Dear Hannah Rosenthal,
In "Reclaiming The Pro-Israel Mantle" (Opinion, April 25) you reflect on your experience at a National Israel Solidarity Rally in Washington six years ago during your tenure as executive director of the JCPA. You recall a day of speeches in which you heard only the constant drumbeat of "narrow, ultra-conservative views of what it means to be pro-Israel..." You found yourself asking, "Where was the pro-Israel, pro-peace message? Why was the voice of so many American Jews absent from this rally?"
I was also there with you and tens of thousands of other proud American Jews on that uncommonly hot April day in 2002, less than three weeks after the horrific suicide murder of 30 Israelis celebrating Passover at the Park Hotel in Netanya.
My memory of what happened at the event that day is quite different from yours.
I remember many of the speakers delivering "pro-peace" messages. There was Rep. Richard Gephardt ("We must not waver in our commitment to those — Israelis and Arabs alike — who have chosen the path of peace"), as well as Sen. Harry Reid ("I call on all who share our vision and hopes to continue to spread a message of peace: shalom, salaam, peace"). There was also Paul Wolfowitz, representing the Bush administration ("Peace in the Middle East is the only way to end the suffering of Palestinians and Israelis, of Arabs and Jews"), as well as Natan Sharansky ("Real peace, dear friends, depends on us"). And there was Mayor Rudy Giuliani ("All of us, all of you good people who have come here today, all of us wish for peace. We pray for it."). I remember you introducing Hugh Price, then president of the National Urban League, and I remember Mr. Price closing his remarks with a call to world leaders "to give lasting peace a chance in the Middle East."
So I ask: Why are our perceptions of that historic outpouring of support for Israel so jarringly dissimilar? Of course, there were also speakers who focused only on Israel's right to defend herself against violent murderous terrorist attacks; those who spoke in anger or in pain. And there were those who had a particular political point of view that did not reflect the politics of some in the Jewish community. Why did I hear a variety of views expressed at the rally six years ago while for you, the event triggered a six-year-long period during which you questioned why you did not hear the pro-peace voices in our community?
In the American Jewish community — today as well as yesterday — there have always been diverse opinions on a whole range of social, economic, political and religious issues. Throughout my experience as a leader in the Jewish community I have appreciated and welcomed the broad range of views and the variety of forums in which members of our community can participate to express themselves. Our community has never been lacking in public self-examination, robust debate and vocal advocacy of the many ideas, beliefs and opinions we all have, including about Israel and Israeli government policies. One of the great strengths of the Jewish people is our willingness to question and reassess and re-evaluate those ideas, beliefs and opinions.
Israel's 60th anniversary offers a focal point for deepening our understanding of the role and relationship of American Jewry to the future of Israel. But it also offers us, as American Jews, the opportunity to deepen our understanding of one another, whatever side of the pro-Israel fence we find ourselves on. I am confident that all of the voices in our community will continue to have an outlet and hopefully will continue to be heard, just as I heard them in April 2002 at that historic gathering in Washington in support of the most significant common element of our heritage, the modern State of Israel.
_____
