AM: "Why do you think that so many of the most virulently anti-Israel people on college campuses and elsewhere are of Jewish descent? And what should we do to respond to this?"
Greenfield: "Well first I want to make clear that those people you are talking about are not Jews. They have betrayed the Jewish community. Therefore, we should not recognize them as Jews and treat them the way they treat some biblical guy who betrayed his people...by ostracizing them."
Now, I know that others have probably written a lot about extreme anti-Israel Jews/anti-Semitic Jews/"self-hating Jews." Some people think that they have internalize the hatred that others feel against them to such an extent that they have grown to believe it themselves, and take it out on others. Others feel as if they hate Jews and therefore hate themselves because they are Jewish.
I actually think it's a little bit more simplistic than that, though some of the psychological reasons might contribute to it. The reality is that the Arab-Israeli conflict is a struggle between Jews and Arabs (who are also Muslims). It would logically follow that those people who are the most interested in the situation would be Jews and Muslims. Christians are only interested when they care about the holy sites of their religion, which is not true of all Christians. Since there are not a lot of Muslims in America, it logically follows that those who care the most about Israel (either for or against) would be Jews.
So where do the anti-Israel Jews come in? For starters, some Jews might see the Arab-Israeli situation as just another issue, like hunger, homelessness of the conflict in Darfur. Because they are Jews, it might be an issue that has a personal connection to them, but that is where their "Jewish-ness" ends. In other words, they care more about the issue because Jews are related, but they still see it as just an issue.
Therefore, they are just as likely to choose the anti-Jewish side as the pro-Jewish side. Even though one side may be principally made up of Jews, that doesn't matter, it is still a side just like another other. On the one hand this is fine, just because Israel is a Jewish state doesn't mean that Jews should look at it differently. These Jews, on the other hand, take things a step further and get sucked into the world of the anti-Zionist propaganda. Because they initially sympathized with Israel's enemies, they started down the road to believing the most egregious lies against Israel.
So in that sense, anti-Zionist Jews don't take on extreme views toward Israel through any kind of psychological backflips, nor is the process any different than non-Jewish anti-Zionists. They just don't care that Israel is a Jewish state, and therefore see no personal connection between them and the Israelis. But again, that's just my theory.
I would like the opportunity to clarify what I said. The person from the audience who approached me after the formal program said to me that the anti-Israel Jews were not really Jews. I told him that he was wrong, and that he needs to visit Jewish Studies programs at some university campuses where some kippot-wearing Jewish professors who are virulently anti-Israel can be found. I also mentioned that there are rabbis at some "progressive" synagogues who are also virulently anti-Israel. In addition, what I said in the formal part of the program is that I believe that Jewish defamers of Israel who are calling for the destruction of the Jewish State should be treated as our tradition treats men who will not give their wives a "get"--a Jewish divorce--thereby keeping their wives "chained". Our tradition calls for these men to be shunned from the community.
ReplyDeleteThank you for giving me the opportunity to correct your misrepresentation of what I said.
No problem, Ms. Greenfield. This was based off my memory of the event, which isn't perfect. Have a good one.
ReplyDelete