A New Voice for Israel: Fighting for the Survival of the Jewish Nation

by Jeremy Ben-Ami

Many Americans who care about Israel's future are questioning whether the hard-line, uncritical stances adopted by many traditional pro-Israel advocates really serve the country's best interests over the long-term. Moderate Jeremy Ben-Ami, founder of J Street, the new pro-Israel, pro-peace political movement, punctures many of the myths that have long guided our understanding of the politics of the American Jewish community and have been fundamental to how pro-Israel advocates have pursued their work. These myths include:

- that leaders of established Jewish organizations speak for all Jewish Americans when it comes to Israel
- that being pro-Israel means you cannot support creation of a Palestinian state
- that American Jews vote for candidates based largely on their support of Israel
- that talking peace with your enemies demonstrates weakness
- that allying with neoconservatives and evangelical Christians is good for Israel and good for the Jewish community.

Ben-Ami, whose grandparents were first-generation Zionists and founders of Tel Aviv, tells the story of his own evolution toward a more moderate viewpoint. He sketches a new direction for both American policy and the conduct of the debate over Israel in the American Jewish community.

Genres: Middle East, Israel, Nonfiction, Politics, Jewish

256 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2011

About the author

Jeremy Ben-Ami is the founder and president of J Street, an advocacy group and political action committee that is both pro-Israel and pro-peace. Ben-Ami has been profiled in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, CQ Weekly, and The New York Times. During his 25-year career in government, politics, and communications, Ben-Ami has served as President Bill Clinton's deputy domestic policy adviser, and as national policy director on Howard Dean's presidential campaign, and has helped run numerous political campaigns, including one for mayor of New York City. He also started the Israeli firm Ben-Or Communications while living in Israel in the late 1990s.

His new latest book A NEW VOICE FOR ISRAEL has been described as "a gripping family story, a shrewd analysis of American and Mideast politics and a rousing call to action" by The Daily Beast. It has also been reviewed in The New York Times and the Washington Post.

Reviews

[Ghada Arafat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe that this book should be read both in the US and the Arab world, though I know that the author targets Jewish Americans. It is an easy book to read though it is full of information and analysis. It should be read in the Arab world to break the idea that all Jews share the same mentality. It is important for us to understand that there are people out there who beleive in our rights and aspirations. Of course there r points that I totally disagree with the author on but he has the credit that he tried to be as honest as he could.

[Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must-read for anyone following the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the peace process, and particularly for those interested in the phenomenon represented by the rapid growth of J Street in the American Jewish scene. Jeremy Ben-Ami opens with a gripping memoir of his father's activism for Israel and traces his own path to founding J Street.

The rest of the book focuses on Ben-Ami's analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and what is needed to assure Israel's peaceful future and survival as a Jewish democratic state. He makes a compelling case for the importance of a two-state solution and the timeliness of the issue. Ben-Ami cites polls showing that two-thirds of Israelis and three-quarters of American Jews support a two-state solution. "The creation of a political home for the Palestinian people at some point in the coming years is inevitable," he writes. The question is whether Israeli leadership will compromise now under peaceful and favorable conditions.

Only a small percentage of American Jews vote primarily based on whether a candidate shares their views on Israel. Yet Ben-Ami posits that many politicians still have the misperception that they must lean right to be perceived as "pro-Israel" by Jewish voters. In fact, there are multiple ways to support Israel, and one study found that American Jews' sense of attachment to Israel is not predicted by whether they lean right or left.

Ben-Ami acknowledges generational differences between American Jews regarding their ideas about Israel. For people under 30 today, Israel "is less a miracle than a fact." He says the Jewish community "establishment" should recognize that younger Jews are correct in their simple moral observation that it is possible for Israeli policy to be wrong. The younger generation, in turn, "will benefit enormously from listening to their elders who can ground today's events in historical context".

The Jewish people's own history, he says, should generate sensitivity to the treatment of minorities in Israel. He believes that a diplomatic "win-win solution" can be found to address what is essentially a "national and territorial" conflict. After all, as he says, "the values we've been taught on all other issues also apply to Israel itself."

Ben-Ami's book is a great read, accessible and interesting to readers with varying levels of knowledge on this topic, and a persuasive call to action.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeremy Ben-Ami presents his case for a new approach to American Jewish advocacy for Israel that does not simply put a rubber stamp on the policies of the government of Israel. Many American Jews do not agree with the policies of the government, but are marginalized by those organizations that claim to speak on behalf of a mythical univocal community (Jews have rarely, if ever, been univocal about anything!) Through this book, Ben-Ami talks about the influences in his life that led to his founding of J Street - family history and upbringing, years in government, and years spent in Israel. In it, he speaks to the complex issues facing American Jews and their relationship with Israel, and how the stifling of debate has led to the alienation of many young American Jews who don't agree with much that they hear coming from those who claim to represent them. This book is an important read for anyone interested in Jewish American affairs today, and especially anyone interested in the US-Israel relationship.

[Mike Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've had the opportunity to hear Jeremy ben-Ami speak in person, and he writes just like he speaks--with a lot of repetition. You'll get the point of this book; you'll just get it a few times more than necessary. That said, Ben-Ami does a good, carefully crafted job of describing in detail how American Judaism's powers-that-be, personified by AIPAC, have spent years shouting down and censoring dissenting views about Israel from other Jews and silencing debate. I happen to agree with J Street's two-state solution, but regardless of that, I also happen to agree in the importance of free and open debate. This book champions both.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book was like exhaling after holding my breath for a really long time. I don't agree with everything he says but I really respect him and think he has balls of steel to take on the AIPAC machine.

Highly recommended to anyone who is thinking about Israel.

[Marjorie Ingall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read, nice informal writing style, a slightly awkward but endearing mix of family autobiography and politics, and above all, a very well-marshalled argument for the fact that you can be pro-Israel AND pro-peace (and pro-democracy and anti-demonization-of-the-other). Big ups.

[Jed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: As a very young man, I worked with Ben-Ami as an Urban Fellow during his time with the City of New York. I bought this book because of my admiration for him, although I have no direct connection to Israel and I'm not Jewish.

Only a few days before I started reading A New Voice for Israel, a young Jewish friend confessed to me that he didn't really understand what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was all about. I did my best to explain what I knew. It's difficult to historicize the situation, as it is with other ongoing conflicts -- the story has not settled into a single, broadly-known narrative. I have pieced together what I know from articles, books about general 20th century history and the like.

Ben-Ami recounts his own family's long history with Israel-Palestine thereby giving me a much better understanding of the history of the situation. For example, I simply had no idea that Jewish people began migrating to Palestine even before WWI. So, this first part of the book was valuable for improving my general knowledge of recent history as it regards the region.

In my life, I've found that some friends/family cannot talk about the situation in Israel at all without becoming rather bizarrely irrational. Palestinians all become criminal thugs; Israel stands outside international law; and I, much to my surprise, become anti-Semitic. The next part of Ben-Ami's book helped me to understand that there is a tension between most of the Jewish people I have known and those who cannot discuss Israel without experiencing profound existential fear, a community which has subsequently given justification for non-Jewish, right-wing American thought on the conflict. I am grateful for his insight into this mismatch I've never understood.

The last part of the book was less directed toward people like me, and I confess I had a hard time staying interested. It deals largely with how the majority Jewish community (i.e. liberals) can deal with the much smaller, yet more vocal minority of right-wing Jews who are making rational discourse much more difficult. I felt a little like I was attending a meeting of a political party I'm not a member of. I wasn't sure whether I should be listening in as someone presents a strategy for effecting change.

Overall, Ben-Ami makes a compelling case for why Israel must overcome the right-wing point of view if Israel is to remain in existence at all -- for Israel must choose from among the following three: the territory Arabs live on, democracy and being Jewish. It can choose any two, but it cannot have all three. For Israel to remain a Jewish democracy, the Palestinians must have their own state. And, I know now that it doesn't make me anti-Semitic to share this observation.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may adjust this rating a bit after I've had more time to digest all of the information, but I will say it was a thought provoking read. I appreciated hearing what Ben-Ami had to say and I admire his willingness to take a position that some have tried to paint as controversial. I respect him for doing what he believes is right instead of what is easy. I'm looking forward to discussing this book with others that have also read it.

[Andy Oram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although Ben-Ami certainly has a political agenda in this book, it becomes an interesting historic look at the evolution of Jewish politics in the United States, as well as lessons he draws from the work of his father (whose Revisionist Israeli affiliation is very different from Jeremy's). The argument for his starting J Street is well-argued, carefully backed up, and connected with a strong humanism.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really great book to read, with a perspective that needs to be said more often. I have no major complaints. I thought maybe it started out a little slow, but part of that is simply my personal distaste for memoir writing. Once it got into the actual issue and arguments, it was much better.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, well written book. The only issue I really had with it is that as someone fairly familiar with Jstreet and the issues surrounding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, I didn't really feel like I learned much that was new from it.

[Courtney Byrne-Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book brings up very critical, under represented views of the American Jewish community, and after reading it I am interested in learning more about J Street. Good read, but I felt it was a little too repetitive.

[Lynnnadeau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important to me to take my part in conversation about US policy and goals for peace and security.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous, thought provoking, inspiring piece that should be read and studied by all who seek peace in the Middle East.

[Linda Rogde · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book with analysis of historical perspective and a serious plea for consideration of the various voices in the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVED IT!!!!!!!!

[Ada Aroneanu · Rating 3 out of 5]

eh, he's an interesting guy and i like how he discusses politics in the context of family dynamics. but he doesn't say much i didn't already know as a news-reading person.