Posted on 08/08/2002 5:25:40 AM PDT by SJackson
I just attended an informative lecture on the state of current affairs among the Untied States, Israel, and the Palestinian people. A representative from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Bruce Barrett, took the time to come and share his insight with a dismally small group of American, mainly secular, Jews. The presentation of information was excellent. The outcome was disastrous. The liberal Jewish audience attempted to pick apart the AIPAC representative. Mr. Barrett was able to dodge the barbs and semantic traps set for him, but I still couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
This lecture took place in an exclusive, affluent vacation and resort area of the United States - Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The attendees were from all over the country - and all quite wealthy. One would have inferred that this was a representative sample of the highest economic echelon of American Jewry.
Aside from the several hundred million Arabs who would like to see the destruction of the state of Israel (and Jews everywhere), the greatest force working against Israel is liberal secular Jews who wish to follow the Clintonesque path of appeasement – a path that led to the current sad state of affairs. The majority of the group attending the lecture was mainly concerned with Israel exasperating the situation by occupation and expansion of settlements in the West Bank. The attendees subscribed to the short-sighted vision that a lasting peace could be attained if Israel withdrew from the occupied territories. Even if the rest of those in attendance disagreed with the ones raising objections to Israeli policy, they kept silent. And silence is agreement.
Even more alarming was the vigor with which those Jews, again, overwhelmingly upper middle class, attacked the conservative stance that was presented by AIPAC. How could this happen? Mr. Barrett clearly spoke of the resurgence of Anti-Semitism in Europe and even on university campuses in the United States, but the group sat unmoved as they questioned what they saw as antagonistic Israeli policies. Who would have thought that American Jews would be such a strong voice of anti-Zionism? Participants sat stone-faced as the AIPAC representative provided vast amounts of information showing that Yassir Arafat has never bargained for peace; information that would lead the average person to conclude that Arabs have one goal - pushing Israel into the sea. He was met with scoffing, even hostility. Some Jews debated the fact that there is an anti-Israel slant in the media, something even CNN has admitted to (and deftly repurchased allegiance with a quick executive trip to Israel).
As far as the media is concerned, we all know that the overwhelming majority of Americans get their news from the mainstream sources. How is it that American Christians are able to see the bias against Israel and act somewhat in a unified manner, while American Jews uphold the criticisms of Israel fronted by Media, Inc.? With only a few exceptions have Jews stood up and cited outright bias in favor of the Islamists. It is this division that gives the Arabs a foothold in the emerging trend, in the tradition of Neville Chamberlain, of appeasement.
The united Jewish voice that was once a plumb line for American policy in the Middle East is now a fractured shadow of what it was just ten years ago. I couldn’t help but ask myself, “Is this group representative of Jews across America?” I sadly concluded that the balance of American Jewry has so distanced itself from the struggles of World War II and the ensuing trials associated with the creation of the state of Israel that they no longer even view Jews in Israel as brothers and sisters. For thousands of years, struggles for the faith have been an essential part of Judaism; persecution has been so much more prominent than times of (relative) freedom that a few decades of religious tolerance have left the American Jewish psyche in a vacuum. For some, that has fostered a materialistic, short-sighted worldview.
It is a sad day when after centuries of struggling for a homeland, Jews on the front lines are abandoned by those living comfortably in safety thousands of miles away. The propaganda machine of anti-Semitism, now rampant in the media, has spun its web of deception even among American Jews, upon whom - second only to G-d - Israel desperately needs to depend. As the state of Israel stands alone on the world stage, it looks like American Christians will be the ones to stand up - along with a minority of Jews.
Israel has had a tough go of it since independence and we have supported her without fail. It is past time for Israel to give back the territories and allow the Palestinians the opportunity to prove they are worthy of an independent state. I think the Palestinians will fail dramatically...but at least Israel will be given credit for trying it the way the Arabs have demanded
Would the terror attacks continue? Sadly yes...but at that point you can b e certain that I and many other American Jews will fully support any expulsion however managed.
Will Israel ever be accorded some measure of peace? No...but then we here in the United States have never freed outselves from the stench of the Mafia (all of them) even though the bloodbaths have lessened the cost has skyrocketed.
Get out of the territories.
Allow Palestinians to establish a state.
Watch the PLA fail.
Provide visas to all Palestinians who wish to remain in newly demolished Palestine and tell the others to beat it to Saudi Arabia and other Arab League Nations who will not be so happy with that arrangement.
"We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality."--Ayn Rand
"No Jew who is unarmed can ever say 'Never Again' and mean it"
Of course, it’s already been done. It’s was called Oslo, a process in which Israel and the United States created the infrastructure, government, and armed a future Palestinian state which would have consisted of Gaza and about 97% of the West Bank (no, not a checkerboard).
Now we’re at the end stage. The PLA has failed, and there’s no reason to dance the same deadly dance with the same characters.
It’s time to at least annex the 65% or so of the West Bank Israel needs to defend herself, and let them have an autonomous zone (no, not a state at this stage), preferably under a military government which might provide enough security that institutions could develop.
No doubt the majority of European Jews in the 1930s were subscribing to the tenet Hitler could be appeased if he were only given a little more; after all, nobody could be that bad! This is a typical Liberal attitude, which usually lasts until the pellets are finally dropped into the chute.
Liberals everywhere delude themselves with their own professed good intentions, all the while hiding their own black hearts. Then they expect other people aren't hiding their own black hearts also while mouthing something else. But the truth always shines through. In this case it is obvious to all what awaits Israel if she allows the Muslims to prevail.
As Hitler did in Mein Kampf, the Muslims have been telling the Jews the end of the road is the showers, not the beach. If American Jewish Liberals choose not to believe it, well, what else is new? They never have stared the truth in the face before and heeded it!
They are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
American Leftists of Jewish descent are Leftists first, Jews a very distant second, Americans an extremely distant third, and Zionists hardly at all. You have to be religious to be seriously concerned about co-religionists. If you're not, then they're just "those guys over there" who are of no connection to you
How many more Jews have to die before you arrive "at that point"?
Hey--they did the same thing in Germany just before and after Hitler came to power. Same mentality, having learned NOTHING from history. The Jews who say "Never Again" and arm themselves to the teeth are the ones with sense.
Nope. Don’t forget Pakistan and Viet Nam.
Actually, I’m not so sure it’s a “leftist” thing, they care, they’re just wrong. For most American Jews, Israel really isn’t very high on their radar screen, same with your example of Sudan. If we can barely get half the country to vote for a President, and a majority of those are voting a party line, you’re really looking at a small slice of the population who care about any single issue. Really, it’s sad.
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