(RNS) — Mainstream American Jewish institutions have vociferously condemned the pro-Palestinian protests roiling student campuses, throwing their support behind Israel and labeling all critics, even Jewish ones, as antisemitic.On Thursday (April 25), the head of the Anti-Defamation League went so far as to suggest some of the activists on campus were Iranian proxies.
“Iran has their military proxies like Hezbollah, and Iran has their campus proxies like these groups, like Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace,” ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt said on MSNBC.
But unconditional support for Israel and for Zionism, the national movement that established a homeland for Jews in Israel, has not always been a given. From the 1880s through to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, American Jewish leaders were ambivalent, if not downright opposed, to the idea of a Jewish nationalism. It wasn’t until 1967 that they began to coalesce behind allegiance to Israel.
A new book by Babson College historian Marjorie Feld looks at the long history of American Jewish dissent on Israel, which, she argues, has increasingly been silenced by the mainstream U.S. Jewish establishment.
Feld’s book, “The Threshold of Dissent,” shows how, over the course of the past century, unconditional support for Israel became the de facto position of American Jewish institutions.
That may be beginning to change …
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“Iran has their military proxies like Hezbollah, and Iran has their campus proxies like these groups, like Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace,” ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt said on MSNBC.
But unconditional support for Israel and for Zionism, the national movement that established a homeland for Jews in Israel, has not always been a given. From the 1880s through to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, American Jewish leaders were ambivalent, if not downright opposed, to the idea of a Jewish nationalism. It wasn’t until 1967 that they began to coalesce behind allegiance to Israel.
A new book by Babson College historian Marjorie Feld looks at the long history of American Jewish dissent on Israel, which, she argues, has increasingly been silenced by the mainstream U.S. Jewish establishment.
Feld’s book, “The Threshold of Dissent,” shows how, over the course of the past century, unconditional support for Israel became the de facto position of American Jewish institutions.
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