Will the real Sharansky please stand up? [Vile Leftist attack on a true hero]

Since Sharansky announced his retirement from politics, abundant praise has been lavished upon him. Indeed, in some quarters his name has been put forth as a candidate to become Israel's next president. Not only has he merited kudos within Israel, but he has also been singled out for praise by US President George W. Bush, who cited his book The Case for Democracy as an important contribution for promoting democratic change throughout the world.

Interestingly, Sharansky has derided Israel for not joining forces with the US policy of demanding democratization as the cornerstone of the pursuit of peace and security. For example, he believes that Israel's unilateral disengagement from Gaza was a clear indication of this failure - because Israel did not demand, as a precondition for the withdrawal, the democratic reform of the Palestinian Authority, which would include the protection of human rights. As one who suffered under the totalitarian regime of the former Soviet Union, he certainly must know what he is talking about.

One should judge a person by what he does, not by what he says. There is no better example of a man of action than Sharansky. But sadly, that man of deeds was Anatoly Sharansky, while the man of words is Natan Sharansky.

From his jail cell in Russia, Anatoly led one of one of the most powerful international human rights movements in recent history - the struggle to free Soviet Jews. The efforts to free him were not based on the support of the national aspirations of a particular Jew, but rather upon the universal application of human rights, as Anatoly, together with Andrei Sakharov, formed the Helsinki Human Rights Watch Committee.

His arrival in Israel symbolized a victory of the weak over the strong. Jewish history repeated itself. Little David once again overwhelmed the mighty Goliath. A few years later, when Anatoly assumed the exalted post of cabinet minister responsible for Jerusalem affairs and for Diaspora-Israel relations, there was great hope.

But now, I would like to ask Anatoly some questions: When a Palestinian home in Beit Hanina in east Jerusalem was destroyed prior to a hearing in the courts as mandated by law, why did you, as the responsible minister, remain silent, as was the case with all other administratively demolished homes of Palestinians?

Is this not an obvious violation of one's human and judicial rights, two linchpins of the case for democracy you so energetically advocate? If I asked Anatoly, the answer would have been: "Absolutely."

Let's not confine our discussion to Palestinian rights. There is one stream of Judaism that is officially acknowledged in Israel - Orthodoxy. Now, I ask you, Anatoly: Does not the institutionalized discrimination against non-Orthodox expressions of Judaism in Israel constitute a violation of basic religious rights? Anatoly Sharansky would have replied: "Absolutely."

As Anatoly, you opposed Communism, which fed a perverted form of nationalism that jailed anyone who challenged the Soviet state. In present-day Israel, democracy is being challenged by an exaggerated nationalism, propelled by a chauvinistic theology. Here, the threat to democracy takes the form of religious extremism. Such a distorted brand of Judaism rarely jails people, but it does murder a prime minister, and may one day lead to a civil war.

Mr. Sharansky: Where is your opposition to this fusion of religion and nationalism, which has become Israel's metaphoric combination of Marxism and xenophobia? Anatoly would be leading the masses against such a perversion of Judaism, but not you, Natan.

The Russian Jewry freedom movement that you, Mr. Sharansky so bravely led should have taught us (and you) an important lesson: Our suffering as Jews under the Soviet state should sensitize us to the suffering of others.

Since your arrival in Israel, impelled by the champions of liberty throughout the world, your silence on virtually any issue of human rights as they affect Palestinians, non-Orthodox Jews, Israeli Arabs, Ethiopians, immigrant workers, women caught in Israel's "slave trade," the poor, the disabled, the single parent is deafening.

Your preoccupation with security concerns finds you ignoring pressing socioeconomic issues. The manner in which a country tends to the needs of the weaker elements in its society also tests its commitment to human rights and democracy, which you claim are so dear to you.

Mr. Sharansky, your name recognition is virtually unmatched by any Jewish leader. You may have lost some of your hero status in Israel, but you are still regarded throughout the world, and certainly within the Diaspora Jewish community, as a person of moral authority. One would expect you to exercise that authority by engaging in human rights issues once again.

But, alas, even though you are now free of the restraints of political horse-trading, this does not seem to be the case. Sadly, Anatoly Sharansky, whose courage in facing up to an oppressive Soviet regime served as a symbol for human rights activists throughout the world, has turned into Natan Sharansky, a parody of his former self.

Israel and the Jewish people need the Anatoly Sharansky of principle and deeds, not the Natan Sharansky of parochial and empty rhetoric.

Years ago, when I was active in the "Free Soviet Jewry" movement, we went to one of the large Temples for support for our activities. The rabbi refused to help, saying that "Jews in the USSR are happy living under Communism, and it is only a handful of fanatics who are making trouble." This BTW was the standard line used by the Communists for years. This putz rabbi is one of the main reasons that I ran away screaming from reform Judaism.

Of course, when the Soviet Jewry movement became popular, lots of temples joined in because it was the "hip thing." But even then all their attention was given to the secular, non-Jewish celebrities like Bolsoi ballet dancers and literati, not to sticky religious people like Sharansky or (nuclear physicist) Herman Branover.

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Judging by the piece you posted, I'd say this author (David Forman) is deserving of another one of those patented nicknames that you delight in giving to leftist Israeli columnists. Do you have any for Forman?

Thanks for posting this. It reminds us that there is still this potential great leader for Israel and the Free World out there.

"In the Palestinian Authority, for example, Sharansky had urged the Bush administration to press for a three-year transitional period, "so people can start understanding their options, and only then you can have elections," he said.

The biggest achievement of President Bush was that "he brought the democratic agenda," Sharansky said. "But when you're alone, it's very difficult to succeed."

He recalled being asked during a trip to Washington once why Bush had so few allies in Europe.

"I responded, I have a much more difficult question for you: How come he has so few allies in Washington?"

Part of the problem in bringing freedom to Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority, he said was that "major players don't believe in it."

He singled out the CIA and the State Department as opposing the president's pro-freedom agenda. "It's great to have the president and the vice-president and some of their advisors believing in this great ideology. But the people who implement it also have to believe in it," Sharansky said.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/8/7/100904.shtml?s=lh

The Caring Leftist David Forman overlooks the fact the Palestinians are sworn to destroy Israel and are willing to mass murder Jews to achieve this objective. They are ruled by the Islamofascist Hamas - backed by Iran and its modern Haman - Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. And they are as much of a totalitarian menace to the safety and happiness of the Jewish people as the Soviet State was. Nathan Sharansky spent his entire life fighting it. He knows more about true evil than the blind dolt Forman ever will. Its stooping low to attack one of the true Jewish heroes of the past century.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

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