A generation ago, at the height of our racial divide, a member of the Black Panthers, or some such group, accused the Jews of being most responsible for slavery. In that age of Radical Chic, the response came quick from a leading Jewish organization. In a nutshell: "We're sorry. We apologize. Yes, it's our fault."
I was convinced then, as I am now, that every Jewish organization has an official Office of Apology, for everything. You name it, it's our fault, and yes, we brought over those slaves, and they still work on my plantation. This apology, on behalf of all Jews, as I noted even back then, was Jewish guilt at its finest.
Amazingly, no Jewish group has yet apologized for the New York Yankees losing the World Series. But it's coming. (Malaysia: We also rule baseball.)
Nobody else apologizes. A minute ago, President Bush said that we kill terrorists in Iraq with pinpoint accuracy. Never a doubt that maybe, when we shoot into a crowd, we accidently hit innocent bystanders. As opposed to Vietnam, Iraq is a very clean war, not counting the pictures we get when our own truly heroic soldiers are killed. (These, too, are our Greatest Generation.)
But when we're in pursuit, it's pretty near blackout. We know nothing. Neither about Iraq or Afghanistan. The odds are enormously high that, in both those wars, we have killed hundreds, maybe thousands, by accident. But (correctly) we don't apologize. We don't allow cameras, so there's no reason to say we're sorry. (Remember the movie Love Story? "Love means never having to say you're sorry." Change that to "War means never having to say you're sorry.")
In Israel, it's just the opposite; and in Israel, surely there is an official Office of Apology. I hear it every time. I see it every time. First, every retaliation brings with it cameras from every network around the world, as if Israel is saying, come, watch us blow up this house. An hour later, the picture of a weeping mother is shown around the world ? no mention that she raised a family of suicide bombers.
Then, as happens, there is always a "teenager" who got hit by accident. Immediately, Israel's Office of Apology swings into action."We're sorry. We apologize. It's our fault."
To what can this be likened? To a people who are still refugees even within their own land. This was already well covered by Stewart Weiss in the Jerusalem Post, under the heading, "Strangers in a Familiar Land." He asks why Jews, in their own country, are obstructed from visiting their holy sites, like the Cave of Machpela and the Temple Mount. Yes, whose country is this anyway?
Mark Twain also wondered about this. Twain, in fact, opposed a country for the Jewish people, but not for the reason you'd suspect.
Writing in Harper's magazine, March 1898 - that is, two years after Theodor Herzl produced the trail-blazing book Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) - Twain said of Herzl, "Have you heard his plan? He wishes to gather the Jews of the world together in Palestine, with a government of their own.... I am not objecting, but if that concentration of the cunningest brains in the world were going to be made in a free country... I would think it would be politic to stop it."
Now here comes Twain's clincher: "It would not be well to let the [Jewish] race find its own strength... If horses knew theirs, we should not ride any more."
Yes, if only Israel knew its own strength, instead of being dispersed even within Israel itself!
By the way, in that article, Twain was explaining worldwide anti-Semitism (what else is new or old?) and defending himself against the same charge. He embraces the Jews with one arm for their supremacy in the Arts and Sciences (their brain-power), and with the other arm he swipes them for being disengaged in local affairs. Their weakness, he says, stems from their being scattered among the nations.
Twain's perceived anti-Semitism, in which he and others accused the Jews of abstaining from the military, led to a rebuttal that, beginning in 1896, eventually became the Jewish War Veterans of the United States. (Pat Buchanan and Robert Novak, pay attention.) Topped by Harry Isaacs, Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, Jewish Civil War veterans gathered in New York to start that organization and to prove that, throughout all wars, Jews enlisted and fought heroically, well beyond their ratio to the rest of the population. (A fact that is demonstrably true to this very day.)
But back to our point. Until the Jews of Israel plant both feet squarely on the ground, or ride that horse firmly in the stirrups, Twain, plus Buchanan and Novak, have nothing to worry about.
So far it has been "politic" to stop Israel from harnessing its power and realizing its destiny. In the football movie Rudy, the coach pep talks his players with something like the following: "Nobody pushes us around in our own house." Hello, Israel?
One brief amendment: Yes, we Americans do apologize, but only to Islam. President Bush keeps inviting leaders of that peace-loving religion to the White House to remind them that Americans bear no grudge for 9/11. In fact, it's really our fault. The Twin Towers should have ducked when those airplanes came at them. Sorry for the inconvenience; and happy Ramadan.
From the America and Israel Are Twins Dept.: Amazing, the parallels. The recent eighth anniversary memorials for Yitzhak Rabin have echoes back here in America. Israel's Left, according to reports, used the occasions not to heal, but rather to further abuse, slur and intimidate Israel's Right. ("Never forget; never forgive.") Shades of a memorial that took place last year in Minnesota to commemorate Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone, who was killed in a plane crash. This "memorial" turned into a hate-bash against Republicans, who were booed and bullied by Democrats when they tried to speak. Said Vin Weber, a former congressman for Minnesota: "To them, Wellstone's death, apparently, was just another campaign event."
I was convinced then, as I am now, that every Jewish organization has an official Office of Apology, for everything. You name it, it's our fault, and yes, we brought over those slaves, and they still work on my plantation. This apology, on behalf of all Jews, as I noted even back then, was Jewish guilt at its finest.
Amazingly, no Jewish group has yet apologized for the New York Yankees losing the World Series. But it's coming. (Malaysia: We also rule baseball.)
Nobody else apologizes. A minute ago, President Bush said that we kill terrorists in Iraq with pinpoint accuracy. Never a doubt that maybe, when we shoot into a crowd, we accidently hit innocent bystanders. As opposed to Vietnam, Iraq is a very clean war, not counting the pictures we get when our own truly heroic soldiers are killed. (These, too, are our Greatest Generation.)
But when we're in pursuit, it's pretty near blackout. We know nothing. Neither about Iraq or Afghanistan. The odds are enormously high that, in both those wars, we have killed hundreds, maybe thousands, by accident. But (correctly) we don't apologize. We don't allow cameras, so there's no reason to say we're sorry. (Remember the movie Love Story? "Love means never having to say you're sorry." Change that to "War means never having to say you're sorry.")
In Israel, it's just the opposite; and in Israel, surely there is an official Office of Apology. I hear it every time. I see it every time. First, every retaliation brings with it cameras from every network around the world, as if Israel is saying, come, watch us blow up this house. An hour later, the picture of a weeping mother is shown around the world ? no mention that she raised a family of suicide bombers.
Then, as happens, there is always a "teenager" who got hit by accident. Immediately, Israel's Office of Apology swings into action."We're sorry. We apologize. It's our fault."
To what can this be likened? To a people who are still refugees even within their own land. This was already well covered by Stewart Weiss in the Jerusalem Post, under the heading, "Strangers in a Familiar Land." He asks why Jews, in their own country, are obstructed from visiting their holy sites, like the Cave of Machpela and the Temple Mount. Yes, whose country is this anyway?
Mark Twain also wondered about this. Twain, in fact, opposed a country for the Jewish people, but not for the reason you'd suspect.
Writing in Harper's magazine, March 1898 - that is, two years after Theodor Herzl produced the trail-blazing book Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) - Twain said of Herzl, "Have you heard his plan? He wishes to gather the Jews of the world together in Palestine, with a government of their own.... I am not objecting, but if that concentration of the cunningest brains in the world were going to be made in a free country... I would think it would be politic to stop it."
Now here comes Twain's clincher: "It would not be well to let the [Jewish] race find its own strength... If horses knew theirs, we should not ride any more."
Yes, if only Israel knew its own strength, instead of being dispersed even within Israel itself!
By the way, in that article, Twain was explaining worldwide anti-Semitism (what else is new or old?) and defending himself against the same charge. He embraces the Jews with one arm for their supremacy in the Arts and Sciences (their brain-power), and with the other arm he swipes them for being disengaged in local affairs. Their weakness, he says, stems from their being scattered among the nations.
Twain's perceived anti-Semitism, in which he and others accused the Jews of abstaining from the military, led to a rebuttal that, beginning in 1896, eventually became the Jewish War Veterans of the United States. (Pat Buchanan and Robert Novak, pay attention.) Topped by Harry Isaacs, Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, Jewish Civil War veterans gathered in New York to start that organization and to prove that, throughout all wars, Jews enlisted and fought heroically, well beyond their ratio to the rest of the population. (A fact that is demonstrably true to this very day.)
But back to our point. Until the Jews of Israel plant both feet squarely on the ground, or ride that horse firmly in the stirrups, Twain, plus Buchanan and Novak, have nothing to worry about.
So far it has been "politic" to stop Israel from harnessing its power and realizing its destiny. In the football movie Rudy, the coach pep talks his players with something like the following: "Nobody pushes us around in our own house." Hello, Israel?
One brief amendment: Yes, we Americans do apologize, but only to Islam. President Bush keeps inviting leaders of that peace-loving religion to the White House to remind them that Americans bear no grudge for 9/11. In fact, it's really our fault. The Twin Towers should have ducked when those airplanes came at them. Sorry for the inconvenience; and happy Ramadan.
From the America and Israel Are Twins Dept.: Amazing, the parallels. The recent eighth anniversary memorials for Yitzhak Rabin have echoes back here in America. Israel's Left, according to reports, used the occasions not to heal, but rather to further abuse, slur and intimidate Israel's Right. ("Never forget; never forgive.") Shades of a memorial that took place last year in Minnesota to commemorate Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone, who was killed in a plane crash. This "memorial" turned into a hate-bash against Republicans, who were booed and bullied by Democrats when they tried to speak. Said Vin Weber, a former congressman for Minnesota: "To them, Wellstone's death, apparently, was just another campaign event."