J1\1- Thoughts

A MONTHLY MIX OF IDEAS

George Cantor's Reality Check column will return next week

Anti-Semitic Overtones

Ann Arbor

A

nti Israel events at the
University of Michigan are
regular entertainment in Ann
Arbor these days.
The local anti-Israel group on campus,
preposterously named Students Allied for
Freedom and Equality, or SAFE, hosted
the latest event March 14, following a full
week of anti-Israel programs in February,
as well as celebration of Joel Kovel's anti-
Zionist screed in late November.
Freedom and equality have yet to
appear on SAFE'S agenda and Friday night,
March 14, was no exception. Professors
Stephen Walt of Harvard University and
John Mearsheimer of the University of
Chicago were on hand to tell a packed
auditorium how Israel and the Jews are
hurting America.
What every person and certainly the
many Palestinian students who attended
the event walked away with was a clear
affirmation of Palestinian victimhood.
The Palestinians are victims and Israel is
their oppressor, period. Their lot in life is
not their fault or responsibility.

-

They are not responsible for terrorism;
they are not responsible for llamas, Fatah,
Arafat or radical Islamism. Nothing but
nothing matters except their victimiza-
tion by Israel. Furthermore, the
United States' "blind support"
for Israel is the "main cause" of
all the Middle East problems.
Throughout their pol-
ished performance, Walt and
Mearsheimer are careful to
state that the Jews do certainly
have a right to their own state,
and that they support it and its
defense. "If Israel is ever seri-
ously threatened;' says Walt.
"The United States should come
to its aid!"
This statement was brandished
throughout the talk as a talisman against
the claim of anti-Zionism or anti-
Semitism.
Yet Israel's entire policy regarding the
Palestinians was discussed alternately in
abstract and anecdote, with few causal
relationships and a randomized, highly
selective history.
Israel's treatment of the Palestinians

was described as "brutal" no less than
four times by Mearsheimer, and never as
any sort of regrettable, understandable
retaliation or defense. Israel's presence
in the West Bank was com-
pared to American slavery and
American treatment of Native
Americans. U.S. foreign policy
in the Middle East was dealt
with as a mere extension of
Israel policy, via the omnipres-
ent Israel Lobby.
The very idea that Israel
might be responding to
Palestinian terrorism or vio-
lence was never uttered by
either man and was casually
dismissed by Mearsheimer
when asked. llamas will continue to be a
problem for Israel "as long as Israel con-
tinues its current policy of brutal occu-
pation," said Mearsheimer, with a rueful
smile and exasperated tone.
The implication that llamas, if given the
West Bank, would suddenly stop its insti-
tutional hatred and violence against Israel
and Jews, however ludicrous that may be,
is precisely what Mearsheimer left with his

very impressionable audience.
For Walt and Mearsheimer, Israel has
no existential threats, and Iran is only
developing the bomb because they feel
threatened and insulted by the U.S. and
Israel. For Walt, it was a simple difference
between "goals and capability" No mat-
ter what Hamas's rhetoric might be, since
they do not have the capability to destroy
Israel, their intentions and goals are there-
fore irrelevant.
This might have been momentarily
reassuring; after all these are suppos-
edly leading experts in security studies.
But then the professors rejected the idea
that Israel has ever faced extinction in its
history, be it 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973
or any time since, and all fears of Israel's
destruction are exaggerated.
Walt and Mearsheimer dismiss petro-
leum, geopolitical concerns and American
social values as having no real effect on
U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. The
policies put forth by the "Israel Lobby" are
the main cause of the Iraq war, 9-11 and
the rise of Hamas. In the entire two-hour

Overtones on page A37

Neighborly Conversation

Chicago

B

crack Obama is more than a
presidential candidate to me;
he's also my neighbor.
The Chicago synagogue at which I've
served for 27 years, KAM Isaiah Israel, sits
across the street from Obama's Hyde Park
neighborhood home. As an Illinois state
senator, Obama spoke to our members;
since he hit the campaign trail, his Secret
Service agents have occasionally had to visit
our washrooms.
But I support Obama not out of neigh-
borly instincts. I do so because he stands
for what I believe in, what my faith
demands.
In the mid-20th century, Jewish and
Black America forged a vital alliance. Our
communities shared a common vision. I
and many Jewish Americans stood shoul-
der to shoulder with the giants of our gen-
eration, demanding freedom for all.
Today, though, many in both communi-
ties find it too easy to forget our shared his-
tory. Grumbling can be heard in our syna-
gogues and churches, community halls and
workplaces. It's rarely expressed in polite
company, but it's there, beneath the surface.
Beneath it, that is, until someone like

Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah
Wright, crosses the line of polite discourse
and all hell breaks loose.
On March 18, the Obama candidacy had
to stop in its tracks to confront the ill-con-
ceived comments of the man who once led
the candidate's church. Obama
stood accused of guilt by asso-
ciation, and the man known
best for his soaring inclusionary
rhetoric had to declare what
anyone with any sense should
have known: He disagrees with
Wright.
In fact, he doesn't just dis-
agree. Obama believes that
Wright's recently disclosed
statements on race express "a
profoundly distorted view of
this country:' that they "denigrate both the
greatness and the goodness of our nation!'
Last week, he called Wright's comments
"inflammatory and appalling!"
Judaism has a long and proud tradition
of dialogue. We expect to wrangle over
scriptural interpretation and practice, and
I believe I've learned as much by listen-
ing to my congregants as I hope they've
learned from me. Certainly, many people
who call me their rabbi have held opinions

far different from mine. A preacher speaks
to a congregation, not for it.
This is, in essence, what Obama said
about Wright. "Did I strongly disagree with
many of his political views?" he asked on
March 18. "Absolutely — just as I'm sure
many of you have heard remarks
from your pastors, priests, or
rabbis with which you strongly
disagreed!'
And though many people may
have forgotten the old black-
Jewish alliance, it's significant that
Obama himself has not. Speaking
before a Jewish group in Cleveland
earlier this year, he drew a clear
line from our shared past to the
present: "I would not be sitting
here he said, "if it were not for a
whole host of Jewish Americans!'
The strong positions Obama has taken
regarding the Iraq war, poverty, the cli-
mate and the genocide in Darfur all speak
directly to struggles in which American
Jews have been intimately involved. His
candidacy represents an historic oppor-
tunity to re-forge the links between our
communities and once again fight together
for justice.
On a personal level, I can say that I've

worked with Obama in Hyde Park for more
than a decade. So has my son, a lawyer
who represents children and people with
disabilities, and greatly admires Obama's
dedication and skill dealing with issues
affecting our most vulnerable citizens.
We have not always agreed on every point
— personally, I occasionally find Obama
too conservative in his consideration of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict — but I have
seen him for who he is: A brilliant, open-
hearted man, the one figure on the political
scene who remembers our past and has a
real vision for repairing our present.
He is also, it should be noted, far wiser
and more thoughtful than his former min-
ister, and he offers what this country needs
most: a leader willing to ask hard ques-
tions and grapple with difficult answers.
It has been a privilege to engage in con-
versation with such a man over the years. It
is my deep hope that this nation will afford
itself the same opportunity by choosing
Barack Obama as its next president.

Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf is rabbi emeritus at
Chicago's KAM Isaiah Israel, Illinois's oldest
Jewish congregation.

March 27 • 2008

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