By James D. Besser
Bare-knuckle politics characterize American democracy; but more and more, partisan excesses produce just strife and division.
A good example is the effort by the Republicans to prove that the Democratic Party has been taken over by anti-Israel leftists.
Their “evidence” starts with Connecticut’s Ned Lamont, who recently beat Sen. Joe Lieberman in the state’s Democratic primary, and continues with the handful of liberals who often vote against pro-Israel resolutions in Congress.
While there are real issues in play — there are factions in both major parties hostile to Israel — the net result is to undo much of the positive effect of decades’ worth of pro-Israel activism.
And too often, Jews who genuinely care about Israel are the willing enablers of politicians who see the issue as just one more bludgeon to use against their partisan foes.
From the birth of the pro-Israel movement in the 1950s, Jewish leaders tried to walk a careful line, using the mechanisms of politics to teach, convince and sometimes strong-arm important politicians, but also trying to keep support for Israel from becoming just another partisan football.
Members of Congress and candidates won praise and financial support when they demonstrated support for Israel, and criticism when they didn’t. But the underlying goal was always to expand the pro-Israel base and build bridges to those who were not yet on the reservation.
Pro-Israel veterans still like to tell the story of former Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), once an implacable foe of their agenda, but later, thanks to patient outreach, one of its biggest supporters.
Bitterly polarized
But also from the beginning, many politicians have seen Israel as a wedge issue they could manipulate to divide the Jewish electorate for their partisan — and financial — gain.
Their goal isn’t to build and broaden support for the Jewish state, but to use the issue as a blunt instrument in partisan wars that grow more vitriolic by the year.
The result is that support for Israel is becoming just another wedge issue in a bitterly polarized political environment where common ground is scarce and every issue is valued only for its effectiveness as a weapon.
Jewish and pro-Israel groups play along, sometimes in the mistaken belief that this actually strengthens their movement and sometimes out of fear of offending powerful supporters. In essence, they let those who are using Israel for their own purposes shape pro-Israel political strategies.
They tacitly endorse the view that the world is divided into loyal friends who agree down the line with every talking point of pro-Israel leaders, and those who are weak, soft or just plain anti. Again following the lead of the self-interested politicians, they set the bar lower and lower for what constitutes anti-Israel actions.
When Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) had the audacity to call for an immediate cease fire during the recent Lebanon war, he had to do frantic damage control with Jewish groups because he knew what was in store for him: hysterical claims he is a danger to Israel and hostile to Jews, despite a long and supportive record.
When Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) voted against the House version of a pro-Israel bill because she liked the Senate version better — which was also endorsed by pro-Israel groups — she faced a threat of retaliation from a pro-Israel lobbyist, as if she was a sworn enemy.
Lamont has said little about Israel, but no matter. Cyberspace is clogged with ve-mails insisting that his victory signals the triumph of radical, anti-Israel leftists.
Hurling accusations about being weak on Israel may be good politics, but it undercuts the political common ground on which the pro-Israel effort ultimately depends, alienates politicians who are on the fence on Israel, and denudes the issue of its true meaning.
More and more, it’s hard to find the kind of congressional leaders who genuinely understand both the value of Israel and the need to avoid partisan quibbling over it — people like former Rep. Jack Kemp (R-NY), former Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) and Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.).
By demanding complete obedience to an ever-narrowing definition of what it means to be pro-Israel and by declaring war on politicians for minor violations, pro-Israel activists are colluding in debasement of what should be an inclusive movement that forever seeks to expand its reach, not narrow it.
There are anti-Israel forces operating in American politics, and they’re not confined to one party. There is a much bigger group of politicians who don’t see Israel and U.S.-Israel relations as priorities, but who may be convinced of their importance, but not by the bitter rhetoric of political trench warfare.
Practitioners of that kind of pro-Israel politics may think they are playing political hardball the way it is played in Washington; but they are really sowing resentment and undermining the strong pro-Israel consensus that now exists on Capitol Hill.
Former Madisonian James D. Besser has been Washington correspondent for the New York Jewish Week and Baltimore Jewish Times since 1987.
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