July 28, 2006
By James D. Besser

On the landscape of the left, careful calibrations over wartime message.

The tactical dilemma for Americans for Peace Now’s Mark Rosenblum, above, is “how to calibrate at what moment the war starts producing diminishing returns, at what point diplomacy should kick in.”

When Stuart Klawans, film critic for The Nation magazine, rose to give a d’var Torah at an Ansche Chesed minyan last week, he had every reason to believe his appeal for compassion in the current conflict in Lebanon would be well received in the progressive Upper West Side shul.

Klawans, reflecting the views of many dovish Jews, made clear his personal agony over what Israelis are experiencing as Hezbollah rockets rain down on their cities and towns.

“Am I called on to support the people of Israel in their need for safety and well-being?” he asked. “Yes, absolutely, without reservation.”

Then he added a question that is keeping leaders of Jewish peace groups up at night.

“But what if I believe that Israel’s chosen policy will not promote safety and well-being, for anybody at all?” he said.

Klawans read the names of some of the Lebanese dead, and said “I do not believe that the defense of Israel, in realistic terms, has demanded these deaths. In fact, I don’t even believe that the underlying impulse for these strikes is defensive. It is retributive — and that is something we ought to be very careful about.”

The reaction to Klawans’ agonized words was surprising in this progressive outpost. Many in the minyan applauded his comments — but others reacted with barely contained fury. One woman raised her voice and called for the elimination of Hezbollah and anybody supporting them.

And that reflects the dilemma facing Jewish peace activists in this country. Many believe that while Israel was justified in taking harsh military action in response to unprovoked attacks, the ferocity of that response could kill hopes for future peace negotiations.

At the same time, there is a deep fear of moving too far outside the consensus views of a Jewish community that has rallied to Israel’s defense and a dread of being perceived as critical of the besieged Israelis.

The major American Jewish peace groups — Americans for Peace Now, the Israel Policy Forum and Brit Tzedek v’Shalom — are taking distinctly different approaches to that dilemma.

“We essentially have the same goals as the other groups, but we differ with the others in that we believe the policies of the Israeli government are not in the interests of the Israeli people,” said Diane Balser, executive director of Brit Tzedek. “Yes, we have to be sensitive to the feelings of Jews everywhere because there was a direct provocation across Israel’s internationally recognized borders. But we have to say that force is not the answer; we’re obviously not approving of what the Israel is doing.”

APN, the oldest of the Jewish peace groups, is taking a softer approach highlighted by its call this week for “smarter diplomacy to balance smart bombs.”

While the group’s leaders defend Israel’s right to respond militarily — APN is “not a pacifist group,” said its founder, Mark Rosenblum — they are focusing on the need for active diplomacy by an administration the group has repeatedly criticized for its hands-off approach to the Mideast conflict.

Rosenblum said APN’s goals haven’t changed—they center on the need for new negotiations with the Palestinians for creation of a viable Palestinian state—but that “we will only be able to realize those goals by getting Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon and disarming them.”

But in a nuanced difference with major pro-Israel groups, APN believes “that won’t just be done with smart bombs; smart diplomacy has to come into it now.”

If there’s a tactical dilemma for APN in today’s situation, it is “how to calibrate at what moment the war starts producing diminishing returns, at what point diplomacy should kick in,” Rosenblum said.

This week’s diplomatic mission by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could represent the “very beginning of that diplomatic process,” he said. “We believe the time has come for the Americans to try to achieve what it says are its goals through diplomacy, and that smart bombs are approaching the point of diminishing returns.”

In the effort to offer alternative perspectives without clashing with a communal leadership that has united across ideological lines to back the current Israeli offensive, the Israel Policy Forum has taken a different tack.

The group is focusing its efforts on separating the situation in Gaza from the fighting in Hezbollah in the minds of the American public and policy establishment.

“We worry that with all the focus on Lebanon and the legitimate understanding that there may be no other way to resolve the situation with Hezbollah except for military action, people will ignore the need to find a solution to the Israel-Palestinian situation,” said M.J. Rosenberg, director of IPF’s Washington Policy Center. “Nothing will sway us from the understanding that the only way for Israel to survive in security is to come to fair terms with the Palestinians. Israel has to live with the Palestinians; it doesn’t have to live with Hezbollah.”

Seymour Reich, the IPF president, said last week that the “thrust of the (Jewish) community is to leave things alone; the Israelis seem pretty united that they need more time to deal with Hezbollah.”

Asked if he agreed with that approach, Reich said “we support Israel’s need to strike back hard at Hezbollah. But we also understand that when the dust settles, some effort to deal with the Palestinians through diplomacy will be necessary. The whole region depends on agreement with the Palestinians.”

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia, said that what’s missing from the response from much of the response from the left is “the religious dimension — the dimension of compassion for all the lives that have been lost, Israeli and Lebanese. What is lacking is the teaching of the rabbis, who said that if someone comes to kill you, kill them first, but if you can prevent an attack by wounding them and you kill instead, you become a murderer.”

That, he said, speaks to the “proportionality of Israel’s response. The wise teaching of the rabbis is to limit violence to what is absolutely necessary for self defense. If you don’t, you end up with decades of rage, which doesn’t protect you.”