Jeff Blankfort makes an interesting point about dual loyalty accusations.
Michael Oren, born in the US and a dual citizen, is about to become Israel's ambassador to the US which will require him to give up his US citizenship, the JPost reports. No problem, says Oren. Now, the question is: At what moment does a Jewish American who chooses to make aliyah cease being a patriotic American and come out of the closet, so to speak, as a patriotic Israeli wannabe? At what point does a Jewish American supporter of Israel become a potential security risk if that person is employed in an agency of the US government? To say that it is the moment the person announces his or her decision to make aliyah to Israel or give up his American citizenship is ludicrous. The person who makes that decision could understandably as well as logically be viewed as having been politically compromised at some point before that and therefore it is reasonable for US government officials, particularly in areas where intelligence in involved, to look at Jewish American employees with a degree of suspicion. But when they do, it elicits the predictable accusations of anti-Semitism.
Weiss: And again, this was an objection of the Jewish anti-Zionists of the 20s and 30s. Congressmen and bankers and newspaper publishers, leaders of the Jewish community, said, If you establish a Jewish state, it will cast suspicion on Jewish loyalty here.
It is interesting to consider how much of what is wrong in America today stems from or involves conflation. Criticism of Israeli policies is conflated with Anti-Semitism, mourning Gaza deaths is conflated with ignoring Israeli deaths and wanting Israel wiped off the map, Saddam Hussein was conflated with Al Queda. Islam is conflated with terrorism. Realism is conflated with a lack of patriotism and naivete. Ahmadinejad is conflated with Hitler. Enough with the conflation already. It is beyond tiresome.
What about people who are dual citizens of the U.S. and Brazil? The U.S. and Iran?
To Dickerson's query, there is no comparison between Israel-US dual citizenships and those involving other countries. A person holding dual citizenship in the US and Iran would obviously be born in Iran and given that he or she would have relatives in Iran, would not be likely to receive a security clearance. I would wager that there are no Iranian born US citizen working in any government job that involves national security. A person in the US with Brazilian citizenship would also have been born in Brazil and would also be subject to a far more thorough background investigation than someone born in the US who decides to become an Israeli at some future point, unbeknownst to the government, and can do so simply because she or he is Jewish. In other words, the question is not relevant.
As more and more of our children find jobs outside the US, they will confront dual citizenship situations. My daughter worked in London for a number of years. At first, she was treated as an American, which has certain financial implications. After 3 or 4 years, her employer required that she become naturalized in Great Britain. So she is a US born dual-citizen.
There are huge numbers of Chinese and Indian scientists in the US — notably, in the genome industry around Washington, DC/NIH. Many of them have become US citizens.
Israel is different because Israelis and American Jews TELL Americans that the case of Israel is different. Peter Beinart does not make a speech without pledging his undying love for Israel; likewise, most prominent Jewish advocates for Israel –Jeremy ben Ami comes to mind– begin their statements with declarations of love for Israel. How is that not like standing in your wife’s bedroom and telling her how much you love your mistress?
It is exceptionally relevant that you have just intimated that there is a difference between a Jew with dual citizenship and a muslim/christian with dual citizenship. Your inference is racist.
Dual citizens from Brazil and Iran don't have a long history of getting (politically, via a Brazilian or Iranian 'Lobby') appointed to highly sensitive national security positions, e.g. Assistant Secretary of Defense or the National Security Council, and then getting caught spying or otherwise breaking the law on behalf of their 'other' country. Jews do. This is not conspiracy theory. This is not antisemitism. It is simply a fact that anyone with more than two brain cells to string together a neural net can verify with an hour's work. Avoiding this truth and pretending that there is no problem is simply cowardice, and does gross injustice to the 99.9999 or whatever percent of Jews who have nothing to do with it. The numbers of Jews involved in criminal activity on behalf of Israel are paltry, however they are consistent, persistent, and claim to act on behalf of the Jewish people, AND they,e.g. Paul Wolfowitz, Dennis Ross, Harold Rhode, and Douglas Feith, have done enormous damage to the United States of America. It is madness for Jews to ignore this problem and the Lobby's role in it, and exclaiming antisemitism when Jews who have colonial Zionist or neoconservative ties are given extra scrutiny or suspicion when they are being considered for, or are acting in, national security positions is just ridiculous. If one doesn't speak out against criminals who claim they are acting on one's behalf in incident after incident after incident, exactly what are other people likely to think? Sure, it's not fair that Jews should have to speak out against Jewish extremists. Life isn't fair, consider the analogy of identity theft. If your identity is stolen it isn't fair that you should have to spend time and money fixing what other people have done in your name, but if you don't you are going to suffer for your poor decision to ignore the problem. Blame the extremists who are screwing everyone over, not the folks who are just trying to defend themselves against them. It is simply not true that action in self-defense against Jewish extremists necessitates rancor against the Jewish people and fear that it does, with consequent attempts to sweep the problem under the rug to everyone's detriment, is absolutely counter-productive.
Jews who have dual US/Israeli citizenship are Jewish Zionists. Zionism is a subversive political ideology, like Communism, and thus Jewish Zionist dual citizens are aliens hostile to American interests and Western values, just as Communists with dual US/USSR citizenship would have been considered. The only reason that Zionism hasn't yet been identified in the subversive vein of Communism is because Zionists have bought off corrupt US politicians, and pro-Zionist gentile useful idiots are legion in America, the same way pro-Communist useful idiots were legion in America (with plenty of them in the government, too) in the FDR-era and before.
Just like a broken record.
Speaking of dual citizenships. Pakistan came up with something a few years back. Before I used to have to get a visa to visit Pakistan. Now I have a small ID card, which identifies the address I stay in Pakistan at, along with my citizenship status as an American but allows me to enter Pakistan visa-free. In fact, I don't have to have my passport on me either. I just have to show that card. It's a picture ID. I don't exactly remember the rules but I think because my parents were born in Pakistan, I got that card. My daughter had to get a visa though even though her father lives in Pakistan. She can apply for that ID when she's of a certain age but not right now. With that ID card also comes the privelage to vote in Pakistani elections. I was there on one ocassion when voting was going on. I chose not to vote and will not vote in any Pakistani elections though. I don't live there. My child only visits, to see her father. So why should we (when she's of age) vote?
So it's not, because it's true. You dont know what you are talking about. You can be American born and get an Israeli passport because you are Jewish. But…the Muslim or Christian who has dual citizenship in the USA is Foreign born, or obtained that dual citizenship under a parent being foreign born. The is no — repeat, no — foreign passport automatically allowed a US citizen on the basis of being Muslim or Christian. None. Only Jews have that right.
And a very accurate record it is, and deserves to be heard over and over again by those who don't plug their ears against the sound of reality.