Political Ties Between Blacks and Jews Strained

The success of Jewish groups in helping to defeat two longtime African American members of Congress has further frayed the damaged relationship between leaders of black and Jewish organizations.

In the wake of Tuesday’s ousting of Rep. Cynthia A. McKinney in a Georgia Democratic primary, some African American political activists and leaders are expressing outrage at Jewish organizations that targeted McKinney because she had expressed pro-Palestinian sentiments about the Middle East crisis.

McKinney lost to Denise Majette, a former state judge who is also black but benefited from out-of-state contributions from Jewish groups and crossover voting by Republicans. Also this year, another black member of Congress, Rep. Earl F. Hilliard of Alabama, who had pro-Arab support, was defeated by Artur Davis, who was funded by backers of Israel.

After Hilliard’s loss, McKinney’s survival in the face of Jewish opposition became a cause celebre for many black leaders. The Rev. Jesse Jackson responded to her defeat by calling for a meeting of African American and Jewish leaders, and others called for picketing and demonstrations. Meanwhile, one Jewish Web site crowed that “Cynthia McKinney, D-Gaza Strip,” had been ousted and replaced by someone with sense and class.

Factors other than her pro-Palestinian stance contributed to McKinney’s defeat. But much of that was lost in postelection recriminations reminiscent of flare-ups that have broken out between the leaders of black and Jewish organizations that were closely aligned in the civil rights era.

“The tensions are huge around this issue, but our coalition must survive these pressures,” Jackson said. “There is a sense of outrage and I do not know how that will play out.”

Calling the McKinney election “a litmus test for the relationship between blacks and Jews in this country,” the Rev. Bamani Obadele, a Chicago activist, also called for a meeting of leaders.

“There are people who are angry about this and I agree with Jesse Jackson that there has to be a summit,” said Obadele, who, with a bus load of supporters from Chicago, went to Georgia on Aug. 16 to stump for McKinney. They were among 2,000 African American volunteers from around the country who made the journey.

Many Jewish leaders, taking pains to say the historic bonds between blacks and Jews may stretch but never will snap, accused black leaders of suggesting that African American politicians should be protected from opposition.

Abe Foxman, president of the Anti-Defamation League, said it was “absurd” to suggest that Jewish groups should not have targeted a politician--something all groups have a right to do--because he is African American.

“What happened there was as American as apple pie,” he said. “There’s not a crisis in African American-Jewish relations and personally, I think McKinney defeated McKinney.”

McKinney has suggested that the Bush administration failed to heed warnings about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because the president’s allies would profit from the ensuing war, and she has opposed congressional resolutions of solidarity with Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians.

“You can support the Arabs without being anti-Israel, and you can support other positions without being anti-Jewish,” Foxman said. “But she was flagrant.”

Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museum of Tolerance, urged blacks to see Jewish concern for Israel in the same light as African American anger about South Africa in the 1980s.

“We have to remember, when the dominant issue in the world was apartheid in South Africa, it would be ridiculous for any Jew to have imagined that African Americans would not have that as a paramount concern and monitor congressional elections to see which candidates were not in sync with ending the apartheid regime,” Hier said.

Now Israel’s survival is at stake, he said. “Not only Jews but many supporters of Israel all over the world would be concerned with people running for Congress who had a lukewarm attitude about that.” But he said this “moment of friction” will not impair the “historic relationship” between blacks and Jews.

Leaders on both sides alluded to past tensions that had been overcome. Hier noted that Jackson had recovered from his 1980s reference to New York as “Hymietown.” Jackson said that when Israel maintained strong ties to the apartheid regime in South Africa, blacks did not permit their anger to harm the coalitions with U.S. Jews.

To some Muslim leaders, who supported McKinney in the Georgia primary, Tuesday’s election transcended black-Jewish tensions. They characterized it as a major step in the political maturation of Arab Americans. “It’s the first time that the American Muslim community and Arab American community ever went toe to toe with the pro-Israel lobby,” said Ibrahim Hooper of the Council of American-Islamic Relations. Ten or 15 years ago, such activity would have been unheard of, Hooper said. “And this is what frightens the pro-Israel lobby. This is just the beginning skirmish.”

Jackson cautioned against seeing the McKinney defeat purely in black / Jewish terms. He noted that McKinney received tepid support from her own political party. And he noted that another congresswoman, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), easily won her primary this year despite having been roundly vilified for casting the sole vote against military retaliation after the Sept. 11 attacks.