The Jordan Times is using a new approach to promote its anti-Israel agenda: the use of left-wing Jewish intellectuals on its op-ed pages. In a piece this week entitled "On helicopter gunships and Jewish moral responsibility," - Marc Ellis - billed as "Professor of American and Jewish studies and director of the Centre for American and Jewish Studies at Baylor University" roundly condemns Israel's retaliation against PLO and Hamas terrorist strongholds.
"With Israeli helicopter gunships firing into cities and towns in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and Tzachi Hanegbi, an Israeli cabinet minister in Ariel Sharon's new government, speculating about another war in the Middle East, American Jews are caught in a dilemma," writes Ellis. He does admit that American Jews fear that "Israel is under siege by a relentless terrorism that threatens to bring a second Holocaust to Jews in Israel." However, he then goes on to declare- without citing any surveys of American Jewish opinion since the outbreak of the PLO mini-war began last fall: "...the situation presents a dilemma...For over a century in Europe and America, Jews have taken pride in our ethical tradition. We have been leaders in social justice movements, from the struggle for civil rights...If there is such a thing as Jewish messianism in the contemporary world, it is found here, in the realm of human affairs, in broadening inclusion and struggling for the good..... This is why helicopter gunships firing into Palestinian population centers is so disconcerting and so difficult to come to grips with. What kind of search for justice or critical thinking would allow this reign of terror? How can such an articulate community shout pious slogans and turn a blind eye to the reality of a power that may, especially with Israel's nuclear arsenal, have no limits?"
Arutz Sheva's Ron Meir notes that Israel has been careful to pinpoint terrorist bases and offices, and not civilian population centers. "I'm also fascinated by Ellis' alarmist reference to Israel's nuclear capabilities," Meir remarked this week. "Israel's exercise of its right of self-defense against the Arab terrorist infrastructure hardly means that such operations will lead it to drop Atom bombs on Arab civilian populations! Israel's nuclear program was developed as a deterrent to hostile Arab states in the region."
What does Israel's retaliatory strikes against terrorist bases mean? asks Prof. Marc Ellis? "Israel has expanded its borders and its appetite for power, like any nation-state, has long since replaced its ethical claim for a place in the sun...As sure as the rockets fired from the air destroy, maim and murder property and life, they do likewise to the ethical tradition Jews have cultivated and suffered for."
"With Israeli helicopter gunships firing into cities and towns in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and Tzachi Hanegbi, an Israeli cabinet minister in Ariel Sharon's new government, speculating about another war in the Middle East, American Jews are caught in a dilemma," writes Ellis. He does admit that American Jews fear that "Israel is under siege by a relentless terrorism that threatens to bring a second Holocaust to Jews in Israel." However, he then goes on to declare- without citing any surveys of American Jewish opinion since the outbreak of the PLO mini-war began last fall: "...the situation presents a dilemma...For over a century in Europe and America, Jews have taken pride in our ethical tradition. We have been leaders in social justice movements, from the struggle for civil rights...If there is such a thing as Jewish messianism in the contemporary world, it is found here, in the realm of human affairs, in broadening inclusion and struggling for the good..... This is why helicopter gunships firing into Palestinian population centers is so disconcerting and so difficult to come to grips with. What kind of search for justice or critical thinking would allow this reign of terror? How can such an articulate community shout pious slogans and turn a blind eye to the reality of a power that may, especially with Israel's nuclear arsenal, have no limits?"
Arutz Sheva's Ron Meir notes that Israel has been careful to pinpoint terrorist bases and offices, and not civilian population centers. "I'm also fascinated by Ellis' alarmist reference to Israel's nuclear capabilities," Meir remarked this week. "Israel's exercise of its right of self-defense against the Arab terrorist infrastructure hardly means that such operations will lead it to drop Atom bombs on Arab civilian populations! Israel's nuclear program was developed as a deterrent to hostile Arab states in the region."
What does Israel's retaliatory strikes against terrorist bases mean? asks Prof. Marc Ellis? "Israel has expanded its borders and its appetite for power, like any nation-state, has long since replaced its ethical claim for a place in the sun...As sure as the rockets fired from the air destroy, maim and murder property and life, they do likewise to the ethical tradition Jews have cultivated and suffered for."