In anticipation of their reactive “Move Over AIPAC” conference this weekend in Washington, DC, JVP has sent out a press release with a few assertive quotations from members of its “Young, Jewish, Proud” youth wing. The statements from YJP, whose members disrupted Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s speech at the Federations’ General Assembly in November, aim to encapsulate why the activists are there and what the “Move Over AIPAC” conference wants to accomplish.
According to the quotations, YJP members will go to Washington for two core reasons: to protest “AIPAC’s support of Israel’s repressive policies,” and to correct “the incorrect impression to many people… that [AIPAC] speaks for all Jewish Americans.” That second goal–of showing that AIPAC does not speak for all Jews–is a central theme of the second and third quotations. The third, by Shira Wolf, states:
AIPAC gives the incorrect impression to many people including members of congress that it speaks for all Jewish Americans. It doesn’t, and many young Jews like myself are especially alienated by its behavior.
Jesse Bacon, JVP’s blog editor, also calls on AIPAC to
recognize our diverse Jewish communities and identities for what they are! We are Young, Jewish, and Proud and we won’t let AIPAC promote U.S. support for over 4 decades of an illegal and brutal Israeli Occupation which denies the human rights of Palestinians. They don’t represent Jews, and they don’t represent the best interests of Americans, Palestinians or Israelis.
These two quotations illustrate a major flaw in JVP’s view of AIPAC and how it operates in Washington. JVP accuses AIPAC of claiming to speak for all Jews, but AIPAC does not make such a claim. In fact, AIPAC never defines itself as a Jewish lobby. Rather, the organization defines itself as a “pro-Israel” lobby. The word “Jewish” does not appear once on its homepage today.
This is a very important distinction, because it broadens AIPAC’s reach beyond the Jewish community. AIPAC’s message is simple: No matter who you are in America–no matter your religion, race or political affiliation–you should support Israel; here’s how. AIPAC has put this message into action, doing impressive outreach during the past five to six years in the African American and Evangelical Christian communities. I worked for AIPAC five years ago, and a significant portion of the attendees at the few conferences I attended were African American or Evangelical.
Of course I would imagine that AIPAC relies on the Jewish community for the bulk of its donations, and I know that its most active members and employees are Jewish. It would be silly to assume otherwise. But JVP’s accusation is also silly.
More than being wrong, however, JVP’s accusation that AIPAC speaks for all American Jews illustrates why JVP will never have significant influence on American policy toward Israel. While it does work in concert with several non-Jewish groups, JVP assumes that the important fight on American policy toward Israel occurs within the Jewish community, so it limits its target audience to Jews. So while JVP is soliciting the support of the Jewish community, AIPAC will be fighting for the support of every single American. That AIPAC casts a much wider net than JVP is but one reason why it will always be far more effective.
