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Many other Jews with doubts about Begin's policies are more disturbed by the worldwide denunciation of Israel provoked by the war in Lebanon. Jews who were and still are dismayed by the Israeli invasion frequently charge that biased reporting exaggerated its horrors. Says Randall Czarlinsky, St. Louis director of the American Jewish Committee: "It was after Tyre, after the seemingly terrible killing and casualty figures started flowing in, that the deep doubts began to arise" in the American Jewish community. Subsequent reports, greatly lowering the estimates of civilian casualties, reassured many American Jews that the Israeli forces were not being as cruel as the early TV pictures led much of the world to believe. Concerns about Israeli excesses, however, were renewed by scenes of bombing and shelling that accompanied the siege of West Beirut.
Many Jews argue that Israel is being unfairly judged by a double standard, bitterly denounced for actions that other nations feel they have an unquestioned right to take. Norman Podhoretz, editor of the monthly Commentary, says that he considers President Reagan's peace plan to be "on the whole a good one" and goes on to say, "I wish Begin had not rejected it out of hand." Nonetheless, in a fiery article, provocatively titled "J' Accuse," in the current issue of his magazine, Podhoretz charges that to many of its critics "only Israel of all the states in the world is required to prove that its very existence—not merely its interest or the security of its borders—is in immediate peril before it can justify the resort to force."
Among those critics, writes Podhoretz, "a number of American Jews have been adding their own special note to the whining chorus of anti-Israel columnists, State Department Arabists and corporate sycophants of Saudi Arabia." Podhoretz charges that "criticisms of Israel that are informed by a double standard ... deserve to be called anti-Semitic even when they are mouthed by Jews or, for that matter, Israelis."
Though his tone is far angrier than most, Podhoretz is not the only American Jew to fear a revival of anti-Semitism in the wake of the Lebanon invasion. Says Chicago Radio Producer Sher: "After the 1956 war and the other conflicts up to this time, Israelis were the golden boys, even in the minds of people who at home were anti-Semitic toward American Jews. Now the perception is, 'Hey, these guys are bullies.' " Sher fears that hostility toward Jews historically increases during times of economic trouble like that the U.S. is experiencing now. "It won't be the blacks who are blamed," he says. "It's the Jews who are seen as dangerous, as powerful. Lebanon could contribute to that sort of sentiment."