American Jewish Committee 2007 Survey: It’s the Anti-Semitism Stupid, Or is It?
After reading Phil Weiss’ take on the AJC 2007 survey, whose findings about the I-P conflict disturbed me, I wanted to revisit the issue which I’ve already covered in this post.
Phil correctly notes no in depth questions about the Occupation like: do you view the settlements as an obstacle to peace? Should Israel relinquish most of the settlements if there was a chance for a genuine opportunity for peace?
But another absence from the survey glared at me as well. Phil correctly notes its obsession with anti-Semitism, which isn’t surprising since this currently mostly hackneyed phenomenon seems to be the single factor that props up the work of most mainstream Jewish organizations and gives them their raison d’etre. But if we’re going to talk about hatred of Jews shouldn’t we explore Jewish attitudes toward others? Why no questions about attitudes toward Muslims, Blacks, Hispanics or immigrants? All of these are very hot issues in political life in this country. The survey’s utter disinterest in them shows, I think, a fundamental unwillingness to look at ourselves and any role we might play in maintaining a destructive status quo either in the Middle East or in relation to our fellow citizens.
tags american-jewish-committee-2007-survey, anti-semitism, jewish-attitudes-toward-muslims, mondoweiss, philip-weiss
