The recent media attention garnered by the relatively new J Street lobby necessitates an examination of the very notion of the term “Pro-Israel.” Until very recently the J Street was always self-branded as “Pro-Israel”.
Intensifying the matter is the case of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel spoke on November 10, 2009 at the General Assembly/GA of the Jewish Federations of North America, the largest and most important event on the U.S. Jewish establishment’s calendar. Emanuel has been called “Pro-Israel” by the media. It should be clear that the label “Pro-Israel” must be defined if the term is to be understood to have any meaning at all…
And so:
- You may not be “Pro-Israel” if you support the establishment of a “Palestinian State”.
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if you think that there is any “Final Status” for Jerusalem other than as the Eternal and United Capitol of the State of Israel and the Jewish People.
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if the words “Final Status” does not sound in your ears just too close to “Final Solution”.
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if you fail to advocate the immediate relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if you think that “East Jerusalem” is anything but a myth created to wrench Jerusalem away from Israel.
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if you think a return to Israel’s 1967 borders would place Israel in a better strategic and defensible position than where it stands now.
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if you think that Israel should be forced to enter into negotiations with Syria where the Golan Heights would be surrendered to Syria.
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if you still think the piece of paper Israel received in exchange for the Sinai’s oil reserves, tourism revenue and strategic depth given the likely emergence of an Iran allied Islamic Republic in a post-Mubarak Egypt were worth it.
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if you think the U.N is fair to Israel.
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if you think the mainstream media portrays news from Israel accurately.
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if you fail to question the decades old U.S. State Department’s Arabist policies.
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if you think Holocaust denier Mahmoud Abbas ever sincerely wanted true peace.
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if you think Israel should be held to a higher moral standard than other nations.
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if you agree with anything Jimmy Carter says about Israel and the Middle East.
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if you believe that the so-called Israel/Palestine conflict can be “solved”.
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if you believe that negotiations are the answer.
And lastly…
You may not be “Pro-Israel” if think President Obama is “Pro-Israel”.
When Rahm Emanuel states “No one should allow the issue of settlements to distract from the goal of a lasting peace between Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab world,” this is not a “Pro-Israel” statement.
Mr. Emanuel needs to be reminded that service in the Israeli army by one’s relatives, having gone on family vacations in Israel, planning to celebrate bar mitzvahs in Israel and speaking Hebrew do not necessarily make you “Pro-Israel”.
United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously wrote in 1964 regarding obscenity that “I know it when I see it.”
“Anti-Israel” is a similar thing. Mr. Emanuel is not “Pro-Israel” and President Obama is not “Pro-Israel”. You cannot be Pro-Israel and advocate schemes that are designed to bring a bloody end to the nation of Israel — even if it is all in the name of “Peace” - of course. A State of Israel without the settlements is a weaker Israel.
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Moshe Phillips is a member of the Executive Committee of the Philadelphia Chapter of Americans for a Safe Israel/AFSI. The chapter’s website is at: www.phillyafsi.com and Moshe’s blog can be found at http://phillyafsi.blogtownhall.com.
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