Forward.com

Great article--there are many behind you

I just wonder how come Arab Muslims & Arab Jews were able ENJOY LIFE without POGROMS for 800 years in SPAIN - Exploring the mentality of that period will shed the light of peace on everyone! This task must be an international AGENDA, and must be addressed to Arabic speaking and Hebrew speaking individuals GLOBALLY. In general most people are not religious - But religion waits for exerting its MOST influence at funerals, and the more death the more religiosity! And religion has many interpretations "acceptable and not acceptable", those who survive become vulnerable in their mindset, irrespective of their religion – I also wonder about the religious interpretations among Arab Muslims and Jews – Were they as GOOD AND BENEVOLENT as they are today! . Many eastern & western countries broadcast in Arabic, yet non of them broadcast in Hebrew!??? I gave up trying to find EXPLANATIONS for this phenomenon? Yet .."every one is talking about peace"..! Very nice!

As an Israeli I celebrate this new voice of sanity and partnership from American Jews. I implore the liberal majority there to finally stand up and be counted. Your inability to shape the Jewish communal debate and its impact on American policy to date has left the field wide open for the religious radicals, the might-is-righters and the fear-mongers to have their way. I welcome this new voice on the American scene as will millions of mainstream Israelis. Getting behind this thoughtful effort (see their website) will help the American Jewish community start to play a much more constructive role than it has of late, one consistent with its highest values and real concerns. Yonatan (Jerusalem)

There is no "final" two-state solution, not for generations to come, since the children in "Palestine" and other Arab lands are fed constant streams of brainwashing proclaiming every inch of Israel as occupied Palestine, not to mention the essential evil of the Jews. History in the present day demands no more disastrous land giveaways, no more "gestures", and even if America doesn't support it, unambiguously strong responses by Israel to the violence perpetrated against its people every day. Contrary to popular belief, Israel has the power even without American acquiescence to take care of itself. The only possible way a two-state "solution" could work is if the world recognized Israel's right to severely pummel it's state neighbor should the neighbor lob bombs over the border. The world isn't ready, by a long shot, to do so. When the Islamofascists are thrown out of power by their own populations and the indoctrination of the children stops, then the stage can be swept and set for peace. The world must insist on this, but again, the world is not ready to do so.

There is no need for a 2 state solution. Egypt should govern the arabs in Gaza and Jordan the arabs in the West Bank, simple !!! We Jews are so smart, we are stupid sometimes. It is suicide to create a terrorist state next to Israel. The arabs terrorists tell us what they will do to the Jews. Lets not be stupid. You should not and can not trust an arab period....Olmert is being pushed by the Bush/Rice to give, give and give. This must stop!!

I couldn't agree with you more.As a secular jew who is active in Jewish causes I welcome your activities.

Sorry can't seem to post my comment. Stay strong Israel God is with you. The leader have no fight in them. They do not look to there God for advice. God says you will take back your land and you will. God Bless Israel.

I used to be a liberal Jew like yourself. I wept at the handshake between Arafat and Rabin. And now I laugh at my naivety...look at what Oslo has wrought...after so-called peaceful Palestinians controlled most of the West Bank for most of the 90s, they started a war that continues to this day. There will not be a two-state solution because the Arabs & Muslims don't want one. You can start all your liberal Jewish PACs you want, but that won't change that fact.

Jews have a choice, celebrate your "choseness," and embrace the golden calf of Israel damn the means. Or embrace Hillel's universal charge to do unto others as you'd have them do unto you. The Torah offers both alternatives, it is up to Jews to decide which track you will take and whether you affirm the pernicious libels that are often decried as anti-semitic. Anyone who sees themselves as an exception to the rules (chosen?) DESERVES derision. I fear the US has been guilty of this since WW1 certainly, and we're feeling the blowback for this. Part of this history includes the founding of Israel.

Those that wish to suggest that Israel is some prophetic gift from God need to name the messiah that brought this about. Was it Ben-Gurion, Hertsl, Dayan? No, Israel needs to behave as any responsible actor and Israel has some dues to pay for the quirky nature of it's founding on a contentious part of the broken Ottoman empire.

These words aren't anti-semitic they are the charge of every Israeli, every Jew and every American at this point. Security comes only from opportunity, and no honest and earnest reading of history would judge that Israel has offered the Palestinians any real opportunity. I'm sure you have a yiddish word for a man who negotiates without really ever offering anything, as long as the Jordan river valley is Jewish only, as long as Jewish only roads dissect the Palestinian territories like a plaid-work, and settlements pock the territories like polka-dots there is no real offer. I challenge anyone to find a map of a proposal for peace that didn't have these damning characteristics.

These are hard words, I have hard words for everyone involved; however, as the more powerful body in the conflict you have a special charge of mercy. To you believe in mercy or the book of Joshua? Let's be honest, those stories are beyond the pale and far worse than any to be found in the Quran or the haddiths. At least by modern Western standards, those verses stand as genocide and attrocity equal to any holocaust, only the ignorance of the average American and other psychological and social factors keep us so blind. This doesn't condemn Judaism--only the readings and choices you take and make can do that. Do you believe in exceptionalism or the golden rule? Again, this is a question for all Americans, Jews, and Muslims, really everyone.

please email me I want to tell you somethingg.

With all due respect to your ancestors, they must be rolling over in their graves when they see how you are so willing to give away Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem to the Arabs who only moved to the area after they, the brave halutzim cleared the swamps, watered the deserts and made the place economically viable and attractive and only became Palestinians when Arafat made it a politically valuable asset.

Thank G-d for J Street. The future of Israel as a Jewish Democratic nation is at stake. The inirtia and disinterest of George W. Bush has been a disaster for Israelis and Palestinians. It is time for Zionists like myself to demand that Israel STOP expanding West Bank settlements, that the Palestinians STOP inciting and perpetrating violence, and that our government gets back in the solutions game.

Those who called in Rome to save the Jewish country later found their people in exile - what was left after the Roman's murdered vast numbers of Jews.

Those who call upon others today to save Israel know full well that only one side can be pressured and it is not the Muslims. Therefore, if follows that any result derived not from the free will of Israel will be advantageous to the Muslims.

Jews are entitled to their own destiny and not one dictated by others. Ben-Ami and his ilk are aiding people who are not interested in Jewish continuity in Israel.

In order to negotiate an end to the conflict and to reach a two-state solution, we must negotiate with the Palestinians. The above article doesn't mention the Palestinian side at all. It could be that Jeremy Ben-Ami belittles the Palestinians to such an extent that he doesn't regard their positions to have any value whatsoever. Or it could be that he simply regards Israel as the only problem - and changing her position is the key to ending the conflict. Well, either way this is a very poor article. American Jews and Israelis can talk as much as they wish, and they can conclude that "x" or "y" would be the best outcome for the conflict - but the conflict will only end when the Palestinian side agrees to end it. The Hamas seems very determined to continue the conflict, and it certainly rejects a two-state solution. Actually, it rejects all Jewish rights in the Land of Israel.

"scott" - please spare us your babble (& why repeat it 3 X?)

whether a vain attempt to rid themselves of the "problem" of supporting Israel or just plain naivete - J-street leftists and others who call for more pressure on Israel and less pressure on Arabs are celebrated by those who hate Israel...

with friends like these...

Anything to the right of Hamas will be viewed by the aggressively pro Palestinian left as the same thing as AIPAC and their delusions of a secret Jewspiracy. So unless you're prepared to wrap yourself in the Hamas flag and defend the rights of terrorists to kill Israelis then you're going to get the same reception we all have thus far.

These Liberal-Socialists who call them selves Progressives are actually regressives. I know them from the 1940's in the Workmans Circle a communist front organization. Their's is the politics of chaos and anger. This Elitist movement will fail because they are not interested in the welfare of people, but only in the welfare of the cause. The social justice they speak of is their brand of social justice and does not include the needs and aspirations of the people they are "helping". If you don't agree with them then you must be part of the "radical right". I curse these liberal-socialists, they will bury Israel in the dustbin of History

Look at it this way: More money for this guy's group means less money for CAIR.

OTOH maybe CAIR will turn out to be less anti-Israel. We'll see.

God bless you, Jeremy! Shalom achshav!

There is no such thing as a moderate Jew or Gentile regarding the indivisibility of Israel and Jerusalem. Its really very simple, Jews and Gentiles that want to further divide Israel are proclaiming they are against God's unconditional Covenant with Abraham. That is why God will correct Israel with the Islamic sword, and even more sterly chasten, or as the Bible says: break in pieces Gentile kingdoms and peoples with His Israeli battleax and weapons of war. The Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah have plainly declared that a huge war is coming because Israel agrees to divide the Land with the Sons of Ishmael and Esau.

Borders are established between countries that recognize each other's right to exist.There were borders between Germany and Poland, as well as between Poland and the USSR, and normal diplomatic relations. The problem was, that neither Germany nor Russia accepted Poland's right to exist. Israel today has an established border between itself and Egypt, because Sadat decided to accept Israel's right to exist. Same with Jordan. When the whole Arab and Muslim "worlds" accept the right of the Jewish state to exist, then fair borders will be established between Israel and the rest too.

Why give a forum to this far-left "progressive" anti-Israel character? "Moderate" Jews against Israel? What bizarre propaganda!

Charlie Fishman, before you make yourself look like a fool again, I suggest you go back and read the Torah, the Talmud, and the writings of later sages. Perhaps if you apply yourself you will then understand that Workman's Circle and other proudly Socialist organizations (including many of the Socialist-Zionists who founded the state of Israel you claim to support) are the true vanguard of the Jewish people and the guardians of our sacred covenant. Those who speak curses such as yours are defaming the name of almighty G-d. You should cower in shame.

Darwish - the arabs national poet - anthem - calls - not just for all jews to leave - but to take their dead with them.!BEN AMI's TWO STATE is a NO-NO STATE -not for arabs nor for jews. It is the continuation of the British RAPE OF PALESTINE mandate in 1922.

Liberals are so delusional. It takes two to have peace. The BLAME that there is not peace and a two state solution lies solely with the Arabs. They don't want peace. They want Israel's destruction. This should not be that hard to understand even for idiotic liberals. The Arabs have total control over whether there is peace. They choose war. So called moderate American Jews can sit around and talk all they want and pretend they are doing something constructive, but as with most liberal idiocy it never helps the situation. It only makes the participants feel good about themselves. The only way there will be peace is for Arabs to have a civil war where they rid themselves of the evil of Islamic extremism and free their religion from this violent element. Until then there will never be peace. I am not optimistic.

When Clinton tried to broker a peace treaty in the 1990's, terrorist attacks increased. When Carter led negotiations over the Sinai Peninsula he created the Gaza Strip. The Israeli government and the PLO are already negotiating a peace. US pressure would propably do more harm than good and US peace keeping troops are out of the question. Besides, what right do I have to pressure Israel one way or another. Remember "one person, one vote"? I already vote in the US on US policy. If I wanted to vote on Israeli policy, I would change my citizenship.

Everyone seems to have missed the point that Ben-Ami is not, in this article, calling on Israel's government to liberalize its policies, but rather calling on liberal American Jews to make their case to conservative American Jews, and the neocon Christians who support them, in order to cool the incendiary right-wing rhetoric (both political and religious) that confuses the issues and makes it more difficult for Israel's leadership to think and act clearly in facing the present challenges.

Funny how liberals always call conservatives right wing, and only conservatives spout incendiary rhetoric. I never see liberals referred to as left-wing. Liberal rhetoric is never incendiary. Liberals live in the fantasy that they are mainstream. If you don't agree with them then you must be part of the radical right-wing. Leftists were duped in the Cold War and they are now being duped with Islamic terror. Naiveté about evil is a form of abetting evil. The poster boy for naiveté about evil is Jimmy Carter. A moral idiot who truly can not distinguish between good and evil. Doesn’t it concern all Jews (left or right) that the democrats have not even once mentioned Islamic terror in any debate? Does it not concern all Jews that the Islamic terrorists like Hamas are hoping for an Obama win? Terrorists vote democrat. Does it not concern all Jews that all the democratic candidates seem to be concerned with is how quickly we can surrender when the republicans are asking how can we win? It is imperative that conservative Jews try to inject some sanity into foolish liberals.

People of conscience--especially people of religious conscience, who presumably accept the biblical teaching that all humans are created in the divine image--should be devoting all of their political energies to minimizing war and maximizing multinational, multicultural, coexistence--not vice versa. But if you've already demonized your enemies as irretrievably evil, what you wil see when you look around you is a world full of irretrievlably evil and dangerous enemies. A case of self-fulfilling prophecy. Of course there is some evil in the world, and we must be unhesitatingly prepared to combat it. But those who demonize the world will eventually become demons themselves. This is also the error of the Islamic terrorists.

I agree with you that moderate American Jews should find their voice; we just disagree on what that voice should be. I am an American-Jew; I chose to live in the Diaspora, just as you currently do. Therefore, we have given up our right to complain or force actions to be taken or not taken by Israel. Though I may not always agree with Israel’s policies and decisions, it is theirs to take.

Instead of trying to force a two-state solution (something that Arabs have been offered repeatedly for sixty years), the voice of moderate American Jews should be used to lend support and comfort to our fellow Jews in need. We are one people, no matter how diverse we are or in what country we are. Thus, our voice in America should be like that of a parent letting the grown family members be independent but to show love and support for them -- whatever they do. For example, three summers ago, it broke my heart to see the Israeli government evicting Jews from Gaza, many who lived their entire lives there. I disagreed with the government’s action, and knew it was a huge mistake. However, our voices should be raised thereafter to help our fellow Jews who lost their homes and their livelihood, when the Israeli government did not help them. And now our voices should be raised again to help alleviate the suffering of the people in Sdeurot and surrounding areas who are dealing with an average of 3 or more missiles falling on their homes and schools every day (they have 15 seconds from the sound of the siren to find shelter from missiles dropping on their homes and schools). We can support them by pushing for accurate news reporting -- make people aware of the issues -- and we can comfort them with monetary donations.

Another obvious way to add your “voice” to the collective American-Jewish voice is to join the Solidarity Rallies for Israel, and another way is to teach the future generations of American-Jews. I love the country of Israel passionately, and I try to pass my love and knowledge of our heritage onto the students I teach. In addition to studying the history of Ancient and Modern Israel, they learn the current events beyond the newspaper (not of hostility but of Israel’s industry, ingenuity, and humanity -- such as Israel sending humanitarian teams to help countries suffering natural disasters or inventing medical technologies to save lives). My students add their own voices by sending letters and cards of support to Israeli soldiers and to children in Sderot, writing letters to the editor of local newspapers to correct inaccurate reporting of news from Israel, and bringing in tzedakah money to send to various organizations in Israel.

One last item to note – before people add their voice to any opinion, they should be well informed. Thus, learn yourself and then teach fellow Jews so that they are not ignorant of the history of Israel and the Muslim conflict. I hear Jews speak about poor Palestinian refugees without knowledge that there were thousands more Jewish refugees from Muslim countries -- about a million -- and thus, countries (such as Iraq) in which Jews lived for over 2,500 years were now rid of their Jews (similar to Hitler's goal), nor that Samaria was called the “West Bank” by Jordan who captured it (and most of our Biblical history takes place there), nor that over 80 years ago four-fifth of Palestine was already severed to create a new Arab country (Jordan), etc. Use your voice so that other Jews have an “informed” voice, something there is an acute shortage of in America. Thank you.

It always saddens me that a state founded by the people who were victims of the most terrible crime in human history are so willing to brutally oppress and impose an apartheid system on another. The right-wing polemicists who support these actions would have made Goebbels proud-the virulent anti-Arab rhetoric including statements like "they are not to be trusted", that I see in many of these comments reminds of me anti-Jewish propaganda from the 1930's. I make no claim that the Palestinians are perfect (it is certainly true that their own corrupt leaders are to blame for many of their woes) but the current situation shouldn't be acceptable to those with a conscience. Everyone knows a peaceful solution will require hard choices for both sides but what's the alternative?-a war that lasts for eternity? I applaud the forward thinking and humanist approach of J Street to these issues and hope they have some success in changing America and Israel's current no-win trajectory by representing the voice of moderate Judaism [still, America is the country that made Bush president twice so I won't hold my breath.....]

The time has come for Israel to become a REAL nation of Jews with REAL unversally recognized borders and REAL security as a nuclear security umbrella for its Arab neighbors-- enemies turned allies even if at first by necessity-- and a REAL economy as the leading "light onto the [Arab] nations," guiding them from one crop [oil] banana republics to modern high-tech states (all Arabs I know would much sooner trust Israel than Europe and the US). With its new found Palestinian middle men advocating to Israel's cousins, the Arabs, a mutually beneficial peace is possible and better than life as ever embrionic being forever attached to a US placenta. It's time for Israel to finally be born. I wrote recently that for this brave view I love Avenry and Carter and, for its wonderful incubator of learned youths, I love Israel....Below is the text...So, Mr. Ben-Ami, can I include you amongst those I so love?

Sent: 14.04.08 04:12:16

To repeat, raised by Jews who had survived a double Holocaust, I came to see Jews-- at least those friends of my parents who served as my mentors all through the decade refuge West to America-- as the strongest pillar of Western culture. Invariably, having gone to Israel young, I came to see Israel as an in-gathering of Jews like my mentors, thus a concentration of this pillar of Western culture. Of course, eventually, I came to see that Israelis are not gods but people like everyone else and that they are sleeping on the ground where Palestinians once slept; these Palestinians had to be chased out by force so Israelis could sleep there. For this, Israelis pay a heavy price in that they are not whom they wanted to be and do not live in the dignity of sovereignty they so desperately sought.

To my mind, Uri Avnery is a similar man to my Holocaust surviving mentors and ex-President Carter also strikes me as a man moved to end his life in the Avnery image of struggle for humane idealism. Both had younger years that I would criticize here and there; but both aged in a Grace that is best representative of the term "elder."

To me, both-- now more than ever-- represent the best of the societies they are a part of: Israel and America. There are very many heroes of Islam and fighters of Palestine I can equally look up to. But Israel is where I saw my landsmen first and Tel Aviv is where in every shop window I saw a sign reading: "aici vorbim romaneste," here we speak Romanian. My contact with the Arab World was for wider and thus far more varied but there too I met the distant "cousins" of my Jewish mentors-- it seems to be a family trait.

For decades, I saw America through Jewish eyes as they guided me here and was participant and leader in synagogue youth groups, my foreskin well hidden. For less time, but for long enough, I had been exposed to the suffering of Arabs whose lands were trampled by Western greed. And all these seemingly incompatible vignettes never left me without hope for an Israel/Palestine resolution. On the contrary, my contact with both sides leaves me more hopeful in resolution in the Israeli/Palestinian issue all through my American years than ever in the hope of liberation of my homeland from Soviet imperialism. Alas, the reverse has in fact happened. But I cannot despair because Gush Shalom has so raised so many Israelis/Palestinians to hold high standards of justice and fight for them with far more dedication and determination than any of us ever exhibited in our struggle against Soviet Imperialism.

Gush Shalom exists to shame and cause to introspect and study those of us who seek the easy way through evasion, popular stands, polarization or closed minds. It is a way of looking at the issue that my Jewish mentors imposed on me in everything I had to confront growing up: always see it from the perspective of the other. As a boy I was devoted to Jesus Christ and often found myself looking into the eyes of these gentle mentors, saying to myself: now I understand why Jesus came amongst them instead of elsewhere.

I share these thoughts with you because study of the Middle East-- frustrating and nerve-wrecking-- has always brought sparks of hope that seem characteristic of the humanity that made the region so special, it's violent history notwithstanding. Gush Shalon, like its founder, is mentor to me still because they better know perseverance of the right and determination to be kind, not only spoken there but also lived as in few other places. May God look kindly on its leader and its followers, for they shine a small candle that guides so many of us in our hour of despair as we face our own misguided wanderings.

Daniel E. Teodoru

So, welcome to the real world, Daniel!

Over the years I came to seek ways of finding a fit between the Israelis and Palestinians, within a regional context, that serves all. It has been a long struggle, particularly since I came to see a transition between the Jews I knew as my mentors and the fascist types I see today setting up settlements in violation of Israel's fututre as well as that of the Palestinians. Such people were seen as darkly by Zionist founders, some labeling them "Zionazis."

It was in meeting with and contacting Gush Shalom that I realized that Jews will always-- just like everyone else-- provide a spectrum in which debate will dominate over dire irreversible action.

The Palestinians are a history that was always harsh but now has idealism so intertwined with crime that we never know if a bullet is fired in anger or in avarice. Much the same alas, as so emphasized since 200 in the Israeli press, has become the case in Israel. Many Israelis are meists-- my house, my orchard, my swimming pool. These may seem like modest demands, but given the inhospitable environment Nature imposes on the small plot that is Palestine and Israel, for one to have very many must be made destitute. So the real issue, the material Israeli and the ethical Israeli have a hard road before they reach common ground-- more easily to ride seven cammels through the eye of a needle or to come to terms with Israel's neighbors.

Still, I marvel at ex-President Carter's efforts, both as a spiritual man and a political man. He is taking the discomfortable road of aging that most would rather not. And he does it, not for self, but for the right and best for all.

Sir, I appreciate your article very much. Your words are not only valid for the American Jewish situation, however apply also for many countries in Europe, especially Germany. Simplistic slogans and name calling and no debate also prevents that decent young people will go to Medinat Israel for good.

NOT ANOTHER PARTITION .... PLEASE....

Dear Ben-Ami;

I am from INDIA... you may remember India as the country that is taking jobs from the west :-)

Beyond the advances India has made since it became independent form the British Raj and declared itself as Republic, there is a long scar. It is called the partition. This space is too short to discuss this in detail.

You seem to a well read person. May I request you to read about the Indian Partition and in general Indian history for the last 100yrs. Please list down what mistakes Indians have made --- and dont repeat them,,,

The time has past for a Jewish state. The state built on a past that never existed is and remains by definition, whatever the masks put on it and curtains thrown before it, an ethnocracy - and somewhat a theocracy, Palestinians (and Druzes and others) in Israel proper dependent on the generosity and the goodheartedness of Jewish supremacy, or in other words Giselle's "dhimmitude" reversed. It is necessarily unjust as mrs Littman's readers would gladly admit.

A two state solution doesn't solve this. It relocates the problem in a smaller area, making it even more urgent and without the distraction of an outside enemy much more visible. Israel must be an open society and a state for it's citizens or it will be inevitable that in a few generations from now - the blink of an eye in historical terms - it will have vanished altogether.

If this Jewish state fallacy is upheld there will be no future for Israel, corrupting its soul and to the end of it's days gambling on the perpetuity of the US empire. It is foolishness to the extreme and a curse put on the future generations, who would be more than in their right to never forgive.

Mr. Ben-Ami speaks none too soon. Right wing Jews might think that they have cowed American opinion to support an Israel that is now acting like a racist thug, but under the surface, a revulsion is growing especially among libertarian and progressive American non-Jews. If Jews are about half the population in Israel/Palestine they can't have 93% of the land and all of the water.

If the moderate American Jews don't find their voices soon, people like myself will consider them ALL Zionists. Then they will be no better than the rest of the Jewish neocons and the rest of the bushnazies that have taken over this ONCE great country we call the USA.

Re: "For Israel's Sake, Moderate American Jews Must Find Their Voice"

Dear Mr. Ben-Ami,

I agree with you that after centuries of persecution the Jewish people need a home. For even during this time of increasing Jewish prosperity anti-Semitism remains an ever-present danger. A question raised prior to the founding of the state of Israel, however, perhaps needs to be raised again, viz, ought a home or homeland necessarily to imply a state? For by its lawless, degrading treatment of the Palestinians, well documented by B'Tselem among other groups and individuals, even if still denied by numerous American Jews and Israelis, the state of Israel would seem in no small way to have abdicated its Jewish identity. With growing evidence, moreover, of horrific wrongdoing by Zionists prior to and during the last world war, and afterwards in covering up the evidence (and yet there is widespread awareness of it) any advance toward peace between Israel and its neighbors is, in my view, bound to prove a Pyrrhic victory. The ancient Jewish tradition of self-examination (or "soul searching") ought to be revived on a grand scale.

Jeremy, I couldn,t agree more. My family are of Christian Palestinian origin , who lived in Jaffa prior to 1948. I was a young child when we immigrated to the states yet, I have been "cursed" to follow this insanity for decades. I am not being melodramatic when I say insanity. A recent example is the closure of Gaza, by the Israelis. Forgo who is right of wrong, legitimacy, security, occuupation and the rest. At the end of the day, the Palestinians are dumping raw sewage into the Meditrannean. The old paranoia on both sides , must make way for rational thinking. You are right. Time is not on Israel's side.

Frankly I hope the Jews and Palestinians wipe each other out. Because they are both equally vile and both equally guilty in perpetuating violence in that part of the world.

Going by how many people here are bashing Muslims, I realize how much the jews have been an evil people since time immemorial. I mean really. They got screwed by another evil race, the greedy, genocidal caucasians. Now they are trying to take it out on someone who were past protectors. You people are cursed, and will always be. This is your time of enjoyment and power, savor it, because its not going last. Future Muslims will remember, I promise you.

it had been obvious to me and many observers that there was never a two-state 'sol'n' available. it was shouted from rooftops but all salient facts have proved that it had been an obvious ruse; at least for some of us. ben speaks of a "home for jewish people". where was this empty (tacitly posited,tho)land for jewish nat'l home to be found? not in palestine, right? one could have easily espied at any given time prior to and after balfour declaration that a humane sol'n was an impossibility. a political sol'n may have been available; we'll never know. we cannot rerun history. have zionist known that the state for jews only, can only be established (not created; a crass distort) by warfare and terrorism? one would have to be naive not to evaluate as factual that they knew it. christian and communist lands also knew it. who are the jews ben talks about? ashkenazim are not jews but an euro-khazaro-asian-semitic people while sephardim were and are now pure semites; tho not pure jews. from this one concludes ashkenazim and sephardim have no right to palestine. anent socalled antisemitism, one can say it; just like mini, medi, or maxi zionism, is just a strategem. one cannot be antisemitic; one can be only against what judaists or ashkenazi do and say. read torah please. people all over, just couldn't stomach its hatred for us and numerous misteachings. i'm aganist judaism and zionism. and i do'nt think state for jews has the right to exist anywhere on this planet. in fact, i wish yahweh have given them (given, and not promised) a planet of their of own; preferably light yrs away. even millennia ago, ashkenazi have wilfully spread all over europe; thus, had to be minorities everywhere. they may have been persecuted in most regions but ashkenazim have persecuted most other people. i'm no longer taken in by euroasians with litttle or no semitic blood. thank u.

absolutely spot on! congrats for speaking up and may they follow you in droves

If you don't mind me saying, Jabotinsky's revisionist movement was the first to openly state their intentions in Palestine were to murder or expel the native population and steal their land. I have a problem with someone who implies being at the "opposite" end of the spectrum while at the same time exalting his family credentials in what was done to the Palestinians. I view this as an attempt to portray opposition to the radical right as the liberal opposite when this opposite is simply a far right alternative to the radical right.

Well, at least we see now how George Soros is spending his money.

Too bad all the hard=fought lessons of this man's father was lost on the son. Apparently, those Socialist roots are hard weed out. Because he's had 'brushes with terror' as he puts it hardly qualifies him to work for surrender and appeasement. He advocates talks with an Iran who vows to obliterate Israel. He advocates peace with Hamas and other like-minded groupes, conveniently ignoring the hundreds scarred and mutilated by Hamas 'peace' bombs. He parrots the same old Oslo line, 'if only we talk, give up land, there'll be peace'. Been there, tried that. Gaza, Hebron, etc. Shame on US Jewry if this is the best we can produce for 'leadership.' A soft, rich, spoiled and religously-ignorant people is going to get us all killed. The Arabs are smart and worldy. They can smell weakness. And so can disgusted Jews like me.

Boy would your grandparents be rolling over in their grave that their grandson is advocating appeasement. Israel left the gaza strip and it is worse.Arabs are not a democratic lot. They only respect force and military might. They laugh at Israel worrying about killing civilians as colateral damage.War has been painful but peace making with them has been more painful.The third largest nuclear arsenal in the world will assure Israels survival for however long the world is around

One might add (about this good article) merely the specific reminder that there also are many Arab friends of Jews (anywhere) who feel similarly, and face intimidation or worse as a result--and yet, yes, even some factions of Jews also offer them no goodwill in return, to say the least....

These are exactly my feelings. May more voices speak out. My son -in-law is a Halocaust surviver. The Israeli's are subtly displacing another people as Jews were once cruelly and violently displaced. Hatefulness has no place here. Let Jews and Arabs lead the way and work without pause for a peaceful two state solution.

In just a few short years, the “two-state solution” has gone from presumed conclusion to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to an increasingly distant hope. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has himself said that without such a deal, “the State of Israel is finished.”

IT IS ELEMENTARY THAT NO REAL PROGRESS CAN BE HAD UNTIL THE ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS ARE PHYSICALLY DISMANTLED. NOT "CONSIDERED" OR "TAKEN UNDER ADVISEMENT" OR PART OF "NEGOTIATING PLOY," ACTUALLY REMOVED!

By the dozens, Israeli dignitaries solemnly warn: The window is closing on a two-state solution, and Israel’s prospects for a second, safer 60 years grow are growing ever dimmer.

WE CAME EXCRUIATINGLY CLOSE TO PEACE FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, WHEN THE KEY PLAYERS MET ON THE WHITE HOUSE LAWN AND SHOOK HANDS. THERE WAS YASSER ARAFAT, THE LEADER OF THE PALESTINIANS, YITZHAK RABIN, OF ISRAEL, KING FAISAL OF JORDAN AND THE HOST, BILL CLINTON. PEACE SEEMED TO BE AT HAND.

BUT TRAGICALLY, THESE MEN OF GOOD WILL ALL DISAPPEARED WITHING A FEW YEARS. YITZHAK RABIN WAS ASSASSINATED BY THE RIGHT WING. YASSER ARAFAT AND KING FAISAL BOTH DIED OF NATURAL CAUSES AND BILL CLINTON'S TERM ENDED AND HE STEPPED DOWN, REPLACED BY A REPUBLICAN WARMONGER.

With such alarms sounding, one might expect pro-Israel Americans to be pressing for immediate, bold American action. Rarely are Israel’s allies in the United States slow to demand action when Israel faces meaningful threats to its security or survival.

ONE MUST DISTINGUISH BETWEEN ISRAEL'S TRUE ALLIES AND ISRAELS DEVOTED WHORES IN WASHINGTON, WHO DANCE TO THE SINISTER TUNE OF AIPAC. SADLY, THE VOICE OF JUDAISM HAS BEEN HIJACKED BY THE LATTER. THOSE WHO PROMOTE WAR ARE NOT ISRAEL'S FRIENDS. THEY ARE MANKIND'S ENEMIES.

Yet American politics moves in a parallel, disconnected universe when it comes to the Middle East. Here, being “pro-Israel” requires only mouthing scripted talking points about staunch support for Israel, the special American–Israeli relationship and the shared bond in the war on terrorism.

AIPAC WRITES THE SCRIPTS FOR ITS DEVOTED WHORES, WHO MOUTH THE NECESSARY PLATITUDES ON CUE. THEY ARE REWARDED WITH MASSIVE MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS, WHILE THOSE WHO DO NOT DISPLAY THE NECESSARY DEVOTION ARE PENALIZED. A CASE IN POINT WAS CYNTHIA MC... A CONGRESSWOMAN FROM GEORGIA. SHE WAS ONLY LUKE WARM FOR ISRAEL SO THE LOBBY CASUALLY DUMPED FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLARS INTO HER RURAL PRIMARY, SWAMPING HER. AND ONE RECALLS SEN. CHARLES PERCY, WHO WAS SUBJECTED TO ONE OF THE MOST VICIOUS, CONCENTRATED SMEAR CAMPAIGNS IN HISTORY, RESULTING IN HIS DEFEAT.

THOSE WHO ENGAGE IN SUCH TACTICS ARE NOT OUR FRIENDS.

For the sake of Israel, the United States and the world, it is time for American political discourse to re-engage with reality. Voices of reason need to reclaim what it means to be pro-Israel and to establish in American political discourse that Israel’s core security interest is to achieve a negotiated two-state solution and to define once and for all permanent, internationally recognized borders.

THE TOP PRIORITY IS TO BREAK THE DEATH GRIP THAT ISRAEL HAS ESTABLISHED ON GAZA. STARVING A MILLION AND A HALF PEOPLE TO DEATH IS ABHORRENT TO THE HUMAN CONSCIENCE. WHAT'S WORSE, THE KRAUTS ARE CYNICALLY DANGLING MONEY IN FRONT OF THE GAZANS BY DISPATCHING SOME THREE BILLION DOLLARS TO THE WEST BANK, FOR 'COOPERATING.'

For me, this isn’t just an abstract issue of politics or public policy. It is rooted in my family’s history and a generations-long search for safety and for a home for the Jewish people.

THAT WILL NEVER BE A REALITY UNTIL THE ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS ARE DISMANTLED AND THE POLICY OF GENOCIDE IS REPUDIATED.

One hundred and twenty-five years ago, my great-grandparents arrived in Jaffa after a long and arduous journey from today’s Belarus in what became known as the “first aliyah.” They helped establish Petah Tikva, one of the first successful settlements in Palestine.

MY PEOPLE GRAVITATED TO AMERICA FROM THE PROVINCE OF GALICIA, WHERE THE MAN WHO LENT HIS NAME TO THE WORD "MASOCHISM" WAS BORN.

My grandparents went on to be among the founders of Tel Aviv. Family lore has it that my father was the first boy born in the city. A hard-line Revisionist, he worked closely with Zeev Jabotinsky, Menachem Begin and other heroes of the right in the struggle to create the State of Israel.

BEGIN WAS NOT A HERO. HE WAS A BLOOD-COVERED BUTCHER.

Dispatched abroad before and during World War II, he negotiated with Hitler’s henchman Adolph Eichmann over payments to smuggle Jews out of Europe and sparred with American leaders in urging greater American action to save Jews from extermination. After World War II, he was executive director of the American League for a Free Palestine, raising money and running guns to Irgun soldiers fighting the British.

THE STORY IS THAT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT SAID HE WAS AWARE OF THE PLIGHT OF THE JEWS, BUT FELT THE BEST THING HE COULD DO FOR THEM WAS TO WIN THE WAR.

I myself have lived in Jerusalem and experienced my own close brushes with terrorism on its streets. Over the past several generations, my family has suffered and survived the pogroms of the tsars, the gas chambers of the Nazis and wars with Israel’s Arab neighbors.

"TERRORISM" HAS BECOME A CODE WORD WHICH IS USED TO COVER A MASSIVE ASSAULT ON THE BILL OF RIGHTS. WE ARE NOW LIVING IN AN ORWELLIAN NIGHTMARE, WITH LOTS OF CODE WORDS.

With this as my heritage, I say confidently that what today passes for pro-Israel politics in the United States does not serve the best interests of the people or the countries my family has lived and died for. In this, I stand squarely with a substantial portion of Israelis and American Jews.

SADLY ONE OF THE PROMINENT DEMOCRATS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT, HILLARY CLINTON, HAS SOLD OUT TO THE FORMIDABLE ISRAEL LOBBY AND OBEDIENTLY DANCES TO THEIR TUNE.

Somehow, for American politicians or activists to express opposition to settlement expansion — or support for active American diplomacy, dialogue with Syria or engagement with Iran — has become subversive and radical, inviting vile, hateful emails and a place on public lists of Israel-haters and antisemites. For the particularly unlucky, it leads to public, personal attacks on one’s family and heritage.

I AM AWARE OF THIS FILTHY TACTIC. I WAS SUBJECTED TO IT SOME YEARS AGOI WHEN I DARED TO PUBLICLY EXPRESS LESS THAN TOTAL DEVOTION TO THE ISRAEL LOBBY, WHICH IS CONTROLLED BY THE HATE-MONGERS.

Enough.

In early 21st-century America, the rules of politics are being rewritten, and conventional political orthodoxy is clearly open to once-inconceivable challenges.

BARACK OBAMA, A DEMOCRAT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT, HAS EXPRESSED SUCH SENTIMENTS, WHICH WERE ELOQUENTLY REPEATED BY HIS WIFE, MICHELLE OBAMA AT A RALLY IN NORTH CAROLINA THIS MORNING.

It is time for the broad, sensible mainstream of pro-Israel American Jews and their allies to challenge those on the extreme right who claim to speak for all American Jews in the national debate about Israel and the Middle East — and who, through the use of fear and intimidation, have cut off reasonable debate on the topic.

THE RIGHT WING HATE AND FEAR MONGERS HAVE ENORMOUS RESOURCES. IT WILL NOT BE EASY TO DEFEAT THEM.

A new political movement is a necessity not just for Israel but for the heart and soul of the American Jewish community. By and large, we are a progressive community, among the most liberal in the United States. Over the decades, we have been at the forefront of many civil rights, social justice and other causes. Many of us proudly regard that legacy as a defining cornerstone of the Jewish place in American history.

JEWS WERE PROUD MEMBERS OF THE FREEDOM-RIDER MOVEMENT IN THE SIXTIES. I HAD A RABBI WHO WAS A MEMBER OF THAT MOVEMENT. BUT THE RIGHT WING WAS ALWAYS THERE IN THE SHADOWS. REMEMBER, THEY ASSASSINATED YITZHAK RABIN.

But in recent years we have drifted. In the name of protecting Israel, some of our community’s leaders became linked with neoconservatives who brought us the war in Iraq and now seek to extend that rousing success to Iran — even as the majority of American Jews opposed the war in Iraq and military action in Iran.

THE MISBEGOTTEN WAR IN IRAQ WAS NOT A ROUSING SUCCESS. IT WAS AND IS A MISERABLE QUAGMIRE, AS ALL REASONABLE PEOPLE KNOW. IT IS A METAPHOR FOR TYRANNY, AS ARE ALL WARS. THE COMING WAR WITH IRAN IS ANOTHER DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN. THE POWER-CRAZED MADMAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE IS INTENT ON PROVOKING THAT WAR BEFORE HIS TERM ENDS, WHILE THE TOOTHLESS POLITICIANS DITHER AND DO NOTHING.

Some of our leaders have struck up fast friendships with far-right Christian Zionists who now headline “Nights to Honor Israel” at our communal institutions. Yet many of these are people with whom we disagree profoundly on values and beliefs that our community holds dear, and who hold troubling views on the long-run place of the Jewish people in their plans for salvation and redemption.

I WALKED AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE YEARS AGO. THEY HAVE DRIFTED FAR FROM THE WISDOM OF THE TALMUD. SOMETIMES YOU SEE SPARKS OF IT, AS WAS THE CASE A FEW YEARS AGO WHEN JEWS FROM CHICAGO'S COLLAR COMMUNITIES APPEARED ON THE SOUTH SIDE AND DISTRIBUTED FOOD TO THE POOR. THE BLACK GUYS DIDN'T REALLY KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON BUT THEY LOVED THOSE SANDWICHES.

In our name, PACs and other political associations have embraced the most radically right-wing figures on the American political scene from Rick Santorum and Trent Lott to Tom DeLay and George Bush — all in the guise of being “pro-Israel.”

THESE PEOPLE ARE LIARS AND SCOUNDRELS. I KNOW YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY THAT BUT THERE SIMPLY IS NO OTHER WAY TO CHARACTERIZE THEM.

In Washington today, these voices are seen to speak for the entire American Jewish community. But they don’t speak for me. And I don’t believe they speak for the majority of the American Jews with whom I have lived and worked.

WE NEED TO KEEP ON SPEAKING, AS LOUDLY AS WE CAN, BACKED BY STRIKES AND BOYCOTTS IS THEY SEEM TO BE EFFECTIVE. THE ISSUE IS FAR BROADER THAN ISRAEL; IT IS THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN. WE ARE IN THE ABYSS OF AN ORWELLIAN NIGHTMARE. BUSH DOESN'T TAKE PRISONERS; HE TAKES "DETAINEES." WE AREW CONFRONTED BY A MONUMENTAL STRUGGLE IS MANKIND IS TO SURVIVE.

I support Israel. My family history ingrains in me the belief that the Jewish people need and deserve a home. I know that that nation must be strong and secure and that a deep bond between Israel and America is essential to its survival.

I BELIEVE THAT ULTIMATELY, ISRAEL AND PALESTINE NEED TO BE INTEGRATED INTO A SINGLE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ENTITY. THAT MEANS MANY TOES WILL BE STEPPED ON, BUT THE PEOPLE FROM BOTH TRADITIONS WILL BENEFIT.

Yet I heed those in Israel who say we are fast approaching a point of no return beyond which it may be impossible to secure Israel’s future as the Jewish, democratic home envisioned by my father, the Irgunist, and his grandparents, the socialist Zionist pioneers. An immediate, negotiated end to the conflict is, simply, an existential necessity — and the time to reach it is running out.

NO REAL NEGOTIATION CAN TAKE PLACE UNTIL THE ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS ARE DISMANTLED. OTHERWISE THE WHOLE THING IS A FARCE.

I also know in my heart that this is not just a matter of survival. What will it say of us as a people if at a rare moment in our communal history when we have achieved success, acceptance and power, we fail to act according to the values and ideals passed down to us over thousands of years when we were the outcasts, the minority and the powerless?

IT WILL BE SAID THAT ONE AGAIN WE HAVE DEPARTED FROM OUR TRADITIONAL TEACHINGS, WE HAVE ABANDONED GOD AND AMBRACED BAAL, THE GOLDEN CALF, THE STATUE OF ZEUS, THE HEATHEN IDOL. WE HAVE BOWED DOWN BEFORE THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE RAG.

All of these factors — realism, security and justice — demand action from moderate American Jews. We must establish boldly and forcefully that nothing is more pro-Israel than pressing for immediate, sustained and meaningful American action to end the conflict between Israel and its neighbors.

ISRAEL MUST COME TO ITS SENSES AND COMPLY WITH THE LAW. IF THE JEWS ARE ANYTHING, THEY ARE LAW-ABIDING. THE SETTLEMENTS MUST BE DISMANTLED. NO PALESTINIAN IN HIS RIGHT MOND WILL NEGOTIATE WHILE MACHINE GUNS FROM THE SETTLEMENTS ARE POINTING AT HIS CHILDREN.

This requires a dramatic change in the dynamic of discussion about Israel in the American Jewish community and in the American body politic. It demands an end to simplistic slogans and name-calling that effectively shuts down debate and discussion in a community not known as shy and retiring in expressing its opinions.

AMERICAN JEWS NEED TO BACK THEIR POSITION WITH ECONOMIC ACTION. WE MUST ENGAGE IN SELECTIVE BOYCOTTS AND POLITICAL ACTION. WE MUST CHALLENGE THE HATE-FILLED WARMONGERS AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY AND EMBARRASS THEIR STOOGE MEDIA WHEN WE CAN.

My history demands that I say this. Our future and Israel’s future demands that we act on it.

THE FUTURE OF MANKIND DEPENDS ON ALL OF US.

Brilliant article -- but by comments here it is horribly apparent that the is no such creature as a moderate Jewish voice, only revisionist history - It takes chutzbah to continue the following behaviors and wonder why there can be no peace --- The Jewish state of Israel Celebrates 60th Anniversary building settlements over the bones of the indigenous land holders.... How can you celebrate? The establishment of the State of Israel sixty years ago was a settler-colonial project that systematically and violently uprooted more than 750 thousand Palestinian Arabs from their lands and homes.

Sixty years ago, Zionist militias and gangs ransacked Palestinian properties and destroyed hundreds of Palestinian villages. How can people of conscience celebrate this catastrophe?

2008 Calendar 60 Years of Nakba, The ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine

A human rights crime perpetuated by Israel while the world watches... The world must stop standing idle while the people of Gaza are treated with such cruelty.

The world is witnessing a terrible human rights crime in Gaza, where a million and a half human beings are being imprisoned with almost no access to the outside world.

An entire population is being brutally punished.

This gross mistreatment of the Palestinians in Gaza was escalated dramatically by Israel, with United States backing, after political candidates representing Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Authority parliament in 2006. The election was unanimously judged to be honest and fair by all international observers.

All Arab nations have agreed to recognize Israel fully if it will comply with key United Nations resolutions. Hamas has agreed to accept any negotiated peace settlement between the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, provided it is approved in a referendum of the Palestinian people.

It is one thing for other leaders to defer to the US in the crucial peace negotiations, but the world must not stand idle while innocent people are treated cruelly.

It is time for strong voices in Europe, the US, Israel and elsewhere to speak out and condemn the human rights tragedy that has befallen the Palestinian people.

The international community has failed the Palestinian people, but global civil society has not.

In light of ongoing occupation, colonization, displacement and dispossession under Israel's Apartheid-regime over the Palestinian people. This could be a time when Israel could become a day of solidarity and awareness of the collective strength of global civil society organizations working for freedom and justice in Palestine through:

Raising awareness of Israel's system of discrimination as the root cause of the conflict and the major obstacle to a just solution; Developing understanding, solidarity, and cooperation among Palestinian and international professional, academic, cultural and political communities;

Building the global campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law; Holding to account Israeli perpetrators of crimes under international law; and, Invoking the responsibility of third parties, individuals, companies and states, for violating international law.