Later On

From a Glenn Greenwald column:

… Apparently, The Godfather of Neoconservatism [Norman Podhoretz] believes that American Jews do — and should — base their political beliefs not on what is best for their own country, but on what is best for a foreign country (Israel).  According to him, even though Obama shares most of their views on political matters ("on abortion, gay rights, school prayer, gun control and assisted suicide, the survey data show that Jews are by far the most liberal of any group in America"), American Jews should have nonetheless voted for McCain because of McCain’s alleged "long history of sympathy with Israel."  Isn’t this the "dual loyalty" argument that nobody is allowed to make upon pain of being accused of all sorts of bad things — that the political beliefs of some American Jews are shaped primarily or even exclusively by loyalty to Israel?  Yet here we find not Walt and Mearshimer or Chas Freeman making this claim, but Norman Podhoretz.

This extreme and flagrant double standard has been permitted for a long time now.  Neocons arrogate unto themselves the right to make appeals to what they believe is the "dual loyalty" of American Jews — most of whom, in fact, reject their radical ideology — when trying to coerce support for their agenda.  Podhoretz’s Commentary Magazine convened a "symposium" of some of the nation’s most typical war-loving neocons to discuss his new book, and virtually everyone of them argued that American Jews should shift their political loyalties to the Right because the Right is "better for Israel" — as though considerations of what’s best for a foreign country is how most American Jews (rather than just neocons) decide how they vote in American elections.  Neocons have long gotten away with this manipulative game: simultaneously demanding that American Jews support the Right on the ground that the Right is allegedly better for Israel (i.e., a "dual loyalty" appeal) while branding as "bigots" and "anti-Semites" anyone and everyone who points out that neocons think this way.

The reason why Podhoretzian neocons are so frustrated that more Americans Jews don’t respond to their pressure tactics is because …

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