In the election of 2000 George W. Bush received 19 percent of the Jewish vote. Ronald Reagan when he ran against Jimmy Carter in 1980 won the support of 39 percent of Jewish voters. While Reagan was terrific in his support of Israel even he was not as good as George W. Bush. (Reagan’s domestic philosophy was similar to that of Bush.)
Current Jewish supporters of the president hope to secure for him somewhere in the range of 30 to 35 percent of the Jewish vote. He is in my opinion entitled to an absolute majority – more than 50 percent.
If – after taking on the European Union and the Muslim states around the world and incurring the wrath of almost all the members of the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council by casting vetoes against unfair Security Council resolutions that singled out Israel for condemnation – President Bush does not receive a majority of the Jewish vote we would be an ungrateful people.
Recently Rabbi David Saperstein director and counsel of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism sent a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell enclosing a resolution which directly and by implication criticized the president for not demonstrating ‘real leadership in the peace process’ and the Congress for failing ‘to recognize the need for withdrawal to be directly linked to a return to the negotiating table’ and for not addressing ‘the troubling humanitarian conditions of the Palestinians.’
I sent Rabbi Saperstein the following letter along with an earlier draft of this column:
Dear Rabbi Saperstein:
Your criticism last week of President Bush and the Congress outlined in your letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell was about as foolish and destructive as any statement on the subject could have been. I thought that you might like to have my statement which was made not with respect to your letter which was brought to my attention today but to what I intend to do in the forthcoming election. Before today I never fully understood the statement Jews are their own worst enemies. Today I understand. Your statement made it abundantly clear to me.
When non-Jewish supporters of the American Jewish community receive letters and resolutions from Jews and Jewish organizations criticizing members of Congress and the President for doing too much for Israel and not enough for the Palestinians the members of Congress and the President will undoubtedly think to themselves Why do I do anything for these people? If I am silent no one will berate me. When I demonstrate strong support for Israel I am assailed by supporters of the Palestinians joined in now by leaders of a sector of the Jewish community having 1.5 million adherents and more than 900 congregations.
Why are we so intent on engaging in masochistic some might say suicidal behavior?
We Jews must learn to support our friends because God knows our enemies are numerous and the threat they pose is growing by the day.
