Letter to the Editor: A ‘baseless’ claim

The Jewish Review

May 19, 2008

By Jeremy Gillick

To the editor:

Robert Horenstein’s claim that many American Jews hold a “double standard” when it comes to creating a partnership with Christian Zionists (Jewish Review, May 1) is baseless, and his depiction of progressive Jews who oppose such an alliance as naïve and ill-informed is insulting.

Most American Jews oppose working with far-right evangelicals like John Hagee because they push policies that hurt Israel instead of helping it.

While Hagee’s hostility towards Catholics and blacks and his disparagement of gays and women is upsetting, it’s his opposition to a two-state solution that precludes any sort of pro-Israel partnership.

As Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said last year, “If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses…the state of Israel is finished.”

If Americans really rejected Israel’s right to defend itself or if demonization of Israel on university campuses constituted an actual threat to the Jewish state, then making deals with the devil might not be unreasonable.

But in 2008, neither is a reality. Israel does face an existential threat, but it’s not from the American public, Jewish progressives or even Hamas; it’s from extremists like Hagee and their supporters.