“There is no alliance more historic, nor more important, than the alliance between Black Americans and Jewish Americans.”
That’s what Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, said in 2020 during his organization’s joint event, Black Jewish Unity Week, with the American Jewish Committee.
But, Morial told me this week, that alliance is being “tested” by divergent views on the war between Israel and Hamas. And that divergence could influence how the two districts — both of which traditionally support Democrats — approach this year’s elections.
The relationship between these two communities is long-standing and reached its peak during the civil rights movement. But it has not been without periods of friction.
Marc Dollinger, professor of Jewish studies at San Francisco State University and author of “Black Power, Jewish Politics,” sees a strong parallel between today and the period around the 1967 Six-Day War, during which Israel took control of Gaza. Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem (as well as the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula) and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced.
The following year, just four months before the 1968 U.S. election, a Times article titled «Jews Troubled by Black Ties» described a point of contention between the two communities as «Jewish resentment of the position anti-Israel attitude of black extremists who, in the jargon of the New Left, accuse the Jewish state of “Zionist imperialism” and “oppression” against Arabs. »
Dollinger describes the breakup that could be happening now as “a kind of Chapter 2.”
Although the feelings of American Jews do not necessarily match the feelings of Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, or the policies of the Israeli government, there are parallels between the division perceived a few years ago and the divide today: Many Black Americans, especially younger, politically engaged Black Americans, oppose Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, with particular concern over the number of Palestinian civilian deaths.
Many American Jews support Israel’s right to wage war to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas and support American support for the Israeli war effort – and some feel disappointed, even betrayed, that many blacks seem to have more sympathy for the Palestinian perspective than for the Palestinian perspective. Israeli point of view.
The issues at stake seem irreconcilable because many of those participating in the debate believe their positions represent the moral high ground. And nuanced opinions are sometimes called weak. But we must leave room for nuance.
I believe that Hamas is a terrorist organization committed to the eradication of Israel, that its October 7 attack on Israel was appalling, and that all hostages taken during the attack must be returned.
At the same time, I believe that the carnage in Gaza – thousands of civilian deaths, including thousands of children – is unjustified and unacceptable, even in times of war. Aid agencies continue to warn of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and, as the International Court of Justice ruled last month, Israel must «take all measures in its power» to avoid violations of the International Convention on the prevention and repression of the crime of genocide. .
On these points, I adhere to fundamental humanism. As Guardian columnist Naomi Klein wrote in October, the progressive response to this war should be «rooted in values that side with the child every time in the face of the weapon, no matter the weapon and the ‘whose child’.
It’s the absence of these values that Ruth Messinger, former president of the American Jewish World Service, finds frustrating: an inability, she says, for people to «have two contradictory ideas at the same time» when considering the war in Gaza, the insistence on an all or nothing framing of the conflict on both sides.
When we spoke, Messinger told me that within the Jewish community, when she says she is a strong supporter of Israel’s right to exist and defend itself, but that the way it defends itself “means death for Gazans and is therefore “a bad thing.” for the future of Israel and will contribute to the rise of anti-Semitism», he is often asked the question: «How can you say all these things that do not agree with each other?
This is because the conflict is complicated. And those who insist on presenting it in simplistic terms do so to advance an argument rather than advance understanding.
And ultimately, this insistence on ironing out the complexities of the issue could have a devastating effect on politics here. President Biden’s support for Israel in this war has alienated some black voters. Removing some of that support could alienate some Jewish voters. Yet he needs strong commitment and support from both groups to win re-election.
But Cliff Albright, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, lamented that the current tension between these two constituencies on this issue «definitely threatens our ability to work together in terms of electoral organization.» And he believes that tension is compounded by the rising death toll in Gaza and black leaders being singled out for their positions on the war, such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s support for campaign opponents. members of the so-called Squad, a small contingent of progressive members of Congress, all of color and several of them black.
When I contacted AIPAC to ask if the organization was concerned that the squad’s targeting could cause political friction between the black and Jewish communities, a spokesperson for the group responded by email, not responding directly to my question but instead writing: «We believe it.» is entirely consistent with the progressive values of standing with the Jewish state” and “Our political action committee supports nearly half of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the Black Caucus, and the Hispanic Caucus.”
Democrats fear that young progressives opposed to Biden’s stance on the war, including many young black people, will refuse to vote for him on principle.
But Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, a former Democratic National Committee chairwoman who co-founded the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Black-Jewish Relations and helped restart it last year, made a point that j I’ve been thinking a lot recently: «A protest vote here or lack of a protest vote is going to result in a more toxic and painful situation» than already exists for the Palestinians if it means electing Donald Trump again.
Even if some voters believe Biden has not sufficiently pushed back against right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his pursuit of war, they should consider that any pushback would most likely be nonexistent under Trump. In this way, refusing to vote for Biden as a way of expressing support for the Palestinians – or at least demanding a ceasefire – could end up further harming the Palestinian cause. The moral position, abstention, could actually become an immoral act, opening the door and letting in even more danger.
It may be hard to imagine, but the prospects for the Palestinian people could get worse.