Hajimé!

Aw, man. This is gonna be like reffing a verbal Photoshop Tennis match. Or more appropriately—and pun-centrically—a wrestling match. Ami Eden’s already jumping off the ropes and the bell’s barely been rung.

With all due respect to Mr. Eden, right off the bat, he’s exhibiting the very behavior which Kushner and Solomon take issue with: The ethnocentric, Jew-can-do-no-wrong attitude that seeks to cast total blame without accepting responsibilty for one’s own hand in the mess that lies before and behind us.

Before dialogue is possible, yes, one must acknowledge—as Kushner and Solomon note and reiterate—that “the founding of the state of Israel required the dispossession of a sizeable indigenous population.” However, this cornerstone of understanding is glaringly absent from Eden’s remarks. Rather, he uses it as his basis for the dismissal of Kushner & Solomon’s position.

This is spin in action. Kushner and Solomon are focusing squarely on the Jewish people, and what they perceive to be lack of accountability in the Jewish community, as well as status quo complicity in the degradation and dehumanization of an indigenous people. Their desire is to awaken Jewish people to a history that is as vehemently denied by themselves as the Holocaust is revisionists, as well as to the injustices that they perpetuate within the “alternative universe” they have formulated for themselves in the absence of recognition of such basic facts as the Deir Yassin massacre, the many acts of terror carried out by the Irgun, the disposession of native Arabs from lands purchased stealthily by the Jewish Agency, and so on.

As it stands, most folks are either ignorant of these facts, or proud of them, some even suggesting that the Arabs “had it coming”—a contention as absurd as it is apalling. Those of us in the vocal minority, who are aware and not proud—those with conscience—we are generally dismissed as self-hating Jews. And yet, somehow, sadly, oddly, shockingly, sickeningly, those who are proud of this heritage—those who turn a blind eye to the suffering of those who have been trampled on the road to ‘manifest destiny’—they are somehow, shamefully, our national heroes. They are our Prime Ministers, our representatives as Jewish people, before the world—portrayed biting babies’ heads off in political cartoons! This, declare Kushner and Solomon, must not stand! Thus, to put it blunty, Kushner and Solomon are tending to their own house. They want to address Jewish behaviors, Jewish issues, Jews.

Eden’s not content with this, however. Rather than directly addressing the points raised by Kushner and Solomon—rather than focusing on Jews—he diverts attention elsewhere, turning the discussion towards the Palestinians and what is their fault, as opposed to opening his eyes to the tragedies perpetuated by his own people and taking responsibility for them. And I will take that a step further even, to say one should not just take responsibility, but one should also be remorseful for what has transpired, as opposed to feeling indignant and justified, as though you’re on some righteous mission to smite Amalek. (And I’ll just note that I’m not implying anything about Mr. Eden with that remark, so please don’t misread me.)

Sadly, to Eden, Kushner and Solomon are apologists for terrorism (as evidenced by his remarks, “The truth is that Kushner and Solomon, as well as many of the contributors to this book are not interested in the details of why Oslo went off track or how to restart the peace process. Such a discussion would require serious criticisms of the Palestinian leadership.”) simply because they acknowledge the part that Jewish people have played in this heinous affair, and do so without needing to smear Palestinians in the process. Oh, the horror! The travesty!

Ami, when you clean your house, do you have an urge to toss garbage onto your neighbor’s lawn? Or do you tend to your own filth? I must concur with Kushner and Solomon and insist that you mind your own first… then worry about them. We’ve got to get rid of the ‘fascholes’ in our own house, before we start wagging our fingers at others. As it is said, people in glass houses should not throw stones.

We must all come to realize that Israel is, in this context, a greenhouse like no other.