But I don't think most of them are such fair-weather friends. Even if their support is based on end-times theology (which is problematic in itself), it is not conditional on what Jews think of Mel Gibson's movie. They have become knowledgeable about Judaism out a desire to understand a historical Jesus, so they know Jesus was a Jew, and most of them accept that the Romans killed him. Beyond theology, they know what Islamism is, they know the history of Israel's relations with its Arab neighbors, they know who has a thriving democracy which protects the right of all religions, and who doesn't.
The larger issue is: if we don't believe the West should base its relations with the Muslim world on placating their easily offended sensibilities, letting them guilt-trip us instead of calling them on their shit - to put it bluntly - why is it a good idea for Jews to succumb to the same kind of emotional blackmail by Christians? The days are long past when Jews - at least in America - need to placate the more powerful majority. If we cannot stand up staight and have an honest debate with our fellow citizens (Christian, Muslim, Wiccan, or whatever) about nasty old stereotypes and their probable consequences, can we have that same debate with the mullahs who preach hatred of Jews all over the Arab world, make TV series out of the Protocols, and spread blood libel? If we are not willing to give the Islamists a pass, why give American evangelicals one?
I guess i don't take well to the idea that I should try to placate anyone who tries to bully me. The minute any group who claims to be my friend issues a veiled threat that I'd better fall in line or else, is the minute when I tell them what my criteria are for friendship, and if they don't agree they can take a hike. There is no other appropriate response, unless I want to live permanently in fear of others' disapproval.
I am not saying Jews should issue ultimatums to Mel Gibson (which we aren't and can't), or that a discussion of artistic responsibility should be acrimonious. The Jewish and Christian challenges to the film were made firmly but with respect. But veiled threats are not part of debate, they are manipulative ways to avoid debate and force aquiesence.
In fact, the frankness and fact-based specificity of Jewish and Catholic criticism have had a positive effect, in that Mel seems more open to our concerns than he was a few months ago.
A spokesman for "The Passion" said the script that Sister Boys read was outdated and had been revised. "The vast majority of the things they are afraid of are not in the film anymore," the movie's marketing director, Paul Lauer, said in a phone interview. "Jews are not Christ-killers. They should not be charged with deicide. We condemn that." Lauer said the filmmakers had "extended an olive branch" by inviting the Anti-Defamation League to see the movie, and had "gone way beyond the call of duty" to invite critiques. He said other Jewish leaders had been invited to discuss the movie "and help us make whatever minor changes can be made while keeping the film's history and religion accurate."During centuries of diaspora, in both the Christian and Muslim worlds Jews had to cringe to survive, developing a "ghetto mentality." One of the main reasons for reviving the Jewish state was to eliminate that necessity. And as Leon Weiseltier has pointed out, the United States also turned out to be a place where the fundamental relation between Jews and fellow citizens, is - in stark contrast to Europe and Asia - is based on respect and inalienable rights, not on privileges capriciously granted by all-powerful State.
In Israel and in America, the rights of the Jews are axiomatic. . . . the United States represents a revolution in Jewish history, a country that is — in its philosophical foundations and in its political practices — structurally hospitable to us. We cannot be pilloried as a state within a state in a state that is comprised of states within a state. We cannot be excoriated for difference in a society in which difference is the substance of sameness.The "ghetto mentality" unfortunately lingers on in the United States in the 21st century, but it's as anachronistic as African-Americans shuffling and saying "yassuh" whenever a white person walks by. Abraham Foxman understands this when he says:
. . . the story of Jew-hatred in America differs profoundly from the story of Jew-hatred in Europe. It is a scandal to be refused admission to a school or a hotel or a club; but it is not an expulsion or a pogrom. And it is not only the virulence of anti-Semitism that has been diminished in the United States. Its legitimacy, too, has been diminished. In fact, its legitimacy has been altogether repudiated. The remarkable fact about the American Jewish campaign against anti-Semitism in America, like the African American campaign against racism in America, is that it is made in the name of American principles. Not the Jews, but the bigotry against the Jews, is the anomaly here.
Here's the first time we've heard that linkage: We support Israel, so shut up about anti-Semitism. ... If that's what support of Israel means, no thanks.(Here's Foxman's presentation at the YIVO Conference on antisemitism. I was in the audience, and I thought he was a mensch.)
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