O pinion
For Democrats, it’s OK to Agree to
Disagree on Israel
BY KAREN ADLER AND ADA HORWICH
THE TWO OF US have spent
most of our lives working
for two causes: Israel and the
Democratic Party. For a long
time we experienced very little
dissonance or disagreement. If
you were pro-Israel, you were
most likely a Democrat. If you
were a Democrat, you were
most likely pro-Israel.

While the Democratic Party’s
2020 platform is unambiguously
pro-Israel, as it has been in years
past, there are Democrats who
are critical of Israel and want
the U.S. government to influ-
ence Israel to change its policies.

Some of that criticism, such as
recent comments by U.S. Rep.

Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and
other members of “the Squad,”
has created challenges for the
Democratic leadership, who are
tasked with keeping the party
unified. There are plenty of reasons
for these changing attitudes
among Democrats, but there is
no doubt about the Democrats’
fundamental position on Israel.

As U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler of
New York, the dean of Jewish
congressional Democrats,
wrote recently, “On Israel, there
exists a broad, mainstream
consensus around a number of
core principles.”
Republicans see an oppor-
tunity to capitalize on
controversies about Israel
among Democrats. If they can
delegitimize criticism of Israel,
their thinking goes, they can
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM skew political giving their way,
damage intraparty relation-
ships among Democrats and
undermine the broad-based
multiracial coalition needed
to achieve Democrats’ goals —
like fighting climate change,
addressing income inequality,
healing social and racial divides,
and restoring America’s integ-
rity internationally.

In pursuit of their objec-
tives, some Republicans employ
accusations of antisemitism as a
political weapon. They paint all
Democrats with the same broad
brush — from progressives like
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to
moderates like Elaine Luria.

All the while, they continue
to enable true antisemites like
those who assaulted Congress
waving QAnon flags and
wearing sweatshirts glorifying
the Holocaust.

The favorite tactic of these
Republicans is to manipu-
late anti-Israel sentiment and
conflate criticism of Israeli
policies with antisemitism. The
challenge for Democrats is to
deconflate them and disentangle
issues related to Israel from
issues related to antisemitism.

To meet this challenge,
we must learn to avoid labels.

The “pro-Israel” community
extends from the left to the
right. Harsh criticism of Israel
may be difficult to hear; we may
not like some of the language
used to describe Israeli policies.

But that doesn’t automatically
make it antisemitic. Yitzhak
Rabin once said: “I don’t think
it’s possible to contain over the
long term — if we don’t want
to get to apartheid — a million
and a half [more] Arabs inside
a Jewish state.” Would we have
called him an antisemite?
We must also learn
not to automatically label
anti-Zionists as antisemites.

Anti-Zionism is not necessarily
antisemitic, any more than
opposition to a Palestinian state
necessarily derives from hatred
of Palestinians. We are Zionists,
and we believe in the Jewish
people’s right to a homeland. At
the same time, there are those
who oppose Zionism because
they hold it writ large respon-
sible for the occupation of and
systemic discrimination against
Palestinians. While anti-Zionist views
are not prima facie antisemitic,
they do cross the line if they rely
on antisemitic tropes or deny
the right to self-determination
for Jews alone. And when they
cross the line, we must call
them out.

We have no patience with
antisemitism on the left any
more than we do with antisem-
itism on the right.

We also insist on consis-
tency from both the left and
the right. In progressive policy
circles, there is a growing focus
on equality and human rights
in the Israeli-Palestinian arena.

This is a good thing, so long
as the principle of equality is
applied on all levels — from
personal rights to national
rights. Just as Israelis and
Palestinians must have equal
human rights, civil rights and
civil liberties, so, too, must both
Israelis and Palestinians have
the right to self-determination.

The two of us continue to
devote ourselves to Israel and
to the Democratic Party. We do
not see the differing and even
conflicting views on Israel as
liabilities. Indeed, we see them
as assets. They afford us oppor-
tunities to build relationships
across the Democratic political
spectrum. And this enhances
our ability to help Israel and
combat antisemitism. l
Karen Adler is a philanthropist and
Democratic activist in New York.

Ada Horwich lives in Los Angeles
and is on the executive committee
of the Jewish Democratic Council
of America.

JEWISH EXPONENT
KVETCH ’N’ KVELL
Book Review Perpetuates Left-Wing Smears
BOTH THE NOVEL and its reviewer (“Bibi Netanyahu as
Fiction,” June 17) perpetuate the leftist smears that former Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is two-faced when addressing
domestic/foreign audiences, that he is Manichean and that he
disdains the galut.

It was former Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman
Yasser Arafat whose modus operandi was to lie in English as he
fomented an intifada in Arabic; it was Netanyahu who forged a
productive relationship with Putin despite his alignment with
the Ayatollah, and it was Netanyahu who burnished ties with
American Jewry despite persistent sabotage from groups such
as the ADL.

As a fellow graduate of Cheltenham High School, I find it
reprehensible that omitted from both the book of fiction and
its fictionalized review, was any citation of how his political/
moral character was impacted both by his father’s scholarship at
Dropsie College and his brother’s death at Entebbe.

Robert B. Sklaroff | Rydal
Criticism of Israeli Government Not Anti-Israel
Greater Philadelphia ZOA Executive Director Steve Feldman’s
op-ed (“Don’t Wait for War to Defend Israel,” June 17) asking
us to defend Israel is a perfect example of what Jews and Israel
do not need. It is full of innuendo, accusations, generalizations
and false statements, while at the same time professing to tell the
“abundantly clear” truth and decrying the spread of much disin-
formation. So, let us not spread more disinformation.

We certainly need to be vigilant and active. Balanced educa-
tion initiatives concerning Middle East history are needed across
the country. This is a long-term process. But, know this: The
folks I know can find Israel on the map and fully support its
right to exit in peace. Yet they disapprove of what the Israeli and
U.S. governments have been doing. Being critical of the actions
of your own or other governments does not a priori make one
anti-anything other than these governments.

As we have learned in the U.S., people are easily driven
to hate, mistrust and a belief in falsehoods, to say nothing of
violence and brazen damage of person and property. To advocate
for Jews to “press” leaders at all government levels for resolutions
that blindly support Israel without acknowledging both sides of
the historical equation does everyone a disservice. We do not
need more of this rhetoric.

But, we do need to acknowledge the need for peace in the
Middle East, and the role of Middle East leaders on both sides in
making the peace possible. For many decades, now, neither side
has been helpful in this mission. l
Frank L. Friedman | Philadelphia
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