There’s nothing unreasonable about the Independent Jewish Voices guiding principles. The centrality of human rights, international law, the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security, the importance of the struggle against all forms of racism, the fact that it’s not anti-Semitic to criticise Israeli government policy – this is all self-evident. Their call for the Board of Deputies to be more representative of the various political strands within British Jewry is also useful. But this is as interesting as the project seems to get.

This is not the first time that a group of British Jewish intellectuals has got on their high-horse and complained about their voice not being heard within the community. And I’m sure it won’t be the last. But leaving aside the sanity of their guiding statements, IJV seems to be yet another clique that exists to indulge in moral posturing and self-righteous rhetoric that will have little or no impact on events.

The classic dichotomy in the contemporary Jewish world is between particularity and universality. Any ‘radical’ Jewish group worth its salt, then, needs to emphasise its abhorrence of using Jewish particularity as an excuse for violating universal norms. Brian Klug writes “We believe that these commitments [the guiding principles] – not ethnic or group loyalties – define the limits of legitimate debate.” Next, they need to demonstrate that their commitment to universality is the ‘true’ Judaism: “So, when we speak out against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, or the bombing of Lebanon, or discrimination against Palestinians within Israel itself, we are not turning against our Jewish identity; we are turning to it.”

According to this paradigm, being Jewish means being universal. This arises out of an unnecessary desperation, born of insecurity, to come up with a compelling moral justification for being a Jew. But those of us who are secure in our Jewishness do not need to answer this question, nor do we need to make such grandiloquent claims about the worthiness of the tradition. We do not need to justify ourselves. Writing in the Russian Empire of the late nineteenth century, Zionist thinker Ahad Ha’am asked himself whether he envied the emancipation of his fellow Jews in Western Europe: “I answer, in all truth and sincerity: No! a thousand times No! The privileges are not worth the price! I may not be emancipated; but at least I have not sold my soul for emancipation. I at least can proclaim from the rooftops that my kith and kin are dear to me wherever they are, without being constrained to find forced and unsatisfactory excuses.”

There is nothing wrong with declaring that the well-being of your fellow Jews is vitally important to you. You do not need to stress that you speak out against the occupation because of a commitment to international law and universal human rights. At dinner the other night, I was asked whether my strategic preferences for ending the occupation were determined by a concern for Israel, or out of the need to create a strong Palestinian solidarity movement. My answer was the former. As an Israeli and Zionist, my primary concern is for the citizens of this country and for Jews all over the world. This is no more irreconcilable with a commitment to universality than having a family precludes you from being concerned with the well-being of your neighbours.

Arguing that the essence of Judaism is the quest for universal social justice is, ironically, the worst form of particularism. It makes Jewish identity dependant on Jewish behaviour. This is no identity at all. As Ahad Ha’am wrote, “I at least have no need to exalt my people to Heaven, to trumpet its superiority above all other nations, in order to find a justification for its existence.” In other words, my Jewish identity is not strengthened by the Prophetic tradition, nor weakened by Deir Yassin. I am a Jew. I have absolutely no need to justify that to anybody, nor do I need to behave any better (or worse) than anybody else.

It is not hard to be a dissident Jew in Britain. There is no shortage of outlets for diverging views to be heard. The Guardian, in particular, likes nothing more than providing a forum for Jew to debate Jew, and those contributing to the debate on Comment is Free should be aware of the fact. Nor is it difficult in Israel. But here, where we see the consequences of the sound and fury, the dilemmas are acute. If the signatories to the Independent Jewish Voices declaration of principles are really concerned about Israeli policies and their consequences for Jews all over the world, they should come here and do something about it, rather than indulging in pointless self-flagellation. This is why I remain a Zionist, and not an Independent Jewish Voice.

Alex Stein, False Dichotomies
alex.stein@talk21.com