THE HOLOCAUST IS OVER WE MUST RISE FROM ITS ASHES

Jewry underwent a corresponding change, no less profound and meaningful,beginning with the 1960s human rights revolution and the openness of John FitzgeraldKennedy to Jews. American Jews today are no longer part of the minority coalitionwith African Americans and Hispanics and the rest of the domestic coalition in thestruggle for American justice and liberties. Too many of my Jewish American brothersand sisters have become the beating heart of neoconservatism. They are part of thewhite, right-wing, nationalist, and powerful establishment, part of an administrationand culture that withdraw from the global responsibility that defined America’s spiritduring World War II.Israel’s place in the American psyche, at least the political psyche, is still anunresolved mystery. The Israel that resides in the American soul is part of theisolationist withdrawal from responsibility and not part of universalism. There is notmuch dialogue between the Jews and other minorities. The Jews have abandoned theinner cities for affluent suburbs. The American Jews’ new camp is not onlygeographically removed from the nonwhite communities, but implements the samephilosophy in the international arena: white and Christian on “our” side, all others onthe opposite. Now the Jews are siding with the administration, and together theystand against Arabs and Muslims everywhere.The Jews’ crossing of the “river of power” has major consequences for ournational identity and perhaps even for the Western world’s identity. What happenedto the Jewish communities of Israel and America also happened to one of the mostimportant French intellectuals living today, Alain Finkielkraut. The status Frenchintellectuals enjoy in their country is an impressive phenomenon that testifies to theFrench people’s respect for thought, expression, and intellectual innovation. Amongthis generation’s French intellectuals, a few Jews are prominent, and one of them isFinkielkraut. For two decades he has been one of the leaders of the NewPhilosophers, who oppose the “tyranny of thought” and the known, conventionalphilosophies. He is not confined to the ivory tower, and is active in popular venues,being a much sought-after media personality. He writes prolifically and makes manyappearances on radio and television. His positions are hard to tag as left or right. Heis original and thinks outside the box and when I read him, I have the feeling that heenjoys controversy and provocation, and like me, he believes in the creative powerof potemics. More than once I found myself virtually on his side. We walk together,in a virtual world, he in Paris and I here in the Holy Land, in a protest march, against