In my introductory remarks to the Peter Beinart-David Suissa debate at Temple Israel of Hollywood last Wednesday evening (May 16), I said the following to help give political context to what we would be hearing from each speaker:

In a thoughtful piece published this past week, Professor Shaul Magid of Indiana University, wrote that the response and rancor around Peter Beinart’s book “The Crisis of Zionism” represented four broad groups in the American and Israeli communities – the ideological left and right and the pragmatic left and right. A brief word about each:

Those in the ideological left question the viability of a Jewish state preferring a liberal democratic state in a one-state solution; this means the end of the Jewish State of Israel.

The ideological right includes a combination of Zionist revisionists and theological messianists and understands territorial maximalism (i.e. a Jewish state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea) as necessary for Jewish survival; this might mean the survival of a Jewish state, but this “Israel” would not be a democracy because the Jewish minority would rule over the Arab majority.

The pragmatic left often uses rhetoric from the ideological left but emphasizes the welfare of the Jewish people and the importance of a Jewish democratic State of Israel. They are concerned that the occupation of the West Bank is compromising Israel’s democracy. Included among these are J Street, Shalom Achshav, B’tzelem, and Peter Beinart.

The pragmatic right uses the rhetoric of liberalism but looks to Jewish history rather than theology and argues that security must be the over-riding priority for the Jewish state in any two-states solution. This group includes AIPAC, The Shalem Center in Jerusalem, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, and David Suissa.

A few thoughts:

1. The debate was friendly and civil. Each speaker spoke and I asked questions. Peter Beinart answered every question I posed and addressed every claim David Suissa made. Peter’s remarks were factually based, nuanced, pro-Israel, pro-peace, critical of Palestinian terror and mistakes, critical of Israeli policy vis a vis the Palestinians, and pragmatically left.

2. David Suissa’s presentation was emotionally based, rhetorically charged, and avidly pro-Israel. He avoided answering two of my questions but eventually did, the first on the Arab demographic threat to Jewish democratic nationalism in a “greater Israel,” and the second on whether Jerusalem should serve as the capital of both Israel and Palestine in an end-of-conflict peace agreement.

3. I asked both men that if Israel and the Palestinians were unable to agree on a two-states for two-peoples solution, which would they prefer? (1) A single Jewish state over “greater Israel,” or (2) a partitioned land accommodating two states, Israel and Palestine. In #1, Israel’s Jewish character would be preserved but it would lose its democracy. In #2, Israel would be able to retain a Jewish majority and its democracy. Peter affirmed #2. David challenged the premise that Israel holding onto the land it currently controls would mean that there would be an Arab majority. He made this claim by excluding Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians from a Palestinian state. The bottom line for David was that he did not accept partition of the land nor a shared Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and Palestine. Indeed, he seemed not to support two-states for two-peoples. That being the case, I mis-characterized him in my introduction as a part of the “pragmatic right.” Rather, David is likely ideologically right.

4. David claimed that only 1% of the West Bank is populated by Jewish settlements. The actual percentage is far greater because each settlement includes security zones surrounding it, and both the settlement and its respective security zone are part of land controlled by Jewish regional councils. Taking everything together, settlements in fact control 40% of the West Bank. Of that 40%, both B’tzelem and Settlement Watch of Shalom Achshav (two Israeli human rights organizations) claim that one third is owned by private Palestinians. Peter made these points during the debate, but he passed over them quickly and I felt it important to restate them here.

The debate between Peter Beinart and David Suissa reflects the vast difference of opinion and perspective that animates the discussion both within the American Jewish community and in Israel itself on the nature of the conflict and the possible solutions. One of my Israeli friends, a significant leader in the State of Israel, watched the debate and reflected that to solve this problem will require new and original thinking because the status quo is unsustainable for Israel as both a Jewish and a democratic state.

I believe that Peter Beinart’s book The Crisis of Zionism is a must-read for anyone interested in peace, Israel’s security, viability and future.

To view the entire debate see:

http://www.jewishjournal.com/los_angeles/article/peter_beinart_and_david_suissa_debate_zionisms_crisis_20120517/

In his recent book The Crisis of Zionism, journalist and writer Peter Beinart argues that a dramatic shift is taking place in Israel and America. In Israel, the deepening occupation of the West Bank is putting Israeli democracy at risk. In the United States, the refusal of major Jewish organizations to defend democracy in the Jewish state is alienating many young liberal Jews from Zionism itself. He has asserted that in the next generation, the liberal Zionist dream-the dream of a state that safeguards the Jewish people and cherishes democratic ideals-may die.

On Wednesday evening, May 16 at 7:00 PM at Temple Israel of Hollywood, Peter Beinart will make his only Los Angeles appearance. He will be in dialogue/debate with David Suissa, President of the Los Angeles Jewish Journal. I will moderate this conversation. For those who cannot be present, the debate will be streamed live on the LA Jewish Journal Website. For those attending, plan to arrive early as people will be seated first come-first serve. We expect a large crowd.

Peter Beinart is Senior Political Writer at The Daily Beast, the online home of Newsweek Magazine, editor of the Daily Beast blog “Open Zion” and the former Editor of New Republic Magazine. Most recently he is author of The Crisis of Zionism (Times Books, 2012) which has sparked international debate as well as both praise and condemnation.

President Bill Clinton had this to say about The Crisis of Zionism:

“Peter Beinart has written a deeply important book for anyone who cares about Israel, its security, its democracy, and its prospects for a just and lasting peace. Beinart explains the roots of the current political and religious debates within Israel, raises the tough questions that can’t be avoided, and offers a new way forward to achieve Zionism’s founding ideals, both in Israel and among the Diaspora Jews in the United States and elsewhere.”

The May 16 evening of conversation is sponsored by Temple Israel of Hollywood and the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, as well as co-sponsored by five sister Los Angeles synagogues, Temple Emanuel, Temple Isaiah, Ikar, Beit Chayim Chadashim, and Kol Ami.

This past Saturday,  The Crisis of Zionism was reviewed by David Lauter in the Los Angeles Times, Calendar Section, page 1.  For more information about Peter Beinart and The Crisis in Zionism, see these links:

* Huffington Post – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/peter-beinart-the-crisis-of-zionism_b_1400719.html

* The Jewish Daily Forward – http://forward.com/articles/155044/what-stirred-hornet-s-nest/?p=all#ixzz1spZzXVRh

* Don Futterman in Haaretz – http://www.haaretz.com/misc/iphone-article/the-important-message-of-peter-beinart-1.422949

* The Times of Israel’s review by Jonathan Miller – http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-crisis-of-peter-beinart/

* Shaul Maggid in Religion Dispatches – http://www.religiondispatches.org/books/politics/5891/peter_beinart%E2%80%99s_controversial_the_crisis_of_zionism%3A_right_diagnosis,_wrong_treatment

* Jonathan Rosen’s in NYT Sunday Book Review – http://www.religiondispatches.org/books/politics/5891/peter_beinart%E2%80%99s_controversial_the_crisis_of_zionism%3A_right_diagnosis,_wrong_treatment

* Times of Israel Blog of Shaul Magid – http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/peace-partners-a-question-for-the-pragmatic-right/

Bernie Avishai writes on Open Zion on The Daily Beast about what Prime Minister Netanyahu’s and new Kadima leader Mofaz’s merger in the government might mean.

It is certainly sly political maneuvering on both sides, and it might give Bibi a way to avoid challenging the authority of the Supreme Court on the one hand and at the same time sidelining Liberman’s Russian right-wing Yisrael Bateinu party as well as extremist religious and settler parties. Everything will depend, of course, on what the real deal is with Mofaz (i.e. what he will get out of joining the governing coalition) and whether Bibi wants to make history as a peace maker.

Mofaz is a former Defense Minister, and he says he wants progress with the peace effort and the Palestinians. Now that the voice of Bibi’s father has passed into Eternity, will the Prime Minister be released from his father’s ideological fundamentalist extremism to be the practical politician many say he is?

Once again, Israel is ever-dynamic, interesting and democratic.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/05/08/netanyahu-s-globalists.html

PS – For those of you living in Los Angeles, next Wednesday, May 16 at 7 PM at Temple Israel of Hollywood (my synagogue) we will welcome Peter Beinart in his ONLY Los Angeles appearance as he enters into dialogue with David Suissa, the President of the Los Angeles Jewish Journal and founder of Olam Magazine.

Peter Beinart is the political editor of The Daily Beast, the former editor of the New Republic Magazine, and the author of the controversial book The Crisis of Zionism.

President Bill Clinton has said that those who care about the future security, democracy and peace of Israel, should read this book! The book has been both praised and vilified, as has Beinart himself.

The evening will be sponsored by Temple Israel of Hollywood and the Los Angeles  Jewish Journal, and co-sponsored by 5 sister synagogues – Temple Emanuel, Temple Isaiah, Ikar, Beit Chayim Chaddashim, and Kol Ami. All are welcome. Come early.

The entire event will be live-streamed on the Jewish Journal Web-site.