. He fears that political forces in Israel, today, may force an end to democracy.
Israel has been locked in conflict since 1948. A pawn in the Cold War, an American client during the wars between Israel and its neighbors; and now the central focus in the Muslim/ Western conflict initiated 30 years ago with the Iranian Revolution, and recently the 9-11 tragedy followed by "War on Terror," established by the Bush Administration.
These conflicts, and the desire of American Jews to preserve the integrity of the nation of Israel, has, according to Beinart, promoted an American "Jewish" lobby whose primary purpose is to argue the cause of Israel often in conflict with the best interests of the United States. Beinart discusses the shift in the pro-Israel lobby from its original roots in early to middle 20th Century progressive Zionism, into a more right wing force whose members have only limited connection with most Jewish Americans. He describes the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), strongly dedicated to the preservation of a Jewish State in Israel, by supporting the politics of the current conservative, and, often, religious orthodoxy prevailing in Israeli today. This political sentiment may run counter to American Middle Eastern foreign policy which has focused on a two-state solution to the conflict for over 20 years.
Beinart explains how the liberal Zionism which created the state of Israel in 1948, with consistent support of every Unites States administration from Truman to Obama, has moved to the political right, embracing principles in conflict with its original progressive ideals. Today, the expansion of Israel into the captured territory of the West Bank to establish a modern Jewish state in the region of the Biblical Judea and Sumeria, is a idea far beyond those which created the 1967 cease-fire line following the Six-Day war. Beinart describes how the current policy of Prime Minister Netanyahu, could well destroy Israeli democracy, a point, also made by former President Jimmy Carter, using the term "Apartheid" to define what may result in a future relationship between the Israeli government and the West Bank Palestinian population. Such an outcome is inimical to a secular Jewish democracy.
Beinart expands on the theme by arguing the US government must reject the pressure from the Washington "Jewish" Lobby, now supported by the Evangelical Right and many Republicans, or we shall never be able to broker a rational settlement between Israel and the Palestinians on the West Bank and in Gaza, to achieve a stable two state solution in which both sides can find peace and prosperity . As the recent election results in Israel indicate, "Crisis in Zionism" may not be the last word in the Arab/Israeli conflict in the Middle East; but it is certainly a major source of information that will help reasoning readers to sort out the wheat from the chaff in the excessive rhetoric that fills our newspapers and our airways.
Jonathan Weisbuch, MD
