The picture is a screen shot of the cover photograph from the Facebook page of Dan Shapiro, the US Ambassador to Israel, as it appeared on February 16, 2016. In this photograph, which Ambassador Shapiro took, the image of the Star of David is clearly outlined by the petals of the flower.
An Open Letter to Ambassador Shapiro
Dear Mr. Ambassador,
With all due respect, as an official of the US government, it seems to me to be highly inappropriate for you to so prominently display a Jewish religious symbol as your Facebook cover photograph.
We Americans are a nation with a long tradition of separation of religion and state. One would hope that you would respect this tradition. Secondly, the Star of David is the national symbol of the self-defined “Jewish State” of Israel. As a Jewish-American US government official posted to Tel Aviv, your Facebook cover photo may give the impression that your Jewishness and/or identification with Israel takes precedence over your obligation to represent US interests in a foreign country which often acts in opposition to the aims and wishes of the US. This is an impression I assume you do not want to communicate.
Maybe it would be better to employ your not inconsiderable photographic talents celebrating and referencing symbols of your own country, the United States.
Yours truly,
Ira “@abushalom” Glunts
perhaps if he added “US” in front of “Government Official” it would be clear[er] which gov he is working for.
that said, i would not have noticed that star of david until you pointed it out. now, it’s all i see when i look at the flower. probably not a coincidence.
Ha! A rose is a rose is a rose, but perhaps (unlike the flower pictured) its photo doesn’t look like Magen David.
Maybe, they could have an Israel float at the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena and laugh at y’all trying to boycott it!
re: “. . . your Jewishness and/or identification with Israel takes precedence over your obligation to represent US interests in a foreign country”
Isn’t that the default assumption for all Jewish government officials of any government? Heck, it’s the default assumption for all members of Congress, regardless of whether they are Jewish or not, isn’t it?
I don’t find Shapiro’s picture nearly as offensive as the one that Mondoweiss once had of Obama wearing a Star of David lapel pin. I wasn’t sure whether it was photoshopped or was an actual photo of him at some campaign event. Republicans made American flag lapel pins required attire for men in DC and on Fox news after 9/11. It became a statement of pro-war jingoism. That was bad enough. An American president rubbing our nose in his Zionism is worse.
Sending a zionist jew to Israel as the ambassador of the USA is about the same as sending a communist to the Sovietunion, both will not represent the interests of their country, but the one of their beliefs.
How about sending a southern baptist with dark skin and enough guts to remind the israelis of the plight of the african refugees there?