When looking at the debating landscape that's occupied by the
Jews, you can only think of Jonathan S. Tobin in America and Shmuel Rosner in
Israel, as being clones who came out the same political chromosome.
As if to make this reality known to the world, each wrote a column
that—when placed side by side—appear like slightly different constructs but
made with material from the same pool of bricks and mortar. Tobin wrote:
“Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, and Omar Are Driving Democrats' Agenda,” a column that
also came under the subtitle: “Democratic radicals are more important than
Chuck and Nancy imagined.” It was published on January 10, 2019 in National
Review Online. As to Shmuel Rosner, he wrote: “The Inevitable, Necessary Death
of Israel's Labor Party,” a column that appeared in The New York Times, the
next day, January 11, 2019.
In his piece, Jonathan Tobin laments the rise of the Left in
America. As to Shmuel Rosner, he cheers the demise of the Left in Israel. In
taking the stance that he did, each writer contributed to the shaping of the
political agenda in his jurisdiction while it was being formulated by the
Right. Each being a Jewish leader in his own right, both command some sway when
it comes to galvanizing public opinion in Israel, and among the Jewish-American
rank-and-file.
Excerpts from Jonathan Tobin's article make up the paragraph that
follows. They show how the writer usually goes about modeling public opinion:
“A trio of newcomers is monopolizing the public's attention. They
are driving the Democrats to the left. Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan
Omar, have become symbols of the Democratic class that is further to the left
than the leadership. The three women are already having an impact on the
national conversation. Ocasio-Cortez is the perfect 21st-century left-wing
politician. All three are having an outsized impact on the national discussion.
Ocasio-Cortez resonates with those looking for new left-wing icons. Tlaib
attracted attention by implying that some supporters of Israel were guilty of
dual loyalty. She and Omar have endorsed the BDS movement. Ocasio-Cortez's talk
about a 70 percent tax rate immediately became a subject of national debate.
The Democratic grassroots are more left-wing on economic and foreign-policy
issues than their leadership. The three are winning the hearts of Democratic
voters. They will be among the loudest figures in a party whose rank-and-file
members are hungry for angry, radical voices”.
And what follows are excerpts from Shmuel Rosner's article. They
too show how the writer usually goes about modeling public opinion:
“With Israel's general election approaching, Israelis can finally
say farewell to the Labor Party. Labor is the heir to the party that founded Israel
and ruled the country for its first three decades. A recent poll shows that
labor will take only about eight seats in the Knesset. The problems it faces
result from a major change in Israel's social and political landscape. A
successful political party today has to offer a Jewishly flavored Israeli
patriotism. The Labor Party is chained to its historical role as the party of
nontraditional Israelism, formed by pioneers who cast aside traditional Jewish
practice and aimed to create a Jew whose connection to a Jewish past is weak.
Labor continues to cater to this population, and the pool of people who still
have hope for the peace process. This allows for political survival but isn't
enough to win election. The leaders of Israel's other centrist parties understand
the changing trends, and resist the pressure to join forces with Labor”.
We can sense from those paragraphs that the Jewish leadership in
Israel has cultivated a rightwing audience it feels comfortable with. As to
America, some Jewish leaders are trying to push their readers into adopting a
rightwing agenda despite the fact that the trend goes against the grain of
Israel's founders, and the grain of most Jews in America. How so?
In Israel and the occupied territories, the Jews have the upper
hand, and they want it to be an iron fist. The reason is simple to understand.
The Jews robbed the Palestinians of their land and other possessions, and the
Palestinians want them back. And so, the Jews wish to put an end to the
constant reminder that they have an obligation toward the Palestinians. They
believe that an iron fist is the way to do it.
As to the situation in America, most Jews see themselves as
underdogs. Except for some leaders, many feel that what happened to Jews
throughout history can happen to them in America. If that day should come, they
see it coming at the hands of the rightwing groups rather than the left. This
is why most of the rank-and-file court the left whereas a handful of
self-appointed leaders court the right.
But guess what is self-defeating about the stance taken by those
leaders. It is that they promote the rightwing agenda by scaring their
audiences. They say it can happen to them in America, but they are the leaders that
can and will protect them.
Those leaders (Jonathan Tobin among them) gather a loud core of
followers around them whose responses scare the nativist Americans. The latter
move to the extreme right believing that Jews are plotting to replace them. They
respond in their own way, and things tend to escalate from there.