Letters to the Editor
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great news about J Street
As a non-Jew who nonetheless has been a long-time member of TIKKUN and its NSP project, I applaud this new group and wish it success in every way. Rabbi Lerner of TIKKUN has been a lonely voice for years in speaking up for justice and sanity in our Israeli policies and will, I'm sure, welcome this promising new ally. I have no means to ever understand the difficulty jewish progressives must face in their decisions on these matters, but the founders of J Street and the leaders of other like groups have my deepest respect.
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bearpaw1
Is that a guess or an assertion? I would imagine the 400,000 Israeli Jews living in Yesha are not high on the idea of western liberal goyishe advocating they be thrown from their homes for the privilege of being bombed and rocketed. But I could be wrong, Maybe where you live people like that kind of thing.
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lampshade2
So for the 19 years 1948-67 there were zero Jews in Yesha, and for the 10 years following there were zero Jews permanently living in Yesha the cause of this anger was.......?
And for the several hundred thousand Palestinians living in Syria & Lebanon since 1949 and not given any citizenship there (Jordan is the exception) the root of their anger is......?
By the way 40% of the Jewish population of the Jewish quarter of Jersalem were killed in the 1948 war. Thousands of Jews were expelled from Hevron in the 1929 pogrom that left several hundred Jews dead. All of a sudden no talk of reparations?
Exceptionalism? In 1948 the official party line of the Arab states was "We will exterminate the Jews" Which they learned from the Grand Mufti, long time ally of the Third Reich. Similarly in 1949 when the war for independence was concluded, is was Israel who petitioned for peace and who even offered to return all captured lands to the arab states (who incidentally were illegally occupying Gaza and the West Bank under UN181 which was supposed to use those lands for a free Palestinian state), their offer was rejected since that would require them to recognize the state of Israel.
I could go on with actual factual history but what would be the point. Joooz bad, berry berry bad.
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Bklyn260
Why do you think so called "liberal Jews" didn't do what you suggested '20 years ago'?
Well I'll tell you. It never mattered all that much to them. The reason it does now is because people like you would prefer to shame everyone with the same brush for their very existence. And they don't like that. They want to have the same friends at the Unitarian fellowship they had before. They're tired of being assaulted over things that really don't matter to them. So they form this lobbying group to hold up like a sign, and shout "See? See? We're the GOOD Jews, we're not like those horrible yidlich. We're friends with the Hamas!"
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AIPAC success is generating a backlash
Nothing is more urgently needed in our political discourse than for the taboo against speaking forthrightly about Israel to be overthrown. After all, notwithstanding its profound connection to some American Jews and its (partly justified) status as a beloved icon with whom we have a "special relationship," Israel is not the 51st state -- it is a foreign country, and one smack-dab in the center of the Middle East, a region in which we have some considerable national interest. The enforced silence about Israel has prevented us from thinking clearly about the Middle East, and helped enable both the disastrous war we are now fighting in Iraq and a possible future one against Iran.
But because of the highly sensitive nature of the subject, American Jews must lead the way.
Absolutely. And we all must hope that they succeed.
Anti-semitism has not disappeared from the American scene; it's just gone below the surface as Jewish and Christian Zionists have entered a marriage of convenience, each to further their own separate agenda.
It's not a question of if but when it resurfaces. And it won't be pretty when it happens.
The neocons and their allies, Jewish and otherwise, have already led us into one disastrous war in the Middle East. Many, rightly or wrongly, believe that the war was fomented for Israeli interests, not American.
When the scope of the Iraq disaster becomes evident, the search for scapegoats will begin. Rightly or wrongly, the Jews will once again be the biggest scapegoats. And as with Nazi Germany scapegoating Jewry for the World War II disaster, all Jews will be in the same pot. But their equally responsible Christian Zionist allies, such as Hagee, will largely escape blame.
But has that prospect cause them to rethink their position? No way. The same cast of screwballs is now pushing for another war in the area, with Iran. That war, if it comes, is certain to be an even worse disaster; the Iraq fiasco has already weakened our once mighty military to the point that it could wage another major war with nuclear weapons.
The best and perhaps only hope for American Jewry is for Project J to succeed and end the grossly inordinate influence of AIPAC and other Jewish right-wing organizations, organizations that have only Israeli interests -- and only extreme right wing Israeli interests -- in mind.
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So it's 'be liberal' or up the chimney with ya?
Gee where have I heard that national socialist warning before?
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Jews are to blame for anti-semitism? Wow.
Lampshade2 writes...
"On a separate point, Jewish exceptionalism and warmongering have bred a virulent anti-semitism in the US. From a non-Jew's perspective, it's is a self-defeating cycle that seems part of Jewish identity: you position yourselves as different and better, you exclude others, you are hated by others for that, you exclude more, you're hated more, etc."
Um, no. First off, what Jewish warmongering has occurred? The last time I checked none of our commander-in-chiefs have been Jewish. Yes, some neo-cons were Jewish. So were many anti-war protesters. How does this make all Jews warmongeres that deserve the hate they receive?
Second, Jews in the USA were excluded from most traditional organizations throughout much of of U.S. history. From political positions, social clubs, law firms, elite universities, etc. In 1913 Leo Frank was falsely accused of murder and lynched by a mob. Photos of his body swinging from a tree were sold for decades as a picture postcard throughout the South. The term "I got Jewed" and "Don't be a Jew" are still used commonly around the USA today for getting ripped off or cheapness. Up until the mid-60s Jews were blamed for murdering Jesus by the Catholic church. Countless Jewish kids were beaten up or worse for being "Christ-killers." You really believe Jews are themselves to blame for all this?
This exceptionalism you speak of, the idea of being a chosen people, refers to religious Jews feeling that they were chosen to spread the word of God (monotheism.) That God chose them to receive the ten commandments and share it with the world. To secular Jews this means the idea that there should be certain basic rules of morality, of justice, that should be considered universal-- thou shalt not kill being foremost among them. It does not mean, nor has it ever meant, that Jews feel they are better than others. That lie is found in the infamous virulently anti-semitic forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, not in Jewish doctrine. Also, note that Jews do not believe that non-believers are all going to pay a price or burn in eternal Hell like some religious Christians do.
Of course, those who are religious do feel their take on God is the correct one and therefore the others are mistaken. The same that Christians believe in their take, Muslims theirs, Hindus in theirs, etc. That's part of how religions work. Either Jesus was the messiah or not. Either there were latter day saints or not. But no Jew is saying the those who disagree with them are somehow less worthy as people. If anything, Jews are much less missionary than other religions popular in the USA and one doesn't find Jews going door to door trying to convert others.
You also wrote: "From an outisder's perspective, until Jews denounce as a community that they are inherently special or diffeent than others, they will be the targets of quite human and commonsensical disdain."
So we should all be the same? Part of the greatness of America is that we are many different cultures, believing in the truth of our Constitution, all living in one land. Some assimilate more than others. Some don't. Should, for example, Italian-Americans not feel pride in their heritage, celebrate certain days, and follow certain traditions? Should they have had to abandon that when they moved to America? Of course not. So why should Jews? You say it is commonsensical for those who are different to expect disdain. That sounds amazingly closed minded to me. It sounds like you're saying if you're different, you should expect to be persecuted. That you brought it on yourself and should suffer the consequences.
I think J Street sounds like a great idea that fosters open mindedness. I hope Lampshade2 doesn't think the new ideas that might emerge are too radical, or perhaps Lampshade2 will think they deserve persecution as well.