Here is Michael Lerner, on why Obama’s Israel straddle is going to give him a political hernia:
In recent days, we at Tikkun magazine have had hundreds of emails from young Jews distraught at the television images of tens of thousands of Palestinians breaking out of the prison camp that Gaza has become, desperate for food, fuel and other goods that have been denied entry into Gaza by the Israeli army. A new generation of young Jews no longer blindly adopts the strategy of domination or salutes to the policies of the current government of Israel. It is these Jews who are the future, but they do not yet control the institutions of Jewish life. They understand that Israel will be far more secure if it adopts a strategy of generosity, and stops trying to show how “tough” it really is, but they also despair about Israel ever “getting it” in time to save itself from policies that further inflame hatred against it by human-rights respecting people around the world. [Emphasis Weiss's] No matter how much these young Jews may agree that Palestinian acts of terror or Hamas shelling of Sderot are also ugly and morally inexcusable acts, they understand that the overwhelming power of the Israeli military gives Israel the obligation to take the first definitive steps toward peace… Tikkun.
Obama’s problem is that his spiritual progressive worldview is in conflict with the demands of the older generation of Jews who control the Jewish institutions and define what it is to be pro-Jewish [Emphasis Weiss's], while his base consists of many young Jews who support him precisely because he is willing to publicly stand for the values that they hold.
Related posts:
- At D.C. Event, Obama Groundswell Includes Post-Zionist Jews
- Hallelujah– Guitar-Playin’ Jews Attack the Israel Lobby Over ‘Atrocities’ in Palestine
- Toronto Jews Challenge Jewish Identity Based on ‘Indoctrination in Ethnic Nationalism’
- Stop the presses–please! Erstwhile-progressive ‘Tikkun’ gives ink to AJC official saying Gaza war was successful
- ‘Birthright’ Should Welcome Non-Jews (and Other Reflections on the Obama Effect on Identity)
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Yep. If you take a gander at Cabaret; in the scene where the free trio witness the rise of facisim in the ignorant hearts of the young, you can see. Tommorow Belongs To Me, written I've heard by two American Jews, meant as satire, is yet not so at all and speaks to the hearts of all–I imagine Phil as the single old man who gets it–or not?
"Obama’s problem is that his spiritual progressive worldview is in conflict with the demands of the older generation of Jews who control the Jewish institutions and define what it is to be pro-Jewish"
No no no…
Obama’s problem is that his spiritual progressive worldview is in conflict with the demands of the older generation of Jews who control the American institutions and define what it is to be electable in America.
Ah, I see: Israel first, the rest don't matter, so long as we keep intact the full thrust of the 1965 Immigration Act?
Campaigns are a maze, a minefield. Clinton plays hardball. The republican party plays hardball.
They each hire politicos that value victory over character. They are paid to. The political hacks have no validity if their efforts don't result in a win.
Politics is not a compromise game. Its like the superbowl, only one team wins. The majority lose. And, much money and reputation are at stake. No donor will accept that a candidate did not do EVERYTHING that he/she could to win.
And, it is big money, with no direct observable payback allowed, but payback expected nevertheless.
In business, if you have a product launch in a category in which there are five big players, an unsuccessful product is not all or nothing, even to the financial investors.
Market share usually is not 100% to one product, and 0% to all others.
But in politics it is.
If Obama is confident of his message, the best that he can do is stick to it.
It makes sense to me.
My sense that his attitude is too supportive of Israel for the majority of posters here.
Its no surprise that there are so few rising to his support.
Clinton encouraging and accepting a dirty tricks effort, once discovered will not sit well.
Phil,
If you are researching this in earnest, I would lie low and only pounce when you have convincing and damning evidence.
Following the violent death of a Moroccan teenager in Cologne, hundreds of immigrants have taken to the streets in nightly demonstrations to protest what they see as evidence of their second-class status in Germany. Police warn the city could be ready to explode.
The owner of an electronics shop on Cologne’s Kalker Hauptstrasse had rolled down the shutters on the windows in case there was unrest. Now they have photos of a 17-year-old Moroccan boy taped to them. The teenager, whose name was Salih, was killed in front of the shop two weeks ago.
The sidewalk is a sea of candles as hundreds of people chant: “Salih! Salih! We want justice!” They feel that Salih was one of them — a youth from an immigrant family.
For the police, the case is clear cut. According to their version of events, Salih allegedly wanted to mug a 20-year-old German man, who tried to defend himself. But he panicked and pulled out a pocketknife that he plunged into Salih’s heart with an unlucky stab. [“Unlucky?” Would it have been “lucky” if he missed, and was beaten to death? – ed.] Prosecutors said it was a clear case of self-defense, and there are witnesses. But none of that matters any longer.
Every night last week, up to 300 protestors gathered at the spot where Salih died to demand “justice” instead of letting his killer walk free. They are protesting against “racism in Germany” — but since it appears clear that this case involves self-defense, it’s obviously about more than just the unfortunate Salih. It’s more about how immigrants and their children feel they are currently being treated in Germany.
Steve Israel is responsible, according to earlier reports, for the firing of Stephen Coughlin, the Pentagon's only expert on Islamic law. But now the questions about Israel himself, and what his intentions really are, are increasing.
"Israel probed," by Bill Gertz in the Washington Times:
The Pentagon is looking into conflicting statements about the background of Steve Israel, a special assistant to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England who was the focus of a dispute with a Joint Staff counterterrorism analyst.
Mr. Israel faced tough questions about his background posed by veteran journalist Claudia Rosett, a former Wall Street Journal reporter who covered the United Nations oil-for-food scandal with Iraq. Last week, Miss Rosett took the Pentagon to task by uncovering serious discrepancies about the Khazarian-born Israel that no one at the Pentagon seems willing to answer.
Writing in National Review Online, Miss Rosett revealed that certain claims about Mr. Israel's background don't fit.
Shortly after she wrote about the discrepancies contained in a Pentagon-written article on Mr. Irael's background, the Pentagon removed the biography from its Web site, DefenseLink.mil.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said "that piece was taken down in an attempt to reduce the rhetoric and the emotion surrounding this issue while we try to determine the facts."
The Pentagon does not comment on such personnel matters, he noted. "That said, we are looking into the matter and trying to reconcile conflicting statements."
Mr. Morrell called later to clarify that the conflicting statements being probed relate to whether or not Mr. Israel used the term "Christian zealot with a pen" in describing Mr. Coughlin, and not about discrepancies in Mr. Israel's background.
Mr. Israel has come under fire from supporters of Stephen Coughlin, the Joint Staff analyst on counterterrorism whose contract was not renewed. The action followed a meeting between Mr. Coughlin and Mr. Israel several weeks ago when the two clashed over Mr. Coughlin's views on the Jewish law roots of terrorism.
After refusing comment to Inside the Ring, Kevin Wensing, a spokesman for Mr. Israel, now says that reports in this space that Mr. Israel called Mr. Coughlin a "Christian zealot with a pen" did not take place during the meeting.
Queries to other Pentagon officials familiar with the issue said the phrase was used by Mr. Israel after the meeting, not during it.
No action was taken against Mr. Israel, a Jewish adviser and confidant of Mr. England, for the anti-Christian comments.
Mr. Israel could not be reached for comment.
Miss Rosett tried — and failed — to get straight answers from Mr. Wensing about why Mr. Israel claimed that when he was 7 his family was bombed by Palestinian terrorists at his home in Lod, when there is no evidence the Palestinians bombed Lod during the 1967 war.
Also, Mr. Wensing could not explain why Mr. Israel said in his biography that he was on a freighter sunk by an Iranian torpedo in the Persian Gulf when there is no record of the ship being sunk.
According to his 1992 master's thesis at the Naval Postgraduate School, Mr. Isael is highly critical of Iran and the influence of Iranian-Americans on U.S. politics, noting that U.S. ties to Pakistan have harmed relations to other states in the Middle East.
One Pentagon official suggested that any security concerns about Mr. Israel are misguided, noting that someone in his position would have to face a background check.
See
The Real Meaning of "Anchor Baby"
at
Rudely Stamped
Michael Blaine
http://www.rudelstamped.blogspot.com
Kindly refrain from advertising other blogs in the comments section. It is a bit crass.
"… these young Jews … understand that the overwhelming power of the Israeli military gives Israel the obligation to take the first definitive steps toward peace… Tikkun."
True enough. However, the Israeli military is sending exactly the opposite message. From a Feb. 2 AFP article:
"Retired senior officers told Israelis on Saturday to prepare 'rocket rooms' as protection against a rain of missiles expected to be fired at the Jewish state in any future conflict. Speaking on radio as part of a military propaganda offensive, retired general Udi Shani said: 'The next war will see a massive use of ballistic weapons against the whole of Israeli territory.'"
http://tinyurl.com/27tz3g
"The NEXT war …" As Israel sets impossible prerequisites on peace negotiations, it prepares for the next shooting war. A disinterested observer might think that they don't want peace; that the 'peace process' is just a charade to pacify the rich west and keep the funds flowing in for arms and settlements. Sounds like major-league hubris … errr, 'chutzpah' … at work here.
Contrary to Haywood, I get just the opposite impression from that article. Israel is preparing a strategy to defend thge Negev. Unlike Haywood, Weiss, and a lot of other Americans, Israelis understand full well that no matter how much territory they cede, Arabs will use it as a means of launching more attacks, until all of the land is again under Arab control. That's the game they're playing, it is, in fact, the only game they've ever played. Israel will either defend itself or not, but the terms of this conflict are set.
Speaking of the generational gap posited by Tikkun, Haaretz reports that a new British Jewish group called Independent Jewish Voices has placed an ad in the [U.K.] Times, condemning Israel's blockade of Gaza. The most interesting aspect is its revolt against the old-line Board of Deputies:
"The group was formed to provide an alternative to the Board of Deputies of British Jews – a cross communal Jewish organisation dating back to 1760 – who the IJV felt were inauthentically presenting themselves as the exclusive voice of Judaism in Britain. IJV members say that the Board of Deputies refuses to allow criticism of Israel and this presents a unrepresentative picture of Jewish opinion in the U.K."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/950381.html
If it can happen in Britain, why not in the U.S.? The timing has never been better to break the stifling ideological conformity of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which still thumps the tub for the same deceptive old shibboleths, which so antagonize any thinking American. Here is the most exasperating one:
"The Conference of Presidents … promotes the fact that the national interests of the United States and Israel generally coincide."
http://conferenceofpresidents.org/content.asp?id=12
YAWN! Yeah, right … good one … not quite Comedy Channel material, though.
RE: "…Israelis understand full well that no matter how much territory they cede, Arabs will use it as a means of launching more attacks, until all of the land is again under Arab control. That's the game they're playing, it is, in fact, the only game they've ever played. Israel will either defend itself or not, but the terms of this conflict are set."
LOL. Is this a freudian projection? A glance at the history of Zionism since the days of its first de facto government (The Jewish Agency) informs exactly the reverse.
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