Publisher Description

How Israel is dividing American JewsTrouble in the Tribe explores the increasingly contentious place of Israel in the American Jewish community. In a fundamental shift, growing numbers of American Jews have become less willing to unquestioningly support Israel and more willing to publicly criticize its government. More than ever before, America

Back Cover

"Dov Waxman could hardly have picked a more contentious topic for investigation than the troubled relationship between (and among) American Jews and Israel. But with Trouble in the Tribe , he brings to bear a rare combination of calm, reasoned analysis with scrupulous scholarly research. American Jewish arguments about Israel will certainly continue, but if Waxman's contribution to it gets the attention it deserves, they should be based far more on complex reality than simplistic fantasy. And we will all be better for it." --Eric Alterman, columnist for the Nation "Good books, Orwell once wrote, set your scattered thoughts in order--in a way, tell you what you already know. Dov Waxman's Trouble in the Tribe lays it out: the attitudes, the clashes, the numbers, the future. For a generation, American Jewish solidarity regarding Israel was indistinguishable from the

Author Biography

Dov Waxman is professor of political science, international affairs, and Israel studies at Northeastern University. He is the author of The Pursuit of Peace and the Crisis of Israeli Identity and the coauthor of Israel's Palestinians: The Conflict Within.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

1. THE CHANGING AMERICAN JEWISH RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL 18

2. THE END OF "ISRAEL, RIGHT OR WRONG" 55

3. THE ARGUMENT ABOUT ISRAEL 91

4. THE EROSION OF CONSENSUS 123

5. THE FRACTURING OF THE PRO-ISRAEL LOBBY 147

6. THE CHALLENGE TO THE JEWISH ESTABLISHMENT 174

7. THE POLARIZATION OF AMERICAN JEWRY 193

CONCLUSION 210

Notes 217

Bibliography 291

Index 309

Review

"A meticulous, precise, well-organized survey that takes into account the many different views and will certainly facilitate the heated conversation." * Kirkus *
"A valuable road map to an ongoing and very important conflict."---Murray Polner, History News Network
"As a primer on the American Jewish machloket (argument) over Israel, Trouble in the Tribe is extremely useful. Its data is copious . . . its charts are handy; its perspective mostly balanced. . . . It is an excellent guide for the perplexed."---Jay Michaelson, Moment Magazine
"As Waxman convincingly demonstrates in this valuable and important book, the very thing that once united the American Jewish community--Israel--now is the thing that divides us most of all."---Moti Rieber, Kansas City Jewish Chronicle
"Brave and unsettling."---Jonathan Kirsch, Jewish Journal
"[A] detailed and meticulously balanced account. . . . Both Waxman's complex picture of American Jewry and the plea for 'critical engagement' emerging from it deserve our serious consideration."---William Kolbrener, Times Higher Education
"An accessible, readable introduction to the topic." * Choice *
"Gently insightful, richly documented, clearly presented, and illuminatingly broad."---Ari Y. Kelman, Middle East Journal
"Waxman deserves plaudits for tackling an important and very timely subject that has heretofore been ignored by the scholarly literature on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He analyzes a complicated and contentious topic with rare objectivity, ample research and calm reasoning. Trouble in the Tribe is an indispensable volume for anyone seeking to understand why American Jews quarrel over Israel."---Michael Rubner, Middle East Policy
"This book offers a useful grounding for thinking about the changes already taking place [in the American Jewish community], and what may lie ahead." * Survival *
"Dov Waxman has written a book that will likely become a standard text. In Trouble in the Tribe, he examines the American Jewish discussion of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and presents it coherently and critically."---Edward Rettig, Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs
"Not only those carrying out academic studies, but anyone who is interested in learning about these much-discussed topics, will certainly gain a clearer perspective with the help of this book."---Fatih Semsettin Isk, Insight Turkey

Review Quote

"Waxman deserves plaudits for tackling an important and very timely subject that has heretofore been ignored by the scholarly literature on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He analyzes a complicated and contentious topic with rare objectivity, ample research and calm reasoning. Trouble in the Tribe is an indispensable volume for anyone seeking to understand why American Jews quarrel over Israel." --Michael Rubner, Middle East Policy

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