Conflict Over Iraq in Jewish Community
The Jewish Week has superb article on the conflicts within the Jewish community with regard to Iraq war. That are so many good quotes in it that it is difficult to pick something out.
The article notes, and I have stated many times on this blog, that the majority of Jews were against the war in Iraq. That said, failure to acknowledge, or at least question, the fact that some people allowed their ethnic and religious background to influence their actions prior to the invasion of Iraq is problematic.
Also, the article misrepresents Israel's position on the war in Iraq (against it).
Nonetheless, it is a good piece worth reading.
You have got to respect that kind of honesty. I hope we have more in the upcoming weeks and months.
Jewish Week
The article notes, and I have stated many times on this blog, that the majority of Jews were against the war in Iraq. That said, failure to acknowledge, or at least question, the fact that some people allowed their ethnic and religious background to influence their actions prior to the invasion of Iraq is problematic.
Also, the article misrepresents Israel's position on the war in Iraq (against it).
Nonetheless, it is a good piece worth reading.
Many Jews “look in disappointment and despair at the insularity and self-preoccupations of the organized Jewish community and of many of its synagogues,” he said. “They see their Christian neighbors deeply involved as Christians in protesting the war and they feel once again that Jews seem to care about nothing but their own narrow self-interest.”
You have got to respect that kind of honesty. I hope we have more in the upcoming weeks and months.
Jewish Week
posted by Brian at 8:36 AM
3 Comments:
Vulnerable Jewish state my a*s -- Israel has either the fourth or fifth largest nuclear arsenal in the world -- they won't allow inspections so we'll never know, huh?
Despite that we paid for those suckers as well as the delivery systems to get them all the way to western Russia, north Africa and central Europe.
What is staggering to me is the hypocrisy: if Jews care more about Israel than the country they are nationals of, let them go there! Stop drawing us into Israel's endless wars by putting Israel-firsters into our government, media and military -- Franks, Meyers, Clark (Kahane)?
Why should Israel be above criticism? And speaking as an immigrant myself, once I became an American citizen, I became an American citizen. I constantly criticize America's actions as well as the country of my birth. That is my right as a proud American, one who in the words of our Founding Fathers, believes that "dissent is the highest form of patriotism."
Yet, as an American I am not allowed to criticize Israel's genocide of the Palestinians, using MY tax dollars?
BS! If more Jews don't come to the forefront and decry Israel's actions than there will be a backlash against them, and, like any other similar movement, it will hurt every Jew, not just the ones who feel that Israel comes first.
Brian wrote:
"the majority of Jews were against the war in Iraq"
I will accept this on your authority (even though it doesn't jive with my experience). But it should be remembered that those Jews in positions of power, the opinion-makers in the media--from corporate owners to lowly reporters, from left to right, from Eisner to Zuckerman, Friedman to Krauthammer, Wolf Blitzer to Judy Miller--pretty much unanimously supported the war. It's difficult to come up with any counterexamples, at least in the mainstream opinion-influencing media.
As you say, "some people allowed their ethnic and religious background to influence their actions prior to the invasion of Iraq." Too bad it turned out to be all those whose actions actually mattered.
After reading that article, I was too angry to write anything. So I slept on it, and I'm still mad as hell.
In a nutshell: a group of American jews get us entangled in a war with the Muslim world because it advances Israel's interests. And now we are told that the rest of America's jews are uncomfortable with the anti-war movement because they (rightly) fear it will lead back to Israel.
Well, this may be all very understandable to officials of organized American Jewry (and even an occasion for some theatrical handwringing), but if you don't share their judeocentric viewpoint, it's a pretty bleak picture emerging for the rest of us. Basically it means we're screwed!
Are we allowed to wonder just how uncomfortable they might be with the anti-war movement? Is it possible some are uncomfortable enough to, say, actively work against it? Maybe by putting pressure on politicians not to get involved?
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