Today I got an email from a Jewish friend saying No, no, no, (Amy Winehouse style) Obama should not have let a Jew speak for him on Gaza– David Axelrod making the evasive Gaza statement of Sunday. Didn't know what to think about it. Boy, he's harder on Jews than I am? Then I just read this from the great Sara Roy, in the Christian Science Monitor:
Israel or not?
Why have we been unable to accept the fundamental humanity of Palestinians and
include them within our moral boundaries? Rather, we reject any human
connection with the people we are oppressing. Ultimately, our goal is to
tribalize pain, narrowing the scope of human suffering to ourselves alone.
Our rejection of "the other" will undo us. We must
incorporate Palestinians and other Arab peoples into the Jewish understanding
of history, because they are a part of that history. We must question our own
narrative and the one we have given others, rather than continue to cherish
beliefs and sentiments that betray the Jewish ethical tradition.
Jewish intellectuals oppose racism, repression, and injustice
almost everywhere in the world and yet it is still unacceptable – indeed,
for some, it's an act of heresy – to oppose it when
Israel is the
oppressor. This double standard must end.
And I thought Iraq would do it. Or Bernie Madoff. Nope: Gaza is the true crisis of the American Jewish soul. That moment I've always been preaching about, Are you now or have you ever been a Zionist, is about to happen. And anti-Zionism will soon be fashionable. Yippee!
