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Jewish World Review August 25, 2003 / 27 Menachem-Av, 5763 Speaking Truth to Jewish Power By Jonathan Tobin
Are magnates who question Israel's leaders above reproach?
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
In the jumbled alphabet soup of Jewish organizations, there are some groups
that most of us have heard of, but have no idea what they actually do. The
World Jewish Congress is one such group.
It does have an honorable history of yeoman service on many important Jewish
causes, most recently, fighting for restitution for Jewish property in Europe.
But this month, the group managed to gain our attention for something else
entirely.
It all began with a letter to President Bush signed by World Jewish Congress
President Edgar Bronfman and former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger on
the eve of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's July visit to Washington. In
it, the Jewish billionaire and the career diplomat expressed their opposition
to Israel's security fence, and urged the president to pursue an evenhanded
policy between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. This not-so-subtle green
light from a Jewish leader for American pressure on Israel proved shocking to
some people.
Among them was Isi Leibler, a former Australian businessman who made aliyah
and who serves as a senior vice president of the World Jewish Congress.
Leibler, who writes for The Jerusalem Post, used a column in that paper to blast
Bronfman, terming it "obscene" that a Jew living in New York would "lobby the
president of the United States to resist policies being promoted by the
government of Israel" on a security issue.
Leibler called on Bronfman to either apologize or to resign from his position.
AN ACT OF 'LESE MAJESTE'
Days later, Leibler was assailed in The Jerusalem Post by David Kimche, who
is a former director general of Israel's foreign ministry and who now serves as
president of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations, a body run by the World
Jewish Congress.
Kimche, who used to excoriate Americans who criticized Israel, played dumb
about the intent of the letter to Bush. He defended Bronfman's right to question
Israeli decisions, but then hypocritically pounded Leibler for having the
temerity to question Bronfman.
"By your unprecedented attack on your own president, [you] have forfeited the
right to the title of senior vice president of the World Jewish Congress,"
Kimche fumed, adding that it was Leibler who should either apologize or resign.
This was echoed by other Bronfman employees in the United States. Soon, even
Bronfman himself was moved to speak out, telling the New York Sun that Leibler
was "an arrogant twit" and "a fool." He was even less inhibited in comments
to the the Canadian National Post, which reported that he said that Leibler
"can go f___ himself."
Not content with vulgar imprecations, Bronfman dug himself an even deeper
hole when he discussed the motivations for his letter with the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency by talking about his distaste for Jews who live in Judea, Samaria and
Gaza. Bronfman said "a more effective" tactic for the Palestinians would have
been to attack only the settlements and not Jews inside pre-1967 Israel.
"If the Palestinian suicide bombers only went to the settlements … then the
whole world would have had a case against Israel and there would have been a
two-state solution by now," he said. "Instead, they sent them into Israel
proper, which is ghastly."
While Bronfman wasn't exactly giving an okay to terror against settlers, he
did draw a distinction between the murder of Jews in one place and that in
another. And that, to put it mildly, is not the sort of sophistry and lack of
moral clarity one expects from someone who claims the title of Jewish leader.
NOT YOUR ORDINARY LEADER
The chairman of the Seagram Company, Ltd., Bronfman is among the richest men
in the world, boasting a net worth of $2.3 billion, according to Forbes
magazine's special March 2003 billionaire issue. Along with his brother, Charles
(whom Forbes said had $2.2 billion), the Bronfmans have become a major force in
the Jewish world and give generously to many Jewish causes. Bronfman money has
helped fund just about every worthy Jewish idea that has come along in the
last 20 years - from Birthright Israel trips for college students to the
Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education that funds day schools.
But does his philanthropy give him a free pass to say and do whatever he
likes when it comes to life-and-death political issues associated with the Mideast
conflict?
The answer from those who take his money at the World Jewish Congress is
clearly "yes." Bronfman assumed the presidency of the group in 1979, and the post
is obviously his for as long as he wants it. In the past, the group's
newsletters were known to have at least one picture of him on every single page. That
is the sort of leadership perk more often associated with the various African
and Communist dictators that Bronfman has managed to outlast than with a
Jewish leader.
To be fair, the World Jewish Congress is hardly alone in this sort of thing.
All charities are forced to fawn over their contributors.
Nevertheless, for Bronfman to use his status as a Jewish leader to lobby the
White House against an Israeli government is still inappropriate, even
outrageous. And though he has tried to back away from his statements about the
settlers, the fact that someone of his stature would even seem to be rationalizing
terror in this manner is abhorrent.
Just as bad is the way Bronfman's loyalists have rallied to defend his
indiscretions and to punish Leibler for pointing them out.
We all know that voluntary philanthropic groups are not really democracies;
leadership inevitably depends on donations. But neither should they be
totalitarian dictatorships. Purges of dissidents are actions world Jewish congresses
are supposed to protest, not something they do themselves.
Bronfman's hirelings claim the issue at stake is the magnate's right to free
speech.
Are they serious? Who has the ability to silence someone with that much
power, no matter how harmful his statements might be? In a Jewish world utterly
dependent on the generosity of a few, it's almost impossible to hold such persons
accountable.
Speaking truth to power is a two-way street. Bronfman has used his access and
wealth for righteous causes. But when he veers off into political stands that
can do real harm to Israel, Jewish deference to his power must be replaced by
defiance.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. Let him know what you think by clicking here. This past month Mr. Tobin won first places honors in the American Jewish Press Association's Louis Rapaport Award for Excellence in Commentary as well as the Philadelphia Press Association's Media Award for top weekly columnist. Both competitions were for articles written in the year 2002.
© 2003, Jonathan Tobin | ||||||||||
