moved to write something about israel, jews, and gaza

so, lately this gaza thing has, of course, been irking me. after all, i'm a US jew, and my family and jewish friends often feel caught in the middle of a terrible juncture of nationalism, zionism, anti-zionism, religion, culture, identity politics, and anti-semitism, ad nauseum, every time israel launches a brutal and violent offensive, fully supported by the US, i once again engage in these stress-producing moral dilemmas and feel generally that my hands are tied. so i wanted to fulminate for a second here.

1) anti-Semitism: to all outward appearances, global anti-Semitism appears to be on the rise. I would say that this is largely a factor of Israel's policies, because Israel is so hated around the world, and jews are often associated with israel, as if the two were one. which they often are - for example, the powerful jewish lobby in the US includes a lot of neocons who influence US policy toward israel, while rich donors give money to Israeli causes. It's hard to be pro-israel while skirting completely the issue of israel's approach toward terror groups in palestine and lebanon. also, it's painful to see the overwhelmingly unequal use of force against these groups, and i consider those actions a human rights violation, plain and simple. So it's complicated. what if, say, you support israel for sentimental reasons, as, i would argue, my grandparents do, and you're simultaneously donating money to israel's nationalist causes and very outspoken in your opposition to the ways that israel treats palestinians? can this happen? i would say yes, because all sorts of nuances regarding one's feelings for israel and palestine are possible, but by and large these very intricate political stances - which are actually often jumbles of emotion, ideology, and even a sort of fantasmatic forced ignorance brought on by nostalgia - get smoothed over by the media and by governments, which have to unequivocally endorse or reject things.

2) it gets more complicated: the US backs israel, but jews are not the only ones motivating this. first off, there's the evangelical right, which feels other religiously-inspired and politically motivated ties to israel and has wielded substantial power in US government for the past 8 years, in case you didn't notice. then there's the idea that israel and the US have a lot of espionage and weapons ties in the middle east - as my friend noted, it's an open secret that israel does the US's 'dirty work' in iran and has spied for us quite a bit elsewhere. so that motivates these ties. then there's the jewish lobby. but i'd like someone to do a study on how most US jews feel about israel, because i would bet that the majority are rather heartsick over the killing of innocent people, because of the whole 'human' thing, even while they wish that israel could succeed. israel and jews are, to some extent, vehicles for the machinations of larger forces- US policy in the middle east in the case of the former, and global anti-semitism for the latter. i mean, jews are a tiny percentage of the population, but we've historically been hated forever, and we continue to be hated all over the place. while traveling this year in latin america, i encountered anti-semitism that bordered on the eugenic - weird stuff about jews, brains, and money (and big noses) - and europe is equally bad, i hate to say. but i just want to know how the opinions of average jews toward israel synch up, or don't, with those of the influential neocon jewish power brokers who lobby the government on behalf of israel.

sorry, those weren't divided into talking points at all. but here's three nonetheless:

3) public forums on jewish attitudes toward israel: we know that there are a lot of critical voices about israel IN israel - that is, dissenting opinions that are expressed in national forums. but what about here and in other parts? the problem is that when in latin america, i encountered both rabid anti-semitism and factors that would seem to inspire such feeling - like jewish communities that were conservative, wealthy, clannish/exclusionary, and in general sort of deserving of the title of 'greedy jew.' same with madoff! he played into the hands of anti-semites, of course, but now what? how to we extricate ourselves from that tautological double-bind? likewise, israel invaded gaza, some say, because it was being perceived as 'weak' and vulnerable by not doing anything. now it's seen as an aggressive martyr-maker whose people deserve, think many, to be wiped off the face of the earth. so now what? these tautologies seem impossible to escape, and i think that they're once again the result of the jews being taken up as vehicles for others' agendas (anti-semites, the US government). blah! oh but

4) public forums on jewish attitudes toward israel: forgot to get to that. now, very rarely do i see jews stand up and say that they're both jewish and anti-zionist. and why not? it's seemingly not such a bad thing, but it's almost considered self-hating by many. when i go home for the high holy days, the rabbi fulminates on all sorts of conservative, pro-israel platforms, and yet he is socially liberal - in favor of civil rights and obama - and also even fiscally liberal - in favor of a large and consolidated welfare state - as are many in the jewish voting bloc. weirdly enough, these two viewpoints - hawkish about israel, soft on all else - can somehow coexist. and i see it a lot in the jewish community - for example, in my parents and grandparents and in a lot of my friends, who i would never consider ignorant or simplistic people. so what's motivating this blind faith vis-a-vis israel in someone who is supposed to be as beneficent as a rabbi?

i think it's massive community pressure, as evidenced in that spertus museum incident last year. sometimes the jewish community can be like the most taskmaster jewish parents, forcing you to do things through guilt, manipulation, and outright hysteria/neuroses. we've all felt this pressure-cooker, and jews are often really good at internalizing all the guilt and admonishment, which explains why we succeed in school, heh heh...anyhow, in the spertus fracas, the museum had to cancel this really excellent and balanced installation of art dealing with the israel-palestine conflict, because the jewish community (which did not name itself, but which clearly consisted in the richest donors) was offended by perceived anti-semitism. i understand that the 'community' has to watch its collective back, but i also think that cries of anti-semitism are often totally unhelpful and, moreover, harmful for the diminishment of actual anti-semitism. but there's too much legend and lore supporting the 'underdog' thesis that jews love to talk up. to which i say: blah. why don't we get ourselves into the modern age, here. i would much rather see global peace accords and turned other-cheeks than i would a strong and defiant and feisty little jewish community standing against everyone who hates our guts unduly. because that's getting to be everyone, it seems.

5) i didn't talk about the other side, and i know that. look, i don't think that launching rockets into israel is a benign act. i think that hamas was egging us on. but i also think that after so many disastrous wars against seemingly uncrushable insurgencies, the thing to do is to think about what war really does in the short- and long-run and perhaps just ignore the attacks as we would a middle-school bully. because that's essentially what these weak and flaccid terror groups are - they're petty and trying to make us mad, so we'll go to the international political equivalent of the principal's office. okay, i know that that's simplistic and, moreover, infantilizing, but i still think that serious thought needs to go into issues like public relations and war policy on israel's side, instead of these huge counterattacks that do far more harm - in terms of lives lost and public opinion - than good.