THERE’S A BIG FLAP in Israel and in the U.S. over a remark Israel’s deputy Foreign Minister made about American Jews.
According to two news sites, she said that U.S. Jews have "convenient lives. They don't know how it feels to be attacked by rockets."
Unless an American Jew has lived – not just visited, but LIVED – in Israel, her remarks are 100 percent accurate.
Meanwhile, wishy-washy Bebe Natanyahu severely admonished Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely for making offensive and trivializing remarks about U.S. Jews in a television interview.
IT SEEMS THE JEWS Ms. Hotovely so insulted are non-observant Conservative and Reform. Admittedly, while the so-called “Orthodox” population is growing, non-observant Jews far outnumber those who are observant. These people, collectively, provide Israel with a large percentage of its foreign currency.
Hotovely does have support among at least one U.S. Jewish organization.
The Coalition for Jewish Values on Thursday expressed support for Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud), following a backlash against statements she made during an interview on i24 Wednesday about the relationship between Israel and the American Jewish community.
In Israel, the unrealists harangue Hotovely even in the one Israeli newspaper that is not solidly liberal/left.
Israel HaYom’s Sunday (26 Nov 17) e-edition includes an opinion piece by Yoav Limor who opines that
Hotovely's remarks displayed a combination of ignorance and lack of judgment. A quick review of the subject would have made Hotovely aware that many American Jews have served and continue to serve in the U.S. military, and that quite a few have been decorated. Over half a million American Jews served in the military in World War II. Today, over 100,000 Jews do so, some in senior positions. Thousands of American Jews have been killed in active service.
Hotovely also did direct damage to Israel with her comments. This is not just because thousands of Americans serve in the Israel Defense Forces at any given time, but because those who want the support, financial and otherwise, of American Jews should be willing to listen to their opinions on every subject. And as for Hotovely's claim that American Jews do not understand the situation in Israel because they do not have missiles falling on them, one could say the same about Hotovely. As someone who lives in Rehovot, she has no idea what the children in the Gaza border communities and near Israel's northern border must endure.
The “American Jews” who Hotovely criticized (a) don’t serve in the U.S. military and (b) don’t send their sons and daughters to live in Israel and certainly do not send their sons and daughters to the IDF.
Limor’s remark that As someone who lives in Rehovot, she has no idea what the children in the Gaza border communities and near Israel's northern border must endure. That is an assumption based on his own opinion of the minister; unless he lives with her and knows her every thought, how COULD he know what she thinks.
Hotovely's opinion of American Jews – and it was NOT a blanket statement despite what her detractors would have everyone think – is based on the American Jews’ statements to the media. Altough not all Conservative and Reform Jews are leftists, a majority are, and the majority DOES rule. Observant Jews, among the European Jews this translates to “Orthodox” Jews, largely support Israel, even if they have second thoughts about its prime minister and his knesset, a knesset that tolerates members who actively work to destroy Israel.
Limor contends that Hotovely (and by extension, all Israels in and out of government) should be willing to listen to their (American Jews’) opinions on every subject. Listening is one thing, kow-towing to American Jews who have zero first hand knowledge of life in Israel other than perhaps a brief visit to Tel Aviv – and not South Tel Aviv, mind you. This willingness to listen applies as well to the U.S. government; listening never should be considered doing what America wants at Israel’s expense. (Should the U.S. government listen to Israelis and do as Israelis tell them? That makes as much sense as the other way around.)
Limor remarked that Hotovely said American Jews do not understand the situation in Israel because they do not have missiles falling on them. I wonder, how many American Jews have had rockets fall on or near them except those of us who have lived and worked in Israel. (I had that “pleasure” when I lived in Zefat.) Has anyone heard of rockets falling on Jews in Manhattan, Los Angeles, or even south Florida? Terrorists’ bombs, certainly; that we share with Israelis, but the last rockets to fall on Americans fired by a foreign power where during the War of 1814 (when Francis Scott Key wrote the impossible-to-sing song that became the U.S.’ national anthem).
Limor is entitled to his opinion, but in typical liberal fashion, he missed the mark on reality. It is unfortunate that the editors of Israel HaYom’s e-edition failed to include any credentials for Limor. Is/was he an American? Is he an observant Jew? What are the sources for his claims about American Jews.
Finally, I’d like to know what relevance the number of Jews fighting against the Axis in World Wars 1 and 2 has to do with Jews today. Today, most Jews, even observant ones, are discouraged from joining the U.S. military, although there are those of us to did join and serve. (In times of danger, not before … thus it has been since at least the 1600s; see http://www.bartleby.com/73/1731.html .)
Finally, Limor ends up his misguided opinion piece with Hotovely's comments indicate she is not fit for the role of deputy foreign minister. While most of those involved in Israeli politics are pyromaniacs, it would be wise to keep them as far away as possible from the tinderbox. Apparently he has never heard Henry Kissinger or John Kerry, U.S. secretaries of state who never had a problem chastising Israel for defending itself.
I suppose even an allegedly right-wing publication needs to have at least one leftist’s opinion to show balance – or in Limor’’s case, ignorance of reality.
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
