by Dr. Gilbert N. Kahn

May 14, 2009

LONDON — During and after the winter war in Gaza, American Jews on both the Left and the Right debated the war, the media coverage, and Israel’s tactics. Disagreements over “proportionality” were raised and rebutted. And then the debate moved on.

In Great Britain as well as throughout Europe, however, the Gaza war appears to have had a far greater effect on Jews than in the United States. My conversations with both opinion makers here as well as generally identified Jews, although hardly scientific, suggest unease from Israel’s supporters as well as its critics, and from within religious and secular Jewish circles.

Jews who were completely supportive of Israel’s conduct of the war are convinced that the international community, the media, and other outsiders judged Israel exclusively from the immediate events that began Dec. 20. They argue that there was no serious consideration in these quarters of the years of Hamas attacks and indiscriminate Kassam rocket shelling of southern Israel. These supporters of Israel blame a ferocious attack by Israel haters — and Jew haters — who ignored Israel’s effort to defend its territorial integrity and international boundaries.

On the other side, there are good friends of Israel who charge that the Israeli response in Gaza was excessive and disproportionate. They claim that especially the third phase — the actual infantry invasion of Gaza — was unnecessary and of no tactical or strategic value.

And yet both these camps agree that the hostility that Israel’s war against Gaza engendered in England was unacceptable. Religious and secular Jews alike say that if the domestic hostility toward Israel — which gained steam during the 2006 Second Lebanon War and manifested itself in academic boycotts and the like — were to continue, they would seriously consider leaving Britain. One secular public Jewish figure indicated that his family would consider moving to Israel or Canada if Israel continues to be vilified, regardless of the legitimacy of the criticism. (Others suggest that these responses are no more real than those made by Americans who threatened to leave if Richard Nixon or Ronald Reagan were elected.)

Both religious and secular saw the level and character of the continuing attacks against Israel as an indication of real anti-Semitism, and not mere criticism of Israeli policies.

But along with concern about British attitudes toward Jews and Israel comes a warning about attitudes toward Muslims. Some, especially Jews who were critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza, suggest Jews do not adequately comprehend the level of resentment and discrimination that exists in Britain against Muslims. As a result, Jews who demand that the British be more “sensitive” to Israel’s plight and security ought to examine their own attitudes toward Muslims.

Finally, many raise a subtle concern about the Jewish future and support for Israel in Britain. The younger generation in England has only seen Israel portrayed in the media as a hostile, occupying oppressor in the Middle East. There is little or no recollection of Israel in 1948 or 1967 or 1973. The contemporary public picture — of the 2006 Lebanon war and the 2008-09 Gaza war — is one of the oppressed Palestinians being persecuted by the Israelis: read Jews. This one-sided education, it is suggested, is doubly difficult to correct: There is a need to present an alternative narrative, and then to gain media attention for it. Some suggest that it even may be too late for an entire young generation.

As a result, the fallout from the Gaza war falls into the hands of the new Netanyahu government, in the midst of its efforts to embark on a new direction for peace. Gaza is stuck in the minds of many varied forces in the international community. It presents a problem now not only for Anglo Jewry, but for Israeli negotiators who must ever be mindful of world opinion, whether they agree with it or not.

Dr. Gilbert N. Kahn is a professor of political science at Kean University in Union (e-mail gkahn@kean.edu).

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