Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Taking back the debate over Israel (Sick of right-wing Jews speaking  in their name  progressive American Jews ...)

Taking back the debate over Israel
Sick of right-wing Jews speaking in their name, progressive American
Jews have launched J Street to change the way the game is played in
Washington.
By Gary Kamiya
April 29, 2008 | For years, liberal American Jews who have chafed
under the taboo against criticizing Israel have dreamed of starting a
political organization that would speak for them. Now, with the launch
of J Street, that dream has become a reality.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, the group's founder, says that the incident that drove
him over the edge took place when he was working as policy director
for Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign. Dean said the U.S.
should take an "evenhanded" approach to resolving the Israeli-
Palestinian crisis, Ben-Ami recalled. He was immediately, and
predictably, savaged as anti-Israeli and a coddler of terrorists. "All
hell broke loose," Ben-Ami said. "And this from a man who's married to
a Jewish woman, who's raising kids in the Jewish faith, and is
extremely pro-Israel in everything he'd ever said and done. But to use
that one word, and then to have that cascade into a torrent, was just
amazing to me. And it's certainly been repeated and magnified with the
attacks on Obama and some of his aides, some of them crossing any line
that any of us should have about civil discourse."
There are few political relationships more fraught than that between
American Jews and Israel. As the national emblem of Jewish identity,
Israel is seen by many Jews as sacrosanct. Some Jews passionately
identify with Israel and its policies and angrily reject any criticism
of it, often attacking critics as anti-Semites or self-hating Jews.
But even those Jews who privately harbor misgivings about Israel's
policies often keep their opinions to themselves because the subject
is simply too charged. Anyone, Jewish or not, who dares to say or
write anything critical about Israel quickly learns that they have
poked a hornet's nest.
What makes the subject especially sensitive -- and keeps many people,
including most journalists, from going anywhere near it -- is that,
far more than any other issue, it splits the progressive and
intellectual community. Speaking more plainly, it divides one's
friends and colleagues -- sometimes even one's family. Jews have
always played a prominent role in America's progressive and
intellectual circles. And if you have a connection to those circles
and you criticize Israel, you are almost certain to deeply offend or
anger someone whom you respect, like, and have many things in common
with. Small wonder that, as former Israeli official Daniel Levy told
me, most people, Jews and non-Jews alike, "decide to sit this one out.
It's more of a headache than it's worth."
The taboo isn't only enforced by such personal matters, of course.
It's also aggressively enforced by powerful Jewish lobbies like AIPAC,
mainstream Jewish groups and leaders like Abraham Foxman, national
director of the Anti-Defamation League, who claim to speak on behalf
of all Jews. Congress, intimidated by the moral authority (or moral
blackmail) and political clout wielded by these organizations and
afraid of offending Jewish donors who are a major force in Democratic
fundraising, invariably falls into line. The fact that Congress has
staked out a position on Israel to the right of the Bush
administration's pretty much says it all. The default right-wing
position on Israel is holy writ in American politics, and explains why
Hillary Clinton can pander to the right-wing pro-Israel lobby by
casually threatening to "totally obliterate" Iran -- vaporize 70
million men, women and children who have nothing to do with their
leaders' anti-Israeli posturings -- without paying any political price
for such irresponsible statements.
 Nothing is more urgently needed in our political discourse than for
the taboo against speaking forthrightly about Israel to be overthrown.
After all, notwithstanding its profound connection to some American
Jews and its (partly justified) status as a beloved icon with whom we
have a "special relationship," Israel is not the 51st state -- it is a
foreign country, and one smack-dab in the center of the Middle East, a
region in which we have some considerable national interest. The
enforced silence about Israel has prevented us from thinking clearly
about the Middle East, and helped enable both the disastrous war we
are now fighting in Iraq and a possible future one against Iran.
But because of the highly sensitive nature of the subject, American
Jews must lead the way.
Which is why the birth of J Street, whose goal Ben-Ami says is "to
redefine what it means to be pro-Israel," is cause for unalloyed
celebration. "Over the course of a quarter century of doing American
politics, I've seen the way in which the Israel issue plays out," Ben-
Ami said in a phone interview from J Street's Washington, D.C.,
office. "And it greatly disturbs me and it greatly disturbs a very
large number of progressive American Jews, who believe very strongly
in Israel but feel that the way in which the American Jewish
community's voice has been expressed on these issues doesn't reflect
our values or opinions. Only the voices of the far right have been
heard. They've really hijacked the debate when it comes to Israel."

 of J Street, that dream has become a reality.
Quoto l'articolo.