JEWISH ETHNOCENTRISM,
RACISM, AND RESISTANCE
TO ASSIMILATION

Favorite Son. The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. June 15, 2001
"It was a proud moment for Sam Kermanian when his West Hollywood-based organization, the Iranian-American Jewish Federation (IAJF), welcomed Israeli president Moshe Katzav last week. ... An increasingly succesful sector in the community, Persian Jews are facing challenges familiar to previous generations of Jewish immigramts; among them, dilution of traditional values and assimilation. 'There is no question there is an influence of materialism,' Kermanian said. 'Some of the old values are still holding the community together, but, obviously, this is something that will not last forever. We know that within a generation or two, we will assimilate into a larger landscape. Our goal is to make sure that we assimilate into the American Jewish community rather than the secular American landscape.' Kermanian believes that American Jewish strategies to counter escalating rates of intermarriage and divorce, such as education and programs in Israel, are just beginning to penetrate the close-knit Persian community. 'We’re not waiting for assimilation to happen before we try to correct [these lapses],' he said."

A Gentile and an Outcast. New Statesman, August 14, 1998
"I'm horrified by the attitude of so many Jews towards intermarriage. It's not just in Israel. You come across the same thing in England. Yes, my wife is Jewish. And it follows that a number of my relations are Jewish, too. In fact, coming from a small family and having married into an enormous one, I find that the vast majority of my relations are Jewish ... In the wider Jewish community, sad to relate, gentiles are by no means as welcome as spouses as I have been. The current rate of intermarriage among Anglo-Jews is around 45 per cent. But when this highly contentious subject arises, we outsiders frequently find ourselves disregarded. The focus is never on the people who 'marry in,' but always on Jews marrying out ... There's no need for me to convert. That's the magic of being Jewish: you're born that way, even if you never set foot in a synagogue. If I have children, they'll be Jewish by virtue of having a Jewish mother. They, too, will be entitled to be stoned by the ultra-orthodox in Mea She'arim. I may never become Jewish myself, but my family as a whole will at least be Jewish."

My Sister is Dating a Goy, Jewsweek, Issue 11, 2001
"Out of the blue one day, my sister happily announced to me that she was seeing someone and that this someone was not Jewish. She studied my face for a reaction, but I don’t think the one she got was what was expected. At a time when I was still able to approach the subject without getting yelled at or receiving the silent treatment from her, she had told me that she would never marry someone who is not Jewish ... These were some of the questions that I pondered as I tried to figure out what I could do to influence the situation. Talking to her wasn’t doing any good, and eventually my mother felt that we had discussed all there was to discuss. What would be the point in constantly rehashing it? So, little by little, we stopped communicating about the relationship to the point where it was rarely talked about at all. But it seemed to me that saying nothing merely had the effect of making it easy for my sister to keep seeing him. And while she did, the rest of us more or less lived with it, every now and then having to dodge questions from relatives who asked if my sister was seeing anybody ... Don’t get me wrong, I love my sister very much, but her relationship with a non-Jewish guy did cause a great deal of strain upon our family. Until this point, my mother had always believed that, of the two of us, it was my sister who would never even consider interdating because she had attended and worked at Jewish camps all her life, surrounding herself with Jewish people and practices."

Lastman Slur Hurts Games Bid.
National Post. June 21, 2001
"An 'ignorant, racist' joke by Toronto's [Jewish] Mayor may have sunk the city's bid for the 2008 Olympics, Canadian politicians and community groups say. Before leaving on a goodwill visit to Kenya this month to promote the city's quest for the Summer Games, Mel Lastman spoke to a freelance journalist about the trip. 'What the hell do I want to go to a place like Mombasa?' Mr. Lastman asked. 'Snakes scare the hell out of me. I'm scared about going there, but the wife is really nervous,' he said. 'I just see myself in a pot of boiling water with all these natives dancing around me.' The remarks met universal condemnation yesterday."

Gershon Explains His Racist Remarks to Knesset Panel.
Haaretz [Israeli newspaper], July 4, 2001
"Maccabi Tel Aviv's outgoing [professional] basketball coach, Pini Gershon, yesterday offered a full explanation to the Knesset committee for prevention of violence in sport, following the publication this week of racist remarks that he had made several months ago ... . Yedioth Ahronoth's Web site, Y-Net, published a report on Sunday in which Gershon is quoted as telling a closed forum of senior IDF [Israeli military] officers that 'even among blacks there are different colors. There is dark black, and there is mocha. The mocha type are more clever, and the darker color usually come from the street.' The report said that the often overly-vivacious Gershon drew laughter from his listeners. He then continued unfazed: 'I am not joking. You can see the standing of those with a bit more mixture in their color, such as Andrew Kennedy. You can see his personality. He will check you out, he is clever. The other (darker) blacks are stupid. They will do whatever you tell them, like slaves.' Gershon told the Knesset committee that the words were uttered last September and that none of the officers present made any comment to him about his remarks. 'They were happy, we spoke jovially. I spoke about all the players and none of them criticized me,' he said yesterday."

Some IDF Officers Asked for Copies of Gershon's Speech.
Haaretz [Israeli newspaper], July 8, 2001
"Basketball coach Pini Gershon's speech in which he referred to black basketball players as having a slave mentality and the color of their skin as an indicator of their intelligence, so impressed some of the officers who heard it last November that they asked for copies of the videotape of the lecture. Even after the scandal broke out, many of the reserve officers, who were in the course for brigade commanders, don't understand why Gershon's racist remarks caused a scandal. One said 'Gershon's comments were taken as a colorful expression, as humor. We didn't think of it as racist. After all, he didn't incite us against blacks, but just gave an extreme example to make his speech tangible.' The officer called Gershon's speech 'brilliant. He gave a professional talk about leadership and the difficulty of turning a group of very different people, with huge egos, into a winning team. That's part of what we face.' 'I consider myself an enlightened person,' said another of the officers. 'But I have to admit that I didn't fall off my chair when he said what he did. We all hear things like that here.' According to the officers, a divisional commander, Brig. Gen. Yoav Gallant, recently lectured in the U.S. on the relationship between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, and used the analogy of a dog and its master. Arabs in the lecture complained. 'It all depends on what is said and the context,' said one of the officers."

Jewish Groups Ready for Racism Parley. Jerusalem Post, July 6, 2001
"Jewish organizations from around the world are setting up operations in Washington and Geneva to spearhead lobbying efforts to change the tone of virulent anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic draft resolutions to be considered at a major UN conference on racism in Durban, South Africa at the end of August. This was one of the operative decisions that emerged from an international 'emergency' meeting of Jewish leaders held in London this week to discuss how to combat these proposals and plan for the Durban conference .... Israel has become - for some of this community - nothing less then the antichrist. [Irwin] Cotler said that a situation is developing where human rights is the new religion, and Israel is the enemy of that religion in every human rights sphere - whether in dealing with labor, women's or children's issue ... [Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister] Melchior said that the proposals being discussed now are far worse than the UN's Zionism is racism declaration of the 1970s. These proposals aim not only to delegitimize the state of Israel through equations of Zionism with racism, racial superiority, and the 'ethnic cleansing of the Arab population in historic Palestine,' but, he said, they also aim to delegitimize Jewish death and suffering. This was done through repeated attempts by Arab and Asian delegates at the three previous preparatory meetings to replace all references to 'The Holocaust' with 'holocausts.'"

Movie Targets. Arabs Are the Latest People to Suffer the Stereotypes of Hollywood -- and Nowhere More So Than in William Friedkin's New Film.
The Independent [Great Britain], July 30, 2000
"The Arab nations - and the Islamic world in general - have become the new stock enemy, a powerful and unreasoning force in True Lies (1994), Executive Decision (1995), GI Jane (1997) and The Siege (1998) - in which Bruce Willis rounded up Arab Americans in an attempt to stop a Hezbollah-type terrorist group blowing up New York. Even The Insider (1999) - a film about corruption in the tobacco industry, for heaven's sake - tacked on a Syrian prologue in which Al Pacino took on a pack of mad-ish mullahs. And Rules of Engagement? 'This film is absolutely off the scale,' says Hussein Ibish, communications director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, a Washington-based pressure group. 'I've never seen anything quite so vile. I felt like I was being physically beaten, which is a reaction I've never had encountering a work of art. It was mind-bogglingly vicious. I'm amazed that a major American entertainment company would actually release such a thing.' He shouldn't be too amazed: the film took $15 million on its opening weekend, a fact which doubtless pleased the chair of the Paramount Pictures' Motion Picture Group, Sherry Lansing - who just happens to be married to William Friedkin [the director of Rules of Engagement. Both Friedkin and Lansing are Jewish].

All the Ironies Bring Germany to Reconsider 'Who's a Jew.'
Haaretz [Israeli newspaper[, June 27, 2001
"Here is ironic historical twist. Before the rise of the Nazis, German Jews regarded with scorn the 'Eastern Jews' who arrived from Poland and Russia and who brought with them traditional Jewish values, but not 'Western' (that is, German) values. Now German Jewry's leaders are demanding that the new 'Eastern Jews' from the former Soviet Union must be 'authentic Jews,' - in other words, that they have a knowledge of (even if they do not observe) Jewish traditions. Two weeks ago, Paul Spiegel, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany (CCJG), warned that many non-Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe were exploiting the special regulations on Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union in order to obtain permanent resident status in the Federal Republic. Spiegel urged the federal government to undertake measures against immigrants posing as Jews simply to enter Germany."

A People Apart. Haaretz [Israeli newspaper], June 9, 2001
"In addition to being immigrants [to Israel] from Russia, [Tatiano and Viktor Madbaneko's] Jewishness is 'in doubt' and they are forced into hopeless shadowboxing with a society that is practiced in 'hating gentiles.' They so much want to find a way to the heart of this society, with all its prejudices."

College Bars Non-Jews from Education Studies.
Haaretz [Israeli newspaper], July 16, 2001
"Druze residents of the Golan Heights who have tried to register young women to the Ohalo College of Education and Sports in Katzrin are angry because it refuses to accept the students on the grounds that non-Jews are not allowed to study kindergarten and junior school education at the college. The only studies open to non-Jews at the college are courses in physical education, they say. In an interview with Ha'aretz, Hagit Harel, the head of student administration at Ohalo, confirmed that, of the 550 students at the college, 30 percent were non-Jews and none were studying kindergarten or junior school education. Harel said the policy was based on an Education Ministry directive which told the college that non-Jewish students who wanted to take such courses had to do so at the Arab College in Haifa or in a special course for Arab teachers at Oranim College. 'The Arab College in Haifa does not offer a course in physical education and therefore we are obliged to accept the non-Jewish students for this path of studies,' Harel said."

Rabbi Calls for Annihilation of Arabs, BBC, April 10, 2001
"The spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-orthodox Shas party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, has provoked outrage with a sermon calling for the annihilation of Arabs. 'It is forbidden to be merciful to them. You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable,' he was quoted as saying in a sermon delivered on Monday to mark the Jewish festival of Passover. ['The Lord shall return the Arabs' deeds on their own heads, waste their seed and exterminate them.'] Rabbi Yosef is one of the most powerful religious figures in Israel, He is known for his outspoken comments and has in the past referred to the Arabs as 'vipers.' Through his influence over Shas, Israel's third largest political party, he is also a significant political figure."

Shas Leader Denies 'Annihilate Arabs' Claim. Totally Jewish, April 10, 2001
"The controversial spiritual leader of Israeli ultra-Orthodox political party Shas has claimed that his Passover sermon, in which he said that Arabs should be annihilated, was misinterpreted. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Chief Rabbi of Israel's Sephardi Jews and one of the most influential religious figures in Israel, said in his pre-Pesach speech: 'It is forbidden to be merciful to Arabs. You must send missiles to them and, with relish, annihilate them. They are evil and damnable. May the Holy Name visit retribution on the heads of the Arabs and cause their seed to be lost.' However, Yosef's aides moved quickly to clarify the remarks after the words sparked public outrage in both Jewish and Arab quarters."

Birthright Israel Gives American Jewish Youth Largest, Most Meaningful Hanukah Gift Ever. PR Newswire [at: findarticles.com], November 22, 1999
"Birthright Israel announced today that arrangements have been finalized for the largest and most extensive philanthropic outreach program ever targeting Jewish youth. This year's inaugural program will take 5,000 North American Jewish students to visit the Jewish homeland for free. Scheduled to take place over the turn of the new millennium, the inaugural ten-day trips are being funded by a planned $210 million in contributions over five years from major philanthropists, the Government of Israel, and Jewish communities worldwide ... At the start of the 21st century, Judaism's adversity comes from within, as assimilation threatens Jewish communities in North America and around the world. Birthright Israel aims to reinvigorate and revitalize American Jewish youth's commitment to Judaism by providing Jewish students (the majority of whom are marginally affiliated Jews) with a profound and lasting experience in Israel. Statistics have shown that Jewish youth who visit Israel at a young age are more likely to retain ties to the Jewish community."

All We Did for Them. The Boston Book Review.
"I later learned that this image of Jews as defenders of the rights of all downtrodden had been carefully cultivated .... The idea that Jewish and liberal American values and interests are perfectly harmonious is a vast and self-serving oversimplification ... Fighting for civil rights and liberties also advanced the interests of the Jewish community as a whole in American society. Bundling anti-semitism with racism allowed Jewish leaders to bring the moral gravitas of African-American suffering to bear on issues of particular relevance to Jews. Though Jews were excluded from some neighborhoods and denied some jobs, the discrimination against Jews was--at least by the mid-1950s--subtle and intermittent enough as to make it difficult to rally politicians to legislate against it and district attorneys to prosecute it. Fighting the far more blatant discrimination against African-Americans was a way to fight Jewish battles by proxy and in extremis. It was thus a way to remove social and economic barriers faced by Jews, without appearing merely self-serving. This accounts for why Jewish civil liberties organization hewed close to issues that were in principle relevant to Jews--free access of 'minorities' to jobs, housing, social clubs and organizations--while they steered away from the sorts of economic restructuring that might greatly benefit African-Americans but offer no gains for Jews."

Simpson's Contemporary Quotations, 1988. bartleby.com
"I was born Jewish and so I remain, even if that's unacceptable for many ... For me, the vocation of Israel is bringing light to the goyim. That's my hope and I believe that Christianity is the means for achieving it." -- Jean Marie Cardinal Lustiger, Archbishop of Paris. -AND- Jews and Christians Together, by Jean Marie Cardinal Lustiger. 1998 Nostra Aetate Awards and Lecture. Lustiger: "Following the example of the European nations and thanks to their participation in the dramatic evolution of civilization and culture, [Jews] have managed to create the State of Israel by picking up the standards of a particular national identity. They have thus radically renewed the question of the Jewish identity, which is now torn between two poles: on the one hand, the pole of consecrated life whose only true home is given by God at the end of times; and on the other hand, the pole of the secular existence of a people asserting its identity, its language, at long last reconstituted, its ambitions, and its national strength. With Israel the Jewish people has reintegrated the common history of the nations, as a new reference and as a mystery."

Putting Israel First. Sobran's. November 2, 2000
"That is, all New York candidates assume, as a practical matter, the truth of the 'canard of dual loyalty' — that Jewish voters care as much about Israeli interests as American interests. More precisely, they assume that Jews put Israeli interests first. American interests don’t even come up for discussion. Nobody asks whether it’s good for Americans for their government to support a Jewish state, even when that alliance provokes worldwide Muslim antagonism against this country, as witness the bombing of the USS Cole ... American politicians, including Al Gore and George W. Bush, pander shamelessly to the powerful Israel First lobby. In fact such pandering has become normalized, because that lobby wields both the carrot of money and the stick of stigma. All politicians remember the fate of Senator Charles Percy of Illinois and Senator William Fulbright of Arkansas, whose long careers ended when they irritated the pro-Israel lobby. That lobby intimidates even journalists, who fear for their careers if they criticize Israel too bluntly."

Mike in Religion Pitch. New York Daily News, August 17, 2001
"[New York] mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg has mailed glossy booklets to New York households attesting to his Jewish faith and generosity to Jewish causes — an ad his opponent attacked as divisive politics. The mailing, which arrived at homes this week, tells the story of a student who 'broke down religious barriers' by becoming the first Jew admitted to his college fraternity, then went on to found a media empire. It describes the Republican billionaire as 'one of the Jewish community's most dedicated volunteers and most generous donors,' listing organizations he supports, including Hadassah [the Zionist Women's organization], the American Jewish Congress and the Hebrew Home for the Aged — under the heading 'Protecting Our Community' ... Former CUNY board chairman Herman Badillo, Bloomberg's rival in the September primary, feels 'this type of an appeal causes divisions,' said his spokesman, James Vlasto. Badillo 'doesn't feel that is appropriate in a political campaign in a city as diverse as New York,' Vlasto said. 'Everybody is proud of their heritage. Bloomberg is entitled to do anything he wants. But this is something we would not do.' Badillo, who was born in Puerto Rico, 'knows full well the Hispanic community would resent such an appeal.'"

Shiksa. The American Heritage Dictionary (at bartlebycom.)
"NOUN: Offensive. [A Yiddish term] used as a disparaging term for a non-Jewish girl or woman."

What Would a Jewish Veep Say About Intermarriage?, by Philip Weiss,
New York Observer, August 20, 2000
"Talk of Senators Joe Lieberman or Dianne Feinstein being Al Gore’s running mate has raised the possibility of, at long last, a Jewish president. One issue is religious observance. Senator Lieberman is Orthodox and doesn’t work on Saturdays. He has reassured people that the Torah commands one to do one’s duties. In a crisis, he’d be there. That seems like a no-brainer to me. The more interesting question is intermarriage. We live in times of enforced tolerance. George W. Bush was strung up for visiting Bob Jones University, which had a policy against interracial dating. So what about the dating policy in conservative Jewish organizations: the strict stance against intermarriage? This is not something anyone is supposed to talk about. Non-Jews give these issues wide berth. And people like myself, who have intermarried, are sufficiently ashamed about their choice–hastening the destruction of the Jewish people, we’re told–that they rarely speak up to defend it ... The rhetoric and practices surrounding opposition to intermarriage are often so discriminatory they seem to border on racism. The Jewish mistrust of gentile culture is deeply imbedded, and God knows Christians have again and again given Jews ample basis for these feelings. The Yiddish word goy is loaded with negative associations, and the word shiksa, which everyone still uses, comes from Hebrew for 'blemish,' according to Leo Rosten. In ancient times rabbis barred Jews from eating or drinking with non-Jews, lest they intermarry, and such attitudes prevailed widely in the American Jewish community just a generation ago. They treated you like you were dead if you intermarried, they sat shivah for you, they said that you were doing Hitler’s work. Movies like The Heartbreak Kid reminded Jews of what they were losing in marrying out, painting Christian culture as cold and heartless. A lot of the details in that portrait were deadly."

A Life of Pain and Grace. The Age [Australia], August 6, 2001
"Cardinal [Jean-Marie] Lustiger, the 75-year-old Archbishop of Paris, a Jew who might one day be pope, has offended both Jews and Catholics, sparked angry debates and been shunned by those he loved most. The strangest part of his story is not even that he was born to Polish Jewish parents (one of whom would perish in Auschwitz), converted to Catholicism at the age of 14 and rose through the Vatican hierarchy ... 'I was born Jewish and so I remain, even if that's unacceptable for many,' Lustiger told The New York Times when he became a cardinal in 1983. 'For me, the vocation of Israel is bringing light to the goyim. That's my hope and I believe that Christianity is the means for achieving it. For me, this nomination was as if all of a sudden the crucifix began to wear a yellow star' ... He has publicly criticised priests who indulged in more vicious criticisms of Israel ... Lustiger explained the emotional pull of his origins to Elie Wiesel: 'I feel Jewish. I refuse to renounce my roots, my Jewishness. How could I betray my mother's memory? It would be cowardly and humiliating.' In theological terms, Christianity can accommodate Lustiger's duality. One can be both a believer in the New Testament and Jewish. Says Melbourne's Father Gerald O'Collins: 'A Jewish cardinal is very important because if the College of Cardinals is to be truly Christian there ought to be at least one Jewish Catholic.' But Judaism has no such latitude. According to Jewish law a person who is born Jewish dies Jewish. It is not a club from which one can rescind membership."

Mensch or Maus? Jewish.com, 1996
"Rabbi Harold Schulweis' sermon last Friday evening at Valley Beth Shalom, encouraging outreach to potential converts to Judaism, may draw as much heat as this week's Malibu blaze. Schulweis himself told me that the response has been 'positive' and reassuring. But I have heard otherwise. Orthodox critics are declaring that Schulweis has taken a dangerous step toward proselytizing. Liberal Jews are concerned that he is making a concession to intermarriage, that he is assuming the battle is lost and the only hope of sustaining Jewish life is in emphasizing conversion of the non-Jewish spouse ... It is clear that, for the rabbi, breaking clear of the stigma attached to conversion is a major psychological hurdle. Schulweis conceded that when Rabbi Alexander Schindler, former head of the Reform movement, first suggested reaching out to non-Jews, he objected. 'I always felt this wasn't Jewish. I had to rethink my position,' he said. Last week, Schulweis wrote to Schindler, thanking him for offering a new idea. As his speech made clear, Schulweis considers the bias against converts part of Jewish 'racism,' the notion that even a 'chicken soup Jew' is better than a 'Jew by choice.'"

A Dangerous Beast, by Leonard Fein.
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, August 24, 2001
"But no matter, not any more. Events overtake and overwhelm. [There was a suicide bomber at] King George and Jaffa, a corner just about everyone who has been to Israel knows. Animals. Where is the one among them who will have the decency to say that these horrid actions disgrace the cause they seek to promote, as well as the faith on which they allegedly rest? Well then, what to do? Let us stipulate that they are, indeed, animals, that it is Israel’s sorry fate to be locked in a deathly battle with wild beasts ... But short of uprooting the population of the West Bank and Gaza, loading them onto trucks and dumping all 2 million of them in, say, the Sinai Desert, it is impossible to specify what the targets or the strategic aims of an 'all-out' offensive might be ... Well, then, what of rewards? Bribe the wild beast into domesticity ... Rational persuasion? By definition, a wild beast is not susceptible to rational persuasion."

A Non-Racist Zionism? Al-Ahram [Cairo, Egypt], August 23-29, 2001
"All of this confirms that Zionism is not, as its adherents would have the world believe, merely the national expression of Jewish self-determination, but an intrinsically racist ideology that justifies the most brutal acts of repression against the Palestinians as necessary for the security of one specific racial group. How can the United Nations, which has issued countless resolutions condemning doctrines of racial differentiation and superiority as morally reprehensible and socially unjust, refuse to even consider a resolution equating Zionism with racism? ... And when it comes to equating Zionism with racism, the criterion cannot be what Israel, or the US for that matter, has to say on the issue, but what the parties suffering from the racist practices of Israel have to say, notably the Palestinians, particularly with the present escalation of violence in the occupied territories, where Israel's systematic war of extermination and expropriation against a native civilian population displays all the characteristics of a policy of ethnic cleansing -- which the United Nations has defined as a war crime."

Jewish Ethics. Are They Ethical? Are They Jewish, by Tzvi Howard Adelman,
The Jewish Agency for Israel [The Department for Jewish Zionist Education], August 22, 1999
"For example, the Torah commands the extermination of various peoples (Deuteronomy 7:1-5) in the Mechilta it says, 'tov shebagoyim harog,' 'kill the best among the gentiles' (14:7; cf. Soferim ch. 15:10). There is another discussion about who has priority for drawing water at a well in which some rabbis argued that the needs of the local Jews to water their cattle or to do their laundry took precedence over the lives of strangers (Tosefta Baba Metzia 11:33-36) ... By the time of the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century, even the strongest defenders of the Jews both among the Christians and among the Jews conceded that the Jews were deficient in their ethical behavior ... The issue of Jewish criminality was elaborated upon by Johann David Michaelis, a German Bible scholar, who noted the high rate of Jewish criminal convictions and membership in gangs ... As other aspects of Jewish practice and belief are abandoned by large numbers of Jews, they are still driven by the desire to prove that Judaism still has something to offer its adherents and the world at large. For these reasons, Jewish Reformers in the nineteenth century began to present Judaism in terms of its 'Mission' which was to bring to the world the idea of 'ethical monotheism.' Such a construction served not only as a response to Christian attacks, but as a way to fill the void for Jews who were dissatisfied with Jewish ritual, communal life, but yearned for a reason to hold on to being Jewish. Many Jews, especially religious Jews today in Israel and their supporters abroad continue to adhere to traditional Jewish ethics that other Jews would like to ignore or explain away. For example, Rabbi Yitzhak Ginzburg of Joseph's Tomb in Nablus/Shechem, after several of his students were remanded on suspicion of murdering a teenage Arab girl: 'Jewish blood is not the same as the blood of a goy.' Rabbi Ido Elba: 'According to the Torah, we are in a situation of pikuah nefesh (saving a life) in time of war, and in such a situation one may kill any Gentile.' Rabbi Yisrael Ariel write [sic] in 1982 that 'Beirut is part of the Land of Israel. . . our leaders should have entered Lebanon and Beirut without hesitation, and killed every single one of them. Not a memory should have remained.' It is usually yeshiva [Jewish religious school] students who chant 'Death to the Arabs' on CNN. The stealing and corruption by religious leaders that has recently been documented in trials in Israel and abroad continues to raise the question of the relationship between Judaism and ethics. Thus literature on Jewish ethics is produced because Jews feel a need for it. Jews still feel a tension between universalistic commitments and the specific obligations of Jewish survival."

A small collection, from scholarly sources, about traditional Jewry's Yiddish views of itself and non-Jews, [What Did Traditional Jewish Folklore Think of Jewish Ethics Before Jews Were Reinvented, Post-Holocaust, as Historical Angels? And What Is the Traditional Jewish View of Other People?]

On the Corner. Village Voice, July 25-31, 2001
"Resentment is high between the Satmar Jews of Williamsburg [New York] and a hundred or so Polish day laborers who clean for them. A half-century after the war, the slaughter of their brethren burns the Jews like a live wire. Ask nearly any Satmar to define the neighborhood and he or she will tell you, 'We're a community of Holocaust survivors.' They're keenly aware that Poland's large Jewish population was annihilated during the war. Ask the Polish women how they like their work, and many ignore the question: 'The Jews blame us for the death camps in Poland,' they say. Echoing the Polish government's longtime position, they add, 'It was the Nazis that killed the Jews. Not the Polish people.' 'We want to be respected,' the Polish women say, fairly seething as they talk about standing on the corner like prostitutes, about scrubbing someone else's floor, about the good jobs they had in Poland before the end of Communism. ('How can they say they are so religious? God doesn't want you to be so cheap about money,' says one disgruntled woman.) Now the Poles are on the street corner, asking the Jews for a job, Jews with numbers tattooed on their arms, Jews for whom the names of Polish towns—Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor—are etched in memory. The irony is lost on no one ... [One Polish woman's] grandchildren are back in college. She pays for their education with 60 hours a week, scrubbing and dusting and wiping. She cleans the refrigerator gaskets with a matchstick, as she is asked, but won't scrub the floors on her hands and knees with a shmatte (rag), as the Jews request. She insists on using a mop. This costs her work and is a major source of tension between the Poles and the Jews ... If the sun has already set, and the Jews are proscribed from touching switches or machinery, they ask the cleaning women to turn on the lights and stove before they leave. The Polish women oblige, and then, with throbbing hands, pocket their money and head back to rented rooms."

Jewish Genes, by Rabbi Yaakov Kleiman.
The Tribe. The Cohen-Levi Family Heritage
"Recently published research in the field of molecular genetics – the study of DNA sequences – indicates that Jewish populations of the various Diaspora communities have retained their genetic identity throughout the exile. Despite large geographic distances between the communities and the passage of thousands of years, far removed Jewish communities share a similar genetic profile. This research confirms the common ancestry and common geographical origin of world Jewry ... 'Despite their long-term residence in different countries and isolation from one another, most Jewish populations were not significantly different from one another at the genetic level. The results support the hypothesis that the paternal gene pools of Jewish communities from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East descended from a common Middle Eastern ancestral population, and suggest that most Jewish communities have remained relatively isolated from neighboring non-Jewish communities during and after the Diaspora.' (M.F. Hammer, Proc. Nat'l Academy of Science, June 9, 2000)"

On Integrating My Love and Commitment to Judaism and Jewish Community with My Love and Commitment to a Man Who Is Not Jewish, by Sarah Tauber, Interfaith Family (interfaithfamily.com)
"It might be assumed that I would have been pleased, therefore, to read the article reprinted in this magazine from the [Jewish ethnic magazine] Forward entitled, 'Reform [Judaism] allows Hebrew Schools to Hire Intermarried Teachers.' On the contrary. I was saddened and troubled by comments cited in this article. In spite of what the rabbinical leadership may have intended, their words and tone seemed to betray the continuing suspicion held by Jewish establishment leaders towards Jews married to individuals who are not Jewish, even though these Jews demonstrate commitment to Judaism and Jewish life. They describe us in terms akin to criminals on trial: 'Mixed marriage may be evidence that an individual is not the sort of Jew we want as a religious school teacher, and then again it may not. Each case must be judged on its own merits.' As I read those words I asked myself, as a Jew and as a trained and experienced teacher, the following questions: 'Has the Central Conference of American Rabbis ever clarified what 'sort of Jew' they seek as a religious school teacher? Or is it only in the case of a Jew married to an individual who isn't Jewish that suddenly the criteria become urgent? Is it possible that the CCAR views other Jews--for example, untrained college students, inexperienced young singles, homosexuals and lesbians, housewives, older divorced men--as not posing any serious concern to the rabbinical leadership, while Jews who are married to individuals who are not Jewish are put on trial?"

Birthright Israel Gives American Jewish Youth Largest, Most Meaningful Hanukah Gift, PR Newswire [at findarticles.com], November 22, 1999
"Birthright Israel announced today that arrangements have been finalized for the largest and most extensive philanthropic outreach program ever targeting Jewish youth. This year's inaugural program will take 5,000 North American Jewish students to visit the Jewish homeland for free. Scheduled to take place over the turn of the new millennium, the inaugural ten-day trips are being funded by a planned $210 million in contributions over five years from major philanthropists, the Government of Israel, and Jewish communities worldwide ... At the start of the 21st century, Judaism's adversity comes from within, as assimilation threatens Jewish communities in North America and around the world. Birthright Israel aims to reinvigorate and revitalize American Jewish youth's commitment to Judaism by providing Jewish students (the majority of whom are marginally affiliated Jews) with a profound and lasting experience in Israel ... 'The 5,000 North American Jewish youth who begin leaving for Israel next month will be the first in what is planned to be a traditional rite of passage for young Jewish adults worldwide. We hope that by experiencing Israel first hand, young Jews will forge a lasting bond with their Jewish homeland, heritage, and community,' commented Charles R. Bronfman, co-founder of Birthright Israel."

The Jewish Question, National Review, December 21, 1998 [book review]
"The story of how [David] Klinghoffer, a senior editor of NR, came to seek knowledge of God and Torah is undoubtedly unlike that of any other Orthodox Jew ... At age five, David was told by his adoptive parents that his biological parents were gentiles. In eighth grade, he opened a book given to him by his maternal grandmother, To Be a Jew, by Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin. The book introduced the boy to the Orthodox understanding of halakha, the body of Jewish laws derived from the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) and its traditional interpretations (the Oral Torah). He was struck by 'one of the most unexpected sentences of my reading life': 'A child born to a non-Jewish mother, regardless of who the father is, has the status of a non-Jew according to Jewish law' ... In one of the book's many sorry-I-laughed scenes, the adolescent David, after being told by a local Lubavitcher that he is not a Jew, performs a decidedly unorthodox self-conversion ritual in his bathroom, soaping a razor blade with a bar of Irish Spring, cutting himself to extract the required bead of blood for a symbolic circumcision, reciting the requisite prayer, and dunking himself in a make-shift mikvah-a lukewarm tub standing in for a ritual pool of water: 'I was a Jew now, I thought' ... He tracked down his birth mother. In due course, they discussed why she chose the Klinghoffers as his adoptive parents. 'Well, you know,' she told him, 'my mother was Jewish' by way of a Jewish great-grandfather with the surname Goldkuhl. With a surge of tribalist adrenaline, he 'sat bolt upright. . . . If this was true, I was part Jewish by blood! . . . I realized that, to be precise, my blood was one-sixteenth Jewish. . . . I could walk into a synagogue or a kosher restaurant and return the curious glances,' for the Goldkuhl family was 'my blood link with the Nation of Israel.'"

Doomsday Demographer Gets a Hearing at the Prime Minister's Office,
Jerusalem Report, November 5, 2001
"Haifa University [in Israel] geographer Arnon Soffer was summoned to the Prime Minister's Office on October 15, to brief the committee of directors general of government ministries on his doomsday predictions. Soffer says he got a 'sympathetic hearing,' and believes his proposed solution — unilateral separation from the Palestinians, and from some of Israel's Arabs as well — may now be seriously examined for policy purposes. Government officials comfirmed the meeting, but would not comment on the content or implications. Soffer claims dramatically that current population trends mean that Israel will 'cease to exist' as a Jewish state by 2020, by when he's convinced that only 42 percent of the people in Israel proper, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will be Jewish; today, the figure is 50.5 percent. He cites higher Palestinian birthrates — a Muslim mother in Gaza has 7.5 children, on average, while the West Bank figure is 5 (compared to the Jewish mother's average 2.8) — and the constant influx of illegal Arab migration into Israel."

The Jewish Stake in America's Changing Demography, by Stephen Steinlight, formerly Director of National Affairs at the American Jewish Committee
Center for Immigration Studies, October 2001
"We cannot consider the inevitable consequences of current [immigration] trends -- not the least among them diminished Jewish political power -- with detachment ... We Jews need to be especially sensitive to the multinational model this crowd (many of them Jewish) is promoting. Why? Because one person’s 'celebration' of his own diversity, foreign ties, and the maintenance of cultural and religious traditions that set him apart is another’s balkanizing identity politics. We are not immune from the reality of multiple identities or the charge of divided loyalties, a classic staple of anti-Semitism, and we must recognize that our own patterns are easily assailed, and we need to find ways of defending them more effectively as the debate goes on. Much public opinion survey research undertaken in recent years continues to indicate that large numbers of Americans, particularly people of color, assert that Jews are more loyal to Israel than the United States. For Jews, it is at best hypocritical, and, worse, an example of an utter lack of self-awareness, not to recognize that we are up to our necks in this problem. This has been especially true once we were sufficiently accepted in the United States to feel confident enough to go public with our own identity politics. But this newfound confidence carries its own costs; people are observing us closely, and what they see in our behavior is not always distinct from what we loudly decry in others. One has to be amused, even amazed, when colleagues in the organized Jewish world wring their hands about black nationalism, Afrocentrism, or with cultural separatism in general — without considering Jewish behavioral parallels. Where has our vaunted Jewish self-awareness flown? I’ll confess it, at least: like thousands of other typical Jewish kids of my generation, I was reared as a Jewish nationalist, even a quasi-separatist. Every summer for two months for 10 formative years during my childhood and adolescence I attended Jewish summer camp. There, each morning, I saluted a foreign flag, dressed in a uniform reflecting its colors, sang a foreign national anthem, learned a foreign language, learned foreign folk songs and dances, and was taught that Israel was the true homeland. Emigration to Israel was considered the highest virtue, and, like many other Jewish teens of my generation, I spent two summers working in Israel on a collective farm while I contemplated that possibility. More tacitly and subconsciously, I was taught the superiority of my people to the gentiles who had oppressed us. We were taught to view non-Jews as untrustworthy outsiders, people from whom sudden gusts of hatred might be anticipated, people less sensitive, intelligent, and moral than ourselves. We were also taught that the lesson of our dark history is that we could rely on no one."

Make It a "March of Love," by Edward Moskol (president of the Polish National Alliance-USA), Dialogue on Jewish-Polish Relations
"According to the opening words of its Homepage on the Internet, 'The March of the Living is a yearly journey where thousands of primarily Jewish teens from around the world gather in Poland and Israel to mark two of the most significant dates on the modern calendar: Holocaust Remembrance Day and Israel Independence Day. The purpose of this trip is to give students a first hand look at history and the evils of mankind.' In actuality, each year in May, on a day commemorated by the Jewish community as 'Holocaust Day,' Poland surrenders a bit of its sovereignty. On that day in Oswiecim, the Polish town situated near the German-created World War II concentration camp of Auschwitz, Jewish organizers and Israeli agents control the streets, while thousands of young Jews hurl insults and epithets at those Poles who dare come upon the scene. A self-proclaimed 'March of the Living,' the parade from Auschwitz to the neighboring Birkenau camp, has become something more akin to a 'March of Hate.' Ostensibly held to educate the young about a Holocaust they did not experience, it has evolved into an opportunity for Jews to claim singular suffering at the hands of the Nazis and to inculcate anti-Polonism within the participants."

It Is Absurd to Say that Israel Is Not a Racist State, by Charley Reese,
King Features Syndicate (Reese is a columnist at the Orlando Sentinal)
"It was no surprise that the United States and Israel walked out of a United Nations conference on racism as soon as Israel came in for criticism. It is, however, a disgrace. Israel certainly is a racist state. Its own human-rights advocates call it that. The claim that Israel doesn't discriminate against non-Jews is absurd on its face. Suppose, for example, the U.S. Congress passed a law that said the United States is a Christian, Anglo-Saxon nation and that any Christian, Anglo-Saxon person anywhere in the world is automatically eligible to become a citizen. Do you seriously think the Anti-Defamation League would not have a conniption fit and scream racism? Well, Israel has such a law for Jews. Thus a Russian Jew, for example, can become a citizen, but a Palestinian driven out of his own country in 1948 cannot return. Suppose, for another example, a group of wealthy people established the Christian National Fund. This fund would be used to purchase property. Once purchased, the property could never be sold to, rented to or leased to a non-Christian. Would that not be called discrimination? Well, there is such a fund called the Jewish National Fund, which has all of those restrictions on the property it owns. It played a great part in establishing Israel. And, of course, if American officials routinely issued building permits to Christian Anglo-Saxons while denying them to Jews or other groups, that would be considered racist. And neighborhoods that denied non-Christians an opportunity to buy or rent would likewise be considered racist. All of these forms of discrimination are practiced in Israel against Palestinians."

A Chasidic Spokesman Espouses Modernity -- and Race Separation,
[Jewish] Forward, April 13, 2001
"A beloved teacher at Yeshiva University High School for Boys — a Modern Orthodox, not chasidic, institution — Rabbi [Mayer] Schiller also spent years writing and preaching in defense of European culture, group identity and, most controversially, racial separatism. Rabbi Schiller, 49, has made common cause with and spoken before a cast of characters and organizations that would send most American Jews running to the Anti- Defamation League: American white supremacists, anti-abortion extremists, Conrad Muhammad of the Nation of Islam and right-wing European nationalists. In a series of interviews with the Forward, Rabbi Schiller declined to discuss for the record his published views on race. Officials at Yeshiva University High School, also known as MTA, said Rabbi Schiller's silence stems from an agreement that he made with school administrators five years ago, prohibiting Rabbi Schiller from discussing racial issues with students or in any public forum ... Several of Rabbi Schiller's former students and rabbinical colleagues said they oppose his separatist views, but that his fascination with controversial nationalist causes stem not from a hatred for racial minorities, but a rejection of post-Enlightenment universalism and secularism."

Results of Poll Sponsored by Israel Policy Forum, the Jewish Week, and the Wilstein Institute of Jewish Policy Studies Studies,
Jewish Week, November 20, 2001
This poll of Jewish Americans found "the most important issue or problem facing the Jewish community in the United States today" to be 1) anti-Semitism [23%], 2) Peace and Security for Israel, 3) Terrorism [13%], 4) Intermarriage [i.e., marrying non-Jews - 12%], and 5) U.S.-Israeli relations [8%]. Public education was 8th, poverty and hunger 9th, and the environment 10th [all with 1%]. 89% of respondents were "strongly favorable' or "somewhat favorable" to Israel. (Another 5% ventured no opinion, 1% didn't respond, 3% were "somewhat unsupportive, and 2% "strongly unsupportive.") 59% were even "strongly favorable" or "somewhat favorable" to Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, who faces a possible trial in Belgium for war crimes in Lebanon.

In the Genes. Understanding Jewish Genetic Diseases,
Chicago Jewish News
"[A] certain group of conditions are unusually common among Jews of Eastern European or Ashkenazi descent. (We'll come to their Sephardic cousins later.) Although these diseases can affect Sephardic Jews and non-Jews as well, they afflict Ashkenazi Jews more often as much as 20 to 100 times more frequently ... Because for centuries Jews tended to marry within their faith and their community, the relatively high frequency of these genes among Jews stayed within the larger Jewish community. Their effects were not diluted by the introduction of other genes from outside the Ashkenazi Jewish community, nor did the high frequency of these genes among Jews pass into other communities."

Critics Charge Racism as Jewish State Places 'Quota' on Ethiopians,
[Jewish] Forward, December 28, 2001
"Critics are claiming racism is behind what they say is the Israeli government's establishment of a 400-person monthly quota on immigration from Ethiopia — even for those who qualify under the Law of Return. Ethiopian Jewry activists complain that the quota and what they cite as a lack of humanitarian aid from American Jewish philanthropies are doubly offensive because of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent calls for a mass immigration of Jews from Argentina, France, Australia and South Africa. The plight of Ethiopian Jews is being ignored, activists charge, even as Israel and the quasi governmental Jewish Agency for Israel, the main overseas recipient of monies raised by federations within the United Jewish Communities system, are investing millions of dollars to encourage immigration from those countries and the former Soviet Union. 'This is the first time that there is a quota on an ethnic basis,' said Avraham Neguise, head of the Israel-based advocacy group South Wing to Zion. 'In Ethiopia they created an ethnic quota. It's clear discrimination against black Jews.'"

Pol's Bid to Honor Slain Israeli Driving Debate Over 'Transfer,'
[Jewish] Forward, January 25, 2002
"A freshman New York City councilman is winning some powerful endorsements for his proposal to name a street in his native Queens after slain Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam "Gandhi" Ze'evi, who had urged the expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The proposal by Democrat David Weprin, who chairs the City Council's powerful finance committee, has won the endorsement of State Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn, as well as Rabbi Avi Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in the Bronx. A representative of the American Jewish Committee said the organization would back Mr. Weprin's proposal if the City Council approves it. The city's Jewish Community Relations Council said it would not object to naming a street after the former major general, who was assassinated by a militant Palestinian group last October. Opposition to the proposed street-naming was voiced by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Americans for Peace Now and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat. 'How in the hell can you name a street after [Ze'evi] and not claim you're embracing his views?' said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of UAHC. 'Honoring him in this way inevitably serves to give an endorsement to his views. Those views were unacceptable to most Jews and most Israelis before his assassination. It is incumbent particularly upon Diaspora Jews to be reminded of what he stood for, and having been reminded, we have to delegitimize him.' Mr. Weprin first announced his plans to name a single city block after Ze'evi at a memorial dinner for the slain Israeli, organized January 6 by the National Council of Young Israel. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the event, praised Ze'evi for his attention to Israel's security. Mr. Netanyahu had refused to admit Ze'evi into his own governing coalition in 1996 because of the extremism of Ze'evi's views. The enthusiasm of some mainstream Jewish organizations for the street-naming proposal may be the latest sign of what communal leaders say is a new era in which it is no longer verboten for American Jews to discuss, or in some cases promote, Ze'evi's platform of 'transfer.' The term 'transfer' has come to refer to the mass removal of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza to other Arab countries by means that Ze'evi himself was often vague about. Most mainstream Jewish groups, from left to right, historically have rejected the doctrine as immoral. 'About two years ago I heard almost no one mention the topic of transfer,' said the national president of the Zionist Organization of America, Morton Klein. 'Now Jews who would never breathe such a word are saying it.'" [From the Guardian (London), 10-17-01: "[Ze'evi] was widely respected [by Israelis], even by political opponents, for his distinguished war record, but his advocacy of what he called the 'transfer' of Palestinians across the borders into the neighbouring Arab countries was condemned by many as racist ... He sparked controversy in July for referring to Palestinians working and living illegally in Israel as 'lice' and a 'cancer.'" Global Beat Syndicate, 10-21-01: "If you are Palestinian, Ze'evi represented one of the most racist elements in the Israeli political spectrum. His politics openly called for the expulsion of Palestinians from their indigenous homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the rest of the Arab world. His death comes after Israel successfully carried out 60 political assassinations of Palestinians over the past 12 months."

Soldier's Burial as a Non-Jew Adds to List of Israel's Pain,
New York Times, Feb. 23, 2002
"Staff Sgt. Michael Oxman died with five comrades when Palestinian gunmen attacked an Israeli outpost in the West Bank on Tuesday night. On Friday, he was buried apart from them, in the section of a military cemetery set aside for non- Jews. Sergeant Oxman, a 21-year-old immigrant from Ukraine who considered himself Jewish, like his father, did not qualify as such under Jewish law because his mother is not Jewish. For a society with more than enough on its mind already, the separate-but-equal treatment accorded the sergeant introduced a new ripple of consternation. 'He was Jewish enough to enlist, to fight and to die with them,' his commander, identified only as Barry, told Israel radio. 'It is very regretful and very sorrowful for us all.'"

Anatomy of a Conditionally Unresolved Conflict -- A Personal and Philosophical Reflection, Gilad Atzmon, December 2000
"I suggest that uncovering the philosophy behind a number of fundamental Jewish precepts will clearly manifest the terrible truth that the Israeli-Arab conflict is conditionally unresolved ... For many years I have experienced deep feelings of disappointment and disenchantment with my own people. As we all know, identity can be a complicated issue. One does not have a say regarding one's parents, place of birth, gender, racial origin or even religious inheritance. Nobody asked me if I wanted to be born a Jew or an Israeli. Nobody consulted me when I was just eight days old about whether I wanted to sacrifice a part of my body in order to determine my identity. When I was just over a week old, without proving any superiority or excellence in any given domain, I became 'chosen'. I have to admit that most of the Jewish people I have ever came across are more than happy with their given identity and are proud to be Jewish. Unfortunately I am not. On the contrary, the older I get the more I find myself ashamed of my own people and this paper is about my shame ... I would like to address the concept of 'choseness.' I believe that 'choseness' is one of the most fundamental characteristics of 'Jewish understanding'. One can remove a substantial amount of religious law and ritual from Jewish life (e.g. the Reform movement) and one can even remove the whole of religious practice without really affecting Jewish identity (as we know there are many secular Jews). But whenever one removes 'choseness,' there is very little left with which the Jew can identify. In other words, by removing 'choseness,' the Jew, in effect, becomes converted to something else (converted into Christianity or, more generally, into an ordinary human being). The concept of 'choseness' is bound up with many Jewish concepts of self-alienation or even positive discrimination such as Kosher food, Minian as well as the process of conversion. These concepts share a common denominator that suppress any experience of social interaction with the Other. In other words, Jews are discouraged from assimilating with their non-Jewish environment (the Hebrew word for assimilation is Hit-bo-le-lout which comes from the root word Blil which is commonly understood to mean 'mass' or 'confusion', hence le-hit-bo-lel, to assimilate, means to get confused, to be one of the mass, to lose your authenticity ). The result of this is that the possibility of 'loving thy neighbour' is denied. In general, as we shall see, 'Jewish understanding' (unlike Judaism) leads to ignorance of the Other. When I talk about the Other, I refer to that which is conditionally different from myself. The Other is the one with whom one can empathize because, and only because, he is different."

In Israel, Distressed Signals from Ethiopians,
Christian Science Monitor, May 22, 2002
"The gap between black and white Israelis seems, with some exceptions, to be growing. For Ethiopians, it is visible in impoverished neighborhoods, soaring unemployment, and the highest high-school dropout rate of any Jewish group in Israel. Twenty-six percent of Ethiopian youths have either dropped out or do not show up for classes most of the time, raising concerns that the community's current difficulties may become chronic. Drug use, including glue-sniffing, is on the rise, and criminal activity, hardly known among Ethiopians before they came to Israel, has been growing ... to Asher Elias, a staff member at the Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews (IAEJ). 'Ethiopians have lots of motivation to become Israelis, but they are not accepted,' he says. 'In jobs, in education, people feel they are discriminated against because they are black. I'm not saying it is right or wrong, but it is what we are feeling, and that is enough.' A low point in the relationship between Ethiopian Jews and Israelis came in 1996, when it was revealed that Israeli hospitals had thrown out all blood donated by Ethiopians. "These were donations to help other Israelis," Mr. Elias says. "[Ethiopians] said to each other: 'What do they think? That we are not humans?' Habad, one of Israel's stronger orthodox religious groups, doesn't recognize Ethiopians as Jews or allow their children into its kindergartens."

Prosecutor Probes Jewish Web Site's Hate Call,
Reuters, August 22, 2002
"The Paris public prosecutor has launched a probe of an extremist Jewish Internet site which published a list of French personalities it deemed 'anti-Israeli' and urged readers to attack some of them. The Web site alleged the celebrities on the list, which included Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche and best-selling writer Regine Deforges, backed a French boycott of Israeli products to protest Israeli government policies ... Daily newspaper Le Monde said on Thursday the Web site ... was run by young French-speaking Israelis living in Israel who were ideologically close to French far-right movements and frequently published racist and anti-Palestinian remarks. Some of the prominent people on the list told Le Monde they had started to receive hate mail."

Chief Rabbi Recants on Religious Tolerance,
Guardian (UK), September 27, 2002
"The chief rabbi [of Great Britian], Jonathan Sacks, has agreed to recant views suggesting religions can learn from each other following a meeting with conservative rabbis who threatened him with a charge of heresy. Dr Sacks, whose latest book The Dignity of Difference, represents a plea for religious tolerance, will have to revise its central message if it is ever republished. The book - extracts of which were published in the Guardian - was praised for its tolerance and open-mindedness by reviewers, but condemned by orthodox and conservative rabbis for the implication that their religion might fall short of complete perfection. In a statement released to the Jewish Chronicle, following a three hour private meeting with 20 rabbis from Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester, Dr Sacks conceded that 'one or two sentences might be misunderstood.' He promised to make 'appropriate amendments' in the next possible edition. The move will anger more liberal Jews already exasperated at previous back-trackings by the chief rabbi in the face of orthodox intransigence. It represents a humiliating climbdown, negating the book's thesis, at the behest of deeply conservative synagogue leaders."

Choking on the stench of journalists worldwide,
by Chana Katz, Jewish Star Times (Miami), October 9, 2002
"I'm ready for the first stage of our long-awaited redemption. Why? Because our sages say then Israel will be free from the yolk of the nations. In the meantime the opposite is happening. The world is tightening its grip. For example, this morning's news brought us America's warning to immediately end the seige of Arafat's compound. By the evening news -- Israel had already stepped back. Only 40 yards so far -- but still . . . we had to punt ... And the head of the United Nations Kofi Anan -- (kof, in Hebrew, means monkey) [JTR notes the subtext of this slur: Kofi Anan is of African descent] -- who made a call heard around the world for Israel to withdraw from 'occupied territories?' Is this man who heads one of the world's most politically powerful organizations really so ignorant of Jewish history? ... Yet sadly, some leaders in Israel's own government are also calling for an end to the 'occupation.' Our sages have also predicted this -- that there would be a time in Jewish history when the leaders of Israel would declare an open war against God and His Torah. I have no doubt at all who will win that war. So, bring on the redemption. And let the nations of the world drop their choking grip around our neck faster than a burning coal. And, if they wouldn't mind, bring me a cup of coffee with one sugar, and take out the garbage." (Chana Katz grew up in Miami Beach and is currently raising her own family in Safed, Israel).

The Making of a Modern Jew,
by Mark M, The Birdman
"Dear John, Recaping on my own Jewish experience, I would like to share it with you and, if you wish, with your readers ... The following is my response to a claim that modern-day Jews are completely ignorant of the age-old Talmudic tenets regarding the the relations with Gentiles, and hence the discussion of those tenets is pointless, confusing and irrelevant ... My Jewish background is more progressive than our progressive age itself: neither my parents, nor my grandparents on either side, had anything to do with the Hebrew faith, observance or synagogue. What then made me a Jew, apart from the names of people around me? The answers abound, of course, citing various cultural elements and phenomena, but instead of listening to the pundits let me listen to my own memory and offer you a handful of bits and pieces of my Jewishness, taken at random: I hope they will help you figure out whether or not the Talmudic heritage is 'irrelevant' to the making of a modern Jew. 1. A cute anecdote from my childhood: Dad brings home a kitten. -- Daddy, let us call him Moyshe! -- No, that's no good. -- Then Khayim! -- That's no good either. Human names should not be given to animals. Call him Hugh or Frank or something. 2. Equally cute anecdote from my college years: -- Guess what: I have decided to take a Gentile wife. -- Why? Why not Jewish?... -- See, a Jewish wife might have poor health, or problems with children, or depression, or something else of that nature; it's too hard for me. -- A Gentile wife might have all those problems as well! -- True, but would I care? 3. Once we are at it, another anecdote, told confidentially as a reflection of typical the pre-war Old World reality: Two Russian kids talking: -- White bread and butter, what a yummy thing! -- Don't you tell me you've ever eaten it. -- 'Course I haven't. Just seen a Jew eatin'. 4. Back to the Talmud and Gentiles. A friend, as non-religious as I was, sent his daughter to a Hebrew school (Maimonides in Brookline, MA) and waxed observant following the demands of the girl's environment. Then one day he told me with a chuckle: -- Can you imagine what kind of news Sarah brought home from school? It's only the Jews whom God created: all others have developed somehow on their own, from shit. His wife strongly rebuked him at that point, noticing that if he wanted harmonious relations with his daughter, he should not ridicule views and opinions which she has acquired at school, 'even though they might not be officially supported'. 5. At a cordial family party (Miami, FL, ca. 1995) the conversation revolved around something abstract: -- Take a very general statement, -- said someone, -- for instance, 'Thou shalt not murder'. It means no one... -- No! -- suddenly objected someone else, -- no one except an Arab! Approving laughter: -- This is, of course, a Talmudic clarification to the Torah. 6. A piece of conventional wisdom: -- When you have to visit, for some reason, a Christian church, drop a coin on the floor in the middle; then, pretending that you are looking for it, turn your ass to the Altar. Doing such a _mitzvah_ (commandment) will justify your coming there. 7. From stories to words and expressions. No wonder that seemingly minor, insignificant bits of everyday speech can leave a profound, lasting impression in a young soul. The following Yiddish phrase was one of them: "A khazer blaybt a khazer, a goy blaybt a goy" (A pig remains a pig, a Gentile remains a Gentile)."

* (Jewish-born) David Ignatiev's web site, http:///wwww.racetraitor.org is getting some sympathetic news attention. His posted philosophy includes these gems:
"Treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity."
"RACE TRAITOR [his web site] aims to serve as an intellectual center for those seeking to abolish the white race."
[Ignatiev, of course, has an "intellectual" explanation for his call to genocide, whether it's literal, figurative, social, or political. We wonder though. What would public opinion be if the word "white" in these sentences was replaced with the word "Jewish," i.e., "Treason to Jewishness is loyalty to humanity" (a rather reasonable renouncement of the "Chosen People" centerpiece of Jewish identity?) and "RACE TRAITOR aims to serve as an intellectual center for those seeking to abolish the Jewish race." Such an anti-Jewish web site would of course be condemned as an expression of fascism, whatever his explanations, and vehemently denounced from every quarter.]

Klan leader may be Jewish,
Montgomery Advertiser (Alabama), October 12, 2002
"The leader of a Mississippi branch of the Ku Klux Klan that has planned December recruitment drives in Autauga and Elmore counties was deposed from his leadership position in another Klan chapter for being Jewish. Jordan N. Gollub of the Royal Confederate Knights of the KKK, which is based in Leake County, Miss., denies he is Jewish but acknowledged Friday he was deposed in 1989 from a leadership role with the Christian Knights of the KKK, another Mississippi-based chapter. Jews are among the groups of people sometimes opposed by the Klan ... Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center says Gollub is indeed Jewish. The SPLC keeps tabs on organizations it has labeled hate groups and provides educational materials about tolerance. Potok is editor of the group's Intelligence Report, a quarterly magazine that tracks the activities of hate groups."

Preface to the First Paperback Edition of The Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements, by professor Kevin MacDonald
"The profound idealization, the missionary zeal, and the moral fervor that surround the veneration of figures like Celan, Kafka, Adorno, and Freud characterize all of the Jewish intellectual movements discussed in CofC (see Ch. 6 for a summary). That these figures are now avidly embraced by the vast majority of non-Jewish intellectuals as well shows that the Western intellectual world has become Judaized—that Jewish attitudes and interests, Jewish likes and dislikes, now constitute the culture of the West, internalized by Jews and non-Jews alike. The Judaization of the West is nowhere more obvious than in the veneration of the Holocaust as the central moral icon of the entire civilization. These developments constitute a profound transformation from the tradition of critical and scientific individualism that had formed the Western tradition since the Enlightenment. More importantly, because of the deep-seated Jewish hostility toward traditional Western culture, the Judaization of the West means that the peoples who created the culture and traditions of the West have been made to feel deeply ashamed of their own history—surely the prelude to their demise as a culture and as a people. The present Judaized cultural imperium in the West is maintained by a pervasive thought control propagated by the mass media and extending to self-censorship by academics, politicians, and others well aware of the dire personal and professional consequences of crossing the boundaries of acceptable thought and speech about Jews and Jewish issues. It is maintained by zealously promulgated, self-serving, and essentially false theories of the nature and history of Judaism and the nature and causes of anti-Semitism."

The Culture of Critique Enhanced Entropy,
Etherzone, October 2002
“The Culture of Critique” (C of C) is a well researched and thoroughly documented book on the evolution of the Jewish race. There is a bit of prolixity, some psychological speculation, a dab of repetitive over teach, and a most shocking and cogent explanation for America’s social decline. The Author, Kevin MacDonald is a professor in the Psychology Department at Cal State in Long Beach ... MacDonald traces the collectivist nature of Jewish society. The pressure to marry within the tribe. The persistent attempts to dominate and to be accepted as members of the societies in which they live while at the same time considering themselves superior, lamenting anti-Semitism, and seeking revenge for real or imagined ill treatment. He traces the disastrous societal deterioration which results from the Jewish notion that secular diversity is advantageous to Jews, and how it has been promoted and fostered in America. Though Jews, themselves, do not necessarily believe in gay rights, they promote it, believing acceptance of gays will encourage acceptance of Jews. There is a Communist thread that pervades Jewishness. MacDonald attributes this to the Jewish belief that a classless International Socialist Society would end anti-Semitism and be good for Jews ... Communist Parties in Russia, Poland, Hungary, America, and several other nations have been dominated by Jews. Connections to Russia have been common and attempts to paint Russian Communism as compatible with Jews and a superior governmental form have been persistent and frequent. The brutality of Russian Jewish supremacy during the 1920s and 30s has been suppressed. Slave labor camps were developed by Jewish leaders, Matvei Berman and Naftali Frenkel."


Baltimoreans May Join To Buy Israel Land,
Baltimore Jewish News, October 14, 2002
"More and more, American Jews feel that Israel is the place they want to be," said Mr. [Paysi] Golomb, who lives with his family in Park Heights. 'But because their lives and jobs are tied to the American economy, they don't think it is a possibility. What we're trying to do is to show people that if they go in together and buy an apartment building, there would be made available to them low interest rates and the economic power of buying as a group.' At least 60 local families have shown interest already, he said, with a smaller group also interested from Chicago. Many of the people that Mr. Golomb has spoken to want to move to Israel but are concerned about finding experienced, trustworthy people to help them. Tehilla, the Union For Religious Aliyah, which has been in existence for 20 years and has helped settle thousands of Americans, including many from Baltimore, is lending advice to Mr. Golomb, an art framer and trumpet instructor who has no financial stake in the aliyah project. 'There are opportunities to buy now, and I think people are excited about that,' said Mr. Golomb. "It doesn't have to be a situation where a family is set to make aliyah [a move to Israel]. We have people who are interested in buying now and renting for a couple of years to someone. We have people who are interested in buying for a retirement home."

As good as gold Elon Gold breaks down barriers by being a Sabbath-observant Jew and starring in a hit sitcom,
Jewsweek, October 2002
"For Elon Gold, life really is a sitcom. The Bronx-born actor, stand-up comedian and producer turned his real-life living situation into TV fodder, particularly his relationship with an intimidating father-in-law à la the Ben Stiller-Robert DeNiro dynamic in 'Meet the Parents.' Gold plays Matt Landis, a struggling would-be chef who moves with his new wife Alex (Bonnie Somerville) into her parents' home, which doesn't thrill Dad (Dennis Farina) ... Gold doesn't want his TV alter ego to follow him into fatherhood right away, but he does have a scheme to thicken the family plot. "I'd like to write an episode where we find out my wife's mom was raised Catholic but is really Jewish, so her dad becomes the outsider,' he outlines. 'I like portraying the Jewish guy, especially in a positive light,' says the 29-year-old Gold ... But, said Gold, 'The only negative thing about my character is that he marries a shiksa [pejorative Yiddish term for a non-Jewish woman]. I don't condone it, I don't recommend it. I am playing a character. But it's a reality and it makes for great comedy."

Jewish History, Jewish Religion. The Weight of 3,000 Years,
a book by Israel Shahak, posted in its entirety by Historical Review Press.
Shahak was a "Holocaust survivor" and once was head of the Israel Civil Rights Association. This is THE book to read about traditional racist Jewish beliefs about the non-Jewish Other.

Against Ethnic Panic. Hitler Is Dead,
by Leon Wieseltier, The New Republic
(Issue date 05.27.02)
"All violence is not like all other violence. Every Jewish death is not like every other Jewish death. To believe otherwise is to revive the old typological thinking about Jewish history, according to which every enemy of the Jews is the same enemy, and there is only one war, and it is a war against extinction, and it is a timeless war. This typological thinking defined the historical outlook of the Jews for many centuries. It begins, of course, with the Amalekites, the nomadic tribe in the Sinai desert that attacked the Israelites on their journey out of Egypt. 'The Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.... Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.' From generation to generation: An adversarial role, a diabolical role, was created in perpetuity. And so Amalek became Haman (who actually was an Amalekite), who became the Romans, who became the Crusaders, who became Chmielnicki, who became Petlura, who became Hitler, who became Arafat. The mythifying habit is ubiquitous in the literature of the Jews. In some instances, it must not have seemed like mythifying at all. 'A tale that began with Amalek," wrote the Yiddish poet Yitzhak Katznelson in the concluding lines of 'The Song of the Murdered Jewish People' in 1944, not long before he died at Auschwitz, "and ended with the crueler Germans....' But it is mythifying, and the habit is back; and so a number of things need to be said about Amalek, and about the Amalekization of the present enemy [Palestinians]. For a start, the prescription of an eternal war with Amalek was a prescription for the Jews to be cruel. Here is Rashi's brutal gloss, in the eleventh century in France, on the commandment to 'blot out the remembrance' [i.e., Israelite-inspired genocide] : 'Every man and every woman, every babe and every suckling, every ox and every sheep. The memory of Amalek cannot be said to survive even in an animal, such that someone could say, `This animal once belonged to an Amalekite.'" This extreme of heartlessness was responsible for the most chilling sentence uttered by an Israelite in the Bible: 'What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?' That was what Samuel furiously demanded to know of the poignantly human Saul, the king who could not bring himself to slaughter his enemy completely. So if Amalek is waging a war of extermination against the Jews, the Jews are waging a war of extermination against Amalek. It was perhaps this pitilessness against which some (but certainly not all) medieval and early modern Jewish intellectuals revolted, when they wondered about the precise identity of Amalek in their own day, and proposed various kinds of symbolic action that would allow Jews to acquit themselves of the law about the erasure of the enemy, and deferred the application of the law to the messianic age."

Influential coalition wants to end taboo against promoting inmarriage,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 5, 2002
"Rena Mello grew up Catholic, but she and her Jewish husband, Eric Lippman, are raising their son and daughter as Jews ... But for a new loosely knit group of influential Jewish lay leaders, rabbis and academics, Mello would be among the prime — and highly controversial — targets of a campaign to stem the intermarriage tide engulfing American Jewry. The group aims to: • advocate Jewish endogamy, or inmarriage; • urge non-Jewish partners of interfaith couples to convert to Judaism; and • ensure interfaith couples raise their children in 'unambiguously Jewish' homes. 'Just as we want to welcome those who want to be Jewishly involved but are married to non-Jews, we must also send out a parallel message that Jews should marry Jews,' says Steven M. Cohen, a professor at the Melton Centre for Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who is affiliated with the effort ... These calls for cultural change toward inmarriage and conversion first grew out of a private conference many of the group’s members held at the AJCommittee’s New York offices in March 2001. That session produced a call for Jewish leaders to renew support for inmarriage, conversion of non-Jewish members of interfaith couples and clearly Jewish homes, says Lynn Korda-Kroll, chairwoman of the AJCommittee’s commission on contemporary Jewish life, who organized the event and is involved in the new group."

Judging Judaism by the Numbers,
New York Times, November 20, 2002
"As a Jew who cares deeply about his religion, I have come to the conclusion that our great mistake has been to forget that we are the descendants of a loose amalgamation of peoples united around a new idea, and to replace this history with the view, advanced by our enemies, that we are a race. Zionism, perhaps unintentionally, gave this race a nation to defend; Israel's hostile neighbors kept alive real and pressing questions of survival. It's not surprising, then, that many American Jews have come to understand their Jewishness as an obligation rather than a privilege. By the 1970's, reform Jewish schools and synagogues, like the ones I attended, had begun to emphasize Zionism and the benefits of marrying within the faith over religious education. Every Jewish institution that I encountered as a young man seemed more dedicated to safeguarding the Jewish race than than to teaching Judaism. This has led to a Jewish culture based not on faith or spiritual inquiry but on the mechanics of preservation. Perhaps that is why the worse things get, or the more dire the circumstances are depicted, the more committed and generous Jews become. With each new crisis in the West Bank, tourism to Israel goes down, but donations to Jewish philanthropies go up. In such an environment, the hard data proving the increase in intermarriage and the reluctance of those couples to raise their children in the Jewish tradition is gold. It is in the short-term financial interest of Jewish philanthropies to paint the darkest demographic picture possible. And they do."

Controversy clouds study of American Jews Survey was to reveal health of the religion, but results are being withheld for reasons that no one will fully explain,
by RACHEL ZOLL, The Associated Press, November 29, 2002
"It was supposed to be an important moment in American Judaism. Jewish leaders from around the country had booked themselves into a posh hotel near Philadelphia's historic district for the week before Hanukkah, expecting to hear results of a $6 million, years-long study of U.S. Jews. The findings could be critical, shaping how tens of millions of dollars will be spent to keep Judaism alive in the United States at a time when many Jews are marrying outside the faith. Then, just before its release, the report was withheld. The survey's technical advisers now are in a bitter public fight with the nonprofit agency directing the project, and critics are wondering if the group is trying to bury bad news ... [S]ome say the delay has undermined the credibility of the report even before it comes out. 'They've inflicted a major blow to themselves,' said Egon Mayer, academic director of the North American Jewish Data Bank and a technical adviser for the study. 'It boggles my mind' ... The 2000 study originally was supposed to have been released more than a year ago, but researchers said it was hard to find people willing to participate. The date was pushed back, and speculation continued to grow that the survey was in trouble ... 'I'm hearing people asking, 'What's really going on?' " said Eva Goldfinger, as she worked a booth for the International Federation for Secular Humanist Jews, which has criticized the survey for too narrowly defining who is a Jew. 'Why did they suddenly hold it back? Did they not like the results?' ... Barry Kosmin, who led the 1990 study, said United Jewish Communities left itself vulnerable to such claims by not asking an independent, academic institution to conduct the survey. Hoffman's agency raises and distributes millions of dollars for Jewish community work, and there are interest groups inside and outside the nonprofit whose funding depends on the outcome of the study, Kosmin said."

Grateful for being chosen,
by Jonathan Rosenblum
Jewish Media Sources (from Jerusalem Post) June 7, 2002
"No doubt the idea of a chosen people in general, and the Jews as that people in particular, does not sit well with the modern sensibility ... Why is it so hard to believe, then, that God too chose one nation, on the basis of its unique character, to be His partner - the vehicle for His revelation to mankind? ... For some it is hard to believe in our chosenness, if, even after the Holocaust, we still find ourselves in constant peril in our Land. For others, however, it has never been easier ... Groups that denied either the Written or Oral Torah, like the Sadduccees and the Karaites, have disappeared ... No Jewish community, it seems, ever enjoyed 80 years of continuous tranquility. Every Jew living today is the product of an unbroken chain of ancestors, each of whom chose his or her relationship to God over every blandishment that gentile society held out to the most literate members of that society, and in the face of every torture and affliction. That realization struck me in the face more than a quarter of a century ago on the morning of the Entebbe rescue. As complete strangers embraced on the bus, I asked myself why I felt so close to my fellow passengers despite all the obvious differences between us - skin color, language, personal and familial history. Why did these differences count for so little on the Egged bus, when they loomed so large on a New York City subway? The only answer I could give was our common chain of ancestors - great scholars and humble folk alike - who in every place and over thousands of years found in their connection to God the reason and strength to endure as Jews ... Today I am part of that chain of believing Jews who recite every morning, 'Blessed art Thou God, our Lord, King of the Universe, Who did not make me a gentile.' When I do so, I think not of a drunken peasant, but of the most elevated gentile - Goethe or Mozart. No matter how great the achievements of non-Jews may be, the greatest privilege is to have been born into this tiny, despised people, who received His Law and whose every moment is filled with purpose."

Detering Suicide Killers,
by Nathan Levin,
Sh'ma, May 2, 2002
"Terrorism will not be shut down until the individual terrorist is effectively deterred. Israel's campaign of 'targeted assassinations' has tried to prevent suicide bombings by swift nonjudicial execution of known organizers of such deadly attacks. Experience has shown, however, that others take the place of those executed, and the supply of those willing to give up their lives has not dwindled. And Israel's policy of retaliating against political targets - i.e., Arafat's headquarters or Palestinian arms caches - has been a total failure. What threat will effectively deter the individual who is prepared to die so long as he can take many Jews (or, since September 11, many Americans) with him? Studies of Palestinian suicide bombers and of those who, knowing their death was imminent, carried out the September 11 horror indicate that most were closely knit to their families - to parents, brothers, and sisters. Indeed, these family members routinely give press briefings extolling the suicide killers, and they are the recipients of financial bounties from supportive Moslem charities and governmental organizations. What if Israel and the United States announced that henceforth the perpetrators of all suicide attacks would be treated as if they had brought their parents and brothers and sisters with them to the site of the explosion? Suicide killers should know that they will take the lives of not only themselves and the many people they don't know (but nonetheless hate) in the crowd that surrounds them when they squeeze the button that detonates their bomb, but also the lives of their parents, brothers, and sisters. The nation whose civilians are killed or maimed should, by 'targeted assassinations' or other means, be free promptly to execute the immediate relatives of the suicide bombers. This consequence would, I believe, deter most suicide killers - many of whom now anticipate that not only will they be rewarded in a world-to-come, but that their immediate families will be honored and granted lavish benefits on this earth ... Critics will cite the obscene Nazi policy of executing families and entire communities in retaliation for individual acts of resistance. How would the elimination of a suicide killer's family differ from this indefensible Hitlerian practice? This is no easy ethical question, but it is not as one-sided as may initially appear. Weigh the relative 'innocence' of these family members against the 'innocence' of the Israeli adolescents and youngsters killed by suicide bombers at discotheques and cafés or against the "innocence" of those who happened to be on high floors of the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. If executing some suicide-bomber families saves the lives of even an equal number of potential civilian victims, the exchange is, I believe, ethically permissible ... The policy of family retaliation would also encourage family members to dissuade brothers, sisters, or children who appear to be gravitating toward suicide missions. Finally, can Jewish law and tradition accept this seeming punishment of innocents? The Torah commanded the total eradication - including women and children - of certain nations (Amalek being a singular illustration) because of the continuing threat its members presented to the survival of Israel."

WAR AND PEACE. The Teachings of HaRav Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook,
Rabbi Kook Books,
[Note: Rabbi Kook's writing is influential in today's "Religious Zionism" movement]
"This commentary illuminates Rabbi Kook's writings on the subjects of war and peace. In his penetrating and poetic style, Rabbi Kook teaches that war can often be a catalyst for redemption, uprooting evil, erasing false doctrines, and uncovering Israel's great righteousness. With a love for all of humanity, Rabbi Kook examines the deep, inner causes of war, and illumines the Divine Hand behind all of world history. True peace, he explains, can only be achieved when the nation of Israel is united and guided by the supreme moral light of the Torah. Often startling in its condemnation of Western civilization's moral decline, Rabbi Kook's writings on war reveal a little-known side of his giant Torah personality. Written during the height of World War One, his essays read like prophecies heralding the rebirth of the Jewish nation in Israel, a miracle that began to unfold in the aftermath of the war. Selected Teachings on War and Peace: "When one understands that the Redemption of Israel is the goal of world history, one can discover a new spiritual dimension in all of the world's wars and revolutions." ... "Modern Western culture, with all of its immorality and falsehoods, will disappear from the world. The holy culture of Israel will be established in its place."

A museum of tolerance in a city of fanatics,
by Meron Benvinisti, Ha'aretz (Israel), December 5, 2002
"Only in the holy city of Jerusalem are white elephants tempted to believe they have found their heaven. No matter where they come from, when someone decides to bring them to Jerusalem, the elephants first prosper, stuffed with all the hollow slogans of provincial kitsch, ignorance, and greed that blossom in the holy ground. But sadly, the life span of the white elephants is very short, because the struggle for survival is cruel and ruthless and their importers are interested in the profits resulting from bringing them to the city, not in the fate of the beasts after they've arrived ... Occasionally, when there comes an elephant newer and bigger than the previous, people rub their eyes and are certain nothing more monstrous can come along, but sure enough, an even more grotesque creation shows up, as if it was an iron law of nature: Welcome the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance as designed by Frank Gehry. It is difficult to imagine a project so hallucinatory, so irrelevant, so foreign, so megalomaniac, as the Museum of Tolerance. The mere attempt to stick the term tolerance to a building so intolerant to its surroundings is ridiculous. Others have already referred to the extravagant arrogance expressed in the geometric forms that can't be any more dissonant to the environment in which it is planned to put this alien object. There's no need to waste words on the absurdity of a Museum of Tolerance planted on part of an ancient Muslim cemetery, some of which has long since been turned into a parking lot, and will now be topped by spaces in which people are meant to learn about tolerance, mutual respect and religious coexistence ... Fanatic, brutal Jerusalem, saturated with the ambition to gain exclusive possession over it, will take pride in a site that preaches equality between communities and the brotherhood of nations, and from its rooftops will be seen the homes of Palestinians, whose struggle for freedom is always defined as 'terror.' Neither the project's initiators nor its financial backers deserve the criticism, which should be reserved for the local authorities that allowed this white elephant into the city ... The marginal readiness of Diaspora Jews to be superficially involved, from a safe distance, is exploited by an entire industry of schnorrers and 'funds,' run by various government agencies and institutional interests for the sake of being in motion, without any serious look at the goals or the aesthetic and environmental implications ... The absurdity of the Museum of Tolerance and the danger that this white elephant might actually rise, are so tangible that this time apathy cannot be allowed to take over. There have been successful campaigns waged against destructive projects in Jerusalem and there's no reason why a well-planned campaign won't succeed in this case. The Museum of Tolerance project must be eradicated without any tolerance."

Press Release Discrimination/Racism/Bigotry,
ADL Deplores Comments by Sen. Trent Lott,
Anti-Defamation League, December 11, 2002
[The ADL's hypocrisy in this statement -- when it champions the institutionalized racism and segregation of Israel -- is breath-taking]
"The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) deplores the recent comments of Sen. Trent Lott as 'irresponsible and unacceptable,' saying they could easily be interpreted as endorsing the reprehensible segregationist policies of the past. 'The Senator's praise for a candidacy based on segregationist policies was irresponsible and unacceptable, and unbecoming of a leader of his stature in Congress,' said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. 'Although Senator Lott subsequently disavowed the notion that he embraced these policies, his disavowal only underscores the imperative for responsible leaders to speak about these issues with clarity and sensitivity. 'We call on Senator Lott to reaffirm clearly and forcefully to the American people his commitment to civil rights and his opposition to discriminatory policies.' The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry." [Want to really know about "hatred, predjudice and bigotry?" See Israel, Israel, Israel, or Israel]

Mormons Again Promise To Stop Baptizing Dead Jews. Anne Frank, Genghis Khan, Joan of Arc, Adolf Hitler Among Those Baptized,
Local 6 News, December 12, 2002
"The Mormon church has rededicated itself to end the practice of posthumously baptizing Jews, an agreement apparently breached since it was made with Jewish leaders seven years ago, leaders from both faiths said Wednesday. At a meeting Tuesday in New York City, the church reaffirmed its commitment to remove Holocaust victims and other deceased Jews from its International Genealogical Index, said Ernest Michel, chairman of the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors. The index is a list of some 600 million names used by Mormons to perform ceremonies offering proxy baptisms on behalf of the dead. Mormon church leaders requested the meeting after several Jewish organizations complained the faith had broken the 1995 agreement to keep deceased Jews - including those who died in Nazi concentration camps - from being included in the temple ceremonies, Michel said. The Mormon church collects names from records worldwide to use in temple rituals, during which Mormon stand-ins are dunked in water to offer the dead voluntary entry into the Mormon religion. After the 1995 agreement, the church removed 400,000 names of dead Jews, mostly Holocaust victims, from the database ... Independent researcher Helen Radkey, who prepared a report for Michel that alleged the church had broken the 1995 agreement, said her recent research found that at least 20,000 Jews were posthumously baptized. Radkey has been researching Jews included in the Mormon lists since 1999, when she found the famous diarist Anne Frank and her extended family listed as being baptized. She said she is doubtful the church can keep all Jewish names out of the database. 'It is totally unrealistic,' she said. 'Most Mormons who handle the processing, including deletions of Jewish names from the LDS database, would not know a Jewish name from the back end of a hoe.'"

The Jewish State: The Next Fifty Years,
by Amitai Etzioni, Azure, Winter 1999
[Etzioni is a professor at Georgetown University in Washington DC and has served in the Israeli army]
"The Jewish people require a homeland to protect them not merely from physical annihilation, but also from cultural devastation. The Jewish history of suffering and sacrifices secures Jews the right to be shielded not merely from all enemies, foreign and domestic, but also from their own inclination to assimilate and vanish when residing outside the Jewish nation-state. Only a Jewish state, as a tool of Jewish nationhood, can provide the basis for Jewish continuity—in the homeland and elsewhere. It follows that to deny Israel this role is to reject much more than the very troublesome theocratic elements of the existing Jewish state; it is to deny—indeed, betray—the Jewish fate ... If anyone is forced to leave or to comply, who should that be—those who seek to maintain Israel as a Jewish state, or those who wish to turn it into a state indistinguishable from any other, a kind of Lebanon II? All this is not to suggest that if one continues to embrace Israel’s destiny as a Jewish state, one must therefore accept the particular manifestation of Jewishness present in Israel today. Indeed, some of the claims laid by the Haredim are not much more essential to Jewish tradition than are the goyish clothes which the Haredim wear so devoutly. Reforming the Jewish elements of the State of Israel rather than eradicating them is first of all a political matter. It is misleading to argue that Israel, under the thumb of the Haredim, is being undemocratic. "

UA researcher helping explain origin of Jews,
Arizona Daily Wildcat
"UA scientist Michael Hammer discusses the dispersion of the Jewish people based on DNA tests. The discussion was held at Temple Emanu-El Sunday morning. Research of Y chromosome unraveling biblical legend Genetic research on the Y chromosome may help answer questions of biblical significance related to the Jewish Diaspora, or dispersion of the Jewish people. Michael Hammer, a UA [University of Arizona] associate research scientist in the Arizona Research Laboratory has been performing studies on the Y chromosome which, in theory, is passed unchanged from father to son. Occasionally, mutations occur which are inherited by subsequent generations, allowing researchers to construct a kind of family tree that can be used to trace the origin of a people. Hammer and other researchers have used this information to compare genetic data from Jewish groups to host populations. In a seminar hosted by Sisterhood, an auxiliary of Temple Emanu-El, 225 N. Country Club Road, Hammer presented his findings to about 85 members of the Tucson Jewish community Sunday. In the lecture, Hammer said that his findings suggest that the Cohanim - a priestly class of Jews who are said to be descendants of Aaron, brother of Moses - have to a great extent retained their genetic diversity. Hammer and his colleagues surveyed a group of men in the United States who regarded themselves as Cohanim and compared their Y chromosomes to non-priestly class Jewish men. 'This pattern held no matter which community of Jewish men we surveyed,' he said ... Hammer said that his research suggests that the world's Jewish populations closely resemble Syrians, Palestinians and Lebanese, indicating a common ancestry originating in the Middle East about 4,000 years ago. Genetic evidence also suggests that the Jewish people have retained their biological diversity separate from host populations - showing low rates of intermarriage. Hammer said that his research is now focusing on understanding the evolutionary reasons for the high occurrence of rare genetic diseases - such as Tay Sachs, an inherited lipid-metabolism disease affecting children - in Jewish populations. Hammer said that it is possible that a powerful, affluent Jews - such as a rabbi - who had these genetic defects early in Jewish history contributed it to the gene pool in the form of several offspring."

H. G. Wells, Travels of a Republican Radical in Search of Hot Water, Penguin, Harmondsworth, England 1939,
[Excerpts from H.G. Wells]
Neither Aryan, Nor Jew
"{p. 53} CHAPTER V. THE FUTURE OF THE JEWS. I met a Jewish friend of mine the other day and he asked me, 'What is going to happen to the Jews?' I told him I had rather he had asked me a different question, 'What is going to happen - to mankind ?' 'But my people----' he began. 'That,' said I, 'is exactly what is the matter with them.' When I was a schoolboy in a London suburb I never heard of the 'Jewish Question'. I realised later that I had Jewish and semi-Jewish school-fellows, but not at the time. They were all one to me. The Jews, I thought, were people in the Bible, and that was that. I think it was my friend Walter Low who first suggested that I was behaving badly to a persecuted race. Walter, like myself, was a University crammer and a journalist competing on precisely equal terms with myself. One elder brother of his was editor of the St. James's Gazette and another was The Times correspondent in Washington and both were subsequently knighted. Later a daughter of {p. 54} Walter's was to marry Litvinov, who became the Russian Foreign Minister. I could not see that they were at any disadvantage whatever in England. Nevertheless Walter held on to the idea that he was treated as an outcast, and presently along came Zangwill in a state of racial championship, exacerbating this idea that I was responsible for the Egyptian and Babylonian captivities, the destruction of Jerusalem, the ghettos, auto-da-fes - and generally what was I going to do about it? My disposition was all for letting bygones be bygones. When the war came in 1914 some of us were trying to impose upon it the idea that it was a War to End War, that if we could make ourselves heard sufficiently we might emerge from that convulsion with some sort of World Pax, a clean-up of the old order, and a fresh start for the economic life of mankind as a whole. No doubt we were very ridiculous to hope for anything of the sort, and through the twenty years of fatuity that have folowed the Armistice, the gifted young have kept up a chorus of happy derision, 'War to End war Ya ha!" In the last year or so that chorus has died down - almost as if the gifted young had noticed something. But throughout those tragic and almost fruitless four years of war, Zangwill and the Jewish spokesmen elaborately and energetically demonstrating that they cared not a rap for the troubles and {p. 55} dangers of English, French, Germans, Russians, Americans or of any other people but their own. They kept their eyes steadfastly upon the restoration of the Jews - and what was worse in the long run, they kept the Gentiles acutely aware of this."

[It is politically incorrect to say in the following article, but Noel Ignatiev is Jewish.]
Harvard professor argues for 'abolishing' white race,'
Washington Times, September 4, 2003
"Noel Ignatiev, a founder of a journal called Race Traitor and a fellow at Harvard's W.E.B. DuBois Institute, a leading black-studies department, argues in the current issue of Harvard Magazine that 'abolishing the white race' is 'so desirable that some may find it hard to believe' that anyone other than 'committed white supremacists' would oppose it. In excerpts appearing this week in newspapers nationwide, Mr. Ignatiev, who is white, writes that 'every group within white America,' including 'labor unionists, ethnic groups, college students, schoolteachers, taxpayers and white women' has at one time or another 'advanced its particular and narrowly defined interests at the expense of black people as a race.' Mr. Ignatiev pledges in the essay that his journal, Race Traitor, intends to 'keep bashing the dead white males, and the live ones, and the females, too, until the social construct known as 'the white race' is destroyed — not 'deconstructed' but destroyed.'" His colleagues at Harvard seem not to take his proposal entirely seriously. Others cite the article as an example of Harvard's institutional racism ... The university's public affairs office said it had no comment. The article already has stirred anger among some conservatives, who see the article as typical of the liberal climate in academia ... [Ignatiev] writes about what he believes at the Web site of Race Traitor, whose motto is: 'Treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity.'"

Jewish Pride,
Israel National News, January 1, 2002
"What makes a proud Jew? Most American Jews, if asked, would assert confidently that they are proud to be Jewish. What happens, though, if one tries to probe a little deeper, and asks, 'Why are you proud to be Jewish?' To such a question, these same Jews will very likely pause awkwardly, before offering vague generalities about three thousand years of history, or a commitment to social justice. Why are you proud to be Jewish? It´s a simple question, but for many of us the answer is elusive. Looking around at what the nations of the world have created, one would be hard-pressed to make the case that the Jewish nation can stand among them with pride. Jewish composers, yes, but Jewish music? Jewish artists, yes, but Jewish art? Jewish architects, yes, but Jewish architecture? We find no shortage of individual achievements, but where are the achievements of the vaunted Jewish civilization? Despite our extraordinarily long history, with experience in almost every place and culture in the world, our resume of national accomplishment is notably sparse. The self-defined proud Jew can only wonder embarrassedly, what exactly have we done with our three millennia of history and culture? In honesty, the Jewish nation can really only lay claim to one national achievement. There is only one thing to which the entire people has loyally devoted its energies, one thing it can point to as a realm of accomplishment. What is the Jewish people´s sole accomplishment over the last 3,300 years? The answer is: holiness."

From L.A. to Tel Aviv — A Partnership That Works,
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, January 3, 2003
"The scope and effect of projects in Israel funded by The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles have always been broad. But the Tel Aviv-Los Angeles Partnership, with its specialization in hands-on, people-to-people programming seeks to transcend mere philanthropy in order to change the attitudes of Jews in both cities and create a mutual stake in each other’s Jewish life. Most Federation philanthropic money raised for Israel in Los Angeles is still entrusted to the Jewish Agency for disbursement, while some of it goes directly to fund specific pluralism and security-related Jews in Crisis projects in Israel. Programs undertaken through the partnership program, however, are different — partly staffed from Los Angeles, planned and managed jointly with personnel in Tel Aviv and often including exchanges of staff and students. The result, say organizers, participants and even occasional Federation critics, is a remarkably successful program that may change the nature of Israel-Diaspora relations — for the better ... The curriculum was designed to make Israel a more defined part of Jewish identity for Jewish students in Los Angeles, while being Jewish would be a component of Israeli identity for the Tel Aviv participants. Semiannual steering committee meetings, alternating between Los Angeles and Tel Aviv, as well as a communications network that includes videoconferencing and visits to each other’s communities continue to guide the partnership, whose main component areas are described below ... The most visible and probably the most successful of the partnership projects — what Ed Robbins, an initiator of the partnership, calls education’s flagship — is the twinning of 12 schools in Los Angeles with schools in Tel Aviv for programs that include organized, ongoing communication and student exchanges. The twinned schools include many day schools in the Los Angeles area, as well as the public Calabasas High School, whose student population is two-thirds Jewish. At Calabasas, the focus is not on Jewish peoplehood but on Israel’s relationship to the United States. Student exchanges have slowed because of the security situation in Israel, but joint programming in the schools continues to address the subject of Israel-Diaspora relations and Jewish identity ... Curators from museums in Tel Aviv and Los Angeles, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Getty and the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, have been linked for joint programming and institutional exchanges. A master class workshop in filmmaking, staffed from Los Angeles and presented at Tel Aviv University, has also brought some young Tel Aviv filmmakers to Los Angeles on internships in the film industry ... Currently, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles allocates about $11.5 million of the approximately $40 million it collects annually to overseas projects."


Jews Stick to Their Turf,
by Joel Kotkin, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, January 3, 2002
"Philosopher Martin Buber once wrote that Jews had a 'vocation of uniqueness.' However much Jews may differ around the world, for most of their history, and in most places, they have always been somewhat apart from others in their attitudes, how they live and cope with changing conditions. The most recent census data and a largely unreleased 1997 survey of roughly 2,000 L.A. Jewish households show that this is still the case, perhaps most particularly here in Los Angeles ... Today, more than 40 percent of Jewish households in Los Angeles are in the [San Fernando] Valley while one-third are on the Westside. The Valley continues to register the biggest gains, while the population in the central city continues to shrink. Culturally, think of it as three levels of Yiddishkayt. In the most heavily Jewish areas — Encino, Beverly Hills, Fairfax, Pico-Robertson — its heavy-duty ethnic identity. The percentage of households with mostly Jewish friends rises more than 60 percent while intermarriage stays at roughly 20 percent. The levels of temple affiliation are also the highest in these precincts. In more mixed, but still Jewish areas like Valley Village, where I live, around 50 percent say most of their closest friends are Jewish, while half are intermarried. It’s not a guilded ghetto, but ethnicity has not been twinkie-ized ... [R]oughly one in five L.A. Jews was born abroad, with the largest groupings from the former Soviet Union, Iran and Israel. When their children are added, some 45 percent of L.A. Jews have at least one foreign-born parent. The immigrant influence is likely one force clearly changing L.A. Jewish culture. Many children of Israeli and Iranian Jews, for example, learn Hebrew, Farsi and Sephardic traditions that were relatively rare here a decade ago but are becoming part of Jewish life ... But one thing is certain: Jews in Los Angeles will remain a unique population, and, most important of all, they are also likely to remain."

Top Lawyer Urges Death For Families Of Bombers Lewin: 'A Policy Born of Necessity',
by Ami Eden, [Jewish] Forward, June 7, 2002
"A prominent Washington attorney and Jewish communal leader is calling for the execution of family members of suicide bombers. Nathan Lewin, an oft-mentioned candidate for a federal judgeship and legal advisor to several Orthodox organizations, told the Forward that such a policy would provide a much-needed deterrent against suicide attacks. Under the proposal, which Lewin unveiled in the current issue of the opinion journal Sh'ma, family members would be spared if they immediately condemned the bombing and refused financial compensation for the loss of their relative. (Lewin's article appears on the web at http://www.shma.com/may02/nathan.htm.) While a 20-month spate of suicide bombings has been met in the Jewish community with calls for increasingly Draconian preventive measures, Lewin appears to be the first Jewish communal leader to approve publicly of the concept of executing innocent civilians in the hopes of curbing terrorism ... Lewin argued that the biblical injunction to destroy the ancient tribe of Amalek serves as a precedent in Judaism for taking measures that are 'ordinarily unacceptable' in the face of a mortal threat ... Several leading Jewish figures, including Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, argued that the plan represented a legitimate if flawed attempt to strike a balance between preventing terrorism and preserving democratic norms. But the proposal was strongly condemned by the head of the Reform movement, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, and the executive vice chairwoman of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Hannah Rosenthal ... In an article that appeared in the Sh'ma journal alongside Lewin's essay, Brandeis University Jewish studies professor Arthur Green wrote, 'I only wonder how long it will take [Lewin], by the force of this proof-text, to go all the way and suggest that the Palestinian nation as a whole has earned the fate of Amalek [genocide]' ... Dershowitz and Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, rejected the notion that Lewin should be elbowed out of communal life. They argued that his proposal represented a legitimate attempt to forge a policy for stopping terrorism. Foxman declined to take a stand on the actual proposal, citing his policy of deferring to Jerusalem on Israeli security issues. Though they declined to endorse the controversial proposal, top officials at the O.U. and Agudath Israel of America, for whom Lewin has done legal work, expressed sympathy for Lewin's efforts to curb what they described as an unprecedented wave of suicide attacks in Israel. '[Lewin] is not a Kahanist; he is not a nut,' said Richard Stone, chair of the O.U.'s Institute of Public Affairs ... Rabbi William Altshul, headmaster of the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy, a Modern Orthodox Jewish day school in Washington, D.C., told the Forward that he did not regret the decision to honor Lewin this week at the school's annual dinner ... Even as several observers rejected the notion of blackballing Lewin, they offered substantive critiques of his argument. Dershowitz, author of 'Why Terrorism Works' (Yale University Press, 2002), and terrorism researcher Steven Emerson, who both favor the limited use of torture to extract information about an impending terrorist attack, said that they balked at the execution of innocent civilians ... Dershowitz argued that the same level of deterrence could be achieved by leveling the villages of suicide bombers after the residents had been given a chance to evacuate (an idea Lewin disparagingly likened to "using aspirin to treat brain cancer"). Rabbi Steven Pruzansky of Orthodox Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck, N.J., a trained lawyer known for hawkish views on Israeli security issues, argued that a policy of mass deportations, rather than executions, could serve as an effective, but less deadly, deterrent against future attacks. Several observers defended Lewin by noting that the United States killed tens of thousands of civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

[When multiculturalism turns against the Judeocentric hand that guided its growth, here's what you get. Arabs -- today's Jewish hypocrite declares -- are taking over France! This reads like a parody of an "anti-Semitic" complaint about Jews, but it's kosher. Don't look for the ADL to condemn this article as "hate."]
Give the French to Canada,
by Arlene Peck, Israel Insider, January 13, 2002
"It’s a good thing that I’m a columnist instead of a reporter. Then I don’t have to be politically correct. I’m allowed to give my opinion of the subject that I write about. Folks, when it comes to the French, my opinion of them is pretty low ... Actually, today, I almost have to smile when I see how they’ve pandered to and embraced the Arabs so much that they are slowly taking over the country. I truly believe that within ten years the French culture will be taken over by mosques and Middle Eastern restaurants at every corner. I wonder how long it will be before the French women will be wearing burqas. Not such an impossible thought when you consider the increasing Islamic influence in French society, and a result of Islam’s thirst for world domination ... Yet we also have power. They have to know that actions have repercussions. We, as a people, have political, ethical and financial resources greater than those of the Jew-haters who are now crawling out of the woodwork and marching in the Palestinian marches. I will never buy anything French again, ever!"

[There are a number of genetic diseases that have comparatively high incidences in the Jewish community. So where did these come from, if not from traditional Jewish marriage patterns?]
Cousin unions addressed,
Star-Tribune (Mineapolis), Jan. 17, 2003
"One of the more talked-about bill introductions Thursday was a proposal to eliminate Minnesota's law against marriages between first cousins. The bill is sponsored by DFL Reps. Phyllis Kahn of Minneapolis and Cy Thao of St. Paul. They say recent scientific studies conclude that children of first cousins are at no greater risk of genetic defects than others. Thao, one of two Hmong legislators, said such unions are not uncommon in that culture. Kahn said the law also is a problem for Somali immigrants. Rep. Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, joked that the bill would appear to conflict with Gov. Tim Pawlenty's oft-stated promise 'not to turn us into another Arkansas.'"

2002 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion,
American Jewish Committee, December 16, 2002 - January 5, 2003
[EXCERPTS]
"The 2002 survey was conducted for the American Jewish Committee by Market Facts, Inc., a leading survey-research organization. Respondents were interviewed by telephone during December 16, 2002 - January 5, 2003 ...
* 2. Do you think that Americans will or will not have to give up some of their personal freedoms in order to make the country safe from terrorist attacks? Will 78 Will not 20 Not sure 2 ...
* 3. Here are some increased powers of investigation that law enforcement agencies might use when dealing with people suspected of terrorist activity, which would also affect our civil liberties. For each, please say if you would favor or oppose it.
* Expanded undercover activities to penetrate groups under suspicion. 86 [FAVOR] 12 [OPPOSE] 2 [NOT SURE]
* Adoption of a national I.D. system for all U.S. citizens. 67, 30, 3
* Expanded camera surveillance on streets and in public places. 65, 33, 3
* Profiling of people and searching them based on their nationality, race, or religion. 35, 62, 2
* 7. How close do you feel to Israel? Very close 29 Fairly close 44 Fairly distant 20 Very distant 6 Not sure 1
* 8. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? "Caring about Israel is a very important part of my being a Jew." Agree 73 Disagree 26 Not sure 1
* 9. Have you ever been to Israel? No 63 Yes - once 20 Yes - more than once 17
* 21. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? "Regardless of their individual views on the peace negotiations with the Arabs, American Jews should support the policies of the duly elected government of Israel." Agree 61 Disagree 36 Not sure 4
* 26. Which do you think is better for the United States - to encourage immigrants to blend into American culture by giving up some important aspects of their own culture, or to encourage immigrants to maintain their own culture more strongly, even if that means they do not blend in as well? Blend in 61 Maintain own culture 31 Both 4 Not sure 4
* 28. Do you favor or oppose government aid to parochial or other religious schools? Favor 22 Oppose 76 Not sure 2
34. How important would you say being Jewish is in your own life? Very important 50 Fairly important 38 Not very important 12
* 35. Which one of the following qualities do you consider most important to your Jewish identity? Being part of the Jewish people 41 Religious observance 13 Support for Israel 5 A commitment to social justice 21 Something else 18 Not sure 2
38. In your opinion, which is a greater threat to Jewish life in the United States today--intermarriage or anti-Semitism? Intermarriage 31 Anti-Semitism 66 Both equally (Vol.) 2 Not sure 2
* 43. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? "Virtually all positions of influence in the United States are open to Jews." Agree 56 Disagree 44 Not sure 0

[A Jewish scholar declares below the difference between Judaism and Christianity: The Jewish faith sanctions "hate." Christianity does not. This is arguably the origin of all Jewish problems. Jews "hate" anti-Semites, and -- by Jewish doctrine -- that is virtually everyone.]
The Virtue of Hate,
by Meir Y. Soloveichik, First Things, January 2003: 41-46.
"An examination of the respective replies of Christians and Jews reveals a remarkable contrast. 'When the first edition of The Sunflower was published,' writes Dennis Prager, 'I was intrigued by the fact that all the Jewish respondents thought Simon Wiesenthal was right in not forgiving the repentant Nazi mass murderer, and that the Christians thought he was wrong.' ... [In Jewish religious tradition] Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. And lest one dismiss Samuel’s and Samson’s anger as exhibitions of male machismo, it bears mentioning that the prophetess Deborah appears to relish the gruesome death of her enemy, the Philistine Sisera, who had, fittingly, been executed by another woman. Every bloody detail is recounted in Deborah’s ebullient song: Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite Of tent–dwelling women most blessed. She put her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet. She struck Sisera a blow, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced his temple. He sank, he fell, he lay still at her feet; At her feet he sank, he fell; there he sank, there he fell dead ... In his At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden, journalist Yossi Klein Halevi speaks with Johanna, a Catholic nun who is struck by the hatred Israelis bear for their enemies. Johanna tells of an Israeli Hebrew teacher 'who was very close to us. She told us how her young son hates Saddam. . . . She said it with such enthusiasm. She was so proud of her son.' 'I realized,' Johanna concluded, 'that hatred is in the Jewish religion.' She was right .... During my regular weekly coffees with my friend Fr. Jim White, an Episcopal priest, there was one issue to which our conversation would incessantly turn, and one on which we could never agree: Is an utterly evil man—Hitler, Stalin, Osama bin Laden—deserving of a theist’s love? I could never stomach such a notion, while Fr. Jim would argue passionately in favor of the proposition. Judaism, I would argue, does demand love for our fellow human beings, but only to an extent. 'Hate' is not always synonymous with the terribly sinful. While Moses commanded us “not to hate our brother in our hearts,” a man’s immoral actions can serve to sever the bonds of brotherhood between himself and humanity. Regarding a rasha, a Hebrew term for the hopelessly wicked, the Talmud clearly states: mitzvah lisnoso—one is obligated to hate him ... [A] theological chasm remains between the Jewish and Christian viewpoints on the matter. As we can see from Samson’s rage, Judaism believes that while forgiveness is often a virtue, hate can be virtuous when one is dealing with the frightfully wicked. Rather than forgive, we can wish ill; rather than hope for repentance, we can instead hope that our enemies experience the wrath of God. There is, in fact, no minimizing the difference between Judaism and Christianity on whether hate can be virtuous. Indeed, Christianity’s founder acknowledged his break with Jewish tradition on this matter from the very outset ... God, Jesus argues, loves the wicked, and so must we. In disagreeing, Judaism does not deny the importance of imitating God; Jews hate the wicked because they believe that God despises the wicked as well. Among Orthodox Jews, there is an oft–used Hebrew phrase whose equivalent I have not found among Christians. The phrase is yemach shemo, which means, may his name be erased. It is used whenever a great enemy of the Jewish nation, of the past or present, is mentioned. For instance, one might very well say casually, in the course of conversation, 'Thank God, my grandparents left Germany before Hitler, yemach shemo, came to power.' Or: 'My parents were murdered by the Nazis, yemach shemam.' Can one imagine a Christian version of such a statement? Would anyone speak of the massacres wrought by 'Pol Pot, may his name be erased'? Do any Christians speak in such a way? Has any seminary student ever attached a Latin equivalent of yemach shemo to the names 'Pontius Pilate' or 'Judas'? Surely not. Christians, I sense, would find the very notion repugnant, just as many Jews would gag upon reading the Catholic rosary: 'O my Jesus . . . lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy.” Why, then, this remarkable disagreement between faiths? Why do Jews and Christians respond so differently to wickedness? Why do Jews refuse at times to forgive? And if the Hebrew prophets and judges believed ardently in the 'virtue of hate,' what about Christianity caused it to break with its Old Testament roots? ... [M]y grandfather, a rabbi, joined those on the Israeli right in condemning the Oslo process, arguing that it would produce a terrorist state responsible for hundreds of Israeli deaths. As a rabbinical student, I could not understand my grandfather’s unremitting opposition. He was, I thought, so blinded by his hate that he was unable to comprehend the powerful potential of the peace process. Now, many hundreds of Jewish victims of suicide bombings later, and fifty years after the Holocaust, the importance and the necessity of Jewish hate has once again been demonstrated."

SA Jews 'ready to work for democratic society',
Monda Paper (University of Cape Town, South Africa), October 4-11, 1999
"One of the survey's notable findings indicated that despite having lived in a racially divided society for about 50 years, the majority of the country's Jews (54%) positively identify themselves as South Africans. Seven percent said that they feel 'more South African than Jewish', while 47% consider themselves 'equally South African and Jewish' ... As regards their Jewish identity, the majority of the respondents indicated that they feel strongly about their Jewishness, with 49% feeling 'extremely conscious of being Jewish', and 41% 'quite strongly Jewish'. According to the report, there is a general trend towards a strengthening of Jewish identity that is taking place alongside the political changes in South Africa. The survey also indicated that South African Jewry is by and large more Orthodox in religious outlook and behaviour than British or American Jewry. Thirty-six percent believe that the Torah is the actual word of God, compared to 15% in the UK and 13% in the US. In addition, 39% of the respondents attend synagogue each week, while 91% fast on Yom Kippur. According to the study, Israel continues to be a point of Jewish communal consensus, a focus of fundraising activity and a force of cohesion. The report said that overall South African Jews are Zionist, 54% feeling a strong attachment and 33% a moderate attachment to Israel. Seventy-nine percent of the respondents have visited Israel at least one."

Jews, non-Jews differ on religion in public life,
Express-Times (Pennsylvannia), February 04, 2003
"A survey of Jews in the Lehigh Valley indicates they are three times as likely as non-Jews to say there is too much religion in public life. Jews want a deeper division between church and state than non-Jews, according to a study by the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion. Thirty-seven percent of Jews reported that there is too much religion in public life while just 12 percent of non-Jews thought so. 'Being a religious minority, Jews are much more concerned and cautious about encroachment on the separation of church and state,' said Chris Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg. 'A lot of those longstanding beliefs still hold true, especially in the Lehigh Valley' ... The survey polled 526 Jews in the Lehigh Valley, including homes in Easton, Bethlehem and Allentown. The numbers were matched against similar surveys of non-Jews. Among the findings: ( There is a huge gap between Jews and non-Jews about a U.S. approach to solving the crisis between Israelis and Palestinians. Sixty-six percent of non-Jews said the United States should be 'even-handed' in its relationship between Israel and Palestinians while 65 percent of Jews said the United States should be more favorable to Israel) ... 'Because Jews are traditionally more liberal, you might expect more divergence of opinion about war,' Borick says. 'But I think you're seeing the effect of the safety and security of Israel swaying some of the Jewish opinion on that particular issue.' ( Jews are more liberal than non-Jews on many policy issues. Sixty-three percent of Jews favor the legal marriage of gays and lesbians while just 29 percent of non-Jews approved of same-sex marriages. The majority of Jews (57 percent) also support scientific research relating to cloning while just 29 percent of non-Jews support it. Jews also overwhelmingly support stem cell research (92 percent) and making it possible for doctors to give terminally ill patients the means to end their lives (84 percent) ... ( Jews view evangelical Christians more unfavorably (41 percent favorable) than any of 15 groups and institutions in the survey, including Muslims (51 percent favorable)."

[The curtains lifted on the Jewish collective aptitude to "hate":]
Critics Unforgiving of a Jewish Scholar's Defense of 'Hate' Reporter's Notebook,
[Jewish] Forward, February 14, 2003
"In an article in this month's issue of the conservative religion journal First Things, Orthodox rabbi Meir Soloveichik relates the story of a Catholic nun stunned by the hatred that Israelis bear for their enemies. After witnessing the pride of an Israeli friend whose son exhibited a loathing for Saddam Hussein, the nun concluded, 'hatred is in the Jewish religion.' It is a striking observation, one that might evoke suspicions of historic, theologically based Christian antisemitism. But Soloveichik, a scion of an illustrious rabbinical family, has this to say about the nun: 'She was right.' In an article titled 'The Virtue of Hate,' Soloveichik, a graduate student at the Yale Divinity School, resident scholar at the Jewish Center in New York City and Beren Fellow at Yeshiva University, illustrates the divergent Christian and Jewish attitudes of forgiveness. Christians, taking their cues from Jesus, bestow forgiveness on saints and sinners alike, whereas Jews insist that 'while no human being is denied the chance to become worthy of God's love, not every human being engages in actions so as to be worthy of that love, and those unworthy of divine love do not deserve our love either.' This Jewish tradition comes alive in Soloveichik's references to prominent biblical figures, including Samson, who is portrayed heroically as he smites the Philistines who gouged out his eyes; the prophetess Deborah, joyous in the 'gruesome' death of her enemy Sisera; and Queen Esther who, not content with disposing of her arch-enemy Haman, magisterially calls for the heads of all of his sons, too ... Harvard Divinity School professor Jon Levenson proffered credit to Soloveichik for publishing an article in a non-Jewish journal of religion, given his illustrious last name, but fretted that Soloveichik's overstatement of the differences between Judaism and Christianity could have repercussions for the interfaith conversation. 'I'm worried about readers, especially the mostly non-Jewish readers of First Things, who will say Judaism really does believe in vengeance, an eye for an eye, sinners should just drop dead, and all that,' he said. 'It's hard for me to see why Christians would want to be sympathetic to Judaism, when it's being described as a religion that esteems hate and doesn't seem to have much of a role for repentance.' But Soloveichik gives a boost to the interfaith relationship by taking a swipe at Jewish institutions and individuals who refuse to abandon their centuries-old gripe with the Christian community. "[A] danger inherent in hate is that we may misdirect our odium at institutions in the present because of their past misdeeds," he writes. "[A]fter centuries of suffering, many Jews have, in my own experience, continued to despise religious Christians, even though it is secularists and Islamists who threaten them today, and Christians should really be seen as their natural allies.... Modern anti-Christianity is no more excusable than ancient anti-Semitism' ... For at least one Jewish leader, this point was pitch-perfect, and a message for our time. 'This is an amazing article, and he makes a compelling case,' said Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, director of the Pennsylvania Council of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. When editing the Reform movement's first new Haggada in three decades, Elwell reinserted significant portions that had previously been edited out, including a passage from Psalms and Lamentations in which those at the table call on God to 'Pour out your fury on the nations that do not know you.... Pursue them in wrath and destroy them from God's heavens." According to Elwell, it is important, especially in the context of religious practice, to acknowledge feelings of anger and the desire for vengeance."

Should Jews Be Parochial?,
American Prospect, Undated, Vol. 11, Issue 23
"Since 1995, when he retired from Wall Street with a fortune in excess of $300 million, [Michael Steinhardt] has poured tens of millions of dollars into Jewish causes. His Jewish Life Network, run by a small rabbi-rich staff working out of an office building near Times Square, has become a hothouse of ideas for promoting Jewish identity and awareness. In just the past three years, Steinhardt has created a cultural center in New York for Jewish singles, called Makor; helped launch Birthright Israel, a program to send young Jews to Israel free of charge; helped form Synagogue Transformation and Renewal (STAR), a campaign to revitalize America's synagogues; funded a network of Jewish outreach workers on college campuses; and, in his most impassioned undertaking, formed a partnership to build a network of Jewish day schools across the country--an enterprise that, with its echoes of the Catholic parochial schools, has caused much controversy. In the process, Steinhardt is helping to transform Jewish philanthropy. For most of the past century, Jews have given money through the monolithic Federation system. Each community had its own Federation, which carried out an annual appeal. These campaigns--legendary in their ability to hit up every Jewish household in an area--raised as much as $1 billion a year. Part of that money went overseas to defend Israel and to help Jews in places like the Soviet Union. The rest was spent at home--on 'defense' organizations like the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Congress, which fought discrimination, as well as on hospitals, community centers, homes for the aged, and other service institutions. While set up to help Jews, these institutions came to serve needy populations in general. But the old rallying cries--Israeli security abroad, anti-Semitism at home--no longer serve. Jews today tend to be wealthier and more secure than ever, and, as the nomination of Joe Lieberman for vice president shows, no quarter of American society is off limits to them. Moreover, Jewish donors want more say over how their money is spent. Today, there are more than 4,000 foundations that give to Jewish causes. Of these, 20 or so 'megadonors' stand out. In addition to Michael Steinhardt, they include Charles and Edgar Bronfman, co-chairs of the Seagram Company; film maker Steven Spielberg, head of the Shoah and Righteous Persons foundations; Leslie Wexner, owner of the Limited and Victoria's Secret; Laurence Tisch, chairman of the Loews Corporation; Charles Schusterman, head of a lucrative oil-and-gas business in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Mort Mandel of Cleveland, a retired distributor of electronics parts. Every year, these men (and they are all men) give as much as $300 million of the more than $1 billion given by Jewish foundations. And their influence is magnified by their tendency to collaborate. Twice a year or so, the megadonors meet for a night and a day to discuss their faith and their money. They listen to guest speakers, study Jewish texts, and, most importantly, exchange ideas on how they might work to save Judaism. And Judaism, they believe, desperately needs saving. With American Jews no longer facing annihilation or suffering serious discrimination, they are now thought to face a more insidious threat: assimilation. And so these philanthropists have launched a movement to expand and revitalize old institutions like schools and synagogues, and to set up new ones like singles centers and Israel tours--all part of a gathering movement to kindle a Jewish renaissance... [Steinhardt] was drawn to Israel, though, and after the Six Day War, he began visiting it on an annual basis. In the mid-1980s, Steinhardt became active politically. A centrist Democrat, he gave large sums to the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and in 1985 became its chairman. He also helped found the Progressive Policy Institute, the DLC's think tank ... ... Seeking as always to put his own stamp on things, Steinhardt has financed the Jewish Campus Service Corps to reach out to unaffiliated Jews. The outreach workers--students who receive $25,000 to remain on campus for a year after graduating--give talks, organize a cappella singing groups, and hold kosher sushi-rolling parties. There are 83 'Steinhardt fellows' around the country, constituting what Richard Joel calls 'a Jewish peace corps.' Far larger in scope, and visibility, is Birthright Israel, a program that sends young Jews to Israel ... Prior to the lunch (brisket and couscous), Steinhardt, standing before a billowing white tent, told the group that "we are committed to making day schools the bedrock of Jewish education for klal Yisrael, the people of Israel."

Ancient Indian Jewish Community Faces Unclear Future,
Reuters, March 1, 2003
"India's Bene Israelis, or Children of Israel, have dwindled to barely 4,000 from a peak of about 80,000 a few decades ago as thousands moved to Israel for a better life. 'India is our motherland, but Israel is our fatherland,' says Abraham Jacob Awaskar, treasurer of Alibag's whitewashed Magen Aboth synagogue, which is nearly a century old. Extensive DNA testing has found the Bene Israelis, clustered in and around the western city of Bombay, are direct descendants of a hereditary Israelite priesthood that can be traced back 3,000 years to Moses' brother, Aaron. On Alibag's Israel Lane around the corner from the synagogue, the Wakrulkars, one of the last three families in the alley, is preparing to sell out and join their sons in Israel. 'We are Jews. The biggest thing for us is our faith,' explains 68-year-old Mozel Moses Wakrulkar. 'In these last days of my life, I want to be in Israel with my kids. Over the years, everybody has gone. In my mind, I have this longing to be there.' Around 175 B.C., a boatload of Jews fleeing persecution was shipwrecked on India's west coast a few miles from Alibag. Legend says only a few men and women survived to found a community that stayed genetically pure through the centuries ... Now only a handful of families remain in Alibag and many of them plan to follow their friends and family to Israel, where they can draw a pension worth a fortune in India ... Some of the Alibag Bene Israelis do occasionally go to Hindu temples with their neighbors. 'We do have friends, we do mix, but we don't get close,' says Mozel. For the local Hindus, the Bene Israelis have always been something of an oddity, often mistaken for an obscure kind of Muslim. Even the synagogue is known locally as a masjid, or mosque. 'I miss them. I feel bad they have gone,' says Prakash Ranade, a 58-year-old quarry owner. 'But they have gone to their own country. Although they lived in India, they always thought of Israel as their own country.'"

[The Baltimore Jewish News gives public forum -- with no condemnation -- to an unrepentant Jewish Charles Manson. Why? Unless this world view is of interest in some Jewish quarters. Go to the original and read it in full.]
Catching up with the man who almost started World War III,
by Alan Feiler, Baltimore Jewish News, March 6, 2003
"Twenty-one years ago next month, Alan Harry Goodman, a 37-year-old Jew born and raised in Baltimore, made world headlines by storming Jerusalem's Temple Mount compound — the holiest site in Judaism and third holiest site in Islam — and beginning a shooting spree that killed a 65-year-old Muslim guard and wounded four others. In the 20-minute attack, Mr. Goodman ran into the Dome of the Rock mosque, where he eventually was overpowered by Israeli police. During a riot in the compound immediately following the attack, an 18-year-old Arab female passer-by was killed by Israeli police and seven others were wounded. Riots also immediately broke out in other parts of the city and in the West Bank, wounding scores of people. Mr. Goodman, who during the attack was wearing his Israeli army uniform and carrying an M-16 automatic rifle issued weeks earlier during basic training, said he intended to 'liberate' the Temple Mount from Muslim control. After serving 15 1/2 years in the Israeli prison system, Mr. Goodman was released and sent back to the United States in October 1997. He was freed early by the Israeli parole board on condition that he would spend the following eight years outside of Israel ... An articulate, gregarious man ('Call Me Alan') fond of quality cigars and Chinese buffets, Mr. Goodman was unabashedly candid throughout the three-hour interview about his hatred of Arabs, the media and left-leaning American Jews while fiercely proud of his actions on the Temple Mount.
[QUESTION]: Are you frustrated with your lack of recognition in the Jewish community?
[Goodman]: No, it's better this way. What do I want to be recognized for? They don't care. But outside of these cheap little pseudo-liberal Jewish groups that control the Israeli media, almost every Israeli I encountered showed me support and solidarity. The hundreds and hundreds of prisoners, they all showed me support and solidarity, except for four or five and they were really crazy. All the police in Jerusalem, the prison guards, they couldn't be nicer ...
[QUESTION]: Do you have any regrets? The only thing I regret now, in the light of these endless Arab atrocities, is not shooting more Arabs in the mosque. There were about seven or eight workers in the mosque. These guys were a higher-value target. These were grown males. But at that moment, I just couldn't shoot them. They seemed so frightened. It was a moment of Jewish weakness.
[QUESTION]: No other regrets? I have no regrets about what I did. The only regret is that I didn't execute every Arab Nazi in Jerusalem, which is every boy Arab from 15 to 55. My only regret is the Arabs that the Israelis have not killed. The Israelis have a lot of weapons and arguably the second most powerful air force in the world, and the most accurate. They have 250,000 napalm bombs, or maybe twice that many by now. They've got 250,000 cluster bombs, and maybe twice that many. And probably a minimum of 1,000 atomic and hydrogen and neutron bombs. I regret they have not dropped their nuclear weapons on every one of these Arab Nazi entities from Algiers to Baghdad ...
[QUESTION]: Was your intention to start World War III?
[GOODMAN]: I sincerely hoped to. Absolutely. I thought I had done my life's work. But now with these atrocities every day, yakety-yak, I've got to go back. I sincerely hope to go back [to the Temple Mount] in nearly three years. [In a lower voice] What I want to do is attack the Arabs again with whatever is available — a rifle, a pistol, a napalm bomb, a neutron bomb, whatever they've got ...
[QUESTION]: Why do you repeatedly call Arabs 'Nazi pigs'?
[GOODMAN]: That's exactly what they are, a bunch of Nazi pigs. These atrocities against these innocent Israeli civilians and these Americans on 9/11 have nothing to do with war or politics. This is genocide. These are not suicide bombers but homicide bombers.
[QUESTION]: But what about the Druze and other Arabs who support Israel?
[GOODMAN]: Arabs are a schizophrenic people. On the outside, they rape and murder and steal and complain about everything when they have the best life of any group of people anywhere in the world. If there is a good Arab, what does that mean? In war, you kill off the enemy as sufficiently as you can. There is no murder in war, it does not matter if someone on the other side is good or not good. The question is to hit the enemy and his most valuable targets. That's what I tried to do. The Israelis should have laid waste to the [Arabs] within a week or two after these atrocities started a couple of years ago. They should have laid waste to Bethlehem and Hebron and Jericho within weeks of when these atrocities began. These precision attacks, it's not going to do it.
[QUESTION]: The media has portrayed you as mentally deranged.
[GOODMAN]: That's what reporters do. They print whatever agrees with their prejudices. The entire Israeli news media is ultra- liberal. And these Jew bastards who control the American media are ultra-liberal. And they are not going to paint a good picture of any Jew who acts and speaks for Jewish rights."

One man's vituperation is another man's culture,
Haaretz (Israel), March 10, 2003
"On February 26, a 'Back to Religion' extravaganza was held at the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv, featuring a keynote - and controversial - speaker, Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak. In spite of the objections of the director-general of the Cameri itself, and of the company that owns the theater building, neither of which is keen to host these sort of rallies at the Cameri, the theater signed a contract with Yitzhak's representatives. Subsequently, when the theater tried to repudiate the agreement, the court ruled that the contract was valid and that the rally would indeed be held ... What secular Jews can expect Amnon Yitzhak is well-known for his extreme statements and apocalyptic prophesies about secular Jews. The Haredim, meanwhile, are portrayed as pure and saintly. For instance, Yitzhak predicts, 'The day will come when it will be 1,500 degrees on Planet Earth, and then the secular will be burned like mosquitoes in electrical traps, and will give off the same kind of sounds - tzz, tzz, tzz. And their saintly Haredi neighbors will not understand what these sounds are or to where their secular neighbors have vanished.' Yitzhak once created an uproar when he compared Herzl to Hitler. 'There were two great criminals in the history of the Jewish people - Hitler and Herzl. Hitler wanted to destroy the body of the Jewish people. Herzl wanted to destroy the soul, which is much more important than the body.' Guests at one of Yitzhak's lectures were shocked to hear his commentary on the Holocaust: 'It was a scheme of God's, meant to reprove us for all of the generations of the Enlightenment,' referring to the movement that aimed to bring Orthodox Judaism into the modern world. Another show of public insensitivity dates to July 1997, when Ramat Gan residents were invited to an evening 'filled with humor and attractions' that was dedicated to "praying for the souls of the 73 victims of the helicopters tragedy,' with Yitzhak's participation. Yitzhak has also made his share of unusual statements in regard to Arabs. 'If an Arab gets on the bus, everyone runs to the back. Out of fear. Who's willing to sit with his back to an Arab?' asked the rabbi."

[God bless Israeli "democracy." Level the playing field: starting tomorrow, any Jew who wants to get married in America and can't prove they're Christian must get married in some other country.]
Rabbinical panel determining `proof of Judaism' is dissolved,
Haaretz (Israel), March 12, 2003
"Immigrants who arrived here after 1990 and were sent to a special rabbinical committee to be 'approved' as Jews in order to marry will no longer be required to appear before the panel. The decision came following the state's dissolving the committee in response to a High Court petition by New Family, a non-profit organization devoted to helping couples interested in getting married but facing bureaucratic problems. The panel was established in 1990 due to a Chief Rabbinate decision requiring new immigrants to present 'proof of Judaism' as a condition for getting married in a religious ceremony. At first, the couples were sent to "regular" rabbinical courts, but following complaints over delays that included long lines, a special committee was established in Jerusalem to handle immigrant couples from throughout the country. Although the institution was called a committee, all the trappings of a rabbinical court, including a fee, were evident. The 'judges' were ordinary rabbis, not rabbinical judges, who were selected for their command of Yiddish and Russian. Their job was to test the new immigrants' knowledge of Jewish tradition. The head of New Family, Dr. Irit Rosenbloom, said many of the immigrants failed to pass the committee's tests. As a result, they could not get married in Israel but had to get married in civil courts overseas. 'Their favorite test, was `the Yiddish test',' said Rosenbloom. She said that in one case, an immigrant was requested to bring his elderly mother to the committee: when she was unable to communicate with the rabbis in Yiddish, the man and his fiance were told they were not Jewish and could not get married ... She added the demand to present 'proof of Judaism' was immoral and violated international law. Despite the decision to dissolve the panel, there is still no possibility of civil marriage: the marriage registrar - a rabbinical court officer - will decide whether the couple is Jewish."

[Disgusting Jewish hypocrisy: case #12,387. The Jews' own "Protocols of the Elders of Russia." Since the U.S. is following the Israeli model in pre-emptive assassinations, torture, alienating the world, turning into a Police State, and so forth (thanks to the Jewish Lobby), let us follow their lovely model below from the Middle East's "only democracy": American Jews shall henceforth not be allowed to organize as an ethnic minority. Synagogues are hereby banned, anything Jewish is institutionally ignored, etc.]
Nixing the ethnics. Israel's ethnic Russians want autonomy, an NPO of their own and eventually, a Russian village, complete with a church. But the state perceives them as a threat to the country's Jewish character,
Haaretz, (Israel) March 14, 2003
"In the midst of a long conversation, Maxim Mushkalev [a non-Jew who moved to Israel with his Jewish wife, since divorced] began to weep. He was describing how all kinds of people he knows here beg him in tears: 'Take me to church. I haven't been there for so long,' but he cannot always help them. It seemed, though, that Mushkelev was not only weeping for others' distress, but rather for himself and his fate as a member of the minority of 'ethnic' - that is, non-Jewish - Russians who are living in the Jewish state ... When he talks about his life and the life of the non-Jewish Russian community in Israel, he uses terms that Jews use when talking about life in the Diaspora. He is worried about assimilation and a life here that could erode the heritage and culture that the exiles have brought with them. He also feels hostility and suspicion from his Jewish surroundings when someone notices the cross he wears around his neck ... Mushkelev has been active in an attempt to organize the ethnic Russians in Israel. This effort is headed by Anatoly Gresimov ... Gresimov has been investing all his energy in setting up a registered association of ethnic Russians. There are now 50 people active in the group, the potential of which Gresimov estimates at about a quarter of a million in Israel, most of them secular and a minority of them observant Christians. In a long letter he sent a few days ago to President Moshe Katsav, as well as in negotiations with other officials, Gresimov refers to international conventions on the rights of national minorities, without specifically demanding that the state recognize the ethnic minority he represents. 'Our main aims are preserving Russian culture and creating mechanisms of integration between it and Israeli culture,' wrote Gresimov. 'It is important to us, the Russian Israelis, that the State of Israel accept us as we are.' He has not yet had a reply from the president. The ethnic Russians are posing a new challenge to the state. During all the years of its existence, Israel has defined itself as a state of aliyah - Jewish immigration. In recent years Israel has become a state of immigration in the more general sense of the word, and it seems as though no one has any idea how to deal with this fundamental change. The existence here of approximately 250,000 non-Jewish Russians, and their attempts to organize themselves on a national basis, is perceived as a threat to the Jewish character of the state. 'We have a lot in common with the Russian Jews," says Gresimov. "We grew up on the same language, we went to the same schools. But nevertheless, we are two distinct peoples - Jews and Russians. There is Jewish culture and there is Russian culture. Therefore we want to organize. Every Jewish community maintains ties with the mother state - so why shouldn't we maintain connections with Russia? The desire of minorities to organize on the basis of nationality and culture is a natural process in every normal state.' This opinion is not shared in Israel in general, and especially not at the office of the Registrar of Non-Profit Associations. Last year 'The Russian Ethnic Group' repeatedly applied to be registered as a non-profit association. In the form they filled out, they defined their aims:'"Help in the complete integration of Russian Israelis into Israeli society. Legal and social support for Russians who live in the State of Israel.' For a year, their application has been refused. 'They are a body that wants autonomy within Israel and to damage the Jewish character of the state,' the registrar of NPOs, Amiram Bogatt, told Haaretz. 'The right to organize cannot be exploited to hurt the state. We have received additional material that clarifies their real intentions' ... Arkady Mazin, a journalist who serves as an advisor to MK Roman Bronfman (Meretz), relates that Gresimov contacted his non-Jewish mother, a successful painter, in aneffort to recruit artists to his organization ...'The new regime in Russia is trying to create a network of influence around the world, built on people from Russia in various diasporas, among them Israel. If we aren't careful, there is a danger that these people will become a foreign country's agents of influence, even if unwittingly. Even though I immigrated to Israel as a child, I'm still afraid of the remnants of the Soviet regime, and President Putin among them. He is now making a concentrated effort to unite all the Russian emigres around the world, and not just out of altruism' ... Among the immediate aims, alongside social and cultural activities, is the establishment of a legal aid center to help the ethnic Russians with the special problems they encounter - like people who get fired because they wear a cross. Mushkelev also wants to set up a center for the dissemination of information about injuries to Russian Christians in Israel on the model of Jewish organizations that disseminate information to the media about injuries to Jews anywhere in the world. Thus, for example, he wants to bring to the world's attention the Russian schoolgirl in Netanya who was beaten up by a gang of Jewish girls and left crippled. The big dream includes the establishment of a 'Russian village' in central Israel."

Why Study Ashkenazim? How Jewish Participants Are Especially Able to Help Researchers Understand Mental Illness Genetics,
John Hopkins Medicine,
"Jewish individuals are in a unique position to assist scientists in the understanding of genetic disorders. Due to a long history of marriage within the faith, which extends back thousands of years, the Jewish community has emerged from a limited number of ancestors and has a similar genetic makeup. This allows researchers to more easily perform genetic studies and locate disease-causing genes. The following slides provide a graphic representation of variation. Due to the history of marriage within the faith, individuals of Jewish descent have less variety in their genetic makeup. This reduction in variability makes it easier for us to locate disease-causing genes ... Is our community still especially useful? Yes. Even though the Jewish genetic lineage is not as "pure" as it used to be, the long history of marriage within the culture still results in a more similar genetic background. This is why our Johns Hopkins study is able to accept participants with only one Jewish parent. There is already a potential for discrimination against Jewish individuals, as well as those with mental illness. With this in mind, why focus on the Jewish community? The concern for discrimination is valid, and we understand that participation is not an easy decision for many participants. As described previously, the Jewish community offers great potential to facilitate genetics studies. The more quickly we are able to locate risk genes for these disorders, the more quickly we can expect to offer improved treatments and medications for severe mental illnesses. In addition, we hope that a gene discovery will lead to a better public understanding of mental illness and a reduction in stigma. Potential volunteers must weigh the pros and cons of the study before deciding to participate."

Better a Jew,
by Nicky Blackburn, Haaretz (Israel) April 24, 2003
"For the growing minority of non-Jews living in Israel, a sense of belonging can be impossible to achieve. Just recently, former MK Michael Kleiner described non-Jewish immigrants to Israel as 'dirty water.' He applied the metaphor to Russian immigrants, but his racist statement was also aimed at me. The only difference is that I'm the dirty water that slopped in from England, not Russia. Kleiner's comments are not unusual in Israel. For years now I've been listening to politicians, public officials, even ordinary people spilling out bile toward the non-Jewish citizens of the country. Living in Israel as a gentile is not an easy experience. There is always someone out there to remind you that not only do you not belong, but that in some way you are polluting the purity of the country. During my early years in Israel, the first question people asked me was whether or not I was Jewish. It was like an obsession. In taxicabs, at bus stops, at interviews, at work, even in the supermarket, the question followed me everywhere and anywhere. 'Are you Jewish?' I lied about it twice. The first time to a taxi driver. He eyed me suspiciously and then launched into a tirade about his brother who had married a goy and gone to live in America. 'It's people like him who are destroying the Jewish race,' he told me angrily, his eyes locked on mine in the mirror.'"I cannot forgive him' ... I met my Israeli husband in India in 1990. We lived in England for a few years and then decided to move to Israel and get married. Before we left, my husband asked if I would convert to Judaism. He told me it was important for both him and his family. I agreed. I'm not a practicing Christian. I only went to church on special occasions. My faith went so far as the morning assembly at my Church of England school and the Lord's Prayer. I was open to Judaism. I thought that becoming Jewish would be an intellectual and emotional challenge. I thought it would bring me closer to my husband's family and my new way of life. I expected it to give me great insight into the Jewish people. In retrospect it did, but certainly not in the positive way I was anticipating ... After talking with the [Orthodox] rabbi [to convert to Judaism], my husband and I realized that it would be impossible to convert this way. We were already married and our lifestyle in Tel Aviv was far from that required by the Orthodox. We started looking for alternatives, and found a rabbi who would be willing to help me convert for NIS 600 a week. The rabbi lived in an Orthodox suburb in the hills surrounding Jerusalem. Twice a week we sat in his tiny, dark apartment studying at the dining room table. Whenever I asked a question he would snap at me angrily. 'Don't ask questions. It's a matter of faith. You're not supposed to understand. You're just supposed to believe.' Sometimes he would ask a question and as I made to reply, he would bark out 'wrong!' Whenever possible, he criticized the Christian religion. He told me it had been set up for people who were too lazy to live by Jewish rules, by people looking for an easy life. On one occasion he told me that Baruch Goldstein should be praised for killing 29 Arabs in an attack in Hebron in 1994. Throughout those awful weekly meetings I kept quiet. I gritted my teeth, studied the books, paid him the money and did not say a word. Inside, however, I began to seethe. I was sickened by his hypocrisy. He set himself up as a man of faith, then took our money without a moment's hesitation. The more I learned about the Jewish religion in Israel, the more I realized how rife it was with corruption. The media was full of stories about Orthodox figures taking bribes, about scams and dodges carried out in the name of religion. And worse than that, it was like an open secret. Everyone knew about it, they even laughed about it, but no one was prepared to do anything to stop it. Instead they insisted that it was vital that I become Jewish. After a while I began to question this insistence. No one actually cared whether I believed in Judaism or not, not even the rabbi. No one cared whether I'd continue to celebrate Christmas or any other Christian holidays. When I told Israeli friends that I felt this was morally wrong, many sympathized, but others dismissed my fears. "It's just a game," they'd say. "Don't even think about it." All anyone seemed to care about was that it would say Jewish on my ID card, and that somehow, therefore, I would fit in. As time went by, I became increasingly distressed. I was shocked by the discrimination I saw around me toward anyone who was not Jewish. In my office, colleagues called me 'shiksa' and 'goy' as if it were a joke. They made comments about my non-Jewish appearance. Readers wrote letters of complaint if newspapers dared run adverts for Christmas festivities. The media was constantly running stories about how the Jewish race was being destroyed by assimilation. A cartoon published in 1996 showed a man sitting at a table. 'The two major threats to Jewish continuity today are - terrorism and assimilation!' he said. 'Or, in other words, the non-Jews who want to kill us - and the non-Jews who want to marry us.' Facing facts I continued visiting the rabbi, but he began to grow uneasy as stories about corruption in the conversion process began to leak to the press. Finally he told me that he could no longer help. 'You're not prepared to suffer enough to become Jewish,' he said. We next tried a rabbinical court lawyer in Jerusalem, a man with good connections to Shas. He offered to convert me for a large sum of money. We met him in a hotel on the outskirts of Jerusalem. He asked me about Jewish friends, about any connections I had with Judaism as a child. After some coaxing, I realized he was not after the truth, just some fabricated story about how, even as a child, I had always wanted to be a Jew. He told my husband to gather certificates and documents showing that I bought my meat only from Kosher butchers, that I attended synagogue, and was following the rules of the Orthodox way. By the time we left the hotel I knew that I did not want to be Jewish. I bitterly regretted my decision. I was antagonistic and hostile. I did not want to lie or cheat anymore. Not long afterward we were given details of a rabbi in Paris who would convert me for $5,000 in a simple, one-day process. By then, however, it was too late. I was so ashamed of the whole process that I could not go through with it. I felt that by converting I would actually be committing a sin. I decided, however hard it would be, that Israel would have to accept me as I was. My husband's family took the decision badly. They felt I had cheated and manipulated them, and for a long time afterward their frustration spilled over into our relationship. Very few people here understood me. Some Israeli friends felt I was making an unwarranted fuss about something very minor, while at the same time admitting that they would never dream of changing their own religion. For years after this experience, my bitterness and resentment continued to seethe. I felt let down by the country. Before arriving here, I believed that the terrible suffering the Jews have experienced over the centuries would have created a nation where tolerance and understanding was prized. Instead, I found a society full of prejudice and bigotry ... Today there is a growing minority of non-Jews who live within the Israeli community. We are full members of this society and yet we are still denied some very basic human rights. My two sons, for instance, can serve in the army, they can pay taxes, but they cannot marry here, nor can they be buried alongside Jewish friends or partners. Like me, they will spend their lives listening to constant sniping remarks by politicians and officials who feel they are second class citizens, the dirty water that slipped in on a wave of immigration. They too may have to listen to jokes about goys, sarcastic comments about their parental heritage, and have doubts raised about their Israeli identity. This, however, is a mistake. Today there are 50,000 Russian immigrants living in Israel who identify themselves as Christian, and another 270,000 who are not Jewish according to halakha. While some of them have given up and left Israel, in a few cases even seeking asylum in England on the grounds of religious persecution, the rest are here to stay. Israel must make a decision. Does it want yet another alienated minority, or does it want full citizens who feel a real bond to their country? In the wake of all this, it is hard to understand why the Orthodox community is so determined to make conversion such an unpleasant process. Every year thousands apply to convert, but only a small number make it through. Assimilation today is a major problem for diaspora Jews. Experts are beginning to realize that it is also a growing problem within Israel. At a recent conference, Dr. Asher Cohen, of Bar-Ilan University's Institute for the Study of Assimilation, reported that the present rate of intermarriage in Israel stands at 10 percent, and is rising. Rabbi Yoel Bin-Nun, head of the Kibbutz Hadati Yeshiva, also told participants that rabbis who ease the conversion process and promote mass conversion, are actually preserving Judaism. Instead of welcoming new converts, however, Judaism shows them its worst face. Potential converts are too often met with narrow-mindedness, corruption, and distrust. While some people undertake conversion with a full heart, many others view it as a game in which you cheat and lie to win. Had I been met with understanding, then perhaps I would be Jewish now, and so would my two children. For Israel, it was a missed opportunity. Instead of teaching me to respect the religion, I learned instead to despise its protagonists ... I now have a warm relationship with my parents-in-law, whom I love dearly, and people rarely ask if I'm Jewish. Despite that, however, I still feel like an outsider. At Christmas I bring out my tree and decorate the house, but inside I feel it's almost an act of defiance. A few years ago, a co-worker arrived in the office fuming because hotels in Jerusalem had put up Christmas trees. I told her that I put up a tree every year. 'Well I hope you shut your curtains,' she said bitterly. 'It's not right that people in your neighborhood should have to see it. When you live here you should respect our beliefs.' I was deeply distressed by her prejudice, but the awful truth is that I really have begun to feel that my religion should be hidden away behind curtains. Just a few weeks ago I had another reminder. I was writing an article on Tekes, a new alternative Israeli organization set up to provide secular ceremonies for Jews who cannot, or do not want to, undergo an Orthodox ceremony. I suggested to the founder that I might also write up the article for a newspaper here. He hesitated for a few moments, and then said: 'No offense, but I think it would be better if a Jew wrote the story.'"

Jewish Attitudes Toward Immigration,
by Edward Levy, The Social Contract (Spring 1995)
"Thus, like the Biblical prophets, today's committed Jews fear assimilation as the most crucial attack on continued Jewish survival. This sense of unity leads Jews, like other ethnic groups, to care for their own, pressing for them to be accepted as immigrants. The preference is for migrants, especially Russian Jews, to go to Israel, where assimilation would be, not a loss of Jewish identity, but a way to rekindle their Jewishness, and thus their oneness with themselves and their people. But if Israel is not chosen, the next best choice is the United States, with its lack of systematic, government-sanctioned anti-semitism, its protection of individuals' rights, its laws against ethnic bias, and its tolerance for individual religious choices. The Talmudic concept of being for yourself but not for yourself alone would be interpreted as if I want something, I must support the right of others to have it, too. Jewish advocacy groups might, then, like to ignore other ethnic lobbies; but if the way to get Jews in is to get others in too, then so be it."

The Crack of the Whip,
by Emanuel A. Winston, Gamla, September 16, 1998
"It would appear that the European nations have once again surfaced as operational anti-Semites with the whip in hand. Since 1944, when World War II ended and with the exposure of their participation of anti-Jewish horrors, the Europeans have kept their profile low but no longer. Although they worked in secret concert with the Arabs against the new born Jewish State, they could not (until now) attack the Jews boldly, as they wished to. In recent years all of the European nations were exposed to having criminally conspired to financially benefit from their theft of Jewish possessions during Hitler's war years ... Yes, they (the Europeans) were all involved in massive theft and they hate the Jews even more now as their venality is exposed to the world. Now the Europeans are openly attacking the Jewish State both in the mode of Jews hatred and the approval (read: contracts) they hope to receive from the Arabs through the abortive Oslo Accords. They hide behind that high level of approval for Arafat and his Palestinian terrorists. Suddenly, a terrible murderer and a violent people are the darlings of the Europeans as their present instrument of hatred. I think, if oil was not underfoot and money to be made in selling weapons, those sensitive, noble Europeans would view Arabs as the English do...wogs or ragheads. As any prostitute can tell you, for a fee they will agree to do anything you want. The Europeans are really a low, immoral people who would sell their mother...and then deliver. At the moment, regardless of which agreement they break with Israel, the Europeans are firmly behind Arafat and the radical Arab nations. While it could be enough to get the lucrative contracts to sell weapons, including conventional and non-conventional weapons of mass destruction, the deep dark reason is they simply hate Jews. How easily any sense of humanity of civilization slips away from their face, leaving only the beast. This beast has many faces and names. Sometimes they are called Germans, Poles, Croatians, Ukrainians... While at other times they became the Church, the Red Cross, or Prime Ministers, Kings, Fuhrer. Then, in a quick change, we see some Americans, French, English and, finally, there is the contaminated Jew called the Leftist. It doesn't really matter, this name or that. Underneath there is strand, a bond that society teaches children to hate the "other" - the different ones. These are people of ultimate evil as the beast stays just below the surface, ready to savage, ready to kill the Jew. The planet would be well rid of the European predator. Perhaps we will be fortunate to live in such interesting times (an old Chinese curse), to see the decline and disappearance of the graveyard called Europe. Never mind, that Jes-s was a Jew, as good "Christians", they only regret that Hitler didn't finish the job. Even without their Jews, there is anti-Semitism in Europe. At least the Muslims are honest when they openly express this vile thought. Europeans are really an ugly bunch who have, through the centuries, killed each other with certain glee when they were not killing the Jews. Perhaps, having failed the test of humanity and decency, retribution will come in the form of incurable plagues, vast storms followed by crop-killing drought."

Gentiles in Halacha. Foreword,
Daat Emet (Israel)
"For a long time we have been considering the necessity of informing our readers about Halacha's real attitude towards non-Jews. Many untrue things are publicized on this issue and the facts should be made clear. But recently, we were presented with a diligently written article on the subject, authored by a scholar from the Merkaz HaRav yeshiva -- so our job was done by others (though we have already discussed some aspects of this issue in the weekly portions of Balak and Matot; see there). Since there is almost no disagreement between us and the author of the article on this issue, we have chosen to bring the article "Jews Are Called 'Men'" by R' David Bar-Chayim (in Hebrew) so that the reader will be able to study and understand the attitude of the Halacha towards non-Jews. In this article R' Bar-Chayim discusses the attitude towards "Gentiles" in the Torah and in the Halacha and comes to an unambiguous conclusion: "The Torah of Israel makes a clear distinction between a Jew, who is defined as 'man,' and a Gentile." That is to say, any notion of equality between human beings is irrelevant to the Halacha [Jewish religious law]. R' Bar-Chayim's work is comprehensive, written with intellectual honesty, and deals with almost all the aspects of Halachic treatment of non-Jews. It also refutes the statements of those rabbis who speak out of wishful thinking and, influenced by concepts of modern society, claim that Judaism does not discriminate against people on religious grounds. R' Bar-Chayim shows that all these people base their constructs not on the Torah but solely on the inclinations of their own hearts. He also shows that there are even rabbis who intentionally distort the Halachic attitude to Gentiles, misleading both themselves and the general public. For the English readers' convenience we will briefly mention the topics dealt with in R' Bar-Chayim's article: Laws in regard to murder, which clearly state that there is Halachic difference between murder of a Jew and of a Gentile (the latter is considered a far less severe crime). A ban on desecrating the Sabbath to save the life of a Gentile. A Jew's exemption from liability if his property (e. g. ox) causes damage to a Gentile's property. But if a Gentile's property causes damage to a Jew's property, the Gentile is liable. The question of whether robbery of a Gentile is forbidden by the Torah's law or only by a Rabbinic decree. A ban on returning a lost item to a Gentile if the reason for returning it is one's sympathy towards the Gentile and compassion for him. The sum which a Gentile overpays in a business transaction due to his own error is forfeit; whether a Jew is permitted to intentionally deceive a Gentile is also discussed. One who kidnaps a Jew is liable to death, but one who kidnaps a Gentile is exempt. A Jew who hurts or injures a Gentile is not liable for compensation of damage, but a Gentile who hurts a Jew is liable to death. One who overcharges a Gentile ought not return him the sum that the Gentile overpaid. A Gentile -- or even a convert to Judaism -- may not be appointed king or public official of any sort (e. g. a cabinet minister). One who defames a female proselyte (claiming that she was not virgin at the time of her marriage) is liable to neither lashes nor fine. The prohibition to hate applies only to Jews; one may hate a Gentile. One may take revenge against or bear a grudge towards Gentiles; likewise, the commandment 'love your neighbor' applies only to Jews, not to Gentiles. One who sees Gentile graveyards should curse: 'Your mother shall be greatly ashamed...' Gentiles are likened to animals. If an ox damaged a Gentile maidservant, it should be considered as though the ox damaged a she-ass. The dead body of a Gentile does not bear ritual impurity, nor does a Gentile who touches the dead body of a Jew become impure -- he is considered like an animal who touched a dead body. One is forbidden to pour anointing oil on a Jew, but there is no ban on pouring that oil on a Gentile because Gentiles are likened to animals. An animal slaughtered by a Gentile is forbidden, even if the ritual slaughter performed was technically correct, because Gentiles are deemed like animals. (Daat Emet does not agree that this is the Halachic reason for invalidating a Gentile's ritual slaughter -- but this is not the place to delve into the subject). Their members are like those of asses" -- Gentiles are likened to animals. Between the Jews and the Gentiles -- In the Aggadah, the Kabbalah, and in Jewish Thought R' Bar-Chayim's arguments and conclusions are clear, Halachically accurate, and supported by almost all the existent major Halachic works. It would be superfluous to say that R' Bar-Chayim fully embraces this racist Halachic outlook as the word of the Living G-d, as he himself pointed out in the "Conclusion" of his article: "It is clear to every Jew who accepts the Torah as G-d's word from Sinai, obligatory and valid for all generations, that it is impossible to introduce 'compromises' or 'renovations' into it." On the other hand, we want to make it clear that Daat Emet -- as well as any reasonable people who do not embrace Halachic laws as the word of the Living G-d -- are repulsed by such evil, racist discrimination."

FROM AN ONLINE DISCUSSION GROUP: NPR's This American Life with Ira Glass,
This weeks show: "Notes on Camp. Stories of summer camp. People who love camp say that non-camp people simply don't understand what's so amazing about camp. In this program, we attempt to bridge the gap of misunderstanding between camp people and non-camp people. Broadcast the weekend of June 13-15 in most places, or available here next week via RealAudio."
TAL had a segment where listeners could call and leave messages about their camp experience as children. One woman called and told her story about attending a left-wing Zionist camp in Wisconsin. One night in the dining hall a rock came through the window and landed in her soup. A note tied to the rock said "no Jews in Wisconsin!" The counselors and campers started blackening their faces and posting sentries around the camp. One night they were in the hall when suddenly a cross was set ablaze on the campground. Men dressed in white hoods came out of the woods and made the campers come outside. They told the campers they shouldn't try to contact the authorities because they were the authorities in this neck of the woods. Again they said they didn't want Jews in Wisconsin and when one of the counselors spoke up and said, "I'm an American, you can't treat me this way," he was taken away by one of the hooded men. Over and over the counselors spoke up and each on was taken away. The woman telling the story said she was afraid to stay behind so she said, "I'm an American…" and she was taken by the arm and walked down to the lake. On the way the hooded person called her by her name and said, "Why can't you keep your mouth shut…" It was a counselor/adult involved with the camp. They were trying to teach the kids a "lesson."

[More Jewish apologetics for Jewish racist identity:]
Suicide Jews, The self-imposed death of institutional Judaism,
New York Press,
"[T]he people running Judaism’s more established institutions–the philanthropies, federations and periodicals that speak for the Jewish people in America today–are so threatened by the notion of an open conversation about Judaism that they can’t help but go on the attack. "Along comes Douglas Rushkoff," announced one of my intellectual role models, Anne Roiphe, after I wrote a New York Times op-ed about organized Judaism’s self-defeating obsession with race and numbers. Treating Jews as an endangered species in dire need of a breeding program, I argued, was hardly a good strategy for attracting more young, successful and universal-minded people into the fold, if that’s even the object of the game. She called me "silly" and cited the existence of Tay Sachs disease as evidence of a Jewish "race" that requires protection. Why couldn’t she have spoken to one geneticist before making such an unfounded remark, in print, no less? (Throw a few thousand people in a ghetto for a few dozen centuries and they’ll develop some diseases. Most scientists have abandoned the concept of race altogether.) She went on to cite the Jewish concern with "the degree of Jewishness of one’s parents" as proof that Judaism is a race. I’ve been amazed as I’ve watched otherwise rational, well-spoken people revert to childlike circularity when confronted by the inconsistencies in their own religious outlooks. I know, I know: That’s why they call it religion. Judaism was supposed to be a smarter solution, a thinking person’s answer to religiosity. A conversation. That’s why, more than their inane remarks or beliefs, what disturbs me about the reaction of Judaism’s gatekeepers is their refusal to make a place for me–and the majority of American Jewry–at the Jewish table ... Just two weeks ago, the United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York–headquarters of the biggest, most central Jewish organization in America–yanked an interview that one of their writers conducted with me from their website, along with all mention in their calendar of a benefit I’m doing in their auditorium for a Jewish social justice charity. All because, according to the editor, "a heightened sensitivity to some of the topics we discussed emerged here at UJA-Federation once it was actually posted." Gotta love the internet: The entire interview was immediately reposted to a webzine called Jewsweek, along with an account of the whole fiasco. A week later, the excised text reappeared on the UJA site, albeit with a new title and a framing paragraph about how "Douglas Rushkoff likes to sound off." A UJA representative now says that the only problem with the original interview was the title. I’m not the only one who is facing such knee-jerk reactions from the institutions dominating public Jewish discourse. Rabbi David Wolpe, a respected and published rabbinic scholar now on the pulpit at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, made the headlines for daring to suggest to his congregation that the Exodus may not really have happened the way it was described in the Bible. Or at all. Though this question has been pondered out loud by rabbis ever since there were rabbis, today it is too dangerous a topic, and Wolpe is decried as a "silver-tongued devil." Why? Because Jews are afraid, and the institutions that should be helping them conquer their ignorance are instead stoking it to further solidify their grasp on Judaism’s future. The darker picture they paint of Judaism’s plight–the further synagogue membership dwindles, the greater Israel’s peril–the more money they raise. Every suicide attack on Israel and each negative report on intermarriage statistics lead to a surge in donations. So it’s in the fundraisers’ interest to foster panic instead of discussion, and to turn their agendas into inviolably sacred truths ... By hanging on to racehood, Jews get to hang on to an immature understanding of chosenness. ("I like knowing that God loves us the best," a woman told me after a recent talk.) Along with being God’s chosen people, however, come the racism and elitism that undermine our ethics, but empower our central authorities. If Judaism is not a race, then who exactly are we not supposed to intermarry with?"

50 Jewish College Students Going on Jewish Solidarity Trip to Argentina,
by Jennifer Mesrie, Truth News, July 12, 2003
"This summer of 2003, I along with 50 other Jewish college students from North America will be embarking on a mission to volunteer our time, talent, and labor in the service of Argentina and Uruguay’s Jews in need. In the spirit of tikkun olam – "fixing the world" and chesed – "charity," we will do all that we can to stand by our fellow Jews as well as raise awareness about this important global Jewish issue. This past year has been a tough one for the Jewish people due to the continuing political and economic crises facing Jews in different parts of the world. For most of the 20th century, Argentina was considered one of the most developed and affluent countries in South America. In recent years, however, poor economic decisions, political instability, and corruption have all contributed to Argentina’s decline. Once the tenth richest country in the world, it is now a country struggling for its very survival. Argentina is home to the largest Jewish community in Latin America, with more than 250,000 members ... As young and capable Jews, we will be going to Argentina to try and make a difference. We will visit the Jewish community in the interior of Argentina. We will bring in as much work and money as possible, but the actual physical presence is as helpful in the process of recovery. We will work with kids, with the elderly, with the poor, and unemployed. We will visit Jewish Orphanages, hospitals, and homes. We will do maintenance and rehabilitation work at Jewish facilities. We will set up soup kitchens and deliver food parcels to the needy. We will do activities with the elderly as well as go on trips with the kids. We will meet the people of the community, both young and old, and learn about their beautiful culture through social activities. The possibilities are endless. These 50 very special students that will be devoting all of their time, money, work, patience, and understanding, will leave behind a lasting human and physical impact. The ways of solidarity deeply characterizes the Jewish experience throughout history. We must stand by our brothers. They must know that their plight is heard. Our volunteer relief work and physical presence in these communities will symbolize our solidarity with, compassion, and support for our fellow Jews during these difficult times."

[It sounds like a joke, but it's real: Why does a Jew become a Buddist? To promote "Jewish renewal."]
New Jew,
Totally Jewish, by Alison Swersky - Oct 24
"A TV researcher from Manchester is hoping to set up a Jewish meditation class to encourage people to get back in touch with their spirituality. The idea came to Elliot Cohen as a result of his own enlightenment through the Buddhist teachings of the Dharma. The 25-year-old, who was raised in a traditional Orthodox family, calls himself a modern breed of “Jewbu”, a Buddhist of Jewish descent, who wishes to form a bond between their new found Buddhist spirituality and the tradition in which they were raised. Cohen, who has traveled from India to Sfat in pursuit of religious learning, told the TJ: “There is not anything to believe in as such with Buddhist practice. It simply addresses the human condition directly without getting tangled up in theological concepts. “Over the past eight years I have also been exploring and reexamining Judaism and it appeared that many of the meditation techniques I had learnt from Buddhism were already present in Jewish tradition.” Cohen also wants to visit different communities around the country and introduce rabbis to this new approach to promote Jewish renewal."

Understanding Jewish Influence I: Background Traits for Jewish Activism,
by Kevin MacDonald, Occidental Quarterly, Volume 13, No. 2, Summer 2003
"Abstract: Beginning in the ancient world, Jewish populations have repeatedly attained a position of power and influence within Western societies. I will discuss Jewish background traits conducive to influence: ethnocentrism, intelligence and wealth, psychological intensity, aggressiveness, with most of the focus on ethnocentrism. I discuss Jewish ethnocentrism in its historical, anthropological, and evolutionary context and in its relation to three critical psychological processes: moral particularism, self-deception, and the powerful Jewish tendency to coalesce into exclusionary, authoritarian groups under conditions of perceived threat. Jewish populations have always had enormous effects on the societies in which they reside because of several qualities that are central to Judaism as a group evolutionary strategy: First and foremost, Jews are ethnocentric and able to cooperate in highly organized, cohesive, and effective groups. Also important is high intelligence, including the usefulness of intelligence in attaining wealth, prominence in the media, and eminence in the academic world and the legal profession. I will also discuss two other qualities that have received less attention: psychological intensity and aggressiveness. The four background traits of ethnocentrism, intelligence, psychological intensity, and aggressiveness result in Jews being able to produce formidable, effective groups—groups able to have powerful, transformative effects on the peoples they live among. In the modern world, these traits influence the academic world and the world of mainstream and elite media, thus amplifying Jewish effectiveness compared with traditional societies. However, Jews have repeatedly become an elite and powerful group in societies in which they reside in sufficient numbers. It is remarkable that Jews, usually as a tiny minority, have been central to a long list of historical events. Jews were much on the mind of the Church Fathers in the fourth century during the formative years of Christian dominance in the West. Indeed, I have proposed that the powerful anti-Jewish attitudes and legislation of the fourth-century Church must be understood as a defensive reaction against Jewish economic power and enslavement of non-Jews.1 Jews who had nominally converted to Christianity but maintained their ethnic ties in marriage and commerce were the focus of the 250-year Inquisition in Spain, Portugal, and the Spanish colonies in the New World. Fundamentally, the Inquisition should be seen as a defensive reaction to the economic and political domination of these “New Christians.”2 Jews have also been central to all the important events of the twentieth century. Jews were a necessary component of the Bolshevik revolution that created the Soviet Union, and they remained an elite group in the Soviet Union until at least the post-World War II era. They were an important focus of National Socialism in Germany, and they have been prime movers of the post-1965 cultural and ethnic revolution in the United States, including the encouragement of massive non-white immigration to countries of European origins.3 In the contemporary world, organized American Jewish lobbying groups and deeply committed Jews in the Bush administration and the media are behind the pro-Israel U.S. foreign policy that is leading to war against virtually the entire Arab world. How can such a tiny minority have such huge effects on the history of the West? This article is the first of a three-part series on Jewish influence which seeks to answer that question. This first paper in the series provides an introduction to Jewish ethnocentrism and other background traits that influence Jewish success. The second article discusses Zionism as the quintessential example of twentieth-century Jewish ethnocentrism and as an example of a highly influential Jewish intellectual/political movement. A broader aim will be to discuss a generalization about Jewish history: that in the long run the more extreme elements of the Jewish community win out and determine the direction of the entire group. As Jonathan Sacks points out, it is the committed core—made up now especially of highly influential and vigorous Jewish activist organizations in the United States and hypernationalist elements in Israel—that determines the future direction of the community.4 The third and final article will discuss neoconservatism as a Jewish intellectual and political movement. Although I touched on neoconservatism in my trilogy on Jews,5 the present influence of this movement on U.S. foreign policy necessitates a much fuller treatment.

New Law for Israeli-Palestinian Couples,
The Guardian (UK), July 31, 2003
"Israel's parliament on Thursday passed a new law that would force Palestinians who marry Israelis to live separate lives or move out of Israel despite charges from human rights groups and Israeli Arabs that the law is racist. The law would prevent Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip who marry Israeli Arabs from obtaining residency permits in Israel. The vote was 53 in favor, 25 against and one abstention, a spokeswoman for the parliament said. ``We see this law as the implementation of the transfer policy by the state of Israel,'' said Jafar Savah from Mossawa, an advocacy center for Israeli Arabs, referring to a plan by far right groups to transfer Israeli Arabs to other Arab countries. Savah said the law was an attempt to legalize unofficial policy that has been in effect since September 2000 when violence broke out and warned that the law would damage relations between Israel and its Arab minority. Both local and international human rights groups have condemned the law as racist. ``This is a racist law that decides who can live here according to racist criteria,'' said Yael Stein from the Israeli rights group B'tselem. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have sent letters to the parliament protesting the law and urging lawmakers not to pass it, a statement from Human Rights Watch said. Israel's government contends that such a law is necessary for security reasons, citing instances where Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza have exploited their residency permits, granting them freedom of movement in Israel, to carry out terror attacks. ``This law comes to address a security issue,'' Cabinet Minister Gideon Ezra told Israel Radio. ``Since September 2000 we have seen a significant connection, in terror attacks, between Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza and Israeli Arabs,'' Ezra said. Israel and the Palestinians have been locked in a bloody conflict for 33 months, though a cease-fire declared by the Palestinians on June 29 has significantly reduced violence. The law, which passed its first reading on June 18, would force newly married couples to choose between living in the Palestinian areas or living separately and would be in effect for a year when the parliament must renew it."

[The Jewish guiding Light: What's good for Jews and Israel? Muslim immigration to America is a threat to unchallenged Jewish ethnocentrism.]
Immigration reform proposed, but some wonder, is it a Jewish issue?,
By E.B. Solomont, Jewish Tellegraphic Agency, Aug. 1, 2003,
"A recent call for immigration reform from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society is sparking debate over whether the issue, historically an important one for American Jewry, is still a priority for the community. The call, issued in a June 3 resolution, has galvanized advocates who say that the Jewish community should support easier access to the United States, as well as opponents who say that — especially post-Sept. 11 — looser immigration standards may result in security threats to the Jewish community. HIAS’ recent resolution laid out what the group considers a comprehensive plan, according to Gideon Aronoff, HIAS’ Washington representative. HIAS called on the government to give undocumented workers the opportunity to earn legal status; to create temporary worker programs that protect immigrants’ labor rights; to expand existing preference systems for reunifying immigrant family members; and to screen and deport immigrants who pose a threat to national security. But some critics who agree that immigration policy should be reformed say HIAS’ solution could put the American Jewish community in jeopardy by letting in potentially dangerous immigrants. “We are enabling our enemies through this,” said Stephen Steinlight, former national affairs director at the American Jewish Committee and currently a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and at the U.S. Institute for Strategic Study of South Asia. “If the current immigration policy remains unreformed,” Jews “would be outnumbered by Muslims by the next census,” he said. “The number one danger facing the Jewish community is the present open immigration” — meaning lax oversight at borders — “because it will see to it that a community that hates us will outnumber us in the U.S. in numbers and money.” Steinlight’s concern also extends to the Jewish state. “When we lose America, Israel will lose its only friend,” he said. The common perception is that the immigrant crisis is predominantly a Latino issue, but many in the Jewish community see immigration standards as a vital Jewish concern as well."

[Yay! God bless Jewish nepotism! Get it out of the closet! In the non-Jew's face!]
The Jewish Path to Success,
By ADAM BELLOW, [Jewish] Forward, August 1, 2003
"The news that Senator Joseph Lieberman had his two children on the campaign payroll as fundraisers with six-figure salaries raised some concerned eyebrows last month in the American Jewish community. Sure, Matt and Rebecca Lieberman are hard and effective workers, and since then have even taken a conspicuous pay cut — but couldn't their father get them a job in a less conspicuous place? The Connecticut senator, though, is only doing what dozens of other politicians have been doing of late: bringing his children into the family business. To be honest, Jews aren't really upset about the fact that Lieberman hired his children or even that he paid them high salaries. The discomfort with the personnel choices of the first Jewish candidate to make a serious run at the presidency is that his behavior is subjected to a higher level of scrutiny by the general public. In a word, what Jews fear is how it looks to the goyim: clannishness and underlying hypocrisy about meritocracy and nepotism ... Jews have relied first and foremost on familial resources to adapt, survive and prosper in America. In the mid-19th century, when the first wave of German Jews arrived, itinerant peddlers named Seligman, Guggenheim, Levi, and Straus built their pushcart businesses into enormous dry-goods empires, bringing their relatives over to run their chain department stores. Later on, excluded from the white-shoe legal and financial firms of Wall Street, the Lehman, Kuhn, Loeb, Sachs and Goldman families created their own ... During the 1920s and 1930s a group of hard-nosed Jewish entrepreneurs turned a patch of desert near Los Angeles into the Hollywood movie industry. Entertainment juggernaut Paramount Pictures, founded in 1919 by Adolph Zukor, was financed by an enormous loan from the Jewish Wall Street firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Co. — thanks to the intervention of Otto Kahn, brother of Zukor's partner Felix Kahn. The studios were famed for their nepotism. Jewish families also went into the media business, founding Random House, Knopf, Simon & Schuster and other distinguished publishing houses. And the Sulzberger-Ochs clan has owned and run The New York Times since 1896. During the Depression, Jewish families pulled together once again, outdoing other groups in solidarity and mutual support. After World War II, Jews gained access to the middle class and moved to the suburbs, leaving their ethnic roots behind them. Yet Jews did not disperse throughout the economy like other immigrants but continued to congregate in medicine, law, academia and the communications industry, where relatively high numbers have afforded leverage and security. Speaking at a recent seminar on Jewish women in television at New York's Jewish Museum, Terri Minsky, creator of the hit series "Lizzie McGuire," unapologetically remarked: "I got into TV the way I thought all Jewish people did — I had an uncle in the business." How can we square this long record of familial and ethnic nepotism with the public insistence of Jews on equal opportunity and merit? ... Lieberman's nepotism seems to call into question the whole Jewish commitment to meritocracy. A similar scandal erupted in 1983, when Bess Myerson, appointed as New York City's cultural affairs commissioner by her old friend Mayor Ed Koch, gave a job to Sukhreet Gabel, the emotionally-disturbed daughter of the family court judge assigned to Myerson's divorce case. Jews were outraged, though not so much by the seriousness of the offense as by Myerson's failure to uphold the communal honor: how could the Jewish Miss America behave like any other politician? Has Lieberman embarrassed himself or his supporters by hiring his children? Not at all. To the contrary, he is a good father and family man who is doing proudly and openly what generations of Jews have done before him. The whole history of American Jewry is a tribute to the power of Jewish nepotism. Indeed, nepotism has been a positive and wholesome force in Jewish life for thousands of years. It is high time to acknowledge and even celebrate this fact instead of trying to keep it hidden like a shameful family secret."

[Dr. Laura, get your head on straight and LEAVE the arrogant, ethnocentric, racist fold. Jews are angry at anything, everything, anybody]
New turn in Dr. Laura's spiritual journey. Convert to Judaism says she's no longer following rituals, World Net Daily, August 8, 2003,
"Dr. Laura Schlessinger, one of the nation's most popular radio talk-show hosts and the most successful on-air counselor, is no longer practicing the rituals of Judaism, a religion she converted to a decade ago in her 40s. ''Almost 10 years ago, I talked on the air about becoming a convert to Judaism,'' she told her listeners last week. ''I was open on the air at that time about that evolution. Well, I would say within the last year I have had a de-evolution.'' Where is she now spiritually? ''Nowhere exactly,'' she chuckled. ''Suspended animation. I still see myself as a Jew. But the spiritual journey in that direction as hard-core as I was at it just didn't fulfill something in me that I needed.'' Schlessinger grew up in New York, the child of a Jewish father and a Catholic mother. She was a life-long atheist, who, in her 40s, began exploring and practicing Judaism.''I felt that I was putting out a tremendous amount toward that mission, that end, and not feeling return, not feeling connected, not feeling that inspired,'' she told her radio audience. ''And trust me, I've talked to rabbis, I've read, I've prayed, I've agonized, and I came to this place anyway, which is not exactly back to the beginning, but more in that direction than not" ... During the past month, Schlessinger has been increasingly offered more personal insights into her life, as well as her spiritual journey ... ''By and large, the faxes from Christians have been very loving, very supportive,'' she said. ''They'd say, 'We're praying for you.' 'We hope you can attain this because of the work you do.' 'We can see how committed you are.' 'You are doing God's work.' 'It's a shame you haven't been able to feel. ...' really supportive, nice stuff. From my own religion, I have either gotten nothing, which is 99 percent of it, or two of the nastiest letters I have gotten in a long time. I guess that's my point, I don't get much back. Not much warmth coming back. It's intellectual, argumentative and angry. If anything, that's all solidified me where I am.'' Schlessinger said she has envied her Christian friends who talk about their relationship with God. ''I have envied all my Christian friends who really, universally, deeply, feel loved by God,'' she told her listeners last Tuesday. ''They use the name Jesus, in referring to God. My Christian friends generally talk about Jesus when referring to God. That was a mystery, feeling connected to God. To me that was a mystery, and I was very sad about that and very envious of my friends.''

Religion, Reconciliation, and Conflict in the Holy Land,
by Yossi Klein Halevi, Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs (Edited transcript of remarks from a 10/31/02 Studies Talk co-sponsored with the American Jewish Committee)
" Judaism is not a universal faith like Christianity and Islam, and Judaism believes that only Jews need to practice Judaism; it doesn't project a long-term vision of the world being transformed Judaically. So within the Jewish tradition, there is an easy recognition that other people have their own paths to God and to salvation. Where I did have to struggle, and where I continue to struggle, is in the historical, psychological, and cultural legacy that I inherited from the Jewish tradition and from Jewish history, and especially from my father who was a Holocaust survivor. By any stretch of the imagination, I was not a natural candidate for this journey. I grew up in a neighborhood in Brooklyn called Borough Park, which for those of you who are familiar with it know it to be not only the heart of the Jewish ghetto - its probably the largest orthodox, even ultra-orthodox neighborhood in the United States - but also, at least when I was growing up, probably the largest concentration of Holocaust survivors in the world. What I was taught by my father, who survived World War II by hiding in a hole in a forest in Transylvania, was that the world was divided into only two groups: Jews and non-Jews. It was almost as if we saw ourselves as belonging to a separate species. My father also believed that the non-Jews themselves fell into two categories: those who actively want to destroy the Jewish people, and those who are quietly grateful to the people who do the dirty work. I think many of us don't understand how deeply that sensibility runs within a large part of the Jewish people, and certainly within Orthodox and Holocaust survivor communities. The wound in Borough Park was so profound that if we had had the ability to construct a big wall or a moat around the neighborhood, I think we would have physically isolated ourselves from the rest of the world. Now, there was one interesting exception in my father's theology. My father was saved by a Christian, a forest keeper who used to bring him whatever food he could ... I think he wanted me to know the subversive detail of the one good Christian because he was aware that his picture of the world was probably incomplete and flawed. The final transition for me, the experience that helped me overcome that legacy of "us and them" that is the basis for all fundamentalist and extremist movements, happened when I moved to Israel in 1982. The shock of making that transition from minority status in the Diaspora to joining the boisterous, cranky Jewish sovereign majority in Israel was the liberating force that helped me realize that the Holocaust was over and that there was no need for me to vicariously inhabit my father's reality ... I was drafted into the Israeli army during the first Intifadah, and I served as a soldier in the Gaza refugee camps and West Bank villages and towns, and as paradoxically as it may seem, I found the experience profoundly liberating. It liberated me from my identity as a victim and helped me realize that the notion that Jews are history's preeminent victim has become, in a profound way, outdated."

My Turn: Every Jewish Mother’s Worst Nightmare As a single, 42-year-old woman, I’m no longer considered just a ‘late bloomer.’ I’m a lost cause,
By Wendy Aron, MSNBC (from NEWSWEEK), Aug. 25, 2003
"I was a young girl of 12 when the Yom Kippur War broke out in the Middle East in 1973. I remember sitting glued to the television news with my mother with a sick feeling in my stomach, as though it was my very own home under attack. Since that time, I’ve considered myself a Jew first and an American second. That’s why it’s incredibly sad that as a 42-year-old single woman I feel at best ignored, at worst totally abandoned, by Judaism. THERE’S NO TRADITION of being happily single in the Jewish religion. Whereas a Christian woman can aspire to be the next Mother Teresa, the Jews have the likes of Jessica Sklar, best known for marrying Jerry Seinfeld, as a role model. This value can be traced all the way back to the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, which says that it’s not good for a person to be alone and urges man and woman to procreate. But you don’t have to read the Bible to know it. All you have to do is live in the modern world ... It’s my fondest desire in life to prove them all wrong. I have a fantasy in which I meet a younger man who’s wealthier than Bill Gates, sweeter than Mr. Rogers and better looking than the late JFK Jr. Then, I wonder, will the Jews accept me again? More to the point, will I want them back?"

[The Jewish Lobby REGULARLY attacks, criticizes, and condemns everyone else in the world (from Poles to Arabs, from Christians to Muslims) and forbids ANY criticism of ITSELF, which is held to be sacrosanct. Today's Jewish dumping ground: the Greeks.]
New Zionist Attack Against Hellenism,
hellas.org
"It seems that regardless of what the Jews have done in the past against the Hellenes, we (or better yet "our" politicians and "cultural elite") tend to forgive them. And I need not make references to the aid the Jews provided the Ottomans to conquer Byzantium, and then to keep the Hellenes enslaved for more than four centuries (while they prospered in Hellenic urban centers like Thessaloniki). The efforts of these people to promote the notion that the Jews are the only (or at least the most victimized) victim in history is in full swing. Other than the costly statues that we build to commemorate their "efforts" as "equal Hellenes" (like the one unveiled in Thessaloniki), we are also promoting Zionist propaganda with regards to the "Holocaust", that they are the "chosen people", and that their state (of Israel) is something we should try to mimic and make alliance with. Our educated readers of course are aware of the billions of dollars that Israel receives each year from the United States. Much like they are aware that Hellas lost some 800,000 people during World War Two, took documented action against the Axis powers, and can also document our loses in human lives (not some imaginary "6 million" figure). But even when our "leaders" bow down to their masters, the Jews don't hesitate to remind us of what they think of us "gentiles". On December 16th, a full page ad (page 47) was taken out on the New York Post, paid for by the Jewish Post of New York and Talkline Communication Services. Occasion for this advertisement was the Jewish celebration of "Chanukah" (Hanukkah) or "Festival of Lights". Parts of the ad follow: " WHY CELEBRATE Why a celebration while still under foreign rule? Because Israel knew what the goal of the second Temple era was the kingdom of Torah and the commandments - and the kindling of small Menorah that could banish the darkness of Greek culture. When that happened, it was time to celebrate; ... Merely being alive on the 25th of Kislev (Jewish Calendar) is not enough; one must see the flame and remember what it represents, and know that we are grateful for the triumph of Torah's light over Greece's darkness." And yet, to some, I would be considered the "anti-Semite" since the Jews are "incapable" of racism."

N.Y.'s unique 'Jewish reality' Differences: Increasingly, the city's Jewish population is more Orthodox, intramarried and pocked with poverty than others around the nation,
By Stevenson Swanson, Chicago Tribune, Aug 30, 2003
"A century after New York City's Jewish population thronged the airless streets of the Lower East Side, America's largest Jewish community is returning to its past. In recent decades, many of the descendants of the desperately poor immigrants who once made that Manhattan neighborhood the densest concentration of humanity in America have become one of the most successful segments of America's ethnic alloy, becoming ensconced in the ranks of the middle and upper classes. But a new survey of a community that has put an indelible stamp on this city's cuisine and language has found that being Jewish in New York is more likely these days to mean being strikingly different from Jews in the rest of the country - more likely to be Orthodox, more likely to be married to another Jew and, in a return to the patterns of the past, more likely to be a poor immigrant ... The population study, which is done roughly once a decade, found that the city's Jewish population fell about 5 percent in the 1990s, dropping to 972,000 - the first time in a century that New York City has been home to fewer than 1 million Jews. But, with the suburbs gaining the residents lost by the city, the metropolitan area's Jewish numbers held steady at 1.4 million. That means more than a quarter of America's estimated 5.2 million Jews live in the New York area ... The second-largest Jewish community in America, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, has about 600,000 Jews. The six-county Chicago metropolitan area ranks third, with 270,500, according to a 2000-2001 survey by the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Chicago. But in addition to their numbers, the Jews of New York have other unique features, including the largest Orthodox population in America, nearly 270,000 people. And the more than 200,000 Russian-speaking Jews make up the largest concentration of Jewish immigrants from the countries of the former Soviet Union. "Outside of the land of Israel, New York is one of the few places in the world where you can feel your Jewishness, not just internally but externally," says Meir Fund, rabbi of an Orthodox synagogue in Brooklyn. "You can walk through whole neighborhoods and see Jewish people, hear people speaking Jewish languages. It's a unique opportunity for someone to experience a Jewish reality." Elsewhere, high rates of intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews have raised concerns about the future of the faith; a 1990 national study found that 52 percent of Jews married in the previous five years had married outside their religion. But in the New York area, only 13 percent of Jews had a non-Jewish spouse, a fact that Ukeles attributes to the high premium that Orthodox Jews place upon marrying within the religion and to the bigger pool of Jewish singles in the area ... Russian immigrants Brooklyn's Brighton Beach neighborhood, which has a boardwalk on the Atlantic Ocean, has become such a stronghold of the city's former Soviet Jews that it has been dubbed "Little Odessa," after the Ukrainian seaport on the Black Sea. Much of the increase in the Jewish poverty rate can be traced to this neighborhood [NOTE: it's the U.S. home of the "Russian mafia"], the first stop for new arrivals from the former Soviet Union."

[Jews are the wealthiest ethnic group in America, bar none. Jews exploit minority groups as long as they can help Jewish self-aggrandizement and advancement. When they can't, or the usefulness is exhausted, the stepping stone is dumped and Jewish ethnocentrism looks around for someone/something else to exploit.]
Jewish Organizations Absent at Civil Rights Rally,
By DANIEL TREIMAN, [Jewish] Forward, August 29, 2003
"In 1963 leading Jewish groups lined up to support the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a climactic moment in the civil rights movement. The president of the American Jewish Congress, Rabbi Joachim Prinz, delivered an address that chief march organizer Bayard Rustin would later claim was the event's "greatest speech," eclipsing even Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" address. This past weekend, however, as a coalition of civil rights and anti-war groups converged on the Lincoln Memorial to mark the 40th anniversary of the march, Jewish groups were conspicuously absent — none were listed among the event's approximately 30 co-conveners. The AJCongress was not invited to participate, said the group's spokesman, David Twersky. Event organizers chalked up the lack of organized Jewish participation in the August 23 event to rushed planning on their part, as well as the scheduling of the event on the Jewish Sabbath. But after decades in which the historic black-Jewish civil rights coalition has slowly unraveled — thanks, in part, to occasional sniping over issues such as Israel, affirmative action and antisemitism — Jewish groups appeared relatively unconcerned about the lack of an organized Jewish presence at the commemoration. "History doesn't stand still and wait for anybody. African Americans aren't at the same place that they were at 40 years ago and American Jews aren't at the same place they were at 40 years ago," Twersky said. "And the two — in terms of evaluating their own interests and strategies to broaden human rights and civil rights — don't necessarily see things in the same way, and certainly not the same way they saw them back then" ... Speaker after speaker denounced the Bush administration in the strongest terms. A handful of speakers criticized American aid to Israel as part of their larger indictments of American foreign policy ... [M]any major Jewish groups would likely have been uncomfortable with the strident tone many speakers took in denouncing the Iraq war, as well as a handful of remarks criticizing Israel. American aid to Israel was criticized in a speech by Leslie Cagan, national coordinator for United for Peace and Justice, an anti-war coalition. "Today instead of our money going into schools and healthcare and the other things our communities need, instead our money goes to help maintain the deadly Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Today our tax dollars go to maintain U.S. military bases in every corner of the world," Cagan said. James Zogby, president of the Arab-American Institute, one of the event's co-conveners, said during his speech that the West Bank fence Israel is building is "imprisoning" Palestinians in a "situation that is worse than ever existed even in the bantustans of South Africa." He said that current American policy has failed both sides in the conflict. The low profile of Jewish groups in relation to the latest commemoration contrasts with past anniversaries of the historic march, which had often provided occasions for blacks and Jews to act out their increasingly strained relationship on the public stage. Organizers of the march's 20th anniversary commemoration scrambled in 1983 to secure the support of Jewish groups, some of which had declined to endorse the event because its statement of aims included language criticizing American arms exports to the Middle East. Ten years later, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan blasted Jews for allegedly blocking him from being permitted to speak at the 30th anniversary commemoration."

[Israel is a corrupt, amoral Hellhole. Even the former speaker of Israel's Knesset (Parliament) agrees with this assessment.]
A Failed Israeli Society Collapses While Its Leaders Remain Silent,
By AVRAHAM BURG, [Jewish] Forwad, August 29, 2003
"The Zionist revolution has always rested on two pillars: a just path and an ethical leadership. Neither of these is operative any longer. The Israeli nation today rests on a scaffolding of corruption, and on foundations of oppression and injustice. As such, the end of the Zionist enterprise is already on our doorstep. There is a real chance that ours will be the last Zionist generation. There may yet be a Jewish state here, but it will be a different sort, strange and ugly. There is time to change course, but not much. What is needed is a new vision of a just society and the political will to implement it. Nor is this merely an internal Israeli affair. Diaspora Jews for whom Israel is a central pillar of their identity must pay heed and speak out. If the pillar collapses, the upper floors will come crashing down. The opposition does not exist, and the coalition, with Arik Sharon at its head, claims the right to remain silent. In a nation of chatterboxes, everyone has suddenly fallen dumb, because there's nothing left to say. We live in a thunderously failed reality. Yes, we have revived the Hebrew language, created a marvelous theater and a strong national currency. Our Jewish minds are as sharp as ever. We are traded on the Nasdaq. But is this why we created a state? The Jewish people did not survive for two millennia in order to pioneer new weaponry, computer security programs or anti-missile missiles. We were supposed to be a light unto the nations. In this we have failed. It turns out that the 2,000-year struggle for Jewish survival comes down to a state of settlements, run by an amoral clique of corrupt lawbreakers who are deaf both to their citizens and to their enemies. A state lacking justice cannot survive. More and more Israelis are coming to understand this as they ask their children where they expect to live in 25 years. Children who are honest admit, to their parents' shock, that they do not know. The countdown to the end of Israeli society has begun ... A structure built on human callousness will inevitably collapse in on itself. Note this moment well: Zionism's superstructure is already collapsing like a cheap Jerusalem wedding hall. Only madmen continue dancing on the top floor while the pillars below are collapsing. We have grown accustomed to ignoring the suffering of the women at the roadblocks. No wonder we don't hear the cries of the abused woman living next door or the single mother struggling to support her children in dignity. We don't even bother to count the women murdered by their husbands. Israel, having ceased to care about the children of the Palestinians, should not be surprised when they come washed in hatred and blow themselves up in the centers of Israeli escapism. They consign themselves to Allah in our places of recreation, because their own lives are torture. They spill their own blood in our restaurants in order to ruin our appetites, because they have children and parents at home who are hungry and humiliated. We could kill a thousand ringleaders and engineers a day and nothing will be solved, because the leaders come up from below — from the wells of hatred and anger, from the "infrastructures" of injustice and moral corruption. If all this were inevitable, divinely ordained and immutable, I would be silent. But things could be different, and so crying out is a moral imperative ... Israel's current prime minister personally embodies both halves of the curse: suspect personal morals and open disregard for the law — combined with the brutality of occupation and the trampling of any chance for peace. This is our nation, these its leaders. The inescapable conclusion is that the Zionist revolution is dead. Why, then, is the opposition so quiet? ... Avraham Burg was speaker of Israel's Knesset from 1999 to 2003 and is a former chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel. He is currently a Labor Party Knesset member."

Israeli commission criticizes government treatment of Arab citizens,
USA Today, September 2, 2003
"A groundbreaking Israeli commission of inquiry found police used excessive force in quelling Arab riots three years ago and said in a stinging report released Monday that the Jewish state has systematically neglected its Arab minority. The document — the product of three years of investigation — was based on the testimony of 377 witnesses and only the fifth probe of such scope in Israel's history. The panel's findings came as Israeli-Palestinian violence flared anew Monday. An Israeli helicopter fired missiles at a car carrying three Hamas militants in Gaza City, killing one and wounding another. Twenty-five bystanders also were hurt in the sixth Israeli missile strike in two weeks ... The panel of two judges and an academic urged the government to come up with a detailed plan for narrowing the gaps between Jews and Arab citizens, who make up about one-fifth of the population of 6.6 million people. Israeli Arabs say they have long been discriminated against in economic opportunities, land distribution and civil rights. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said the panel's recommendations would be discussed by the Cabinet. Successive Israeli governments have promised to do more for Arab communities, but little has been achieved. Arab leaders said the report did not go far enough, and that they had hoped senior police officers would face prosecution ... The commission was appointed after police shot and killed 13 Arab citizens in weeklong riots in October 2000. A Jewish motorist was killed by a rock in the protests. Thousands of Israeli Arabs had taken to the streets to show support for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, who a month earlier had embarked on an uprising against Israeli occupation ... The report put the blame for the riots squarely on the shoulders of the Israeli establishment, saying a major cause was systematic government neglect of the Arab minority. "The state and all its governments failed consistently in dealing with the problems raised by the existence of a large Arab minority within a Jewish state," it said. "The government's approach to the Arab sector was in large part characterized by neglect and discrimination. The establishment did not demonstrate sufficient sensitivity to the Arab sector, nor did it budget its resources in an equal way to the Arab population."

[Hmmm. Why would our liberal justice-screaming Jews skip a major forum about racism? Unless they knew they'd be a target of discussion. All hail racist Israel!]
Jews Skip Europe Racism Forum,
by Ruth E. Gruber, JEwish Times, SEPTEMBER 13, 2003
"Pascale Charhon found herself part of a small minority this month when more than 300 delegates from 55 countries sat down in Vienna to discuss how to combat racism, discrimination and xenophobia. Charhon, the director of the Brussels-based European Jewish Information Center, represented one of only half a dozen or so Jewish organizations that attended the Sept. 4-5 conference. The lack of Jewish participation was not totally unexpected. Convened by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the meeting followed a parallel conference in June that had focused specifically on combating anti-Semitism. So anti-Semitism was not officially on the agenda of this conference. For Charhon, however, the broader focus provided all the more reason to attend this time around. "The Jewish people and the European Jewish world are definitely part of Europe; we are citizens of Europe," she told JTA. "This inclusive Europe will protect the rights of everyone, including Jews," she said. "We have a role to play ... Shimon Samuels, the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Paris-based international liaison director, agreed. "We've begun to move a bit toward self-ghettoization," he said. But, he said, divorcing anti-Semitism from other hatred-related issues could prove counterproductive. "If you leave a vacuum, it will be filled by those who are hostile to us," he said."

Jewish Genetic Diseases,
Mazornet
[Note: such diseases are commonly the result of many, many centuries of genetic inbreeding: a traditional staple of Jewish ethnocentrism.]

[Jews in Israel who most support intermarriage are those described as "new immigrants" to Israel. This would mostly be the secular Jewish immigants from the Soviet Union who had not been so strongly socialized into "Jewish" culture and identity under communism.]
Majority of Israelis are opposed to intermarriage, survey finds,
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz (Isrel), September 15, 2003
"Around 60 percent of all Israeli Jews are against intermarriage, according to a survey carried out by the Geocartography Institute for the New Family organization. But among respondents who call themselves as secular, only 35 percent object to intermarriage, compared to 68 percent of those who say they are traditional and 95 percent of those who are religious. The survey, which polled 500 people, found that 47 percent of the respondents "strongly oppose" intermarriage, 13 percent were "somewhat opposed," and 18 percent "support" or "strongly support" it. The remaining 21 percent had no opinion. The poll found that opposition to intermarriage increased with age. The strongest support for intermarriage, 41 percent, came from those who defined themselves as new immigrants."

Jew charged over 'racist' website,
by Philip Carmel, Jewish Chronicle (UK, paper copy), October 10, 2003, p. 14
"The founder of a far-right Jewish web site appeared in court last week in Paris, charged with incitement to commit racial hatred. Alexander Attali, 29, the creator of amisraelhai.com, is accused of publishing articles of a racist character targeting France's Muslims community, as well as Jewish members of a pro-Palestinian organisation ... In another case involving a web site, J'accuse ["a group which has been formed by computer operators with the aim of opposing extremist Internet sites"] filed an action last week against an Islamist site, Islamiya.net, which recently published photomontage pictures of Israeli soldiers alongside Holocaust victims and declared that Israel's Ariel Sharon had 'successfully cloned Nazi Germany.'"

'Secular' Jewishness,
by Simon Rocker, Jewish Chronicle (UK, paper copy), September 19, 2003, p. 2
"Most London Jews attend a Seder, belong to a Jewish youth or sports club in their teens, are willing as adults to send their own teenage children on an Israel trip, and say at least half of their friends are Jewish. The findings come in a new reprot, due to be published next week by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, which charts what unites and what divides the capitals's Jews ... The report ... found that more London Jews regard themselves a secular rather than religious -- even though most, 83 per cent, remain synagogue members and will attend on the High Holy-days (81 percent)."

Maintaining My Jewish Identity,
by Reuven Roslyn, The Jewish Week, October 30, 2003
"When I went on the five-hour journey to Bean Town to spend my summer in a Boston University film program, I presumed that I’d adjust without any problem into the very secular atmosphere. Like every other 17-year-old male, I saw myself as a slick, nonchalant person capable of thriving in any social circumstance, but over the next five weeks I learned lessons that I was once too dogged to learn. On the train to Boston, I looked out the window, gazing at the forests in bucolic areas as I envisioned films I’d be able to produce with the very low budget bestowed on us. My goal was to collaborate the two aspects of my life that mean the most to me: my creativity and of course, my Jewish heritage. I visualized filming a suicide bombing in a populated area from several different points of views including that of the bomber. I’d tape a whole bunch of bomb-bags together to make an adequate explosion. Once I showed up to class the first day, I learned that in college no one really gave a hoot about the entire Israeli/Palestinian conflict and the creative minds of today see another Holocaust film as anything but novel. To be honest, this surprised me quite a bit. I had always assumed that everyone, regardless of race or background, would have his or her personal stand on the Middle East. You know, we all have our views on abortion, the Bush administration, Britney Spears, and I just presumed that the Middle East was somewhere in the mix. One’s race or religion just didn’t matter. My Judaism was not something frowned upon — quite the contrary — it was respected by virtually every non-Jew that I came in contact with. In fact the only people who disparaged my dedication in going to Temple on Friday night and keeping kosher were other Jews. Perhaps my observance intimidated them, making them question their own Orthodoxy or for whatever reason they may have possessed some hatred for their own. Interestingly enough, I never heard one anti-Semitic comment. Everyone I ever asked about the situation in the Middle East was quite pro-Israel. The only pro-Palestinians I encountered during my stay at the university were “self-hating” Jews."

Editors of Brandeis paper resign over scandal involving the ‘N´ word,
By Jill Suzanne Jacobs, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 4, 2003
"A racial slur that appeared in Brandeis University´s student newspaper has led to the resignation of five of the paper´s editors, including the editor in chief. In a column in the Brandeis Justice, Dan Passner referred to Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker, who is black, by quoting another Brandeis student: "The only thing Baker has a Ph.D. in is something that starts with an N and rhymes with Tigger, the cheerful scamp who stole all of our hearts in the Winnie-the-Pooh series." The student who allegedly was quoted denied making the statement. The column and subsequent resignations have raised the issue of minority students at Brandeis, which was founded in 1948 by American Jews and is named after the first U.S. Supreme Court justice who was Jewish. About half of the students at the Boston-area school are Jewish, according to Dennis Nealon, Brandeis´ director of media relations. The offending issue of the Justice, which is independent of the school administration, first was printed online and then hit newsstands on Oct. 21, generating anger, shock, sadness and disbelief across the campus. The president´s office and the student union issued condemnations. The Justice´s editorial staff held a forum to discuss race relations on campus. Representatives of the Brandeis Black Student Organization attended, but they walked out because they felt their demands were not being met. The newspaper "betrayed us as Brandeis students," said Justine Moore, a senior majoring in economics and a representative of the black student group. "It really set us back and hurt us deeply. We knew we had to take a stand and get restitution, and the people responsible should pay." Some minority students at Brandeis say they feel a double sense of alienation because they are both non-white and non-Jewish. In addition to challenges that many minority students might face on a predominantly white campus, minority students at Brandeis have to adjust to a Jewish atmosphere. Classes are canceled on most Jewish holidays, and some minority students complained that one of the cafeterias closes early on Fridays, before the Jewish Sabbath."

Judge proposes Rabbi Ginsburg retract inciteful statements,
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz (Israel), November 5, 2003
"Jerusalem Magistrate's Court Judge Noam Solberg on Wednesday proposed that Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg explicitly and publicly retract his offensive statements about Arabs, in return for an end to all criminal proceedings against him. Ginsburg, a member of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement, and a former head of a yeshiva in the West Bank city of Nablus, was indicted in July on charges of encouraging racism against Arabs in his book, "Tsav Hasha'a - Tipul Shoresh" ("Order of the Day - Radical Treatment"), which was published in 2001. According to the proposal, Ginsburg would publicly announce a retraction of his inciteful statements and state his support for social and political equal rights to all the state's citizens, regardless of religion, race or gender. Ginsburg, through his attorney Naftali Wurzberger, said he would consider the proposal. Among others, the charges cite a conversation in the book between Ginsburg and a student. The student asks: "So an Arab has no right to exist in Israel?" Ginsburg replies: "Here in the Land of Israel, he has no right." In another place in the book the student asks: "What is the rabbi's opinion about the Arabs as a nation and a people, as our enemies and our foes?" Ginsburg replies: "There is something called the Third World or another name for more primitive nations. Clearly, they are lower on the world's cultural ladder; but the murderousness and anti-Semitism are not a function of primitiveness, since the Germans were the most enlightened and educated and also the most bestial in every way." In the past, Ginsburg had praised the massacre carried out in 1994 by Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Muslim worshipers at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. Ginsburg had declared that Goldstein's deed constitutes "a fulfillment of a number of commandments of Jewish law...[including] taking revenge on non-Jews." He was held in administrative detention for a period of two months in 1996 for his pronouncements, but the State Prosecution decided not to charge him and let him go."

[Judeocentric racism and unleashed bigotry against -- catgorically, modern Germans -- is here laid bare. And it's the usual dual moral standard. Imagine an article in a major American paper today called "Canned Jew" with asides like "Sorry, Hymie." Make any general statement about "Jews" -- however reasoned -- and you're declared to be a "bigoted" "hater" to be ostracized, tarred and feathered, fired from your job, hunted down and jailed. But want to stigmatize ALL Germans? Or ALL those "anti-Semitic" Christians? And "terrorist" Islam? No big deal. You'll get a forum for it in one of the zillion Judeocentric newspapers. This guy also calls for a boycott of anything German. If that's acceptable, then what's to stop us from boycotting anything Jewish?]
CANNED KRAUT,
By RALPH PETERS, New York Post, November 6, 2003
"GEN. Reinhard Guenzel, the head of Germany's Special Forces Command (KSK), got the hobnailed boot on Tuesday. His mistake? He expressed a bit too publicly the sort of Jew-hating sentiment tens of millions of Germans harbor privately. In a letter to a vicious right-wing extremist who sits in Germany's parliament, the general praised the claim that Jews bear at least as much blame for the bloodshed of the Russian Revolution as Germans do for the Holocaust. Next, we'll hear from Berlin how Jews planned the Holocaust all along. Just as we hear that Israel is the only terrorist state in the Middle East and that Palestinian suicide bombers who butcher women and children are freedom fighters. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's flacks have begun their damage-control effort, insisting that the general's views are rare and isolated. Bull. I lived in Germany for 10 years while serving in the U.S. Army. I speak German. My family's bloodlines are half German. And because of all that, the Germans among whom I lived assumed I shared their bigotry and, eventually, spilled their guts. It wasn't pretty. Of course, there are good Germans. Plenty of them. But they live in Philadelphia, not Frankfurt. They or their ancestors all left Germany by 1938. Those who stayed didn't just support Hitler - they loved him and fought for him to the bitter end. The whopping difference between the Allied occupation of Germany and our occupation of Iraq is that the overwhelming majority of Iraqis welcomed their liberation. We had to force freedom and democracy on the Germans at gunpoint. They'll never forgive us - no more than they'll forgive Jews for surviving the Holocaust, making a success of Israel against all odds and enriching the United States in virtually every field of human endeavor. And Germany? In the 19th and early 20th century, German-speaking countries led the world in culture and science. Then they killed or drove away their Jews. The result? Germany's greatest contributions to world culture since 1945 have been Milli Vanilli and Gummi Bears. ... And now we hear that it's high time for an end to German guilt, that the present generation had nothing to do with the Holocaust, that Germany paid its dues for its misdeed and, anyway, it was all a long time ago. Sorry, Fritz. It wasn't long ago. Holocaust survivors just had a reunion in Washington, D.C. When the wind's just right, we can still smell the smoke of the ovens. And let's not forget that the Third Reich was supposed to last a thousand years. There's no reason why German guilt shouldn't last 500. That's a 50 percent discount. Oh, sure, making anti-Semitic remarks is a crime in today's Germany. But anti-Israeli remarks are just fine. You've merely got to choose your words carefully. Don't say the J-word. Talk about "Zionists" instead. The truth is that we're still so close to the Holocaust that, despite all the books, films and debates, we still have not come to grips with just how much the Germans destroyed. The annihilation of the great Jewish cultures and populations of Europe's heartland may have been the single most tragic loss in human history. What is to be done? For a start, don't buy German products. The boycott of French wine sent a strong message, but if Americans stopped buying Mercedes, BMWs, Audis and Volkswagens, it would really hurt. Anyway, German cars of recent vintage have become a lot like the Germans themselves - grossly overrated and unreliable. Let Gen. Guenzel buy one."

USA JEWISH [Editorial Commentary],
"APOCALYPTIC TIMES. Isranbul Synagogue bombs kill at least 20 Thank God for Shabbat. Because our TV was off until after dark, we were spared the news from Istanbul (or "Istanboom" as one Israeli forum entry suggested). As we're attempting here to capture trends in, rather than really pretend to scoop the news, we find the following item to be quite instructive. You know, when we beg God to avenge our dead, we're not talking about a rehabilitation. we're talking about a fire that'll burn across the European continent and, at last, annihilate the vestiges of Jew hatred, from London to Moscow. Your stomach too sensitive for the very idea of revenge? Stay tuned. We're getting the feeling this is what the current process is all about. By the time it's over, we're all going to be thinking as authentic Jews. And authentic Jews are not nearly as queasy as you may think..."

[It is important to understand that the central rift between the U.S. and Europe is Judeocentrism and the Jewish Lobby, particularly regarding Israel, the American wars for Israel against Islam, and "anti-Semitism." The organized Jewish Lobby is at the core of spoiling relations between America and its largely European historical ties. The increasing "Islamicization" of Europe is also a result of the multiculturalist movement, of which world Jewry has been in the vanguard, and which has provided a hiding place for international Zionism. Ah, but a profound backlash against Israel is forming. In a discussion of whether or not Europeans are "cockroaches," we can rest assured that the author of this piece is Jewish. The essence of this article is that Europe should "line up" with Jewish-conquered America, vis-a-vis racist Israel.]
Europeans are worse than cockroaches. There is a Cold War between the US and the EU, says Mark Steyn, and it will end with the collapse of Old Europe,
by Mark Steyn, The Spectator (UK), November 8, 2003
"On 11 September 2001, I wrote that one of the casualties of the day’s events would be the Western alliance: ‘The US taxpayer’s willingness to pay for the defence of Canada and Europe has contributed to the decay of America’s so-called “allies”, freeing them to disband their armed forces, flirt with dictators and gangster states, and essentially convert themselves to semi-non-aligned.’ ‘The West’ was an obsolete concept, because, as I put it later that month, for everyone but America ‘the free world is mostly a free ride’. Two years on, most governments, at least officially, and most commentators, at least in the mainstream press, still don’t believe the relationship between America and its ‘allies’ is in a terminal state. But the above quartet of stories — and you can find equivalent items any week — illustrates why it can’t be put back together. One: Mr Collenette’s response to terrorists is to take it out on their targets. Terrorists are threatening to use SAMs against El Al [the Israeli ariline]? No problem, we’ll get rid of El Al. That’s a great message to send. How soon before similar threats are phoned in to similarly jelly-spined jurisdictions in Europe? Pretty soon El Al won’t be flying anywhere. But no matter: Air Canada and Air France and Lufthansa will still be flying to Tel Aviv — at least until a couple of anonymous phone calls are made hinting at fresh targets ... Three: 59 per cent of Europeans think Israel is the biggest threat to world peace. Only 59 per cent? What’s wrong with the rest of you? But, hey, don’t worry. In Britain, it’s 60 per cent; Germany, 65 per cent; Austria, 69 per cent; the Netherlands, 74 per cent ... Given the rate of Islamic immigration to Europe, those anti-Israeli numbers are heading in only one direction. At present demographic rates, by 2020 the majority of children in Holland — i.e., the population under 18 — will be Muslim. What do you figure that 74 per cent will be up to by then? Eighty-five per cent? Ninety-six per cent? If Americans think it’s difficult getting the Continentals on side now, wait another decade. In that sense, the Israelis are the canaries in the coalmine ... The Europeans are not cockroaches. The cockroach is the one creature you can rely on to come crawling out of the rubble of the nuclear holocaust. Whereas the one thing that can be said with absolute confidence is that the Europeans will not emerge from under their own rubble. Europe is dying. As I’ve pointed out here before, it can’t square rising welfare costs, a collapsed birthrate and a manpower dependent on the world’s least skilled, least assimilable immigrants. In 20 years’ time, as those Dutch Muslim teenagers are entering the voting booths, European countries, unlike parts of Nigeria, will not be living under Sharia, but they will be reaching their accommodations with their radicalised Islamic compatriots, who like many intolerant types are expert at exploiting the ‘tolerance’ of pluralist societies."

[Note the "comic" game of shooting to death "Gentiles," illustrated with a white cross. How can such naked racism and hatred, veiled as comedy, be promoted, as part of the diet of Hollywood? Because Jews dominate thre film industry and popular culture itself, and the Jewish Lobby ardently enforces a consistent dual moral standard: one for Jews, and quite another for everyone else. If anyone had such a web site game targeting Jews, even if veiled as "comedy," the web site would be shut down and the creators probably thrown in jail. The entire The Hebrew Hammer web site is worth a serious exploration to witness how "comic" Judeocentrism has gone berserk. And mainstream. The usual Jewish hatreds appear, veiled in comedy: i.e., an "evil" Christmas Santa Claus, etc. If the United States can invade the Muslim world in the name of brutal, racist Israel, then a movie like this is what America has become: A Jew wildly shooting a gun into The Hebrew Hammer home page. And Mel Gibson runs into trouble from Jews for his film about Christ, "The Passion?" ]
Gentile Invaders
[the target practice game that is part of the web site for the movie The Hebrew Hammer],
The Hebrew Hammer [opening December 19, 2003]
"Use the arrow keys to move and the spacebar to shoot [Gentiles]."

[Sounds like this prominent rabbi is "anti-Semitic," no? Aside from being anti-European, Europe=Hell. In any case, without the Arabs to kick around to maintain trans-Jewish identity, the Jews of Israel would probably have a civil war -- Ashkenazim versus Sephardim.]
Shas Rabbi Yosef: 'All the troubles' come from Ashkenazi Jews,
By Haaretz (Israel), November 26, 2003
"The spiritual leader of the Shas party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Sephardi chief rabbi who has railed against women, leftists, kibbutz members and court justices in past sermons, was quoted Wednesday as saying "all the troubles came from the Ashkenazis" - a reference to Jews from central and northern Europe. "You were in Ashkenaz, in Hell, you did what you did there - What do we care?" Rabbi Yosef was quoted by the Maariv daily as stating in a Tuesday religious lesson in Jerusalem. Rabbi Yosef, a founding leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas, also was quoted as using the derogatory term "Ashkenazi bich bich," a quotation from a Jerusalem schoolyard song "Askenazi bich bich, Why have you come? - Go, Go." Discussing a question of Jewish dietary law and disputes between ultra-Orthodox interpretations, Yosef said that, "Not one foot of one Ashkenazi walked in Jerusalem" until 1860. He also said that all kosher butchering was in the hands of Sephardis - Jews of southern Europe and Middle Eastern descent When Ashkenazi Jews arrived, Rabbi Yosef continued, they refused to accept the leadership of veteran Sephardi rabbis, and opened a separate kosher butchering structure. "They brought their butchers from abroad, from Hell. "The Arabs saw this, and said 'Why butcher with these Sephardis? Here's the Ashkenazi bich bich, we'll butcher with him,' and the Sephardis were left without work."

Diplomatic pressures led to police taking criminal action,
RAY ABDILLA speaks to Simone Zammit Endrich, about the controversy of her opinion article regarding the Arabs and the Jews, which resulted in the police taking action against her,
Malta Today, July 21, 2002
"THE CONTROVERSY about Simone Zammit Endrich’s opinion in a local newspaper still raves on. She is being accused by the police of committing a criminal act by inciting racial hatred against Palestinians. People in the street, politicians and programmes have already been aired on TV and radio stations on the matter. MaltaToday spoke to Simone Zammit Endrich, an opinionist and columnist, who on 9 October will have to appear in court accused of spreading racial hatred ... Ms Zammit Endrich also said that when there is a war between two parties and the scales are turning completely on one side, as if the other is some kind of saint, when that is not the case, someone has to stand up and say so. "I know that many people believe that the Israelis are not the Satans in this conflict. I believe that both have their right and wrongs. So when I wrote the article I wanted to show some sentiment for the underdog in this matter. "Yes maybe because I come from a Jewish origin, many might argue that I will always side the Israelis. No, not necessarily. Even when I spoke about the intelligence and cultures of both people, I only said what the mass media and what the facts state about the two countries. "Why did the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and the President of Malta take sides in this issue when we are supposed to be a neutral country." Ms Zammit Endrich said that she is against the European Union, she is against Malta's accession into the EU and will vote against when the referendum takes place ... Ms Zammit Endrich said that she thinks that the reason that her story made a lot of noise is because she is a woman. "The Arabs do not like it all when they see a woman speak freely for herself. They are not like Europeans who have the right to say what they want," Ms Zammit Endrich said. Regarding what The Independent had to say about the article, she said that she claimed a right of reply but the replies were never published. She resigned from her post with the newspaper. As far as the media is concerned she also said that she has received a lot of support. Most journalists simply did not believe that such things happen in Malta, a democratic country with the right of freedom of speech. Ms Zammit Endrich interest in journalism goes back some six years when together with Dr Emmy Bezzina, she started the Divorce Movement."

[Very, very bad press for Jewish mythology. Sudden disavowals or not once the reading audience reaches beyind the yeshiva, any student of Jewish history knows that racism is integral to traditional Jewish teachings. You will find this kind of elitist, suffocating crap even in the writings of the much revered Jewish theologin Maimonides (despite what this article says about him). Mr. Grama below is NOT an anomaly. Folks, read this story closely. $500,000 in U.S. taxpayer money is heading for this Jewish religious "Hate" factory. They will get the money because Jews dominate U.S. politics and no politican risks his career to dare to look at a Jew cross-eyed, let along take them to task for Jewish institutional racism. It is important also to recognize that the ultra-Orthodox ideology haredi dominated much of Eastern European Jewry prior to World War II and "the Holocaust."]
Charedi Rabbis Rush To Disavow Anti-Gentile Book,
By ALLAN NADLER, [Jewish] Forward, December 19, 2003
"Leaders of the country's most prominent ultra-Orthodox yeshiva are scrambling to distance themselves from a book by one of their disciples, which argues that gentiles are "completely evil" and Jews constitute a separate, genetically superior species. Written by Rabbi Saadya Grama — an alumnus of Beth Medrash Govoha, the renowned yeshiva in Lakewood, N.J. — the self-published book attempts to employ classical Jewish sources in defense of a race-based theory of Jewish supremacy. Grama's book, published in Hebrew under the title "Romemut Yisrael Ufarashat Hagalut," includes flowery endorsements from the most revered religious scholars at the renowned Lakewood yeshiva, including the institution's foremost religious leader, or rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Aryeh Malkiel Kotler. Yet, in a statement issued Tuesday in response to queries from the Forward, Kotler rejected Grama's philosophy and said that he had not carefully reviewed the text prior to endorsing it. "We have seen the objectionable statements that allegedly appear in a sefer [book] written by Rabbi Grama, a former student at our yeshivah," wrote Kotler, whose late grandfather Rabbi Aharon Kotler founded the Lakewood yeshiva. "I did glance briefly at the book but did not read it carefully — which is the general practice in providing approbations to the many books by alumni that come across a desk like mine." In his rare statement to the press, Kotler added: "In looking at the specific points allegedly contained in the sefer, I can certainly tell you that they are not reflective of normative Jewish thought and are certainly not the philosophy of our yeshivah. Our philosophy asserts that every human being is created in the image of the Lord and the primacy of integrity and honesty in all dealings without exception. I strongly repudiate any assertions in the name of Judaism that do not represent and reflect this philosophy." The statement Tuesday struck a dramatically different chord from Kotler's earlier endorsement of the book, in which he said Grama has written "on the subjects of the Exile, the Election of Israel and her exaltation above and superiority to all of the other nations, all in accordance with the viewpoint of the Torah, based on the solid instruction he has received from his teachers." Kotler's disavowal of the book on Tuesday came at the end of an intense, day-long scramble during which the Anti-Defamation League and the chancellor of Yeshiva University condemned the book, and several ultra-Orthodox communal spokesmen tried to convince the Forward not to report its existence. During the course of the day, a popular bookstore in the heavily Orthodox Boro Park section of Brooklyn told the Forward that it had just pulled the book off of the tables at the author's request. The controversy over Grama's book comes as the yeshiva is close to securing $500,000 in federal funds for a Holocaust library. Coincidentally, in his book, Grama argues that the Holocaust was both a divine punishment against the Jews for assimilation and also proof of the "true nature and face" of the non-Jewish world. The book's title could be translated in several ways, including "The Grandeur of Israel and the Issue of Exile" and "Jewish Superiority and the Question of Exile." Grama did not return a call seeking clarification on this point and other questions about his polemic. In his book, Grama writes: "The difference between the people of Israel and the nations of the world is an essential one. The Jew by his source and in his very essence is entirely good. The goy, by his source and in his very essence is completely evil. This is not simply a matter of religious distinction, but rather of two completely different species" ... Among other things, Grama argues: • The differences between Jews and gentiles are not religious, historical, cultural or political. They are, rather, racial, genetic and scientifically unalterable. The one group is at its very root and by natural constitution "totally evil" while the other is "totally good." • Jewish successes in the world are completely contingent upon the failure of all other peoples. Only when the gentiles face total catastrophe do the Jews experience good fortune. • The Jews themselves brought about their own destruction during the Holocaust, since they arrogantly endeavored to overcome their very essence, dictated by divine law, by leaving their ghettoes and trying to assimilate into Christian European society ... Grama also argues that in opposition to Zionism's advocacy of Jewish national self-assertion and self-defense, which he views as an imitation of "gentile ways," the Torah mandates that the Jews, while in exile, should employ such means as appeasement, deception, duplicity and even "bribery" in their dealing with gentiles, so as to avoid their wrath. Grama's full-blown racialist theories appear to break new ground, building on a handful of hints of national and racial chauvinism occasionally found in the writings of a few earlier rabbinic figures, but combining them into a racialist doctrine with no precedent in rabbinic literature. To be sure, a minority stream exists in the rabbinic tradition — from the 11th- and 12th-century Hebrew romantic poet Yehuda Halevy to the 18th century chasidic sage Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev — which sees the differences between Jew and gentile as innate, rather than merely religious. Perhaps the most extreme version of this view is found in the central text of Chabad chasidism, Tanya, whose author, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyadi, Chabad's founder, maintained that Jewish and gentile souls are fundamentally different, the former "divine" and the latter "animalistic." That viewpoint has gained ground in recent decades, particularly among charedi thinkers. Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburgh, who is considered one of the leading ideologues of the Israeli Chabad movement, has written and spoken widely on the superiority of Jews and was briefly imprisoned in Israel for racial incitement. Yated Ne'eman, an Orthodox weekly in upstate New York that is affiliated with one of Israel's main charedi dailies, has published essays on the question of whether medical research can be understood to apply to Jews given the innate physiological differences between Jews and gentiles. Such arguments, however, have historically stood in tension with the prevailing rabbinic view that the righteous gentiles of the world — those who exhibit the basic ethical and moral behavior encapsulated in the "Seven Laws of Noah" — had the same access to personal salvation as fully observant Jews. This view was summed up in the 12th century by Moses Maimonides, arguably the most important Jewish sage of the past millennium, when he wrote in his code of Jewish law: "Anyone who accepts the Seven Laws of Noah and is careful to observe them is one of the righteous among the nations of the world and he has a portion in the world to come."

[Imagine a "humor" film that opens with a dedication "to all of the non-Jewish brothers and sisters who had enough of the Jews." What would happen to the makers of such a movie? It's the usual double standard: Jews can defame anyone they want. All crawl before the Jewish dictate.]
Jewish film takes on the stereotypes,
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI, Chicago Sun-Times, December 15, 2003 Religion "Jonathan Kesselman's controversial film opens with a dedication, "to all of the Jewish brothers and sisters who had enough of the gentile." So begins the world's first self-described "Jew-xploitation" film, "The Hebrew Hammer," an intentionally offensive, politically incorrect, slapstick, sophomoric farce about a private detective/Jewish superhero named Mordechai Jefferson Carver, aka the Hebrew Hammer. The film, which will be released in theaters Friday -- the first day of Hannukah -- premiered on the cable channel Comedy Central last week. A combination of Huggy Bear, John Shaft and (a tall, handsome, chic) Woody Allen in dark shades, a black leather trench and trousers and a black feathered fedora, the Hebrew Hammer, played by actor Adam Goldberg, patrols the streets of Manhattan's Lower East Side, protecting the Jewish community from danger. His greatest test comes when he's called on to save Hannukah from an evil Santa Claus named Damian, played creepily by comedian Andy Dick. But in an early scene in the film, the Hammer happens upon a young Hasidic boy, Shlomo, being tormented by two WASPy teens who are throwing his yarmulke back and forth in a sadistic game of monkey-in-the-middle. The Hammer, whom a neighbor lady calls "the baddest Heeb this side of Tel Aviv," chases the tormenters away and then turns to young Shlomo to offer a few words of encouragement ... "Who won't cop out when there are gentiles all about? ... Not everyone thinks the Hebrew Hammer is funny. Several Chicago area rabbis who previewed the film for the Chicago Sun-Times gave it the thumbs down. "It was a little bit funny and a lot offensive," said Rabbi Steven Stark Lowenstein of Am Shalom synagogue in Glencoe. "I don't think that we need superheroes whose greatest secret weapon is Jewish guilt in the world right now ... Kesselman, who admits the film was intended for a young audience -- "I wouldn't have my grandparents go see this movie" -- defends the film and its intended message. "The movie is Jewish empowerment. It is. Being Jewish is cool," he said."

SPENGLER When rabbis liked Hitler: A tale for the Mideast,
Asia Times, Decemeber 9, 2003
"Nazi ideology may be gaining popularity in the Islamic world, but Jews nonetheless should show a bit more understanding. It was not so long ago that the orthodox rabbis of Berlin liked Adolf Hitler for precisely the same reason that many Muslims do today, namely as an antidote to moral decay in the modern world. No, this is not an out-take from The Producers. The story is told in Mark Shapiro's recent book, Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy: The Life and Works of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg. Six months after Hitler seized power in 1933, several leading Berlin rabbis wrote to him pledging loyalty to Germany. The rabbis argued that they, the orthodox, shared the Nazis' moral values, as opposed to decadent Bolshevism and libertinism, as opposed to the left-wing Jews who made up much of the avant garde. The rabbis promised Hitler that they would do their best to persuade Jews around the world to end a boycott on German products. In retrospect that seems like a terrible mistake. Still, one would like to know whether these rabbis, given complete foresight, still would have preferred Hitler to, say, Barbra Streisand. Nor was the rabbis' letter to Hitler entirely exceptional. A majority of Italy's Jews joined Benito Mussolini's Fascist party, which espoused an ideology similar to Hitler's, but without the Jew-hating. Faced with a catastrophic shift in values in the wake of World War I, many European Jews looked for a repressive government willing to impose traditional values. Jewish readers no doubt will protest that I am making too much of an anomaly. Haven't Jews identified with liberal democracy since the time of Napoleon, provided innumerable leaders to Western democracies, starting with Benjamin Disraeli in Britain, and created true parliamentary democracy in the Mideast? Did this writer not claim [Mahathir is right: the Jews do rule the world] that modern democracy stems from the Jewish notion of "divine humility", a concept alien to Islam? Didn't Franz Rosenzweig equate Allah, the beneficent and merciful, with a capricious Oriental tyrant? Yes, and yes again, but that strengthens rather than weakens the point. If even a few prominent Jews supported Hitler for cultural reasons, a fortiori, we should expect Muslims to support Hitler for cultural reasons. It was one thing to support Hitler in 1933, and quite another after 1945, of course, when the full extent of the horrors he perpetrated were known to the whole world. The differences are obvious, not so the similarities between the Berlin rabbis of 1933 and today's Muslims. We will learn more by considering the similarities. Most people assume that Nazi propaganda appeals to Muslims because Muslims are cross at Israel. There is much more to it, and that involves the sort of thing that attracted the orthodox rabbis of Berlin. Weimar decadence was an affront to the sensibilities of traditional Jews, and communism was an active threat. It was common for German Jews in 1933 to ignore what they thought was anti-Semitic steam-letting, and cheer on a bully boy who would put paid to the Bolsheviks."

[This Jewish book below clearly constitutes a "hate crime" against non-Jews. So how come all the usual "hate" monitoring organizations aren't going after its author? And how breath-takingly crazy is the Jewish charge of "anti-Semitism?!" A Jewish ethnic journal has exposed a Jewish religious book that calls non-Jews a distinct, inferior species and this expose is declared in some defensive Jewish quarters to be itself an act of "anti-Semitism." It's a giant Jewish Amusement Park, folks. Except that its military appendage, Israel, kills people. If you want to see this traditional Jewish duplicity and deception in deeper action, read Jewish scholar Stephen Bloom's book "Postville," about the Chabad organization that has taken over an Iowa town. Or, go to Postville and have an Orthodox Jew spit on you some day.]
Ultra-Orthodox Officials Go To Bat for Anti-Gentile Book,
By STEVEN I. WEISS, Forward, January 16, 2004
"A leading ultra-Orthodox organization has launched a campaign to shift attention from a controversial book on Jewish superiority, choosing instead to attack the Forward's reporting on it. Agudath Israel of America has refused to condemn the book by Rabbi Saadya Grama, published in Hebrew under the title "Romemut Yisrael Ufarashat Hagalut," which can be translated in several ways, including "The Grandeur [or Superiority] of Israel and the Question of Exile." Instead, several Aguda officials have sought to discredit the Forward's account of the work. The Aguda's response contrasted sharply with that of the nation's most prominent ultra-Orthodox yeshiva, Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, N.J., whose religious leaders had given the self-published book a pre-publication endorsement. Questioned by the Forward last month, the yeshiva's religious leader, Rabbi Aryeh Malkiel Kotler, issued a statement saying he had not read the book carefully before endorsing it, but was repudiating its "alleged" contents. Grama, the author, is a graduate of the yeshiva, and such perfunctory pre-publication endorsements of graduates' works are common, Kotler said. "In looking at the specific points allegedly contained in the sefer [book], I can certainly tell you that they are not reflective of normative Jewish thought and are certainly not the philosophy of our yeshivah," Kotler said in his statement. In its December 19 article, the Forward reported that "Romemut Yisrael" describes gentiles as "completely evil," constituting an inferior "species." One member of the Aguda's ruling Council of Torah Sages, Rabbi Avraham Chaim Levin, publicly described the Forward article on the book as an antisemitic "blood libel," while acknowledging never having read "Romemut Yisrael." Speaking January 3 at an Aguda convention near Chicago, Levin approvingly cited a critical letter sent to the Forward by David Zwiebel, the organization's director of government and public affairs. In an interview Tuesday with the Forward, Zwiebel acknowledged sending many Orthodox leaders copies of private letters that he had written to Forward editor J.J. Goldberg attacking the initial coverage of the book. The Forward article, said Levin, a widely respected Aguda leader, "is reminiscent of the blood libel trial of Beilis, in which the antisemitic prosecutor researched talmudic and midrashic literature to find any hints of any statements which would be derogatory about gentiles." "You would not expect this type of antisemitism from a Jewish newspaper," Levin said. A video clip of the speech was obtained by the Forward. In his speech, Levin cited Zwiebel's letter, saying: "He says he read the book thoroughly, and [that] there is not a single passage in the book which can remotely be seen as embracing deception or duplicity to gentiles, nor any allusion to genetic superiority." Following the speech, the Forward faxed photocopied sections of Grama's book to Levin and several other members of the Aguda's Council of Torah Sages, but by press time none had returned phone messages seeking comment ... Zwiebel repeatedly claimed in his letters that Grama's actual ideas are consistent with those found in earlier Jewish texts ... Zwiebel's primary objections to the Forward's coverage of the book centered on the paper's assertion that Grama had characterized Jews and gentiles as different species, and that Grama had recommended "duplicity and deception" when dealing with gentiles. In his book, Grama used the phrase "shnei minim nifradim," which the Forward translated as "two separate species." In an interview with the Forward, Zwiebel suggested that "two different types" would be a more accurate translation. In a reply to Zwiebel, Goldberg argued that "min" is the standard word used in modern Hebrew for the term species, and that Grama's prose reflected a thorough grounding in modern Hebrew usage. Scholars interviewed by the Forward said the term is generally understood the same way in earlier texts. "The definition of the term 'minim' in both Jewish thought and Halacha means biological species," said Rabbi Alan Brill, a professor of Jewish intellectual history at Yeshiva University. As for the Forward's description of Grama's book as urging "deception" and "duplicity," Zwiebel noted that the words do not appear in the text itself. The article's author, Allan Nadler, director of Jewish studies at Drew University in New Jersey, replied that those words were intended in the article to sum up the contents of a chapter in which Grama urged Jews to hide their true beliefs and feelings from gentiles. Zwiebel countered that the words had an emotional charge not present in the chapter in question, making them misleading."

[Here's the defining apologetic that The Forward printed to put Jewish defensive spin on the racist Rabbi Grama book. The "expert" below, Rabbi Yosef Blau, manages (?) to decree that both Grama's interpretation of Jewish holy texts and The Forward's outrage with it are accurate. In other words, he takes the coward's way out and doesn't take a clear stand against Jewish racism, because that impugns Jews themselves. Um, er, the issue is context. It's context. Grama's book can mean whatever you want, sort of ... Classical Jewish texts are like, uh, a gun, you know? There's nothing intrinsically bad about a gun until someone wants to shoot somebody with it. Or something like that ... And, hey don't you know all this racist crap in Jewish texts is the result of, uh, perpetual "anti-Semitism?" But, uh, quickly, let's move on to some other subject other than religiously institutionalized Jewish racism ... ]
Context Is Key To Grasping Grama Book,
by Rabbi Yosef Blau, The Forward, January 16, 2004
"Having read key portions of the presently unavailable controversial book "On the Exalted Nature of Israel and Understanding Its Exile" by Rabbi Saadya Grama, I understand both the critical article in the Forward and defenses of the book from within the charedi community ("Charedi Rabbis Rush To Disavow Anti-Gentile Book," December 19). While this sounds like the old Jewish joke that you are right and you are right, this is my attempt to bridge the cultural gap between the charedi world and the readership of the Forward. To properly evaluate a book it is necessary to appreciate its context and the goals of the author, as well as to analyze specific details. Allan Nadler, who wrote the article for the Forward, accurately describes the author's description of Jews as being fundamentally good and gentiles as rooted in evil. He posits that just as every Jew, no matter how assimilated, still has a Jewish spark (pintele yid), there is a corresponding non-Jewish core (pintele goy) to the gentile. Though acknowledging other views, Rabbi Grama accepts the notion that non-Jews are created not fully in God's image (tzelem elokim). This is an extreme formulation of the approach of a stream of Jewish thinkers who see the Jew as a higher form of creation beyond that of human. Grama, however, is not an advocate of acting against the gentile. On the contrary, his message is the need to separate from a hostile, intrinsically antisemitic world. He criticizes secular education and denies that there are moral values in gentile wisdom. Integrating into the non-Jewish environment has failed to eradicate antisemitism, and a return to the traditional low-profile ghetto Jew is seen as appropriate. His seemingly shocking justification for bribing, when necessary, the secular authorities reflects his view that the world has not changed since Jews lived under the Russian czar and could survive antisemitic laws only through bribing corrupt judges. In fact, democracy, which he equates with a total loss of authority, actually makes things worse. Seeing the relationship between Jacob and Esau as a prototype for Jewish-gentile relations, he recommends that the Jew be servile to the gentile. From the author's perspective, it is the Jews who actively have led non-Jewish movements who have increased the danger to Jewish survival in the exile. The Holocaust, in which the Germans, who were seen by European Jewry as the pinnacle of modern culture and knowledge, murdered a third of the Jewish people, demonstrated to a part of the traditionalist Orthodox community that becoming a part of the modern world was a disaster. The recent growth of a "new" antisemitism in the guise of anti-Zionism became a proof that pursuing Jewish activism and nationalism was just as mistaken. In this milieu, a book asserting that the Jews are superior serves to maintain the morale for those who will live a life of material poverty devoted totally to Torah study. It is possible to give the same message without ascribing evil to gentiles and denying that they are created in God's image. One can acknowledge the intractable existence of antisemitism without seeing it emanating from the essential nature of the gentile. Unfortunately this book does not make such distinctions. Yet it is inaccurate to place it in the category of racist tracts that call for the superior race to rule the world. This work is a call for a superior people to withdraw from the world and live in isolation while submitting to its enemies and placing trust in God. The vast majority of Jewish thinkers posit that all humans are created in God's image and do not see all non-Jews as a definable category. But the possibility exists that one who is unaware of the marginality of Grama's sources might draw misleading and dangerous conclusions from this book. In Israel, where there is an ongoing conflict between Jews and Arabs and there is an activist element within Orthodoxy, the viewpoint of the author could be used to justify horrendous behavior."

[Here's what's crucial to understand about these kinds of articles. Traditional, Orthodox Judaism does indeed herald a profoundly racist view of non-Jews. Some secular Jews -- like editor J.J. Goldberg at the Jewish journal The Forward -- rankle at this Jewish world view, but rarely are such traditional Jewish world views exposed by Jews to the non-Jewish world. (Most circle the wagons to veil, for damage control -- and this article is softened with lots of apologeticJewish opinion). The chronic racism exemplified by these Orthodox Jewish groups, even today, underscores WHERE ANTI-SEMITISM HAS ALWAYS COME FROM throughout history. And this anti-goyim hatred is one of the foundations of modern Israel. And again (and this is really hard for modern Jews obsessed with their ideas of collective innocence to swallow), in the pre-World War II era such Jewish ideologies dominated major parts of Eastern Europe and contributed to Gentile animosity towards, and outrage about, the Jewish community. It is amazing that Goldberg has the guts to publish this stuff. When will his fellow Jews demand his head? All in all, the bottom line is this: Judaism is rife with extremely disturbing material and it is considered a matter of utmost importance by Jewish Spin Doctors to control, and soften, this realization by the non-Jewish world.]
Critics Slam Rabbi, Y.U. Over Article on Gentiles. Flap Sparks Debate Over Limits of Rabbinic Discourse in Age of Jewish Militancy,
By NACHA CATTAN, The Forward, January 16, 2004
"An article in a student publication of Yeshiva University's affiliated rabbinical seminary that suggests the basis for the religious prohibition against murder is different for Jews and non-Jews is causing a stir in the Modern Orthodox world. The article quotes classical Jewish texts to support the argument that while the Bible contains a prohibition against killing Jews, the law forbidding a Jew to kill a non-Jew is a rabbinic injunction. The distinction, some observers said, could be read to imply a difference in the value of Jewish and gentile life. The article, which mixes Hebrew and Aramaic while dealing generally with the seven Noachide laws, the rules governing the behavior of all peoples, cites a rabbinic opinion that non-Jews who perform abortions are committing murder. The author, Rabbi Daniel Stein, 27, is a student of Kollel Elyon, a highly respected post-rabbinical program at the Y.U.-affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, which publishes the student-edited Beit Yitzchak journal, where the article appeared. Administrators at Y.U. said that Stein was merely engaging in a theoretical halachic exercise about laws relevant to the Temple period millennia ago that have no practical application to the present day. Nevertheless, the article, first publicized on the Web site protocols.blogspot.com, has sparked a larger debate in the Orthodox world over how to present esoteric texts that may be misinterpreted or misused outside of a yeshiva study hall. Neither the author nor the article's critics has suggested that the article was an attempt to justify the murder of non-Jews by Jews. But critics, including theologian Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, are disturbed by what they see as a lack of sensitivity on the part of the Y.U. community to the way non-Jews — or for that matter, Jewish extremists in Israel — may view articles of this type. Stein, who has been studying at the seminary for six years, declined to comment. The debate over the Beit Yitzchak article comes in the wake of a much larger debate over the use of rabbinic texts dealing with Jews and non-Jews. Rabbi Saadya Grama, an alumnus of the renowned ultra-Orthodox yeshiva in Lakewood, N.J., recently caused an uproar by publishing a book that attempts to employ rabbinic sources to support his race-based theory of Jewish supremacy. Y.U. administrators and critics of Stein's article agreed that it should not be lumped together with Grama's book. But the Grama scandal has served as a lightning rod for disputes over the use of controversial rabbinic exegeses. If not for the Lakewood scandal, the Beit Yitzchak article would not have come under scrutiny, said Rabbi Norman Lamm, the chancellor of Y.U. and the rosh yeshiva of its affiliated seminary. Lamm, who last month blasted Grama's book, told the Forward that only a minority of commentators in the rabbinic canon believed that a distinction could be made regarding the killing of Jews and non-Jews, and that such a view is not generally accepted ... "They're living in a bubble," said Greenberg, a former professor at Y.U. who has frequently clashed with many of the seminary's top rabbis. "When this thing slips through, it's a sign that there is excessive insularity and lack of awareness of the fullness of humanity of gentiles and how they hear or feel about such text," said Greenberg, a past chair of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. "The leadership of the kollel has failed to correct this atmosphere among its students." Rabbi Eugene Korn, who recently stepped down as director of interfaith affairs at the Anti-Defamation League, said: "Unfortunately, the author does not make explicit the theoretical nature of the discussion." The editor of The Edah Journal: A Forum of Modern Orthodox Discourse, Korn said that antisemites and Jewish extremists both distort talmudic sources for their own end ... According to close readings by several rabbinic scholars, Stein's article cites numerous sources to prove that the biblical prohibition against murder — punishable by death in the Temple period — applies to Jews only if they perform direct murderous action. But the article argues that the biblical prohibition applies to non-Jews even if their actions are indirectly but purposefully responsible for a death, a category in biblical law that includes people who perform abortio ... While some theologians argue that the Modern Orthodox community should push such views to the sides, other scholars are concerned by what they describe as censorship and where it might end. Rabbi Yosef Blau, spiritual counselor to students at Y.U., said that it was "absurd" to criticize an accurate citation of an authoritative rabbinic source."

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's racist remarks attacked,
By Ellis Shuman, Israel Insider, April 12, 2001 04/12 Bakshi-Doron, PA "Jordanian businessman Tawfik Azab has posted a million dinar prize for anyone who assassinates Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party. The prize, reported in the Jordanian newspaper Al Dustur, was one of many severe reactions in the Arab world, and in Israel as well, to Rabbi Yosef's comment during a sermon last week that the "Arabs should be destroyed." Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa yesterday accused Rabbi Ovadia Yosef of being "racist," saying recent remarks made by Yosef calling for the annihilation of Arabs and the use of missiles against them were ridiculous and represented a call for "mass killing." The Rabat-based Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) termed Yosef's statements as a criminal, racist and despicable act and an invitation for more aggression against the Palestinian and the Arab Muslim nation. "These racist declarations reflect the truth about the aggressive positions taken by the extremist Jews in Israel against all Arabs and Muslims," the organization declared in a statement released to the press. Palestinian Information Minister Yassir Abed Rabbo, said: "This is the third time that the rabbi has espoused openly racist views and neither his party nor his government in which it serves has bothered to apologize." Yosef's reputation for outspoken remarks The reactions came after the ynet website published details of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's last sermon. Yosef has a reputation for outspoken remarks. Other religious leaders in the region hurried to dispel the tensions caused by the Shas leader's remarks. In his weekly sermon prior to the start of Passover, Yosef said, "It is forbidden to be merciful to [the Arabs], you must give them missiles, with relish - annihilate them. Evil ones, damnable ones. May the Holy Name visit retribution on the Arabs' heads, and cause their seed to be lost, and annihilate them, and cause them to be vanquished and cause them to be cast from the world," Yosef said. Shas spokesman Itzik Sudri said the people who attended the sermon understood clearly that Yosef was referring to terrorists and not to Arabs in general. Shas leader Eli Yishai said Yosef's comments were along the same line as calls by members of the government, including him, to target terrorists. Rabbi Yosef's comments came under attack in Israel as well. Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit condemned the Shas leader's tirade. "A person of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's stature must refrain from acrid remarks such as these ... I suggest that we not learn from the ways of the Palestinians and speak in verbal blows like these," Sheetrit told Israel Radio. Labor Minister Salah Tarif, a Druze Arab, said it was "truly a pity that such things are said at such a difficult time in relations between the nation and Arabs both within the country and without. These remarks add nothing but hatred, and it's a shame they were uttered by someone as great in Torah learning as Rabbi Ovadia." Meretz Knesset Member Zahava Gal-On said Yosef's ongoing remarks pose a threat to people's lives and are all the more grave since they come from a public figure with a following. "Ovadia can talk nonsense as much as he wants, but not when he calls for attacks on people," she said."

[Racism, xenophobia, violence, Jewish chauvinism ... this isn't "Israeli soccer," this is ISRAEL. The Jewish state has become a twisted bag of violent neurotics and psychotics. And America is bent to its knees by the Jewish Lobby in behalf of this normative Israeli garbage.]
The ball is kicked and fans are too: Racism a problem in Israeli soccer,
By Dina Kraft, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Jan. 20
"Chanting “Death to the Arabs,” hundreds of young Jewish soccer fans race up a dusty side street to catch a bus carrying fans of the Arab team that had just beat theirs in a tense game. The supporters jeer even after the bus pulls away. Moments earlier, an Arab fan had been hit in the head with a rock, bloodying his forehead. Welcome to professional soccer in Israel, where racism and violence have become part of the country’s most popular sport. Before Monday’s match, the home team, Bnei Yehuda of Tel Aviv’s working-class Hatikva neighborhood, was awarded a plaque for being Israel’s most tolerant and sportsmanlike team by the New Israel Fund, which has been tracking soccer fan behavior in a new racism index. “Today they received a prize, but then because they lose a game this happens,” said Nur Ghentos, manager of the victorious Arab team, Bnei Sakhnin, as he watched medics bandage the head of the fan hit by a rock. “It looks like when you are winning you can be tolerant, but when you lose this is the result. This is the story of soccer in Israel.” Before this season, Bnei Yehuda fans had a reputation for being rowdy and racist. The team had been leading Israel’s top league until Monday’s loss — and for some Jewish fans, losing to an Arab team is the ultimate insult. Immediately after the game, fans for the most part were restrained, even applauding briefly for the rival team. New Israel Fund officials noted that the problems began, as they often do, outside the stadium. Soccer hooliganism in Israel has not reached European levels, but it is very much part of the culture of the game here — something civil society organizations and team officials are trying to change. Beginning last season, the New Israel Fund racism index has been giving supporters of each team a weekly grade. Volunteers are planted as monitors in the crowds and record the number of racist songs, slogans and incidents they observe. The results, ranking the most and least tolerant teams, are published weekly in the media and have caused a stir among soccer fans. Overall, racial incidents are down at soccer matches this season, but ongoing Israeli-Palestinian violence exacerbates soccer violence, said Yair Galily, a sports sociologist and head of mass media and sports studies at the Zinman College of Israel’s Wingate Institute. Soccer “is a very interesting and authentic reflection of society. We have a violent society relative to other places in world, and we can see it in the soccer violence,” Galily said. “Because it comes out in the context of soccer it is legitimized, as if it’s OK to get these things out as a catharsis" ... Racism in Israeli soccer stems mostly from Jewish fans who feel they can shout slogans such as “Death to the Arabs” and “Go to Palestine” without fear of repercussion, experts say. The same cannot be said for their Arab counterparts. Jews playing on Arab teams say they feel at home on their teams. The Arab fans “give us lots of respect; there is no racism. They treat us well and we enjoy every minute,” Asulin said, smiling as he was slapped on the back after the game by a steady stream of fans ... The cellular phone company Cellcom dropped its sponsorship of Beitar Jerusalem, which is considered to have the most racist fans in the country. The fans are known to have shouted “Death to the Arabs” for the duration of entire games, and the team is the only one in the premier league that never has hired an Arab player. Team officials denied any link between Cellcom’s decision to drop its sponsorship and fan behavior. It was revealed that at Beitar Jerusalem games, song sheets have been passed out with racist lyrics put to the tune of a popular song. The song was directed at one of Israel’s top Arab players, Salim Toameh, who plays for Hapoel Tel Aviv. “This is the Land of Israel, Toameh. This is the Jewish state. I hate you Salim Toameh, I hate all the Arabs,” the fans sang. The song now is commonly heard at games across the country and is directed at Arab players, whether or not Toameh is playing ... Racism on the soccer field is not limited to the Arab-Jewish arena. Black players — both Ethiopian Jews and foreign players from Africa — have been taunted with shouts of “Dirty black” and “Go back to the jungle.” Baruch Dago, a Jewish Ethiopian player for Maccabi Tel Aviv, reportedly is considering leaving the team because he is so disheartened by racist slurs hurled at him by his own team’s fans."

[This is an excellent article; it's very long (see source). It has, however, at least one serious flaw -- the inability of Jewish authors to take responsiblity for expressly Jewish history and identity. Mr. Ash champions the typical displacement of left-wing Jews, wherein intrinsic, historical, Talmudic and Zionist Jewish racism is held to be the primary responsiblity of Europeans.]
''Diagnosing Benny Morris: the mind of a European settler'',
by Gabriel Ash, Yellow Times, January 24, 2004
"Israeli historian Benny Morris crossed a new line of shame when he put his academic credentials and respectability in the service of outlining the "moral" justification for a future genocide against Palestinians. Benny Morris is the Israeli historian most responsible for the vindication of the Palestinian narrative of 1948. The lives of about 700,000 people were shattered as they were driven from their homes by the Jewish militia (and, later, the Israeli army) between December 1947 and early 1950. Morris went through Israeli archives and wrote the day by day account of this expulsion, documenting every "ethnically cleansed" village and every recorded act of violence, and placing each in the context of the military goals and perceptions of the cleansers. Israel's apologists tried in vain to attack Morris' professional credibility. From the opposite direction, since he maintained that the expulsion was not "by design," he was also accused of drawing excessively narrow conclusions from the documents and of being too naive a reader of dissimulating statements. Despite these limitations, Morris' "The Birth of the Palestinian Refugees Problem, 1947-1949" is an authoritative record of the expulsion. In anticipation of the publication of the revised edition, Morris was interviewed in Haaretz, Hebrew original here). The major new findings in the revised book, based on fresh documents, further darken the picture. The new archival material, Morris reveals, records routine execution of civilians, twenty-four massacres, including one in Jaffa, and at least twelve cases of rape by military units, which Morris acknowledges are probably "the tip of the iceberg." Morris also says he found documents confirming the broader conclusions favored by his critics: the expulsion was pre-meditated; concrete expulsion orders were given in writing, some traceable directly to Ben Gurion. Morris also found documentations for Arab High Command calls for evacuating women and children from certain villages, evidence he oddly claims strengthen the Zionist propaganda claim that Palestinians left because they were told to leave by the invading Arab states. Morris had already documented two dozen such cases in the first edition. It is hard to see how attempts by Arab commanders to protect civilians from anticipated rape and murder strengthen the Zionist fairy tale. But that failed attempt at evenhandedness is the least of Morris' problems. As the interview progresses, it emerges with growing clarity that, while Morris the historian is a professional and cautious presenter of facts, Morris the intellectual is a very sick person. His sickness is of the mental-political kind. He lives in a world populated not by fellow human beings, but by racist abstractions and stereotypes. There is an over-abundance of quasi-poetic images in the interview, as if the mind is haunted by the task of grasping what ails it: "The Palestinian citizens of Israel are a time bomb," not fellow citizens. Islam is "a world in which human lives don't have the same value as in the West." Arabs are "barbarians" at the gate of the Roman Empire. Palestinian society is "a serial killer" that ought to be executed, and "a wild animal" that must be caged. Morris' disease was diagnosed over forty years ago, by Frantz Fanon. Based on his experience in subjugated Africa, Fanon observed that "the colonial world is a Manichean world. It is not enough for the settler to delimit physically, that is to say, with the help of the army and the police, the place of the native. As if to show the totalitarian character of colonial exploitation, the settler paints the native as a sort of quintessence of evil … The native is declared insensitive to ethics … the enemy of values. … He is a corrosive element, destroying all that comes near it … the unconscious and irretrievable instrument of blind forces" (from "The Wretched of the Earth"). And further down, "the terms the settler uses when he mentions the native are zoological terms" (let's not forget to place Morris' metaphors in the context of so many other Israeli appellations for Palestinians: Begin's "two-legged beasts", Eitan's "drugged cockroaches" and Barak's ultra-delicate "salmon"). Morris is a case history in the psychopathology of colonialism... It is instructive to look closer at the manner in which Morris uses racist thinking to justify genocide. Morris' interview, precisely because of its shamelessness, is a particularly good introductory text to Zionist thought. Morris' racism isn't limited to Arabs. Genocide, according to Morris, is justified as long as it is done for "the final good." But what kind of good is worth the "forced extinction" of a whole people? Certainly, not the good of the latter. (Morris uses the word "Haqkhada," a Hebrew word usually associated with the extinction of animal species. Someone ought to inform Morris about the fact that Native Americans aren't extinct.) According to Morris, the establishment of a more advanced society justifies genocide: "Yes, even the great American democracy couldn't come to be without the forced extinction of Native Americans. There are times the overall, final good justifies terrible, cruel deeds." Such hopeful comparisons between the future awaiting Palestinians and the fate of Native Americans are common to Israeli apologists. One delegation of American students was shocked and disgusted when it heard this analogy made by a spokesperson at the Israeli embassy in Washington. Morris's supremacist view of "Western Civilization," that civilization values human life more than Islam, has its basis in the moral acceptance of genocide for the sake of "progress." Morris establishes the superiority of the West on both the universal respect for human life and the readiness to exterminate inferior races. The illogicalness of the cohabitation of a right to commit genocide together with a higher level of respect for human lives escapes him, and baffles us, at least until we grasp that the full weight of the concept of "human" is restricted, in the classic manner of Eurocentric racism, to dwellers of civilized (i.e. Western) nations. This is the same logic that allowed early Zionists to describe Palestine as an empty land, despite the presence of a million inhabitants. In the end, it comes down to this: killing Arabs -- one dozen Arabs or one million Arabs, the difference is merely technical -- is acceptable if it is necessary in order to defend the political preferences of Jews because Jews belong to the superior West and Arabs are inferior. We must be thankful to Professor Morris for clarifying the core logic of Zionism so well."

The Gilad Atzmon Interview,
by nessie, San Francisco Indymedia, January 27, 2004
"Gilad Atzmon: I don't have any plans to go Israel, neither to visit nor to live there. I would be delighted to come back to a civilized place. I assume that when that happens it won't be Israel anymore - probably democratic Palestine.
nessie: How would you be treated?
Gilad: As we learn from the news, yesterday an Israeli soldier opened fire on another Israeli while in a demonstration against the emerging wall. Identifying myself with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian struggle, I would expect to be treated as a Palestinian. It isn't an experience one would look for ...
Gilad: ... I am fully familiar with the fact that some Zionists do not like me, and they manage to be pretty vocal about it. We have to remember that hatred is fundamental to Zionist thought and to Zionist people. First they hated the European Gentiles, then it was the Assimilated Jews, then the Arabs, and now it's me. This is exactly what I am saying about Zionists. They need to hate, but more than anything else they need to be hated ...
nessie: What do you have to say to people who call you a "self-hating Jew", or a "pawn of the anti-Semites", or an "anti-Semite" yourself?
Gilad: Naming is very crucial in Jewish thought. God is called "A-Shem" in Hebrew which means "The Name". The Jewish circumcision ceremony is named in Hebrew "Brit Mila" which means "a covenant with the word". Jews, along their long history, have had very many names for their many many enemies only because their enemies define their segregated identity. In biblical times it was "Amalek", then the "Philistines", then the indigenous habitants of Canaan, then it was "Jesus" and his followers , then "Christianity". Then the Zionists came and improved the model. First it was the "Assimilated Jew", then the "Palestinians", then the "Arabs", then "Rabin", then the "European Union", then "SF Indymedia", then you, and now it's "Gilad", a jazz player from London, the "self-hating Jew", the "pawn of the anti-Semites". I say names, names, and names! I read your site and follow the Zionist verbal abuse. It is clear that those Zionists, who stand behind those provocations, enjoy the public contempt they manage to generate. They enjoy being ugly. We have to remember that the Zionist identity is defined by negative dialectic, by its opposition. In a way, both you and I are supporting some mentally psychotic creatures. We just have to remember that the brothers of those psychotic people are living in Palestine. They are fueled by very similar energies, and they turn the Middle East into a ticking bomb. They have hundreds of nuclear bombs, and they put our planet at a severe risk.
nessie: Your disparagers around here can't seem to decide whether you are a "self-hating" Jew, or even a Jew at all. What's wrong with these people?
Gilad: Judaism is all about differentiation (avdala). Differentiation between the sacred (Sabbath) and the "everyday", between the Jew and the Goy (Gentile), between the chosen and the inferior, between dairy products and meat ones, between Kosher and non-Kosher, and so on. In order to allow the Jew to cope with his self-imposed strange reality of segregation and prohibitions, every aspect in the Jewish daily life is supported by the Talmudic "grand theory". Rabbinical Judaism is a system of laws that create a form of correspondence between prohibitions and dated explanations, explanations that are far too short to satisfy any rational mind. (J. Lacan would say that it is the lack of satisfying explanation which portrays the depth of genuine religious conviction) Zionism, a secular movement, adopted this very rabbinical method. When it gets to criticism it would be categorically classified as anti-Semitism (as if anti-Semitism is a form of explanation). The Zionist would argue that all Gentiles are anti-Semites. It makes life very simple unless you really need the support of the Gentile. (For instance, when the Israeli needs the American aid, then the Americans stop being anti-Semites and become good Gentiles, at least temporarily). When it comes to criticism raised by a "Jew," Zionists get into a real problem. Because Zionism is supposed to be the "final solution" for all Jews, wherever they are, any criticism made by a Jew must be eradicated. As you, yourself, noticed, one popular way is to define the critical "brother" as a "self hating" Jew. The other method is to declare that the critical voice isn't actually a Jew or even not a Jew anymore. The later is obvious. If one isn't a Jew, he must be a Gentile; hence, an anti-Semite. No more explanation needed! The former is more interesting because "self-hating" is basically a form of psychotic mode. The Zionists actually admit that something went wrong in the process of Jewish reproduction. A member of the community "lost his mind". First, it saved the Zionists, themselves, from taking any criticism from a "mad man". Second, it warns the rest of the world not to take the criticism seriously, the man is apparently "mad". For many years this doctrine was pretty effective. Jewish anti-Zionists calls were successfully muted by the Zionist lobbies, but apparently this doctrine isn't effective anymore. The western world and Europe, especially, are far too tired of the Zionist victim blackmail. With Israeli atrocities on the TV screen night after night, people start to realize that the "mad," "self hating Jew" might have something crucial to say. We better listen to him. Haaretz published today that "nearly one in five Britons would oppose having a Jew as Prime Minister, and one in seven believes the scale of the Holocaust is exaggerated" (haaretzdaily.com 24.1.2004). The Zionist conspiracy to control world opinion is proved to be counter-effective. The British people start to show some real signs of severe fatigue. The French and the Germans are already really tired. If anything, the world is awaiting for the "self hating" Jews to open their mouth. Uri Avinery, Gideon Levi and Amira Hess are far more popular in SF-IMC than in Tel Aviv. When it comes to me, my racial identity isn't something I would like to share with the world. I have never spoken as a Jew or in the name of any Jewish people. I do not think it gives me any credentials. In the doomed reality created by Israel, being a Jew becomes something to hide rather than being proud of. I speak on behalf of myself. I speak as someone who was born in Israel and escaped as soon as he realised what being an Israeli is involved with. I wouldn't say that I hate myself, but I would admit that I find it very difficult to "love" those who claim to be my brothers."

["Human rodents?" "Rats?" The dehumanization of the non-Jewish Other is the foundation of Jewish racism, as exemplified here. Support the Palestinian struggle for human rights and this Jewish bigot calls you a "rat," an "animal." But Jews are beyond reproach because they control the terms of public discourse and have cowed all protest of their power and racism into total submission. Anyone who wrote such an article as this with a Jewish name replacing Arafat's would lose his job (at the very least) and be persecuted by the full, relentless force of the punishing Jewish Lobby which emphatically forbids this kind of commentary if the subject is a Jew. Note also that generic Europeans are expressly depicted below as murderous "anti-Semites," and also "rats" and "animals." Jewish "hate" takes in the full field of non-Jews -- whoever dares to shine the Light of Justice in their eyes.]
Groundhogs and human rodents,
By Jeff Dunetz, Jewish World Review, February 2, 2004
"It happens every year in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. On February 2, members of the Groundhog Club adorned with top hats and tails, surround the home of Punxsutawney Phil one of the most famous rodents of the world. More than just a tourist attraction, there are people that really do believe if Phil the groundhog sees his shadow we will suffer though six more weeks of winter. Phil is just one example. All across the world there are ceremonies just like the one in Punxsutawney — ceremonies, where people trust animal behavior to indicate the future. Move over, Phil! You've spawned a lot of imitators There is the one that takes place in Ramallah on the West Bank. The Ramallah rodent is named Palestinian Yassir. Around since 1959, every few months Yassir pokes his head out of his hole and if he sees a peace plan, we have six more months of terror. Yassir is not a groundhog, he is a moneyhog. In-between his popping his head out of the hole, he plans new ways to kill civilians, Arab and Israeli, all to keep his friends from finding out that he is stealing their money. Yassir the Moneyhog is worshiped in Europe, because his primary role is killing Jews. To help him with his cause they give him money to help feed other Palestinians, but he keeps most of the money for himself. That's why he is afraid of peace, why every time he sees peace in the distant horizon he invents new ways for the Palestinian people to kill themselves and Israeli civilians, so in the confusions they don't realize that it is him, good ol' Mr. Moneyhog, is causing a lot of their pain. According to Salam Fayyad, a former World Bank official who Arafat was forced to appoint finance minister last year after crowds began protesting his corrupt regime , "There is corruption out there. There is abuse." Recently CBS News reported that Yassir the Moneyhog had amassed "somewhere between 1 and 3 billion dollars." Yasser's biggest scare came just a few years ago: During the Oslo process things got so close to peace, he had to unleash a huge wave of terror so that his friends would not find out about the billions of dollars hidden in Swiss bank accounts. Another ceremony that uses a rodent as a seer is the one in France .The animal in this one has had many names. The latest is Judenphobe Jacques. If Jacques poke his head out of his hole and sees Jewish people living in peace, we will have six more years of horrible anti-Semitism. This tradition has been around for thousands of years. The first practitioner was a Pharaoh of ancient Egypt. But after a two hundred year run there was a series of 10 very unusual occurrences, that diverted his attention. One of Judenphobe's favorite activities is to glorify terrorists. It all harkens back to the tradition of Pharaoh — except instead of throwing the Jewish babies into the Nile, Judenphobe helps Palestinian Yassir blow up Jewish children. The Judenphobe tradition is entrenched in Europe and the Arab counties and it is growing more popular everyday. The UN has Judenphobe parties — they throw them in the General Assembly Chamber, adorned with signs such as, "Protect Palestinian babies not the Jews" and the favorite of Ireland, "Anti-Semitism is NOT religious intolerance." During the UN Party, all the delegates gather around a small hole and out pops Kantseenuthing Koffi. If Koffi sees Jews dying he goes back into his hole and closes his eyes ... So when you are watching the news and you see another story about Groundhog day please remember, the tragic victims of senseless murder that were blown up in Israel this week, and the rats all across the world who give aid and support to the murderers."

[The Jewish hating of "all Gentiles" is no surprise. It is Jewish religious tradition: read the Talmud and study Jewish-non-Jewish relations throughout history. Modern Israel is a neurotic country founded on "hatred" of the non-Jewish Other.]
Father and Sons Separated by Belief,
By DAVE KEHR, New York Times, Published: February 6, 2004
"The filmmakers Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky collaborated on the 1997 "A Life Apart: Hasidism in America," a sympathetic and informative documentary on Hasidim, members of the Jewish sect, many living and working in large modern cities while strictly following forms of worship developed in 18th-century Central Europe. "A Life Apart" presented Hasidism as being built on apparent contradictions: at once cosmopolitan and isolationist, full of joy and oppressed by tradition. Now these directors have made "Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance After the Holocaust," a documentary centered on Mr. Daum's strained but loving relationship with his sons, Tzvi Dovid and Akiva, Talmudic scholars who left their native Brooklyn to study in Israel. Mr. Daum fears his children have turned their backs on the non-Jewish world, regarding all Gentiles with suspicion bordering on hate. Mr. Daum, who narrates the documentary and frequently lends his warm, bearish presence to the scenes he is filming, is an Orthodox Jew with a broad streak of what fundamentalists of many persuasions have become fond of denouncing as "secular humanism." He passionately believes that all men are brothers, and that all of humanity contains a touch of the divine. His sons, who look nearly identical with their black hats, scraggly beards and skeptical smiles, firmly contradict him, pointing to 1,900 years of religious persecution leading to the Holocaust. Mr. Daum resolves to take his sons and his wife, Rifka, to Poland, the country from which his parents, Holocaust survivors, fled. (Mr. Daum was born in a displaced-persons camp in Germany.) Hoping to find traces of his family history, he discovers much more. His search leads him to a Polish couple, now elderly, whose family hid his wife's father and his two brothers in a hole beneath a hay barn for 28 months during the Nazi occupation, risking their own lives in the process. The sons are moved by such compelling, living evidence of goodness in non-Jews, but neither one is ready to abandon his beliefs. Through Mr. Daum's efforts, the Polish couple receive the Righteous Among the Nations Award of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, and the Daum family returns to observe the ceremony. But even while the sons express their gratitude, they cling to their separatist ideas. There may be a few good Poles, one of the young men observes, but given a chance to mount another Holocaust, "they'd probably do it again."

[Jewish Neurosis linked to Jewish Power is dangerous to everyone. Jewish American support for the religious fascists of Hellhole Israel, as we see below by this Jewish author, is a threat to all humankind.]
Pursuing the Millennium. Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel,
by David Hirst, The Nation, February 2, 2004
"This essay is excerpted from David Hirst's The Gun and the Olive Branch, recently re-released by Nation Books. In the minds of many Westerners, Muslim fundamentalism has replaced communism as perhaps the greatest single "threat" to the existing world order. From this perspective the Palestinian intifada becomes just another episode in a "clash of civilizations." For them, there is an intrinsic link between Palestinian "terrorism" and, say, the al-Qaeda bombing of an American warship off Yemen. Almost totally absent from such arguments is any inclination to examine Jewish fundamentalism, or so much as to ask whether it, too, might be a factor in the conflict over Palestine, one of the reasons why it seems so insoluble. There is, in fact, a great ignorance of, or indifference to, this whole subject in the outside world, and not least in the United States. This is due at least in part to that general reluctance of the mainstream American media to subject Israel to the same searching scrutiny to which it would other states and societies, and especially when the issue in question is as sensitive, as emotionally charged, as this one is. But, in the view of the late Israel Shahak, it reflects particularly badly on an American Jewry which, with its ingrained, institutionalized aversion to finding fault with Israel, turns a blind eye to what Israelis like himself viewed with disgust and alarm, and unceasingly said so. American Jews, especially Orthodox ones, are generous financiers of the shock troops of fundamentalism, the religious settlers; indeed a good 10 percent of these, and among the most extreme, violent and sometimes patently deranged, are actually immigrants from America. They are, says Shahak, one of the "absolutely worst phenomena" in Israeli society, and "it is not by chance that they have their roots in the American-Jewish community." It was from his headquarters in New York that the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the late Menachem Schneerson, seer of possibly the most rabid of Hasidic sects, the Chabad, gave guidance to his many followers in both Israel and the United States. The ignorance or indifference is all the more remiss in that Jewish fundamentalism is not, and cannot be, just a domestic Israeli question. Israel was always a highly ideological society; it is also a vastly outsized military power, both nuclear and conventional. That is a combination which, when the ideology in question is Zionism in its most extreme, theocratic form, is fraught with possible consequences for the region and the world, and, of course, for the world's only, Israeli-supporting superpower. Like its Islamic counterpart, Jewish fundamentalism in Israel has grown enormously in political importance over the past quarter-century. Its committed, hard-core adherents, as distinct from a larger body of the more traditionally religious, are thought to account for some 20 to 25 percent of the population. They, and more particularly the settlers among them, have acquired an influence, disproportionate to their numbers, over the whole Israeli political process, and especially in relation to the ultra-nationalist right, which, beneath its secular exterior, actually shares much of their febrile, exalted outlook on the world. It is fundamentalism of a very special, ethnocentric and fiercely xenophobic kind, with beliefs and practices that are "even more extremist," says Shahak, "than those attributed to the extremes of Islamic fundamentalism," if not "the most totalitarian system ever invented." Like fundamentalism everywhere, the Jewish variety seeks to restore an ideal, imagined past. If it ever managed to do so, the Israel celebrated by the American "friends of Israel" as a "bastion of democracy in the Middle East" would, most assuredly, be no more. For, in its full and perfect form, the Jewish Kingdom that arose in its place would elevate a stern and wrathful God's sovereignty over any new-fangled, heathen concepts such as the people's will, civil liberties or human rights. It would be governed by the Halacha, or Jewish religious law, of which the rabbis would be the sole interpreters, and whose observance clerical commissars, installed in every public and private institution, would rigorously enforce, with the help of citizens legally obligated to report any offense to the authorities. A monarch, chosen by the rabbis, would rule and the Knesset would be replaced by a Sanhedrin, or supreme judicial, ecclesiastic and administrative council. Men and women would be segregated in public, and "modesty" in female dress and conduct would be enforced by law. Adultery would be a capital offense, and anyone who drove on the Sabbath, or desecrated it in other ways, would be liable to death by stoning. As for non-Jews, the Halacha would be an edifice of systematic discrimination against them, in which every possible crime or sin committed by a Gentile against a Jew, from murder or adultery to robbery or fraud, would be far more heavily punished than the same crime or sin committed by a Jew against a Gentile--if, indeed, the latter were considered to be a felony at all, which it often would not be. All forms of "idolatry or idol-worship," but especially Christian ones (for traditionally Muslims, who are not considered to be idolaters, are held in less contempt than Christians), would be "obliterated," in the words of Shas party leader Rabbi Ovadia Yossef. According to conditions laid down by Maimonides, whose Halacha rulings are holy writ to the fundamentalists, those Gentiles, or so-called "Sons of Noah," permitted to remain in the Kingdom could only do so as "resident aliens," obliged under law to accept the "inferiority" in perpetuity which that status entails, to "suffer the humiliation of servitude," and to be "kept down and not raise their heads to the Jews." At weekday prayers, the faithful would intone the special curse: "And may the apostates have no hope, and all the Christians perish instantly." One wonders what the Jerry Falwells and Pat Robertsons think of all this; for it is strange, this new adoration by America's evangelicals of an Israel whose Jewish fundamentalists continue to harbor a doctrinal contempt for Christianity only rivaled by the contempt which the Christian fundamentalists reserve for the Jews themselves ... The mainstream secular Zionist leadership had wanted the Jewish people to achieve "normality," to be as other peoples with a nation-state of their own. The messianics--and indeed, though for emotional more than doctrinal reasons, much of the nationalist right--hold that that is impossible; the Jews' "eternal uniqueness" stems from the covenant God made with them on Mount Sinai. So, as Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, a Gush [Emunim]leader and head of a yeshiva that studies the ancient priestly rites that would be revived if and when the Temple were rebuilt, put it, "while God requires other, normal nations to abide by abstract codes of 'justice and righteousness,' such laws do not apply to Jews." Since Zionism began, but especially since the 1967 war and Israel's conquest of the remainder of historic Palestine, the Jews have been living in a "transcendental political reality," or a state of "metaphysical transformation," one in which, through war and conquest, Israel liberates itself not only from its physical enemies, but from the "satanic" power which these enemies incarnate. The command to conquer the Land, says Aviner, is "above the moral, human considerations about the national rights of the Gentiles in our country." What he calls "messianic realism" dictates that Israel has been instructed to "be holy, not moral, and the general principles of morality, customary for all mankind, do not bind the people of Israel, because it has been chosen to be above them."