Facing Reality
The JTA‘s Rachel Pomerance writes about the Third National Conference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement which is about to take place at Ohio State University this weekend:
…And the man who helped bring them here is a Jew.
In fact, Joseph Levine, faculty adviser to the Committee for Justice in Palestine, the local group hosting the event, says he grew up steeped in Judaism as a yeshiva student in Los Angeles. Levine nearly immigrated to Israel in the early 1970s. But after reading more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Levine says he came to feel that the Israel he had learned about as a child was “mythology.” Today he is an atheist and a professor of philosophy at Ohio State.
“We have a hard time seeing ourselves as the white men” oppressing supposedly indigenous Arabs, Levine says. “We essentially expelled the people that lived there,” and “then we complain that they hate us,” he says. “We’re not looking at ourselves honestly.”
[…]Levine says it is precisely his Jewishness that drives him to scrutinize Israel so closely. As a Jew, he says, he is responsible for monitoring the actions of the Jewish state. And as an American, he must examine Israel, which receives more U.S. aid than any other country.
Does Levine raise a valid point, or is his missing something?
Israeli Professors Join U.S. Call for Ban on Investments
This Much is True: We Remember – by Bruce Jackson
I got an email about it 2 weeks ago. I chose not to blog it on purpose, because of the very simple fact that i would be giving it more publicity. The rutgers rally had no advertising, and yet they got all the free publicity in the world thankx to the jewish media. ironic, no?
i wish “me” would not hide their identity, because frankly, it’s rather irritating.
that being said…
israel may receive more u.s. aid than any other country, but israel is the only country that actually pays the u.s. back in full, every year, with interest and added benefit. the u.s. reaps huge benefits from investing in israel–particularly in the areas of computer technology and medicine.
further, levine’s atheism is a mark against him in my book.
Further, friends of Israel never tire of saying that Israel has never defaulted on repayment of a U.S. government loan. It would be equally accurate to say Israel has never been required to repay a U.S. government loan. The truth of the matter is complex, and designed to be so by those who seek to conceal it from the U.S. taxpayer.
Most U.S. loans to Israel are forgiven, and many were made with the explicit understanding that they would be forgiven before Israel was required to repay them. By disguising as loans what in fact were grants, cooperating members of Congress exempted Israel from the U.S. oversight that would have accompanied grants. On other loans, Israel was expected to pay the interest and eventually to begin repaying the principal. But the so-called Cranston Amendment, which has been attached by Congress to every foreign aid appropriation since 1983, provides that economic aid to Israel will never dip below the amount Israel is required to pay on its outstanding loans. In short, whether U.S. aid is extended as grants or loans to Israel, it never returns to the Treasury.
from The Cost of Israel to U.S. Taxpayers: True Lies About US Aid To Israel
hmm that was supposed to be in a blockquote –
somehow I messed that up but those two paragraphs are quotations
dude–what kind of mythology do you subscribe to; really? the information you’re posting comes from one of the most notorious anti-israel organizations permtited to operate in the u.s.
considering their undeniable anti-israel (and some would argue, antisemitic) bias, i am not going to take anything WRMEA says as fact, particularly an article such as this which provides no sources for its data.
no footnotes, no credit. period.
in the meantime, the european union, combined with u.s. aid, provides the palestinian authority with about a billion and a half dollars annually themselves…
http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/gaza/intro/
I have an open mind-
In my book, calling an organization ‘anti-Israel’ is not enough to automatically discredit anything they say
Can you either debunk the claims in the WRMEA article, or prove your statements:
israel is the only country that actually pays the u.s. back in full, every year, with interest and added benefit
the u.s. reaps huge benefits from investing in israel–particularly in the areas of computer technology and medicine
If you do some googling, facts brought up in the WRMEA article can be substantiated from other sources:
for instance-
The text of the Cranston ammendment mentioned can be found at the Federation of American Scientists site:
http://www.fas.org/man/docs/fy99/appendix/973-984.htm
(search on the page for “Sec. 517” to find the relevant section)
you can fact-check a lot of the Israeli GDP numbers here at an Israeli research institute (google cache of their page because it seems to be down or something)
“We have a hard time seeing ourselves as the white men”
…since when have Jews been given the privelege of being considered “White”? Isn’t that why we’re constantly dubbed a minority, especially in America, because we AREN’T White, nor Anglo-Saxon, nor Protestant? Besides, if we were White, we’d be too busy trying to be rap stars (a la Eminem) or nebbishy Jewish men (a la Frasier and Niles Crane), wouldn’t we?
No wonder Joseph Levine has the false conception that we’re the bullies… he doesn’t even know who Jews really are!
Besides, if we were White, we’d be too busy trying to be rap stars (a la Eminem) or nebbishy Jewish men (a la Frasier and Niles Crane), wouldn’t we?
hey foo…oh, i’m sorry, soo… ever hear of the beastie boys, paul barman, remedy, princess superstar, blood of abraham, mc serch, hip hop hoodios or that retard 50 shekel? or how ’bout israeli artists phishi the great, mook e, shabak samech, or subliminal? they’re all jewish rappers. in fact, several major rap record labels are owned by jews. ever hear of steve rifkin? brian brater?
as far as nebbishy jewish men, did you sleep through seinfeld? did jerry lewis & woody allen never happen? jackie mason? mel brooks? what the hell are you talking about.
face this fact: ashkenazim are as WHITE CRACKA HONKY ASS MOFUGGAS. sephardim are usually either latin or arab. but don’t forget there are black Jews in Ethiopia, Asian Jews in China, Indian Jews in India…
Judaism is a religion, a culture, an ethnicity–but it is NOT a race.
In the context of Israel-Palestine, Levine’s correct. Jews are like the white devil keeping the brown man down. Just ask Moshe Yaalon.
So if we are white, why did Ashkenazi Jews assimilate so far into American culture in the first half of the 20th century, in order to show gentiles that we were “just as white as them”?
And isn’t reducing the Israeli/Palestinian conflict down to an issue of color just a tad reductionist?
you said to be rapstar like eminem..well eminem is a jew