Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict over Israel.

• Author: Isik, Fatih Semsettin
• Position: Book review

Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict over Israel

By Dov Waxman

Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2016, 328 pages, $19.28, ISBN: 9780691168999

There is no doubt that Zionism is a heavily-loaded concept involving fierce debates over Jewish identity, as well as the impacts it has made on the course of events in world history, particularly the State of Israel and the Palestinian conflict. Although it is a relatively new aspect of the issue, the strong ties between the United States and Israel is given a central position here, considering the effective influence of the Jewish community on the American political scene. This influence has even caused people living outside of the U.S. to think that American Jewry--except for some marginal individuals and groups--monolithically supports Israel at any cost and even directs American foreign policy in line with Israel's interests.

Dov Waxmans book, Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict over Israel, is a work that extensively tackles this debate. Waxmans arguments are diligently presented, and the necessary details regarding the topic are explained for those without any prior knowledge of this issue. As a significant challenge to the perceived monolithic support of the American Jewish community to Israel, Waxman claims that a historic change is taking place in American Jewry's relationship with Israel, in which unquestioned support for Israel with a pre-accepted consensus is over and 'Israel is fast becoming a source of division rather than unity' (p. 3). Waxman predictably applies a sociological perspective on the discussion rather than maintaining a focus on the international relations aspect of the topic.

Under the spotlight of his main argument, the author goes into detail about how the American Jewish relationship with Israel has evolved throughout history in the first chapter, "The Changing American Jewish Relationship with Israel." In the following chapter, "The End of 'Israel, Right or Wrong,'" he analyzes how this aforementioned change was engendered. He maps out the divergence of thoughts on this issue in chapter, "The Argument about Israel." He specifically focuses on American Jewish public opinion about the Palestinian conflict in the chapter "The Erosion of Consensus," while the chapter entitled, "The Fracturing of the Pro-Israel Lobby" describes the pro-Israel lobby issue as a hot potato topic. Discussing the current situation of the American...