In the first sign of a post-election struggle to set the American Jewish community\’s Middle East agenda, a quartet of liberal pro-Israel groups is criticizing Jerusalem\’s decision to launch retaliatory attacks against Gaza.
The rule that American Jews don\’t have the right to speak out since they don\’t live in Israel and won\’t suffer the consequences of their ideas has visceral appeal but has proved, thankfully, unenforceable.
Stanley Sheinbaum is in his element. As 40 members of Americans for Peace Now and their allies sip white wine, nibble brie and heatedly discuss the economic and moral injustices of Israel\’s occupation, the éminence grise of liberalism watches and listens with the rapt attention of the Stanford University graduate student he once was. When guest speaker Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) says that the \”ethical aspiration of Judaism is to stand up for the downtrodden,\” including African Americans, homosexuals and Palestinians, Sheinbaum nods his head in agreement.
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