Maybe get rid of the terrorist leader Netanyahu and some progress might be made. Just like we have to retire Trump. They are both dangerous. The end of the Genocide in Palestine is absolutely necessary before anything else can be accomplished.
He is not an Israeli. Is a jewish american. How can he get rid of Netanyahu?
What about Putin bombing Ukraine by 500 drones and missiles every day? Each missile bring 300-400 kg of TNT, each drone bring 50-60 kg of TNT. Is ending the Russian war in Eastern Europe absolutely necessary or just casual? By the way, there are wars in Africa now too -- those are not absolutely necessary, right? China is threatening to invade Taiwan and the Philippines -- do you care?
P.S. It's not a genocide or ethnocide what the Israelis are doing. They are not killing Palestinian arabs elsewhere, outside Gaza. They are not trying to destroy the gens of Palestinian arabs. They are acting like Americans did after 9/11: just bomb everything that is perceived to be creating the October 7 danger, including destroying freedoms of Israelis*.
*Yes, exactly the reaction to 9/11 and G. W. Bush's wars made Trumpism come.
There is no genocide. How about Hamas returns the hostages and gives up power over the Palestinians? Hamas is an extremist, terrorist group. They have zero interest in peace and they use the Palestinian people as cannon fodder.
This to me and many "liberal" American Jews has been obvious for well over a year, and has nothing whatsoever to do with defeating Hamas or getting back the hostages or any other stated purpose - Netanyahu's administrations have been progressively worse and worse (remember his role vs Rabin in the 90's) and this regime with the very bad coalition leaders and cabinet, and power ceded to ultra-orthodox and other fundamentalists is truly an evil psychosis - besides destroying Gaza and for many decades the West Bank, with the intentional neglect and fueling of proxies by surrounding auticracies, and now have even squashed the entire State of Israel (and if we're not careful world Judaism). (Note also that the way Trump is using "anti-semitism" in this country is extremely destructive - of course everything Trump does, is).
As I too struggle with these very issues, how satisfying to read such compassionate, well-informed, nuanced, and sensitive comments. I’m likewise finding much solace these days in the work of Bend the Arc which is ably navigating how to oppose antisemitism without sacrificing democracy, free speech, and academic freedom.
When I'm in Israel I'm a liberal. It's hard not to be with all those gun toting "settlers" around. Here I don't know what I am because both parties are so servile.
The Laws of War, the Genocide Convention, the laws of terrorism, the Refugee Conventions and international law generally have lost power, influence and enforceability as the basis for their conception: the horrors of Stalin and Hitler, have been overtaken and modern communication and transport have made them convenient tools for claims of asylum and family reunification. Meanwhile, Israel and Jews, almost alone, are pointed out as violators of all these. That the USA ignored them in multiple wars, that Muslim countries have slaughtered Christians and other Muslims, go unremarked. To my mind the failure of the Minorities Treaties (does anyone remember them) started (or re-started) forced movement of populations and made it hypocritical to castigate Israel and Jews (850,000 of whom were rendered stateless and expelled from Arab countries). In my Modern Orthodox congregation in Chelsea nobody talks of Israel outside of liturgy. Their greatest concern is achieving a minyan on Saturdays not politics anywhere.
Many American Jews are not applying their spiritual and intellectual selves to what is going on - they get lost in the "anti-semitism", which is real, but its a distraction from the Netanyahu's and Trump's wreaking of vast destruction. We just don't have enough curious, observant, discerning, learning, Jews, and people, and voters.
As I wrote, the US, and Netanyahu and a host of even. more evil heads of state around the world, have destroyed the international-law system developed after WW II. The creation of Israel was no different from the creation of other postwar states but antisemitism and Arab hostility has held it to a different standard. You can appeal to the postwar rules that nobody cares about anymore (except antisemites as against Israel) or you can face the facts that we are back to power-based foreign and military policy. I write on (finding) the law of terrorism, a bibliographic work periodically updated. There is something to be said about the likely reconstitution of Hamas and a repeat of October 10 one day. And then there's the corruption: in Israel, but more especially in the USA. As well 90% of other countries.
Have you no guilt as an American Jew for the funds we keep appropriating to the obstinate Genocidal war machine Israeli government, after they destroyed what the Palestinians built in Gaza hand in hand with Hamas, and their continuing death marches into the West Bank that have gone on for decades.
Hmmm. Not buying all you’ve said, although you raise so many valuable points. As an American and a liberal Jew, I agreed with you until you brought up the Gaza situation. I believe many of the humanitarian efforts to bring in food, medical supplies and more are not only thwarted by Hamas, but Hamas receiving this intelligence from the IDF, acts conversely, alerting Palestinians to gather at the very places that they’ve been warned to clear in order to put them in harms way, intentionally. And J Street is another huge disappointment in my version of this situation. You’re believing this incidence of Israeli bias, and I understand it as you claim his former military advisors don’t buy his tactics, but they’re not directly involved with intelligence reports any more. So, what would you’d have written if you believed Netanyahu knows and is acting consciously and proactively? I believe he is.
Oh, clearly Netanyahu is acting deliberately and in the interests of his avoiding testifying at his trials for corruption and of not only placating but working with those of his Cabinet ministers who want to move out people who are living in Gaza and the West Bank so that Israeli settlers can move into those territories.
Cassius attempts to persuade Brutus: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
Caesar's power is not a result of fate, but rather due to their own shortcomings and inaction.
Ipso facto... we can't take on every issue nor can we be on everyone's side all at once. It dilutes our power and impedes our mission.
The current administration of the US is not to be trusted. They are manipulating the concept of antisemitism to create chaos and using Judaism and Jews to ultimately solve the "Jewish Problem."
Sound familiar?
These people are nothing more and nothing less than Nationalists aka Nazis.
"A rose by any other name..."
But this time instead of simply designating Jews as undesirable and directly oppressing Jews, they are using more subtle methods...
They are co-opting "antisemitism" as a reason to oppress others, from individuals to immigrants, and universities to corporations, knowing full well that eventually there will be a backlash... and their bet is that it won't be against them since they have "appeared" to be the champions of antisemitism: example: the Administration's pursuit of Harvard and other Universities and worse the department of Education...because that's where Nazi's always start....
That's to say we have a big enough problem here, and if we are to survive "here" and ensure that Israel survives "there" we have to deal with our own turf first... we need to take responsibility for what this administration does and doesn't do.
Eventually, there will be a turn... the Don's something like "I stood up for 'you people,' and you did (x, y, or z) to me, and it was very bad, so after my diaper change...."
The Don's legions, not just racists and opportunists, includes Christian Nationalists and their evangelicals that continue to interfere with administrative policies concerning Jews and Israel...
To them we are sheep, okay? And they intend to manage the flock until the flock does itself a mischief... in hopes that the mischief will bring back their Christian Messiah... it sounds right out of Sumeria or Babylon... but they believe what they believe... despite not believing their own "no one knows the hour...."
Anticipatory anxiety I suppose.
Israeli's also need to take control of their own turf ... and take responsibility for what their administration does or doesn't do... if they make poor choices, we do not have to continue rescuing them over and over. They can start by stopping the Palestinian genocide and the war of starvation, stopping the violent settler movement, and putting the ever-meddling US Christian evangelicals and Christian Nationalists the hell out of Israel.
But, they will reap what they sow there, just as we will reap what we sow here.
I feel everyone's struggle... but there comes a point where we need to move beyond "woe is me, I am conflicted and I feel rotten."
Again : "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
Caesar's power is not a result of fate, but rather due to their own shortcomings and inaction.
“ And avid anti-Israel activists such as (check notes) NY Times columnist Tom Friedman and 550 retired senior Israeli security officials are warning of the impact of the Israeli government’s actions on Jews all over the world.”
Please explain how calling out the dangers of the current Israeli government’s actions makes Friedman and the 550 retired senior security officials “anti Israel”?
Are those who critique the actions of the current US administration anti-American?
I speculate that the tens of thousands of protesters at the recent No Kings demonstrations would disagree with that characterization of their actions.
I agree with Lori Newman. There is no genocide.; nor is there apartheid, occupation and all the other ills we are being charged with. Please just learn English. The very definition of those words will tell you, it doesn’t apply here.
I agree with much of the article. However, I take issue with his condemnation of the ADL. That organization and its leadership have been at the forefront of protecting us here in the US and a solid spokesperson globally for the Jewish people.
The situation in Gaza is messy and complicated. All those “innocent “ lives the world mourns and scorns us for, would be alive now if Hamas had not brutally , barbarically, and heinously attacked on October 7th.
That said, we have always faced antisemitism. But now it has become institutionalized and condoned by a corrupt and lawless American Administration whose very ranks are filled with White Christian Nationalist.
The phrase:” put two Jews in a room and you will get 10 opinions,” is very true. However, for the sake of our people we must come together. This is a perilous time for us (as if all the other times before weren’t!)
Please let’s try to work together for our children and grandchildren. We have always survived and need to champion honest, and just causes. Continue to do so. May G-d bless us and the people Israel for generations to come.
Maybe get rid of the terrorist leader Netanyahu and some progress might be made. Just like we have to retire Trump. They are both dangerous. The end of the Genocide in Palestine is absolutely necessary before anything else can be accomplished.
He is not an Israeli. Is a jewish american. How can he get rid of Netanyahu?
What about Putin bombing Ukraine by 500 drones and missiles every day? Each missile bring 300-400 kg of TNT, each drone bring 50-60 kg of TNT. Is ending the Russian war in Eastern Europe absolutely necessary or just casual? By the way, there are wars in Africa now too -- those are not absolutely necessary, right? China is threatening to invade Taiwan and the Philippines -- do you care?
P.S. It's not a genocide or ethnocide what the Israelis are doing. They are not killing Palestinian arabs elsewhere, outside Gaza. They are not trying to destroy the gens of Palestinian arabs. They are acting like Americans did after 9/11: just bomb everything that is perceived to be creating the October 7 danger, including destroying freedoms of Israelis*.
*Yes, exactly the reaction to 9/11 and G. W. Bush's wars made Trumpism come.
There is no genocide. How about Hamas returns the hostages and gives up power over the Palestinians? Hamas is an extremist, terrorist group. They have zero interest in peace and they use the Palestinian people as cannon fodder.
This to me and many "liberal" American Jews has been obvious for well over a year, and has nothing whatsoever to do with defeating Hamas or getting back the hostages or any other stated purpose - Netanyahu's administrations have been progressively worse and worse (remember his role vs Rabin in the 90's) and this regime with the very bad coalition leaders and cabinet, and power ceded to ultra-orthodox and other fundamentalists is truly an evil psychosis - besides destroying Gaza and for many decades the West Bank, with the intentional neglect and fueling of proxies by surrounding auticracies, and now have even squashed the entire State of Israel (and if we're not careful world Judaism). (Note also that the way Trump is using "anti-semitism" in this country is extremely destructive - of course everything Trump does, is).
As I too struggle with these very issues, how satisfying to read such compassionate, well-informed, nuanced, and sensitive comments. I’m likewise finding much solace these days in the work of Bend the Arc which is ably navigating how to oppose antisemitism without sacrificing democracy, free speech, and academic freedom.
When I'm in Israel I'm a liberal. It's hard not to be with all those gun toting "settlers" around. Here I don't know what I am because both parties are so servile.
The Laws of War, the Genocide Convention, the laws of terrorism, the Refugee Conventions and international law generally have lost power, influence and enforceability as the basis for their conception: the horrors of Stalin and Hitler, have been overtaken and modern communication and transport have made them convenient tools for claims of asylum and family reunification. Meanwhile, Israel and Jews, almost alone, are pointed out as violators of all these. That the USA ignored them in multiple wars, that Muslim countries have slaughtered Christians and other Muslims, go unremarked. To my mind the failure of the Minorities Treaties (does anyone remember them) started (or re-started) forced movement of populations and made it hypocritical to castigate Israel and Jews (850,000 of whom were rendered stateless and expelled from Arab countries). In my Modern Orthodox congregation in Chelsea nobody talks of Israel outside of liturgy. Their greatest concern is achieving a minyan on Saturdays not politics anywhere.
Many American Jews are not applying their spiritual and intellectual selves to what is going on - they get lost in the "anti-semitism", which is real, but its a distraction from the Netanyahu's and Trump's wreaking of vast destruction. We just don't have enough curious, observant, discerning, learning, Jews, and people, and voters.
As I wrote, the US, and Netanyahu and a host of even. more evil heads of state around the world, have destroyed the international-law system developed after WW II. The creation of Israel was no different from the creation of other postwar states but antisemitism and Arab hostility has held it to a different standard. You can appeal to the postwar rules that nobody cares about anymore (except antisemites as against Israel) or you can face the facts that we are back to power-based foreign and military policy. I write on (finding) the law of terrorism, a bibliographic work periodically updated. There is something to be said about the likely reconstitution of Hamas and a repeat of October 10 one day. And then there's the corruption: in Israel, but more especially in the USA. As well 90% of other countries.
Have you no guilt as an American Jew for the funds we keep appropriating to the obstinate Genocidal war machine Israeli government, after they destroyed what the Palestinians built in Gaza hand in hand with Hamas, and their continuing death marches into the West Bank that have gone on for decades.
I believe you are misinformed
Israel and American Jewry have been poisoned, with our permission.
Hmmm. Not buying all you’ve said, although you raise so many valuable points. As an American and a liberal Jew, I agreed with you until you brought up the Gaza situation. I believe many of the humanitarian efforts to bring in food, medical supplies and more are not only thwarted by Hamas, but Hamas receiving this intelligence from the IDF, acts conversely, alerting Palestinians to gather at the very places that they’ve been warned to clear in order to put them in harms way, intentionally. And J Street is another huge disappointment in my version of this situation. You’re believing this incidence of Israeli bias, and I understand it as you claim his former military advisors don’t buy his tactics, but they’re not directly involved with intelligence reports any more. So, what would you’d have written if you believed Netanyahu knows and is acting consciously and proactively? I believe he is.
Oh, clearly Netanyahu is acting deliberately and in the interests of his avoiding testifying at his trials for corruption and of not only placating but working with those of his Cabinet ministers who want to move out people who are living in Gaza and the West Bank so that Israeli settlers can move into those territories.
Cassius attempts to persuade Brutus: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
Caesar's power is not a result of fate, but rather due to their own shortcomings and inaction.
Ipso facto... we can't take on every issue nor can we be on everyone's side all at once. It dilutes our power and impedes our mission.
The current administration of the US is not to be trusted. They are manipulating the concept of antisemitism to create chaos and using Judaism and Jews to ultimately solve the "Jewish Problem."
Sound familiar?
These people are nothing more and nothing less than Nationalists aka Nazis.
"A rose by any other name..."
But this time instead of simply designating Jews as undesirable and directly oppressing Jews, they are using more subtle methods...
They are co-opting "antisemitism" as a reason to oppress others, from individuals to immigrants, and universities to corporations, knowing full well that eventually there will be a backlash... and their bet is that it won't be against them since they have "appeared" to be the champions of antisemitism: example: the Administration's pursuit of Harvard and other Universities and worse the department of Education...because that's where Nazi's always start....
That's to say we have a big enough problem here, and if we are to survive "here" and ensure that Israel survives "there" we have to deal with our own turf first... we need to take responsibility for what this administration does and doesn't do.
Eventually, there will be a turn... the Don's something like "I stood up for 'you people,' and you did (x, y, or z) to me, and it was very bad, so after my diaper change...."
The Don's legions, not just racists and opportunists, includes Christian Nationalists and their evangelicals that continue to interfere with administrative policies concerning Jews and Israel...
To them we are sheep, okay? And they intend to manage the flock until the flock does itself a mischief... in hopes that the mischief will bring back their Christian Messiah... it sounds right out of Sumeria or Babylon... but they believe what they believe... despite not believing their own "no one knows the hour...."
Anticipatory anxiety I suppose.
Israeli's also need to take control of their own turf ... and take responsibility for what their administration does or doesn't do... if they make poor choices, we do not have to continue rescuing them over and over. They can start by stopping the Palestinian genocide and the war of starvation, stopping the violent settler movement, and putting the ever-meddling US Christian evangelicals and Christian Nationalists the hell out of Israel.
But, they will reap what they sow there, just as we will reap what we sow here.
I feel everyone's struggle... but there comes a point where we need to move beyond "woe is me, I am conflicted and I feel rotten."
Again : "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
Caesar's power is not a result of fate, but rather due to their own shortcomings and inaction.
Peace....tk
“ And avid anti-Israel activists such as (check notes) NY Times columnist Tom Friedman and 550 retired senior Israeli security officials are warning of the impact of the Israeli government’s actions on Jews all over the world.”
Please explain how calling out the dangers of the current Israeli government’s actions makes Friedman and the 550 retired senior security officials “anti Israel”?
Are those who critique the actions of the current US administration anti-American?
I speculate that the tens of thousands of protesters at the recent No Kings demonstrations would disagree with that characterization of their actions.
I agree with Lori Newman. There is no genocide.; nor is there apartheid, occupation and all the other ills we are being charged with. Please just learn English. The very definition of those words will tell you, it doesn’t apply here.
I agree with much of the article. However, I take issue with his condemnation of the ADL. That organization and its leadership have been at the forefront of protecting us here in the US and a solid spokesperson globally for the Jewish people.
The situation in Gaza is messy and complicated. All those “innocent “ lives the world mourns and scorns us for, would be alive now if Hamas had not brutally , barbarically, and heinously attacked on October 7th.
That said, we have always faced antisemitism. But now it has become institutionalized and condoned by a corrupt and lawless American Administration whose very ranks are filled with White Christian Nationalist.
The phrase:” put two Jews in a room and you will get 10 opinions,” is very true. However, for the sake of our people we must come together. This is a perilous time for us (as if all the other times before weren’t!)
Please let’s try to work together for our children and grandchildren. We have always survived and need to champion honest, and just causes. Continue to do so. May G-d bless us and the people Israel for generations to come.
❤️
While registering to vote on line, this popped up:
file:///var/mobile/Library/SMS/Attachments/c9/09/DE799052-3BFC-4CA2-969F-BAE730EC13C1/IMG_4094.PNG