That stupid television ad campaign Israel just cancelled that went after Christmas and Israelis marrying Americans is huge news. Huge. For it seems to have struck a grievous blow to Diaspora support for Israel, and given American Jews a respectable exit on their blind support for Israel. They did what? Tablet runs a surprising piece by New York-based wife-n-husband team Lisa Ann Sandell and Liel Leibowitz (him a former spokesperson for the Israeli gov’t) that, while smug in its Upper-West-Side-Rehavia world (Mom, this is why I married out), breaks shocking news to Israel: In so many words, Zionism is over, you’ve done it in, we see our Jewish lives in America, not in rightwing exclusivism.
Not a word of course about the treatment of Palestinians, but this is the way that American Jews are checking out, over Netanyahuism. Yes, it should have been the slaughter of nearly 400 chidren over 3 weeks 3 years back, but: Our Jewish identities are based on inclusion. That in the end is an acknowledgment of Palestinian humanity. (Thanks to Mark Wauck)
Once upon a time, we used to believe that Israel could be our family’s part-time home. But this advertising campaign is just the most recent indication that Israel has no intention of making us feel welcome. From the Rotem Bill, which seeks to make a small group of ultra-Orthodox Israeli rabbis the final arbiters over all Jewish rites, to the recent spate of anti-democratic legislation in the Knesset, over the past few years we’ve felt as if Israel is moving further and further away from the values—tolerance, plurality, and civility—that we believe are integral to Judaism as well as to our own lives. The videos are a painful reminder of this shift….
we still believed that we could build a bridge between Israel and the Diaspora, and we dreamed of raising children who would be as at home in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem as they would on Manhattan’s Upper West Side….
Often, we feel real remorse for abandoning this struggle we believe is so important, the struggle for Israel’s soul. Often, we feel as if we should brave the hurdles and the insults and jump back into the fray. But time, parenthood, and an Israeli government that seems dedicated to dismissing families like ours and driving American and Israeli Jews apart have all weakened our resolve. We cherish our family’s Jewish identity and our community, as do most American Jews we know. But our Jewish identities, and our sense of peoplehood, are based on inclusion—not exclusion and condescension. As long as Israel refuses to acknowledge this basic premise about the nature of Jewish peoplehood, we can’t call the Jewish state home.
“Yes, it should have been the slaughter of nearly 400 children over 3 weeks 3 years back”. Indeed. But these Jews live in the land of Oz where the great and mighty feel free to attack Iraq (with no hope of any sort of success except removing Saddam Hussein) for no reason at all, and feel free to attack Afghanistan with little reason (and no hope of any sort of success at all).
IF
the USA can make racist war without reason (and rescue the banks which almost destroyed the world’s [neoliberal] financial system, also without reason other than rescuing the neoliberal financial system and the big banks, of course),
THEN
why should USA Jews be concerned about the unwarranted killing of a few measly Palestinians? When morality is dead, its dead.
Well, maybe they just want to focus on the one issue here, and don’t want to alienate people from their argument by bringing up the I/P conflict. Or maybe they don’t sympathize with the Pals.
But in any case, there is a phenomenon- if an ideology has as a central premise that one religious group is much more important, and that ideology plays a central role in the state’s most important affairs (eg. the I/P conflict and its foreign policy), then this would naturally at some point affect other areas, even if people don’t understand it.
To give an example, if political leaders banned all kinds of dissent and said disagreement with official policy could never be allowed in the country because they have an ideology that demands a country that never has any kind of dissent, then if the leadership changes at some point, the former leaders would be hurt by this policy if they themselves choose to dissent.
So first the issue may be relations with the Christian and Muslim Pals (who are treated differently than Mizrahi Pals). But at some point, the issue could become distinctions, not just among Palestinians based on religion, but among other nationalities based on religion- eg. treating Turkish _Muslims_ different because of their background. And then on to distinctions among nationalities “closer to home”.
Interesting until the BS about the
Iranians trying to wipe Israel off the map,which is what I heard yesterday from a non Jewish guy,a sign of the power of media lying.How could they wipe Israel off the map without murdering millions of Muslims?Are they all insane?
Sandell and Liebowitz wrote:
“But our Jewish identities, and our sense of peoplehood, are based on inclusion—not exclusion and condescension. As long as Israel refuses to acknowledge this basic premise about the nature of Jewish peoplehood, we can’t call the Jewish state home.”
Hmmmm. This *sounds* nice at first Phil. But then you think about what this couple is really saying and their “sense of identit(y) and peoplehood” is anything *but* based on “inclusion.”
Why? Because it’s only inclusive *of jews.*
And given what non-inclusiveness of any sort generally means not to mention all their self-congratulation about what they feel judaism means, who believes that their ethno/tribal-centrism *isn’t* based on some sense of superiority, thus of course being “condescending” at best? (If not blatantly racist?)
So here, because of a bit of internal schism, all we have is the masquerade revealed, don’t we? This couple taking great umbrage and insult at a perceived lack of inclusiveness *within* judaism, threatening the ability of jews to be … exclusive of everyone else.
And then, as if to drive the fullness of the point home, there’s that sadness on their part of—at least now for awhile—only being able to consider the U.S. their home.
Or perhaps not even feeling *any* allegiance to the U.S. as a home since one has to just assume they don’t now feel—temporarily again, and just for now maybe—actually “homeless.”
So why should I feel all warm and fuzzy towards them given that they clearly don’t consider themselves very warm and fuzzy towards me either as a non-jew, or even as a mere fellow American?
Any movement built on dividing people and demeaning one group while elevating another based or religion, race, or ethnicity is certainly doomed. So is Zionism. It will come to pass. As things are moving today, Zionism will come to pass rather soon.
I am just perplexed by the Zionist premise. Jews were badly treated in Europe at the time of Herzl. True and very sad. However, the idea of establishing a state only for Jews seems to me counterproductive. The best and surest way to protect Jews (and any minority for that matter) is to fight for democratic rights and human rights. These are universal ideals.
But creating an “Iran for Jews” is clearly misguided in my opinion. Especially so when the % of Jews in the world is going down rapidly, from 0.5% in 1945 to less than 0.2% in 2010 according to a study of the Berman Institute. At this rate, the % of Jews in the world will be less than 0.1% around 2075. If I were a Jew, I would focus on protecting the rights of minorities including Jews anywhere and everywhere in the world. That’s what Israel should be about, not stealing Palestinian land and colonization of Palestinians. To this end, Israel must lead by example and start protecting and respecting the rights of Palestinian Christians and Moslems in Israel and withdraw immediately from Occupied Palestine and be the first to recognize it and to support it to prosper and succeed.