Posted on 03/27/2015 8:40:33 AM PDT by Kaslin
"I don't understand how Jews in America can be Democrats first and Jewish second and support Israel along the line of just following their president," vented Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on Boston Herald Radio last week.
It was a small controversy in the grand scheme of things, easily overlooked during a week when: a German pilot turned a routine flight into a murder-suicide mission, Ted Cruz drove the media batty by announcing he will run for president as Ted Cruz, an Army sergeant and Taliban captive the White House touted as a hero was charged with desertion, and America joined forces with Iran in Iraq to kill Sunni jihadists while allying with Saudi Arabia in Yemen to kill Shiite jihadists (who are backed by Iran).
Still, King's comments did enrage a lot of people, particularly people eager to make political hay. "I was shocked and horrified when I heard the remarks made by Rep. King today stating that we are 'Jewish second,' and implying that Democrats are anti-Semitic," responded Greg Rosenbaum, chair of the National Jewish Democratic Council.
Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) took his hissy fit to Twitter. "I don't need Congressman Steve King questioning my religion or my politics," he tweeted. "I demand an apology from him & repudiation from GOP. #dangerous."
That "dangerous" hashtag -- no doubt a rich mix of sincerity and opportunism -- is intriguing to me. What is the implied danger?
After all, King's lament is that American Jews don't care about Israel enough to break with president Obama.
"In a bizarre way," left-wing writer Paul Waldman noted in the American Prospect, King's remarks were "almost reassuring." They highlight "just how rare anti-Semitism has become in America. An American Jew is more likely to be exposed to weird conservative philo-Semitism than to actual anti-Semitism."
It's a good point. On both the far right and among vast swaths of the left, the longstanding complaint against American Jews is that they're guilty of "dual loyalty" -- i.e., they care as much or more about Israel as they do the U.S. One need only spend a few minutes in the swampier quarters of the Internet, or at, say, UCLA, to find this sort of bigotry. Just this month, a Jewish student applying to be a member of the UCLA student council's judicial board was asked, "Given that you are a Jewish student and very active in the Jewish community, how do you see yourself being able to maintain an unbiased view?"
But here's Steve King, a passionate defender of Israel, complaining that American Jews aren't being Jewish enough.
Part of the confusion is that being Jewish and supporting Israel have never been wholly synonymous, and regrettably they are getting less synonymous all the time. This is a source of great consternation in many Jewish circles, and a source of profound confusion and frustration in conservative circles. Just as right-leaning non-Jews are embracing Israel, left-leaning Jews are pushing it away.
That's not a coincidence. The reason American Jews are disproportionately liberal is complex -- because there is no single reason for it. I can rattle off a dozen or so with ease, including: FDR's outreach to Jews, Harry Truman's recognition of Israel, the historic necessity for Jews to seek protection from central authorities, the tendency of urban populations to be liberal, anti-Semitism in the old (and much more liberal) GOP of the 1920s-1960s, the timing of Jewish immigration from central Europe in an era when socialism was in its heyday, and the very secular worldview of most non-orthodox Jews.
Political scientist Kenneth Wald largely disagrees with these and other explanations, save for the last point. In a new article, "The Choosing People: Interpreting the Puzzling Politics of American Jewry," Wald argues that American Jewish liberalism is derived chiefly from the fact that American Jews want a strict separation of religion and politics. He argues that Jewish support for Democrats intensified in large part because of the GOP's embrace of Protestant evangelicals, even though Protestant evangelicals are wildly pro-Israel and philo-Semitic (i.e., the opposite of anti-Semitic). I think that's empirically true, even if it gives short shrift to the deeper roots of Jewish liberalism.
One reason Jews are still liberal is that ideological and partisan affiliations die hard. They tend to be passed, like religion itself, from parent to child, generation after generation. But such loyalties aren't static either. And while Steve King could have phrased it better, he was absolutely right that at some point -- now or in the future -- support for the left and support for Israel must conflict. And King is right to lament it when Jews choose the former over the latter.
There is no reason to despise any Jew.
Except for liberal democrat Jews, who therefore should be judged equally with other mindless vermin.
No.
No. Next question...
NO x 2
No.
Can Jewish Americans Support Both Democrats and America?
No.
Well, Mr. Rosenbaum, if you were not blindly supporting someone whose anti-Semitic credentials favor comparably with Julius Striecher and whose foreign policy goals so clearly include allowing a country that wants to annihilate Israel to get nuclear weapons, your protests might seem not quite so pro forma. If you were given the choice to give up your support for Obama or be gassed you would choose gassing. Shocked, indeed!
American Jews are disconnected from Israel for the most part.
Long ago and far away, it was very possible to be a Jewish Dem and pro Israel. But that when being a dem meant something. We have nothing to fear but fear itself, the buck stops here, ask not what your country can do for you... My parents were dems but switched parties around the same time Pres Reagan did, and for the same reason, they didn’t leave the party, the party left them.
Well, no one can logically both support Israel and vote democRAT. This is double-think.
Lotta Jews don’t appreciate the philos.
German Americans didn't have any qualms about fighting Germany. Italian-Americans were not concerned with Mussolini. Maybe American Jews are just trying to be seen establishing their genuine American-ness by coming out against Israel.
Of course, there's a wee logical flaw in that line of reasoning, in that most of us, their fellow Americans SUPPORT Israel. Then again, most Americans are not concerned with noshing with Woodie Allen in the delis of NYC's upper West Side.
No.
I think American Jews prevalent anti-military support ties them to the Democratic Party.
The number of Jews joining the military is a small fraction of other religious groups, such as Catholic or Protestant military folks.
Search for yourself and see the minuscule raw numbers as well as the very low percentage of Jews in the U.S. military.
Israel is facing a menacing future with fewer countries standing behind her (or him, in the case of Netanyahu) — America under Obama being the primary on, but most of western Europe does not support Israel any more.
I'm not sure what American Jews think about that.
The answer is yes. Since when do you have to be rational to be a Democrat voter.
Ask Evan Sayet.
You’d think a little WWII history would convince them the dangers of concentrated power and the worship of false political idols.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Yes, there are other issues they vote on. And unfortunately Rep. King is very close to endorsing the dual loyalty canard, in this case expecting Jewish voters to forget their policy differences and vote based on what Peter thinks is in Israel's, not America's, best interest. Not winning any Jewish votes here.
Some never learn. Bring the trains and they’ll happily get on board.
“There is no reason to despise any Jew. Except for liberal democrat Jews, who therefore should be judged equally with other mindless vermin.”
Liberal democrat Jews are not really Jews, but atheists hiding behind the skirts of Jews of faith. (They just love the camouflage those skirts offer for their Stalinist intincts).
IMHO
“I demand an apology from him and a repudiation by GOP.”, said representative Israel.
How about an apology from that Democrat senator who likened U.S. soldiers to NAZIS and a repudiation from the Democrat Party?
(The silence is deafening.)
How about a repudiation from the Democrat Party for the shabby treatment given Mr. Netanyahu? (more deafening silence.)
IMHO
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