Jews and US Foreign Policy

Since President Bush's endorsement of Sharon's withdrawal plan, there has been a significant amount of discussion over whether or not Jews are doing to defect to the Republican Party this year. Similarly, some have said that John Kerry taking the same position as President Bush on this issue is clearly just a pander to Jewish votes.

I have several problems with both of these lines of discussion. Let me start with one.

First and foremost, I get uncomfortable whenever people seem to be suggesting that politicians tailor their policy to meet the "demands" of American Jews. I don't like it because, historically, charing Jews with having too much power in and over government has been an excellent way to stir up popular anti-semitism (as an aside, this very fear is why many US Jews were upset when Congressman Moran (Virginia) said, "If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this.") The truth, of course, is that the fact that the United States claims the largest, wealthiest, most educated Jewish Diaspora community must have some impact on our Israel policy. However, the extent of that impact is extremely hard to measure. Can we honestly say that the US policy would be much different if US Jews were not politically active? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Some would argue that the US's Israel policy stems from shared values (both democracies, both immigrant societies, share many elements of Western culture). Others say that our support for Israel really began in the cold war and as such should be seen as a purely pragmatic phenomenon (we supported Israel because the Soviets supported the Arab countries, especially Egypt). Either way, we'd still be Israel boosters even sans our Jewish communities.

Then again, the cold war is over and besides, Jews make up significant voting populations in places like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and of course, Florida! What do those states have in common? So, as a result, what do most Democrats and Republicans have in common? A shared support for Israel.

Anyway, in my view, it's not entirely clear to what extent the US Jewish electorate affects US policy on Israel. But even so, I worry when people ascribe too much influence to it.