A New Level of Nasty

 

I’ve been so appalled for so long by the policies, “values,” ignorance, stupidity and meanness of the Republicans/Conservatives, I didn’t think it was possible for them to shock me anew.  But what’s been going on for the past two weeks is so stunning, I can’t help but say my piece.

First, let’s consider the real issues that confront America and the world that the Republicans are ignoring: the East Coast is still trying to recover from the devastating impact of Superstorm Sandy; the European Union has fallen back into recession; militants in Gaza have been attacking Israel, which has of course retaliated, and only the President has taken the time to speak out in support of our most important Middle Eastern ally’s right to defend itself; and we’re still teetering on the fiscal cliff.

But what are the Republicans growling about like a pack of angry dogs?  The incident in Benghazi, which they still blame on the President and the UN Ambassador (?!), crying out about lies, cover-ups, improper intelligence, and inadequate embassy security.  The last is especially unbelievable when you consider that shortly before Benghazi exploded, Congress rejected Secretary of State Clinton’s request for additional funds specifically for that purpose.  But the Right is so outraged by their (spurious) interpretations of this event they want to impeach the President and filibuster against Susan Rice’s possible appointment to Secretary of State.  The mind reels…

The Right is also in a spin about CIA Director, General David Petraeus, and his extramarital affair, which has nothing to do with national security, but the sexually repressed and obsessed Right want to make this a political soap opera.

Most of all is the extraordinary poor sportsmanship expressed by Mitt Romney & Company about Republican losses in the election.  Talk about a lack of self-awareness, not to mention out and out dishonesty!  Their shameless efforts at voter suppression backfired and actually motivated voters to come out – so, of course, they’re now claiming voter fraud contributed to the President’s re-election.  In addition, according to them, Mr. Obama “bought” the election by promising “gifts” to “minority” voters and women.  I’m expecting my toaster oven and blender any day now…

The Right is trying to understand why they lost – but they just can’t accept the possibility that voters disliked their double-talking candidate and draconian policies.  A few voices are suggesting that perhaps the GOP is out of touch with a changed and still-changing America – particularly the fact that white men no longer rule the roost.  Grover Norquist contributed the idea that Romney is a Poopyhead.  I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

I wish those states who want to secede would just go ahead and do it.  Unfortunately, I fear we’re stuck with each other – and they indeed have weapons of mass destruction.

I’m outraged by this multi-faceted Republican/ Conservative tantrum.  They were horrid and mean-spirited (read: racist) and ridiculous before all this, but now they are showing themselves as willing and able to say anything to justify themselves and their failed ideas.  The comments made this week, particularly by Mitt Romney, John McCain and Paul Ryan, bring the dysfunction and bubble-dwelling of their party into the sharpest relief possible.  If cooler, smarter, better-informed, and more honest heads don’t prevail soon, the Grand Old Party will become the Gone Old Party.

Part of me wishes they would indeed just self-destruct and disappear.  But the greater part of me that believes America needs a strong two-party system can only hope they’ll come to their senses and become a legitimate alternative to the Democrats.  I’ll still probably disagree with them, but I’d like to see a political battle of honest, differing ideas instead of dishonest, unexamined, meaningless rage.

I wonder if Mexico will take Texas back or the states that want to leave the union will just have to go it alone?   

Where Are the Moderate Muslims?

We are still just getting a clearer picture of yesterday’s attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed US ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three of his staff.  A similar angry, armed mob also attacked the US Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, which resulted in more general destruction, injury, vandalism and demonstrations of Muslim extremist hatred for America.  What we have not seen, as usual, nor are we likely to see, is a swell of protest against these actions from moderate Muslims – not in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, or most important, Muslim-Americans.  Why not?  Where are the Moderate Muslims?

I do not condone the sentiments and often the behavior of those who are Muslim-phobic in this country, and I fully understand that most Muslims worldwide are not extremists engaging in or supporting of terrorism and political violence.  But it becomes increasingly irritating to not see this larger Muslim World stand up to the extremists – the violent, ignorant, bullies – in their ranks.  As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.  He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

These most recent incidents were apparently set off by an obscure, amateur video that is extremely anti-Islam and, of course, deeply insulting to the Prophet Mohammad.  And as stupid as it may seem to us, the extremists believed the video was a blockbuster Hollywood movie that was going to be released to coincide with the 11^th anniversary of the September 11^th attacks.

According to today’s New York Times:

“The trailer was uploaded to YouTube by Sam Bacile, whom The Wall Street Journal Web site identified as a 52-year old Israeli-American real estate developer in California.  He told the Web site he had raised $5 million from 100 Jewish donors to make the film.  ‘Islam is a cancer,’  Mr. Bacile was quoted as saying.

“The video gained international attention when a Florida pastor began promoting it along with his own proclamation of Sept. 11 as ‘International Judge Muhammad Day.’  In a statement on Tuesday, the pastor, Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla., called the film ‘an American production, not designed to attack Muslims but to show the destructive ideology of Islam’ and said it ‘further reveals in a satirical fashion the life of Muhammad’.”

Lest you’ve forgotten, it was Mr. Jones who, a while back, thought threatening to burn a copy of the Koran would be helpful in fighting terrorism and strengthening positive relationships between the US and Muslim nations.

I don’t want to devote too much space to noting that in today’s impossible 24-hour news and politics pace of life and governing, it is regrettable that Gov. Mitt “Foreign Policy is a Distraction” Romney felt both obliged and entitled to immediately criticize the President’s initial response.  After all, in the middle of The Campaign, everything is fair political game for a kick in the balls.  “America First,” indeed.

For the record, Obama’s “objectionable” statement was as follows: “While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants.”

No, I want to concentrate on the fact that contemporary, moderate, ordinary-folks-just-like-you-and-me-Muslims have never collectively done anything to disparage the brethren who are making them look bad and are doing nothing to make the world better – in general or for Muslims in particular – with their violence, hatred and, frankly, a complete lack of sense of humor about themselves and what they believe in.

If you really believe in what you say you believe in – whatever that may be – you don’t get crazy every time someone writes a book or draws a cartoon or makes a movie that offends you.  You let it roll off your back at the least, and peacefully protest about it at the most.  And it would also have been nice, in this instance, if the protesters had given the US some slack, given our support of the Arab Spring and our efforts to avert a Libyan genocide.

To his political detriment, President Obama has consistently tried to walk a fine line between improving relations and communication with the Muslim World and maintaining a consistently supportive policy with Israel.  For his efforts, he’s been accused by the radical American Right of being a Muslim; and rejected, even reviled, by American Jews for not doing enough for Israel.  Instead, Obama and the US have been attacked by Muslim extremists who have no understanding of a culture in which ideas are expressed that are not shared by government, religious leaders, or the populace at large.

If the vast majority of Muslims just want to live their lives and practice their religion in peace, they must show some collective gumption and stand up for sanity and order.  If they don’t, the extremists will make it even worse for them, as well as incur reprisals that would otherwise be unnecessary; it will be a self-fulfilled prophecy, realized in large part by those who stood by and did nothing.

Important Memories and Strange Bedfellows

I received an email this morning about the Holocaust.  I have an uncle by marriage (he was married to my mother’s sister, now deceased) who is a very conservative man, born and bred in poverty in the little towns around Meridian, Mississippi.  He has remarried to a woman who is a devoted born-again Christian and, judging from other emails I’ve received from her, is also quite conservative.  This morning’s email came from her.

It’s important to me to note here that my uncle has made a generous, ongoing effort to maintain an uncle/niece relationship with me since my aunt’s death, which is a little ironic, since we had no relationship to speak of while my aunt was alive.  That was largely my choice, because I had never really forgiven him for banning my black father from visiting their white New Jersey home when I was a kid.  I didn’t particularly like my aunt, either.  When I was a teenager, I christened them Aunt Tarantula and Uncle Fuck.  Fortunately, we all grew up and calmed down – and my uncle had a very nice relationship with both my parents during the last 15 years (or so) of their lives.  And my uncle’s second wife, Tommie, was accepting of me as a niece right from the start.  If you can keep politics out of some relationships, the ties that come to bind can surprise you.

Earlier this year, my uncle and step-aunt visited Israel with a Christian touring group.  They came back filled with delight and, I think, a sense of renewal.  For some Christians and Muslims, as well as Jews, Israel is regarded as a holy, treasured place.  “Everyone who considers themselves a Christian or Jew should go there,” said my uncle.  Since the “Left” abandoned Israel and it became embraced by the “Right,” my uncle has taken a great interest in Israel’s safety and survival, and has developed a genuine simpatico with Jews.  It’s too bad this didn’t happen when he was married to my aunt, who, at his request or through her own instincts (I don’t know which), hid the fact that she was Jewish from his family for the first 15 years of their 30+ year marriage.

Anyway, Tommie sent me an email with a link to a video about The Auschwitz Album, which is very moving and informative and I hope you’ll take a look at it.  I sent her the following verbose reply:

Dear Tommie,

Thank you for sending this to me.

No, I've never seen this album before, but I of course have seen many other photos and hours of Nazi war footage over the years.  I have been fascinated, appalled, and in many ways galvanized by the Holocaust since I first saw footage from the camps on TV when I was about 8 years old.  My parents and grandparents did not hesitate to explain the Holocaust to me -- as much as the Holocaust can be “explained.”

When I was growing up in the 50s, knowing about the Holocaust, which at that time had ended so recently, was the duty of all Jews and something essential that had to be understood by Jewish children so we would keep the memory alive.  I have very vivid memories of Nathan, our local small grocer in the Bronx, who wore short-sleeved shirts even in the chill of winter, because he wanted people to see the number tattooed on his arm and talk to him about what happened.  I also remember my grandfather sitting close to a little white plastic radio, clutching the arms of his chair and crying as he listened to the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Israel.

I wonder if many secular Jewish children today know anything about this shattering event.

Since the Holocaust, there have been other horrible instances of mass murder around the globe, properly described as genocide.  But the Holocaust is unique – not because it happened to Jews, but because it happened in Germany (and Poland, and throughout Nazi/Fascist Europe), one of the most refined and “civilized” countries in the world that has made virtually unparalleled contributions to art, music, science, literature, social development and religious reformation.

It is different because of its cold, meticulous organization.  The Nazis were not ignorant peasants or savages, killing with machetes and rocks and malfunctioning guns out of misplaced passion and ignorance.  They were calm, cool executors of a deliberate, evil, master plan, so planned and so “thrifty” that they made sure to collect gold fillings from the mouths of the dead and use their skin for soap and lampshades, and save their eyeglasses for recycling.

Yes, it was the ultimate act of anti-Semitism, but it was also an outrageous cautionary tale about what so-called civilized people/countries are capable of doing to other people who are fully integrated into society.  Before the Holocaust, many Jews were prominent German businesspeople, educators, renowned artists/musicians/writers/scientists, community leaders, and local/national politicians, many of whom identified themselves as Germans ahead of viewing themselves as Jews.  There were lots of poor, commonplace Jews, but there were also a good number who were rich and had fine homes and beautiful, treasured belongings.

The Holocaust is also unique because it was not done to cleanse society of destructive elements, but because the aim was to permanently rid society of everyone and anyone deemed inadequate by the twisted standards of Aryan superiority.  Which is why it's also important to remember that there were not only six million Jews who were destroyed, but another six million people, as well: Catholics, political dissidents, Gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally challenged and physically deformed –  essentially anyone considered inferior, but more significantly, considered unnecessary, worthless.

The Holocaust was the pivotal event of the 20th century and has much to teach us in the 21st.

Especially now, as America and Europe endure such socially/politically/ financially difficult times, it's important to remember what unvarnished hatred can lead to, what resentment of immigrants and minorities can lead to, what the desire to be rid of criminals and drug addicts and “social deviants” can lead to.  It's so much easier to destroy rather than compromise and co-exist.  It's why the present feels so dangerous and frightening.

And, if for no other reason, the Holocaust is reason enough to support Israel, which was created by and for Jews (not to mention the British...) as some insufficient compensation for the devastation of the Holocaust.  I know that many people believe Barack Obama is anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian, which provides just another reason to hate/oppose him.  But that's not true.  PM Netanyahu is a conservative leader with conservative views about how to protect/preserve Israel.  There are many, many Israelis who do not agree with his opinions and approach.  And these dissenters must be heeded, because the Arab Spring is creating a larger, tighter ring of hatred around Israel than has ever existed – and as the US's key negotiator said after resigning out of frustration, Israel will not survive without local allies. How this can/will be achieved remains to be seen, but in memory of the Holocaust and as an act of important present-day diplomacy, it's an alliance that must be created.

If you wish, feel free to pass the above rant on to anyone you'd like.

Pontifically,
Jeanne

The Challenges of Compromise

President Obama said what was necessary in his Middle East speech today. He spoke truth to the power of change. He spoke of an entire region in transition and the importance of U.S. and global support for peaceful revolution. It was not until the last ten minutes of his 50-minute speech that he addressed the unceasing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and in that regard he talked about the necessity for compromise. Compromise sucks. Particularly if you have strong feelings about one side of an issue. That said, the fact that neither Israel nor the Palestinians are especially pleased with his remarks is proof that he found a practical middle ground.

Given what’s been going on in the Middle East for the past six months – and what continues to occur – it would have been impossible for the President to make entirely pro-Israel comments, and indeed, it would not have been in Israel’s best interest. Similarly, had he suddenly placed America in an entirely pro-Arab/ Muslim position, it would have been a terrible betrayal of Israel and, in this instance too, not a stepping stone to a viable peace.

Those who choose to maintain a completely anti-Obama position, such as whoever’s writing the hateful and slanted American Blood Eagle blog, which called him Imam Obama and said he’s an anti-Semite, would do well to get a grip. In general, it would be really helpful if people stopped flinging terms like racist and anti-Semite around as if they were just handy catch-all phrases for things they don’t like. These words and what they represent are very powerful and it’s vitally important to make a distinction between those who take positions with which one disagrees and leveling such strident accusations.

As you probably know by now, the thing Mr. Obama said that upset Israel’s most ardent supporters is that Israel should return to the borders it had prior to the 1967 War, and that "long-term occupation" was untenable. Yes, that stung. But compromise means giving up something you care about. The President also said that Israel’s security interests must be protected, called for a non-military Palestinian state, and acknowledged that it is reasonable for Israel to resist negotiating with parties openly committed to its destruction. Guess who's unhappy about that?

In my opinion, President Obama made the most honest, pertinent and all-encompassing speech about the Middle East ever uttered by an American President. The very fact that he discussed the region as a whole and not just the Israeli-Palestinian “issue” demonstrates that.

There are those who are already dismissing the speech as a campaign tool and disparaging the President’s wisdom and sincerity. This is both disingenuous and counter-productive. There is no denying that Barack Obama is a politician and that as such he has done many things over the past three years that have been a body-jarring jolt to the progressives who put him in office. In a number of important instances, he has given the idea of “compromise sucks” disheartening new meaning.

But with this most-recent speech on the Middle East, Obama has shown an intelligence, understanding and sensitivity regarding complicated issues in an increasingly shrinking and technologically-connected world that is nothing less than laudable. If he’s gearing up for a nothing-left-to-lose second term, presenting us with the Obama we thought we were getting in the first place, America, the Middle East and the rest of the world will be the better for it.

Nakba vs Never Again!

I’ve been wanting to write a post about contemporary American views of/positions on Israel, specifically in terms of the American Left and Right, for some time and today seems definitely the day to do it. That’s because, as the New York Times reports, “Israel’s borders erupted in deadly clashes on Sunday as thousands of Palestinians — marching from Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank — confronted Israeli troops to mark the anniversary of Israel’s creation [in 1948]. More than a dozen people were reported killed and scores injured.” You should know that what Israel calls its anniversary, the Arab world calls “The Nakba,” the catastrophe. Sixty-three years later, it’s still a catastrophe to them.

When I was growing up in the `60s, the American Left – which really existed back then – was an ardent supporter of Israel, largely because of the strong support for civil rights on the part of most American Jews. Over the decades, as Jews – like most other white people in America – became increasingly afraid of increasingly militant blacks and “white flight” from the cities to the suburbs reconfigured the social structure of the country, support for Israel began to wane on the Left.

By the Reagan Democrat 1980s, the Christian Evangelical Right began to embrace Israel – not because they love Jews (they don’t), but because they champion the one Middle Eastern democracy that exists, and which happens to contain important Christian holy sites they want to see protected and to which they want to maintain access. Correspondingly, the Left discovered new-found compassion for the Palestinians, who then, like now, live largely in self-imposed poverty and a complete lack of social/infrastructural development, because all their energy (including the content of their middle schools, the madrasas) is focused on hating, demonizing, failing to recognize, and seeking to destroy, Israel.

In very recent years, most political quarters in Israel have been willing to make peace with those who despise them and support the creation of an independent Palestinian state. Their only terms have been that Palestinians and other Arabs officially recognize the State of Israel and accept its right to exist, rather than dedicate themselves to, as Hamas puts it, “pushing Israel into the sea.” This apparently is too much to ask. So, despite decades of effort on the part of the U.S. to broker a working, lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as Israel’s other Arab neighbors, peace has been unattainable – because the mere existence of Israel, in their eyes, is a Nakba – a catastrophe.

Take a look at the map above, particularly if you haven’t taken a look at a map of the Middle East in a while. Look at the upper right-hand corner of Egypt. You see that little purple bit, scrunched in among Egypt, Syria and Jordan? That’s Israel. Keep in mind that Israel has no oil. Look at the size of Egypt and Saudi Arabia. They’re enormous. Even Syria and Jordan, which are none too big, are still larger than Israel. Look at Iran – which is credited with having helped organize today’s four-pronged attack on Israel. It, too, is enormous. Yet in 63 years, none of these Arab nations have offered to give any part of their lands to the Palestinians as a permanent homeland. Why do you suppose that is? Perhaps to keep old hatreds alive?

Instead, everybody (over there) wants to take a chunk out of Israel and over the years they have. This is largely because of Jerusalem, which is the third most-sacred city in Islamic history, practice and tradition. Indeed, Jerusalem holds some of the most sacred Islamic sites in the region. And it bears noting that, like the holy Christian sites, these places have always been open to Muslims who wish to visit and make pilgrimages there. In fact, Muslims who cannot make it to Mecca, for whatever reason, set their sights on Jerusalem, and they have never been made to feel unwelcome. (Just last night, by the way, some PBS stations ran a very interesting program entitled Jerusalem: Center of the World, which is also worth seeing.)

I want to take a moment to acknowledge that it is religion and religious history that have created much of the antipathy between Israel and its Arab neighbors. In addition, I acknowledge that the establishment of Israel was fostered by Britain and the U.N. as a compensation to the remaining European Jews who managed to escape murder in the Holocaust – and in truth, this land was not theirs to give. In the process, as today’s Times also explains, “hundreds of thousands of Palestinians lost their homes through expulsion and flight.”

This is not a petty matter and making comparisons between whose misery is/was greater is not productive. However, consider the fact that had the Palestinians demonstrated even a modicum of willingness to accept Israel, the Jewish State would have done everything possible to accommodate them and help them prosper. Throughout its short modern history, Israel has turned a tiny patch of the scorched desert into a luscious land of “milk and honey.” They would certainly have helped the Palestinians do the same. But that, apparently, does not matter.

What does matter is that anti-Semitism is alive and well the world over, and is in many ways the substance that feeds the Palestinians and their Arab comrades throughout the Middle East. Nonetheless, the Palestinian cause has captured the compassion of the American Left and others worldwide. I wouldn’t mind that per se, since I can understand how the Palestinians, compared with contemporary Israelis, can seem to be the Underdog, while the Israelis are cast as key allies of Right Wing America.

To the extent that that’s true, it’s unfortunate. But so long as Israel is hated because it is the Jewish State, and so long as Jews are hated, because…because they’re Jews!, it will be my opinion – and that of many other American Jews, as well as Israelis – that Never Again! trumps Nakba. It is time for the Arab world to accept Israel’s presence and its right to exist.

And it’s time for the rest of the world – including the U.N. and the American Left – to regain its knowledge of modern history and, for once, support the Jews. The Arab Spring will turn into a bitter cold Winter indeed if all it accomplishes is a massive new wave of anti-Semitism.

That Was the Week That Was

Well, nobody can say this was a slow-news week!

Last Sunday the revered Indian spiritual leader, Sathya Sai Baba, died at the age of 84, to the great consternation of his millions of devotees worldwide.

Wednesday Barack Obama released his “long form” birth certificate and told the birthers to get a grip.

Thursday a cluster of tornadoes decimated a chunk of Alabama and took pieces out of four other states.

Friday Prince William married his fair Kate Middleton while 23 million people worldwide watched.

Saturday morning the Catholic Church also drew the eyes of millions as it beatified Pope John Paul II. Saturday night Obama and Seth Meyers killed (in the comedy sense) at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Sunday was Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, which didn’t get a lot of mainstream news attention. Sunday night President Obama announced that an elite Navy SEAL force killed (in the dead sense) Osama bin Laden, who, it turns out, had not been hiding in an Afghanistan cave, but had been living in a luxurious walled compound in Pakistan, 50 miles from the Pakistani capitol, since 2005.

Whew!

Ever since the infamous Maharishi Mahesh Yogi tried to fondle Mia Farrow and disillusioned the Beatles, much of America has had no interest in Indian gurus. But Sathya Sai Baba was a very different character. Yes, he was a wealthy man, in large part because of gifts from devotees, but he never solicited funds and neither did anyone else on his behalf. He was a man of love and faith, and though he himself was a Hindu, he encouraged his followers to stick with their own religions – just be better at the practice (right action) of them. I am not a devotee but a dear friend of mine is, and because I know her sincere intelligence, faith and behavior, and know how her belief in Sai Baba has improved her life, I’m moved to give Swami his due.

I think Obama was right to release the fucking long-form birth certificate, even though the birthers are a delusional wedge issue, and, this kind of attack would never have been levied against a white president. John McCain was born in Panama, but Conservatives never said a word about that, because he was born to an American mother, which automatically made her son an American. The same would be true of Obama even if he had been born in Kenya, but that doesn’t matter, the whole birther issue didn’t matter, because it was just code for “We don’t accept a Black president.” Now they want his college grades. As we used to say in the never-actually-happened revolution of the `70s, “Give me a break, give me a gun.”

The vicious storms that ravaged the south should give all of us pause about the power of nature, how much we’ve harmed the planet, and how furiously Mother Nature can fight back. Is this part of global climate change, the wrath of God, the disasters foretold for the 2012 phenomenon (which is an era, not a specific date)? Or is it something else? Whatever it is, it’s a reminder that so much of our country needs to be rebuilt, and so much of the world needs to be healed. Personally, I don’t know if it can be done.

I admit, I watched the wedding live, and was surprised by how comforting the pomp and circumstance was. I didn’t forget that this was a celebration for the most-current-star of an undeniably checkered 1,000-year-old Imperial dynasty, but it was classy – and after a trailer-trash week of Donald Trump, along with his yucky hair and the full contingent of Birthers – I appreciated seeing a little class. And I enjoyed the hats. I hadn’t realized that the WASP aristocracy of the Church of England dressed like African-American church-ladies. Live and learn.

I suppose I should have watched more of the beatification ceremony, if only to give the Catholics equal time, but I couldn’t stand the look on Pope Benedict XVI’s face. I also didn’t quite understand what beatification meant if it didn’t make JP2 a saint, but it was explained to me by a long-lapsed Catholic that it’s the first real step to sainthood and now Pope John Paul II can be called Blessed. He needs two miracles to his credit before sainthood can be conferred, but to the distress of many, his possible miracles will not include his having confronted the offending pedophiles that have been discrediting the Church for decades. I know Blessed was beloved, and he was good for the Jews, but not dealing with the pedophilia in his ranks should, one would think, preclude him from sainthood. But I’m not Catholic, so it’s not my call.

Both the President and the evening’s host, SNL’s Seth Meyers, were a scream at the Correspondents’ Dinner, and if you haven’t seen their respective stand-up routines, you really gotta check `em out (see links near top of page). And we now know that by the time of the dinner, Mr. Obama had already given the Go signal for the bin Laden attack – which makes his poker-face smile during Meyers’ bin Laden joke all the more impressive.

For those who may not understand that for many Jews, in Israel and elsewhere, the existence and security of Israel is non-negotiable because of the post-Holocaust pledge of Never Again!, some excellent Yom Hashoah programming was offered by PBS and it’s worth seeing; some of it is streaming online at PBS and Thirteen/WNET New York.

As for the death of Osama bin Laden, I’m not shedding a single tear, but I was rather turned off by the spontaneous, joyous street celebrations in front of the White House and at Ground Zero in New York. Does that make us any better than our adversaries who dance in the street and scream “Death to America!”? We know his death won’t end terrorism, that it may even spark new, imminent attacks. But I don’t blame anyone for being glad he’s dead; I’m glad myself (ding, dong, the witch…etc.). But we might do well to be more circumspect about our pleasure, and since it took us ten years to find him, I think “Finally!” is a more appropriate response than “We’re Number One!”

I don’t know what, if anything, it means that all these events occurred virtually simultaneously. But if we take away nothing else from this past week it should be that life is fragile, joy is fleeting, justice is relentless, romance is infectious, and everything is moving very, very fast. Hold on tight.

Corrections: The beatification ceremony was on Sunday; 23 million watched the wedding in the USA alone, the worldwide number was in the billions.

Independence Day in Egypt

I whole-heartedly congratulate the Egyptian people on their non-violent revolution – successfully deposing their despotic, thieving “president” and creating the opportunity for new lives in a free country. Watching your joy as you celebrated in the streets made me feel so happy for you. Thank you for giving the world something to admire and feel hopeful about. I wish you luck during what will likely be a difficult transition. And I hope, for your sake as well as Israel’s, that your future will give you a secular democracy, rather than new oppression by an Islamic Fundamentalist theocracy. You deserve to be rewarded for your courage, for giving up the devil you knew. You don’t deserve new devils!

Contemplating the Egyptian Revolution

Forget for a moment that [as I write this early Wednesday evening] an awesome volcano has rocked Japan, a massive cyclone is threatening Queensland, Australia, a killer winter storm has engulfed half of the U.S., and the largely Republican Senate is about to take its symbolic vote to repeal the health care bill passed last year – and let’s consider what’s happening in Egypt.

Since anti-Mubarak protests began on January 27^th – on the heels of the revolution in Tunisia as well as word going out about the Egyptian president grooming one of his sons for the presidency – I’ve been diligently following events in Egypt with great interest, and, somewhat to my surprise, with a huge sense of solidarity with the Egyptian people. With each passing day, the crowds grew in size and diversity, and what I saw was a true revolution by a united people who have been oppressed for the past 30 years. I saw courage and solidarity and a clear message: we won’t take it anymore. The lapsed hippie/activist in me has been thrilled.

As a Jew and an ardent supporter of Israel, I also saw the potential for danger, for further trouble for the continued (and universally accepted) existence of the Jewish State and the ongoing peace efforts with the Palestinians. As a result, I’ve been watching news coverage on a combination of networks: CNN and MSNBC, as well as FOX and PBS (primarily the NewsHour and Charlie Rose).

Not surprisingly, CNN and, to a greater extent, MSNBC, were also enthralled by the dynamism and legitimacy of the Egyptian revolt; they had very little to say about its impact on Israel or the USA. FOX, in turn, saw little more than turmoil and a radical Islamist threat to Israel and the world (more on that later). Only beleaguered little PBS provided truly balanced coverage, examining the event from all perspectives and with input from an assortment of news services and Middle-East experts. All the networks combined provided lots to think about and many ways to think about it.

As I considered President Obama’s untenable position, I was reminded of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who said of Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza in the 1930s, “He may be a sonofabitch, but he’s our sonofabitch.” The U.S. has (and continues to) supported many a despot over the years, because we felt it served our national interest and/or that of our allies. Some people would call that realistic, practical politics. I’m not sure what to call it, but it seems to me we’ve often done this to our peril and inadvertent peril to our friends. I’m no expert, but that’s sure how it seems.

And it seemed all the more so today, after yesterday’s events. Yesterday, approximately two million people gathered peacefully on the streets of Egypt’s major cities and continued to call for the immediate departure of their president. (Indeed, things had been peaceful since Day 2, after the infamous “protective” police squads had been chased off the streets.) The Egyptian Army said it would not fire against peaceful protesters. President Mubarak made the clueless announcement that he wouldn’t run again and would supervise free and fair elections in September. President Obama said reforms must begin immediately, not saying (publicly at least) that our sonofabitch should step down now.

Then today, there was a major game change. Seemingly out of nowhere came a mass of Pro-Mubarak protesters, armed to the teeth, doing battle with the Opposition and attacking the international media. Mubarak denies that his regime instigated this. Again, as I write this, they seem to have taken control of Tahrir Square and other areas. What seemed inspiring has turned ugly, thanks to this turn of events. The U.S. is making impotent calls for an end to the violence. The Egyptian Army, still not taking sides, is trying to keep relative peace and protect the country’s historic treasures. Further unrest is bubbling up throughout the Mid-East and Northern Africa. No one knows what the hell will happen next.

Now, I want to return to the issue of American news coverage of this phenomenon, particularly by FOX, the only network so far to deeply focus on Israel’s position in the midst of all this. It was an education. Last night, I spent a stupefying hour with Glenn Beck, who explained the checkered past of The Muslim Brotherhood (a militant group long based in Egypt) and his belief that it is their intention to take control of Egypt and, along with other Muslim fundamentalist extremists, take over the entire Middle-East and destroy Israel. He explained that this would constitute a caliphate, which is unity among Arab and other Muslim countries. This has happened before, he said, most recently the Ottoman Empire of the 1920s. This seemed entirely plausible to me, and gave me pause about the goodness of the Egyptian revolution.

However, he then went on to describe what he felt would be the logical extension of this power, which would be a Muslim extremist take-over of Asia, Africa, Europe and, eventually, the U.S. This would be The Coming Insurrection, he said, and it would be possible because of the close ties between The Muslim Brotherhood and the well organized American Left (I had no idea there was a well organized American Left, but be that as it may…). Beck described the code words we should be wary of: social justice and change in particular. He warned about community activists. He called out the infamous Bill Ayers, nee the Weather Underground of the 60s, who he says is in a revolutionary bed with The Muslim Brotherhood. In addition, he spent a great deal of time explaining how this uprising would enormously effect the supply and price of oil in the U.S. and elsewhere. I began to feel like I was listening to a Scientologist.

In the end, I, like most of us, I think, don’t know what to make of all this anymore or what to think about it. All I know is that our government can’t talk about democracy and freedom from one side of its mouth and pillow-talk with despotic sonsofbitches from the other. I believe in the legitimacy of Israel and care about (and fear for) its survival. But I also know that millions of people throughout the Middle-East can’t continue to live under oppression – whether by Islamic Fundamentalists or secular rulers. Last but not least, it appears that, contrary to a popular song of the 70s, the revolution will be televised, and how Americans – and other citizens of the world – will respond to it remains to be seen.

Searching For Peace In the Time of Crazy

Once again, the confluence of current events and cultural activities has cast the conun-drum of creating something akin to genuine, peaceful co-existence in the Middle East into stark relief.

Yesterday, 88-year-old James W. von Brunn – a notorious anti-Semite/Holocaust denier, racist and hate site Webmaster – was politely helped into the entrance of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC by a security guard – whom he promptly shot and who died shortly afterwards. This elderly hatemonger, with the end of life well in sight, felt compelled to take his shotgun (which, as a convicted felon, he shouldn’t have had in the first place) and continue his vitriolic battle against all things Jewish and African-American. The FBI astutely labeled this an act of domestic terrorism and said “We know what he did, now we have to find out why he did it.” Duh?!

It is important to note that the guard – as much a hero as any soldier on the front lines of war – was named Stephen Tyrone Johns. He was black, 39-years-old, had worked at the Museum for six years, was known as Big John to his colleagues and was appreciated by everyone who works there for his courtesy and friendliness. He lived in Maryland, had gotten married about a year ago, and had a son. If he had not literally used his own body to stop von Brunn, one can only imagine how many of the thousands of Museum visitors von Brunn might have gotten.

This appalling incident came on the heels of President Obama’s Middle Eastern/European trip, during which he said and did some very sensible, sensitive, important and difficult things. But today, when he responded to the Museum shooting by saying he was “`shocked’ and saddened,” he confirmed for some Israelis and other Jews that on a fundamental level, he just doesn’t get it; he doesn’t understand that the most virulent kind of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial are not only alive and well, but growing. Which is why the president’s call for peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians is not well received in some Jewish quarters, where the prevailing sentiment is that compromise is a direct road to annihilation. An excellent explanation of this position is expressed by Mitchell Bard in his essay Did Obama Learn the Lesson of Buchenwald? on the Encyclopedia Britannica Blog.

Although I champion the president’s position, I’m frankly shocked that America’s first black president, a man who understands language and uses it well, wouldn’t know better. Chris Rock, on his most recent HBO comedy special, talks about racism at one point. I’m about to paraphrase here, because I don’t have a transcript, but the “language” is accurate. He says it always surprises and irritates him when a black person says he’s “shocked” by a racist incident. “I’m ready for some kind of racist bullshit anytime, anywhere,” he says. “If I was being interviewed by Regis Philbin, chatting and saying `Yeah, I’m in Madagascar 2 and it’s great,’ and all of a sudden Regis jumped up and stabbed me in the neck yelling `Take that, you lousy nigger!’ I’d say to myself `I shoulda seen it coming’.”

Also yesterday, in the parallel universe of the arts, there was a program carried by many PBS stations, America At a Crossroads: Stand-Up Muslim-American Comics Come of Age. It was interesting and entertaining and, not surprisingly, a good deal of the humor was grounded in the difficulty of just being a Muslim-American in post-9/11 America, where everywhere they go, everyone they meet, thinks they’re a terrorist. And this weekend, on the PBS program Sunday Arts, there will be a segment about “Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam,” part of a current presentation at the Brooklyn Museum entitled The Muslim Voices, Arts & Ideas Festival. Apparently, politics, media and the arts are joining forces (synchronicity in action?) to give us a more positive, sympathetic image of Muslims in general and Muslim-Americans in particular.

Bill Maher, at the end of his wise and funny documentary, Religulous, says “Religion must die if humankind is to live.” As you no doubt know, Mr. Maher believes that traditional, organized religion is the root of all evil, violence and stupidity. But whether or not the world would be a better place without religion is a moot point, because it’s not going to happen. For the record, James W. von Brunn is not a Muslim or a person of any faith, so far as I know. But most people want and need a religion to make their lives manageable. Like it says in the old Scottish folk ballad, All My Trials, “If religion were a thing that money could buy, the rich would live and the poor would die.” People of all faiths want to practice their faith and preserve their history, their future – and their sanity in a crazy world.

Unfortunately, some people of some faiths want to obliterate all people of certain other faiths – and Jews have good reason to feel endangered in this regard. I think it’s a good, helpful thing for Americans, who are so often so ignorant about so many things, to learn more about Islam, the fastest-growing religion in this country (and the world) today. But it also wouldn’t hurt for more people to learn and understand more about Jews – including our well-intentioned president, who perhaps doesn’t fully comprehend the depth of Jewish fear and anger, and the potency of Israeli resolve.