An important aspect of the Iran Deal is the way that it is highlighting the issue of foreign influence, and dual loyalty– the confusion among American Jews about who they should be supporting, the United States or Israel.

Senator Chuck Schumer himself addressed this issue a month back. Yes, he always says that his name means he’s the guardian of Israel — “Shomer” in Hebrew — but he warned orthodox Jewish supporters that if the deal came down to a question of what was good for America and not good for Israel, he would have to vote for the U.S. because he represents all the people.

Three days ago, demonstrators at the rally to kill the deal in New York’s Times Square taunted Schumer, holding up signs saying “Schumer– You Are No Shomer.”

“He should be the guardian of the Jewish people,” the guy in the photo above told me.

“But he’s a U.S. senator, is that a problem?” I asked.

“It’s not a problem. He has to use his position to help the Jewish state.”

Later the man said that stopping the deal was also in the American interest. (Our conversation is 1:25 into the video below)



The issue of Jewish loyalty to Israel was also explicit in the Washington Post today. Natan Sharansky of Israel writes that American Jews defied Nixon during the detente era:

Jews stood up to the U.S. government 40 years ago, and should again on Iran… A critical question is, who, if anyone, will have the vision and courage to be the next Sens. [Henry] Jackson and [Jacob] Javits.

It has generally been verboten to say there’s a conflict between loyalties. Gore Vidal caused a giant scandal at the Nation 30 years ago when he called out Norman Podhoretz– “your country… is Israel”; and conservative Russell Kirk caused a similar scandal in Washington when he said that “some eminent neoconservatives mistook Tel Aviv for the capital of the United States – a position they will have difficulty in maintaining as matters drift in the Levant.”

After those scandals, the mainstream held that the assertion was anti-Semitic. Jews had a perfect right to support Israel.

Still the issue percolated. Like it or not we live in a nationalist era, and Zionism creates a competing nationalism to an American one. MJ Rosenberg kept writing about “Israel firsters,” the Netanyahu government brought up the question of American Jewish loyalty to Israel explicitly in a poll it withdrew; and Eric Alterman of the Nation bragged on his dual loyalty– “there’s going to be some cases where when Israel and the United States conflict I’m going to support what’s best for Israel rather than what I think is best for the United States.” And by the way, one reason I started this website was that my own brother told me his Jewish newspaper was supporting the Iraq war because it could be good for Israel. I wanted to expose those attitudes.

The Iran deal is causing further pinching. Last year liberal Zionist Rabbi Melissa Weintraub said the Iran deal was “the ultimate dual loyalty test;” and even The New York Times has addressed the issue a couple of times. When Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Congress in March in an effort to kill the deal, the Times said that many Democrats “will eventually need to make an awkward, painful choice between the president of their country and their loyalty to the Jewish state.”

Earlier this week, the Times described an “extraordinary showdown” between Israel and the U.S. government on Capitol Hill. President Obama’s chief rival on the Hill is Netanyahu, and his ambassador, Ron Dermer; and Jonathan Weisman’s report put the spotlight on Jewish Democrats.

“[Obama] truly believes this is a good deal, and I accept that,” said Representative Alan Lowenthal, a Jewish Democrat of California who is undecided. “Now, I have to get there.”

And Ben Cardin of Maryland is also a big Jewish supporter of Israel:

Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said he had spoken at length with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel just before the Iran deal was announced. But the ambassadors of the Western powers that signed on to the deal met with the committee’s leaders on Tuesday.

The rightwing Israeli publication Arutz Sheva piece was even more explicit: “Jewish Democrats Must Choose Obama or Israel”. Its analysis also mentioned Jewish “loyalty to Israel.”

There are 18 Jewish legislators acting on behalf of the Democratic Party in the US Congress, and they are perhaps the key to victory on both sides – for both opponents of the agreement with Iran and its supporters. “Everyone is looking for us,” Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D – California), who is Jewish, told Arutz Sheva. “Last week I met with a J Street lobby that tried to explain how good the agreement is at this point in time, and next week AIPAC officials will be here – I guess to push exactly the opposite position.” Lowenthal faces a difficult dilemma. “You have to make a decision regarding the transaction, and the situation is very tense. On the one hand Israel says the deal is not good, on the other hand the president says so.” Alan Lowenthal and another 17 like him will be forced to make the painful decision between loyalty to Israel and loyalty to US President Barack Obama’s Democratic party. On one side is loyalty to Israel, which has rallied repeatedly against the agreement saying that it would jeopardize its security. On the other hand they are members of the party of the American president, who was an initiator of the deal with the government in Tehran and its enthusiastic supporter. Meanwhile, various lobbying groups are actively pursuing Jewish legislators, particularly groups aiming to rally opposition to the agreement.

Lara Friedman of Peace Now, which has been lobbying in favor of the deal, was appalled by the piece:

If this was in a non-Jewish publication, the explicit appeal to dual loyalties would be condemned as anti-Semitic.

While MJ Rosenberg wrote that the lobby group leading the assault on the Iran deal is a foreign agent.

I worked at AIPAC from 73-75 and 82-86. All the marching orders come from the Israeli government. AIPAC lives in terror of being seen as an agent of a foreign govt which it is. Its billionaires don’t call the shots: the PM of Israel does.

Rosenberg has always said that if a choice is framed in that manner — loyalty to Israel or loyalty to the U.S. — American Jews will support the U.S. That idea is certainly borne out by the Jewish Journal polling showing that American Jews are overwhelmingly for the deal, even though many see it as harming Israel.

President Obama himself issued a dog whistle on the dual loyalty issue in his speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars a week ago, boosting the deal.

In the debate over this deal, we’re hearing the echoes of some of the same policies and mindset that failed us in the past. Some of the same politicians and pundits that are so quick to reject the possibility of a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear program are the same folks who were so quick to go to war in Iraq, and said it would take a few months. And we know the consequences of that choice and what it cost us in blood and treasure.

He’s talking about many Israel supporters. As Sec’y of State John Kerry said in rebuking Netanyahu last spring, Netanyahu pushed the Iraq war, and it was a disaster for the U.S.

I think this discussion is necessary. If the Iraq war had been described in the mainstream as a war that served Israel’s interests but could only hurt the American people, Chuck Schumer probably would have voted against it. But it was never framed in that manner.

Now the Iran deal is getting that treatment: it is being described as something that’s good for Israel not the U.S. So Schumer will end up supporting it.

And when the deal succeeds, the Israel lobby will be reconstituted. AIPAC will be left with the Republicans; and J Street, a Zionist organization that has worked hard for the deal, will become the voice for Israel inside the Democratic Party.

When that happens, the liberal Zionists will lose their neoconservative sparring partners inside the Democratic Party; and that party will become the staging ground for a battle between Zionists and anti-Zionists in American life. I can’t wait. I bought my ticket a long time ago.

Thanks to Peter Voskamp.