I was cutting firewood right now in the ice when I realized that I'd left the most important part of Dana Goldstein's post out in my last post. Here it is:
As a writer with the last name "Goldstein," I've often found my
opinions filtered through other people's assumptions of what Jews think
or should think… And even though I rarely cover foreign policy, I have several times
received emails and even letters accusing me of harboring Zionist,
imperialist views and hoisting them upon the public.
about the Israel-Palestine conflict. I'm going to break that rule today.
In the post that ensues, Goldstein implicitly acknowledges the justice of those other people's assumptions about someone named Goldstein: and so she distances herself from Israel and Zionism, then says that this war is not making "the world at large, safe for the Jewish people." So Goldstein knows that Israel is doing this in her name, as a Jew. She feels that these disproportionate and brutal actions are redounding to her, and she says that Jews have a "responsibility" to speak out against these things. I applaud her openness and urge her to come on into the water (it's fine, dear, it's boiling).
The effect of her post is to further legitimize my question (to various Iraq war figures): Are you now or have you ever been a Zionist? American Jews need to openly debate their attachment to the Jewish state. Goldstein, by the way, is somewhat attached. And she is plain about it.
