Hamas Posters Posted at U.S. Synagogues

I don't know who you are, but if you have more expertise and experience in Palestinian politics than Rashid Khalidi, please let us know what your credentials are. The motivations for the rocket attacks were and are clearly very complex, but when they began in 2005, they were part of an effort by Hamas to demonstrate its independence from the Fatah-dominated government led by Abu Mazen, who was trying to confiscate weapons and have one security apparatus and the rule of law in both Gaza and the West Bank. The rocket attacks started before the immoral, stupid and illegal blockade and the boycott imposed by the Israelis. The rocket attacks were "politically stupid" to those Palestinians who were hoping that, despite the odds, some kind of rapprochement would be possible between a relatively moderate Palestinian government and the Israelis. They were illegal because they violated the law that the Palestinian Authority was trying to use to govern the territories. And they were immoral because they were launched againstg civilians. The rockets had NOTHING to do with trying to make the world take notice of Palestinian suffering.

What are you parents saying? I miss the more personal writing, where you wrestled with your identity. Yes there are hellish settler types who will heckle you at a rally. But how about the more complex relationships? Don't become a pundit Phil, you're too good for that.

Without any doubt this is a danger scenario, as all times of crisis, as it seems part of a larger transformation process.

Were I agree seem to agree with Phil is that silence is poison under these conditions. You can't stop people from thinking, from making sense of what they see. Mental shutters are not good in this context. Phil helps people to say what they feel. He doesn't demand that they censor their thought processes. It's actually opposite of what you think it my well be a process of mental catharsis, it relieves from pressure and anger, to be able to speak out.

There is a transformation underway, and when Phil refers to it as a transformation of what "we" are (Jewish community), he is onto something.

It is NOT a transformation towards the melting pot though. There will always be a self-identified (not assimilated) Jewish community, that deserves self-governance.

Zionism.

The transformation among the liberal Jewish community is how to be Jewish, including how to support Israel being Jewish, but in a kind and accepting way.

It is NOT a renunciation of Jewish identity, nor of Zionism for those that choose to live in Israel.