Kesher Talk: 05/05/2002

Friday, May 10, 2002

Proof That Someone is Listening: Christopher Johnson of the Midwest Conservative Journal responds to my critique of Sherrilyn Ifill with a point by point rebuttal of her article. His point is well takes :"Not all Christians are twits."

CAIR reacts to anti-semitism report with disdain: Arab News correspondent Barbara Ferguson writes today on the American Jewish Committee's new report on anti-semitism in the Arab and Muslim world. Hey, at least they acknowledged the report, eh? Ferguson calls the AJC's label for “the anti-Semitism raging though Arab and Muslim societies and infiltrating Europe” -- “Islamic Fascism” -- "offensive."

Offensive to whom? Anti-semites? Ferguson does not clarify.

“This is exactly what I’ve been warning my foreign ministry about for over a year,” said a European deputy chief of mission after reading the AJC releases. “This maliciousness is no longer limited to extremist Jewish groups on the East Coast, this mentality of hatred is now permeating the midlands of America. This is very disconcerting,” said the diplomat, who asked not to be identified.

“You don’t fight bigotry with bigotry. You don’t fight sweeping generalizations, stereotypes and prejudices with sweeping generalizations, stereotypes and prejudices,” Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman at the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR, told Arab News. He said CAIR was banned by AJC from attending Tuesday’s briefing.

“Obviously, no one approves of anti-Semitism or anti-Semitic speech, but you have to be wary of lumping Israel’s brutal policies with anti-Semitism, they’re not the same thing,” said Hooper.

... “The irresponsible speech in the Arab and Muslim world has caused problems that have to be addressed,” admitted CAIR’s Hooper.

The emphasis in that last sentence is mine.

Just a quick note to Mr. Hooper: No one gets "banned" from attending events at the Press Club unless the events are private. The AJC may not have allowed CAIR a soapbox to react to the report, but that is not the same thing.

There are many organizations and PR firms which refuse to send me materials or invite me to specific gatherings. They don't want to make my job any easier because, horror of horrors, I don't accept everything they say at face value. I want to read the fine print, check the science and the data. Shame on me.

But that is a PR person's job - get lots of attention, push your message, minimize the opposition. So I can perfectly envision the AJC ignoring CAIR's requests for this or that. It ain't pretty, but that's life in public relations.

I've not had a chance to pore over the AJC report. Since I have a reasonable amount of trust in their honesty (unlike I have in CAIR), it is probably not worth my time to do so.

Thursday, May 09, 2002

Overheard: At lunch yesterday, France, anti-semitism, and Le Pen came up in conversation. A Romanian chap noted the sheer number of people who voted for Le Pen (7 million?) and asked how a group that large could be wong. I noted that most French are wrong quite frequently -- why should these seven million be so different?

The Bum Rush: "We have a solution to this Midwest pipe bomber problem. We need to immediately begin negotiations with him, and offer him Nebraska. This guy is obviously a leader of a certain group of people. He's representing them, and we have to respect them and their desires. He's engaged in what some might call terrorism, but he has a cause. He's facing the implacable foe, the overwhelming majority of people opposed to him in the United States, and he has some things in common with Yasser Arafat - his messages are unintelligible."

(courtesty of Pejman)

It must be a cold day in hell, since Rush Limbaugh just said something funny!

Wednesday, May 08, 2002

Just another day: Grasshoppa outlines a typical day in the blogosphere...

Debating Jenin and the use of force: Iain is having an ongoing debate with his friend MC (here and here, so far) dealing with a variety of topics, but the Israeli ones interest Kesher Talk.

MC says "If you can't use minimum force, the solution is not to use maximum force, but not to use force at all. The Israelis have to face up to the inescapable fact that they are occupying somebody else's land by being in the West Bank and Gaza. Until they leave, this will go on and no amount of force will stop it."

Iain replies "A renunication of the use of force has to be bipartisan, or it will be a suicide note for the Israelis. There is no indication that the Palestinians and their allies would not declare their use of force a success and promptly take the campaign deeper into Israel proper."

This brings me back to Brendan O'Neill's 'conclusions' this morning. Brendan does not stoop to moral equivalency, but he comes close in calling both the Israelis and Palestinians nihlistic. Since when was self-defense nihlistic?

Sorry, got sidetracked. The "somebody else's land" argument has been done ad nauseum. The problem is not that Israel is "occupying" the WB and GS -- it hardly has any presence there, and that has been the case for years. The problem is that the Palestinians claim that Jews are "occupying" the rest of Israel. It is not as if Arafat and the other assorted crazies arose in response to the Six Day War -- they started up long before that (the PLO came about officially in 1964, if I recall correctly). Any kind of unilateral withdrawal would not satisfy any terrorists and not protect any Israelis.

If Brendan and MC would prefer the Jews to simply leave the Middle East, they should at least have the fortitude to say so. But renouncing violence is a one-way ticket to oblivion for Israel.

Iain says, "I honestly don't know how force can be removed from the middle east, short of them all converting to ascetic Buddhism."

New Euro-blogger doesn't get the Israel conflict: Brendan O'Neill, fresh meat for the blogosphere. I consider him a friend. I consider his web magazine Spiked, for which I occasionally write, a great endeavor.

But Brendan's blogging today on Israel is just inane. He takes a libertarian stance, proclaims both sides stupid, and walks away.

If only if it were that simple. If Brendan wishes to call self-defense stupid and nihlistic, that is his right. But just because it his right does not make him "right."

Michigan congressman not pro-Israel: What, just because of the large Arab and Muslim populations? The Detroit Free Press reports today that "The overwhelmingly strong congressional support for Israel is true among most state delegations -- except Michigan's."

"Four of Michigan's 16 House members voted against last week's resolution that expressed congressional 'solidarity with Israel in its fight against terrorism.' ... Two representatives voted 'present,' akin to not taking a position either for or against the resolution, and one lawmaker missed the vote. That means nine of Michigan's 16 House members -- or 56 percent of the state's delegation -- voted to endorse the resolution, a smaller percentage than any other large state."

"Voting against it were Democrats David Bonior of Mt. Clemens, John Conyers of Detroit and John Dingell of Dearborn and Republican Nick Smith of Addison. Democratic Reps. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Detroit and Lynn Rivers of Ann Arbor voted present while Republican Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Holland did not vote."

Tuesday, May 07, 2002

Yes, we have non-Euro Jews - Persian and Ethiopian, even:

The 19-month Palestinian intifada is just one more complicated issue for the Ethiopian community to understand.

The older generation has had a particularly difficult time learning Hebrew, as well as the ins and outs of Israeli society. Their children become the family representatives, shepherding their parents through the health care clinic, bank, school system and job market.

Some 62,000 Ethiopians have immigrated to Israel. Many came to Israel from the countryside, where they farmed their own land and sent their children to the village school.

As Reza Pahlavi, son of the former shah of Iran, took the stage at the Simon Wiesenthal Center last week, the overflow audience of Iranian Jews rose waving Iranian, American and Israeli flags, broke into rhythmic clapping and shouted in Persian, "Long Live the Shah" and "We Love You."

The heir to the deposed Iranian monarchy had come to the heartland of America´s Iranian diaspora to pursue his 20-year quest to rid Iran of the ayatollahs´ theocratic regime and replace it with a secular democracy.

Pahlavi, 41, did not tailor his remarks to a Jewish audience, but his speech was greeted with enthusiasm by members of Los Angeles´ 30,000-strong Iranian Jewish community.

Pahlavi spoke in English, but one woman in the audience used Persian to assure Pahlavi that the entire Iranian Jewish community was behind him and hoped to see him as Iran´s future leader.

Facing up to anti-semitism: Rabbi Chaim Levine writes about returning from Israel, where he had taken up the wearing of a yarmulke. Laced with anxiety upon his return to the states, he worried if he would turn to wearing a baseball hat instead for the rest of his life if he were actually faced with anti-semitism.

And then it happened, while watching the Boston Marathon:

I heard a loud voice behind me in the crowd yell, "Hey you x#&#*!%! Jew! Why don't you go back to Jerusalem where all the money is!?" (He obviously didn't know too much about the Jerusalem economy.) I spun around humiliated and enraged, glaring at my attacker in the midst of this crowd. He was a large anti-Semite, and not one of the more sophisticated ones. Hanging out of the window of his car he yelled, "Jews make me sick!" just before driving off. My face was flushing; I was seething with anger... and embarrassment that I was wearing a yarmulka.

Chaim feels he did not yet understand why he was wearing it. It was just this ... habit. But the incident crystallized his beliefs and reinforced them. He learned to wear his yarmulke with pride.

After I understood this, my self-consciousness changed to gratitude and a deep pride that I had the privilege of trying to live up to what Judaism represented. Instead of wanting to take my yarmulka off, I wanted to go out and buy a bigger one. I then realized that the cause of anti-Semitism is also the solution. The greatest way to respond to anti-Semitism is to bring more Judaism and Jewish values into your life!

If someone attacks Israel and you truly feel gratitude for what a gift Israel is, then his or her attack not only doesn't affect you, it makes you appreciate the gift even more. If someone attacked you for giving Tzedaka, charity, and you understood how important Tzedaka is for the world, it would only make you want to give more.

Just think for a moment what it would do to people who were anti-Semitic and anti-Israel if they saw that each anti-Semitic or anti-Israel attack was met with only a deeper resolve, gratitude for, and commitment to Judaism and Israel! What would they do if they saw that each thing they said or did only worked to inspire us more Jewishly?

They would immediately run out of ammunition! They would see that their hatred only making us stronger and more grateful.

Word of the day: impudicity: pronounced \im-pyoo-DIH-suh-tee\ this noun means shamelessness or a lack of modesty.

Used in a sentence: Palestinian demands that no peace is possible with Israel as long as Sharon is in power reveals yet again their impudicity.

Monday, May 06, 2002

Get thee to an Islamic haberdashery: "Iran banned Barbie as "un-Islamic" in 1996, but the dolls are still so popular with Iranian girls that the government is introducing its OWN dolls, Sara and Dara, dressed in traditional Iranian clothing. Unlike Barbie, Sara and Dara cannot be undressed. Like Barbie, they CAN be beheaded." (from Joe Bob Briggs)

Israel rally in Myrtle Beach: I just got word of this one:

A march to support Israel in Myrtle Beach, SC. May 19 at 2:00 PM

A RALLY to show YOUR support for Israel, in Myrtle Beach, SC on May 19 at 2:00 PM. We will be leaving from the Jerusalem restaurant on 11th Ave north, and we will march to the Manhattan Deli, on 52nd Ave. North.

For all details please contact Rabbi11111@aol.com

It is being organized by a local church, and there will be many Israeli's
there as well. Please get the word out ... so this community will have success in getting our voices heard. every one is needed to support Israel. Please join us.

Thursday morning in DC: I plan on being at this symposium on Thursday:

Ethics and Public Policy Center and the Center for Jewish Community Studies/Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs present...

Symposium on "Jews and the American Public Square: Is Religion a Public Good? Four Jewish Views."

Participants: William Galston, director, University of Maryland Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy; Gertrude Himmelfarb, emerita history professor, City University of New York Graduate School; Barry Kosmin, director, Jewish Policy Research Institute, London; and Alan Wolfe, director, Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College

Location: Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Stein Room. 10 a.m.

Contact: Sara Pentz, 202-216-0855 ext. 206

About Time: The wheels of justice turn mighty slow in Seattle, but just a shade under two weeks after a Seattle P-I editorial referred to a country called "Palestine" three times in a single piece, they finally printed my letter to the editor. Check it out here (just scroll down, it's the third letter). Also, having nothing to do with anything, but also written by me, my most recent article in the Forward is online. It's about a panel discussion on Jewish humor that I went to a couple of months ago. Enjoy!

The Iraqi "cabinet": The Associated Press cracks me up. They report that

After failing to win support for an oil embargo against the United States and other allies of Israel, the Iraqi cabinet voted today to resume oil exports beginning midnight Tuesday.

The cabinet said its April 8 decision to suspend oil exports for 30 days "did not find a response from Arab oil-producing brothers to take similar measures so that it would succeed," according to a statement broadcast on state-run television. President Saddam Hussein presided over the meeting, the report said.

Hussein "presided" over the cabinet meeting? What, like Dr. Evil, dumping insubordinate "cabinet" members into a fiery pit if they contradict him? Do they spin bottles and play "Who can kiss Sadaam's ass the best today?"

This is all part of a subtle attempt to demonstrate the Iraqi regime's legitimacy. Instead of writing an article questioning how a dictatorship can have any kind of meaningful cabinet... we get a puff piece about Sadaam (excuse me, the Iraqi "cabinet") agreeing to let the oil flow again.

Jay Leno on the Saudi Arabian ad campaign: "I never heard of a country doing this before. Maybe they have, and I didn't notice it, but Saudi Arabia is now running a TV campaign. They're trying to improve their image. They have a catchy slogan. This is the actual slogan. 'The people of Saudi Arabia: Allies against terrorism.' ... In fact, this turned out to be such a good idea, a lot of other countries now running ads to boost their image. For example, like Canada. This is their new slogan, 'Like North Dakota, only without all the glitz.' ... This is one of my favorites, Vatican City, this is their slogan - 'hey, we didn't see nothing.'"

Phony Palestinian funerals: Tony Snow on 'Fox News Sunday':

Before the break, I promised that we would talk about the propaganda wars. Well, there was an interesting little event this week. Israel decided to release a surveillance video taken in the West Bank. It was an event that was supposed to be a funeral for the Palestinian. Here's the fellow who was supposed to be the dead man, there on your left. He doesn't move a whole lot. But in a minute, you're going to see him jumping back. There he is. He's jumping back on the pallet and getting covered up again. And so, off they're getting ready, once again, to provide, at least for public viewing, what is supposed to be a funeral procession. This is like the Keystone cops though -- ready, set, here he goes. Oh, there he goes again. And momentarily, people are going to notice that a surveillance drone or something is overhead. They're going to look up and everybody is going to scatter, including the dearly departed. So there's your Monty Python moment.

Superstitious nonsense: No, I'm not talking about Kaballah, but Americans' propensity for belief in pseudoscience and shamfoolery. I have another article published today, on this topic, in The American Prospect.

Kesher Talk

Friday, May 10, 2002

Thursday, May 09, 2002

Wednesday, May 08, 2002

Tuesday, May 07, 2002

Monday, May 06, 2002

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