It’s no secret that I like lefty blogger Glenn Greenwald. I consider him a worthy adversary and a gentleman, albeit a gentleman with occasional pit-bull tendencies. Thus, I was disappointed to read his neocon bashing commentary today. Pointing to a new poll, Greenwald clucked, “Right-wing neocons (the Bill Kristol/Commentary/ AIPAC/Marty Peretz faction) who relentlessly claim to speak for Israel and for Jews generally hold views that are shared only by a small minority of American Jews.” Friends, this is what we call in the business a straw-man. I have never heard Bill Kristol proclaim even once that he speaks for Jews generally, let alone heard him do so “relentlessly.” And while it’s true that my acquaintanceship with Marty Peretz only includes one lengthy supper attended by over a dozen other people, the evening slipped by without Peretz relentlessly claiming to “speak for the Jews.” Perhaps he just suspended his normal “relentlessness” on that score for that particular evening. In the real world, we Jewish neocons know what a tiny minority we are amongst our co-religionists. I belong to a predominantly Jewish country club. The most vituperative piece of hate mail I’ve received since I became a writer came from one of my co-members. The bulk of our fellow members sympathized with his position, if not his intemperance. The poll that Greenwald cites proves that most Jews are liberals. To paraphrase an old colloquialism, no kidding Sherlock. As for Glenn Greenwald, I would like to present him with a challenge–find a few instances where Marty Peretz and Bill Kristol claimed to represent American Jewry. Since they do so “relentlessly,” that shouldn’t be so hard. Right?
