Lerner’s Views on Israel

I do not now, nor have I ever, advocated that Israelis not serve in the Israeli Defense Force, nor do I believe that this is the time to engage in disruptive civil disobedience. Though I explained this to Menachem Rosensaft before he wrote his column, he proceeded (“Don’t Rock the Boat With Rhetoric,” Commentary, July 23) to insist that I do advocate these things.

With my encouragement and support, my son is currently planning to enter the Israeli army after he graduates college two years from now. My view is that Israelis who disagree with current policy should nevertheless serve in the army--and hence provide an example to those on the right who also serve in the army and who one day will be called upon to carry out a policy that they do not agree with, namely withdrawing Israeli settlers from the occupied territories on the West Bank.

But the very fact that I am called upon to prove my loyalty to Israel in this way--a response to a misleading attack which took comments entirely out of context (an internal discussion document to be used at a seminar to teach people how to think about long-term strategies, in which I mentioned civil disobedience as an example of a possible strategic approach, though not one I support)--shows how vicious and McCarthyite the attacks have become within the Jewish community against anyone who challenges Israeli policy. Rosensaft, a victim of these attacks for having met with PLO leader Yasser Arafat and expressed a somewhat naive belief in what Arafat was telling him, now seeks to re-credit himself by discrediting me.

I believe that these attacks on Jewish liberals will become even more ferocious once Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir enters into negotiations with the clearly stated intention of rejecting any exchange of land for peace. Those of us who will push the Shamir government for a serious recognition of the national rights of the Palestinian people are certain to come under escalating attack from sectors of the Jewish world. That Jewish liberals are equally concerned for Israeli safety, that we are not willing to accept any negotiated settlement that puts Israel into military danger, that we are just as appalled at Palestinian terrorism and just as worried about the potential threat of a war with Arab states as anyone on the Jewish right--all this is certain to be lost, as it was on Rosensaft, the moment the task is redefined as discrediting those of us who remain critical of the government’s rejection of any peace formula that requires exchanging land for peace.

I recognize the tendency within some of us on the Jewish left to sound shrill and agitated when we talk about the Palestinian issue. But sometimes, in stating our concerns, we’ve failed to adequately articulate our commitment to Israel’s legitimate security concerns, our love for the Jewish people and our anger at those who have identified Zionism with racism. In failing to adequately communicate my love for Israel, I’ve allowed the space for someone like Rosensaft to say that I believe the opposite of what I do believe.

MICHAEL LERNER, Editor, TIKKUN Magazine, Oakland