IT'S THE BOMB!

By Alan Edelstein

In my October 20 post, I wrote about how the latest thing amongst some in the American Jewish community is to spend inordinate amounts of time discussing and debating what it means to "support" Israel and, in the course of twisting and turning, to conclude that "support" can mean lots of things that are anything but.

It seems that the appetite for this seemingly endless discussion is unabated.  Even someone at my own hometown Sacramento synagogue, Mosaic Law Congregation, long a bastion of the unabashedly pro-Israel crowd, with a lot of smart people who always seemed to know what supporting Israel meant, now seems to think the congregants need assistance on figuring out what it means.

It's upcoming program is entitled "How Best to Support Israel," and its publicity invites one to an "intriguing discussion on how best to support Israel at this challenging time in its history."  The organizer sent out an e-mail saying "'No one has a stronger voice in this than the American Jewish community.' So said Secretary of State John Carry [sic] in a speech to the American Jewish Committee, refereeing [sic] to the renewed peace negotiations." 

Really? Apparently Secretary Kerry and the organizer of the program forgot about the voices of the Israelis and Palestinians whose lives and futures are involved.

Just 15 minutes west in the university town of Davis, the Israel Matters Committee of the local Reform synagogue, Congregation Bet Haverim, seems to have figured the puzzle out with no discussion necessary.  They advertise that they are "beginning a year-long project to raise funds for portable bomb shelters in southern Israel--especially for kindergartens in Israeli communities along the Gaza border. In the last week alone, more than 15 rockets and mortars have been indiscriminately fired at southern Israeli men, women, and children."

How did the folks in Davis figure out this question of what "support" means so easily and quickly, while folks in Sacramento seem to be devoting countless hours to exploring the meaning of the word.  Could it be all of those PhD's? 

HERE, THERE. . . AND TRANSYLVANIA?

by Alan Edelstein

The garbage that is Jew-hatred is truly amazing.  It seems to be everywhere these days, and if the consequences of not taking it seriously had not proven so tragic over the centuries, it might actually be amusing.

First up is CNN International.  CNN International pretty much admits to being a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Arab world.  Many of its broadcasts announce up front that they are "in cooperation with" a company based in an Arab country, an Arab country's tourism or trade development office, or with the country directly.

The content of the network's broadcasts confirms the bonds.  The most glaring example is the weekly Marketplace Middle East program. Through this and other programs, CNN International focuses, or fixates, on the purportedly robust, free, creative, impressive, unbelievable businesses and business opportunities in the welcoming marketplace of the Middle East, particularly the Gulf States.

Somehow in all of the gushing regarding the Middle East's tremendous business environment, CNN International manages to completely ignore Israel.  This, despite the fact that Israel has become a hotbed of technology, start-ups, IPO's, and the like.  Think Waze and SodaStream.  Multiply by a lot.

Just about every hi-tech firm imaginable has bought an Israeli start-up or two or three and/or opened R&D centers here.  Think Google, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, and, just recently, Facebook.  Multiply. 

WORD GAMES

by Alan Edelstein
(originally published in The Times of Israel)

There are about 14 million Jews in the world.  My guess is that about nine or 10 million are not connected, not involved, or just otherwise busy, unless they are Israelis, in which case being Jewish means for most just living, paying taxes, working, raising kids, arguing about the country, and all the other mundane but important activities of daily life. 

So, by my figuring, that leaves about four or five million who are connected in some way or another.  For only four or five million people, we Jews seem to have more organizations, institutes, think tanks, museums, you-name-it, than anyone else in the world.  It wouldn't surprise me if every connected Jew could have his or her own organization. 

And we seem to study, think, discuss, and debate every angle of being Jewish that one can possibly imagine.  Just when I thought we had done all that are possible, a new one has popped up.  The latest craze in organizations and subjects is dedicated to discussing what you can discuss about Israel and still be "pro-Israel" or in "support" of Israel. That's right.  We Jews have to have a debate about what it is we are debating. 

My own hometown of Sacramento has gotten into the act.  First, there was a program on "Civil Discourse." Reports that I received indicate that it was basically a session stacked with anti-Israel folks saying that we should include them in our community conversations and that we should be nice when talking with them.

Dear Bashar. . .From Barack

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

Dear Bashar:

Hi.  I hope the family is doing well, given the circumstances.  We're doing fine.  The girls are growing into fine young ladies and Michelle, well, I'm sure you've seen those pictures of her in sleeveless dresses (is there any other kind?).  She keeps pumping iron and sure has the results to show for it.  I'm not bragging.  Just sayin'. 

I won't even ask how you are doing.  I know this isn't easy. You have sure created a mess.  I mean, really.  This is not what we expected at all.

 You went to medical school in England and became an opthamologist.  My God, we all thought you wanted to keep people healthy.  You married an upper-crust, refined woman raised in England, the product of the finest schools.  She seemed so interested in keeping people healthy and happy.  She bled on-screen for those poor kids of Gaza suffering at the boot of the Zionist entity.  Ha, ha, I'm guessing Gaza is looking like Club Med to most Syrians these days. 

So, we all thought you would never do what you're doing.  I mean, take John Kerry.  When old John was a senator, he spent more time meeting and eating and drinking with you than just about anybody else.  I couldn't turn on the TV without him popping up coming out of a meeting with you and declaring what a reformer you are.  Boy, those days sure seem like a long time ago now, don't they, Bashar?

BUSTIN' OUT

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

I have never had much sympathy for Jonathan Pollard. No matter that his actions were motivated by concern for Israel.  No matter that he leaked information to an American ally.  No matter that what he leaked should have been given to Israel in any event.

I don't generally feel that people who break pledges to their country deserve much sympathy or support and, despite the circumstances mentioned above, I have not felt that Pollard deserved the time and attention he has gotten from Israel and some leaders in world Jewry over the years.

However, in recent years it has become clear that Pollard has suffered a grave injustice of which Americans should be ashamed.  He made his plea based on assurances that were then disregarded by the judge.  We know that the Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger, out to make an example of Pollard and perhaps reaching to put an exclamation point on his repudiation of his Jewish heritage, grossly misled the court as to the supposed damage done by Pollard.

In recent years, former secretaries of state and other former State Department figures, former Justice Department officials, and many more public and private leaders from both parties have taken on Pollard's cause, arguing that he has suffered a miscarriage of justice and that his 28 years of imprisonment is far beyond what others convicted of similar crimes have served.  Some have characterized his further imprisonment as inhumane.

So, I came around to thinking that Pollard should be released.  Still, I have argued that Israel should not have to deal for him, to put it crassly.  Israel should not have to give up bargaining chips for him.  His release should not be a debit on Israel's account.

ABSURDITIES AND OTHER EVERYDAY OCCURRENCES

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

Life in the Middle East can truly be stranger than fiction.  Indeed, it often seems downright absurd.  Just a few recent examples:

Absurdity No. 1

The European Union is sinking in a mountain of debt and dysfunction.  It cannot bring itself to label Hezbollah a terrorist organization, despite years of blood and bodies that would seem to easily make the case.

But it had little trouble in mindlessly passing a directive that  its 28 member countries must boycott any part of Israel not within the 1949 armistice lines (often erroneously referred to as "1967 borders.") 

The ban, which takes effect on Friday, extends to “all funding, cooperation, and the granting of scholarships, research grants and prizes” to Israeli entities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, Haaretz reported on Tuesday.

The directive also requires that any contracts between EU member countries and Israel include a clause stating that East Jerusalem and the West Bank are not part of the State of Israel.

Apparently, as far as the EU is concerned, there is no need for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations regarding borders, despite the fact that the Oslo Accords left borders to negotiations.  The EU has decided  the outcome of the main issue.

Questions highlighting the absurdity of the directive come to mind:

Does the EU realize it has declared that the Western Wall is not part of Israel?

Does Germany stop paying reparations to an elderly Holocaust survivor if the funds are channeled through a social welfare agency with an office beyond the '49 lines?   What if the survivor receives therapy from a therapist who works with a health clinic with branches in Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the lines? 

Does Holland stop funding a health clinic in those Arab neighborhoods because it is owned or operated by Israeli Jews?  How about if it is owned by Israeli Arab doctors who are trying to assist their Palestinian brothers and sisters?

FATHER OF THE YEAR

I've been pretty jealous of two of my kids lately.  My daughter is traveling in South America for three -and-a-half months and is currently enjoying herself at a small, charming fishing village on the coast of Columbia.  One of my sons has been exploring various parts of the globe while on a five month sojourn from his job and is currently enjoying the sites, sounds, and tastes of Ho Chi Minh City. 

Both kids are paying their own way so I have no complaints, but I do have a good dose of envy.  Traveling at their age comes with a sense of adventure that is just not quite the same when you are in your early sixties. 

I've always thought that my wife and I gave the two travelers and their older brother a pretty good shot at a pretty good life, and they are living it.  However, I just recently learned about what one father in the region gave to his son.

I'm talking, of course, about the Emir of Qatar.  Just when I was thinking what a generous, giving dad I've been, that Emir guy ups and gives his 33 year old son a whole country!  You read that right.  The 61 year-old Emir apparently just got up one morning and said something like: "I'm done.  I don't need this country anymore.  Here, Emir, Jr., you take it.  It's your country now.  Have fun!"

Talk about a slam-dunk for Father of the Year. Talk about making me feel like a minor leaguer.

Yes, I thought I had given my kids a heck of a start: good education, good values, great vacations, solid support, new clothes, lots of used Subaru's, skis (used again, sorry), you name it.  But giving your kid a country?  It just never occurred to me.  If it had, .. .um, maybe, but I doubt it.  I mean, where the heck do you buy a country to give your kid?