Trouble in the Tribe by Waxman Dov;

Author:Waxman, Dov; [Waxman, Dov;]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780691168999
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2016-01-15T07:00:00+00:00

6.

THE CHALLENGE TO THE JEWISH ESTABLISHMENT

If the leaders of groups like AIPAC and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations do not change course, they will wake up one day to find a younger, Orthodox-dominated, Zionist leadership whose naked hostility to Arabs and Palestinians scares even them, and a mass of secular American Jews who range from apathetic to appalled.

—Peter Beinart1

Although most American Jews have never heard of him, Malcolm Hoenlein—or just Malcolm, as many call him—has been described as “one of the most powerful people, politically, in the United States” and “the most powerful Jew in the Western world.”2 Since his early days working on the campaign to free Soviet Jewry in the 1970s, Hoenlein has been at the forefront of American Jewish politics. For more than a quarter of a century, he has been at the helm of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (Conference of Presidents), the organization that serves as the community’s unofficial mouthpiece, speaking to American presidents, Israeli prime ministers, and foreign leaders from around the world. He is the ultimate insider in the organized Jewish community, the savvy powerbroker who knows everyone who is anyone, the tireless consensus-builder who quietly works behind the scenes to forge a semblance of unity among the fractious fifty-two groups that comprise his umbrella organization, and the passionate activist who tries to mobilize the masses of American Jews. He is also an Orthodox Jew and a diehard supporter of Israel, widely believed to harbor hawkish, right-wing views (although he insists that he is a pragmatist who is motivated only by “what’s practical, what helps the security of Israel and the Jewish people”3). No other person in recent years has been as central in managing and, at times, orchestrating the American Jewish community’s collective response to almost every major issue and crisis concerning Israel.4 As a result, he has often been a lightning rod for the communal conflict over Israel, attacked by those on both the left and right for his organization’s stances on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hoenlein himself is unperturbed by all the criticism. “We are always going to be seen by anyone who disagrees with us as to the left or right,”5 he nonchalantly tells me. Nor is he concerned about divisions over Israel within the American Jewish community, as he is convinced that there is still a consensus among American Jews when it comes to Israel (which he confidently believes he represents). What does concern him though is the “next generation’s involvement [with Israel].” “I am concerned about sustaining the political base,” he says. But while Hoenlein worries about young American Jews feeling apathetic toward Israel, in the eyes of many, his organization disregards or even disdains the views of American Jews, especially younger ones, who do actually care about Israel but are critical of its treatment of Palestinians. When the members of the Conference of Presidents refused to allow J Street to join their ranks in April 2014, it was widely seen

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