Opinion: The damning silence at the heart of Mike Pence’s speech in Jerusalem
Vice President Mike Pence’s speech to the Knesset
wasn’t as bad as I feared. But mostly it was a reminder of why Israel’s
left is disillusioned and Israel’s right is delusional.
Two themes predominated.
Pence gave a date
for moving the U.S. embassy to West Jerusalem. This will happen next
year, and is a move that I support. And he promised that the U.S. will not permit Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. This too is a welcome commitment, even absent an explanation of how this might be accomplished.
I
can understand how right-wing Jews might welcome these assertions. But
then again, a good number of Jews from the center and left, in both
Israel and America, will welcome them as well.
But beyond that, Pence gave a reasonably careful and cautious speech.
Settlement
building was not endorsed, even by implication. Despite Pence’s
evangelical credentials and the plethora of Biblical quotations,
whole-land-of-Israel rhetoric was noticeable by its absence. In my
reading, there wasn’t the slightest hint that America would support or
encourage annexation of Palestinian territories.
And
emphatic and repeated references to the need for peace made it clear
that the American administration is not satisfied with the political
status quo. Pence, like U.S. President Donald Trump,
used the phrase “two-state solution,” even if he did so in a less than
whole-hearted way. Trump, apparently, is still dreaming of “the ultimate
deal” that will bring peace to the region and an end to the conflict
between Israelis and Palestinians.
So why in heaven’s name was the right in Israel so exhilarated by Pence’s words?
Some,
I suspect, carried away by the tone but missing the substance, were
simply reading into his remarks things that he did not say. And many,
of course, remembering how much they despised Barack Obama, were
expressing yet again their relief that the Obama years are behind us.
And they did so even though — yes, it is true — much of Pence’s message
could have been, and was, articulated in one form or another by the
Obama administration.
My
advice to the right: Don’t get carried away by your enthusiasm for the
vice president. Don’t forget that Trump, not Pence, is the boss, and
that Trump may profess to love Israel today, but he is erratic,
inconsistent and utterly unpredictable.
And
don’t forget, too, that there will be life after Trump, and it may
come, not in the person of Mike Pence, but in a president far less
sympathetic to Israel.
And
that brings us to the problem of the left. The center and the left
should find comfort in the fact that the vice president refrained from
giving a green light to the obsessive expansionism of the settler
movement. And they should be pleased that Pence reiterated America’s
desire for peace talks and a peace agreement. Yet how is this peace to
come into being?
Nothing that Pence said, or that the president has done, suggests that this administration has anything resembling a practical plan
to move peace forward. Increasingly, the Trump Middle East “peace team”
seems more like a crew of bumbling amateurs than serious diplomats with
a vision and a plan.
If
the president wants to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,
fine. It is an appropriate first step. But it is logical and necessary
to follow it up with a strategy for American leadership in the region.
If a glimmer of hope still existed that such leadership might emerge,
Pence’s silence served to extinguish it.
In
fact, much of what the vice president had to say seemed bizarrely
disconnected from reality. For example, he talked of meeting with the
leaders of Egypt and Jordan, “America’s great friends.” But these great
friends are, in fact, in serious distress. Egypt is beset by corruption,
profound economic problems and political dysfunction. It is in serious
danger of collapse. And Jordan is overwhelmed by refugees, demographic
tensions and political and economic problems of its own.
And
all of this is without even mentioning Israel’s demographic issues that
are fast turning it into a binational state, while Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu dodges investigations and pretends that the
occupation doesn’t matter to him or to the world.
How
is all of this to be addressed, Mr. Vice President? How can America
assure Israel’s security and well-being if America does not take the
lead in matters such as these? Terrorism is a problem, of course, and so
too is Iran. But more than bluster on terrorism and Iran is required of
America right now.
Let
us be honest: Real concern for Israel and for peace must mean policy
and not platitudes. When it comes to the Middle East, what is needed at
the moment is security for Israel, compassion for the Palestinians and
American activism and engagement in a deeply troubled region that is
desperate for responsible American leadership.
Mr. Pence, your speech wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t good enough.
Eric
H. Yoffie, a rabbi, writer and teacher in Westfield, New Jersey, is a
former president of the Union for Reform Judaism. Twitter: @EricYoffie
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