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Real Clear
Jewish Identity & Politics: Insights from Dr. Guy Golan
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Join us for a thought-provoking conversation with Dr. Guy Golan, professor at TCU and author of "My Brother's Keeper," as we unpack the complexities of Israeli-American relations and the evolving identity of American Jews. Discover how the historical alignment of American Jews with the Democratic Party is being challenged by recent political events and anti-Semitic sentiments. Dr. Golan provides a deep dive into Israel's unique balance of religious identity and nationalism, contrasting it with Europe's secularization post-World War II, and offers insights into former President Trump’s frustrations with Jewish voting patterns.
We then turn our attention to the broader challenges of integration in Western societies. Our discussion explores the Democratic Party's struggle to balance mainstream positions while mobilizing voters, especially in swing states like Michigan. We delve into cultural integration issues, focusing on recent developments like the call to prayer allowance in Minneapolis and compare the experiences of Muslim communities in the U.S. and Europe. Dr. Golan highlights the optimistic outlook for the American dream through education and how it contrasts with Europe's ongoing struggles in managing multiculturalism.
The conversation shifts to the rise of nationalism across Europe and its political implications. We analyze the surprising support for far-right movements in traditionally liberal countries and examine the tension between progressive values and women's rights amidst increasing Arab immigrant-related crimes. Dr. Golan discusses high-profile incidents such as the Cologne riots and Sweden.
Welcome back to Real Clear Podcast. I'm delighted this morning to be joined by Dr Guy Gallant. He is a professor at TCU in Texas and he is an Israeli as well as American citizen, and he has published a new book called my Brother's Keeper and it has to do with the relationship between American Jews and Israelis and a number of other things. So welcome, guy.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much. Glad to be here, glad to have you, Professor.
Speaker 1:I'd like to get right into the thrust of your book. As I understand it, your book is trying to present a metaphor from Israel to the Western world. Is that accurate to say?
Speaker 2:So you know everybody's talking about Israel, everybody has an opinion about Israel, Everybody knows that the news media is obsessed with Israel, but Israel is largely misunderstood, and it's misunderstood not only by Americans, but relationship between American Jews and Israel, because the Jews who live in Israel and the Jews who live in the United States are very different in terms of their political psychology, and this is a really fascinating topic.
Speaker 1:So there's a number of questions that I have for you and that I think people are going to want to be honing in on. The first that I'm really curious about is what's happening in the schism between left and right. You could also make an analogous schism Republican, democrat, conservative, liberal and the Jewish identity in America. That's my first question that I'd like to get your thoughts on.
Speaker 2:That's a great question. So American Jews have always been a part of the Democrat coalition, ever since the days of FDR. So you know, american Jews have always been a part of the left, the labor movement, civil rights movement, the gay rights movement, any progressive movement in American history. American Jews were square at the center of it. And this coalition is long lasting and as we look to the upcoming election, you're probably going to see more of that happening when Jews go to vote.
Speaker 1:How are they going to vote in 2024?
Speaker 2:You know predictions are the errand of a fool, but let's look at history, okay. So in the last, let's say, five or six election cycles, American Jews vote somewhere between 70 to 80 percent for Democrats. So the higher levels is Al Gore, I believe, in 2000. Then Barack Obama received 78% of American Jewish vote and other candidates like Hillary Clinton and Biden also received in the low 70s. So that is typically the range. When it comes to the upcoming election, I'm going to predict it's going to be in the low 70s, simply because there are a couple of factors that may diminish the American Jewish vote violent and very anti-Semitic sentiment of the pro-Palestinian protesters that we see in college campuses and these days in the DNC convention.
Speaker 1:You think that's going to have a substantive and observable, measurable impact on the Jewish vote in 2024. So when Obama first ran in the first election, cycle, he received 78% of the American Jewish vote.
Speaker 2:But then, during his first administration, obama brought forward the Iran deal, and the Iran deal was largely unpopular amongst the American people in general and also within the American Jewish circles. And then, obama, during his second term, he received only 69% of American Jewish votes. So we saw that and I think that's a precursor to what we're seeing right now Again the reaction to the terrible anti-Semitism that is flourishing on college campuses, on the streets of large cities and is a part of the far-left Democratic Party.
Speaker 1:So, returning to the metaphor of your book, that there is something representative about or something meaningful about the development of Israel and its relationship with other countries, there's something you'd like the West to take heed of through that metaphor. Can you say a bit about what that is?
Speaker 2:Sure. So let's talk about the metaphor Again. Why is everybody fascinated with Israel? Because Israel really is unique in many ways. Israel is a national country and it's a country with a strong religious idea. So let's talk about Europe for a second.
Speaker 2:You know, World War II, Europeans were in the far right with fascism, but then, after World War II, Europe moved to the far left and Europe and Western thinkers identified both nationalism and religion as negative forces in society.
Speaker 2:And we saw in Europe a secularization across Europe and we saw the diminishing of any national traits in the European continent, in the European continent. So we had national currency replaced with the euro currency, we had borders between European nations absolutely diminished and we had the concept of nationalism replaced by Eurocentric identity. So this is happening right now and we see Europe really struggling right now with its attempt to hold on to its rejection of both nationalism and religion, On one hand, as it deals with immigration from non-European nations, and there's going to be a real tension in Europe right now. But when you go back to Israel, Israel is the only Western nation really that held on to both its religion and its nationality over a course of 60 years and this is why it's been a subject of a lot of tension amongst Western intelligentsia for the last three or four decades. They simply did not like a concept of a Western nation that is both religious and national.
Speaker 1:So, as Donald Trump is the populist representation of, I guess, some sort of vestigial right for European Jews, do American Jews see him that way?
Speaker 2:American Jews do not like Donald Trump, and this is something that's very frustrating to President Trump. I mean, he says outright if you are voting for the Democrats, you must be out of your mind. He cannot fathom why anybody who is Jewish would vote for a party that seems in many ways, at least on the progressive, on the far left edges of it to be anti-Israel. And what Trump does not understand is that American Jews identify themselves primarily as Democrats and primarily as liberals, so in their identity salience they're first and foremost Democrat and their Jewish identity tends to be secondary, because most American Jews are not very religious.
Speaker 1:I'm listening and, as you can tell, we've been intruded upon by a 85-pound black lab. So I'm going to close the door, but we're grasping on every word.
Speaker 2:Those are the best. Labradors are by far my favorite dog.
Speaker 1:He has one identity it's called hungry.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 1:It affects every aspect of the home. So a guy this is so salient to well, I've been perplexed by and I think a lot of people have been very perplexed by how Jews in America could watch what's unfolding on the left, which is I mean, I don't think it's hyperbolic to say it is a modern parallel at least to ideological fascism, and from here you can listen to the full episode. If you go to realclearpodcastcom or click the link in the show notes below, it's only $4.99 a month. You'll get access to everything that I'm doing all episodes, uninterrupted essays and Sunday news releases. It's well worth it and turn other people on to realclearpodcastcom with Lucas Klein.