Neocon Flap Highlights Jewish Divide

[laststeamtrain]

Neocon Flap Highlights Jewish Divide
By Daniel Luban and Jim Lobe*

WASHINGTON, Jul 30 (IPS) - A mushrooming media controversy pitting neoconservatives against a prominent Jewish-American political commentator could mark a new stage in the growing battle over who speaks for the U.S. Jewish community on foreign policy issues, particularly regarding the Middle East.

TIME columnist Joe Klein's accusations that Jewish neoconservatives, who played a particularly visible role in the drive to war in Iraq and have since pushed for military confrontation in Iran, sacrificed "U.S. lives and money...to make the world safe for Israel" have spurred angry charges of anti-Semitism and personal attacks from critics at such neoconservative strongholds as the Weekly Standard, National Review, and Commentary.

But the fierceness of the controversy surrounding Klein, generally considered a political centrist, highlights the growing antagonism between neo-conservative hardliners and prominent U.S. Jews whose more moderate views are aligned more closely with those of the foreign policy establishment.

The controversy began Jun. 24, when Klein argued in a TIME blog post that the "fact that a great many Jewish neoconservatives -- people like Joe Lieberman and the crowd at Commentary -- plumped for this war , and now for an even more foolish assault on Iran, raised the question of divided loyalties."

Within a day, Abraham Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League, accused Klein of espousing "age-old anti-Semitic canards about a Jewish conspiracy to control and manipulate government".

The reaction from the right-wing press was even harsher. Commentary editor John Podhoretz reiterated the accusation of "anti-Semitic canards" and called Klein "manifestly intellectually unstable".

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http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43384

:popcorn:

[BrklynLiberal]

1. A very tiny minority of Jews are Neocons..but they are like the squeaky door. They are the ones

who get all the attention...and to complicate matters, anyone, including other Jews, who criticize the Middle East policy, get branded anti-semitic.

I think the vast majority of Jews in this country put the needs of the US above the needs of Israel. I think the big canard is that there are lots of Jews who think of Israel first, and the US second.