In a provocative new book published this week, “The Crisis of Zionism,” Peter Beinart bemoans the trajectory of the State of Israel and of American Jews. His suggestions for saving both include a boycott of products from Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a plan that has aroused a torrent of criticism. In an interview March 28 with Al-Monitor Washington correspondent Barbara Slavin, Beinart argues that Israel is “sleepwalking to a one-state solution” and that other efforts to slow or stop settlement expansion are “miserably failing.” Beinart also argues for financial support by the US government for Jewish education in the US, and looks for progressive change among Orthodox Jews, particularly women demanding more equal rights. Beinart is also editor in chief of the new blog Open Zion on The Daily Beast. Excerpts from the conversation follow:
Al-Monitor: The reaction to your book has been fascinating. Haaretz called you "the Jewish establishment’s enfant terrible." Bret Stephens was a little nastier. If neoconservatives are liberals mugged by reality, are you a former neocon mugged by the current reality of Israel?