Tikkun’s Rabbi Michael Lerner

Date: Friday, May 08, 1998 10:29:27
From: Rabbi Michael Lerner
To: [distribution list]

In the days when the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal were calling me “the guru of the White House” (because Hillary Clinton had adopted my call for “the politics of meaning” with its goal of “changing the bottom line” in American society from an ethos of materialism and selfishness to an ethos of love, caring, and ethical/spiritual/ecological sensitivity), Hillary made it clear to me that she and Bill both had been reading TIKKUN Magazine since 1988, and that she and Bill both agreed with its call for a Palestinian state that would agree to live in peace with Israel. Then, as now, there was only one question in their minds: what would be the domestic political cost for such support?

The continuing resistance of Netanyahu to implementing the Oslo Accord ahs particularly vexed the Clintons, because they put their own esteem on the line to make it happen. Hillary was so ecstatic the day of the signing that she told me that it was the most significant day in the Clinton’s presidency. To see it unravel under Netanyahu’s mean-spiritedness has been increasingly upsetting.

So Hillary decided to give Netanyahu a signal, by letting him know that the Clintons might be willing to talk about a Palestinian state unless he makes some immediate forward motion on the Oslo process. Likely result: there will be lots of fanfare next week as the two sides enter “final status” negotiations. But you can also be sure that not much is going to happen during those negotiations–because Netanyahu is totally unwilling even to consider giving anything more, and he will use the issue of Jerusalem as his trump card to prevent forward movement.

The only thing that might change that is the possibility of the Clintons’ being willing to recognize a Palestinian state when it is declared by Arafat in 1999 (as he says he will if Oslo is never implemented–and it won’t be). Part of the reason Arafat cares so much about this second stage is that he believes that whatever the Palestinians get at this point is all they ever will get, at least until a new government comes to power in Israel.

The only thing that could change that is if Israel fears that unless it implements Oslo it will face a Palestinian state recognized by most states in the world, including the U.S.

But that will never happen if Bill is made to suffer serious political costs for Hillary’s current statement. If the media bombards her with negativity for her courage, Bill is unlikely to want to pursue this path of putting any more significant pressure on Netanyahu during the final status negotiations.

And the bombarding has already started. Typical is a NY Times story May 8 by James Bennet that says “American Jewish groups reacted with alarm to Mrs. Clinton’s remarks.” Bennet quotes the American Jewish Committee, but as is normal with the media, fails to contact Peace Now, TIKKUN, The International Rabbinical Committee, the Israel Peace Lobby, or anyone else who might give the position of the (majority( of younger American Jews who support the peace process and believe that Israel’s best security interests lie with a peace accord that creates a Palestinian state.

And you can count on more of the same from most American Jewish newspapers–reflecting the position of the UJA/Federation crowd and the AIPAC activists. These people refuse to acknowledge publicly what they know privately: that most American Jews have already figured out that the best way to stop terrorism is to give the Palestinian people a stake in some existing reality in which their needs for land and for dignity are taken seriously. Israel’s security is always in doubt when it intentionally and provocatively denies the legitimate human needs of the Palestinian people.

Yet untless these voices are countered, and Hillary is given lots of support in the public arena, she and Bill are unlikely to be willing to use their “bully pulpit” to put pressure on Israel to reach a final status accord. The reaction NOW on THIS issue of a Palestinian state will have a big impact on whether she or he is willing to out on a limb again.

That’s why I’m writing to you to ask if you might consider doing one of three things that could make a big difference:

1. Contribute money to an advertisement in the NY Times and (money permitting) other newspapers, that would say: “Yes, Hillary, we support your call for a Palestinian state. We, too, believe that the Palestinian people have the same rights as other peoples to national self-determination. Peace will only come when the Palestinian people feel that their dignity is recognized–and that will take not only concessions of land and the active dismantling of settlements created in the West Bank to make Israeli withdrawal impossible, but a spirit of reconciliation in which Israel recognizes and acts in ways that show a basic respect for the rights of the Palestinian people, and Palestinians do all that they can to undermine those terrorists and other forces in their community who are unwilling to ever accept a peaceful resolution of the conflict with Israel.” If you wish to help us raise the $50,000 that it costs to place such an ad, make your check (or send us your credit card info and amount to charge it) to TIKKUN, and mail to TIKKUN Israel ad, 26 Fell St, S.F., Ca. 94102.

2. Write a letter to your local newspaper and to the NY Times, supporting Hillary Clinton’s call for a Palestinian state, objecting to media coverage that only quotes the establishment and ignores TIKKUN and Peace Now, and urging others to let the Clintons know that they will not be politically isolated if they put pressure on Netanyahu. Send such letters also to the White House and to your elected representatives in the House and Senate.

3. Let us know what kind of support you might be willing to give were we to try to create an organization of progressive Jews who articulated a peace politics on Israel, a social justice agenda on domestic issues, an anti-racist, anti-sexist, and anti-homophobic perspective, and did all this in the context of affirming a non-denominational but pro-Jewish observance kind of Judaism (rooting all this in the language of Torah, along the lines I follow in my book Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation, published by Harper/Collins, 1996). Even if you did not personally join, would you financially or politically support it?

If you have other ideas on how to publicly support Hillary, please let me know. What I am sure of is this: this is a critical moment, and if the negotiations begin in Washington in a climate in which the Clintons have been made to feel that they were taking too big a political risk, it won’t much matter what they believe privately, because they have not always been known for their poltiical courage when faced with political risk.

Rabbi Michael Lerner
Editor, Tikkun Magazine