The U.S. Public's Pro-Israel History In Mid-East Conflicts, Americans Consistently Side with Israel
by Jodie T. Allen and Alec Tyson
Pew Research Center - Jul 19, 2006
Poll: 36% of US Adults Say Israel's Creation Means Christ's Return
by David McReynolds
July 19, 2006
While there isn't much I can say about the 36% of Americans who think Israel means the return of Christ, I do think there is a message here for those of us who are critical of Israel.
First, leaving aside the evangelicals whom we are not soon to reach, we (the left, the liberals, the folks in sympathy with Palestinians) need to realize that we often talk to ourselves to say the things we want to hear. A close friend told me yesterday that while she had gone up to the rally in support of Lebanon, a poster she saw comparing Israel to the Nazis turned her stomach. Such posters don't help us, they just reflect our anger, our frustration.
Second, it is a terrible reality that violence doesn't solve things. Hitler gave us Israel. Israel gave us the PLO, etc. Sharon gave us Hizbollah, and so on down the line. It is important for those of us, whether or not we are "pacifists" (and I am) to have some sense of the need to stop seeing all the Israelis as evil. They aren't. There are many good, courageous Jews in Israel. Are they the majority? No. Are we the majority here in the US? No, we aren't.
The Israeli bombing of Lebanon will not destroy Hizbollah - but by the same token, the rockets hitting Israel are building general support for the Israeli government.
Third, while it is a political fact that only power of one kind or another will move things (water doesn't boil because you pray about it - it boils only when you put a fire under it), there are different kinds of power. Martin Luther King Jr. showed one kind, as did Gandhi. I think, particuarly when we are so far from the actual conflict, we should speak for peace, not cheer on the war. One of my personal deep angers is toward the whole Commentary crowd which will do anything for Israel except go and live there - they are willing to "fight to the last Palestinian and Israeli child" but they don't plan to leave Manhattan. In the same way, we should be aware of the pain of both sides in this current conflict.
Fourth, we have the most to gain from full and open discussion, from teach-ins which present ALL points of view. If there is to be disruption - let it be from Israeli supporters, not from us. (And let us try not to have the disruption). In some ways the most important thing those of us who deeply oppose Israeli policy can do is have teach-ins, and NOT "Arab vs. Jew", but "Arab and Jew and Christian" vs. the supporters of the Israeli state.
Fifth - and here my point will fall on deaf ears - whether or not Israel should have been created, it is there. Some on the Jewish left - a very few, but some - are living in what I think is a dream world of thinking the way out is to dismantle the Jewish State. I don't think that will happen. We need to be clear that we accept that Israel is there. This is different from saying "Israel has a right to exist". No State (starting with our own) has a "right" to exist. States don't "exist" or "cease to exist" based on "rights" but, frankly, on their ability to defend themselves. So, just as I urgently think we should engage in dialogue with Israeli supporters, reminding them that States vanish all the time, our own may vanish, as the Soviet State did, or the German State of Hitler, so Israel can become the "next Crusader state" unless it changes course. The critics and supporters of Israel, unless they simply enjoy watching the Palestinians suffer, must find ways of working together to shift the behavior of the Israeli State - which at this point, I think, is self-destructive.
David McReynolds