Conservative columnist David Horowitz says he is “embarrassed as a Jew” to learn that only 24 percent of American Jews are planning to vote for President Bush, according to an American Jewish Committee poll, when “the Jew-hating world” is “rooting for John Kerry.”

Meanwhile, the Web site of the National Jewish Democratic Council is deploying Bubbie, a Yiddish-accented character, to beat up the president and a cabal of Bush Cabinet officers in a cartoon that Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League calls offensive, “pitting Christians against Jews.”

With both major presidential candidates brazenly wooing the so-called “Jewish vote,” two questions blur. The first is the venerable question of what, or who, is good for the Jews? The second, contemporary question is whether American Jews vote based on what they believe is good for Jews or for America.

Even most Democrats acknowledge that George W. Bush has been Israel’s best friend in a hostile world and has picked the right enemies. President Bush links Palestinian terrorism to the broader scourge and embraces Israel’s anti-terror tactics. Since Yasir Arafat lied to him over the Karine-A weapons shipment, Bush has shunned the Palestinians’ terrorist-in-chief, unlike his predecessor and European colleagues.

Challenging Bush, both Kerry and John Edwards have emphasized their pro-Israel bona fides, claiming that Bush’s incompetence harms the Jewish state. In the vice presidential debate, Edwards movingly recalled leaving Jerusalem just before the Sbarro pizzeria bombing and affirmed Israelis’ “obligation to defend themselves.”

The current crisis clearly demands more than vying for the “I love Israel” sweepstakes prize. Complex questions loom regarding Israel’s anti-terror strategy, Sharon’s Gaza disengagement plan and the proposed Palestinian state. Many pro-Zionist Sharon critics in Israel and America disdain the pro-Israel pom-pom waving, seeking a paternalistic “tough love” president to force Israeli concessions. Other supporters of Israel insist what’s needed is a president who will back Israel’s effort to defeat the terrorists.

Who might best support Israel is debatable, but the position in 2004 by most Jews is not. Bush’s pro-Israel stand will probably secure him a weak 5 percent bump in Jewish votes. Moreover, Bushophobia, that irrational hatred of the incumbent, is epidemic among Jews, though some Jewish supporters of the president have made special efforts to fund-raise for Bush because of his stand on Israel. He probably will attract a record number of Jewish donations for a Republican.

Still, the evidence suggests that most American Jews vote not just as Americans but as liberals. The AJCommittee poll shows that three-quarters of American Jews oppose any amendment banning gay marriage and oppose government aid to parochial schools, including Jewish day schools. The dominant American Jewish theology remains liberalism, with the Democratic trinity of FDR, JFK and Martin Luther King worshiped more devoutly than Moses, Maimonides or Theodor Herzl.

The Passover seder’s happy overlap with contemporary progressivism makes it a beloved American Jewish ritual. And on questions ranging from gay rights to intermarriage, most American Jews choose progressive trends over traditional Torah teachings. In fact, building on Judaism’s traditional passion for social justice, most American Jews conflate liberalism and Judaism. Oversimplifying the Reform movement’s Americanization of the Prophetic tradition, most view Isaiah as the original Jeffersonian.

It is ironic, then, that a community that has so embraced American ideals — and a particular American ideology — is so often caricatured as being monolithic, provincial and ultimately un-American. And while most Jews are single-party people, voting Democratic since Franklin D. Roosevelt, most Arab Americans shop around, acting as single-issue voters. Polls suggest that in 2004, Arab Americans are abandoning Bush, whom they supported in 2000, embracing Kerry overwhelmingly.

This contrast between American Jews and Arabs raises fascinating theoretical questions about whether successful ethnic groups should vote their perceived parochial interests or assimilate into a broader Americanized view. Power comes at a cost. Fear of the Jewish vote enhances American Jewish power while feeding stereotypes and marginalizing Jews.

Perhaps the great lesson to draw from this campaign, and from the Bush presidency, is that supporting Israel must be an American issue, not a Jewish one. Bush supports Israel on principle, regardless of the American Jewish community’s support for him. Kerry contextualizes his support for Israel as part of a broader strategic plan to fight terror, subdue Iran and stop the Saudis. This is a good sign.

In an irrational world filled with dictators, terrorists and appeasers, support for Israel needs to be sustainable, regardless of the party in power, focusing on true friendship and mutual needs rather than ethnic power games. n

Gil Troy is a professor of history at McGill University in Montreal and the author of several books and numerous articles on Zionism today. Special To The Jewish Week.