tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74119588945938232802024-03-09T00:30:25.573+02:00Random Thoughts
Alan Edelstein made Aliyah in 2011 and lives in Jerusalem. He was the founding partner of a well-respected California government affairs firm and was involved in California government and politics as a lobbyist and consultant for 30 years. He blogs at www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com. He can be reached at ae@edelsteinstrategies.comAlan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.comBlogger201125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-45341493729824153222024-01-31T00:52:00.014+02:002024-01-31T17:16:57.955+02:00Twilight Zone<p> (Originally published in The Times of Israel)</p><p>“You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind ... a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination—your next stop, the Twilight Zone.” Rod Serling’s introduction to The Twilight Zone.</p><p>Sometimes when the subject involves the Middle East, it feels like you must be in another dimension. Up is down. Right is wrong. The world is absurd. It’s stranger than fiction. You must be in the twilight zone.</p><p>--My wife and I took one of our granddaughters to the National Children’s Museum in Washington D.C. The museum includes a play apparatus featuring tunnels. The sponsor: Qatar.</p><p>Well, nobody can say they don’t have access to specialists.</p><p>--The Big Dig, the Boston megaproject that buried an interstate under the city and extended out to Logan International Airport, took nine years to plan and about 15 years to build. It ran into a myriad of obstacles and a good number of disasters. It disturbed transportation and the city of Boston generally for years. Everybody knew about it.</p><p>San Francisco’s Market Street Subway, plans for which were first developed in 1912, took from 1967 to 1980 to build. Market Street was torn up for over a decade. Business was a mess. Streets were a mess. San Franciscans were in in an uproar about the disruption. Everybody knew about it.</p><p>Somehow, though, Hamas built about 350 miles of tunnels in the Gaza Strip, a space 25 miles long and between 3.7 to 7.5 miles wide and, miraculously, nobody knew a thing about it.</p><p>None of all those innocent Gazans knew, even though there were hundreds of entrances to the tunnels, including in homes, hospitals, mosques, public buildings, and even though missiles and munitions were manufactured and stored inside the tunnels.</p><p>None of those European nations and NGO’s and their leaders and employees that poured billions of euros into Gaza for “humanitarian aid” knew.</p><p>None of those leaders and employees of UNRWA and other UN agencies had a clue about the sophisticated tunnel system, the entrances, the missiles, the weaponry.</p><p>All that dirt. All that noise. All the blasting and hauling. All that shaking. Miracle of miracles—nobody saw or heard a thing.</p><p>As Sergeant Schultz of Hogan’s Heroes famously said, “I know notheeeng. Notheeeng.”</p><p>--13,000 UNRWA employees, most of them Gazans, and nobody suspected that there might be just a few Hamas members and sympathizers among them, even though Israel, UN Watch, and other groups repeatedly pointed out how some UNRWA’s employees colluded with terrorists, how the curriculum in UNRWA-affiliated schools was full of hate toward Jews and Israel and glorified violence and “martyrdom.”</p><p>Israel has now provided proof that 12 UNRWA employees participated in the October 7th atrocities. Apparently UNRWA’s vehicles and facilities were also used during the horrific assault against civilians.</p><p>UNRWA has fired some of the perpetrators. According to UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, the decision was taken “to protect the agency’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance” to Gazans. Not, apparently, because it is wrong to murder, rape, and torture Jews and non-Jews, Israelis and others.</p><p>UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “is horrified” by the accusations and an “urgent and comprehensive independent review of UNRWA will be conducted.” Next thing one can expect is that Guterres will be “shocked! Shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.”</p><p>The U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Finland, Italy, and the Netherlands, and a few other countries have suspended contributions to UNRWA. They have demanded a “comprehensive, transparent, full review of UNRWA” and how this happened.</p><p>They are undoubtedly all shocked, surprised, and horrified. It was all so unanticipated.</p><p>It’s as if this attack came out of nowhere. It’s as if no one knew that UNRWA employees worked with, coordinated activities with, were members of Hamas. It’s as if UNRWA has not participated in the nurturing of the ultimate victim culture that defines the Palestinian world.</p><p>It’s as if UNRWA has not been an integral partner in the inculcation of generations of Gazans in hate toward Israel and Jews and in the dream of their elimination and the establishment of Palestine “from the river to the sea.”</p><p>They knew notheeeng.</p><p>--The Richardson Center, named for former Energy Secretary and UN Ambassador Bill Richardson, is known for negotiating and facilitating the release of persons unjustifiably held captive in foreign countries. It has advised some of the families whose members are being cruelly held hostage by Hamas.</p><p>The Center has reportedly advised the families not to publicly criticize Qatar even though Qatar is a major funder of Hamas and is a host country for its leaders, and even though many suspect that Qatar could be putting much more pressure on Hamas.</p><p>Seldom mentioned: Qatar has been a significant funder of the Richardson Center since 2017. No, you can’t make this stuff up.</p><p>--More than one thousand Swedish musicians and other artists have called on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to ban Israel from this year’s Eurovision competition over its actions aimed at eliminating Hamas. The group accuses the EBU of being inconsistent in that it banned Russia from participating but is allowing Israel to participate.</p><p>I must have missed Ukraine invading Russia, slaughtering 1,200 people, raping, torturing, humiliating, and kidnapping hundreds of civilians.</p><p>I must have missed Russia warning Gazans to move out of the way of the battles, providing maps with zones so that they could move to safety, providing warnings before bombing, and allowing water, energy, and food into the area.</p><p>Apparently being a Swedish musician does not require much in the way of critical thinking.</p><p>A 2024 twilight zone, indeed. It would be entertaining if it wasn’t consequential in the real world.</p>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-69639544071783943172024-01-26T05:59:00.003+02:002024-01-27T01:22:19.754+02:00Biden, Bibi, the Emir, and Tony Soprano <p>(Originally published in <i>The Times of Israel)</i></p><p>Over his decades in politics, President Biden has demonstrated a genuine warmth for and attachment to Israel. One cannot question that in the current war he demonstrated unprecedented support at some political risk.</p><p>He made a trip to Israel to demonstrate his support while it was under attack. In an unprecedented step, he moved two aircraft carrier groups and a nuclear submarine into the Mediterranean and twice firmly declared “Don’t,” an admonition clearly directed at Hezbollah and Iran. He vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire.</p><p>When Congress failed to approve additional support because of Republican recalcitrance to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, he took the extraordinary and controversial step of supplying military equipment to Israel without Congressional approval.</p><p>Now, the Biden Administration is taking some serious steps that could be mistakes or could lead to tremendous positive change. One thing is for sure: they are fraught with danger.</p><p>I have long supported the creation of a Palestinian state. Anyone living in the real world and understanding the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, is under no illusions that such a state will bring peace, will stop terrorism, will create regional stability, and/or will result in a flowering democracy. It undoubtedly will not.</p><p>But the status quo has not been a great success either. The crucial advantage of a two-state solution is that it preserves Israel as a Jewish and democratic nation and, at least partially, relieves Israel of the responsibility for another people. And there is a slight chance, with an emphasis on slight, that a state of Palestine could result in Palestinians being forced to take responsibility for themselves and to be held accountable as a nation.</p><p>It might, to a certain extent at least, encourage them to stop wallowing in victimhood, a wallowing that, as explained well in two-state supporters Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf’s <em>The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace,</em> has handicapped their progress, has provided an incubator for terrorism, and has spawned so much misery for themselves and for Israelis.</p><p>It will turn the Israeli-Palestinian dispute from one of supposed omnipotent occupier/conqueror versus downtrodden, powerless victim to one of nation- versus-nation. For too long the world has assumed that the Palestinians have no agency and, therefore, no responsibility for themselves or for their conduct. Establishment of a nation, albeit a demilitarized one with limitations on sovereignty, might disabuse the world and the Palestinians of that notion.</p><span></span><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2024/01/biden-bibi-emir-and-tony-soprano.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-20112824621793512792024-01-22T02:38:00.007+02:002024-01-22T10:26:49.415+02:00Is the world upside down?<p>Country A is viciously attacked by Terrorist Group B, which rapes and tortures women, mutilates bodies, kidnaps and holds hostage children and women and the elderly, fires thousands of missiles at civilians, and pledges to do it all again.</p><p>Country A, with hundreds of thousands of displaced citizens, demanding that the hostages be released, says it cannot live with the threat of Terrorist Group B doing it again. It attacks the territory controlled by Terrorist Group B, its objective being to eliminate the threat and to get the hostages released.</p><p>Because terrorist Group B has used funds and materials intended for the people of the territory to build a tunnel system larger than the New York subway system, to embed its terrorist infrastructure under and in hospitals, mosques, and schools, and to build and fire missiles aimed at Country A’s civilians, hundreds of thousands of the residents of Terrorist Group B’s citizens are displaced, killed, and injured.</p><p>In response, Failing Country C, a country thousands of miles away, a beautiful country with tremendous resources, beautiful landscapes, and wonderful people that is quickly going down the drain because of massive corruption and incompetence, a country that cannot reliably provide water and electricity to its people, files a complaint alleging genocide against. . . .Country A, the victim. The Jew.</p><p>The UN International Court, and much of the world, see nothing odd about this.</p><p>Kafka couldn’t do better. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/16/opinion/israel-hamas-war-genocide.html" target="_blank">Brett Stephens described well</a> just how morally obscene the situation is. </p><p>Hitler was right about the Big Lie. He asserted in Mein Kampf that people would believe outrageous lies because they could not believe that anyone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.”</p><p>Hitler and the Nazis utilized the Big Lie to murderous effect, and Jew-haters continue to use the tactic. Jew-haters that would delegitimize and destroy the only Jewish majority nation in the world continue to use it.</p><span></span><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2024/01/is-world-upside-down.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-79492065904308759722023-11-23T11:49:00.002+02:002023-11-23T16:25:03.219+02:00Blowin' in the wind<p>(Originally published in The Times of Israel)</p><p>As I was driving my car back from a store in the southern part of Jerusalem on Tuesday, Peter Paul & Mary’s “Blowin’ In The Wind” was blowin’ through the speakers. “How many times must a man look up. . . “ And then, the ominous warning and “Missile, Ashkelon.”</p><p>A few observations from social media that fit the moment:</p><p>“If only the kids at the music festival would have had any time to say ‘Ceasefire.’”</p><p>“In four weeks, Hamas launched more than twice as many missiles into Israel as Germany launched V-2’s into Britain in five months.”</p><p>“Assad Kills 500,000 Muslims in Syria. Streets of London: Empty.</p><p>230,000 Muslims dead in Yemin. Streets of London: Empty.</p><p>24,000 Muslims massacred in Myanmar. Streets of London: Empty.</p><p>Israel defends itself against Hamas. Streets of London packed with protestors.”</p><p>Not to mention one million Muslim Uyghurs essentially imprisoned by China. Streets of London: Empty</p><p>Only when Jews defend themselves do the London streets and the campuses of elite American universities fill with righteous protestors and the UN focuses its fiery and its attention.</p><p>The President’s residence is just up the block from our apartment in Jerusalem. I walk by it frequently. I regularly park across the street from it. Whenever I do either, I almost always marvel how close the public can get to it, and how accessible it is.</p><p>The one or two guards that stand outside, and the one who walks up and down the street peering into the cars parked nearby, usually look relaxed and sometimes look bored. An American cannot help but make comparisons to the no-go zone that has been built around the White House.</p><p>A few days ago I noticed a change: the guard checking cars now appears to be wearing a bullet-proof vest.</p><p>Israeli life has changed. Israeli minds have changed. We are living in a reality that is difficult to label. We go about our business—shopping, meeting friends, working, going out for coffee or a meal. But just below the surface, and often protruding through the surface, life has changed.</p><p>You turn a corner and there are pictures of a kidnapped toddler and a grandma on a bus bench. Walk up the street and an empty baby stroller sits, symbolizing the kidnapped babies, nobody concerned that it might be taken.</p><p>Vigils here. Vigils there. Memorial ceremonies tonight. Can’t make that one? No problem; there are two or three around town tomorrow night.</p><p>The changes, the life lived only by a traumatized people, hit you in the face, and in the gut. As <a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/inside-our-collective-trauma/?mibextid=Zxz2cZ&fbclid=IwAR2heAQZShOa96QF6Zu01GhbneMi-rvsPt-WLQpgF3KUpZascSf7WfcOm0A ">described by Shira Pasternak Be’eri,</a> life here now is different, surreal, tense. It is tainted, overwhelmed with worry and tragedy.</p><p> <span></span></p><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2023/11/blowin-in-wind.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-81907755472531585162023-10-15T07:35:00.010+03:002023-10-15T16:51:28.901+03:00Caught abroad<p>It’s been a week since the horrendous attack by Hamas on Israel. I am sad, overwhelmed, angry, and feeling helpless. It’s been difficult to get a handle on thoughts, to think things out. I wouldn’t even call these Random thoughts. It’s more accurate to call them scattered thoughts. Here they are:</p><p>If you think some of the things you say prompt looks of puzzlement from folks, I suggest responding to people who say “Aren’t you glad you’re not in Israel right now?” with “Actually, I wish was there.”</p><p>We made Aliyah in our mid-50’s. I like to more accurately describe it as “Aliyah-lite.” We go back and forth to the U.S. a couple of times a year, spending two or three months each time we are back. We’ve had the luxury of not having to make a living in Israel. We have not raised children there, although we do have an adult daughter living in Tel Aviv.</p><p>Still, we’ve grown attached. We had been visiting for years prior to making Aliyah. We had made great friends. We’ve known their kids since they were young.</p><p>Aliyah (becoming citizens), spending around seven months a year there, having a daughter there, negotiating the health system, getting aggravated with the cable and gas companies, showing visiting friends around, getting into heated political arguments, demonstrating week-after-week for democracy, living through a few wars and periods of increased terrorism—it’s all enhanced our attachment.</p><p>We know our favorite restaurants and cafes. I know where the best falafel in Jerusalem is. (Doesn’t everybody?) The guy at my favorite bureka joint gives me a welcome nod when I walk into the shop.</p><p>I’ve got my car guy, and my tire guy. My tire guy’s brother is a car guy in Roseville, outside my life-long home of Sacramento. Small world. After some serious investigating, my wife has that all-important indicator of belonging: a hair stylist whose appointment you do not miss, come hell or high water, missiles, or earthquake.</p><p>In short, we feel like we belong. We’ve got roots. We’ve got a stake.</p><p>We were supposed to return to Israel from the U.S. on October 10, three days after Hamas started its horrific onslaught. We had already delayed our return because of some family members’ serious health issues.</p><p>So, as odd as it sounds, I feel a bit strange here in California while wishing to be in Israel, despite being in our early 70’s and knowing we’re not exactly crucial to the war effort.</p><p>-------------------------</p><p>We've been pretty much in constant contact with our daughter, and in frequent contact with friends. WhatsApp groups help. Our daughter has been hearing lots of booms both from the Irone Dome intercepting missiles but also from some that got through.</p><p>She, like a lot of Israelis who live in older apartments, has no shelter in the building and no safe room. So, you stand in the staircase, and you get to know your neighbors better.</p><p>Our friends and children and grandchildren are all o.k. but some have been under near-constant attack. Many of our friends' children have already been called up and more will be. Over three hundred thousand have been called up already, so everybody has somebody or knows somebody affected.</p><p>That’s about 3.7 percent of the population, the equivalent of about 12,300,000 if it were the U.S. As one can imagine, this is a parent's worst nightmare.</p><p>In the South hostages have been taken. There were gun battles in Israeli towns. Bases attacked. Horrible scenes of beheadings, rape, humiliation. Babies intentionally burned to death. Some of our friends know people taken hostage, wounded, kidnapped. Some have lost relatives.</p><p>Everyone is impacted, and everyone is involved: providing shelter to those from the South; giving clothing, food, blood. Taking strangers who have lost their homes, or those needing to escape the bombardment, into their homes.</p><p>This is no war on distant shores, and it is no war you watch on TV safely ensconced on your comfortable couch.</p><p>Many of our friends are up at all hours of the night, night after night. I am afraid it is the first of many nights like that.</p><p>---------------------------</p><p>Israel is often condemned when there are inadvertent civilian deaths from its actions. Hamas is deliberately killing, wounding, and taking civilians--including women and children--as hostages. There are videos of captured civilians--women--bloodied, hands tied behind their backs, blindfolded, being dragged out of vehicles and thrown on the ground in Gaza.</p><p>I hope, but doubt, that the world will remember this when Gazans are killed, as Hamas knows they will be, something they will exploit on the world stage. Indeed, it has already started.</p><p>The UN regularly condemns Israel for its alleged failings. The UN Human Rights Council already managed to pass a resolution expressing alarm over harm to Palestinians without mentioning the butchering and beheading and burning of Israeli babies.</p><p>The U.N. is warning about massive consequences for innocent Gazans if Israel does what is necessary to eliminate Hamas and its infrastructure. But, the U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres implored Israel not to direct people to leave, that such a movement would be inhumane.</p><p>Is this guy a joke? (Rhetorical question) What would he like? Israel should just leave intact the regime and the infrastructure to repeat the slaughter and torture it engaged in?</p><p>The U.N. head says it is impossible to move one million people from Northern Gaza to Southern Gaza in 24 hours. Yet, reports are that 443,000 have already moved, despite the fact that Hamas is preventing some from leaving.</p><p>Israel takes no pleasure in injury and death of innocent people. But only the Jewish state would be expected not to do what is necessary to stop what happened when Hamas’ murderers invaded the south of Israel.</p><p>A great way to protect Gaza’s civilians: Get Hamas to lay down its arms and leave. Qatar, that bastion of enlightment that the world awarded the FIFA World Cup to, is a major supporter of Hamas. Perhaps Qatar should reason with them.</p><p>Egypt has received 80 billion dollars in U.S. aid since 1978, 50 billion of which was military aid. Perhaps the U.S. could persuade Egypt to open its border with Gaza and let the residents have temporary refuge in Sinai. Instead, the Egyptians reportedly will not even let American citizens in Gaza into Egypt without extorting concessions from the U.S. What are friends for?</p><p>-----------------------</p><p>Question from a friend: What was Hamas’ end game in doing this?</p><p>At the risk of being politically incorrect, the people who did this attack and those who support and sympathize with them have a differerent cultural orientation and psychological make-up than we do.</p><p>That’s a convoluted way of saying "Who knows?" This is not about achieving freedom for Gazans or a two-state solution. I am not even sure it is about achieving one state.</p><p>For many, it is fulfilling some perceived religious mandate to slaughter the infidels--Jews, Christians, non-believing or moderate Muslims. (They've killed and wounded plenty of Israeli Arabs--civilians, doctors, military). It is about spreading their brand of Islam over the world. A caliphate.</p><p>For some, it is simply psychotic hate.</p><p>I suppose that the higher-ups, along with Iran, have some strategic vision of how this will weaken Israel, humiliate us and the West. They probably know that if Israel does what now needs to be done, the world will quickly turn on us. If so, they win.</p><p>The Gazans who die are just necessary tools, expendable for the greater cause. If we back off because of pressure about the incidental killing of innocent Palestinians or our own concern about the costs to our young people, they win.</p><p>They surely saw Israel's internal divisions and misread that for a lack of resolve and unity when attacked. They have always read that wrong. Regarding the Western world, particularly Europe, they know (as we've long seen) that Europe is pliable. Terrorism has worked for decades in Europe. European nations often cave, cut side deals, and the like.</p><p>They see weakening American resolve regarding Ukraine, with some of the extremists on the right refusing to fund Ukraine and some actually touting Putin's lines. They saw us leave Afghanistan, humiliated. They saw Obama's cave-in after the red-line in Syria.</p><p>So, I guess they figure they win if Israel goes in and destroys them and tens of thousands of "martyrs" die. They win if we are pressured to back off or back off on our own. If we go full in and, as is likely, the world turns on us, they win.</p><p>What, exactly, they win is a mystery to me. But I am sure they will think it is a win.</p><p>-----------------------------------</p><p>Time to go?:</p><p>As a small country in a tough neighborhood, Israelis have a necessary but almost quaint-feeling tradition during times of crisis and external threat: We unite in common purpose. We stop the internal fighting. We put aside differences. We support and trust our leaders (or we did).</p><p>After the crisis has passed, the government appoints commissions to investigate. After the commissions issue their findings, the country and officials are supposed to “draw conclusions.” Israelis protest, express anger, call for resignations. People resign. Elections follow.</p><p>This time might be different. The nation is united, but the anger is already seeping out. Prime Minister Netanyahu and the governing coalition needlessly tore the country apart by attempting to jam through legislation that would have neutered Israel’s judiciary and undermined its democracy. He and his allies attacked the military, reservists, and leaders of the security services when they expressed opposition. He tried to sack the defense minister when the minister warned that advancing the legislation was putting the country’s security in jeopardy. The government shifted resources to the territories to protect and police sometimes lawless settlers.</p><p>Many, some publicly, some privately, now question Netanyahu’s judgment. They question whether his actions are motivated by self-interest or by their need for security for their children and themselves. They wonder: should this be the man at the head of a nation at war?</p><p>Former U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Dov Zakheim recounts how a Conservative backbencher sounded the call that brought Neville Chamberlain to resign and brought Churchill to power in 1940:</p><p>‘It was late in the day on Tuesday May 7, 1940, when Leo Amery, a middle-aged former minister and Conservative Party backbencher, rose in his seat to address the House of Common in the aftermath of Britain’s disastrous Norway campaign. His party leader, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, had offered a weak defense of the Norway debacle, and several others had already criticized the Prime Minister. Amery then tore into the Chamberlain government, and concluded with Oliver Cromwell’s memorable words “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go.” Three days later, Chamberlain resigned and Winston Churchill succeeded him.’</p><p>Zakheim declares: “It is time that someone in Bibi Netanyahu’s Likud Party rose in his Knesset seat and echoed Amery’s famous words.” <a href="https://jstribune.com/zakheim-in-the-name-of-god-go/">https://jstribune.com/zakheim-in-the-name-of-god-go/</a></p><p>-------------------------------------------</p><p>Just wondering:</p><p>I have heard many U.S. and world leaders declare that Hamas does not speak for Gazans or represent the legitimate rights of Palestinians. I have yet to hear a Palestinian leader say it.</p><p>And a parting shot:</p><p>Does Ben Wedeman get his check directly from Hamas, or does it go through CNN?</p><p> </p>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-47518274523161749802023-07-08T19:23:00.001+03:002023-07-08T23:19:31.967+03:00The Miracle and the Precipice<p> (Originally published in The Times of Israel)</p><p>"In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles." Ben Gurion 1956.</p><p>It may not have risen to miracle status, but something virtually unheard of in today's world, has happened in Israel. Despite the current Israeli governing coalition having a 64-member majority, despite the Israeli system missing a lot of the avenues for public influence that the U.S. and other democracies have (e.g. legislative districts, two houses), hundreds of thousands if not over a million Israelis came together peacefully for six months to successfully stop legislation that would severely cripple Israel's world-respected judicial system and undermine its vibrant, albeit flawed, democracy.</p><p>In those six months of demonstrations not one person died, maybe a couple were injured, and property damage was minimal. Compare that to Myanmar, Paris, many parts of Africa, the United States of America. Dissertations will someday be written about this. And yet the world, including America and American Jews, hardly noted it.</p><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a"><div dir="auto">The peacefulness and Israel's democracy are now both on the precipice of being lost. Faced with massive opposition threatening to bring the country to a standstill, Prime Minister Netanyahu put the brakes on the proponents' original plan to jam through the massive assault on Israel's democracy in one fell swoop. The intensity of the opposition naturally dissipated somewhat.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Now, Netanahu and the drivers behind the anti-judiciary movement, apparently thinking that the opposition would not be able to regain its prior strength and support, have opted to piecemeal the proposals.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">On Tuesday the bill that would repeal the "reasonableness" standard used to adjudicate government agencies' administrative decisions passed out of committee and to the Knesset for its first of the three readings.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Having recently seen its candidate for head of the Bar Association, a convicted criminal, overwhelmingly defeated by an outspoken opponent of the assault on the judiciary, the proponents of the attack passed a preliminary reading of legislation to eliminate the Bar Association including, of course, its role in the judicial selection process.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">As former Likud member, Justice Minister, and now opposition Knesset member Gideon Sa'ar, a long-time advocate of thoughtful, reasonable judicial reform, said, "Those who <a href="https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-748946">cancel the elections in the Bar Association</a> because they do not like the results, will not hesitate to cancel the results of the Knesset elections one day."</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">And just days after telling the Wall Street Journal that the proposal to allow the Knesset to override a court's decision on legislation was off the table--"I threw that out… it’s out”--, he told some angry Cabinet members in a private meeting <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-u-turn-netanyahu-said-to-reassure-ministers-override clause-has-not-been-shelved/">that it was not completely out. </a></div><span></span></div><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2023/07/the-miracle-and-precipice.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-77721088206144422122023-06-21T22:22:00.004+03:002023-06-21T22:22:54.128+03:00A Swim<p>(Originally published in The Times of Israel)</p><p>The swimming pool at the Zippori Center in the Jerusalem Forest is a gem. A super-clean lap pool and a large children's pool with nice areas for lounging around, all with a view of the trees and hills of the forest, with the shiny gold domes of the Russian Convent in Ein Kerem and the sprawling helter-skelter of the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital complex.</p><p>And like much of Israel, it is a potpourri of sites and experiences, even when you're out just to get a little exercise and fresh air.</p><p>My wife and I went out to the pool Wednesday morning. After swimming my laps and flopping into a seat, looking up from my phone, five or six feet from me, on the stairs in the shallow end, clad in a fashionable black, apparently waterproof dress and head cover, was an Orthodox (or ultra-Orthodox--I've never quite figured out the official dividing line) woman.</p><p>First just her feet were in the water. The next time I looked up she was up to her waist. And about 10 minutes later she was all the way in.</p><p>Tuesday is one of the three days that is women-only. The restriction, made so that religious women can swim without men around, goes into effect at 1:30. I assume this woman would have preferred swimming in, shall we say, something more comfortable, but given that it was about 1:10 and I wasn't yet showing signs of packing up, and given that the pool looked beautiful, she decided to take the plunge, dress and all.</p><p>The woman's friend also wore the hair covering of an Orthodox woman, but she had on a one-piece swimsuit and evidently had no qualms about swimming in front of men or, since I was the only guy in the entire area, this one man. In between dips and dunks, they spoke what, to my untrained ears, was a North African-infused French.</p><p>The Arab lifeguard sat in his special chair mid-way up the side of the pool, smoking despite the plentiful "No Smoking" signs placed around the area. I’ve seen him and his colleagues enforce the prohibition. But I suppose when the entire attendance at the pool is about six or seven people, and when no one is anywhere near the lifeguard, privileges can be taken. Or, in short, you can get away with it.</p><p>That lifeguard, a man, will have remained there doing lifeguard duty for those two women and any others coming for a swim during the female-only afternoon. Even though religious women cannot swim with me there, they, or at least those who swim at Zippori, have decided they can swim with male lifeguards.</p><span></span><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2023/06/a-swim.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-43200501281557213002023-05-12T17:22:00.003+03:002023-05-12T17:22:59.592+03:00War--What is it good for?<p>War, with its death and destruction, is nothing to make light of. But, as is usual, ours has its touching moments as well as some fairly strange ones.</p><p>I met a friend at Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station in the early evening yesterday. She was coming back from the south. She has some challenging mobility issues so I went to meet her and to give her a ride home.</p><p>Jerusalem’s bus station, like many transportation hubs, is a microcosm of society. On a Thursday afternoon/evening, it is a very busy, hectic place.</p><p>Folks on the bus had obviously been helpful to my friend, and they continued to offer help as she disembarked. Israelis, not generally known for their patience, were patient and understanding.</p><p>I carried my friend’s bags to my car. A young soldier took the larger suitcase from me and put it in the trunk. His buddy stood by looking for something to be helpful with.</p><p>After I dropped my friend off at her home in a nearby suburban neighborhood, I headed back into town on the way to our apartment. Beautiful evening. Weather cooling down. Windows open.</p><p>Bruce Springsteen and the E St. Band on the radio belting their emphatic rendition of “This Land is Your Land.” (I’m not sure their version is how Woody Guthrie imagined it, but it is stirring.) Great night for the convertible I don’t own.</p><p>Then, back to reality: an interruption and the monotone voice of the automated warning system: “Alert. Sderot. Take shelter.” Or something approximating that. About three seconds. Then back to “this land was made. . . .”</p><p>We’ve had over 800 hundred missiles directed at us in the last 48 hours or so. We were in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, out at a café with a friend at about 2:00 p.m. when things started up. And then it happened again when we were out to dinner with our daughter.</p><p>We could hear the “boom” of the Iron Dome and sirens going off. I turned my “Red Alert” App on. Except for the middle of the night, it’s been going off pretty steadily from then on. The great majority have been in the south, but the Tel Aviv area has gotten its fair share. Today they also targeted some communities close to Jerusalem.</p><span></span><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2023/05/war-what-is-it-good-for.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-43208027328294901312023-04-29T22:48:00.005+03:002023-04-30T11:08:53.185+03:00Fools rush in<p>The Knesset will soon be convening for its summer session. None of the governing coalition’s proposed legislation aimed at eviscerating Israel’s judiciary and making it akin to a Hungary-type democracy was enacted prior to the Passover break.</p><p>Not because the proponents did not want to jam the legislative package through, but because of the widespread public opposition, culminating with huge, spontaneous protests in the streets the night Prime Minister Netanyahu announced he was firing Defense Minister Gallant for the offense of warning the country that the proposals and the division they have created were causing a security risk.</p><p>Apparently, the strong, broad-based, persistent opposition, perhaps coupled with the signs of adverse impacts on the economy and with clear warnings from Washington that it did not look kindly on the changes, gave some members of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud Party as well as Netanyahu himself reasons to pause.</p><p>One key piece of the coalition’s package, which would put all the power to appoint judges in the hands of the executive/legislative branch, i.e. the governing coalition, has been positioned for its final vote, which could be taken on virtually a moment’s notice.</p><p>In contrast to the American system, the executive branch in Israel is not separate and independent from the legislative branch. As in other parliamentary systems, the Prime Minister is the leader of the legislative coalition in power. Unlike in the U.S. system, the Prime Minister and the legislature are not checks on each other.</p><p>If the Knesset passes the legislation, the judicial system will essentially be a tool of the executive/legislative branch, i.e. the ruling coalition. There will be no checks on power.</p><p>If one takes the pronouncements of Justice Minister Levin, the coalition’s chief advocate of the proposals, and many of his allies, at face value, that is exactly the objective. They resent a judicial system that interferes with what the majority coalition wishes to enact.</p><p>They do not want to hear about democratic niceties such as due process, minority rights, defendant’s rights, asylum seeker’s rights, and all those other features that make a democracy a messy and frustrating but cherished institution. They view such nuances as nuisances. They are not shy about so stating.</p><span></span><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2023/04/fools-rush-in.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-63271064583220089602023-04-26T18:22:00.010+03:002023-04-26T19:46:18.814+03:00A "No" vote on Israel's 75th<p>Congressman Jared Huffman, a Democrat from California, was one of 19 members of Congress who voted against the just-adopted Congressional resolution recognizing the 75th anniversary of Israel's independence. Since I've known the Congressman for a good number of years, and since we've exchanged views on Israel over the years, I wrote him to express my feelings. Here is the letter:</p><p>Hi, Jared. I hope you are doing well.</p><p>As you know from reading my blog, I am highly critical of the current Israeli government’s assault on Israel’s exemplary and independent judiciary and its democracy. While you and I may disagree on some details, approaches, and who is at fault at times, I am also a strong supporter of a separation between Israel and the Palestinians and recognition of a Palestinian state, although I have no doubt that it will not be democratic and it very likely will bring us more violence, not peace. I simply do not want to be responsible for another people. I want them to achieve their own aspirations and be responsible for themselves.</p><p>Having said all that, here I am today on Israel’s 75<sup>th</sup> anniversary preparing to welcome friends for a celebratory barbeque. Millions of my fellow Israelis will be doing the same. There is a simple reason for that: regardless of our many challenges and our shortcomings, there is so much to celebrate here.</p><p>After two thousand years of being the doormat of the peoples of the world, persecuted, tortured, dehumanized, and denied sanctuary by virtually every nation where we tried to live, culminating in the nearly successful and intentional murder of our entire people, we have reconstituted a free, Jewish, democratic, flourishing nation in our ancestral homeland.</p><p>We restored our language. We defend ourselves in a very precarious neighborhood. We’ve pioneered a new, unique and fascinating culture. We make untold contributions to the world in literature, culture, science, music, and on and on. In short, we punch way above our weight. We’ve ingathered and provided a safe and prosperous home to millions of Jews from Africa, the Arab world, Europe, and the former Soviet Union.</p><p>Despite extraordinary challenges, we are home to about two million Israeli Arab citizens. They live with equal rights and in peace and security. They are not without legitimate complaints which many Israelis, Arab and Jews, strive to ameliorate. I and millions of other Israeli Jews interact with them peacefully and civilly on almost a daily basis.</p><p>Although we sometimes fall short, we strive to make peace with our neighbors. And we have been successful with a good number. We have not yet come to a resolution with our Palestinian neighbors, but many of us still aspire to do so.</p><p>In short, Israel is undoubtedly a resounding success! It is a miracle, albeit one borne of ashes, unbridled determination, and the goodwill and support of many around the world, most of all Americans and the United States of America.</p><p>With that perspective, and knowing you personally for a good number of years now, I cannot tell you how much it pained me to see your “No” vote on the bi-partisan resolution recognizing the 75<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the birth of the reconstituted Israeli nation, my people’s nation.</p><p>I know the resolution did not have everything you and I would have liked in it, i.e. reference to peace with the Palestinians and a two-state solution. How many times did you vote for legislation in the California Assembly and the U.S. Congress that did not have everything you wanted in it?</p><p>I also know that the resolution is only “symbolic.” But, that’s the point. The resolution has no practical impact with or without the references you and I would have liked included. Yet, you felt you could not overlook this one shortcoming to join in honoring and celebrating the most significant achievement and joy, the guarantor of every Jew's safety after 2,000 years of having no such guarantor, the reconstituting of the nation of the Jewish people and the creation of a place where we can live safely, charting our own destiny, creating the future we want for our children?</p><p>Despite my worries about Israel’s future, and despite the fact that I will be back out demonstrating in support of our democracy within a few hours or days, today I will be celebrating an unbelievable achievement: the 75<sup>th</sup> anniversary of a free, democratic, miraculous Jewish nation. I want you to know what a painful disappointment it is that you did not see fit to join with me and my people in this celebration.</p><p>Best regards,</p><p>Alan</p><p><br /></p><p>Congressman Huffman kindly responded promptly to my letter. Below is what he said, and below that is my response:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Here is the statement I put out on the vote, which may
provide some missing context: <o:p></o:p></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ligatures: none;">“For many years, I have consistently
supported resolutions, bills and foreign aid commitments that affirm the close
relationship and strategic alliance the United States has always had with the
state of Israel. I was prepared to support H.Res. 311, as well, until I
discovered two significant problems. First, unlike previous resolutions,
H.Res 311 conspicuously omits any reference to supporting a two-state
solution. And second, instead of acknowledging what is currently
happening to democracy and the rule of law in Israel, the resolution praises
the Israeli government’s commitment to our “shared values” and
“democracy.” Even though I am a longstanding supporter of the US-Israel
relationship, I cannot in good conscience support a resolution that is so tone
deaf regarding the actual state of “democracy” and our “shared values,” which
are under assault by the current rightwing government in Israel.
Pretending that everything is just fine with democracy and the rule of law in
Israel is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of brave Israeli citizens who
have taken to the streets in protest because they know their democracy and our
“shared values” are in jeopardy. I stand in solidarity with those
protestors, and believe Congress should follow the lead of President Biden and
other world leaders who are conveying grave concerns about the Netanyahu
government’s radical agenda, not gaslighting and pretending everything is
fine.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ligatures: none;">My response to the Congressman's response:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Thanks for your quick
response. I appreciate it, but I am still very disappointed. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">I am one of those “hundreds of thousands of brave Israeli
citizens who have taken to the streets in protest because they know their
democracy and our “shared values” are in jeopardy.” I do not feel, and I
know that my friends who are also protesting do not feel that you “stand in
solidarity” with us by voting against this resolution marking our
independence. It makes me and them fear that you and the others who voted
against the resolution are abandoning us, not supporting us. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ligatures: none;">
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Yes, our democracy is under
attack (as it is in many countries, including the U.S.—will you not be
celebrating the Fourth of July? Did you not celebrate it during the Trump
Administration) but there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of Israelis
fighting to preserve it, and it is still very much alive and vibrant today.
We stopped the passage of the legislation prior to the Passover break,
and we are going out to demonstrate at the President’s Residence tonight!
You could have just as easily signed on to the resolution that marked this
wonderous occasion and that showed U.S. solidarity with Israel, and then issued
a statement expressing your concerns about the attack on the judiciary and your
solidarity with those of us who are fighting to defend our democracy. I
am sorry you did not see your way to doing that.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ligatures: none;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-87243017398286390772023-03-31T16:04:00.002+03:002023-03-31T16:08:33.740+03:00Making History--Unnecessarily<p>For the 30 or so years that I wanted to make Aliyah and didn't, I often said that, when history is written a thousand or two years from now, this period will still be viewed as the re-birth of the Israeli nation. I wanted to experience that and, if I could, play some small role in it.</p><p>My wife and I did make Aliyah about 12 years ago. And, in the last month, we did play a very small role in an historic moment, the effort to defend Israel's independent judiciary and democracy from a legislative "reform" package that is in no way a reform, but a decimation of Israel's independent judiciary.</p><p>It was the fulfillment of an aspiration that I would have been very happy doing without.</p><p>The last three months have been among the most consequential months in Israel’s history. None of it was necessary.</p><p>Prime Minister Netanyahu has burnt so many bridges and has alienated so many potential partners, that he is left with a Likud Party that, in the words of Menachem Begin’s son Benny, is not his father’s party, and with coalition partners who are extremist, racist ideologues. One proudly describes himself as a “fascistic homophobe.” Netanyahu has given them some of the most sensitive positions with extraordinary power.</p><p>Whether one agreed with his politics or not, there was a time when Netanyahu was a responsible leader. He defended Israel’s robust and world-respected judicial system, and he used restraint in the use of military power. Now defending himself from criminal charges, his only objective appears to be to hold onto power and to stay out of prison.</p><p>If Netanyahu was not the leader of the Likud Party and Prime Minister, Likud could easily abandon the extremists and form a coalition with the center and center-right parties that will not join in a coalition with him.</p><p>It is with this background that Netanyahu’s coalition tried to jam through legislation that would definitively change the nature of Israel’s democracy and society. Virtually eliminating the power of the judiciary to strike down legislation and empowering the Knesset to overturn judicial decisions by a simple 61-vote majority would be devastating to Israel’s democracy.</p><p>Israel has only one house in its parliament, the Knesset. It does not have an independent executive branch; like other parliamentary systems, its prime minister is the leader of the legislative branch. It does not have a constitution or a Bill of Rights.</p><span></span><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2023/03/making-history-unnecessarily.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-73012089243311058952023-03-01T16:19:00.002+02:002023-03-01T16:19:50.460+02:00The Stakes Could Not Be Higher <p> As <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/writers/haviv-gur/">Haviv Rettig Gur pointed out so well</a> a few days ago, we have a desperate, ineffective prime minister beholden to unqualified, extreme ministers and heading up a barely functioning, ineffective government. It cannot maintain order and it cannot agree on a budget, two minimal requirements of any government.</p><p>Tens of thousands of Israeli citizens have been demonstrating in support of democracy every week for nine weeks in front of the President’s Residence and at the Knesset in Jerusalem, in Tel Aviv, and on bridges and city squares throughout the country.</p><p>The crowds are diverse, and the size and determination of the protesters have not declined. The polls show a majority of Israelis against the legislation that would eviscerate Israel's judiciary. They also show that if an election were held today, Likud would lose nine seats.</p><p>The proponents of the effort to destroy Israel's independent judiciary have said they are willing to discuss the proposals. But they have not been willing to suspend the efforts to jam the proposals through the Knesset so that discussions are something other than a fig leaf.</p><p>The proponents have also tried to label the opposition leftists. Prime Minister Netanyahu said they reminded him of anti-vaxxers. If all of the people against these proposals were leftists and anti-vaxxers, Netanyahu and his allies would not be in office and Israel's hospitals would be overflowing with Covid patients.</p><p>Benny Begin, Menachem Begin's son and a long-time Likud Member of Knesset, has demonstrated against the proposals. He has declared that the Likud party of his father is gone. Yossi Klein Halevi and Daniel Gordis, stalwart centrists and long-time explainers of Israel to the American Jewish community and to Americans in general, have called upon American Jews to weigh in on behalf of Israel's democracy.</p><p>Hundreds if not thousands of former judges, former Shin Bet and Mossad chiefs, former generals and other IDF officers, economic experts, venture capital leaders, former heads of the Bank of Israel, former Netanyahu appointees, former attorneys general, and top law firms have all spoken out against the attack on the judiciary.</p><p>These are not extreme people. They have all concluded that the proposals will basically neuter the judiciary and place unchecked power in the Prime Minister and the Knesset, and that they leave voting rights, minority rights, unpopular views, and minority populations unprotected.</p><span></span><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2023/03/the-stakes-could-not-be-higher.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-73024136500254589952023-02-12T02:02:00.002+02:002023-02-14T12:41:46.588+02:00It's cryin' time<p>When asked whether I am a citizen of both Israel and the U.S., my half-joking answer of the last few years has been: "Yes, I have the privilege of being a citizen of two countries with dysfunctional political systems." It usually elicited a good chuckle.</p><p>After spending about three months in the U.S. watching close-up the 2022 elections and their aftermath, while also watching the October Israeli election and its aftermath from afar, and while preparing to return to Jerusalem, I'm not sure my standard response is all that funny anymore.</p><p>Politics and government in both countries appear to be dysfunctional, extreme, polarized, and potentially violent. It is not democracy’s finest hour, to put it mildly.</p><p>In the U.S., Kevin McCarthy, desperate to be Speaker of the House, gave positions, voice, and unknown promises to some of the most extreme, election-denying, racist, downright nutty people imaginable.</p><p>From Christian Nationalist supporter, 9-11 questioner, election-denying Marjorie Taylor Greene, who thinks Jewish space lasers cause fires, to Holocaust-denier defender, election-denying, accused sex trafficker Matt Gaetz, to election-denying and former college wrestling coach accused of covering up sex abuse Jim Jordan, to election-denying, Holocaust-denier and white-supremacist Paul Gosar, to election-denying, gun-toting, and just plain old batty Lauren Boebert, to pretend Jew, fictional grandson of Holocaust survivors, pretend son of a 9/11 survivor, and pretend Baruch University volleyball star George Santos, McCarthy has got to be captive to the scariest, nuttiest bunch of characters to ever populate the U.S. Congress.</p><p>When in the course of McCarthy's humiliating, pandering quest for the votes needed to become Speaker, Gaetz nominated Jordan for the position, it had to be a first in Congressional history: An accused sex-trafficker nominating a former college coach accused of covering up sexual assault against athletes for one of the most powerful positions in the U.S. government, a position whose occupant would be President if something befell both the President and the Vice-President.</p><p>In a period of unbelievable lows in American politics, that nomination has to be a strong competitor for the lowest.</p><p>Israel appears no better off. Netanyahu is so desperate to be Prime Minister and to avoid going to prison for corruption, he has given positions to some of the most extreme and corrupt characters imaginable, has acceded to proposals that would severely jeopardize Israel’s democracy and long-term economic viability, and has carved up ministries and lines of authority with abandon, arguably jeopardizing the country’s security in the process.</p><span></span><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2023/02/its-cryin-time.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-71099365254165951782022-11-07T06:34:00.001+02:002022-11-07T06:37:24.698+02:00Reports of the demise of democratic Israel are. . .<p><span style="font-size: large;">Tom Friedman recently wrote an op-ed in the New York Times headlined "The Israel We Knew Is Gone." While the headline is a bit misleading and the piece is a little more nuanced than that, Friedman nonetheless paints a dire future for Israel. In his eyes, we've pretty much become Orban's Hungary.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I don’t discount the seriousness of the situation. Religious Zionism's Bezalel Smotrich, Otzma Yehudit's Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Noam's Avi Maoz hold despicable views. Ben-Gvir, in particular, uses and encourages violence.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">At this stage in his career, Netanyahu will do or say just about anything to get into and to stay in power in order to squash his trial. Many critics often say Netanyahu is like Trump. Wrong. Netanyau is much smarter. Trump most likely believes much of what he says. Netanyahu knows better.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Trump was born a narcissist. Netanyahu has evolved into one in his effort to gain power and thereby, he hopes, stay out of jail. He is more akin to Republican House leader and wanna-be Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Both have sold their souls to get what they want or perceive they need. For the literary baseball crowd, it's Damn Yankees without the music and dance.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Despite Friedman and others who would like to write Israel off, the fact is, to continue the baseball references, we're in the early innings.The coalition negotiations just started. Yes, Netanyahu is desperate and could give the store away, destroying the courts, marginalizing Israeli Arabs, imposing religious strictures, and destroying whatever small slimmer of possibility that is left for reconciliation with our Palestinian neighbors.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">On the other hand, Netanyahu is a very wily, conniving politician, usually three or four steps ahead of his allies and opponents. In a recent op-ed, Times of Israel editor David Horovitz does <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-who-mainstreamed-israels-radicals-now-the-last-obstacle-to-their-agenda/">an admirable job of analyzing the challenge</a> Netanyahu will have negotiating between the monster he helped create and now relies on and his natural impulse to seek smooth sailing. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Netanyahu has always been risk adverse. As Prime Minister he withstood pressure from the right that would have embroiled Israel in Gaza and other wars. He also pushed back at pressure that would have had him take steps in (probably futile) efforts to make peace.</span></p><p><span></span></p><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2022/11/reports-of-demise-of-democratic-israel.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-25881172243286656852022-08-03T08:52:00.015+03:002022-08-03T16:53:19.652+03:00Vin Scully: Mensch Personified<p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>Baseball and
sports lost an icon when broadcasting legend Vin Scully died last night at
the age of 94.</span><span> </span><span>But the world lost a
good, decent man, the kind that is in short supply on the public stage these
days.</span><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; line-height: 107%;">The voice of
the Los Angeles Dodgers for 67 years (yes, 67!), Vin Scully was a the
consummate professional, a beloved legend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; line-height: 107%;">He had it
all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The voice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The poetry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The knowledge of history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
unique ability to tell the corniest story without sounding. . . corny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ability to zoom in on the “little angel,”
the two or three-year old dripping ice cream in the stands, and say some
syrupy, sentimental words without sounding ridiculously syrupy or
sentimental.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; line-height: 107%;">Scully, or
Vinnie as all of us who “knew” him and thought of him as a comforting, familiar
“friend,” had something few in broadcasting or, for that matter, in life in
general, had:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he knew when to shut
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vinnie would let the scene—the
spectacular catch, the clutch hit, the historic moment, the roar of the
crowd—speak for itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; line-height: 107%;">I never
heard him speak ill of anyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
never heard anyone else say that he did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not a whiff of scandal or dishonor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Old-school virtues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; line-height: 107%;">He was one
of those rare public figures who did not always need to be the center of
attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He didn’t feel threatened by
the silence, and he didn’t feel the need to have the light shine on him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was never about Vinnie. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; line-height: 107%;">Even when it
was supposed to be about Vinnie, it wasn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As retirement neared at the age
of 88 and the accolades came flowing in, he always acted humbly, always took it
all with a grain of salt, always tried to share the spotlight, always tried to
deflect the attention a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; line-height: 107%;">A few of my
favorite Vin Scully memories:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; line-height: 107%;">--<a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/news/the-greatest-call-ever-the-story-of-vin-scullys-ninth-inning-of-sandy-koufaxs-perfect-game-161923355.html" target="_blank">The ninthinning of Sandy Koufax’ 1965 perfect game, his fourth no-hitter</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It is 9:46 p.m. in the City of Angels. . .
.</span></p>
<p class="p-text" style="background-color: #fafafa; background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">--<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvfYg_kNtTk" target="_blank">Hank Aaron’s 715<sup>th</sup> major league home
run, breaking Babe Ruth’s record</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #333333;">"What a marvelous
moment for baseball. What a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of
Georgia. What a marvelous moment for the country and the world. . . A black man
is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an
all-time baseball idol. And it is a great moment for all of us. . .”</span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">--<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/04/12/vin-scully-greatest-calls-kirk-gibson-hits-game-winning-home-run-1988-world-series/82923864/" target="_blank">Kirk Gibson’s two-out, walk-off home run in the first game of the 1988 World Series</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #333333; line-height: 107%;">"In
a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened.”</span><span style="line-height: 107%;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="p-text" style="background-color: #fafafa; background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">--</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #333333;">The San Francisco Giants AT&T Park, the final game he
called, when the Giants put up a plaque honoring him in the visitor’s broadcast
booth, Vinnie pointing to it, and reading it for Willie Mays, and, as always,
trying to deflect attention and get back to announcing the game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; background: white; color: #444444;">"I was
thinking sitting in the booth talking to Willie, who would ever think that
little redhead kid with the tear in his pants, shirttail hanging out,
playing stickball in the streets of New York with a tennis ball and a
broom handle, would wind up sitting here, 67 years of broadcasting, and with my
arm around one of the greatest players I ever saw, the great Willie Mays.'' </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-scully-dodgers-plaschke-20161002-snap-story.html">http://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-scully-dodgers-plaschke-20161002-snap-story.html</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="p-text" style="background-color: #fafafa; background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica;">Humility, class, grace, honesty, modesty,
intelligence, poetry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We could use a lot
more people with Vin Scully’s characteristics in public life today, be it
sports, entertainment, media, politics, or government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="p-text" style="background-color: #fafafa; background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica;">Thanks, Vinnie, for all the great times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May that beautiful voice last forever. May
your memory be for a blessing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="p-text" style="background-color: #fafafa; background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; mso-spacerun: yes;">(Originally published in The Times of Israel)</span></span></p>
<p class="p-text" style="background-color: #fafafa; background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #333333;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-63713322855865779192022-07-19T21:25:00.000+03:002022-07-19T21:25:26.784+03:00Welcome to my neighborhood<p>It was exciting to have President Biden here in Israel last week even if, as some analysts have asserted, we were just a waystation on his way to his real objective, Saudi Arabia. It's understandable if we were second fiddle; U.S. gas prices were topping five bucks a gallon and Saudi Arabia has oil. We've got computer chips and falafel.</p><p>Our apartment is very close to the President and the Prime Minister's residences, so we had some inconvenience but we also really felt the activity. It was refreshing to have a President of the U.S. and a Prime Minister of Israel who acted like adults and conducted themselves civilly. No incidents, no embarrassing statements by either side, no significant gaffes. Disagreements handled smoothly and respectfully. Warmth exuded.</p><p>Regardless of politics, a lot of people here in Israel are thankful that visit went smoothly and safely. There was a collective sigh of relief when Air Force One took off.</p><p>Prime Minister Lapid, having just recently taken office upon the downfall of the Bennet coalition that Lapid knitted together and facing an election on November 1st, acquitted himself well. He displayed some class and graciousness, characteristics often missing in Israel politics and in politics generally. He broke protocal by inviting his predecessor, Naftali Bennett, to the airport to greet Biden and his entourage.</p><p>And he demonstrated class and sensitivity to Defense Minister Gantz, a man who betrayed his commitment to Lapid and those that voted for him not to join a Netanyahu-led government based on Netanyahu's commitment that the prime ministership would rotate to Gantz, a commitment that, out of about 9.5 million Israelis, only Gantz and perhaps his wife believed had a chance of being kept.</p><p>Despite having ample reason to shun Gantz, Lapid, knowing that Gantz's mother, like Lapid's father, was a Holocaust survivor, included him in Biden's visit to Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocaust and an obligatory must-stop for visiting dignitaries.</p><p>A major point of agreement: Both Biden and Lapid expressed their support for a "two-state solution." And both agreed that it is not likely to happen anytime soon.</p><p>Tom Friedman's recent column discussing the visit takes off from his long-stated belief that without the establishment of a Palestinian state,<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/15/opinion/israel-saudi-arabia-biden-trip.html " target="_blank"> Israel is headed to a bi-national state</a> or a non-democratic state.</p><span></span><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2022/07/welcome-to-my-neighborhood.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-7091699821806289052022-04-04T06:03:00.005+03:002022-04-04T06:11:23.685+03:00Never Again?<p> "Both the fighters and the ordinary civilians, they kept looking up at the western sky. . . They were looking for the American warplanes that they felt sure were coming to help them. All that week, when people realized I was an American journalist, they would grab at my jacket: 'When are the Americans coming? They told us they were coming.'"</p><p>"There was all this shooting going on, people were in despair, and they knew the end was coming, and all of a sudden, this cheer goes up. And it spreads. Even over the gunfire, you could hear this cheering. I finally asked someone what was going on, and they said, 'the Americans have arrived at last, they are on the outskirts, but they're coming this way.' So this rumor had started. . . Well, this was a very difficult thing to hear."</p><p>Timothy Foote, a Time-Life journalist, as quoted in Scott Anderson's <em>The Quiet Americans</em> p. 451-2, describing Budapest in 1956.</p><p>Perhaps history does not repeat itself exactly, but sometimes it comes hauntingly close.</p><p>If tyrants could be stopped by the number of reports of the spotting and siezing of oligarchs' yachts, Putin would be six feet under by now.</p><p>If wars were won by talking about how strong and comprehensive sanctions are and how unified NATO is, white flags would be flying from the Kremlin.</p><p>But wars driven by expansionist ideology and dreams of an empire are not deterred or beaten by sanctions. And, besides, Germany and several other European nations are still paying Russia for substantial parts of their oil supplies, and two countries representing 2.8 billion people are not imposing sanctions.</p><p>Every former and would-be general doing commentary on the war is enthusiastically exclaiming their astonishment at just how bad the Russian army is performing.</p><span>(Continue at https://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2022/04/never-again.html)<br></span><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2022/04/never-again.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-3113332920702760802022-03-02T23:46:00.004+02:002022-03-04T05:43:39.287+02:00Is Israel standing up enough?<p><a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/why-israel-must-stand-squarely-with-ukraine/" target="_blank">David Horovitz makes a persuasive case</a> for Israel taking a full-throated stand in support of Ukraine and making an explicit condemnation of Russia's egregious invasion.</p><p>In an ideal world, that is what any democratic country that respects sovereignty and independence should be doing. Of course, in an ideal world, an oppressive regime should not exist and certainly should not be engaging in naked, unprovoked aggression against its neighbors.</p><p>The world's only Jewish nation, its people imbued with a history of oppression and powerless against evil forces, of course feels instinctively that standing with the victim is the right place to be.</p><p>And yet there is consternation over an apparent hesitation by Prime Minister Bennett to specifically condemn Russia. There is a debate over whether Israel is doing enough.</p><p>It is interesting that Israelis are having this debate among themselves. Are there many non-European countries that are having internal debates about their level of support for Ukraine? It is also interesting that citizens of other countries, including the United States, are asking what Israel is doing. And, of course, there are some who are saying Israel is not doing enough.</p><p>Why are Israelis and others having this debate, asking these questions, making these criticisms? Is it because of the Jews' long history of being the victims and their long identification with the underdog?</p><p>Is it because Israel takes pride in and often speaks of its status as the "only democracy in the Middle East? Is it because Israel has a special relationship with and receives unparalled support from the the United States, the "leader of the free world" that is leading the non-military effort to repel Russia?</p><p>One might argue that at least some of the criticism comes from a disproportionate focus on Israel's alleged faults, and from a desire to take any opportunity to discredit Israel. From the same motivation that causes the U.N. to pass 14 resolutions against Israel in 2021 while passing only four against all the other countries on earth.</p><p>From the same unending hostility that causes the U.N. Human Rights Council to make Israel the only nation with a permanent agenda item, and that causes the U.N Human Rights Council to choose Israel as the only country to be subject to an open-ended and effectively permanent inquiry into alleged war crimes. You don't have to be much of a cynic to believe that at least some critics are motivated by a deep-seated animus toward Israel and/or Jews.</p><p>The fact is that Israel has drawn lines, has balanced competing interests, has considered both moral and practical factors in doing and saying what it has done and said about Ukraine. In that regard, it is like every other country, including the U.S. and the nations of Europe.</p><p>Among other things, those nations have considered their dependence on Russian energy, their desire to avoid a direct military confrontation with Russia, their businesses who rely on Russian customers and suppliers, and they have weighed those considerations against the moral and practical reasons for confronting Russia.</p><p>None of those countries have chosen to jeopardize the lives of their soldiers or civilians in their stand against Putin's naked aggression against a sovereign country that wishes to be a part of Europe.</p><p>One can argue with Israel's conclusion, but one cannot argue that Israel isn't like every other country in weighing carefully all of its interests when determining how to support Ukraine.</p><p>What has Israel done regarding Ukraine?</p><p>1. It has come out <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/israel-condemns-russian-invasion-ukraine-143544802.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall" target="_blank">in support of Ukrainian sovereignty</a>. Foreign Minister Lapid specifically mentioned Russia in his condemnation while Prime Minister Bennett has not.</p><p>2. Israeli doctors have flown in to assist.</p><p>3. It has <a href="https://www.jns.org/israel-to-dispatch-100-tons-of-humanitarian-aid-to-ukraine/#:" target="_blank">provided 100 tons of humanitarian aid</a>.</p><p>4. It voted in support of the UN General Assembly’s resolution condemning the invasion.</p><p>5. While not directly supportive of Ukraine, it is noteworthy that <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-helps-evacuate-lebanese-syrian-and-egyptian-citizens-from-ukraine-1.10638781?fbclid=IwAR3aWJC0jkOgq-2FYVvI_0n1SmAaj5w5JTPHg051KbPmriKBQKkvQ75POa0" target="_blank">Israel is helping citizens</a> of countries that wish its destruction leave Ukraine.</p><p>Israel’s statement in support of Ukrainian sovereignty and Lapid’s mention of Russia caused Russia to attack Israel for controlling the Golan Heights.</p><p>What has Israel not done:</p><p>1. The Prime Minister did not specifically condemn Russia.</p><p>2. Israel did not co-sponsor the UN Security Council condemning the invasion, a resolution that was doomed to defeat at the hands of Russia's veto.</p><p>Any person who supports democracy and freedom would like to see Israel, as well as many other countries, be even more vociferous and more generous in their support of Ukraine. However, there are reasons with life-and-death implications behind Israel's approach. Horovitz makes mention of the situation with Russia in Syria, but then somehow disregards it in arriving at his conclusion.</p><p>Because of decisions by both Presidents Obama and Trump, Iran and Russia both have a military presence in Syria, with Iran supporting Hezbollah and other terrorist groups in efforts to attack Israel and to install sophisticated precision missiles aimed at Israel, like the 140,000 installed in Lebanon (often embedded amongst civilians) despite UN resolution 1701 assuring that, except for the Lebanese Army, southern Lebanon would be demilitarized.</p><p>Israel has an arrangement with Russia that allows it to prevent Iranian entrenchment in Syria, but Israel has to coordinate closely with Russia’s military there. One mistake that causes a Russian casualty or death, and Israel is toast.</p><p>This is not theoretical geopolitics. If Israel cannot operate in Syria, Iran and Hezbollah will become entrenched there and will use it as a base to harass and kill Israelis. If Russia does not allow Israel to operate in Syria, and/or does not coordinate with it, Israeli pilots and other soldiers will have a much tougher job and be at much more risk as they attempt to defend the north.</p><p>The importance of Israel's need to manuever in Syria becomes magnified if the reports of the resuscitation of the Iranian nuclear deal prove true. The deal, negotiated by nations outside the region, will reportedly do nothing to impede Iran's ability to support terrorism, to destabilize other nations, and perhaps to slow Iran's development of ballistic missles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. It will undoubtedly put more funds at Iran's disposal.</p><p>There is another risk: About 200,000 Jews live in Russia. While times have been relatively good as of late, Russia and many Russians have a deep, historic "tradition" of vicious, often violent anti-Semitism. While it may not be the overriding factor, Israeli leaders are always mindful of the jeopardy that Diaspora Jews may be in as a result of Israel's foreign policies.</p><p>The question is if the upside of an explicit condemnation by Prime Minister Bennett and the comparatively small amount of military aid it could contribute outweigh these real, potentially deadly risks.</p><p>Many of the people in the West who think Israel should say and do more despite the life-and-death risks that may result live in countries, including ones in Europe, that will not commit their soldiers to fight for Ukraine. They will not even establish a no-fly zone. And yet they would have Israel make statements that could very well have deadly consequences for Israel. It seems just a bit hypocritical.</p><p>Ironically, President Zelensky asked Israel to host and mediate peace talks because he is of the view is that Israel is one of the few countries that has decent relations with both Russia and Ukraine. Putin rejected the idea.</p><p>While Zelensky's proposal was is flattering and shows the value of Israel's relationship with Russia, Putin's rejection was probably a good thing. Bennett and Lapid have enough trouble mediating between their coalition partners. It's doubtful they needed additional work.</p><p> (Originally published in The Times of Israel)</p>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-28768437572363535162022-02-25T06:02:00.000+02:002022-02-25T06:02:41.163+02:00Ukraine, Israel, and the nuclear bomb<p>Virtually every democratic leader has declared Putin's invasion of Ukraine an unadulterated, unjustified attack of a tyrant against a free and independent country. They have declared that such aggression cannot stand, that might does not make right.</p><p>President Biden stated that "America stands up to bullies. America stands up for freedom."</p><p>Retired General Petreaus has called Putin's actions "An assault on democracy."</p><p>What is the response of the free democratic world to this naked aggression? To this violation of sacred sovereignty? How does America and its allies stand up to bullies? How do they stand up for freedom?</p><p>Apparently, by imposing some financial penalties. But not by meeting military aggression with military might.</p><p>The minute the Biden Administration and NATO made it clear that NATO would not use military means to defend Ukraine, they assured that Putin would move against Ukraine and, if not stopped, ultimately against other nations. His history bears this out. The history of dictatorial tyrants bears it out.</p><p>Why have America and its allies not stood up militarily for Ukraine. I have heard two reasons: 1) Americans and Europeans are tired of endless wars. 2) Ukraine is not part of NATO.</p><p>The answers: 1) Anyone who thinks allowing this invasion to proceed without a military counter by democracies will prevent future fighting that will involve the U.S. and NATO is living in a fantasy land. They obviously do not read history.</p><span></span><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2022/02/ukraine-israel-and-nuclear-bomb.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-36252407946914396772021-12-12T22:42:00.000+02:002021-12-12T22:42:45.924+02:00The Kotel: The deal that wouldn't happen<p> Just after Prime Minister Bennett and other members of his government repeated what has become a mantra for them—how Israel is for all Jews, how they want all streams of Judaism to feel welcome, equal and appreciated, etc. etc.—and not long after pledging once again that they would pass the long-delayed Kotel agreement negotiated during Prime Minister Netanyahu’s tenure, a deal Netanyahu reneged on under pressure, the Bennett government demonstrated a similar modicum of backbone when it comes to keeping its pledges and backing up its lovely words about Israel’s approach to non-Orthodox Diaspora Jews: It announced that it was breaking its pledge.</p><p>Bennett and several of his coalition partners, as well as President Herzog, have put relations with Diaspora Jewry, and particularly with American Jewry, at the top of their stated priority list. If they do not already know, they will soon learn what anyone familiar with non-Orthodox American Jews knows: that for a large majority of the 90% of American Jews who are not Orthodox, feeling that they are not treated as equals by Israel will forever be an obstacle to them identifying with and feeling as close as they might to Israel.</p><p>To a great majority of that majority, the Kotel represents a tangible and visible sign of the lack of equal treatment and equal status. While they may not visit Israel often, and while many never visit, for those that do come the Kotel is at the top of their list, and it is often among the most meaningful and emotional stops on their visit.</p><p>In case someone is tempted to disregard these Jews as alienated malcontent lefties marching with IfNotNow as they shout anti-Zionist slogans, I suggest counting the number of AIPAC conference attendees not wearing kippot. On second thought, it will be easier to count those wearing kipot.</p><p>I’ve spent a decent number of hours explaining to Israelis why the Kotel, a wall seldom if ever visited by a great number of American Jews, located in a country seldom if ever visited by them, is such a lightening rod, such an important symbol of acceptance, equality, and appreciation to those Jews.</p><p>As mentioned above, the Kotel and, specifically, the Kotel deal, has become a symbol of how Israel looks upon and treats non-Orthodox Jews. And, for those Jews who look further, the problems they see with the symbol reflect reality: rabbis not recognized, marriages not recognized, funding not equal by a long shot. And the list goes on.</p><p>I’ve spent an equal number of hours explaining to American Jews why, despite the fact that there are so many non-Orthodox “secular” Israelis (a very misleading term—see Shmuel Rosner and Camil Fuch’s “#IsraeliJudaism: Portrait of a Cultural Revolution” for a picture of how Israelis do their Judaism), they are not demonstrating about and voting on this issue.</p><p>For most of these non-Orthodox Israelis, it is an occasional irritant: weddings, divorces, and death. Security, education, economics, transportation are the issues that stare them in the face daily. Many of them seldom if ever visit the Kotel, viewing it as an Orthodox synagogue.</p><span></span><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2021/12/the-kotel-deal-that-wouldnt-happen.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-31500485228155745502021-10-29T14:55:00.006+03:002021-11-02T05:58:53.858+02:00Their house burning, American Jews take a hose to Israel?<p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px;">A relative (I’ll call her Melanie) recently asked me what I thought about a notice from her Reform Synagogue in the Western U.S. announcing a program exploring the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. The program promised to hear all voices, get new perspectives, not place blame, discover creative solutions, and other well-intentioned platitudes comfortingly explored thousands of miles away from the scene.</span></p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">After responding to Melanie’s question with some platitudes of my own about the benefits of gaining more knowledge and hearing from a variety of perspectives, as well as something about the need to understand history and context, I then wrote much more than Melanie asked for:</p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">On a more general note, the program raised something I have been thinking a lot about lately: When we first started coming to Israel frequently, I would often bring up my concerns about how Israel related to and was perceived by the American Jewish community. I did this because I recognize the importance of that community to Israel and to the future of the Jewish people.</p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Many of the Israelis I met, including people who made Aliyah from the U.S. and other countries years ago, would often just shrug in seeming resignation, or they would make some dismissive comment.</p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">They seemed to be resigned to American Jews having problems with and not understanding Israel, and to being unable to convince American Jews of Israel’s positions and concerns. Some even seemed to be contemptuous of the American Jews expressing their concerns about Israel’s actions or positions. I could not understand how they could be so dismissive.</p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Now, after having lived here in Israel a good part of the last decade, I am more understanding. People living here, including me, my wife, and our daughter, have dealt with periodic wars, taking shelter from missiles, sending kids off to battle, cars and trucks driving into bus stops, knifings, and other life-threatening and certainly traumatic events.</p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In between these “incidents,” people here are living lives just like others in the world: Putting kids through school, dealing with elderly parents, fighting traffic, doing their jobs, trying to afford apartments, shopping for groceries, complaining about prices, enjoying good wine, booking weekends at hotels, listening to music, dealing with Covid, and even, occasionally, arguing and complaining about politics.</p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">They live in a country which, like many other countries, has challenges and things to complain about. But, overall, given the history of the country and the neighborhood we are in, Israelis live in a rich, resourceful, fun, rewarding, meaningful country. They (or we) have much to be proud of.</p><span></span><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2021/10/their-house-burning-american-jews-take.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-31633308029891017022021-07-20T01:45:00.000+03:002021-07-20T01:45:33.523+03:00My arteries and the territories--The Ben & Jerry's boycott<p>While my arteries may be happy, it pains me to say this: I will be boycotting Ben & Jerry's and, to the extent I can keep track of their myriad holdings, the ice cream company's parent company, Unilever. I will be urging others to do the same. (Ben & Jerry's is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unilever. In an unusual arrangement, Ben & Jerry's is run by its own "independent" board.)</p><p><a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/ben-jerrys-says-it-will-end-sales-in-occupied-palestinian-territory/">Ben & Jerry's announced that it is boycotting </a>the "Occupied Palestinian Territories." It's announcement is vague and confusing, which probably reflects the lack of in-depth knowledge and the confusion of those making this ill-advised decision.</p><p>Does the announcement apply to every inch of the land beyond the 1949 armistice lines, including Jewish neighborhoods and communities that, until the Obama Administration referred to everything beyond those lines as "settlements," everyone, including the Palestinian Authority, understood would be included in Israel under any two-state agreement?</p><p>Does it include Jerusalem neighborhoods to the north and south of the city center that straddle the "Green Line" and that were established to provide a buffer after travelers on the road into Jerusalem were constantly harassed and bombarded by Jordanian forces when they controlled the hilltops surrounding the narrow corridor pre-1967?</p><p>Does it include Gaza, the territory Israel withdrew from in 2005 but which the anti-Israel/pro-boycott choirs now applauding still refer to as "occupied?"</p><p>Does it refer to all of eastern Jerusalem, or just the shops and apartments with mezuzahs?</p><p>Does it mean that the shops in that part of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tor that are on the west side of the 1949 armistice lines (which no one recognized as a final border) go on selling Ben & Jerry's while those on the east side of the line do not? Same question regarding Beit Safafa and Talpiot and a host of other neighborhoods.</p><p>If so, watch out for a Saturday night stampede. Funny--I can continue to buy my car tires in Beit Safafa, but not my Ben & Jerry's sugar rush.</p><p>Does it mean that all of the Palestinian neighborhoods, towns and shops, and millions of Palestinians, the great majority of whom are under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, will no longer be able to buy Chubby Hubby and Chunky Monkey?</p><span></span><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2021/07/my-arteries-and-territories-ben-jerrys.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-71893489345203749192021-06-16T15:46:00.000+03:002021-06-16T15:46:10.685+03:00The election: relief, hope, and realism<p> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px;">Friends keep asking: How do you feel? What do you think?</span></p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Me: I feel relief. I’ve got some hope. I’m sober and realistic.</p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Relief:</p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">That Bibi Netanyahu is no longer Prime Minister. Despite what many in liberal quarters think, he did some good things. He kept Israel relatively safe. He resisted pressure and temptation when Israel could have acted militarily more aggressively and, perhaps, recklessly. He made diplomatic inroads around the world. He solidified Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He kept Israel economically healthy and vibrant. He vanquished a deathly virus.</p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He even was the first right-wing Prime Minister to say, albeit with not unreasonable caveats, that Israel would accept a two-state solution. Yes, he later backed away from that for political reasons. But, if the Palestinians had grabbed the opening and worked to build a state, Netanyahu may have had no opportunity or reason to back away from his statement.</p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Despite that record, Netanyahu could not put together a 61 member coalition over the course of four elections in two years. Why?</p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Because he became poison. He became destructive. He alienated allies who he felt might compete for leadership of Likud. He broke promises left and right. He and his family began to think of themselves as entitled to the position. One post-election symptom of that feeling of entitlement: they apparently don’t have plans to immediately vacate the Prime Minister’s residence.</p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Politicians who largely agree with his policies refused to join a coalition with him because he either lied to them, excluded them, or plotted against them. They opted for the “change” coalition despite serious ideological differences with several of its members.</p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Indicted for serious crimes from trading government policy for favorable press treatment to just feeling entitled to receive expensive wine and cigars, he attacked law enforcement and the judiciary, including his own appointees. He attacked the institutions of a democratic and free society. At the very end he wasn’t even original, throwing about completely bogus charges of election fraud and the deep state.</p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He made alliances with or appointed unqualified lackeys to important positions, several of whom have been indicted or are under investigation for various crimes. He held up budgets so as to invalidate an agreement to transfer the prime ministership to a colleague as promised. In the interest of staying in power, he legitimized racist individuals and parties long persona non grata in Israel’s politics and society.</p><p style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Knesset session during which the new government was elected illustrates the level of conduct to which Netanyahu’s supporters and associates stooped. Rather than respectfully listen to the speech by the soon-to-be elected Naftali Bennett, they deliberately disrupted the proceedings, interrupting repeatedly with demeaning and disturbing charges.</p><span></span><a href="http://www.edelsteinrandomthoughts.com/2021/06/the-election-relief-hope-and-realism.html#more"></a>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-72149330479034990522021-05-21T17:51:00.002+03:002021-05-21T23:23:22.238+03:00Musings and questions <p>Now that we have a ceasefire, I've just been thinking. So far, I've come up with this:</p><p>If Israel's (and Egypt's) "siege" on Gaza has been so airtight, how the hell did Hamas get 4,000 missiles, or the materials and machinery to make them, as well as the weaponry needed to shoot them? And, as a friend asked me, if Netanyahu is so good on security, how did he let that happen?</p><p>If the AP has such reliable and thorough reporters, how did they not know that there were Hamas operations in their building? Pretty much everybody else knew.</p><p>If AP, CNN, seemingly millions of others, and/or you are in a fit over Israel destroying a building (!) after giving an hour's notice (!) to get out but fail to mention that 4,000 missiles are being fired at innocent kids, women, and men, there is a moral screw loose somewhere.</p><p>"Proportionality" has got to be the most misused word in the English language right now. Contrary to what John Oliver and Bernie Sanders might think, it does not mean that an equal number of Jews (and their fellow Arab Israeli citizens) must be injured or killed.</p><p>It also does not mean that Israel has to use the same amount of force as Hamas. (e.g. see the U.S. v. Taliban in Afghanistan or the Allies v. Dresden in WWII). It means there must be a legitimate military objective and that the force must be appropriate to achieving the objective.</p><p>While the Sheikh Jarrah dispute and the Damascus Gate and Al-Aqsa Mosque tensions were an opportunity that Hamas exploited, they were not the reason Hamas started the war. They were a pretense. But assuming they were the cause, and assuming the commonly misused definition of proportionality, how the hell do those issues justify 4,000 missiles fired at civilians??!!</p><p>The war was used by many American leftists to attack Israel's very existence. According to them, we are a bunch of people who, without any connection to the land, recently randomly decided to settle in the only place in the Middle East (about one and a half percent of the total land mass) without water, oil, or much else, and we proceeded to kick all of the natives out.</p><p>Never mind that Jews have a connection to Israel, and a continuous presence, going back thousands of years. Never mind that there are 1.9 million Israeli Arabs living within the 1948 armistice lines and millions more in the territories captured in 1967. And never mind that about 45% of Israel's Jews are from Arab nations, many of them or their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, having been among the 850,000 Jews forced to leave Arab nations in 1948.</p><p>But, let's assume that we all just got over here in the last few years. Do these people berating us as colonial usurpers with no ties to the land realize that many Israelis have been here longer than many of their families, have been in North America, a land to which their families have exactly zero ancestral ties?</p><p>Many Israeli families have been here 80 or 90 or 100 years. How many of the families of the critics came to America prior to 1920? The family of Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who happens to speak fluent Arabic, has been in Jerusalem since 1809. How many families of those characterizing Israel as a bunch of interlopers have been in the New World since 1809?</p><p>And, by the way, do those geniuses think that North America was just a depopulated barren wasteland when their families arrived? Do the names Pontiac, Seattle, Malibu, Manhattan, Miami, Mississippi, and Chicago just come from a screwed-up game of Scrabble? Did American sports teams just dream up offensive names?</p><p>And then there was President Polk's little escapade into Mexico.</p><p>Are these ignorant, hypocritical critics of our oppressive colonial usurper regime packing up and going back to Europe anytime soon?</p><p>And, can somebody tell me when the far left became anti-immigrant? Or does that only apply to Jews immigrating to their ancestral homeland?</p><p>Just some thoughts that come to mind.</p><p>(Originally published in The Times of Israel)</p><p> </p>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411958894593823280.post-11572700677397744292021-05-18T14:30:00.002+03:002021-05-18T15:21:20.890+03:00Remember this moment<p> A few years ago I was a guest at a meeting in the U.S. of some lay and professional Jewish community leaders. In some concluding remarks, the chairwoman of the meeting made a passing comment about how the Israeli government paid no mind to the opinions and sensitivities of the American Jewish community, and that hopefully someday it will.</p><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto">Most of the attendees either nodded their heads in silent agreement or did nothing at all. No one objected.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">While no fan of the then-current Israeli government, or of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, I nonetheless could not let this off-the-cuff, almost flippant comment go by. As the chair was about to close the meeting, I raised my hand and said "excuse me." I then went onto say something like this:</div></div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">"This is a two-way street. While American Jews may feel that Israelis are insensitive to them and ignore their views, Israelis have similar feelings. They feel American Jews are not there for them when it really counts. Two examples:</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">"1) During the Second Intifada that started in 2000, after Arafat's rejection of the Clinton/Barak proposals for a Palestinian state and the resort to violence, American Jews were a rare site in Israel. The busloads of Christians kept coming, but the Jews? To the Bahamas and Hawaii, one might speculate. Certainly not to Israel.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">"2) Israelis saw the Iran deal as an existential threat. Yes, Prime Minister Netanyahu was the face of the opposition to the world, and, yes, one can certainly argue with his approach. But the view that the deal presented a serious, life-and-death threat to Israelis and their children was a position held across the political spectrum.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">"Israelis were up against a popular American President, President Obama, whose Administration resorted to less than admirable strategies to paint those opposing the deal as warmongers. On occasion, they hearkened back to thinly disguised, old tropes used against Jews for centuries.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">"Where did most American Jews come down? With President Obama, not Israel. From the perspective of many Israelis, these two incidents told them American Jews are fair-weather friends. When the going gets rough, American Jews aren't there."</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">The meeting adjourned. I saw one or two faces with indicating appreciation, nodding understanding. </div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">The rest: silence.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">Here in Jerusalem we can see the demonstrations in the U.S. by those that would love for Israel to disappear. But we do not see the demonstrations of years gone by, of proud, public, unafraid Jews in places like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">Yes, there are a few brave, lonely, determined voices. But nothing organized by the major American Jewish organizations. Nothing like the tens and hundreds of thousands of years gone by.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">It seems like American Jews have become timid, without confidence, when it comes to supporting the only Jewish-majority nation in the world, a nation that has its challenges and that makes mistakes, but that has been miraculous in what it has accomplished and, under extraordinarily trying conditions, is generous in its conduct towards its enemies.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">A nation that seeks peace but refuses to not defend itself in the face of rampant aggression against its people. A country that changed the perception of all Jews in the world, and that made Jews strong and proud.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">In the face of that nation suffering over 3,100 missiles fired at its civilian population, a population that would have been devastated but for its defensive systems and its shelters, American Jews are, as my former rabbi in Sacramento put it, <a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-jews-of-silence-a-message-to-americas-jews/">the Jews of silence</a>. </div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">We've seen this movie before. We saw the Pittsburgh Platform, wherein the budding Reform Movement rejected Zionism and the concept of the Jews as a nation and asserted that Judaism was simply another religion whose adherents would meld comfortably into the countries of which they were citizens, in this case the United States, the Promised Land, the Golden Medina.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">We saw the timid, silent American Jews of the 1930's and 1940's, those that counseled against demanding strong measures to rescue the condemned, to not rock the boat, to not pressure, all out of fear of irritating the Roosevelt Administration and of calling into question their loyalties.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">We saw major American Jewish organizations and so-called leaders of the American Jewish community cringe and criticize as Hillel Kook (a.k.a. Peter Bergson, Revisionist Israeli leader) who organized loud and very public rallies and marches and pageants demanding American action aimed at saving Europe's Jews, to little avail.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">We saw the early days of the Soviet Jewry Movement, when the Jewish "establishment" warned that protestors were upsetting the Nixon Administration's rapprochement with the Soviet dictators, assured us that they knew how to get the job done quietly and diplomatically, when in reality they were fearful of being charged with putting Jews before America and with losing their invitations to Washington dinner parties.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">We know who in these instances have been judged heroic and who have been judged cowardly. We know who we now admire and who we do not respect.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">We know who stood proudly when the lives and limbs of their brothers and sisters were under dire threat, and who were concerned for their status with those they look to in the general community for acceptance and legitimacy.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">American Jews and American Jewish organizations will not be proud of this moment in Jewish history or in Israel-American Jewish relations.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">The next time American Jews complain that Israelis are not considering their feelings and taking into account their opinions and needs, remember this moment. Be assured that Israelis will.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">(Originally published in The Times of Israel)</div><div dir="auto"> </div>Alan Edelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291102902419614285noreply@blogger.com13