‘Stand up and be counted’
Isi Leibler writes in The Jerusalem Post that American Jews need to get tougher with President Obama -- for Israel's sake:
... A public campaign must be launched. It is crucial that the case for Israel not rest exclusively with Jewish Republicans or Christian evangelicals. Jewish Democrats must be at the forefront if the bipartisan approach which for decades has been the hallmark of US policy toward Israel is to be retained.
Democrat champions for Israel like Alan Dershowitz should explain to Obama why employing so-called "tough love" against Israel is both immoral and counterproductive.
The burden rests on American Jews. Hopefully they will succeed in persuading Obama that if he seeks to 'engage' with tyrants and enemies of freedom, he can do no less than behave likewise to the only democratic state in the region and stop bombarding them with diktats. They must stand up and be counted. Jewish activists should make Obama understand that if he continues to appease Arabs by distancing the US from Israel and reneging on prior American commitments, the Jewish community, including many of his most devoted followers, will conclude that he betrayed them.
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Walter Steinlauf, in your mind, just what are the “interests of Israel” that you want to see “advanced”? Do they include continued expansion and land theft? How many more innocent Palestinians who have been already displaced and dispossessed of their homes, farms and livelyhoods must die in senseless unprovoked attacks by Israeli forces so that their land may be acquired for new and expanding Jewish-only colonies? The strike on innocent people in Iran that you propose is cowardly, as you armchair-referee massive deaths from afar. Such a strike would unleash devastating repercussions worldwide. The rest of the world gets truth about the real threat to peace in the region, which is Israel, as it continues to stall peace efforts and use aggression and the subsequent pathetic retaliation to that aggression as excuse to continue expanding into Arab Christian and Muslim lands. For truths that you seem to be ignorant of see the following videos:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6604775898578139565
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2451908450811690589
also check out:
Isn’t is interesting that for Mr. Evans every nation that fosters terrorism, like Iran and the so-called Palestinians, are innocent while Israel, the main target of these “innocent” terrorists, is guilty? That is classic anti-Semitic reasoning - after all it was the main line of the Nazi propaganda against the Jews in the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto. I guess, for Mr. Evans every Jew in Israel who believes in defending his God-given right to settle in Eretz Israel is automatically an nasty aggressor and the cause of all evil in the Middle East. Finally, there are lies, damned lies and then there are video tapes - doctored by Mr. Evans’ peace-loving buddies from Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran etc.
Mr. Evans, there is an old Viennese saying, which I learned from my father, that applies to you: “You are not even worth to be ignored!” Have a nice trip to hell.
The only thing American Jews should be interested in is the best interests of their country, the US not some foreign entity like Israel. If the best interests of the US coincide with the best interests of Israel, fine but if not too bad Israel.
Archie1954, I resent the implication that American Jews have a dual loyalty. We ARE loyal Americans, but we are also members of the Jewish people--and we are loyal to both.
Certainly, the USA is the greatest country in the world, where the greatest experiment in government has continued uninterrupted since 1789. However, as a loyal American, I have the right to criticize my country’s policies, and in regard to Israel I have grave concerns about them. To imply that Israel’s right to exist is solely based on the Holocaust ignores the long history the Jewish people have had on this land. Unfortunately, the president and the world would rather ignore this inconvenient fact. However, we will not ignore it.
I don’t think the best interests of the USA coincide with the Arab countries, and it would be better if our president recognized that both sides have requirements (possibly irreconcilable) that will have to be addressed if a true peace agreement is to be reached. Regardless, under no circumstances should the USA be dictating to Israel what it should do--the true negotiations should be bilateral between Israel and the Palestinians, and the Palestinians must be prepared to accept a lot less than they want, but this is what is meant by a peace between enemies.
Mr. Golan,
Please consider that it is Israel that was dumped like a rampaging elephant in the middle of Palestinians in 1948, and it is Israelis, not Palestinians, who are continuing to move the inhabitants of the land of Palestinians out of the way for its (Israel’s) expansion. You charge me with promoting propaganda when it is Israel and its US various lobby that hides truths here that all of Europe and the rest of the world sees in their nightly news. What I provide here is truth, not propaganda. For example,these documents:
http://www.alzaytouna.net/arabic/?c=1519&a=90731
and these stories:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/09/gaza-palestinians-israel-evacuees-zeitoun
Mr. Evans:
It’s almost tedious, but I’ll try again:
Wow! Serious accusations. But are they valid, or mere repetitions of the usual canards by the usual suspects?
Expansion? Into Judea? Does the name mean anything to you? Judea (Roman name) is the historic birthplace of the Jewish people recognized by history, religious heritage, the League of Nations, Balfour Declaration, etc., etc. After one betrayal after another, the West “allowed” the Jews to return to a small part of their ancient homeland only to be met with the hostility and violence of the squatters. I guess you mind the Israelis’ success of defending themselves.
It’s the Arabs that are the invaders and the squatters. Why do you uphold their false claims? Anti-Semitism, I ask only. Perhaps it’s all quite well-meaning but ignorant. If the American Indian is considered the aboriginal, why do you reject the Jewish people’s rights in their own homeland?
Land theft? Where? The Jerusalem development land has been bought and paid for. Theft? What has been stolen?
Whatever do you think happened to the property of Jews driven out of Arab lands?
It’s hard to believe that a reasonable person, supposedly educated and pretending to be fair would hold these views In this vision of reality, no Arab population of the area has ever rejected the U.N. partition plan of 1947, no Arab states have ever aggressed against the Jewish state, after beaten on the battlefield the Arab brotherhood refused to recognize, negotiate or have peace with Israel, and even if some of them, forced by reality, developed relations with their Jewish neighbor, these relations continue to be conditional and frigid, not at all meeting the conditions of the original agreements.
Surely you know that it is not the first time in history that conflicts bring about dislocation of populations (like the 750,000,00 Jews from Arab lands who have been resettled in Israel and elsewhere), but it’s the first time in history that those responsible continue to keep the disposessed in squalid conditions as a strategic weapon against their enemy.
As for myself, this is the problem and not at all the choice of Israel
No, Sir, it is not Israel that is guilty of the crimes listed in your dispeptic posting, but rather those and their supporters who continue to keep the pot boiling over a fire of intransigence and hatred .
For mor truths about Israel’s inhumane attacks on unarmed civilians who were locked in the inescapable box of Gaza with nowhere to run:
And check out these videos. there are hundreds just like them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFUsSpcZjW0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTUYivihoTE
And check out the behavior of immigrant Jewish settlers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKwDrWFLrGk&feature=related
It is Israelis, not Palestinians who have always been the aggressors. Israel owns the 4th most powerful military on the planet.and Palestinians havew been under brutal subjugation and occupation for decades by people who moved in on them and stole most of their land, and is continuing to steal ever more chunks through settlement-building. Any Palestinian resistance to this gross injustice is natural resistance to oppression. If we were in the shoes of Palestinians, some of us would be resisting the occupation of our country also.
Evans:
I see that you are a Johnie-One-Note and a dispenser of tainted links.
You refuse to engage in a discussion and have ignored any of the points made in rebuttal. A fair and knowledgable person does not require citations to back up his points. You are neither.
Therefore, I find you a jerk, a nudnik and a knave.
Get thee gone!
Shuster..I responded to your posts, but my response is being evaluated by this site monitor. I assume that it will be posted. My sources are backed by factual documentation. this is why I refer to links, unlike you who are just posting on opinion and recitation of mythical beliefs that cannot be documented. “A fair and knowlegable person” always fact checks and provides data, not undocumented nonsense or lies.
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Walter H. Steinlauf
07/28/09 12:41 PM
Tough Love for Israel?!?!?! Now, let’s get real. American Jews who believe for one second that Obama has any “stomach” for advancing the interests of Israel are in “La La Land” and needs acute psychiatric care.
Israel should immediately embark upon “authentic action” to “take out” all nuclear facilities in IRAN, Syria, and anywhere else within range of any theater nuclear weaponry within HER bailiwick. She has the capability to do this. AND neither the US nor anyone else should stand in judgment of this action.