A confession. After the last six posts, I was feeling pretty alone out there. The posts discussed Israel's war with Hamas, and the surging antisemitism here in the US. But the only complaints I got were from left-wing fellow Jews. Here are some of the comments. "Israel started the war." "It's Israel's fault that there is no peace." "I never liked Netanyahu." "If you love Israel so much you should move there." "Who cares" about the antisemites in Congress." "The New York Times isn't antisemitic, just anti-Israel." As if that wasn't bad enough, here are a couple more I heard through some friends.
A Jewish woman told her daughter, who said she want to go to Israel through the Birthright Israel program, that she should not go. Why? Because the Palestinian young adults don't get to go. (See my 9/10/17 post for a discussion of Birthright Israel.) Briefly, the program is a way for young Jews in the Diaspora (the lands outside of Israel), who are ages 18 to 26, to have an all expenses paid trip to Israel. They visit the holy sites and historical sites and hopefully have some fun along the way. The idea is to create a bond between young Diaspora Jews and the Land of Israel.
Yet here was a Jewish mother telling her adult child not to go. "It's not fair." So the daughter did not go. I wonder if this mother would think it's not fair for her family to live in a nice house (I'm told that they do) when poor people cannot afford the same living conditions. Or, as with many, their left-wing politics is fine - as long as it does not affect them personally. As if that was not bad enough, another Jewish friend was asked by a fellow Jew of the left: "What's your connection to Israel anyway?" What is the Jewish people's connection to the Land of Israel? It's just very hard to take.
So, I had not planned to have yet another post discussing Israel or antisemitism. I felt like "what's the point?" But then I read this. Ihan Omar Tweeted: "We have seen some unthinkable atrocities committed by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. I asked @SecBlinken where people are supposed to go for justice." I took heart that 12 Jewish Democratic members of Congress called the comparison "as offensive as it is misguided," adding "false equivalencies give cover to terrorist groups." Yet, some Jewish members of Congress came to Omar's defense. Kentucky Rep. John Yarmouth said this: "People are ready to parse every word that she says. And I just think that's unfair."
Yarmouth added: "The idea that you can't mention the US, Israel and Hamas in the same sentence without being accused of being antisemitic? That's just stupid." Really? Here they are in the same sentence: "Hamas is a terrorist organization seeking the destruction of a country; Israel and the US are not terrorist organizations, and do not seek the destruction of other countries." Here's Michigan Rep. Andy Levin, explaining that Omar was just defending "human rights." But Omar clearly was not defending the right of Israel to defend itself from thousands of rockets aimed at its cities.
Then I read this story. One-third of the entire Democratic caucus in the House, 73 members, sent a letter to President Biden. To what end? They asked that Biden reverse Trump's "abandonment of longstanding, bipartisan United States policy" on Israeli-Palestinian relations. The letter requests that Biden consider Israeli "settlements" to be illegal. They want Biden to say that the West Bank and Gaza are "occupied" by Israel. They want Biden to reopen a Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem, Israel's capital city. They want Biden to stop Israel from evicting Palestinians in the disputed area of "East" Jerusalem. They want a withdrawal from the Trump peace plan. And they want aid restored to the Palestinians, which Biden has already done.
Oh yes. They also want Biden to insist that Hamas stop sending rockets into Israel. What a bunch of duplicitous fools. First of all, Hamas does not give a damn about being told to stop rocket attacks. They have not stopped since Israel vacated Gaza in 2005, nor will they stop. Second, notice that Biden is to give a meaningless tongue lashing to Hamas, but is told to take affirmative ACTION against our ally Israel. I can hardly wait to hear from left-wing Jews on that.
Seven Democratic Jewish members signed off on the letter: John Yarmouth, KY; Jan Schakowsky, Ill (one of the initiators of the letter, no less); Alan Lowenthal, CA; Andy Levin, Mich; Sara Jacobs, CA; Steve Cohen, TN; and Jamie Rashkin, MD. I was reminded of being at a dinner party years ago when yet another left-wing Jew said to me something to this effect: "The US should do everything in its power to make Israel create a Palestinian state." The dinner party was not at my house. So I kept my mouth shut.
The letter to Biden was also signed, not surprisingly, by Ilhan Omar. It was not signed by Rashida Tlaib. Tlaib does not believe Israel should even exist. I do not know if Omar believes Israel should exist; she may have signed the letter as a tactical move to put pressure on Israel. The question I have is this - do these Jewish members of Congress also believe Israel should not exist? Or, do they do not give a damn one way or the other?
