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Liberal Jews Afraid to Oppose Iran Deal
Jewish Press ^ | August 23rd, 2015 | Vic Rosenthal

Posted on 08/23/2015 10:33:40 AM PDT by SJackson

(Originally posted to the author’s website, Abu Yehuda}

As many of you know, I returned to live in Israel a year ago after 26 years in the place I consider my beloved hometown, Fresno California, located in the large valley that runs down the center of the state. It is more or less equidistant from Los Angeles and San Francisco; politically it is on a different planet. Its establishment is solidly socially and politically conservative, although Democrats have a slight edge in voter registration. The main industries are agriculture and related occupations, and there is a branch of the California State University known for its business and ag schools. Fresno was the home of noted writer William Saroyan and also a number of surprisingly good poets.

Fresno has a tiny Jewish community, no more than 1000 families in a metropolitan area of about a half million people. On several occasions I was told that I was the first Jew my interlocutor had met. I never noticed anyone checking for horns, though.

There is a Reform Temple with about 350 adult members, a much smaller Conservative congregation and a Chabad house. There are several churches on any non-residential block, including Catholic, several kinds of Orthodox, and countless Protestant denominations.

The three Congressmen representing the Fresno area are two Republicans (Jeff Denham and Devin Nunes) and one Democrat, Jim Costa. The Republicans are opposed to the nuclear deal with Iran, but Costa is still undecided. As part of its campaign against the deal, AIPAC is holding ‘townhall’ meetings with its members and undecided congresspersons. Tonight there will be such a meeting with Jim Costa in Fresno.

It will take place in an Evangelical church, the Cornerstone Church of Pastor Jim Franklin.

This seemed strange to me. Why would AIPAC hold a meeting in a church, one which happens to be located in downtown Fresno about as far from most of the Jewish population as possible? Oh, it’s a great facility, modern and attractive, and Franklin is one of the most solidly pro-Israel people you will find anywhere. But aren’t most of AIPAC’s members Jewish?

Temple Beth Israel, the Reform congregation, also a large modern facility, located on the other side of town, would seem to be the appropriate place. But the event is not being held there, and in fact the Temple decided not to move its scheduled board meeting from this evening, which will make it difficult for the board members to attend the AIPAC event. When I inquired, I was told that the rabbi felt the Iran issue would be “too divisive” for the Temple.

You can smell the fear. This is what American liberal Judaism has come to.

AIPAC is a non-partisan organization whose objective is to lobby American politicians in support of Israel. Until recently American Jews have also supported Israel regardless of whether they were Democrats (most were) or Republicans.

But as the Democratic Party moved leftward – a move that sharply accelerated with the election of Barack Obama – Jews began to find themselves conflicted. The anti-Israel narrative formerly associated only with the extreme Left became more and more part of the conventional wisdom in liberal circles. An emblematic event took place at the Democratic National Convention in 2012 when language referring to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was removed and reinserted to a chorus of boos.

Now that Barack Obama has placed his prestige and authority on the line for the Iran deal which Israel (and AIPAC) strongly oppose, the conflict became even sharper. The Iran deal serves multiple purposes for the administration, such as advancing its goals of extracting the US from the Middle East and ending the era of American world leadership. It is also intended to weaken Israel, which it sees as a colonial power oppressing the real ‘owners’ of the Middle East. This project requires separating Israel from its traditional support in the US.

Obama and his people chose to play the Jew card. By presenting opponents of the deal as traitors and warmongers – and Jewish ones particularly as disloyal – the administration is trying to make pro-Israel expression uncomfortable, especially for Jews. When Obama talked about “tens millions of dollars in advertising” and “the same people who argued for the war in Iraq” they heard “Jewish money” and “Jewish neo-cons.” His thousands of surrogates on social media were far less subtle.

This strategy is having its desired effect. Liberal American Jews are being forced to choose between support for the Jewish homeland and what they perceive as loyalty to their country. The Reform movement as a whole preferred not to take a stand on the deal, and apparently the Fresno contingent sees it as too damaging to their fragile unity even to discuss. But this is exactly what they should discuss.

It’s interesting that a movement which values ‘involvement’ and ‘social action’ so strongly and which purports to favor open discussion and democracy above all, has fled from engagement with this particular issue, because it’s “too divisive.” This isn’t just hypocrisy. A big part of the problem is that American Jews have been manipulated by demagogic techniques that appealed to their deep-seated fear of the traditional antisemitic accusations of disloyalty.

AIPAC’s event will be held in an Evangelical church in Fresno because Evangelical Christians, in Fresno and in general, still have more courage to stand up for the survival of a Jewish state than Reform Jews.


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: courtjews; iran; jews
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1 posted on 08/23/2015 10:33:40 AM PDT by SJackson
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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.

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

2 posted on 08/23/2015 10:34:27 AM PDT by SJackson (C Matthews: should NY State recognize gay marriage? Sen Clinton: "No!" The crowd booed, 2002)
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To: SJackson

You can’t fix stupid.


3 posted on 08/23/2015 10:37:25 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Cecil the Lion says, Stop the Slaughter of the Baby Humans!!!)
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To: SJackson

Because common sense and self preservation come AFTER RAT party loyalty.


4 posted on 08/23/2015 10:38:32 AM PDT by uncitizen (i hate gutless people, too.)
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To: SJackson

Jews who support this agreement and Obama are supporting those who would impose a new Final Solution.


5 posted on 08/23/2015 10:39:51 AM PDT by Truth29
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To: SJackson
Liberal American Jews are being forced to choose between support for the Jewish homeland and what they perceive as loyalty to their country

The Liberal American Jews have it backwards: It is Obama who is being disloyal to the country.

6 posted on 08/23/2015 10:40:20 AM PDT by Michael.SF. (This tagline lists all of Hilary's accomplishments............................)
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To: SJackson
Obama and his people chose to play the Jew card--
presenting opponents of the deal as traitors and warmongers – and Jewish ones particularly as disloyal –
7 posted on 08/23/2015 10:42:08 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: FlingWingFlyer

Liberal Jews, are, for the most part, also secular atheist Jews. Practicing religious Jews are almost universally AGAINST the proposed “working arrangement” with Iran (can’t call it a “treaty”, because that would mean it would need to gain the approval of a two-thirds majority in the Senate).

This brings up a question - when is a treaty NOT a treaty?

When the Current Occupant says it is not.


8 posted on 08/23/2015 10:42:52 AM PDT by alloysteel (If Stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out? - Will Rogers.)
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To: SJackson
It’s interesting that a movement which values ‘involvement’ and ‘social action’ so strongly and which purports to favor open discussion and democracy above all, has fled from engagement with this particular issue, because it’s “too divisive.” This isn’t just hypocrisy. A big part of the problem is that American Jews have been manipulated by demagogic techniques that appealed to their deep-seated fear of the traditional antisemitic accusations of disloyalty.

BINGO!

9 posted on 08/23/2015 10:43:13 AM PDT by GOPJ (Immigration, World Poverty and Gumballs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE)
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To: SJackson

Their “fellow liberals” have done everything but order them back to the ovens. When will they wake up?


10 posted on 08/23/2015 10:47:23 AM PDT by Telepathic Intruder (The only thing the Left has learned from the failures of socialism is not to call it that)
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To: alloysteel

Upon the advice of his commie lib “lawyers”, we might add. If Barry’s retarded “lawyers” say a treaty isn’t a treaty, I guess we’re supposed to believe them, according to Obama’s “media” propaganda machine.


11 posted on 08/23/2015 10:49:43 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Cecil the Lion says, Stop the Slaughter of the Baby Humans!!!)
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To: SJackson

As a great American has oft noted, Liberals are Liberals first.


12 posted on 08/23/2015 10:49:49 AM PDT by Arm_Bears (Biology is biology. Everything else is imagination.)
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To: SJackson
Seams to me, whether it is religion or politics the further away from orthodoxy and conservatism the greater fear becomes and inaction persists. Fear should not be confused with identifying real problems.
13 posted on 08/23/2015 10:50:07 AM PDT by ConservativeInPA (Do Not Vote for List: See my profile)
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To: SJackson
I never noticed anyone checking for horns...

But they also have no clue as to what the word interlocutor means.

14 posted on 08/23/2015 10:51:29 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: SJackson
Just like the Jews in the Ghetto who were afraid to "provoke" the Nazis, in the hope they'd be spared the Gas chamber.

If more Jews in Europe had done what was done in Warsaw, the war would've been over a year early.

15 posted on 08/23/2015 11:02:08 AM PDT by MuttTheHoople (Yes, Liberals, I question your patriotism)
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To: BenLurkin

The agreement will force Israel to drop thermonuclear devices on Iran. no other device will stop their program. Obama will retaliate by giving orders to bomb Israel.There are enough simple minded fools in the military to carry out the order. Going to war against Israel is the trigger that will bring armed insurrection to our shores.


16 posted on 08/23/2015 11:06:22 AM PDT by Louis Foxwell (This is a wake up call. Join the Sultan Knish ping list.)
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To: SJackson
and what they perceive as loyalty to their country.

Liberal Jews' loyalty to their country doesn't exist. Their only "country" loyalty is to whoever is America's enemy of the moment. To Democratic Party, maybe.

But really what we're talking about is loyalty to their circle of colleagues and friends whose disapproval they fear. They used to support Israel because Jews were designated victims. But because they don't believe in God, they have no consistent frame of reference or logic. The Lefty culture that used to sneer about suburbanites "keeping up with the Joneses" are obsessed with showing that they're in conformity with the (ever-changing) positions held in their hive.

17 posted on 08/23/2015 11:06:28 AM PDT by SamuraiScot
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To: GOPJ
Jews have been manipulated by demagogic techniques that appealed to their deep-seated fear of the traditional antisemitic accusations of disloyalty.

And Leftist Jews are being disloyal to their own people and their God. Somewhere in Hell, Adolf Hitler Adolf Eichmann, and the Joseph brothers (Mengele and Stalin) are laughing their anti-Semitic a$$es off.

18 posted on 08/23/2015 11:06:46 AM PDT by MuttTheHoople (Yes, Liberals, I question your patriotism)
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To: uncitizen

Re: “Because common sense and self preservation come AFTER RAT party loyalty.”

I disagree with one word.

I think most American Jews abandon common sense and self preservation because of “philosophical” loyalty - not “party” loyalty.

Just as American Conservatives seek the fellowship of other Conservatives, just as American Conservatives would risk their lives in defense of Conservative principles, I think most American Jews seek the fellowship of the American Left, and I think most American Jews are willing to risk their lives and their standard of living in defense of Socialism and Pacifism.


19 posted on 08/23/2015 11:11:24 AM PDT by zeestephen
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To: SJackson

Amen!

And just a personal note...

My ministry to “outlaw” bikers meets in a tent behind a biker bar. We are unabashedly Evangelical and pro-Israel.

The owner of the biker bar is a Tough Guy, a Biker, who also happens to be Jewish.

He loves us, displays our colors in his establishment, lets us use his bathrooms and electricity, and invites us to all the events.

We are a little gritty and unconventional, and sure don’t fit the model of a American Evangelical Establishment, but we go where other saints sometimes fear to tread.

G-d Bless Israel and the Jewish people!


20 posted on 08/23/2015 11:14:31 AM PDT by left that other site (You shall know the Truth, and The Truth Shall Set You Free.)
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