"We must never forget“the depth of evil to which individuals and communities may sink, particularly when they try to play the role of god to history.” - Reinhold Niebuhr

Introduction

A couple years ago the American Jewish Committee launched a vociferous attack on Jewish critics of Israel, an attack which has become a trademark in the propaganda war on the peace community. It came in the form of a controversial pamphlet entitled “‘Progressive’ Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism." This pamphlet constitutes a major propaganda ploy, seeking to isolate, stigmative, shun and silence critics of Israel's sixty years of violence against the lawful residents of Palestine.

Prominent Chicago rabbi Ira Youdovin,himself an ardent Zionist, recognized that the tone of the AJC's attack could lead to a spiral of recriminations which could hamstring the very Zionists it sought to unify.

He had in the past demonstrated his Zionist credentials, excorciating the Presbyterian Church USA for trying to promote peace in Palestine. Nevertheless, when the attack piece was published in late 2006, he appropriately characterized it as McCarthyites in the February 23 issue of Forward.

Unfortunately, this courageous stand appears to be a one time deal for this articulate spokesperson for "progressive" Zionism . He has subsequently engaged in a course which is anything but progressive.

From "retirement" in Santa Barbara, he continues many roles in the Zionist community and in the Jewish community, which he seeks to conflate, and during the Gaza massacre he diverted public debate to a red herring regarding an old, dead controversy from Rahm Emmanuel's political past. He denounced any questioning of Emmanuel's impartiality as antisemitic "canard", denying that his affiliations with Israel militarism had any bearing on his impartiality. Conveniently , Rabbi Youdovin did not disclose that he has a long career as a paid Zionist "topgun" - or even that he was a rabbi, an at best unprofessional omission which may cause an appearance impropriety, particularly when the matter under discussion is transparency, full disclosure, and impartiality.

Conflict of Interest: Business as Usual?

Rabbi proudly if not arrogantly writes in Jewish circles as an expert professional Zionist, yet he wrote the local newspaper and conveniently omitted the customary italicized line at the bottom indicating any of his many affiliations with organized zionist pressure groups.

This ommission might be overlooked but the point of his letter was that Rahm Emmanuel's affiliations - allegedly as a corporal in the Israeli Defense Forces - would in no way affect his impartiality as a White House functionary.

A previous letter to the editor had lamented that the Obama administration was sizing up to be markedly biased on Palestine. This is a good point: with Hilary at State, Obama silent on Gaza, and Emmanuel as Chief of Staff, the zionists are publicly gloating.

Twisting the knife of this triumphalism, Youdovin blasted the letter writer , essentially dismissing his whole point regarding conflict of interest as a specimen of bigotry.

It seems that the proof of the pudding would be transparency, and Rabbi Youdovins failure to disclose his own very explicit affiliations with organized Zionism raises an appearance of impropriety.

Ironically, his whole point is that any such questioning of authority with regard to such conflicts of interest is equivalent to Nazi anti-semitism. To characterize such concerns as on the same level of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is ridiculous and adds to polarization.

To oneself conceal such affiliations as discussed below, in the context of denying their importance, is disingenous in the extreme.

Youdovin's Undisclosed Links: World Zionist Congress

And what mighty warrior affiliations they are. Indeed, he is no Joe the Plumber, at all, but is exactly a career Zionist Executive, with a capital E.

Former vice President of Chicago's Board of Rabbis, he is also the first Executive Director of ARZA, the Association of Reformed Zionists of America.Now “retired” and living in California, he remains active; his writings, behind the scenes, include overt militarist apologia for the recent Gaza massacre.

This should not be at all surprising in that ARZA rapidly rose to prominence within the global Zionist movement.

Dual Conscience?

The big surprise is that the Rabbi once wrote a very thoughtful article defending Jewish opinion makers, at least, from the very imposed conformity he apparently wishes to impose on Presbyterians and citizens who question Israeli authority today.

One of the most distressing characteristics of American Zionism is that its lead proponents ften try to intimidate Jewish and non-Jewish writers. There was a time when Rabbi Youdhovin
courageously challenged this activity as McCarthyism, and yet now he has done a complete
flip flop. Yet even before his one-time courageous stand, he denounced as a "canard" the
allegation that Zionist apologists try to limit debate.

Ironically, ARZA's local representative in Youdhovin's new West coast digs, Dr. Linda
Phillips, is also the President of the local (Santa Barbara) chapter of the League of Women
Voters. This is an organization flailing for an alternative to being a rubber stamp for whatever
AIPAC puts through. Perusal of its own national website leads to a repudiation of Ira Youdovin's claim that there is no Israel Lobby, and that there is no attempt to silence its critics!

The LWV site features a report on Mideast policy which refers to Fulbright scholar Milton Viorst, whose writings putatively earned him a spot on
Richard Nixon's enemies list. The LWV report citesing his book Storm from the East: The
Struggle between the Arab World and the Christian
West.

Viorst is himself Jewish, and he himself rebuts one of Youdhovin's main contentions, which
that Zionist suppression of free thought is a "canard". To wit:

I received a letter from Abraham H. Foxman, then as now the voice of the Anti-Defamation
League, admonishing me as a Jew not to wash our people's dirty linen in public. I still have
it in my files. His point, of course, was not whether the washing should be public or
private; he did not offer an alternative laundry. His objective was-and remains-to squelch anyone who is critical of Israel's policies.

-Conclusion -

Although this article will be revised to eliminate repetition and to be presented to Rabbi Youdovin for rebutal, this piece of writing has, as one poet put it, click shut finished like a pocket watch. For the point has been made full circle. A local ARZA executive sits also on the board of LWV, and yet at the national level the LWV provides the rebutal to Ira Youdovin fallacious argument that there is no such thing as an Israel lobby and no silencing of critics. Of course, they are both.

One can only hope that, beneath the rubble of all this Zionist apologetic, the old Rabbi Ira of 2006, the one who stood up to the McCarthyism of the American Jewish Committee, will re-emerge.And to invite that dialogue, I will carefully edit this article and consider the comments.