Israel's Worst Best Friends

A grave intellectual crisis confronts many American-Jewish supporters of Israel. For more than 40 years, Israel has been able to rely on the support of a majority of Americans. The reason is simple: Americans believe in propping up threatened democracies, and Israel is a threatened democracy.

But a large group of American Jews want the U.S. to support Israel simply because it is a Jewish state. For them, Israel's status as a democracy is an ancillary benefit. They would support Israel even if it weren't democratic, just so long as it is Jewish.

Although few of them would admit it, a large number of American Jews hold these opinions. Until recently, these people, whom I call "the Zealots," were not readily distinguishable from the more moderate supporters of Israel.

Now, as the Israeli oppression of Palestinians in the occupied territories erodes Israel's claim to democratic perfection, the Zealots are exposed. It becomes more difficult for them to pretend that love of democracy is fundamental to their support of Israel.

The Zealots face the dilemma of justifying their unconditional advocacy of Israel to the majority of Americans who do not share it. For most American supporters of Israel (myself included), Israel deserves our backing only as long as it preserves the political liberty we embrace.

The intellectual crisis of the Zealots arises when "Israel the Jewish State" is no longer "Israel the Outpost of Democracy." The Zealots face the embarrassing possibility of acknowledging to their allies in the pro-Israel coalition that they really believe in "My Israel, right or wrong."

AT Harvard, I have seen Zealots react to this intellectual crisis in three ways. The first is to suppress the notion that Israel has done anything wrong. Once during my first year, a Palestinian student posted a sign on the entryway bulletin board that showed an Israeli soldier beating an unarmed Palestinian woman with the butt of his rifle.

Within hours, a Jewish student in the entryway had torn the poster down. When the Palestinian confronted her about the incident, the Jewish student responded "I'm sorry, but I just couldn't bear to see it there."

During my sophomore year, I saw a similar reaction in Winthrop House. Another bulletin board, another poster, the same photo. Someone had written across the photograph in huge letters: "BULLSHIT!"

The gesture was more pathetic than vexing. Some poor student wore ideological blinders so thick that he or she dismissed an indisputable photographic record of Israeli brutality as "bullshit."

Those who took Psychology I may recognize this phenomenon as the mental defense mechanism known as "denial." The facts conflict with their beliefs, therefore the facts do not exist.

FOR Zealots who are too intellectually honest to deny that Israel has done anything morally offensive, another mechanism is available--"rationalization." To psychologists, this means attributing inordinate importance to evidence that fits one's own prejudices.

In politics, people who rationalize human rights violations are called apologists. Professor of Law and noted civil libertarian Alan M. Dershowitz, who attacks public nativity scenes as grave threats to the U.S. constitution, has no trouble rationalizing egregious curtailments of civil liberties in Israel.

Year-long detainment without trial? No due process? No big problem for Dershowitz, who defends such tactics as necessary to protect the Jewish state. This intellectual inconsistency doesn't trouble him because he's a Zealot.

Zealots also rationalize Israel's antidemocratic actions by pointing out how much more morally palatable Israel is than the neighboring Arab states. The Crimson can scarcely print an opinion piece criticizing Israel without drawing letters about how much worse the human rights violations are in Jordan.

This is true, but it is irrelevant to a discussion of whether Israel is violating democratic principles. If the U.S. is to continue to grant Israel the largest portion of its foreign aid, we ought to assess the strength of its commitment to democracy.

Most believe that the commitment is still pretty strong. That's why Israel still deserves our support. It has nothing to do with Israel's being Jewish. As Israel's commitment to democracy becomes weaker, America's commitment to Israel must be reduced correspondingly.

THIS is a terrifying prospect for American Zealots, who want their country to stand behind the Jewish state no matter how grievously it sins. As Israel becomes less democratic, it deprives the Zealots of the ability to pretend that their support for Israel is anything more than their support for a Jewish state.

When they see that their pretension is in jeopardy, they become irrational. Some delude themselves. Some rationalize. And some accuse all of Israel's critics of anti-Semitism.

A recent letter to The Crimson attacked a proposed conference on military ties between Israel and South Africa by citing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who said that criticism of Israel is sometimes a disguise for anti-Semitism.

Leave aside for the moment the issue of how King, who was killed just as the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza began, would have reacted to the oppression of the Palestinian people. What infuriates me is the letter's implication that anyone who criticizes the Jewish state must be motivated by hatred of Jews. Some other letters to The Crimson have even attacked Jewish critics of Israel as anti-Semites.

OBVIOUSLY, support for Israel among American Jews is strong and deeply-rooted. How many kids in Hebrew school have discussed which side they would choose in a hypothetical war between the U.S. and Israel?

But when American Jews' enthusiasm for the Jewish state exceeds their enthusiasm for Israeli democracy, they do a disservice to both Israel and democracy. When American Jews fail to take a critical stance toward human rights violations in Israel, they squander the support of non-Zionists in the U.S. who are potential friends of Israel.

Instead of acting as sympathetic critics and trying to keep Israel on the straight and narrow, the Zealots are busy apologizing for actions that non Zionist Americans can never condone.

In the long run, as the oil-producing gulf states become more geopolitically important and the relative importance of Israel declines, friends of Israel will have only one card to play when soliciting aid from the U.S. That card is political democracy and respect for human rights. Jews should be pressuring Israel to guard that card scrupulously, or they could find that they are Israel's only remaining friends.