The latest outbreak of war in the Middle East has finally resulted in an unprovoked hate crime against Jewish citizens:
Authorities said a man walked into the Jewish agency on Friday and opened fire, killing one woman and injuring at least five others in what they call a hate crime. Naveed Afzal Haq, 30, was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of homicide and attempted homicide, police said.
The gunman, who employees said claimed to be a Muslim angry at Israel, forced his way through the center’s security door after an employee had punched in her security code, said Marla Meislin-Dietrich, a co-worker who was not at the building at the time.
While the US killings can be attributed to radical Islamacists, the stateside pro-war brigade, whose hawkish tendencies in order support their own geopolitical and theological goals surpass that of even Israelis, must share some blame for these types of attacks. In column after blog after interview, pundits recklessly advocate death against “Muslims†(which inevitably encompasses a large number of people from non-Muslim middle easterners to unrelated cults), presumably in the name of Israel and the Jewish people, without any regard for repercussions. There have also been suggestions for the government to restrict the movement and freedoms of all stateside Muslims, and some citizens aren’t waiting for the law to catch up with their whims – a colleague of mine reported that here in Toronto a man was recently kicked off the TTC for yelling “I will not stand next to this terrorist!!†at a rider who entered the bus wearing a hijab.
This story didn’t make the paper, but you can bet that woman shared the story with her friends and colleagues. Guess what happens when regular citizens of a group are under siege? Local extremists, sensing the righteous indignation among moderate Muslims, take their revenge on Jews – all Jews. Like stateside Zionists and Diaspora waging the war on terror from the safety of their ergonomic keyboards, local Islamic radicals fail to recognize that Jews and Israel aren’t synonymous –
- A portion of Orthodox Jews do not agree with Israel in its present form, arguing that Israel can only be given to the Jewish people directly from God. The very human attempt to maintain the state is dismissed as “playing Godâ€
- There are many secular and Jews who disagree with Israel’s policies and alleged human rights abuses. Frequently cited by detractors include the suppression of Palestinian civilians, illegal torture of prisoners and the state’s facilitation of South Africa’s apartheid government. This is not to say these Jews oppose the central concept of Zionism, but rather that they are dissatisfied with the sometimes brutal manner in which it has been implemented
- … And of course there are many Jews who don’t have any strong feelings in favor of or against Israel, but remain faithful to Judaism and attend the same synagogues being attacked
As a Sephardic friend once told me, put 100 Jewish people in a room and you will hear 100 opinions on what Israel’s doing right and wrong. A look at the week’s editorials at the Jerusalem post confirms this diversity in opinion, which is all but drowned out in the uniform war cry of stateside Neo-Cons, Evangelicals and post-9/11 Crusaders for Israel’s unmitigated bombing of its neighbors. It’s very easy to declare war with someone else’s army (and economy), just as it is easy to go Christmas shopping with someone else’s credit card.
I’d like to know whether these same people are willing to help protect my family members, friends and work colleagues whose recent history and warrior class are being used in the front lines of this war. You may feel justified in supporting Israel’s front-line military action because you want to avoid another 9/11 or because you believe this is the last stage in your inheritance of the holy land, but would you be willing show real support for the Jewish people by patrolling a synagogue or donate money to facilitate such protection? Please consider it.
There is a higher purpose for this post and I’ll get to that later.
Maybe people support Israel because they are right and has been defending itself for 58 years from intolerant people.
Keyboard warriors like me serve a purpose. To inform people who might read your stuff and believe it.
There is a big difference between the bus incident and the Seattle murder. You can marginalize it all you want, but those who have been warning the West about Islamic behaviour and tendencies might actually save your life one day.
By your own definition, your “war” seems to be against all Muslims (”warning the West about Islamic behaviour”) and anyone who questions such generalizations. That’s not going to save my life or anyone else’s - it’s going to help the terrorist groups by distracting everyone from the real problem of extremism.
Nonetheless, I wish you all the best - there are unfortunately a lot of people who do agree with me that spreading hate in the opposite direction isn’t a very effective solution.
Anyway, in my search to find that article I found an 85%
http://www.scienceblog.com/community/older/archives/K/5/pub5096.html
Eighty-five percent of American Jews supports Israel in the ongoing conflict (64 percent strongly support, and 21 percent support Israel)
But even within that range there are degrees of support. My relatives, for instance, will defend the state’s right to exist if someone questions why it’s there, which is a form of support. However they won’t attack/slander everything and anything Muslim, nor do they seem to be interested in expanding Israel’s borders. Other Jews I know feel that aggressive expansion and elimination of the Arab states that have not made peace with Israel is the only way to ensure survival.
In other words, there are different opinions, which was the point of my post. Lumping all Jews together does not do the community any kind of service.
As for your links - try Ogrish for some seriously hardcore links. The brutality of these groups was never in question.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/24/opinion/main1828442.shtml
Jewish support for President Bush moved upward in the 2004 election relative to the 2000 figures. It moved all the way up to 25 percent. During the five presidential elections of the 1970s and ’80s, American Jews averaged 35 percent support for the Republican candidate, so 25 percent for Bush in ‘04 was not exactly a landslide move to the GOP. But even this pint-sized move seems to have petered out earlier this year. Jack Abramoff does not make an attractive spokesman for Jewish Republicans. The fall of Tom DeLay silenced one of the best friends Israel ever had in American politics, and one of the most effective symbols of Republican support for Israel. So the pattern of the ’90s is likely to continue: American Jews move left as the left moves away from Israel.
Again, most Jews feel that either Dems or Repubs will be equally good for Israel, if they even voted on that issue.