CRITICISM OF JEWISH INFLUENCE IN MCKINNEY’S DEFEAT IS BASELESS

Criticism of Jews among a certain element of the African American literati for influencing the defeat of Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney crosses the clichéd line between free speech and yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater. The danger is limited only by knowing that the same element of writers and ideologues is forever building its arguments backward from the given that an American Jewish conspiracy has targeted blacks as its primary victims.

Talk about the glorious yesterday of black-Jewish relations is meaningless in a world in which only today seems to count. So, let us speak about today:

· American Jews need make no apologies for their support of Israel. Most of us have relatives there for whom Israel was refuge from Nazi genocide, Soviet tyranny, Ethiopian persecution, and even the US’s sometimes capricious immigration policies. This in no way compromises most American Jews’ commitment to Palestinian self-determination and right to an honorable future. Nonetheless, it is equally cognizant that the only instance in which an Israeli map appears in an Arab schoolbook is when a bloody dagger pierces its heartland.

· Israel’s worldview coincides virtually on-point to America’s own vision of global peace and prosperity. No one in his/her right mind could say this about the Arab world, where even purported “allies” bespeak only differing shades of hostility. Israel is as sure a protector of the US’s interests as the US is a protector of Israel, socioeconomic asymmetry notwithstanding. We tire of the cliché that “Israel is America’s only real ally in the Middle East.” So, try on this truism: “Israel is America’s only real ally in the world.”

· Israel is a remarkably colorblind and inclusive society. Not without its problems, but still incredibly on track. Americans should be envious of the way that Israel has integrated racial diversity into the mainstream – Ethiopians, the swarthiest Indians and Yemenites, even thousand of African Americans in places like Dimona. Moreover, how quickly we forget/deny/ignore that no country was more forthcoming than Israel in its welcome to Cambodian refugees in the aftermath of Pol Pot’s killing fields.

· American Jews exercise high levels of moral autonomy when getting out the vote. Even the lock that the Democratic Party once had on the fabled “Jewish vote” is yesterday’s news. Jews are as idealistic and/or doctrinaire about the candidates as most Americans are. They are likewise just as vulnerable to advertising glitz and negative campaigning. Israel is certainly a major concern, but for most of us, it is one concern among many.

Against that backdrop, noteworthy instances abound of American Jews preferring gentile to Jewish candidates. Think of how many thousands of Jews voted for Bush-Cheney over Gore-Lieberman. Nor do Jews stint in their support of black candidates. Many Jews of Atlanta chose the controversial Andrew Young over the Jewish Sidney Marcus – including Young’s Jewish campaign manager. Dr. King’s young associate John Lewis garnered thousands of Jewish votes for Congress over his white competitors.

· To look at Cynthia McKinney’s record from the first day of her first campaign is to establish that McKinney has had neither desire nor commitment to represent anything but her jaundiced interpretation of the needs of African Americans. Black, white, green or blue, she has not been a faithful steward of America’s interests, un-hyphenated and unmodified by her own narrow personal agenda. Thus, the black literati are correct in only one respect: American Jews did work tirelessly toward the defeat of Cynthia McKinney. So did everyone else with any sense of American integrity. Anything less would have been suicide. Her current game of kissy with the most murderous elements of terrorism’s power-elite was merely the latest round in a political life replete with misbegotten alliances.


The bitter old joke goes that Jews prefer to read Nazi propaganda over Jewish periodicals: The latter is forever bemoaning Jewish powerlessness, while the former would have us believe that the international Jew controls everything. Nope, no one is controlling the Jewish vote, not Israel, not the rabbis, not the political action committees. The reality that we may passionately oppose a particular candidate, be it Klansman David Duke or Cynthia McKinney, has not been a vote for race or religion. In the end, it has largely been a vote for the vision of America as a land of opportunity and for the world to be at peace, or at least rid of the dominance of tyrants.