What Does it Mean to be Pro-Israel?

by Charles Lenchner · 2008-11-12 21:11:00 UTC
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One of the issues that has come up on these pages is Israel - no surprise there. The question for the week is: what does "pro-Israel" mean?

The version propagated by the Organized Jewish Community (OJC) has the following elements:

  • Publicly, we support Israel and her policies. In private, to our Israeli friends, we might critique a specific policy.

  • In the political arena, the we oppose those who would weaken support for "Israel" in general by ensuring that no steps to condemn, critique, influence or pressure Israel will succeed.

  • We attack those who critique Israel as outright anti-Semites, folks with no credibility, or 'unwitting' anti-Semites who don't understand that singling out Israel (instead of working on Darfur) shows that they have a skewed sense of priorities.

Rising voices within the Jewish community such as J-Street, Brit Tzedek and Americans for Peace Now call themselves "pro-Israel, pro-peace." They are redefining what it means to be "pro-Israel" so that it allows for a sense that the Israeli political system is producing negative policy outcomes that should be resisted by those that support the State of Israel in general.

Finally, we have voices that are not standing on a formal Jewish or "pro-Israel" platform. They simply condemn the occupation, support Palestinian rights, and have no attachment to the ideal of Israel as a "Jewish and Democratic State". They often talk about Israel as a "State of all citizens" meaning that preferential treatment in law and policy that supports Jewish goals at the expense of ethnicity-neutral policies should be abolished. Are these folks any less "pro-Israel"? About a quarter of Israeli residents are not Jewish. A sizable minority of Israeli Jews support Democracy over Zionism if and when these two values are in conflict. As long as they support a two state solution - what makes this perspective "anti-Israel?" It's worth noting that a prominent supporters if this approach is the former speaker of the Israeli Knesset and head of the Jewish Agency, Avram Burg.

Personally, I find it hard to pinpoint my exact location. A decade ago, I made a pledge with a friend, a Palestinian from Ramle, that we would struggle until our children could "salute the same flag, sing the same anthem, and feel as attached to our shared country as the two of us feel committed to our friendship." Maybe that's not a realistic goal these days. What do you think?

Charles Lenchner
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