Divided Loyalties
WAXMAN, CHAIM I.
Divided Loyalties DE GAULLE, ISRAEL AND THE JEWS By Raymond Aron Praeger. 160 pp. $5.95. Reviewed by CHAIM I. WAXMAN Assistant Professor, Department of History, Connecticut State...
...The Jewish reaction, on the other hand, demonstrated to him that in the face of intense and unfriendly nationalism, many Jews feel impelled to choose between rejection of their heritage or repudiation of their national affiliation...
...In fact, several years earlier he had predicted that once Algeria became independent, the General would attempt, even at Israel's expense, to bring about closer ties with the Arab states...
...Aron himself, incidentally, never had any great confidence in the putative "love affair" between France and Israel prior to the Six Day War...
...In these circumstances, it certainly appeared that the state of Israel and all its citizens stood in mortal danger...
...Such statements, he feels, are in the tradition of Protocols of the Elders of Zion...
...With the passage of time, many people are likely to forget the events that led up to and finally set off the Six Day War...
...Without rendering judgment as to the validity of their actions, the fact that a number of American soldiers have defected to Sweden, that a still greater number of young civilians have fled to Canada rather than serve in a war they consider immoral, and that many others have gone to jail rather than be drafted, demonstrates that the question of dual loyalties is not unique to non-Israeli Jews...
...Reviewed by CHAIM I. WAXMAN Assistant Professor, Department of History, Connecticut State College Throughout his latest book, the noted French social and political theorist Raymond Aron attempts to maintain the dual posture of objective analyst and "committed sociologist," despite his recognition of the impossibility of remaining completely unbiased toward what for him is clearly a delicate subject...
...For although he is neither religious nor a Zionist, he nevertheless considers himself Jewish-or, to use his own oft-repeated description, a "de-juda-ized Jew...
...Thus, arms shipments to Arab countries were stepped up and Nasser was encouraged to intensify provocations...
...Two more open challenges were added: a Jordanian-Egyptian pact and the admittance of Iraqi troops into the Hashemite kingdom...
...Israel's warning that closing the Strait would be considered a casus belli, and Nasser's response in the form of a blockade...
...and Marshal Tito in particular could have successfully prevailed upon Nasser not to blockade the Strait of Tiran...
...The second section of the book, a collection of newspaper columns written between May and October 1967, is a valuable reminder of those fateful days...
...The cause of the crisis itself Aron lays squarely on the Soviet Union...
...they cannot be pigeonholed into any of the other familiar categories-religion, culture, nation, etc...
...He sees the roots going back to 1956 and de Gaulle's bitterness over the damage to French prestige that resulted from the Sinai Campaign...
...Aron's comments, I should note, were written before de Gaulle's resignation, and leave open the question of the direction Gaullist nationalism might take...
...The first, written in 1960, attempts a sociological analysis and raises the problem of anti-Semitism as well...
...As Sarte would say, he is a Jew because others see him as one...
...And Aron concludes his observations on anti-Semitism with Sartre's statement that it "is not a Jewish problem, it is our problem...
...Here Aron poses a problem with which every Jew outside of Israel might be confronted, namely his relationship to the Jewish state as a citizen of another...
...The real culprits in this instance, he believes, were India and Yugoslavia: It was they who could have persuaded the Secretary General not to withdraw the forces immediately...
...The obvious answer is Israel's ignoring France's admonition not to fight after Egypt had blockaded the Strait of Tiran, but to wait for the Big Powers to settle this issue diplomatically...
...Similarly, one may have a deep attachment to Israel and still take issue with it on specific policies...
...If differences between nations are decreasingly based on opposing ideologies (as Aron himself has written elsewhere), then it is permissible to be critical of and dissent from the policies of one's country without being disloyal or unpatriotic...
...The final essay on "The Jews and the State of Israel" was originally written in 1962, and was intended for inclusion in an anthology in honor of the late Chaim Weizmann, Israel's first President...
...Two essays on the nature of Jews and their relation to the Jewish state comprise the third and last part of Aron's book...
...Totally unsatisfied with apologists who claim the remark was intended as a compliment, not a slur, Aron sees in it fuel for anti-Semitism...
...and may serve to advance the accusations in that notorious document...
...Concerning France's position, he maintains that so long as its policy is in line with its interests, there can be no protest...
...But whether Russia actually wanted war remains in the realm of the unknown, for Nasser lost control of the situation...
...But later Aron admits that he was over-critical and that Thant had no alternative...
...Although this might force many Jews into either/or decisions on the political level, the dilemma is in reality not very different from the one confronting any citizen, Jew or not, who finds his country's policies irreconcilable with his moral values -he must decide between loyalty to country and loyalty to conscience...
...Aron recalls for us the rapid deterioration of conditions during May: how Egypt ordered the removal of UN forces from its territory, and the speed with which they were withdrawn...
...for as the saying goes, "France has neither friends nor enemies but only interests...
...and this may well affect their appraisal of the current situation...
...But what, asks Aron, led de Gaulle to make such a charge...
...That, however, was only the last straw according to Aron...
...Unfortunately, the discussion does not go beyond most others of its kind: Jews are neither a race nor simply "a people like the rest...
...In one way or another, it is a predicament that could confront everyone...
...Again admitting to the impossibility of objective analysis, Aron declares that his sympathies were with Israel, but more on the basis of humanitarianism and justice than because of any ethnic ties...
...Indeed, the author touches on this subject in several places throughout the book, and while there can be no denial of its potential reality, I do not think it is quite so critical as he does...
...Aran's opening essay deals with de Gaulle's famous November 1967 news conference, in which the General-ostensibly referring to the Six Day War-chsracterized the Jews as "an elite people, self-assured and domineering...
...Yet after the war, of course, the Yugoslav President did not hesitate to suggest that he act as a peace negotiator between the Arabs and Israel...
...Aron is at first bitterly critical of Secretary General Thant for his having so hastily removed the UN peace-keeping forces, feeling he should have at least stalled long enough to allow for some cooling off and diplomatic pressure...
...He speculates that Moscow, plagued by its inability to do anything about the American involvement in Vietnam, must have decided to make difficulties for the U.S...
...Perhaps this is because I hold a view of citizenship and loyalty slightly different from his...
...In the final analysis, though, Aron admits he cannot fully account for de Gaulle's statement...
...in another part of the globe, and at the same time increase its own sphere of influence...
...It was simply good politics, and politics and morals do not mix...
Vol. 53 • February 1970 • No. 4
