Friends of Israel?

Wednesday, 28th January 2009

The debate is getting more heated by the day. New Republic senior editor Jonathan Chait takes aim at the J Street campaign and condemns the Walt-Mearsheimer book for portraying Israel as "a force for evil throughout its existence." Walt fires back on his Foreign Policy blog:

Chait's characterization of our book is a fiction; he just made it up. He undoubtedly thinks that attacking us in this way will help keep Israel safer. He's wrong. The policy of unconditional and uncritical support that the New Republic has fervently defended for years isn’t working for either the United States or for Israel -- and plenty of other staunchly pro-Israel individuals -- e.g., Daniel Levy, Matt Yglesias, Roger Cohen, Ha'aretz editor David Landau, M.J. Rosenberg, Gershom Gorenberg, Gideon Levy, Akiva Eldar, Aaron David Miller, etc. -- have figured this out too.
Why is Chait so exercised? I think it's because he realizes the discourse about Israel in the United States is changing before his eyes, and that increasing numbers of people -- both Jewish and gentile -- now realize that a more normal relationship would be better for both countries. If Chait were a true friend of Israel, he'd agree.