views
continued from page 5
both political stripes.
And what is it that enables that con-
sistency, which allows Israel to both
thrive today and plan for its future? You
guessed it. Bipartisanship.
Skeptics in Israel and within the
Republican Party are not wrong: Israel
does have a conspicuous problem
within the present-day Democratic
Party. Its sources range from the rag-
ing currents of globalization to differ-
ences over Israeli policy vis-à-vis the
Palestinians. The incontrovertible fact
today is that Republican sympathies for
Israel far outstrip Democratic ones, thus
posing a challenge from which friends
of this bilateral relationship dare not
shirk; capitulation is an unaffordable
luxury for them.
Because the White House switches
hands, congressional majorities are
not eternal and even governments
in Jerusalem have been rumored to
change, neither side of the aisle can be
written off. If the Israeli leadership ever
had to deal with a hostile and alienated
counterpart in the United States, the
consequences could be catastrophic.
Ironically, for bipartisanship to be
restored to full health, a particular
aspect of Israel’s awkward synthesis of
identity politics is both relevant and
instructive here.
Governance in America is
anchored in a two-party system, but
Israel’s proportional representation
has birthed dozens of parties since its
inception; the current Knesset boasts 11
caucuses. Among them are boutique
factions championing narrow
constituencies, namely religious
Jews and Israel’s Arab citizens, but
counterintuitively, an independent voice
has not always served their needs.
One byproduct has been that these
factions are deputized as chief lobby-
ists for basic services such as religious
education and functional neighborhood
policing for their communities. In more
familiar terms: The fundamental deliv-
erables of liberal democracy have been
turned into horse-traded special inter-
ests. And if these smaller parties then
fail at their polls, whole sectors of soci-
ety risk being marginalized. Meanwhile,
with people voting their parochial con-
cerns, the state becomes almost ungov-
ernable.
A more effective way to guarantee
themselves a hearing would have been
for these groups to set up shop within
Israel’s two major political blocs. That
way, their core requisites would become
integrated into the platforms of all
governments, no matter which way the
winds were blowing. In fact, signs of
greater consolidation are now under
way in Israel with talk of mergers and
some newer contenders fielding slates
with greater in-house diversity.
Such thinking is a piece of cake
for Americans. The Republican and
Democratic universes are seeded with
multiple affinity groups that toil to
ensure their pet causes are well repre-
sented in both parties. Among those
promoting a strong U.S.-Israel bond,
in this context, are the National Jewish
Democratic Council and Republican
Jewish Coalition, institutions that liaise
with their respective party apparatuses
and work to foster closer ties between
the two nations.
But bipartisan fellowship is becoming
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What is it that allows Israel to both thrive
today and plan for its future? You guessed it.
Bipartisanship.
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ever more tenuous, and I’ve witnessed
personally how hyper-politicization can
inflict damage to the cause — with sup-
porters of this relationship “colluding”
to turn it into a wedge issue when they
hammer each other as only fair-weather
friends. Since the mission of both the
NJDC and the RJC is to help elect mem-
bers from their own parties, they almost
have a vested interest in undermining
the bipartisan foundations of U.S.-Israel
relations.
This same spirit of polarization has
also consumed much of the cohort
advocating on behalf of America’s alli-
ance with Israel. AIPAC’s commitment
to providing a warm bipartisan home
for this community is being assailed
by less politically inclusive outfits on
both flanks. For the past eight years, J
Street’s decidedly pro-Obama bent
challenged the kumbaya of pro-Israel
orthodoxy. And today, prominent
Jewish funders and evangelical groups
are calling for a more hard-hitting
approach than AIPAC’s, one attuned to
the sensibilities of Trump’s America.
How do we square this circle when
bipartisanship is indispensable but poli-
tics is king?
Friends of America’s partnership with
Israel might best consider perform-
ing triage to stem the bleeding. If the
relationship is to recoup its “unifier”
status, the most immediate order of busi-
ness should now be to neutralize the
acrimony. AIPAC’s professionalism will
remain a formidable asset — but only if
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the organization is not transformed into
a boxing ring where political rivals come
to exchange blows without regard for the
injury it causes to bipartisanship.
Unless supreme efforts are invested
to insulate this neutral ground, it could
conceivably implode. Participants in
last week’s AIPAC joint trip to Israel
for Republican and Democratic cam-
paign operatives’ officials — report-
edly it “helped them dial down the
bitter partisanship of current-day
Washington” — would be the first to
vindicate this approach.
At the same time, the current envi-
ronment has prescribed an increasingly
important role for tapered and cohesive
silos of the like-minded. Enjoying the
cachet of intellectual traction among
their natural allies, partisan groups are
equally potent messengers on issues
ranging from foreign aid to the Iranian
nuclear threat that they can cast skill-
fully in the vernacular of their particular
guild. Ideally, this task would be per-
formed without too much emphasis on
why the opposing team is “weak” on the
issue; rather the mutual objective would
be for all sides to be “strong.”
Psalm 133 is correct: It is good and
pleasant for brothers to dwell together.
But to ensure that Democrats and
Republicans keep forging ahead to
advance the alliance between the United
States and Israel — a “best interest” of
both countries — parallel inclusive and
exclusive tracks of communal activ-
ism might just be a sign of the times.
Perhaps it’s time for Bipartisanship 2.0.
“Bipairtisanship,” if you will. •
Shalom Lipner is a nonresident senior fellow of the
Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings
Institution. From 1990 to 2016, he served seven
consecutive premiers at the Prime Minister’s Office
in Jerusalem.
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