Rabbi Gutow of JCPA: Peacenik Jews Silenced? Where?

I missed what I knew would be a fascinating event in New York earlier this week:a gathering of centrist and pro-peace Jewish leaders engaged in communal navel gazing at the 92nd Street Y. Luckily, Mondoweiss was there, and he took copious notes. He also dug up the video of the event.

One of the central conflicts for Weiss has to do with his level of comfort as part of the Jewish community, partly as a result of the mostly toxic and suffocating support for Israel's crimes. That being said, the pro-peace part of the Jewish community is making a brave stand and taking a personal risk by insisting on the right to criticize and push Israel while at the same time claiming to be mainstream Jews.

Jeremy Ben-Ami and Rabbi Steven Gutow had a disagreement over whether or not the Jewish community represses critics of Israel, including those with a strong record of support for mainstream causes AND Israel. Rabbi Gutow pretended not to know this was going on. (I'm choosing that interpretation because I know he isn't stupid.) Ben-Ami set him straight though:

It was at this point that Ben-Ami gave a speech about his own isolation that was very moving. I did not record the event so I can't give it verbatim. He said that Gutow reminded him of Claude Rains being "shocked" by the gambling in Rick's Cafe. "Very large numbers of unaffiliated American Jews and very large numbers of non-Jews feel that they cannot speak their mind when it comes to Israel." And when Ben-Ami meets these people, they say, "Thank god you're here." On issues like pressuring Israel, ending the settlements, even the two-state solution, these people feel they can't speak up.

This is why I feel such a strong attachment to J-Street, even though Ben-Ami and I are not exactly ideological soulmates. Moving slowly and cautiously, with great political timing and careful cultivation of resources, he is finding a way to speak truth to power. He is the rock upon which the waves of AIPAC propaganda break apart, even when peddled by a personable shill like R. Gutow.

Another of Weiss's observations struck me.

To begin with, here you have a leftish community and there was virtually nothing said all night about the horrors of Palestinian existence. The Gaza slaughter, unmentioned. White phosphorus, nothing. The checkpoints. The shooting of Tristan Anderson or the killing of Rachel Corrie--a whole universe, unmentioned.

It's so true. Even in the liberal quarters of the Jewish world, the problem of Israel is the problem of wanting Israel to be more like us. Liberal, enlightened, college educated, strategic, unhurried and proud to have voted for Obama. The Palestinians aren't really at the center of the issue, despite the fact that, well, they are the center of the issue.

At the heart of American history you find the Pilgrims, Native Americans and Africa slaves. Write about one without the other, and you are guilty of falsifying the story of America. By the same token, to speak of Israel without placing the Palestinian people at the heart, alongside the Jews, is to engage in self-serving propaganda.

In a short time, synagogues around the country will have events to comemmorate Israeli independence day. Here's my advice: invite a Palestinian speaker to kick it off. Anything less and you are part of the problem, not the solution.