Two headlines (heds) from the Jewish Press recently caught my attention:
Ethiopian-Israeli MK Slams Sterling in Letter to NBA’s Silver
and
To the Chagrin of Some Jews, Presbyterians Denounce Divestment – #BDSFail
To be honest, it was the photo and caption with the To the chagrin story that got me to read the article.
I HAVE A PROBLEM
I have a problem with out-of-towners putting in their two cents when no one has invited their opinions or interference.
When I lived in Israel I resented U.S. interference in Israeli politics. Although now - temporarily - back in the States, I still resent U.S. interference in Israeli politics. I suppose the U.S. feels it "owns" Israel since it sends a great deal of foreign aid to the country - in money and in goods for which Israel must pay in the dollars it just received from Washington. (In truth, Washington is using Israel to "launder" taxpayer money back to the U.S. defense establishment.)
I resent it when the U.S. government interferes in ANY country's affairs, especially countries outside what James Monroe termed the U.S.' sphere of influence - basically North and Central America and maybe parts of South America.
Cuba, to be sure, falls with Monroe's "sphere of influence," but Cuba is, and has been, controlled by Cubans, albeit often with a monetary allegiance to a distant land, yet we insist on once again (trying to) overthrow its government and pretend the island doesn't exist. The U.S. can make "peace" with Communist China with its military might and shoddy exports to the U.S., but it can't come to terms with a small, militarily weak island just miles off the Florida coast.
Back in the U.S. of A. I find myself resenting Yesh Atid MK Shimon Solomon pillorying LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling for the latter's alleged remarks.
Silver has issued an order preventing Sterling to have any contact with anyone or anything connected to the NBA - including the team franchise he owns - despite (a) no admission on Sterling's part of guilt and (b) no successful civil or criminal action against Sterling having taken place.
If Sterling did say what he is alleged to have said, and it he either admits he uttered the words or is found by a court to have uttered those words, then, perhaps Silver may have grounds for his actions.
But MK Solomon's pressure on U.S. citizens is out of line.
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US
Immediately beneath the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) article was a large photo with the caption Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb spearheaded the failed effort to boycott three U.S. companies doing business with Israel.
Later in the article, we read that " But the crown jewel of the BDS drive organizers, the Israel Palestine Mission Network, is their proud list of bone fida Jewish organizations and individuals who have made the economic strangling of Israel their highest goal.
Rebecca Vilkomerson, writing for Jewish Voice for Peace, celebrated the “biggest U.S. victory yet for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement,” as “over the objection of Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), pension giant TIAA-CREF’s Social Choice Funds have divested from Caterpillar.”
The reason TIAA-CREF, of which I am a member, divested Caterpillar has nothing to do with Cat's presence in Israel or elsewhere.
The article continues: Meanwhile, so-called Rabbis Margaret Holub, Brant Rosen, Alissa Wise, Julie Greenberg, Michael Feinberg, Michael Davis, Rachel Barenblatt, Lynn Gottleib, Laurie Zimmerman, Rebecca Alpert, Joseph Berman, David Mivasair, Borukh Goldberg, Meryl Crean, Howard A Cohen, Mordechai Liebling, Elizabeth Bolton, Everett Gendler, Michael Lerner, and Leonard Beerman, sent an “Open Letter to the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA)”:
"As Jewish leaders, we believe the Jewish Council on Public Affairs (JCPA) stance against church divestment does not represent the broader consensus of the American Jewish community. There is in fact a growing desire within the North American Jewish community to end our silence over Israel’s oppressive occupation of Palestine…
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, the woman in the photo at the top of the Jewish Press page, wrote in June that the reason for supporting the boycott on companies doing business in Israel is because Most Jews and Christians are not willing to go to Palestine to personally resist Israeli policies of land confiscation, home demolition, destruction of trees and property, military invasion, denial of freedom of movement, administrative detention or the arrest of children through nonviolent protest. Most Jews and Christians do not travel to Israel to work for an end to the blockade of Gaza and are not shot when they try to harvest their wheat or fish in the sea.
I would suggest that the Israeli government destroys more Jewish homes and fields that it does non-Jewish homes and fields. I would farther suggest that any military invasion comes only on the heels of repeated attacks on Jews by Moslems. As for Moslem children's "nonviolent" protests, that assumes rocks cannot injure and kill; that assumes "non-violence" includes threats to Israeli soldiers (one of which responded non-violently and was dismissed from his unit for taking too strong an action).
I'm reasonably sure that some of the Jews promoting BDS against Israel have visited Israel - probably on their way to Aza or the so-called "West Bank" - but I seriously doubt any have actually lived in Israel and faced the conditions Israelis - Jews and non-Jews alike - face in a daily basis. Live in Israel - as an Israeli for a year and see if the story stays the same.
Perhaps I should delete the sub-hed "We have met the enemy" and just continue with the "I have a problem" theme since these American anti-Israel pro-BDS Jews are trying to interfere in Israeli politics and the life of all Israelis and - to some extent - the people they pretend to support, the Arabs in Occupied Israel.
