NOBLESSE OBLIGE

Interesting Times: It's not about Israel (Saul Singer, Jerusalem Post, August 26th, 2004)

After nine speeches in four cities on both coasts on my "vacation," I've got a better idea of how American Jews are torn by the coming election. Most are not so torn on how to vote - they'll vote Kerry. But there is a chink in their "anybody but Bush" armor: Bush is better for Israel.

Even anti-Bush Jews accept this. Kerry can wax lyrical about his trip to Masada, his "perfect" pro-Israel voting record, his Jewish brother, and his Bush-clone position paper, but no one can really imagine him stiffing Yasser Arafat and embracing Ariel Sharon the way Bush has.

Yet here's the riff I kept hearing between the lines: I know the "pro-Israel" vote is for Bush but I am so repulsed by him on so many other issues that I can't do it.

I understand this way of thinking, but consider a subtle modification. The dividing line in the American Jewish mind is in the wrong place. It should not be Israel on one side of the scale and everything else on the other. The real choice is between foreign policy, as it impacts on America and Israel, and domestic policy, in all its facets.

For the sake of argument, I'm prepared to accept that regarding economic, tax, and social policy Bush is, in American Jewish eyes, akin to Attila the Hun. Not living in America, who am I tell someone who is appalled at what the president is doing to their country, not to be concerned?

But as a citizen of the world, not just of America and Israel, I feel a right to say this: This is not about Israel, but where America is going on a global scale. As strange as it may sound, I don't want American Jews to vote on Israel, but on their own security and who they prefer for the de facto leader of this planet.

Which is why non-Americans who go ballistic when anyone interferes in their elections hold such vocal views about yours. Take it as a compliment.