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Politics : Israel to U.S. : Now Deal with Syria and Iran -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sea_urchin who wrote (21863)	8/27/2008 3:28:53 PM
From: Crimson Ghost	Respond to of 22250

Progressive Zionists and AIPAC Have Same Litmus Test for Candidates: Support Israel! Ralph Seliger has a piece at Meretz selling Joe Biden as Pro-Israel and Pro-Peace to progressive Zionists. Seliger writes, "This JTA news service profile of Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware should reassure both nervous pro-Israel voters and those who seek a reasonable end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." The excerpted piece says that Biden has sparred frequently with the pro-Israel community on "settlements," but there is no evidence of this sparring offered, and what is offered are the usual testimonials by Biden to the righteousness of Israel and the bankruptcy of the Palestinians, and the non-connection between the Iraq war and the Israeli occupation. Seliger's selection of this piece demonstrates the tight ideological corner the progressive Zionist community finds itself in. Right now the two-state solution is in utter peril and you'd think that they would be calling on candidates to come out against the occupation to save Israel, and quoting Jimmy Carter and Ehud Olmert on apartheid. But no, Seliger knows that even if he personally gave Biden cover for such a strong anti-occupation position, it would send Meretz's progressive constituents running. That's because progressive Zionists are scarcely distinguishable from AIPAC in terms of being "nervous pro-Israel voters." As a Brit Tzedek board member pointed out recently, the huge blocs of fearful Jews and realistic-peace-Jews are neighbors--while Palestinian-solidarity Jews like me aren't even at the table. Seliger's comments suggest that the Meretz community is as fearful about Obama as the more conservative Jewish community, and in order to win the fearful to Obama he has to offer AIPAC-style red meat. Why isn't Meretz saying, "Obama and Biden are too soft on settlements! The 2-state solution is in danger!" (The line even Jeffrey Goldberg has.) Because the occupation is not the litmus test. Unvarying support for Israel is the litmus test! And that's the problem. philipweiss.org