Heads They Win — Tails We Lose
All of us are watching with horror as the Mullahs continue to head towards their goal of nuclear capability generally, with their eye on you know who specifically.Â
Yet I still meet Jews under the delusion that we have the upper hand, or at least a playable one. That Iran and others can be intimidated or even defeated. Defeated without first inflicting a body blow either to the Jewish State or the Jewish people, or– more likely– to both, as well as prepping the lab for others to finish the job.
They fail to comprehend how dire our situation truly is, and how rage, resistance, and resentment to both the Jewish state and how the perception perceived disproportionate Jewish political, cultural, and of course, economic power, is threatening to continue to escalate not only dramatically but exponentially.Â
Once again, as in many generations before us, we are increasingly the central character in an ever precarious geopolitical conflict, and as always in such dramas, we are assigned the role of the antagonist.
If the situation continues to escalate, do we think we are going to brush off the actions of the “neocons” as distinct from ourselves forever? Do we think the Islamic world will truly be mollified with a withdrawal to pre-1967 borders?Â
Do we really think most people are still going to give a hoot about racism, Seinfeld, or Schindler’s List, if and when shit goes down in a big way because of The Jews? In the aftermath, do we really think a press release of condemnation from the ADL will keep our enemies at bay?
Our religious left insists that our narrative is one of Tikkun Olum, in which the role of the Jewish people is that of the activist, promoting the rights of the oppressed.Â
The Zionists insist the Geula has begun. This third attempt is a guaranteed keeper.
But these modern narratives were hastily constructed, and half-baked, like the matzos of Israelites leaving Egypt, and no more genuine than a Prada handbag bought in Chinatown.
The classic narratives I have read are much less comforting. The role of the Jews is not primarily about improving the world at large through activism, but to grow through suffering, and continuing to function.Â
The birth of the Messiah is not generally predicted to come through a gradual improvement of Jewish life or secular society, but through greater and more frequent violent contractions.
If we follow the news on occasion, you can only stare blankly at Jewish naivety, and wonder how the Jews expect anything else except the dominant dark prophecies of the end of days. From where I’m sitting, the most fantastic aspect next to the promise of Mashiach himself is the allowance for the possibility of a full 6,000 years of a Jewish civilization.
But most of the Jewish weeklies throughout the U.S. seem much more hopeful, if not quite positive, about the Jewish condition.  But in many ways, they are all the same newspaper. They take directives from the Federation Zionists to service their readers through the hypnotic massage of repetitive thematic chant on national and Israeli issues.
But unlike most secular or ecumenical Jewish weeklies, the Forward is not under Federation control or influence.
The Forward writes, Â
How compelling is the military option against Iran? Jack Straw, the foreign minister of Great Britain, our most reliable ally, has for months been calling the idea “inconceivable.” This week, after the reports of escalating war plans began surfacing, he went a step further and called it “completely nuts.” And that’s our closest ally.
Another highly respected European foreign minister, speaking last week on condition of anonymity, told a small group of Jewish community leaders in New York that the idea of an American attack on Iran would produce “a catastrophe — an absolute calamity.” He was speaking at a convivial dinner party, lubricated with wine and good cheer, until he was asked about the prospect of Iran war. At that point, his face turned white.
“Imagine the current situation in Iraq,” the minister said, ticking off the unwinnable quagmire, the collapse of a strategic nation into chaos, the turning of Iraq into an incubator for global terror and growing worldwide rage against America. “Then multiply it by 25, by 30. The implications are almost unimaginable.”
There’s one more consequence that the foreign ministers might have added, if not for considerations of tact. Consider, they might have said, the growing tendency in the West, including America, to blame the worsening world situation on Israeli and Jewish conspiracies. Just a decade ago, such talk was heard only on the far reaches of the lunatic fringe. Over the past three years, since the invasion of Iraq, it’s become de rigueur in the finest circles. It’s claimed with growing frequency, from leading magazines to the floor of the Senate to Harvard University, that the war was foisted on America by Jewish and Israeli pressure.
Given this war’s disastrous consequences, its growing unpopularity even among Republicans and the hopelessness of any decent exit, anger is building. The anger is misdirected, of course. The very notion that this war was fought for Israel’s benefit is a delusion. But it is a popular notion.
The looming war against Iran is a different story. This time, Jerusalem’s role is not fantasy. Israel’s sense of alarm has been at the center of the story from the get-go. Both The Washington Post and The New Yorker reported this week that Israeli strategists and intelligence experts were playing a serious role in building support for war. President Bush himself said in Cleveland last month that Israel’s safety was a central concern, if not the main one, in assessing the Iranian threat.
What will they say when the Iran war turns sour — multiplied by 25, by 30?
Let us be fair. It is possible that a surgical strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, executed with competence and precision, could avoid the worst of these nightmares. But that assumes a competence in Washington that we know, based on the record, is absent. Nothing is more certain than that.
The world faces terrifying choices right now. No options are good ones. Some carry a high risk of calamity. Others carry a certainty.
Full Editorial
Resistance may be futile. There is no reason to believe we are in charge in any meaningful way. It is time to look within, instead of banking on high-risk gambles or clinging to Pollyannaish and adolescent modern narratives. That is what our faith has always demanded, but we have frequently preferred not doing so. Too bad, since our machinations may fail in the end, or backfire terribly. They frequently do.
At least if we look within, and don’t expect that our political and activist solutions will salvage our situation, the surprise will be a little less intense, as well as the disorienting fear and bitter sense of betrayal. Let us hope, work, and pray for the best. Let us allow for the possibility that we don’t decide what is best. That we don’t decide period.
The survivors are almost all gone. There may only be a few years left, if that, until the next massive, excruciating contraction.Â
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At least one some level, we should prepare for it.         Â
I’m confused. Are you saying we should sit back and wait for the next Holocaust? Or that we should just hope for the best?
Am I the only one who finds this hand-wringing over Iran a bit boring? So they have nukes and are ruled by psycho’s. So what else is new?
How many nations do you need to outlive before you stop being afraid? The day Israeli leaders speak with the same defiance as the leaders of Iran and Hamas will be the day you no longer need to fear anyone. Israel needs a new Meir Kahane.
The alternative is this constant pathetic cowering in front of idiots.
The only thing Israeli Jews will need to be afraid of is that kicking Iran’s ass is going to cost so much money the socialist idiots running the country will be forced to create a NORMAL economy.
Now there’s a scary thought.
Iran talks a lot of shit, much like North Korea. But the reality is that Iran hasn’t initiated any kind of military hostilities with anyone in 500 years or more
a pro kahane muslim. Yeah, I believe it!
Dameocrat
That’s FORMER muslim.
And yes I am a kahane fan. That man would have kicked so much ass the “world” wouldn’t be able to sit for a year.
It’s about time a Jewish leader stood up with balls. As things stand now, it looks as if Jewish leaders have confused circumcision with castration.
I am ready for my ban now mobius.
There’s a lot of ways to stand up and kick ass. Kahane’s waas destructive. I’m saddened when people chant “Death to Arabs” at someone’s funeral, just as I’m saddened when people chant “Death to Jews” or Death to Israel.”
John Brown, are you joking?
Kelsey, one of the benefits of having a Jewish state, particularly with a strong military, is that it helps to stop being cowardly and weak. Most Jews, to remind you, were and are opposed to the Iraq War. Yet, we’re being blamed for it anyway. People like Walt and Mearsheimer feel it’s perfectly fine to lump most of us in “The Lobby” and blame us for half the problems the US faces on the home and foreign front. This despite the much greater power of oil, energy and those nations that wield this influence over our heads.
In other words, it doesn’t really matter what we do or don’t do. If you are right and bad things are coming, at least hold your head up and stop being a wuss about it. At least then, if they come for you, you can hold your head high.
Having said all of that, Israel would be wise to stay out of the Iran situation altogether. They can provide intelligence, which I presume they have, and agree to participate. However, for all intents and purposes, they should take a back seat and let the major powers drive.
Former Muslim,
No offense, but have you considered the possibility that you have brought a taste for Jihad with you from your prior theology that might not be normative to Judaism? Just saying…
TM,
You wrote,
“Most Jews, to remind you, were and are opposed to the Iraq War.”
They are now, and have been for awhile. I don’t know the figures at the beginning, so I can’t really challenge your assertion.
But we know where the Neocons stood, don’t we?
“One of the benefits of having a Jewish state, particularly with a strong military, is that it helps to stop being cowardly and weak.”
Good thing it’s not about ending anti-semitism or living in peace. My oh my, haven’t the Zionists lowered the bar for success?
You wrote,
“In other words, it doesn’t really matter what we do or don’t do.”
Cop out, or carte blanche?
“At least then, if they come for you, you can hold your head high.”
I’m sure that will be tremendously comforting if Armeggedon arrives. The ticker tape parade will surely be a high point in Jewish history.
Tell us, TM, what is the difference in response and physical retaliation between a strong New Jew like yourself and and the weak shtetl Jew like me to a nuclear explosion? I just want to make sure I “fight back” to Zionist satisfaction and don’t go like “sheep to the slaughter” if one ever goes off with me in it.
Oh you two! Get a room already!
Kelsey wrote:
“Tell us, TM, what is the difference in response and physical retaliation between a strong New Jew like yourself and and the weak shtetl Jew like me to a nuclear explosion? I just want to make sure I “fight back†to Zionist satisfaction and don’t go like “sheep to the slaughter†if one ever goes off with me in it.”
Damn! You’re a brave mofo! Especially since, given your geographical location, your response to an Iranian nuke exploding in Israel will be lots of hand wringing and maybe attendance at some kind of memorial day service in honor of the nuclear holocaust against Israel.
My response? Instant and horrible death. I mean yeah, peace, the elimination of anti-semitism, the proud new Jew etc. those are all great. But the first priority of any good Zionist is physical survival. I’ll be watching developments in Iran with a cautious eye, finger carefully poised over my trigger…
David Kelsey:
No offense, but have you considered the possibility that you have brought a taste for Jihad with you from your prior theology that might not be normative to Judaism? Just saying…
Not normative to Judaism? I think you’re wrong but, if you are right, maybe you should reconsider what you find normative in Judaism. You know, in light of your not so recent history and all.
Which recent history is that?
TM wrote: “John Brown, are you joking?”
What would lead you to think I’m joking ? Was I factually inaccurate?
Well John, I dunno, I guess that you could say that they had a small hand in initiating the Iraq-Iran war (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/iran-iraq.htm) and making it into what it became. You could also say that they had a hand in the bombing of two Jewish community buildings in Argentina (that counts as “military hostilities” when it is backed by a government, right John?). They are prime supporters and leaders of Hezbollah, which has certainly initiated military hostilities, including a number of incidents against Israelis – civilian and military targets – since Israel’s departure from Lebanon. They have also threatened Israel with destruction while pursuing a nuclear armament strategy. And that’s just since 1979. But I guess you weren’t joking.
Kelsey,
Your silly retort to my comment about one of the benefits of having a Jewish state with a strong military missed the part of the comment where I said ONE of the benefits…
As to your question about our respective responses, I would say that you seem to always worry about what others will think of you as a Jew and somehow want the Jews to disappear into a little crevice in the wall lest the cat will realize those other cute little animals he was playing with weren’t tiny cats but mice. Hopefully then, you seem to suggest, the haters who exist anyway won’t be able to get at us because they won’t have any excuses.
To that end, you attack the Neo-cons for supporting the war. I believe, however, that your philosophy would make you also oppose a loud opposition to the war by Jews if the war had gone well. After all, you would then say, “Once again, as in many generations before us, we are increasingly the central character in an ever precarious geopolitical conflict, and as always in such dramas, we are assigned the role of the antagonist.”
It doesn’t matter to you that 70% of Jews voted Democrat. It doesn’t matter to you that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, Rove and the teams leading the Pentagon, FBI and CIA are entirely non-Jewish. Nope, those darned Neo-Cons include many Jews who had important government positions, so we are going to be assigned the role of the antagonist. Well, you are right that we might be assigned that role, but if you anticipate it anyway, why live in fear in the meantime? According to you, there is nothing we can do anyway. The haters will be there and the latent haters will appear. It’s a function of time, you say, let’s just not piss them off too quickly and let’s all hide in the wall and not act too, uh, Jewish, lest they come after us sooner rather than later.
I don’t see that Jews have done anything wrong collectively, Kelsey. People are people and they live their lives. Nobody made Wolfowitz successful in his career, just as nobody made Robert Reich successful in his or Spielberg successful in his or Arthur Miller successful in his or Gershwin successful in his or Jonas Salk successful in his or Louis Kahn successful in his or Sandy Weill successful in his or Michael Dell successful in his or Michael Milken successful in his or the various Jewish Nobel Prize winners successful in theirs. Nobody made all those Jews who tried careers in the same areas but failed, fail. Nobody sat there and had a grand plan. There is no “Lobby” and there is no center and there is nobody who can sit there and act collectively to succeed, fail, try, not try, circumcise, oppose circumcision, etc., etc.
People are just who they are. People live their lives.
Some people grow up in liberal, secular Jewish homes and end up as radical anti-Zionists while others from the same background end up as Hassidic Jews. People live their lives. As a community, while we are disproportionately represented in certain areas within the larger community, one of the ways in which we shine, if you’re going to focus on Jews as a community, is that we tend to be very generous, kind-hearted, in pursuit of social justice, well educated and very decent. Take a look at Hertzberg and his life and see what he stood for and what he accomplished. So if at the same time that a Hertzberg exists and represents the majority of Jews, there are also some Jews who break laws or were Secretary of State while we were in Vietnam, all Jews should live in fear of hide or be cautious about what they say or do because this will hasten the wrath of the haters?
Instead, here’s what I propose: rather of fear, hold you head high. When Walt-Mearsheimer come up with their bullshit, stomp on it. When CAIR comes up with their bullshit, stomp on it. When John Brown gives us an anti-Israel post, stomp on it. In all cases, make sure your point is right before you make it and then make it so that they can’t have their voice allowed to float around freely without being weighed down by the truth which you provide as a counter-weight. That will help you survive a lot longer than to sit there and cry that some Jews don’t get it and should do things that go against what the general population perceives as desirable today.
Stand up for yourself, Kelsey, and stop absorbing and accepting responsibility for the mistaken accusations of others, or for that matter, even correct accusations. Did you have anything to do with it? Did I? You know very well that the “Jewish community” is a large, divided, hodge-podge of ideas, ideals, ideologies, systems of religious practice, etc., etc. So why should you cower because one part of this diverse community does x when you think the prevailing public mood wants y?
The haters will be there regardless, but if you’re not afraid, they will be much more reluctant to come after you.
Some typos in there, including”
Instead, here’s what I propose: rather THAN fear, hold youR head high
You can tell I’m tired.
Booyah! Can’t wait for DK’s retort …
DK
I don’t have time for jokes.
TM
A very relevant essay by Meir Kahane on the subject.
http://www.kahane.org/meir/prophetic.htm
Excerpt:
Unless. Unless we become the Jews we were meant to be. The Jews of chosenness. Of might and faith. Unless we ignore both the money and the honey of the United States and their empty threats and condemnation. Condemnation? It is dandruff to be brushed away before moving on to do the will of G-d. In any event, there is no choice. The United States will turn on Israel, slowly and subtly, and tat not so. The difference is that if we turn from the Gentile first, we will have the Almighty as the immediate staff and our comfort. If not, we will have neither the Gentile nor, for a terrible stage, the Almighty.
Of “might.” As if might and by power has always worked so well for the Jews. Like in the 2nd Temple.
Yochanan Ben Zakai might disagree. And all of normative Judaism.
TM, I will take care of you later.
Oh please, fuck Meir Kahane. If I want to be like Hamas, I can just go live in Ramallah or something.
Dk, are you female, well endowed and with a mind as sharp as Maureen Dowd’s that you make such promises? Cuz then I’m interested.
Well, I’m well endowed.
There ya go! I see that Jewish pride bubbling forth already! Now, if you can just get over that pesky circumcision you had at 8 days…
Shabbat shalom, dude.
TM,
You wrote,
â€It doesn’t matter to you that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, Rove and the teams leading the Pentagon, FBI and CIA are entirely non-Jewish.â€
Powell? Powell is a multilateralist, not a unilateralist. He hated this war.
“According to you, there is nothing we can do anyway.â€
Actually, there is — we can try not to control countries that aren’t ours in their entirety, like many of the Necons succeeded in doing to some extent along with others.
You wrote,
“Nobody made Wolfowitz successful in his career, just as nobody made Robert Reich successful in his or Spielberg successful in his or Arthur Miller successful in his or Gershwin successful in his or Jonas Salk successful in his or Louis Kahn successful in his or Sandy Weill successful in his or Michael Dell successful in his or Michael Milken successful in his or the various Jewish Nobel Prize winners successful in theirs. Nobody made all those Jews who tried careers in the same areas but failed, fail.â€
You are bringing in all sort of unrelated industries. We are successful in many, and disproportionately so. My only problem where we attempt revolution and hijacking policy, something we are just as talented at as the Arts and Sciences.
This is hardly a new thing, and you continuously downplay the Jewish role in the larger conflict of civilizations. Bringing Spielberg into it is an example of that.
But Israel and her supporters are a focal point of Islamic contention. Even more than Arthur Miller. Being that this is already the case, it seems particularly unfortunate we are “fighting back†through calls for more revolution yet again, and placing our demands above those of the country we live in. It is doubtful that the U.S. would have the same problems from Islamic extremists if it was not correctly perceived to be (relatively) the most important pro-Israel nation outside of Israel itself. It is a tough enough situation as is. We don’t need to be pushing more revolution, social or otherwise.
You will counter that it has been in the U.S. interest to be supportive of Israel. Maybe it was, or at least, maybe it sometimes was, but it is still supportive of Israel in part because of those who are pro-Israel, both lobbies and individuals, and they are certainly disproportionately Jewish.
We are in exile. This status is not definitively altered with the struggling medina. We are supposed to be a little bit deferential to our host nation, her needs, and of the gentiles who dominate the land. But too many of us prefer acting wildly arrogant. We have done so in the past, particularly the last one hundred plus years. It has not usually been helpful, particularly when we confused our Jewish motivations with the needs of our host country or others.
For those who find the conditions of exile unbearable, there are certainly more options today than there were as readily accessible in the past. We can move to Israel, and pretend the exile is over, and in many ways in the details of our daily existence, it will be.
We can assimilate, and cease being Jewish, a choice made many in our short time here in the U.S. It is one that seems to be increasingly the preferred choice over the course of just a few generations.
Or we can stay Jews in the Diaspora, and accept the yoke and constraints of exile.
Powell? Powell is a multilateralist, not a unilateralist. He hated this war.
In other words, they are all non-Jewish and you’ll ignore that point, even if Powell went to the UN and lied through his teeth to protect Bush’s plan.
Actually, there is — we can try not to control countries that aren’t ours in their entirety, like many of the Necons succeeded in doing to some extent along with others.
Crock of shit. A. if you’re born here or acquire citizenship, this country is your own as much as anybody else’s. Have you been imbibing Stormfront beer recently?! Second, what are you suggesting about control? First I point out that the people in control are decidedly not Jewish. You tacitly agree by evading the point. Then you come back with the Jews controlling things. As if that weren’t enough, you include me and all the other Jews in your false accusations. Really David, this is absolutely so wacky that it’s unbelievable.
You are bringing in all sort of unrelated industries. We are successful in many, and disproportionately so. My only problem where we attempt revolution and hijacking policy, something we are just as talented at as the Arts and Sciences.
“We” don’t attempt anything. That was the point of the list. There are Jews in all walks of life and, just to make the point clearer, many of them fail in their chosen field and do not know a single one of the successful Jews I mentioned nor have access to them. Sheesh.
This is hardly a new thing, and you continuously downplay the Jewish role in the larger conflict of civilizations. Bringing Spielberg into it is an example of that.
You mean the larger role like when Jesus came along? Or are you talking about Nazism? Oh, surely you mean Communism. Give me a break, Kelsey, not only are we a significant minority, but our role over the past two thousand years in both Christian Europe and Muslim lands has been far from the center of influence. Even as I write this, the key player in ensuring that this White House is run by a Bush is Karl Rove, a non-Jew. Bush’s key speech-writer? Evangelical Christian. Bush’s Secretaries? Almost all non-Jewish. So once again you have to rely on Wolfowitz and Feith to make your point, or would you like to tell me how influential AIPAC is even if Egypt gets $2 billion in arms annually, the Saudis get the most sophisticated equipment the Saudis can offer, and when the Administration decides to go after the press and “leaks,” they choose the Jewish guys at AIPAC as their scapegoats.
But Israel and her supporters are a focal point of Islamic contention. Even more than Arthur Miller. Being that this is already the case, it seems particularly unfortunate we are “fighting back†through calls for more revolution yet again, and placing our demands above those of the country we live in.
What are you talking about? Who is calling for another revolution? What revolution? Why are you less of a citizen here than anybody else?
And so what if Israel is a focal point of Islamic contention? Their problem is with the culture of the West and what their religion tells them should be their superior position with respect to the West. Should Israel just fold up because you’re scared?
It is doubtful that the U.S. would have the same problems from Islamic extremists if it was not correctly perceived to be (relatively) the most important pro-Israel nation outside of Israel itself. It is a tough enough situation as is. We don’t need to be pushing more revolution, social or otherwise.
Again, I have no idea what revolution you’re talking about, but the Muslim extremists are attacking primarily because of our presence on Saudi soil, my man. Read their history.
You will counter that it has been in the U.S. interest to be supportive of Israel. Maybe it was, or at least, maybe it sometimes was, but it is still supportive of Israel in part because of those who are pro-Israel, both lobbies and individuals, and they are certainly disproportionately Jewish.
It’s not only in the interest of the US, it is the right, just and moral thing to do. Sorry that bothers you so much, but US support for Israel is the right, just and moral thing to do. And perhaps you are unaware of the origins of US support for Israel, but Jewish influence had little to do with it. But you just wait until this new Evangelical AIPAC gets its act together, because then even your claim above will be revealed as empty. There are 2% of the US who are Jews. 2%. Even if every Jew supported Israel – and even Walt-Mearsheimer admit that 36% do not – what kind of disproportionate influence do they have? Do they tell Cheney what to do? Or Rumsfeld? Or Bush? Get real.
We are in exile. This status is not definitively altered with the struggling medina. We are supposed to be a little bit deferential to our host nation, her needs, and of the gentiles who dominate the land. But too many of us prefer acting wildly arrogant. We have done so in the past, particularly the last one hundred plus years. It has not usually been helpful, particularly when we confused our Jewish motivations with the needs of our host country or others.
For those who find the conditions of exile unbearable, there are certainly more options today than there were as readily accessible in the past. We can move to Israel, and pretend the exile is over, and in many ways in the details of our daily existence, it will be.
We can assimilate, and cease being Jewish, a choice made many in our short time here in the U.S. It is one that seems to be increasingly the preferred choice over the course of just a few generations.
Or we can stay Jews in the Diaspora, and accept the yoke and constraints of exile.
Shtetl Jew indeed. What can I say. That you were born and raised here but still feel a foreigner and an exile is very sad. That you perceive that you must choose between the feeling of exile or assimilation is also sad. In my opinion, it is these opinions of yours that make you far more vulnerable to the attacks you fear. If you recognized that this country and its GREAT ideals are far bigger than you or Jews in general, perhaps it would sink in that this is a country of immigrants or exiles and together they forged a nation that is doing its utmost to treat all faiths respectfully and equally. That is something very special in this country and I find it incredible that while this is true, your fears of the distinct minority that hates Jews leads you to feel so weak and helpless, not to mention an outsider, in a culture based on the opposite ideas.
It’s as if you are here to feed the fantasies of those who hate Jews. “Yes, yes, we foment bad things and make the non-Jews do things they don’t want to do, and we do this stepping above our station even though we don’t belong and are not really like other people.” My god, it’s as if you’ve swallowed the crap meted out over centuries against Jews and have decided that it is THE TRUTH.
Kelsey, it is not the truth.
TM,
You wrote,
“’We’ don’t attempt anything.”
I didn’t mean it in a national or majority way. I meant it in a disproportional and intense way. Like Bela Kun and his Jewish band of Reds, or Eisner and his ill-fated regional coup in Bavaria (he was a Jew from Berlin.) And no, TM, I don’t know this from Stormfront. I know this from Howard Sachar.
“It’s not only in the interest of the US, it is the right, just and moral thing to do.”
That is not how and why nations pick allies. You would not be so naive to claim this if it wasn’t your own people.
“And perhaps you are unaware of the origins of US support for Israel, but Jewish influence had little to do with it. ”
The fact that there are other influences as well hardly means they had “little to do with it.”
“Again, I have no idea what revolution you’re talking about, but the Muslim extremists are attacking primarily because of our presence on Saudi soil, my man. Read their history.”
That was one out of three of the primary reasons given. Guess what was also one of the three primary reasons given? Do you think that suicide bombs in Moroccan, Tunisia, and Turkish synagogues and JCC were over Saudi bases?
“That you were born and raised here but still feel a foreigner and an exile is very sad.”
Not a foreigner, TM. But I am aware that Jewish history does not forbode well in terms of permanence anywhere, even if I am more conscious of how uniquely great this nations is. It is hardly fair to attack my patriotism, TM, even on a personal level, and you know that.
“My god, it’s as if you’ve swallowed the crap meted out over centuries against Jews and have decided that it is THE TRUTH.”
You aren’t listening to our own documents, because you probably haven’t read them. We were sent into exile to not just to be “a light upon the nations,” but also to learn something. There is something to be learned from each and every one of the seventy nations. We are not a perfect people. But we prefer to spend time not analyzing our own faults, but those of others. That’s a shame, since we have more control in changing our own behavior, and our own way of thinking.
“Who is calling for another revolution?”
Usually some of us are, disproportionately. The revolution changes. Sometimes it is communism, sometimes it is privatization. Sometimes it is to ban FGM1, sometimes it is to fight for our Fundamentalists’ right to an unprotected suck of a newly circumcised penis. Sometimes it is to break preceived white hegemony by opening the gates to third world immigration, even as we support a fight to prevent a return of a Palestinian dispora to Israel. Sometimes it is through universalizing our own modern tragedy through 2 different Holocaust Days and a national museum enjoying a federal charter and land (before the domestic tragedies of the Native Americans and the Blacks, but hey, the latter are used to waiting in the back of the bus anyway) with local franchises, and sometimes it is for an ADL sponsored Hate Crimes Bill: http://www.adl.org/PresRele/hatcr_51/3622_51.asp
which ends up being employed unevenly and unfairly by law enforcement and prosecution, just as its critics warned it would.
Sometimes we have trouble smelling our own shit.
Kelsey – everything you’ve just described falls well within the rights of any citizen in a democratic state. Rather than look at the Holocaust museum as an affront, African Americans and Indigenous Americans ought to find in that a source of inspiration. Thankfully I am outside of the equation now – my future and my civic rights and responsibilities lie within the Jewish state. That having been said, despite the fact that my heart was always in the east, when I lived in the diasporah I would have been greatly offended by anyone telling me to pipe down and stop fully participating in my civic society – especially since said participation is not just a right, but also an obligation. Even as I sit here in Jerusalem, and as much as I’d love to see you all come and join me here out of the realization that there is no future in the diasporah, I still can’t help but be deeply offended by what you are suggesting Kelsey.
Kelsey, on many levels I am saddened by your remarks. I don’t just disagree with your points and your inflation of Jewish political activity and its impact, but your general premise that we should avoid being a part of this society in an active way is misguided on many fronts.