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On Israel, Jews and Leaders Often Disagree
NY Times ^ | 5-7-10

Posted on 05/07/2010 4:05:54 PM PDT by SJackson

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — Criticizing Israel has long been the equivalent of touching a third rail in many Jewish families and friendships, relegating disagreements to a conversational demilitarized zone where only the innocent and foolhardy go.

“You cannot really engage in that conversation,” said Phillip Moore, a teacher in this Detroit suburb who has embraced strong opinions on many topics in his life — on politics, education, even religion — but avoids the subject of Israel at gatherings of his Jewish relatives.

“You raise a question about the security forces or the settlements and you are suddenly being compared to a Holocaust denier,” said Mr. Moore, 62. “It’s just not a rational discussion, so I keep quiet.”

But the recent tension between the Obama administration and the Israeli government over the stalled Middle East peace process has put the questions underlying those long-avoided family discussions directly in the public spotlight. They have raised serious questions about whether the traditional leadership of the American Jewish world is fully supported by the mass of American Jews.

The issues arose last month when American officials openly rebuked Israel over the announcement of new housing plans in east Jerusalem, and are likely to grow as indirect talks between Israelis and Palestinians, mediated by the Obama administration, resume this week. President Obama, working to ease those tensions, met on Tuesday with the Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, who had criticized the administration in an advertisement last month.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Israel; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 05/07/2010 4:05:54 PM PDT by SJackson
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

To be read in conjunction with The Times Goes Jew-Spotting in Michigan---NYTimes Looks for Jews… , which describes the effort the NYT went to to find inactive members in a 400 member Synagogue from a denomination which doesn't believe in G-d to write this article.

2 posted on 05/07/2010 4:07:44 PM PDT by SJackson (Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided, Barack Hussein Obama)
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To: SJackson
“You raise a question about the security forces or the settlements and you are suddenly being compared to a Holocaust denier,”

Yet, they keep voting for the ones that will stab them in the back time after time.

3 posted on 05/07/2010 4:16:38 PM PDT by Recon Dad ( USMC SSgt Patrick O - 3rd Afghanistan Deployment - Day 199)
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To: SJackson

For the life of me, I will NEVER understand anti-Semitic/anti-Israel American Jews!!! What’s up with that?!? >:-(


4 posted on 05/07/2010 4:38:08 PM PDT by pillut48 ("Stand now. Stand together. Stand for what is right."-Gov.Sarah Palin, "Going Rogue" ><>)
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To: pillut48

They’re certainly not antisemitic, nor anti-Israel. They have a different worldview, widely held by non Jews as well. You negotiate with your enemies. Talk to them, things will work out, we’re all reasonable people after all. IMO this is the wrong course for Israel and America, but when we phrase these things in the context of anti-Israel or anti-American, we lose any chance on having our views prevail. They’re simply advocating the wrong policy.


5 posted on 05/07/2010 4:41:17 PM PDT by SJackson (Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided, Barack Hussein Obama)
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To: SJackson; BRL

Farmington Hills Temple Ping!


6 posted on 05/07/2010 5:13:21 PM PDT by mlocher (USA is a sovereign nation)
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