Searching within the Self
First I would like to respond to the comments and questions in regard to Senator Kennedy. Since the conversation was some time ago, I cannot, as you might imagine, recall exact words. However, his statements support Burg's analysis about how influential the idea of 'Shoah' is and how it has so deeply affected American rhetoric and its policies. As I write in my own article, "Debating the 'Lobby,'" "When it comes to the Middle East, U.S. lawmakers go out of their way to prioritize Israel's security concerns."
Kennedy's reasoning for not dealing with Russia was based on a restrictive trade agreement. In the 70s Russia put a tax on those emigrating, mostly Jews, because they claimed they wanted to stop the 'brain drain' exodus. The Russians got slapped with the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which I see someone has mentioned, for Russia it is still in place. Upon hearing that, I learned about AIPAC as well and was astounded by how organized and influential 'The Israel Lobby' is inside the US Congress, which Drs. Mearsheimer and Walt explain so well in their book by the same name. I highly recommend it.
Second I would like to respond to Avraham and his comment that "cautiousness should not prevent us from self-criticism." Agreed. However, I'm not so sure I was being cautious. To advise anyone that they must face such an overpowering demon is a bit daunting for both parties. Nevertheless, you are correct self-criticism is the very act that changes behavior. Your book has, by virtue of the subject, brought this to the forefront. And as I said, the discussion of this subject is overdue.
Hanging on to the Holocaust and allowing it to be used to dehumanize the Palestinians or anyone else with such harshness and brutality is unacceptable. I personally believe it also shows blatant disrespect for those who lost their lives in the Holocaust. If we truly understood violence it would be abhorred instead of relished as something that purports to give us strength.
I have spoken out about all of this and will continue to do so. To do otherwise would be to deny I too am responsible for the current situation. As an American I am part of a greater system that is uniformed. One that took too long to react to the Holocaust, continues to shelter Israel from self-review and sends weapons worth billions to help affirm its denial of the self.
The current situation is not sustainable. The support of or allowing ".. fences, sieges, crowns, curfews, food and water deprivation, or unexplained killings" in the name of Shoah or anything else must stop. As must Israel's self-segregation in the name of fear, which is devastating to all. This type of separation is just ignoring the inevitable -- healing from our past is a must, because, as the roots of this conflict shows us - we are undeniably interconnected with the 'other' and must learn to live as one.
Thanks for a couple of nice essays.
December 10, 2008 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Patricia says:
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One that took too long to react to the Holocaust, continues to shelter Israel from self-review and sends weapons worth billions to help affirm its denial of the self.
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This is truly an amazing statement. Six Million Jews were being murdered and the American administration was saying "we had better not be seen to be doing anything special to stop the genocide, otherwise it will look like Goebbels' charges that this is a 'Jewish War' will be true". So 90% of the Jews of Europe were murdered. So the pitiful survivors come to Israel, in addition to refugees from persecution and pogroms in Arab countries and vow to be able to defend themselves, without depending on the goodwill of people like FDR and Prof. De Gennaro. However, she now begrudges selling us weapons because this is now leading to our "denying the self", whatever that means (I assume it is not positive). I guess the good Professor attributes the use of these weapons as being devoted to "oppressing the Palestians" or some such nefarious deed without taking into account their behavior and what they themselves say about their intentions. No doubt she would tell us that the Iranians who call "Zionism a cancer" and predict that "Israel will cease to exist in 20 years" combined with their feverish attempts to obtain nuclear weapons are not really threatening us. She will tell us that the thousands of Israelis murdered or wounded in the suicide bomber war Arafat launched in 2000 at the very time Israel under Barak was making more far-reaching concessions than ever before (even if it was not enough for Arafat, it was still more than he was offered previously-yet he made no counter-offer) is not important, it was merely a Palestinian "cry for sympathy". She will tell us to ignore the 3 major wars (1948, 1956, 1967) with thousands of Israeli dead which occurred BEFORE Israel came into control of Judea/Samaria/Gaza in 1967 and the threats to drive us into the sea in each of those wars. She will ignore the fact that Arafat's FATAH and the Palestine Liberation Organization were set up BEFORE the Six-Day War. She will tell us that the genocidal Judeophobic propaganda demonizing Jews and Israel which appears every day in the state-controlled media of a country like Egypt which supposedly has a "peace agreement" with Israel "shouldn't be taken seriously".
The professor states:
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Hanging on to the Holocaust and allowing it to be used to dehumanize the Palestinians or anyone else with such harshness and brutality is unacceptable. I personally believe it also shows blatant disrespect for those who lost their lives in the Holocaust.
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This arrogant statment is mindboggling. Who is the professor to decide what is "respectful" for the victims? The victims of the Holocaust ended up that way precisely because people like Prof. De Gennaro at the time were telling us Jews we shouldn't use "historical Jewish victimization" to dictate Allied war policy. Now, she is doing it herself, totally ignoring the geopolitical climate we in Israel are immersed in while she can be engaged in her moral games of sitting above all of us "primitives" down here and preaching to us that we should be nice so that she can feel good about herself. She says that "US lawmakers go out of their way to prioritize Israeli security concerns." Tell me professor, how many Jews have to die in order for us to reach the right level of priority?
December 10, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink