2 September 2024
“Being Jewish in America is not the same as being Jewish in Hollywood.”
A.O. Scott, “Steven Spielberg Gets Personal”, New York Times, 9 November 2022.
Lawrence Summers exemplifies the American Jewish academic, and a broad version of American Jewish identity that has been magnified during Israel’s ongoing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza. Familiar with his academic topic, economically but not necessarily socially liberal (that category is occupied by Michael Walzer), and identifies with Israel or opposes its criticism regardless whether Zionist adherence is invoked or not. This type of person is scattered in various influential fields of American life. In diplomacy it could be Dennis Ross and Anthony Blinken; in finance George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, Kenneth Griffin, and Bill Ackman; in law Martha Minow, Elena Kagan, and Merrick Garland; in media Thomas Friedman; and many others in the entertainment industry including Barbara Streisand. All do not share the elementary wisdom that Zionism did not possess nor does it enjoy today a right to sovereignty in Palestine from the river to the sea, and that Israel has always been a colonial apartheid state. It is important therefore to briefly explore this form of academic and public character.
Much has been written about American Jewish history, culture, and tradition and this identity’s relations to Israeli Jews and Israel. Without risking any generalization, both share a certain understanding of ancient Judaism that seems to link the two groups despite their glaring differences. American Jews identify with Israel and contribute significantly financially, politically, and symbolically to its standing and stature at times of crisis and ordinarily. Rarely did well educated American Jews consider let alone identify with Palestinians despite and most probably because of their persistent crusade to assert an unconvincing version of victimhood in the mosaic of American society.
American Jews do not seem to be bothered by the simple proposition that their political and cultural performance is a main source for Israel’s apartheid structure and nature. Israel’s self-inflicted and regional plain terrorism is known to American Jews constituting only an embarrassing footnote to the need to preserve an image of moral superiority in a country predicated on savage blaming or multiculturalism. It is not inconceivable to allege that American Jewish success is detrimental to Palestinians and their supporters. The literature, common sense, and actual experience leading to this reasonable conclusion is so vast making it immune to deconstruction by demonstrating the presence of American Jewish exceptionality.
Lawrence Summers has been dubbed as a wonder economist in the best tradition of self-praising mythology of Harvard university. Following the tradition of American professionalism, the political climate of the time shaped his non-academic career. He served as an economist with the Reagan administration, as chief economist at the World Bank, and a leading one during both Clinton and Obama administrations. His writings and debates have spanned themes such as shares analysis and behavior, financial crisis and regulation, global economics, and the nature of inequality in historical perspective.
As president of Harvard university, Summers’ attempt to optimize the performance of faculty led to his ultimate resignation. His pretextual conflict with distinguished professor Cornel West to advance academic rigor was misplaced given Summers’ intellectual contributions. A proponent of open society and the free exchange of ideas, Summers vehemently opposes campus activism against Israel. His solidarity visit to apartheid Israel during its egregious violations of international law against Palestinians in the early 2000s was a simple example of his willful moral and legal blindness.
Summers has decided to dedicate much of his public activity to exert pressure on American university presidents to shield Israel from criticism and opposing activism. His basic hypothesis is shared also by former dean of Yale Law School Robert Post. One of Summers’ reasons for this advocacy expressed during a presentation at Columbia university in 2015 is that his objective of criticism will not affect real change on historical course of events.
Summers is not a symptom of American Jewish understanding of foreign affairs, he is the model of a troubling phenomenon. Being outside of this epistemological cycle is a blessing that enables confronting it directly, unhesitatingly, and competently.
Lawrence Summers at Columbia University, March 2015
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