Rabbi Brant Rosen has come through again. He is the driving force behind Rabbis Speak Out, "a group of American rabbis seeking to express their outrage at the war launched by Israel against Gaza in December, 2008." They have released the important statement below that condemns Gaza as an "us versus them, zero-sum game."
31 brave rabbis have signed onto this call for humanity and sanity. Finally, the moral and prophetic leaders of the Jewish community are beginning to say 'enough!' publicly.
It is important to note that Eric Yoffie is not on the list. It is important to note that David Wolpe is not on the list. Neither is David Saperstein. They are losing their mantel for moral leadership in the wake of the Gaza crisis. This statement is the future. (Adam Horowitz)
The statement:
As American rabbis and rabbinical students from various parts of the Jewish world, we express our sorrow and outrage over Israel's latest military operation in Gaza. Judaism teaches that all human beings are created in the image of God and that one who takes a single life destroys an entire world. We condemn the firing of missiles from Gaza that forced so many Israelis to live in fear and we mourn the loss of life that resulted from these attacks. However, we are devastated by Israel's disproportionate use of force, killing more than 1,300 people, including over 450 children. In the wake of such overwhelming civilian carnage, we can only ask, in the words of the Talmud, "How do we know that our blood is redder than the blood of our fellow?"
Jewish tradition also teaches that "when an arrow leaves the hand of a warrior he cannot take it back." From this we learn that violence unleashes a myriad of consequences that we cannot control or reverse. We cannot begin to fathom the depths of trauma this action has caused for those living in Gaza and the grief for scores of individuals, families and loved ones around the world. Moreover we can only imagine the growing fury it has inspired in Gazans, Palestinians and the greater Arab world and the serious damage it has inflicted upon prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
In the wake of the recent cease-fire the task before the new American administration is all the more daunting – and all the more critical. We urge our new President to turn back the policies of previous administrations - policies which have given Israel a blank check to take numerous measures that we believe are counter to the cause of peace, including the expropriation of Palestinian lands, destruction of Palestinians homes and businesses and the widespread building of settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, to name but a few. We sincerely hope the Obama administration will find the courage to insist that the Israeli government end these actions and be prepared to withhold military aid as necessary.
As Jewish spiritual leaders, we believe the pursuit of peace and justice to be our most sacrosanct value. We reject the vision of this conflict as an "Us vs. Them" zero sum game. We urge all who seek an end to this tragic conflict to commit themselves to peace, reconciliation and restorative justice. We call for a political solution that ends the occupation, addresses the needs of Palestinian refugees and constructs a positive future by and for Israelis and Palestinians in the holy land.
Time to infest antiZionist blogs like Phil's:
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1056648.html
Israeli massacres of Palestinians have been going on for 60 years but only now are a significant (but still small) number of Jewish leaders speaking out.
Child killers, BTW, are generally considered to be the lowest form of human life when done one on one. But the cold blooded massacre of some 450 children is OK with 90% of Israeli Jews if it helps that brutal state to reach its goal of crushing Palestinian resistance to their dispossession.
A SICK society if ever there was one.
better now than never. Crimson Ghost's calling of israel a sck society is understandable. But this is a moment of applaud. Whatelse do you want these rabbis to do? Sign up for to fight IDF with Islamic Jihad or Hamas? Let's praise these guys for their courageous act.
pseudo-scientific 'games theory' claptrap like 'condemning Gaza as an "us versus them, zero-sum game" is completely insulting and a genocidal misrepresentation of the massacres to which they have until now presumably assented in silence.
(29 dec 07)
"WASHINGTON — The United States should redeploy troops from Iraq, allowing the military to focus on terrorist threats in Pakistan and Afghanistan, New York Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand said Saturday."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071229/democrats-troops/
By the way, does anybody knows if someone "born into a politically connected family" from in Albany, New York (nee Rutnik) might possibly be jewish?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirsten_Gillibrand
I don't mean to minimize the importance of this statement, however must these beacons of objectivity and clarity continue to regurgitate the fiction that Israel launched the war in December 2008? The ceasefire was broken on November 4, 2008 by Israel. The statement regarding the launch of the war only serves to reinforce the lie that the December offensive was somehow a response to renewed missile attacks following the November 4th provocation. If you can get the simple facts straight your plea carries more moral weight, in my opinion.
Michael Lerner is also missing. Do you not simply not expect this kind of honesty from him?
Hi, I recently came across your blog and found it packed with interesting information.
Once a week I produce a post on my blog entitled "Islam And The West Accelerated Links."
I thought you might like to know that since last Sunday entries from this blog have started appearing over at my blog.
Joshua posted a Haaretz article detailing Israel's recent recruitment of an "army of bloggers" to infiltrate "anti-Zionist" blogs. In the comments section, I noticed that one reader posted this:
This is an open recruiting call to everyone who wants to actively counter this program.
If you want to help counter the message they are trying to send out, email media@moia.gov.il, and get the list of sites they are targetting. Then post on these sites explaining that they have been targetted by an active Israeli disinformation project.
These sites deserve to know that they have been targetted by the Israeli gov`t to use their webpages for propaganda.
The original Haaretz article is here: Israel recruits 'army of bloggers' to combat anti-Zionist Web sites
The reader's (Pablo B) comments are here: Pablo 1
Pablo 2
By the way, does anybody knows if someone "born into a politically connected family" from in Albany, New York (nee Rutnik) might possibly be jewish?
I did an admittedly cursory search last night and was unable to find any information on family ancestry or links to Israel. I simply typed "Kirsten Gillibrand Jewish" into Google, then "Kirsten Gillibrand Israel" into Google, then I did the same thing with her father's name. Nothing.
I just had a great idea for a film script. The central character eavesdrops on a top-secret, present-day, meeting of the supreme zionist world leadership, and discovers that zionism is run by secretly surviving top German Nazis, and has been since 1943, when the top German Nazis realised they were eventually going to lose the war in Germany, and started planting their own kids in concentration camps, giving them false identities as Jews, so that they would eventually be sent to colonise Palestine, with the aim of eventually creating the world's first completely racially pure state, which would serve as an inspiring example to the rest of the world, which would realise that Germany had been right after all, all along.
In this video, 1000 Rabbis Call On Obama: Make Mideast Peace A Top Priority, Brant Rosen and other rabbis call on Obama to make peace in the Mideast.
Problems: at :31 seconds, Rabbi Peter Knobel forgets to mention who else might benefit from "peace" in the Mideast.
Obama's neighbor and friend, Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, z"l, Emeritus (that's how's he credited) also has a role. His synagogue is next door to Obama's Chicago home.
Also, Rabbi Capers C. Funnye, Jr., Michelle Obama's cousin, makes an appearance as the token black Jew.
The whole thing just seems contrived.
Thanks, Dan. I also did the search and at first glance it didn't support the jewish roots thesis, but the "born into a politically connected family" is typical wikihiding discourse, so I'm still unsure.
Thanks again.
Well, Col Lang has a Rabbi friend that lays into Israel and states flat out what Israel's lies were about Gaza ..and yes ..Israel was the one that broke the truce and cease fire.
Since links don't work here go to Col Lang's site and download Rabbi Seigman.
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2009/01/the-lies-of-war-henry-siegman.html
"The Lies of War" Henry Siegman
Henry Siegman is a friend. His family fled from Europe to America. He is a rabbi. He was a chaplain in the US Army during and in the Korean War. He was a "freedom rider" in Mississippi in the 1960s. He has long sought a just peace for Israel and the Palestinians. That is not surprising for he is one of the just. pl
———————————————————————–
Download 2009-01-29 LRB Gaza The Lies of War
Rutnik is a Polish Jewish name, as listed on the 1939 census of Jewish surnames from the town of Biala Podlaska, according to jewishgen.org.
"which would serve as an inspiring example to the rest of the world"
Rowan, if such nonsense should be necessary part of the mind of some top nazi, then at least you should cast LeaNder as one of the supreme zionist world leaders, ok? If you want to maximize suspension of disbelief then consistent hereditary trait is a must.
Thanks, Lollo, at least some jewish root might be expected then.
Thanks also for providing us the jewishgen site.
Dan,
Jewish connections are often apparent when you use "jewish charity" with the search. Another is "bar mitzvah". these events are often covered by society pages and often issue their own press releases. Searches under the spouses names are sometimes useful.
Regards
She's jewish, her father is jewish.
Chuck Schumer and Wexler and Ackerman have (been rumored) poured on the pressure to get her into the senate….the last thing they want is a very American Kennedy in the senate.
Politico:
Then there's Upstate Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, a moderate Democrat who was said to be an early Schumer favorite. Unlike Kennedy, she changed the name she used professionally, so she has no obvious family name to speak of. But her father happens to be Douglas Rutnik, one of the state's most powerful lobbyists.
JRI-Poland Gora Kalwaria PSA Surname List
Jun 2, 2001 … The following is a list of all surnames contained in Jewish civil records of …. RUTNIK RUTSZTAIN RYBA RYBAK RYBINSZTAJN RYCZYWOL RYDELMAN …
www.jewishgen.org/JRI-PL/psa/gorakalwariasurn.htm – 25k
Link to Siegman's LRB article, Israel's Lies
Rowan, if such nonsense should be necessary part of the mind of some top nazi
You haven't noticed yet, then, the effort that the Jews (and not just the Israeli or zionist ones) are putting into concocting and forcing on the academic world bogus genetic studies that purport to show that every ashkenazi is somehow genetically linked to every sefardi, mizrachi, and ethiopian 'Jew'?
Many thanks, American. That explains a lot about Caroline Kennedy's erratic behaviour in this incident.
Also, people should wise up to the deceptive use of phrases like "born into a politically connected family" by the Wikipedia grandmasters.
Thank you Eva.
Zionist Propaganda Machine by James Zogby
Define the terms of debate, and you win the debate. Early on, the Israelis work to define the context, the starting point, and the story line that will shape understanding of the war. In this instance, for example, they succeeded by constant repetition, in establishing the notion that the starting point of the conflict was 19 December, the end of the six-month ceasefire (which Israel described as "unilaterally ended by Hamas"). In doing so, they ignored, of course, their own early November violations, and their failure to honour their commitment in the ceasefire to open Gaza's borders. They also ignored their having reduced Gaza into a dependency, a process that began long before and continued after their withdrawal in 2005. Because they know that most Americans do not closely follow the conflict and are inclined to believe, as the line goes, "what they hear over and over again", this tactic of preemptive definition and repetition succeeds. [...]
link to palestinechronicle.com
Rowan
The type of genetic research to which you refer–can you substantiate your inferred claim that any Jews involved in this are on record as anti-Zionist, because if not, they must assumed to be pro-Zionist to one degree or another. Myself, I tend to believe this post was some kind of subconscious reaction on your part to the German "Right/Left" "Red/Brown" pro-Palestinian "Stop the Genocide in Gaza" protests your own blog recently featured.
Rowan, I was not making a negative review of your screenplay, only an evil joke on LeaNder being the daughter of a top nazi clueless enough to imagine Izzyland could ever be "an inspiring example to the rest of the world" (though we know many zios thought it could). But I admit my jokes are hopeless. Anyway, if by chance you accept our suggestion of casting LeaNder as the the supreme zionist world leader please do not forget to forbid any use of subtitles in italics. You know, the lady always causes disaster when speaking in italics and we don't want to even imagine supreme zionist leaders causing disasters, no.
The war on Gaza, like most wars, was not a "zero sum game." Those who think whatever was lost by Gaza or Hamas or Palestine was won by Israel, as might happen in a chess match, lack all common sense. In fact, war is usually very much a negative sum gain, in which the total losses tower over the little bit gained. In Gaza, it is hard to identify any gain whatsoever, while the losses on both sides are enormous. Gaza lost thousands of lies amid huge property losses and trauma; perhaps they gained stature among some for being defiant. Israel did not destroy Hamas, nor stop the rocket attacks, nor interdict all arms smuggling, their stated goals. Their goal of showing the rest of the world how well-armed and ready to crush opposition they are was perhaps achieved, but that has almost catastrophic costs for Israel, as well. The war's impact on the Israeli elections remains to be seen. The sum total at the end of fighting is much diminished due to the war – a tragic negative sum game.
American-style, western-style economics, at its best, can be an enormous plus sum game, in which seller and buyer, labor and management, importer and exporter, investors and government, on all sides, come out ahead. I sometimes wonder if those who lead us into war – whether from Al Queda or Neocon perches – are incapable of understanding the differences among zero sum, negative sum and positive sum games – or value power over all else and therefore see war as the means to shore up their power and insure their place in history, i.e., see themselves as playing a zero-sum power game.
doppler claims:
"American-style, western-style economics, at its best, can be an enormous plus sum game, in which seller and buyer, labor and management, importer and exporter, investors and government, on all sides, come out ahead."
What planet Doppler lives in? Really. lat time I checked this global system of checks and balances was in a ruin very similar in scope to the one in the Gaza city.
The appearance of a name in a Jewish sourcebook is far from decisive regards defining ethnic identity. Example:
http://sacredheartpioneers.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/rutnik_brooke00.html
then at least you should cast LeaNder as one of the supreme zionist world leaders, ok?
Thanks Anonymous. I highly appreciate the antagonism here. But I would be a very bad cast. I am No leader type, I am not even aim driven or mad for power and I am female. Rowan's imagination surely plays with a real warrior.
real Aryan warrior. I look more Italian than that.
Rowan, I was not making a negative review of your screenplay, only an evil joke on LeaNder being the daughter of a top nazi clueless enough to imagine Izzyland could ever be "an inspiring example to the rest of the world"
OK, I see, a modification. A father daughter conflict would immensely improve the plot.
Rowan gives the world the good old villain, no wonder the vision of the German Aryans somehow seems to have infected his brain, lately.
Anyway, if by chance you accept our suggestion of casting LeaNder as the supreme zionist world leader please do not forget to forbid any use of subtitles in italics. You know, the lady always causes disaster when speaking in italics and we don't want to even imagine supreme zionist leaders causing disasters, no.
clueless daughter of the secret top Aryan Elder, you mean?
See, how easy it is to get noticed. Only occasionally force the crowd to continue in italics or bold.;)
Hehe, LeaNder, you must read Rowan's plot to understand why you would be cast as a daughter. Anyway, even though you are an insufferable bore of a philosemitic leftist your laugh is my pleasure. Have a very good weekend.
Anonymous is apparently of the 'knock 'em down, then knock 'em up' school of flirting.
You may remember I live in a tree, more precisely in my good old branch davidian (as the count would appreciate me to remember everyone.) Everytime I knock someone down, you know, it's a long fall… bad flirting tactic. Indeed you are one who surely should know that, because the PAZ-JEW is the great single cause of trauma injuries round here: he appears, I convulse, tree shakes, monkeys rain in the ground. In fact you are in our most-wanted list for environmental crimes. The only problem is instead of your picture in our web page (literally a banana tree leaf with names and pictures glued on a cobweb) they placed the picture of… of…the friggin chocolate!!! Done, I broke my promise once again. I'm dying of shame……….
Sorry, "(as the count would appreciate me to remind everyone.)"
More shame….
I think the loonies from Xymphora's blog have followed me here.