Pro-Israel Neo-Nazis?

From the file of “WTF” comes a story with the perfect definition of contradiction. As you may have already read out there in the webosphere, there is a new group out of Germany calling itself the “National Socialists For Israel.” (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/990228.html The link on the name takes you to their homepage, which is mostly in German. Read the second link for a brief summary.)

Seriously? Well, the members have yet to publicly declare themselves and hide behind the anonymity of their website, fueling speculation this may simply be a German leftist plot to simply stir things up. You can read plenty about this elsewhere on the web, but what I want to focus on is the underlining nature of such support, if it reveals itself as legitimate, not just to Israel and the Jewish people, but universally.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” This ancient Arab and/or Chinese proverb has not only shown up in both the Hebrew and Christian bibles in similar form (Exodus, Chapter 23:22), but has also served as foreign policy and even business guidelines for the modern era. We’ve all taken it with a grain of salt for the most part, but something this ideologically converse in such tangible measures really forces us to ask the question, is the enemy of my enemy my friend? In short, would this group prove to be a true and honest effort on behalf of the organizers and members, should we willingly accept and embrace their support?

This reminds me of the outpouring of support from the religious right, especially following the 1994 “Republican Revolution,” for Israel. The question then, as it remains to this day, is should Israel and the Jewish community accept the support considering the motives behind the support? Evangelicals support Israel not for Israel’s sake, not out of an altruistic love of freedom and democracy in a sweltering pot of Muslim despotism, but rather for their own religious beliefs and hopes. Beliefs, I remind you, that the “Second Coming” of Jesus will happen only when the “Ingathering’ of Jews to Israel takes place (See Pat Robertson, among others).

Are we really all enemies? Of course not. Are we completely in line with each other’s motivations and beliefs? Obviously not. So, where does the acceptance of support end? Should it end with Neo-Nazis, and their support for Israel based on Social Darwinian precepts and espoused eugenic rationalization?

As a child I was taught you say a lot about yourself by the company you keep. Although good advice for our personal lives, we also need to view our political beliefs in similar reference. As a Zionist can I and should I accept support from a group who bases its support for Israel on a dogma that completely and wholeheartedly disgusts me?

I’ve struggled with this for years when considering the evangelical support. I like the ADL’s response, in form of an article by Abraham Foxman, in which he states we should accept evangelical support, but only in accordance with holding to our principles and faith and, in such, that we do not offer a quid pro quo, nor are asked for one. I humbly embrace the evangelical support for Israel and do so with the expectation that although our basis for doing so is different, both come from a genuine and well intentioned origin.

As for the “National Socialists For Israel,” well, as we continue to wait for the true identities of the organizers and something more than a website and some bumper stickers, I will, at this time, have to decline your support for my beloved Israel. I cannot, in good conscience, accept support based on Social Darwinism and pseudo-eugenics, the ideas of which were used in Hitler’s Nazi Germany as a means of justification for the genocide of the Shoah. Yes we are a people of few numbers and perhaps should welcome support from wherever it comes from, but in order to be the People of the Book, the people we are and the ones we aspire to be, we must chose our friends wisely and distance ourselves from this organization.

Your thoughts?

Jobless claims and the virgin theft

Just a quick one, but I simply had to comment. It was announced that jobless claims have hit a 16-year high (Mmm… 16 years ago who became President?) and those continuing on the roles and receiving benefits is near a 26-year high (Mmm… who was Prez in 1982?). Interesting facts that I expect we will see get worse before they get better. Expect an absolutely brutal December… and get ready to invest in some real gems on Wall Street come January. This downturn is going to produce an awful lot of millionaires 10 years from now.

But on the heels of this news comes, well, what I hope is NOT something we will see more of. In Newport Beach , California last Friday, a ~5-foot bronze statue of the Virgin Mary was stolen from Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church. The thieves had to bust the statue out of the cement base and carry off this not-so-light 5-foot virgin. How heavy? Well, at 550 pounds per cubic foot, I’d have to say she was a hollow statue, and would still weigh in the thousands of pounds.

So what’s the connection between jobless claims and the statue theft? Well, investigators believe the statue was stolen simply for its recycling scrap metal value. At about $1 per pound, that’s an awful lot of work for a few bucks.

60 days until we remove the virus known as “W” from our body politic.

“Goodwill” gestures? Tell that to Gilad Schalit

Question: when was the last time an Arab country did anything to demonstrate “goodwill” towards Israel?

Just ponder that question a while.

This week it was announced that Israel plans to release 250 Palestinian prisoners in a “goodwill” gesture toward Fatah leader and PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas prior to next month’s Muslim celebration of the Eid al-Adha feast.

Israel last freed Palestinian prisoners on Aug. 25, 2008, during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Rice was visiting to help push peace talks along between the two sides. At the time, the release of the 198 prisoners was billed as a way to bolster Abbas, whom the U.S. and Israel see as the best chance for a peaceful solution from the Palestinian side.

Prior to that, Israel freed five Hezbollah militants and 200 bodies of terrorists on July 16th, 2008 as part of a deal in which they received the bodies of two soldiers, Sgt. First Class Ehud Goldwasser and Staff Sgt. Eldad Regev, captured and killed by Hezbollah in 2006. One of the five militants released was Samir Kantar, who had been serving multiple life terms in Israel for a grisly 1979 attack in which, among other atrocities, he executed 28-year-old Danny Haran in front of his 4-year-old daughter just before smashing her skull in with the butt of his gun.

Through all this, Staff Sargent Gilad Schalit has remained a prisoner within the Gaza Strip. Since June 25th, 2006 Gilad has been used by the Palestinians as a negotiating piece. They’ve gone as far as agreeing to a prisoner swap in October of 2006 as mediated by Egypt, but then reneged without explanation. It is speculated that Iran applied pressure to prevent the release of Shalit.

"Since Gilad was captured, more than two years ago, Israel has released approximately one thousand Palestinian prisoners, in several goodwill gestures. But these gestures have not pushed Gilad's release even by a millimeter, and have even increased the appetite of Hamas and its demands," Noam Schalit, Gilad’s father, said.

During his entire captivity, Gilad has been refused even basic rights provided by the Geneva Convention and other such treaties. He’s even been denied access to the Red Cross or any other human rights organization.
To see a full timeline of Gilad’s kidnapping and imprisonment go to: http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/c.hsJPK0PIJpH/b.672631/apps/s/content.asp?ct=4007269

So I ask you again, when was the last “goodwill” gesture from the Arab world towards Israel? I can’t come up with one and I question Israel’s constant appeal to these types of gestures as a naïve way forward in peace talks. It’s clear Israelis place a higher value on the dead bodies of their fallen comrades than Arabs do of their living ones. So why does Israel keep trying to offer something of clearly little value to them for something we hold dearly?

The time is up and we must get serious about securing Gilad Shalit’s release. In addition, we can no longer afford, nor tollorate these one-sided trades or “goodwill” gestures. It’s time the other side bellies up to the table and gets serious about the peace process. Releasing Gilad would be a step in the right direction.

Change has come to America

“Change has come to America.” -- Barack Obama

Is it wrong for me to say I told you so? Honestly, I don’t care. President elect Obama took Ohio and won. I told you back in August if Obama took Ohio or Florida then he’d win hands down. As of 9pm central time I felt the pressure lifted. My shoulders relaxed, my eyes grew less tense, and I enjoyed watching the rest of the people continue to stress out. I knew though; I knew as soon as Ohio was called by Fox News that McCain was doomed to fail. It was simply an insurmountable mountain for him to climb to achieve the magic 270.

So now what? Now, we revel in the glorious change we have ahead. Not what you think I mean, but the fact that once again we have proven we are in the greatest nation on earth. We have, as we have 44 times before, peacefully changed our head of state by means of a democratic decision. For over 200 years we’ve handed the mantel of power from man-to-man, from generation-to-generation. Amazing when you think of how much blood has been spilt as power has transitioned over the last 200 years in other countries around the world.

And now, we must do as John McCain said. We must join together, as Americans, to make this country the best it can be. We’ve failed at that over the last 8 years, perhaps even more. Let’s take this time to dedicate ourselves to making America the land of opportunity, land of liberty and the land of freedom; together as Americans.

"My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on Earth enjoy!" -- Thomas Jefferson