‘Trouble in the Tribe’: a review

Published: 16 April 2016

Last updated: 4 March 2024

Is the American Jewish pro-Israel consensus dying? – Raphael Magarik – Haaretz 12.04.16
In his new book, ‘Trouble in the Tribe’, Prof. Dov Waxman argues that American Jewish disagreement about Israel ‘reflects broader shifts in the American Jewish community’. When we talk about American Jews standing lockstep behind Israel we are talking about a period of 25 years, from the mid-1980s until the second intifada… The American college students who donned machine guns in the IDF or picked oranges on a kibbutz after the ’67 war crafted a powerful, unified pro-Israel establishment. In turn, many of their children are busy dismantling it… Younger American Jews have grown more critical of Israel in part because they know it better than their parents. Rather than a mythical, abstract Israel, they encounter a messy country with a half-century-old occupation of Palestinian territory, periodic military clashes with a beleaguered Gaza, and a rising hyper-nationalist right wing.
Read review here

And see: Bernie Sanders’ candor on Israel shows American voters are changing their tune – Ascher Schecter – Haaretz 09.04.16
Gaffes aside, Sanders’ willingness to express a more critical stance on Israel than other candidates reflects the shifting sensibilities of Sanders’ base, young voters who are critical of Israeli policies — among them, young Jews who don’t support Israel blindly as many of their parents did. With the rest of the presidential field too busy in AIPAC’s panderpalooza, that leaves Sanders as the voice of nuance.