Irreconcilable Differences?: The Waning of the American Jewish Love Affair with Israel » (1st Edition)

STEVEN T. ROSENTHAL is Associate Professor of History, University of Hartford. Author of The Politics of Dependency (1980), he has also written numerous articles on the history and politics of the Middle East.

A bold analysis of the creation and dissolution of the American Jewish consensus on Israel.

Publishers Weekly

Until the 1970s, American Jews and American-Jewish groups avidly supported Israel, via political lobbying of the U.S. government and financial contributions to the Israeli government and other institutions. Yet in most cases, explains Rosenthal, who teaches history at the University of Hartford, "the Jewish state has had relatively little effect on the religious and cultural life of American Jews"; rather, it served as a comforting source of identity for those in the diaspora. With balance and clarity, Rosenthal charts the gradual erosion of the "black-and-white morality" that characterized Middle East politics (and the outlook of American Jews) through the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Israelis were becoming more divided on both political and religious issues, and, he argues, the country's halo slipped with its 1982 invasion of Lebanon, its embrace of American-Jewish spy Jonathan Pollard, its militaristic response to the Palestinian intifada and its acceptance of only Orthodox conversions. Rosenthal is sympathetic, for example, to the mission of the group Breira, which in the 1970s strived "to legitimize public dissent within the American Jewish community," though he is also critical of its "self-righteousness and lack of empathy" for the fears of many Jews. While Rosenthal sees a gulf between liberal Americans and nationalist Israelis, he also believes that Americans can and should support pluralism and tolerance in Israel. More firsthand accounts would have enlivened the book, which draws almost exclusively on secondary sources, though it remains a thoughtful, accessible study. (Apr. 6) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.