The tide is turning against Zionist extremism The inherent contradiction of Israel as both a modern democratic state and brutal occupier is becoming clear to all October 20, 2015 2:00AM ET by Mark LeVine <http://america.aljazeera.com/profiles/l/mark-levine.html> @culturejamming <http://www.twitter.com/culturejamming>
Poor Sheldon Adelson. Even fellow billionaire Haim Saban has had enough. So toxic has the self-described pro-Israel conservative become that Saban, a major supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, can no longer bring himself <http://forward.com/news/israel/321793/haim-saban-dumps-pro-israel-coalition-over-sheldon-adelsons-far-right-wing/> to deposit his millions with Adelson, even when the goal is to combat the latest mortal threat to Israel’s existence (or, rather, unchallenged legitimacy): the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. Saban had reportedly pledged support for Adelson’s $50 million effort <http://forward.com/news/israel/309676/secret-sheldon-adelson-summit-raises-up-to-50m-for-strident-anti-bds-push/> to oppose the growing BDS movement against the Israeli occupation at U.S. universities. The movement’s focus on academic and cultural activities directly challenges Israel’s portrayal of itself as a modern, liberal democracy. It has thus touched a raw nerve across academia and U.S. politics and has led many university administrations to adopt strong stands against it as a way of demonstrating their support for academic freedom. Saban won’t be donning a keffiyeh anytime soon, but it’s clear that the increasingly politically conservative mainstream American Jewish leadership bears closer resemblance to the current Republican presidential field than to the broad base of American Jewry, which remain among the most strongly liberal <http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/chapter-6-social-and-political-views/> demographic groups in the country. American Jewish college students in particular tend to be progressive, which is why college campuses have become ground zero in the battle over Israel’s image. For decades, the one issue that has been the exception to the broadly progressive streak within American Judaism has been Israel. The Jewish state has received unchallenged support by most Jews despite its decades-long occupation of the West Bank and the pursuit of policies toward Palestinians that, were they practiced by any other country, would be overwhelmingly opposed by American Jews. This support has rested on three conditions. First, American Jews have seen Israel as under a constant and mortal threat by the surrounding Arab and Muslim world. The 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982 wars had to be successfully depicted as defensive and necessary to prevent the destruction of the Jewish state. In 1948 the recent memory of the Holocaust naturally gave such threats particular salience. But the passing of the Holocaust generation and the ever-widening body of research <http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ssfc0005/The%20War%20of%20the%20Israeli%20Historians.html> challenging the argument that Israel’s wars have always with wars of no choice (in Hebrew, *ein breira*) have gradually weakened the claim that Israel has always been the victim of others’ aggression. Second, the occupation has been portrayed and understood as primarily about security. Most American Jews would not support an occupation based on conquest and displacement, while one based on security leaves open the possibility for a land-for-peace compromise once Israel’s legitimate security needs are met. But it is increasingly clear that the occupation has never been about security — if it were, Israel could legally have maintained a military occupation without moving a single settler into the occupied territories. Now, with the majority of Israeli political elites openly declaring their desire to annex most of the West Bank and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state under any circumstances, the security argument for maintaining the occupation no longer holds much water. Third, Palestinians have been portrayed as irrational, hate-filled others who cannot be reasoned with. As long as Palestinian anger and violence leave no partner for peace, then there is no reason to examine Israel’s policies too closely. Palestinian terrorism, whether by the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1960s and 1970s or Hamas in the decades since, has legitimized this discourse. Anti-BDS initiatives are doomed to fail, particularly when they attempt to bully universities and even Jewish students into muting criticism. However, the renunciation of violence by the PLO in 1988, the Palestinian participation in the Oslo peace process and the low level of Palestinian violence in recent years have all weakened this argument. Moreover, Israel’s response to Palestinian violence has been so disproportionate that even many of Israel’s supporters have questioned its motives. These changing perceptions are the result of the rise of alternative forms of media, which have broken through the mainstream media’s imbalanced and inaccurate portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At the same time, a new generation of very assimilated, media-savvy young Arab-Americans has emerged on college campuses, often participating in the very same progressive activities and clubs as their Jewish-American peers. Coalitions bringing both groups of students into contact have become far more common, creating new relationships and deeper mutual understanding despite and ultimately in place of hostility and mutual recriminations. Even where conflicts have been particularly intense, professors and administrators have over time come together to create platforms, such as the Olive Tree Initiative <http://www.olivetreeinitiative.org/>, that have brought the two sides together on campuses and even in Israel and the Palestinian territories for open and critical discussions. Into this mix has come the BDS movement against the occupation. Its growing popularity among many academic professional societies is matched by an increasing willingness among American Jewish students to discuss and openly support the movement. Groups such as Open Hillel <http://openhillel.org/> and Jewish Voices for Peace <https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/> — the fastest-growing Jewish group in the U.S., which openly supports full BDS — are pushing the boundaries of acceptable criticism of Israel on campuses and beyond. It is precisely this dynamic that led conservative Jewish leaders such as Adelson and initially Saban to fund an opposition campaign. But such initiatives are doomed to fail, particularly when they attempt to bully universities and even Jewish students into muting criticism. For example, Richard Blum — an investment banker, a University of California regent and the husband of California Sen. Diane Feinstein — recently threatened the University of California <https://theintercept.com/2015/09/25/dianne-feinstein-husband-threaten-univ-calif-demanding-ban-excessive-israel-criticism/> with his wife’s wrath if it didn’t enact a new speech code that would silence most speech critical of Israel. No sooner had he made his threat than Jewish Voices for Peace <http://www.stiflingdissent.org/> and the Palestine Legal and the Center for Constitutional Rights <http://palestinelegal.org/the-palestine-exception> released simultaneous reports that document a relentless and completely unethical campaign of attacks and intimidation of students and faculties across the country to suppress all serious criticism of Israel. Even a decade ago, such reports would have had a hard time reaching a wide audience, in or outside the Jewish community. Today they quickly go viral, becoming impossible to ignore. And their arguments are amplified by the almost daily videos from the occupied territories that show Israeli soldiers and settlers attacking <https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/video-israeli-soldiers-protect-settlers-they-attack-palestinians> , arresting <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvJNYjzm9jk> and beating children, shooting Palestinians <http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/23/middleeast/palestinian-shot-west-bank/> and even pouring concrete into homes <https://www.facebook.com/ShehabAgency.MainPage/videos/1201052759937142/?fref=nf>. Sooner or later, the weight of reality becomes so overwhelming that any attempt to deny it only makes those in power look worse. This is the moment Israel and its supporters have reached, not just with the world at large but with an increasing number of American Jews as well. As the inherent contradiction between Israel’s self-image as a modern, democratic and progressive country and the reality of a half-century-long brutal occupation become clear to all, the erosion of support for Israel by the emerging generation of American Jews will continue and likely increase, with profound consequences not just for Israel but also for the future of the American Jewish community. Mark LeVine is a professor of history at the University of California at Irvine and a distinguished visiting professor at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. He is a co-editor, with Mathias Mossberg, of “One Land, Two States: Israel and Palestine as Parallel States <http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520279131>.” On Tuesday, December 22, 2015 at 1:47:54 PM UTC-6, Travis wrote: > > > > > > > > > > http://freedomsback.com/pat-buchanan/islam-and-the-west-an-irreconcilable-conflict/ > > > > [image: Description: lg_buchanan] > > > <http://freedomsback.com/pat-buchanan/islam-and-the-west-an-irreconcilable-conflict/> > > > <http://freedomsback.com/pat-buchanan/islam-and-the-west-an-irreconcilable-conflict/> > > > <http://freedomsback.com/pat-buchanan/islam-and-the-west-an-irreconcilable-conflict/> > > > Islam and the West: An Irreconcilable Conflict? > > By Pat Buchanan <http://freedomsback.com/author/pat-buchanan/> > > December 22, 2015, 5:00 am > > “I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, > particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here … and … > around the world, that there is a ‘clash of civilizations.'” > > So said Hillary Clinton in Saturday night’s New Hampshire debate. > > Yet, that phrase was not popularized by Donald Trump, but by Harvard’s > famed Samuel Huntington. His “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking > of World Order” has been described by Zbigniew Brzezinski as providing > “quintessential insights necessary for a broad understanding of world > affairs in our time.” > > That Clinton is unaware of the thesis, or dismisses it, does not speak > well of the depth of her understanding of our world. > > Another attack on Trump, more veiled, came Monday in an “open letter” in > The Washington Post where four dozen religious leaders, led by Cardinal > Theodore McCarrick, charge “some politicians, candidates and commentators” > with failing to follow Thomas Jefferson’s dictum: > > “I never will, by any word or act … admit a right of inquiry into the > religious opinions of others.” > > Intending no disrespect to Jefferson, if you do not inquire “into the > religious opinions of others” in this world, it can get you killed. > > “We love our Muslim siblings in humanity,” said the signers of Cardinal > McCarrick’s letter, “they serve our communities as doctors, lawyers, > teachers, engineers, journalists, first responders, and as members of the > U.S. Armed forces and Congress.” > > Undeniably true. But, unfortunately, that is not the end of the matter. > > Did the worst attack on the United States since Pearl Harbor, 9/11, have > nothing to do with the Islamic faith? > > Did Fort Hood and the San Bernardino massacres, the London subway bombings > and the killings at Charlie Hebdo, as well as the slaughter at the Bataclan > in Paris, have nothing to do with Islam? > > Does the lengthening list of atrocities by terrorist cells of ISIS, Boko > Haram, al-Qaida, al-Shabaab and the Nusra Front have nothing to do with > Islam? Is it really illiberal to inquire “into the religious opinions” of > those who perpetrate these atrocities? Or is it suicidal not to? > > There has arisen a legitimate question as to whether Islamism can coexist > peacefully with, or within, a post-Christian secular West. > > For, as the Poet of the Empire, Rudyard Kipling, wrote: “Oh, East is East > and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand > presently at God’s great Judgment Seat.” > > As of 1960, the Great Wave of immigration into the United States from > Southern and Eastern Europe had been halted for 35 years. And the children > of these millions had been largely assimilated and Americanized. > > Yet, 50 years after the Turkish gastarbeiters were brought in the millions > into Germany, and Algerians and other North Africans were brought into > France, no such wholesale assimilation had taken place. > > Why not? Why are there still large, indigestible communities in France > where French citizens do not venture and French police are ever on alert? > > What inhibits the assimilation that swiftly followed the entry of millions > of Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Jews into the United States from 1890 > to 1920? Might it have something to do with Islam and its inherent > resistance to a diversity of faiths? > > Set aside faith-based terrorism and Islamist terrorism, and consider the > nations and regimes of the Middle and Near East. > > Iran holds presidential elections every four years, but is a Shiite > theocracy where the Ayatollah is a virtual dictator. Saudi Arabia is a > Sunni kingdom and home to Wahhabism, a Sunni form of puritanism. > > Those ruling regimes are rooted in Islam. > > And while secular America embraces expressions of religious pluralism and > sexual freedom, homosexuality and apostasy are often viewed as capital > crimes in Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia. > > Where Islam is the ruling faith, the Quran is secular law. > > Catholic historian Hilaire Belloc saw our future on its way, even before > World War II: “[I]n the contrast between our religious chaos and the > religious certitude still strong throughout the Mohammedan world … lies our > peril.” > > Historically, Christianity came to dominate the Roman Empire through > preaching, teaching, example and martyrdom. Islam used the sword to conquer > the Middle and Near East, North Africa and Spain in a single century, until > stopped at Poitiers by Charles Martel. > > And this is today’s crucial distinction: Islam is not simply a religion of > 1.6 billion people, it is also a political ideology for ruling nations and, > one day, the world. > > To the True Believer, Islam is ultimately to be imposed on all of mankind, > which is to be ruled by the prescriptions of the Quran. And where Muslims > achieve a majority, Christianity is, at best, tolerated. > > Nor is this position illogical. For, if there is no God but Allah and > Muhammad is his Prophet, all other religions are false and none can lead to > salvation. Why should false, heretical and ruinous faiths *not *be > suppressed? > > Behind the reluctance of Trump and other Americans to send another U.S. > army into a region that has seen wars in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan leave > us with ashes in our mouths, lies a wisdom born of painful experience. > > > > > __._,_.___ > ------------------------------ > Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected] <javascript:>> > ------------------------------ > > > Visit Your Group > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmaWVqMTZvBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0NTA4MDY1MzE-> > > > > [image: Yahoo! Groups] > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlOXA0NzFvBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTQ1MDgwNjUzMQ--> > > • Privacy <https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html> • > Unsubscribe <javascript:> • Terms of Use > <https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/> > > __,_._,___ > > > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
