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My Friends Used to be Jewish
"Postcards from Israel - Postcards from America" ^ | August 2, 2009 | norma Zager

Posted on 08/05/2009 6:19:35 PM PDT by Ari Bussel

My Friends Used to be Jewish By Norma Zager

“We learn from history that we learn nothing from history...” George Bernard Shaw

Anti-Semitism is as old as the world; hatred as old as man. Today I was treated to one of the saddest comments my poor ears have ever endured. When the anti-Semitism is by Jews toward Jews, it exceeds egregious. Recently, I heard one of the saddest comments my poor ears have ever endured while dining with friends. The name of a woman in the community was mentioned, unfamiliar to most. Further probing initiated the following comment from one of the diners: “ You know the type. She’s one of those far right pro-Israel people.”

When dining with ultra liberals, I have learned to keep my opinions to myself. Showing any mercy for those who do not share their leftist views would be unthinkable. They truly believe anyone who does not agree with their politics should just shut up and cease to exist. I have actually heard these insane words from them.

Had I been sitting at a meeting of the Aryan Nation, I would not have blinked an eye. The fact I was in Beverly Hills at a table filled with wealthy, influential Jewish women caused not only a blink but a major spasm. I looked around waiting for someone other than myself to call her on the remark. Silence. The sadness of this unfortunate statement was compounded by the indifference of my fellow diners.

I long ago learned to keep silent when faced with such unreasonable opinions. I have been called too many names and learned the hard way how inflexible arrogance can be. I let her words pass, yet it disturbs me on so many levels.

Were this an isolated incident, it would not be so tragic. Unfortunately, it is all too common now. These Israel bashers behave like vicious, bitter parents who have turned their back on a child who refuses to comply with the rules.

I can certainly understand there are Jewish people who disagree over political philosophy and it is the right of every American, whatever religion, to do so.

To berate another Jew for being pro-Israel is so far beyond my comprehension, words fail me. Well, not entirely.

Sometimes I am tempted to give young people a pass concerning Israel because we are too many generations passed the Holocaust for institutional memory. When the anti-Semitic Jew is someone who doesn’t fall into that category, I am thrown off balance.

My grandmother was a poor widow in Europe living in a small town that is now part of Germany. My father and his sister lived in a house with dirt floors and ate when there was food. Very rarely was there enough to go around. My grandmother went without so her children could eat. Seeing pictures of her frail frame, I am never left with the impression vanity was the cause of her slimness. I knew it was because she sacrificed and struggled to keep her family alive, her family fed, as every mother would.

She was a kind soul without a mean bone in her body and scraped together enough money to send her son to America just before World War II. She dreamed she and my innocent aunt would join him when there was enough money. My father worked to send money home for his mother and sister, and relatives already in New York contributed. Soon unfortunately, Hitler rendered the expenditure unnecessary.

My aunt and grandmother died in the camps. I never met them, but their spirits call to me from the grave to protect future generations and ensure that “never again” means “never again.”

I understand Israel is not perfect. No country is, but governments are people, and, well, I think we all know the perfection level of the human species falls short.

Sometimes I am tempted to believe Jews bemoan their fate too much. Perhaps it is enough already with the Nazis and Hitler and constant concentration camp reminders. People do remember and you need not remind them, at least not Jews. Then I hear a comment like I heard today from a Jewish person, and I realize it is not the Gentiles who need reminding.

Christians embrace the belief that blessing Israel will bring blessings, and freely do so with their hearts and their money. The destruction of the Jewish people will not come from without, but from within by those who believe it is sophisticated, or a sign of intelligence, to berate Israel and its defenders.

These elitist intellectuals behave as the Jews in Germany in the 1930s. Even as they boarded the trucks and trains for the camps, they believed they were above peril in German hands.

For those who doubt the threat, may I remind the Jewish population that things were once good for our people in pre-war Germany, pre-Humeini Iran, modern day Venezuela, France and Sweden?

I pray the day never comes when anyone else like my sweet, beloved grandmother or aunt will be viciously slaughtered for reasons beyond human understanding. Yet, when I see with my own eyes how many of my friends used to be Jewish, I am filled with sorrow and fear.

Castigating a fellow Jew for pro-Israel views is an insult to the memory of every mother who had her child ripped from her arms and thrown into an oven. Or the 22 school children that died in 1974 in the Ma’alot massacre at the hands of Arab terrorists. These remarks reverberate throughout the graves of the dead and the memories of those still alive and suffering simply because they are Jews.

Even sadder are Jewish people who behave like the haters that condemned them to death throughout the centuries. Jews outcast fellow Jews, and it is not happening in Nazi Germany or Iran. Those “pro-Israel people” have been forced underground and are afraid to speak for fear of repercussion. How can this be happening in the richest Jewish communities in America?

It is obvious more reminders are necessary and there is a greater risk than once perceived.

There is a wonderful story about a Jewish man on his knees praying and thanking God in a concentration camp. His friend asked what he could possibly be thanking God for and he answered, “I am thanking God I am not like them.”

May God protect Israel and its people and most importantly, may he protect them from the kind of Jewish mentality I witnessed today.

### In the series “Postcards from Israel – Postcards from Home,” Ari Bussel and Norma Zager invite readers throughout the world to join them as they present reports about Israel, homeland of the Jewish People, as seen by two sets of eyes. This “point - counter-point” presentation has, since 2008, become part of our lives. It can be found in numerous websites around the world as well as in print in the USA.

© Postcards from Home, August, 2009 Contact: aribussel@gmail.com


TOPICS: Israel; US: California
KEYWORDS: antisemitism; holocaust; israel; jewishidentity; proisrael
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1 posted on 08/05/2009 6:19:35 PM PDT by Ari Bussel
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To: Ari Bussel

re is a wonderful story about a Jewish man on his knees praying and thanking God in a concentration camp. His friend asked what he could possibly be thanking God for and he answered, “I am thanking God I am not like them.”

Wow


2 posted on 08/05/2009 6:22:18 PM PDT by A_Former_Democrat
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To: Ari Bussel
Photobucket
3 posted on 08/05/2009 6:28:27 PM PDT by SkyDancer ('Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not..' ~ Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Ari Bussel
Hard for me to add any comment to this story. I will never understand how my fellow Jews could have voted for this creep in such numbers.
4 posted on 08/05/2009 6:29:06 PM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (What kind of organization answers the phone if you call a suicide hotline in Gaza City?)
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To: Ari Bussel
Sadly, I am well aware of the phenomenon.

They hate Israel for the same reason they hate America: because it is good. Not perfect, by any means, but good. And that is not good enough for those who have substituted for the God of Abraham, the God of Progress. The former made us imperfect and is merciful. The latter demands perfection and is merciless.

5 posted on 08/05/2009 6:30:10 PM PDT by andy58-in-nh (It's what people know about themselves inside that makes them afraid.)
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To: Attention Surplus Disorder
I will never understand how my fellow Jews could have voted for this creep in such numbers.

I would bet they have always been leftists.

6 posted on 08/05/2009 6:30:18 PM PDT by ColdWater
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To: Ari Bussel

God bless this woman and God bless Israel.


7 posted on 08/05/2009 6:33:27 PM PDT by Tribune7 (I am Jim Thompson!)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

When dining with ultra liberals, I have learned to keep my opinions to myself. Showing any mercy for those who do not share their leftist views would be unthinkable...I long ago learned to keep silent when faced with such unreasonable opinions. I have been called too many names and learned the hard way how inflexible arrogance can be. I let her words pass, yet it disturbs me on so many levels.

A mistake Ari, those opinions must be confronted. I acknowledge that once you've done it once or twice they may not be expressed in front of you. But they must be addressed. If unthinkable views and unreasonable opinions are not confronted, they'll enter the mainstream.

8 posted on 08/05/2009 6:34:02 PM PDT by SJackson (the number-one job facing the middle class...a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S. Jobs)
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To: Ari Bussel

Time for this woman to accept the sorry reality - most American Jews ARE socialists, commies,for all practical purposes.

Wealth is no magic immunization against socialism. As was said during the McCarthy Era hearings, “The working class is Democratic, the middle class is Republican, and the upper class is communist.”

Now, add to the communists unions, educators, and bureaucrats.

PS Education and administration are disproportionately Jewish.


9 posted on 08/05/2009 6:34:57 PM PDT by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is essential to examine principles,)
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To: Yehuda

Another one I dare not comment on.


10 posted on 08/05/2009 6:37:40 PM PDT by La Lydia
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To: Attention Surplus Disorder

The entire article was well written except for the fact that he thinks jews might stop bemoaning the holocaust????

Soon there will be no one left alive who lived through those atrocities. I suggest we never stop talking about the fate of the millions of innocent jews.

Another point. I cannot forget Rabin’s widow refusing to shake Netanyahu’s hand, but instead choosing to have lunch with Arafat.

None of this anti-Israel and anti-Semitic behaviour by jews can ever be understood or explained.


11 posted on 08/05/2009 6:39:08 PM PDT by Carley (OBAMA IS A MALEVOLENT FORCE IN THE WORLD)
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To: ColdWater

“I would bet they have always been leftists.”

Absolutely, but when it gets to the point where these folks are voting for their own destruction, it brings “Stockholm Syndrome” to a whole new level.


12 posted on 08/05/2009 6:40:34 PM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (What kind of organization answers the phone if you call a suicide hotline in Gaza City?)
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To: Attention Surplus Disorder
According to my Jewish MD of many years, there is a strong denial aspect to the 'tribe thinking'.

He pointed that most of his friends and peers of the 'tribe' drove expensive German made cars.

He explained that Jews see themselves as hard working prosperous folks who contribute to whatever society they live in, hence 'there must have been some mistake'.

Who would want to destroy a people who have made some much contribution to mankind?, was their thinking.

13 posted on 08/05/2009 6:41:20 PM PDT by investigateworld ( For an example of Alinsky's Rule 13, visit any Free Trade thread)
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To: Ari Bussel
These elitist intellectuals behave as the Jews in Germany in the 1930s. Even as they boarded the trucks and trains for the camps, they believed they were above peril in German hands.

I've often wondered how many Jews voted for Hitler thinking they weren't joos?

14 posted on 08/05/2009 6:43:47 PM PDT by fso301
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To: Ari Bussel
Yet, when I see with my own eyes how many of my friends used to be Jewish, I am filled with sorrow and fear./i>

Many of your friends may not be or may not have ever been Jewish. But they are there.

15 posted on 08/05/2009 6:44:22 PM PDT by Bahbah (Only dead fish go with the flow)
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Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

To: Ari Bussel

Once again I will say, if Hitler and Goebbels came back and ran in 2016, called themselves Democrats, with Dr. Mengele their shadow HHS Secretary to push through single payer—Jews would vote for the ticket.


17 posted on 08/05/2009 6:56:10 PM PDT by FreepShop1
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To: Attention Surplus Disorder
Absolutely, but when it gets to the point where these folks are voting for their own destruction, it brings “Stockholm Syndrome” to a whole new level.

You can most of Hollywood to that mix

Muslims get power they could care less if you are a liberal Jew a liberal homosexual or a liberal female that flaunts her body

Become muslim or suffer the cosequences
18 posted on 08/05/2009 6:58:19 PM PDT by uncbob
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To: investigateworld
He explained that Jews see themselves as hard working prosperous folks who contribute to whatever society they live in, hence 'there must have been some mistake'.

Who would want to destroy a people who have made some much contribution to mankind?, was their thinking.

Many Jews who were slaughtered in the Holocaust couldn't believe their fate, given the fact that they served with honor in the Austria-Hungarian and German Empire armies of WWI. They saw themselves as Germans or Austrians, having long integrated themselves into the general society.

Mark

19 posted on 08/05/2009 6:59:31 PM PDT by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: Ari Bussel

Special Place in Hell Alert


20 posted on 08/05/2009 7:02:39 PM PDT by pabianice
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