Israel Focus - J Street U: Dropping the Pro in Pro-Israel ... This IS What it Has Come To

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There's brave and then there's brave. There's "meeting them where they're at" and then there's "meeting them where they're at." There's also a commitment to honest and open dialogue, and then there's a commitment to honest and open dialogue.

In a recent report by the Jerusalem Post, (J Street's campus branch drops pro-Israel slogan) J Street U has apparently dropped the Pro-Israel from its slogan. According to a more accurate telling of the the policy (J Street: Report of Slogan Change False, but Campus Groups Needn't Be Pro-Israel) it is clear that there never really was an official slogan, nor is there any official name change. In a stunningly honest and reasoned response, J-Street explains that they are simply allowing campus groups to tailor their materials, slogans, and rhetoric as they see fit. In much the same way you don't have to "officially" believe in G-d to be Jewish, J-Street is saying you don't have to avow being "Pro-Israel" to be in support of a two state solution.

Now while this may seem contradictory to some, to those who are true students of Jewish theology or for those who really understand the campus landscape - this is not a contradiction at all. A main precept of Judaism is that two seemingly opposing thoughts can be held in the mind at the same time. (G-d is everything, yet G-d is not one thing - We are made in the image of G-d, yet we are nowhere near close to being G-d). How on earth could one be for Israel and yet not avow, unequivocally that you are Pro-Israel? Well there in lies the rub.

First, one must understand what kind of damage the Pro-Israel movement has done to the phrase Pro-Israel. To be "Pro-Israel" today means (unofficially of course) that you are essentially an unquestioning supporter of Israel and her policies. While people like myself go around the country trying to convince those on the left that you can and should critique Israel while you support her right to exist and fight extremism on her borders, the reality on the ground in America just does not reflect that same right. In the same way President Bush made it almost criminal to question America and her Government (Executive Branch/Military mainly) after 9/11, the mainstream Jewish Organizational world has made it almost impossible to voice criticism of Israel while still being in the "Big Tent" of Pro-Israel organizations.

Just look at criticism of the recent J-Street Conference in Washington, DC. If you have any record of criticizing or not jumping right on the bandwagon of Israel support in congress or elsewhere, you are labeled "clearly not an Israel supporter."

Now don't get me wrong. In my line of work I am more than willing to call people out for being weak or absent in their support for valid defenses of the Israeli government. I am also well versed in those who lean so far to the left that they defend the indefensible in the extremist Muslim/Arab communities. That being said, that is not the majority of the Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace movement. Had mainstream Jewish and self avowed "Pro-Israel" organizations been able to make this distinction years ago, you wouldn't have the current problem or people feeling dirty and often sick by saying the words - Pro-Israel. I personally think it is a beautiful phrase. To me, to be Pro-Israel is to be Pro-Israel and Pro-Palestinian. But the inability of any major organizations to hammer that point home has left it well - just about being Pro-Israel and invariably about being almost unwaveringly Pro-Israel.

How can I say this? Well I happen to know that in congregations and boardrooms all over this country, people urging moderation are losing out to those who want to simply berate Muslim and Arab groups, claim Anti-Semitism, and excuse every action of the Israeli Government for the sake of Ideology for some and Solidarity for others. Again, some Muslim and Arab groups DO need to be called out. Anti-Semitism is an integral and viscous part of a GREAT DEAL of anti-Israel sentiment. And AIPAC deserves credit for its cultivation of support for Israel at the highest levels of government. But that can't be the only thing being Pro-Israel is about. And for many years, folks on the left and many disaffected young adults and college students are getting just that message. And they are fed-up with it.

From focus group conversations I have run, it became clear that the most common phrase I could get these disaffected folks to say was "I want to support Israel ... but...." And the but, I knew, was their visceral feeling that they did not identify with those who did say they were Pro-Israel. Interestingly, based on a knowledge of their background, I knew most of them WERE Pro-Israel. They just couldn't bring themselves to say it. In the same way that Zionism has today been robbed of its beautiful origins, Pro-Israel is not longer something someone who has questions can say. I would ask, "What would it take for you to say --- I am Pro-Israel .. but.." After all, isn't that a more accurate reflection of who they were. And it was. And they saw that. And they really wanted to be "Pro-Israel," but it just had been tainted too much.

Of course the true sad part is that - as opposed to Zionism which has been tainted largely by the anti-Israel world, the phrase "Pro-Israel" has been tainted by the Jewish and "Pro-Israel" organization world. J-Street confronts these problems honestly, because to do otherwise would continue the status-quo and of course - that is exactly what can't be allowed to continue - in the US or in the Middle East.

Many will have a big problem with allowing Campus Groups to play with the phrase as they see fit. But again, those who understand the nature of education and the state of College campuses right now will see that this really is a brave way to open up the dialogue around Israel and bring people under the tent who have been outside for way too long.