Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict over Israel

by Dov Waxman

Overview

How Israel is dividing American Jews

Trouble in the Tribe explores the increasingly contentious place of Israel in the American Jewish community. In a fundamental shift, growing numbers of American Jews have become less willing to unquestioningly support Israel and more willing to publicly criticize its government. More than ever before, American Jews are arguing about Israeli policies, and many, especially younger ones, are becoming uncomfortable with Israel's treatment of Palestinians. Dov Waxman argues that Israel is fast becoming a source of disunity for American Jewry, and that a new era of American Jewish conflict over Israel is replacing the old era of solidarity.

Drawing on a wealth of in-depth interviews with American Jewish leaders and activists, Waxman shows why Israel has become such a divisive issue among American Jews. He delves into the American Jewish debate about Israel, examining the impact that the conflict over Israel is having on Jewish communities, national Jewish organizations, and on the pro-Israel lobby. Waxman sets this conflict in the context of broader cultural, political, institutional, and demographic changes happening in the American Jewish community. He offers a nuanced and balanced account of how this conflict over Israel has developed and what it means for the future of American Jewish politics.

Israel used to bring American Jews together. Now it is driving them apart. Trouble in the Tribe explains why.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691181158
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	05/08/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	328
Sales rank:	1,023,606
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Dov Waxman is professor of political science, international affairs, and Israel studies at Northeastern University. He is the author of The Pursuit of Peace and the Crisis of Israeli Identity and the coauthor of Israel's Palestinians: The Conflict Within.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

1. THE CHANGING AMERICAN JEWISH RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL 18

2. THE END OF “ISRAEL, RIGHT OR WRONG” 55

3. THE ARGUMENT ABOUT ISRAEL 91

4. THE EROSION OF CONSENSUS 123

5. THE FRACTURING OF THE PRO-ISRAEL LOBBY 147

6. THE CHALLENGE TO THE JEWISH ESTABLISHMENT 174

7. THE POLARIZATION OF AMERICAN JEWRY 193

CONCLUSION 210

Notes 217

Bibliography 291

Index 309

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Dov Waxman could hardly have picked a more contentious topic for investigation than the troubled relationship between (and among) American Jews and Israel. But with Trouble in the Tribe, he brings to bear a rare combination of calm, reasoned analysis with scrupulous scholarly research. American Jewish arguments about Israel will certainly continue, but if Waxman's contribution to it gets the attention it deserves, they should be based far more on complex reality than simplistic fantasy. And we will all be better for it."—Eric Alterman, columnist for the Nation

"Good books, Orwell once wrote, set your scattered thoughts in order—in a way, tell you what you already know. Dov Waxman's Trouble in the Tribe lays it out: the attitudes, the clashes, the numbers, the future. For a generation, American Jewish solidarity regarding Israel was indistinguishable from the élan of community life. Waxman shows how, and why, this can change, even how Israel has become polarizing for congregational life. A grim, real, necessary book."—Bernard Avishai, Dartmouth College and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

"This is an extremely important book that will have profound consequences. When puzzled friends ask me why the American Jewish community is now so divided over Israel, this is the book I will recommend."—Kenneth D. Wald, coauthor of Religion and Politics in the United States

"Trouble in the Tribe is an outstanding book. Waxman's judgments are fair, judicious, and balanced."—Theodore Sasson, author of The New American Zionism

Editorial Reviews

"This book offers a useful grounding for thinking about the changes already taking place [in the American Jewish community], and what may lie ahead."

Survival

"A valuable road map to an ongoing and very important conflict."—-Murray Polner, History News Network

"As a primer on the American Jewish machloket (argument) over Israel, Trouble in the Tribe is extremely useful. Its data is copious . . . its charts are handy; its perspective mostly balanced. . . . It is an excellent guide for the perplexed."—-Jay Michaelson, Moment Magazine

"As Waxman convincingly demonstrates in this valuable and important book, the very thing that once united the American Jewish community—Israel—now is the thing that divides us most of all."—-Moti Rieber, Kansas City Jewish Chronicle

"Brave and unsettling."—-Jonathan Kirsch, Jewish Journal

"[A] detailed and meticulously balanced account. . . . Both Waxman's complex picture of American Jewry and the plea for ‘critical engagement' emerging from it deserve our serious consideration."—-William Kolbrener, Times Higher Education

From the Publisher

"An accessible, readable introduction to the topic."

Choice

★ 2016-03-01
An examination of how American Jews' relationship with Israel has moved from unconditional support to critical engagement. Delving into the many divisive camps of opinion that have developed over Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, settlements, a two-state solution, and so on, Waxman (Political Science, International Affairs, and Israel Studies/Northeastern Univ.; The Pursuit of Peace and the Crisis of Israeli Identity, 2006, etc.) explores how the American Jewish establishment is being challenged from without and within, to a productive rather than a polarizing end. The right-wing Israeli government's unpalatable policies have galvanized much debate and ire within the American Jewish community, so much so that many rabbis in their congregations avoid discussion of Israel altogether. According to the traditional establishment, largely made up of older, Orthodox members, public criticism of Israel was taboo because it presented an appearance of disunity or weakness that Jewish enemies could exploit. Yet Waxman shows how robust criticism of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not new, although often stifled—e.g., the demonization of the Zionist group Breira in the 1970s, which urged negotiation with the Palestine Liberation Organization. Currently, however, the disenchantment over Israel's policies have grown, as has the public outrage, which has been led by a younger, non-Orthodox cohort whose emphasis is on concerns of social justice and the environment—as evidenced by the growth of the Washington organization J Street, a group that is still often ostracized by the mainstream. Waxman looks at the surprisingly diverse makeup of American Jews, who still have a strong emotional attachment to Israel yet do not necessarily support the political actions of its government. The author dissects the so-called "Jewish lobby," which is considered as indomitable as the gun lobby but is actually no longer speaking with one voice. In the end, Waxman regards the American Jewish relationship toward Israel as evolving rather than eroding. A meticulous, precise, well-organized survey that takes into account the many different views and will certainly facilitate the heated conversation.

Kirkus Reviews