Last week, the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip appeared to be holding. In the US, the conflict has exposed two major negative developments for Israel among the American public.
First, a decline in pro-Israel public support, particularly among the Democrats, who, since President Harry Truman’s crucial help in the establishment of the State of Israel, have been more supportive of Israel than the Republicans. Two month ago, a Gallup Poll showed that only 43 percent of the Democrats sympathized more with the Israelis, and 38 percent were with the Palestinians. Last week, a headline in “USA Today” newspaper declared: “Americans largely support Israel -- but sympathy for Palestinians is on the rise.”
Second, a decline among US Jews’ support of the Israeli government. Many are moving away from the conservative – and racist – 12-year-old government of Benjamin Netanyahu. According to last week’s report from the Washington-based Pew Research Center, only 33% of Jewish Americans thought Israel leadership was making a sincere effort toward a peace settlement.
Notwithstanding the overwhelming emotional attachment to Israel, about 40 percent said the US is too supportive of Israel’s conservative government.
These are excerpts from opinions by three leading US Jews, from their tweets, websites and media interviews:
1. Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, who, having caucused with Democrats in the Congress, sought the Democratic Party nomination for president in 2016 and 2020.
2. Jeremy Ben-Am, President of J Street, a liberal organization dedicated to end the Arab-Israeli and Israel-Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatically.
3. Raphael Mimoun, who was was born in France, studied and lived in Israel, then migrated to the US. Based in Los Angeles, he works in technology and in the defense of human rights.
Senator Sanders: “Palestinian Lives Matter”
“‘Israel has the right to defend itself.’ These are the words we hear from both Democratic and Republican administrations whenever the government of Israel, with its enormous military power, responds to rocket attacks from Gaza.
Let’s be clear. No one is arguing that Israel, or any government, does not have the right to self-defense or to protect its people. So why are these words repeated year after year, war after war? And why is the question almost never asked: “What are the rights of the Palestinian people?”
And why do we seem to take notice of the violence in Israel and Palestine only when rockets are falling on Israel?
First, we should understand that while Hamas’s firing rockets into Israeli communities is absolutely unacceptable, today’s conflict did not begin with those rockets.
In the Middle East, where we provide nearly $4 billion a year in aid to Israel, we can no longer be apologists for the right-wing Netanyahu government and its undemocratic and racist behavior …
We must change course and adopt an even-handed approach, one that upholds and strengthens international law regarding the protection of civilians, as well as existing U.S. law holding that the provision of U.S. military aid must not enable human rights abuses.
This approach must recognize that Israel has the absolute right to live in peace and security, but so do the Palestinians.
I strongly believe that the United States has a major role to play in helping Israelis and Palestinians to build that future. But if the United States is going to be a credible voice on human rights on the global stage, we must uphold international standards of human rights consistently, even when it’s politically difficult.
We must recognize that Palestinian rights matter.
Palestinian lives matter.”
Ben-Ami: “No Military Solution”
“The underlying conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has no military solution. It also won’t be resolved through normalization agreements with Arab states.
The only way out of this decades-long conflict is a political solution that ends the occupation and guarantees the civil and political rights, safety and self-determination of both Israelis and Palestinians.
For over a decade, the right-wing, pro-settlement policies of Netanyahu-led governments have pushed such an agreement further out of reach.
Their actions have entrenched the occupation, pursued de facto annexation in the West Bank and dispossessed Palestinian families in East Jerusalem.
The time has come for bold, public American opposition to destructive Israeli and Palestinian policies, and for intensive leadership to stop the unchecked slide toward one state and permanent occupation.
We cannot continue to provide the Israeli government with a “blank check” when it comes to our financial assistance, and to offer it diplomatic immunity in the international arena.
While remaining committed to Israel’s security and to the full amount of assistance currently promised to Israel, America must impose clear transparency requirements and restrictions on the use of our assistance to ensure that US-sourced military equipment — including equipment bought with our aid — cannot be used by Israel in connection with any acts of creeping annexation or violations of Palestinian rights.
If we do not chart a new course, the daily injustice facing Palestinians and the security threats facing Israelis will continue. There is little doubt that soon enough we will face yet another explosion of senseless violence with the same excuses, the same talking points and the same futility …”
Raphael Mimoun: “My Zionist Background”
“I grew up in a Zionist household, spent 12 years in a Zionist youth movement, lived for years in Israel, and have friends and family who served in the Israeli Defense Forces.
When that is your world, it’s hard to see apartheid as it’s happening in front of you.
I grew up in France, in a Jewish community where unconditional love and support for Israel were the norm. The term Zionism, the movement for the establishment and support of a Jewish state in present-day Palestine, wasn’t even used because that’s all we knew.
Jews had been nearly wiped out by pogroms and repeated holocausts, and a Jewish state was the only way to keep us safe.
Anti-semitism wasn’t just a fact of history; we all experienced it in our daily lives.
Zionism is rooted in trauma and fear.
It’s about survival and love for the Jewish people. But like any other ethnic nationalism, Zionism establishes a hierarchy: It’s about prioritizing our safety and well-being, even at the expense of others. It relies on an alternative historical narrative that justifies the occupation and rationalizes the status quo.
And it cannot produce a just peace on its own.
The only thing that can bring about Palestinian liberation is if the cost of the occupation begins to outweigh its benefits to Israel.
That would require, as it did for other apartheids and occupations, massive external pressure. In South Africa, international sanctions, an arms embargo and a global boycott forced the collapse of the racist regime. In the American South, it was legislation and Supreme Court decisions that imposed equal rights and ended the racial segregation of Jim Crow …”
