Peace hinges on hopes for the Palestinians and security for the Israelis, anything short of justice will not produce sustainable peace. If Jews and Palestinians can take the position that we cannot have peace when others around us don’t, and work on first removing bias and stereotyping from their own minds, the conflicts will fade and solutions will emerge.
What has Romney got to lose?
He will say anything to get elected, including, “as a President I will declare war on Iran on day one in my office and bombard them to smithereens.” When they hear elimination of their perceived enemy, men like Adelson and their likes will write big checks, they are good business men, the know the money will recycle back to them via Aid to Israel, if Romney gets elected. Who are the losers? It is the Average Israeli, Iranian, Palestinian, you and I who will pay the price.
I have always taken a stand for the Jews and their security, not at the cost of Justice to the Palestinians, like some of my fellow Republican do, instead stand for what is right and uphold the human rights.
I wonder if men like Netanyahu, Bill Crystal, Adleson and their likes existed before and if they did, were their attitudes responsible for uprooting Jews in Spain, Germany and other places? These men are short-sighted and their actions are directly responsible for building up Antisemitism around the world. All of us should stand up against Anti-Semitism, Apartheid, racism, Islamophobia, Gayphobia and other evils of the society.
There is a shameful amount of Anti-Semitism brewing, because Jews are perceived as taking advantages of others like illegally grabbing the lands from Palestinians. However, it is not Jews, who are wrong, it is a few right wingers among them. Indeed, they are causing damage to Jews in decades to come.
They know what is wrong; the violations of international laws, building settlements, throwing people out of their homes and building their own homes by vacating and murdering the rightful owners of the land. Whether God exists or not, the people around the world know it is wrong and someone has to pay for it someday’; it will be the ordinary, innocent Jews, as they have paid many times before, and It is time to say enough is enough.
Men like Romney, Gingrich, Santorum and others will say anything to get elected and tap in the Jewish money, the cheap men will compete in licking Netanyahu’s boots. It is so embarrassing to read our nominees licking the prime minister’s boots. Each one is eager to give away more (that’s what support means) than the other.
Men like Romney, Gingrich, Santorum and others will say anything to get elected and tap in the Jewish money, the cheap men will compete in licking Netanyahu’s boots. It is so embarrassing to read our nominees licking the prime minister’s boots. Each one is eager to give away more (that’s what support means) than the other.
Romney blames Obama for spending money on the health of Americans, whereas he is willing to spend the money on war and destruction. Who will pay for it stupid?
We cannot afford another war and Romney is either duping the Israelis or does not give a flip about what happens to American economy.
The Israelis need to wake up from these fakes who are ruining their future. Netanyahu can bully around and kill many more Palestinians or Iranians, but the blood of the people will have a price; protracted insecurity to Jews living in Israel. I don’t think the Right wing Jews see that, they are determined to teach a lesson without worrying about the consequences.
The law of karma works very well, they will get away with murders today, but will pay for it in terms of insecurity. Their attitudes is screw the ordinary Israelis and Americans, they will have their reserve funds and security, why should they bother about the ordinary.
Instead of spending every one’s time, money and energy in destroying Iran, if they can spend the same on developing good relations with others, hostilities will mitigate. There is a Chinese saying, if you want to take the enemy out for good, make friends with them, on the other hand, if you overpower them today, you will not sleep well worried sick about your own vulnerability. That is how the law of karma works.
The few hawks do not want to make peace with Iran or the Palestinians, which means they will have to stop the aggressive theft of the Palestinian land, and stop the settlements as alluded by Dani Dayan and stop milking America.
In the past, the tyrant missionaries got away massacring the native tribes, the Hitlers, Ferdinands, Saddams, Asads and those crooks got away too. Are the Israeli hawks thinking of doing the same to the Palestinians? Is the world going to sit by and do nothing? Indeed they did nothing to stop the Holocaust till the tail end of it. Are we going to pass the problems to over next generation?
If Israelis and Palestinians can demand accountability from their leaders measurable by peace and security for both the peoples, then a lasting sustainable peace is possible. The problem in not Jews or the Palestinians, it is the right wing hawks on both sides.
A personal note: As a Republican, I am leaning towards Obama again, Romney seems to be an opportunist and not good for America, Israel, Palestine or any one. He is not a man of his own conscience, there was another one like him who played to someone else’s tunes. Obama has blundered, but he will not ruin America with another war.
Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on the topics of Pluralism, Coexistence, politics, interfaith, Islam and cohesive societies. He is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.
HERE IS A NOTE FROM J-STREET
Dear Mike,
It was quite the weekend for American politics and Israel.
On Friday, Israeli settler leader Dani Dayan brought his vision of Israel’s future to America’s editorial pages, proclaiming that “the international community [should relinquish] its vain attempts to attain the unattainable two-state solution,” and acknowledge that Israeli “presence in all of Judea and Samaria – not just in the so-called settlement blocs – is an irreversible fact.”
Then, over the weekend, Israel had a visitor of its own – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, pledging allegiance to the politics of Sheldon Adelson and the policies of Benjamin Netanyahu.
For the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement, these two events crystallized the deeply troubling point we’ve reached. In Israel, the settlers are declaring victory, proclaiming the two-state solution dead and with it any hope for Israel to be the democratic homeland of the Jewish people.
Here in the US, the political forces backing Mitt Romney, from Sheldon Adelson to the Republican Jewish Coalition and Bill Kristol’s Emergency Committee for Israel, are claiming victory as well.
Cynically using Israel as a political wedge, they’re trying to shave a couple of points from President Obama’s support in the Jewish community this election by jettisoning decades of bipartisanship on issues such as Jerusalem and shamelessly beating the drums for another war in the Middle East.
This weekend afforded a glimpse of what failure looks like: what Israel looks like when the most extreme settlers win and what American politics looks like when Jewish political opinion is defined by the most hawkish in our community.
J Street can’t accept a future for Israel defined by Dani Dayan or for American Jewish politics defined by Sheldon Adelson.
The majority of Jewish Americans don’t share either their vision or their politics. So our task is clear: organize, fight back and win.
At our 2012 national conference this past Spring, under the banner of “Making History,” we spoke of how history is defined by the choices people make at critical crossroads.
Israel’s choice is clear. After 45 years of controlling the territories, it either follows the path to Dani Dayan’s future of unending settlement over the Green Line or it seizes a last opportunity to reach a two-state solution to its conflict with the Palestinian people.
Our choice in the States is clear as well. We either follow the path of Sheldon Adelson and what we’ve begun to call the One-State Caucus (the Congressional chorus endorsing the vision of Dayan and the settlers), or we stand up for the values and principles on which Israel was founded and from which the US-Israel relationship draws its strength.
Our challenge in the remaining months of this campaign is to make clear to America’s politicians and our community’s leaders just where the majority of Jews and Israel’s supporters in this country stand.
Dayan’s op-ed triggered a wave of responses from J Street supporters. We’ll be sharing the best of these in the coming days with you and with the broader community.
But we need to do far more than respond passionately to one op-ed.
Have you signed up yet to be part of our 2012 Future of Pro-Israel Campaign? Are you part of an FPI Action Team, ready to campaign in your community for our vision of what it means to be pro-Israel?
Have you signed up for our Rapid Response Network where you’ll get will the tools to stand up to the smears, lies and misrepresentations that are running rampant in 2012 American politics?
Are you a member of J Street – providing financial support to political candidates willing to stand up to the One-State Caucus and for a smart American policy in the Middle East grounded in our best interests and our values?
Remember what failure looks like: a world in which settlers like Dani Dayan define what Israel is and where Sheldon Adelson and his allies define what it means to be pro-Israel in American politics.
Is this the future that we want for us and for Israel? Is this what we want for our children and grandchildren?
We are in a fight for the heart and soul of our community.
And we need you with us on the front lines in the months ahead.
Thank you for all that you do,
Jeremy Ben-Ami
It was quite the weekend for American politics and Israel.
On Friday, Israeli settler leader Dani Dayan brought his vision of Israel’s future to America’s editorial pages, proclaiming that “the international community [should relinquish] its vain attempts to attain the unattainable two-state solution,” and acknowledge that Israeli “presence in all of Judea and Samaria – not just in the so-called settlement blocs – is an irreversible fact.”
Then, over the weekend, Israel had a visitor of its own – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, pledging allegiance to the politics of Sheldon Adelson and the policies of Benjamin Netanyahu.
For the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement, these two events crystallized the deeply troubling point we’ve reached. In Israel, the settlers are declaring victory, proclaiming the two-state solution dead and with it any hope for Israel to be the democratic homeland of the Jewish people.
Here in the US, the political forces backing Mitt Romney, from Sheldon Adelson to the Republican Jewish Coalition and Bill Kristol’s Emergency Committee for Israel, are claiming victory as well.
Cynically using Israel as a political wedge, they’re trying to shave a couple of points from President Obama’s support in the Jewish community this election by jettisoning decades of bipartisanship on issues such as Jerusalem and shamelessly beating the drums for another war in the Middle East.
This weekend afforded a glimpse of what failure looks like: what Israel looks like when the most extreme settlers win and what American politics looks like when Jewish political opinion is defined by the most hawkish in our community.
J Street can’t accept a future for Israel defined by Dani Dayan or for American Jewish politics defined by Sheldon Adelson.
The majority of Jewish Americans don’t share either their vision or their politics. So our task is clear: organize, fight back and win.
At our 2012 national conference this past Spring, under the banner of “Making History,” we spoke of how history is defined by the choices people make at critical crossroads.
Israel’s choice is clear. After 45 years of controlling the territories, it either follows the path to Dani Dayan’s future of unending settlement over the Green Line or it seizes a last opportunity to reach a two-state solution to its conflict with the Palestinian people.
Our choice in the States is clear as well. We either follow the path of Sheldon Adelson and what we’ve begun to call the One-State Caucus (the Congressional chorus endorsing the vision of Dayan and the settlers), or we stand up for the values and principles on which Israel was founded and from which the US-Israel relationship draws its strength.
Our challenge in the remaining months of this campaign is to make clear to America’s politicians and our community’s leaders just where the majority of Jews and Israel’s supporters in this country stand.
Dayan’s op-ed triggered a wave of responses from J Street supporters. We’ll be sharing the best of these in the coming days with you and with the broader community.
But we need to do far more than respond passionately to one op-ed.
Have you signed up yet to be part of our 2012 Future of Pro-Israel Campaign? Are you part of an FPI Action Team, ready to campaign in your community for our vision of what it means to be pro-Israel?
Have you signed up for our Rapid Response Network where you’ll get will the tools to stand up to the smears, lies and misrepresentations that are running rampant in 2012 American politics?
Are you a member of J Street – providing financial support to political candidates willing to stand up to the One-State Caucus and for a smart American policy in the Middle East grounded in our best interests and our values?
Remember what failure looks like: a world in which settlers like Dani Dayan define what Israel is and where Sheldon Adelson and his allies define what it means to be pro-Israel in American politics.
Is this the future that we want for us and for Israel? Is this what we want for our children and grandchildren?
We are in a fight for the heart and soul of our community.
And we need you with us on the front lines in the months ahead.
Thank you for all that you do,
Jeremy Ben-Ami