This is the nightmare scenario that American Jewish leaders have been working for more than seven decades to avoid.
Their nightmare is my righteous dream. Israel is an apartheid state which we should should not be giving a dime to, much less rafts of weapons and barrels of cash.
It’s really that simple.
The failure is Netayahu’s and Likud’s. Not only have they made clear that they value Israeli dominance over the Palestinians more than peace, but more consequently they fully aligned themselves with the Republican party and have interjected themselves in our elections to that end. You don’t get to do that and maintain the goodwill of the country. American Jews can see what that party has become. They defend white nationalists and neo nazis at every turn.
@unfading you are
Right On
How can “Israel advocacy” fix a problem that is only minimally about the advocates but has everything to do with the rapidly diverging values of American Jews and Israelis? Almost the only American Jews who can advocate wholeheartedly for Israel without any ambivalence or discomfort are folks like Sheldon Adelson who don’t share the values of the clear majority of the American Jewish community on other issues, and in fact actively alienate that community.
As long as Israel keeps oppressing and killing its stateless neighbors, declining American support for Israel is a good thing.
My Jewish family lost a close elderly relative in the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre in
Pittsburgh. It is no coincidence that the worst slaughter of Jews in American history took place during Trump’s tenure.
Those Jews weren’t murdered by Muslims or by Palestinians or by Leftists or
Socialists, or as Republicans try to imply, by Democrats. They were
murdered by a right-wing White Trump supporter. The perpetrator used an
AR-15 type assault rifle and was spouting nonsense about George Soros
and about Jews helping immigrants. The Republican Party has made this
type of gun, used in most of the mass murders of American citizens, all
too available. The Republican Party, including Minority Leader McCarthy,
and Trump himself have used George Soros to spread vicious anti-Semitic
lies and rumors. Under Trump’s ignorant racist leadership, the
Republican Party has viciously lied about and demonized immigrants. So
its also no coincidence that David Duke(R-KKK), Stormtrooper, and all
the other viciously violent racists and anti-Semites adore Trump.
We blame Donald Trump and the entire Republican Party for creating the
bigoted violent gun-oriented atmosphere that resulted in the death of
our cousin. Racist gun-promoting Republicans who are trying to blame
anti-Semitism on the Dems are especially low-life liars. Trump, McCarthy, and
McConnell are criminals, accessories in the murder of our cousin.
I am so sorry for your lost. My thoughts are with you and your family.
Well, American Jews are…American.
Theocrats, bigots, fascists - I don’t think it’s a stretch to say American Jews feel the same about those problems in Israel as we do about those problems here.
It’s more complicated in Israel, because they’re dealing with continual existential threats, but Israel was supposed to be better than that.
It seems to me that policy toward Israel is motivated by the desire to bring on the end times. The fact that the consequences of these actions will be borne primarily by people who live in that area of the world is inconsequential to policy makers. The current administration cares nothing for the end times but does like to have people who are beholden to him and who endlessly praise him.
They also deploy the charge of anti-Semitism within a nanosecond on anyone who dares to criticize the actions or policies of the State of Israel’s international law-violating, racist, apartheid government. And far too many supposed Liberals and Democrats too easily fall into lockstep with them…
So sorry.
This is the key, and the big glaring hole in the article. Current Israel policy isn’t shaped so much by American Jews as American evangelical voters under the influence of dispensational end-times theology.
Well said and thank you for sharing your family story. I’m so sorry for your loss.
This is key.
cf. Chabon, Michael. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, 2007.
As an American Jew with a lot of family in Israel, it’s because of Netanyahu and the larger failure of the Israeli state in creating an apartheid regime that has caused to cease supporting Israel and any American Jewish institution which does. It’s been painful for me, primarily because I like my family in Israel, and they are supporters of the right wing government.
cf. Chabon, Michael. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, 2007.
I need to read that. I have a copy on my shelf that I picked up somewhere, but haven’t started it yet.
People like Mike Pence. One reason to be careful with all the talk of impeachment.
When I was young the Israelis were the good guys. Over the years they have morphed into bad guys. That is what happens when you move from just trying to survive to annexing your neighbors land and randomly bombing women and children. I personally lost all faith in Israel a few years ago when I saw a film of them bulldozing a house with people inside.
They claimed it was punishment for a cross border shelling that had killed some Israelis. In my book murder doesn’t justify murder so the bulldozing was just callous murder. .Any country that engages in that sort of behavior doesn’t deserve special support.