May 23, 2003

"Jews and the Failed Left"

Jews are attracted to political liberalism and as a beaten and oppressed people think of themselves as victims of the political right wing. Europe’s Jews prior to WWII became involved in various types and degrees of Marxist Socialism which promised a world free of prejudice, nationalism and the rule of religious majority.

At the same time, American Jews clung to the trade labor unions who promised the working-class immigrant Jews an end to exploitation by sweatshop owners who, themselves, were Jewish immigrants. Jews were and are a cerebral people and by the very nature of their being, are intellectually inclined. Intellectuals are usually drawn to New World order dreams. Jews on both sides of the Atlantic were inspired with political liberal aspirations. American Jews were wedded to the Democratic Party. I remember being told, “Hitler was a right–winger and so are all antisemites who in America vote for Republicans.”

From its beginning in 1948, Israel found most of its support on the left. After all, Israel was founded and governed by Ashkenazi leftists. Europe’s intellectual left saw Israel as a success for Socialism. The Kibbutz and Moshav along with government ownership of land and industry all dominated by the Histadrut, a powerful worker’ monopoly made Israel the flagship for Socialist states.

Israel, the Socialist paradigm began to change its ideological perspective. Socialist governments sided with the Arabs who had the oil, the numbers and the might. The Marxist persecution of Jews in the Soviet Union, Pan Arab Socialism in Iraq, Syria and Egypt and the inherent antisemitism of Europe’s left-wing found them taking the Arab side against Israel. Israel’s centrist and rightist parties grew larger as the labor parties became smaller.

Jewish leftists in postwar Europe, and in South and North America saw the Marxist idea as man’s only redemption. They concluded that the erosion of Leftist support for Israel was the Jewish state’s own fault. At first there were few, but the election of Menachem Begin as Israel’s Prime Minister was a blow to all Jews on the left. In their eyes, Begin (whom Newsweek called “Israel’s First Jewish Prime Minister”) was a betrayal of all that they considered important in Israel. Many on Israel’s left wanted the fledgling state’s Jewish identity relegated to history. A secular socialist Professor once told me that Israel’s Jewish beginnings will someday be compared to the Christian founding fathers of the United States who were Quakers and Congregationalists and today are small minorities outside the blocks of powerful religious groups in this country.

The Kibbutz and Moshav institutions in Israel became capitalistic and socialism in the Jewish State was declared a failure. In Europe the wall of the Iron Curtain collapsed and that continent’s Marxist institutions gave way to free enterprise and democracy. There was one hope left for Israeli socialists, an immediate peace with the Arabs. Out of Oslo came new accords, and the Israeli left enjoyed a revival. Israel’s left was returned to power and Yitzchak Rabin became their new idol and Prime Minister.

I knew Rabin. He was not a socialist or a leftist. He was a pragmatist and a courageous leader. Rabin was first and foremost a Jew, and would not be cajoled by any right or left wing ideologue. The assassination of Yitzchak Rabin gave the left an unexpected boost. Shimon Peres, the new Prime Minister and a life long Laborite, traveled all over Europe looking for support
in the intellectual salons he knew so well, but there was no one home. Europe’s left with other leftists around the world, boarded another ship. That ship’s cargo consisted of Jew hatred packed in bales from David Duke’s Ku Klux Klan and from the pens of every murderous bigot who committed to paper and book the sick musings of contemporary antisemitism.

The Jewish left finds itself in the company of some of the world’s most vile human beings. Today’s antisemitism is not limited to a radical right but has become a major component of the world’s leftist movements. They speak along with all their compatriots  in relentless hate for Israel and support of Arab tyranny. Arafat, the idol of Europe’s left should plague the conscience of those Jews who married that ideology. Its time for a divorce. The marriage between Jews and those who dreamed of equality and justice failed. The wrong partner was chosen. Arafat was not a pretty damsel, but another Stalin and Saddam.

-To Be Continued-

Shabbat Shalom