In ages past, crude caricatures of Jews with horns emanated only from the vilest of anti-Semitic screed. What a shock, then, to see that very image foisted by Jews who claim the mantle of Zionism.
The offending cartoon image ran in an ad placed in Israeli newspapers by a right-wing group funded in part by Christian fundamentalist extremists.
The ad depicted New Israel Fund President Naomi Chazan with a horn coming out of her head, castigating her for funding organizations the group, Im Tirtzu, claims delegitimize Israel.
An outcry followed, with such disparate Jewish voices as the Anti-Defamation League’s Abe Foxman, the Union of Reform Judaism’s Eric Yoffie and even right-wing Knesset member Benny Begin condemning the ad’s odious tone and content, while staunchly defending the NIF’s right to free speech.
In our pages this week, we examine these developments in detail, with two news stories and two op-eds. This is not journalistic overkill. The NIF story, newsworthy in itself, has broader implications for Israel and the Jewish community worldwide.
While Israel has always been a place of contentious, sometimes raucous debate, the bedrock principles of free speech and free expression have endured. Battles between the left and right typify the Israeli public square, bolstering Israel’s claim as the sole democracy in the Middle East.
This is something about which all Israelis, all Jews, feel justifiably proud.
But something seems to be changing in that public square. A nastiness, an intolerance, an irresistible impulse to demonize one’s opponent, seem to have crept into political debate, both there and here. It must stop.
As President Barack Obama noted in his recent dialogue with Republican members of Congress, once you paint your political opponents as evil, you can then never justify working with them. This applies to both liberals and conservatives.
Similarly, once a segment of the Jewish community defames and disowns another segment, even one with whom it profoundly disagrees, there can be no bridging the gap.
One does not need to agree with the New Israel Fund’s left-wing agenda to see the wisdom in standing up for free speech. Yes, Israel is surrounded by enemies and beset with challenges. Yes, Israel needs unwavering support from the worldwide Jewish community.
But that community is no monolith. There is room for varying opinions, and of course ample room for vigorous debate. That is the heart of democracy, and we must never abandon its mechanisms.