Tikkun Magazine, January/February 2007 

VOICE FOR PEACE

Time to Harness the Jewish Peace Vote

By Mitchell Plitnick

In a sharp reversal of recent trends, 87 per-cent of Jewish voters voted for Democrats in the recent Congressional elections. The previous rightward Jewish drift was written about extensively, and few doubted that it was connected to the rise of neo-conservatism to power in the GOP, with its fanatical support of Israel.

So how do we interpret this reversal? Clearly, the misadventure in Iraq played a big role. Recent polls have indicated that nearly 40 percent of Americans believe that the so-called "Israel Lobby" played a key role in bringing about the American invasion of Iraq (see http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/publish/article_237.shtml for a fuller explanation of the Lobby and Israel's role in Iraq), raising some fears of increased anti-Semitism. However, Jews have been ahead of the rest of the U.S. in opposition to the Iraq war from the beginning, and this has certainly played a part in the shift away from the Republicans.

It would be a mistake to believe that Israel is not a key question for the majority of Jewish voters. Yet despite the fact that the Olmert government, as well as the major Jewish political movers and shakers in American politics, supported the Bush administration's policies toward Israel, Jews still voted for a change.

Clearly, Israel is still important to most Jews. Nevertheless, the increased hopelessness of the situation in the Middle East, as well as the intense and ultimately fruitless violence of the past summer in both Gaza and Lebanon, has raised concerns about U.S. policy toward Israel. Is it sincerely well-intentioned towards the Jewish state, or is the Bush administration leveraging its alliance with Israel for America's own strategic interests?

Earlier in the year, significant Jewish opposition to the draconian "Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Bill" was important in preventing the bill from becoming law, despite strong support from AIPAC. Jewish opposition came not only from groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and Tikkun; it also came from Brit Tzedek v'Shalom (BTvS), Americans for Peace Now (APN), and the even more moderate Israel Policy Forum (IPF).

While this summer's fighting increased Jewish solidarity with Israel, it also brought waves of Jews flocking to peace groups. American and Israeli leadership were deaf to these Jewish cries for change. The U.S. not only blocked an early attempt at a cease-fire that Israel was willing to consider, but, as Yediot Ahronot reported on October 5, 2006, the Bush administration also forbade Israel from exploring peace talks with Syria. The Olmert government continues to pound Gaza despite the repeated admonishment from Israeli military leaders, who say that such tactics will neither retrieve Israel's captive soldier nor stop the stream of Qassam rockets flying out of Gaza.

Recently, there have been reports that IPF, APN, and BTvS have courted some very big financiers in the hope of setting up a pro-Israel lobby that would also be pro-peace, and serve as an alternative to AIPAC. One can hope that such a thing will come to fruition, but more is needed.

The Jewish peace movement in the U.S. is in danger of missing an opportunity with this new Congress. We remain unprepared to act in the realm of real politics. Of course, Democrats have never been much better than Republicans when it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Still, with a new Congress, a mandate for change and the clear sense among voters—Jewish and non-Jewish—that the Middle East is a key policy arena, there is a real opportunity for progress before us.

More and more Jews are seeking a way to change American policy. More and more Jews realize that unless the rights of Palestinians are respected, Israelis can never be secure; they know that the Occupation is wrong, and must end in a way that allows Palestinians to build a sustainable future. It's long overdue for Jews to organize a powerful lobby in Washington that says, loudly, that Jewish values dictate that the rights of all people must be treated equally—only on this basis can a better future for both Israelis and Palestinians be realized.

Mitchell Plitnick is the director of educational policy for Jewish Voice for Peace.

Source Citation

Plitnick, Mitchell. 2007. Time to Harness the Jewish Peace Vote. Tikkun 22(1): 17.