Peace Demonstration Bares Its Anti-Semitic Teeth: Cry of pain from the deluded, halfway-decent Left

frontpagemag.com/The Nation/Tikkun ^ | February 11, 2003

[DoughtyOne]

No problem.

[rmlew]

Bill Clinton was a Southern Baptist.

At any rate, older liberal Jews are blind fools.
The under 35 crowd is divided.

[Mamzelle]

So was Jimmy Carter, until he renounced his denomination in his prissy, self-righteous way. Now the Southern Baptists keep hoping Clinton will do the same favor.

[SJackson]

If Bush wins a quick victory in the Middle East and the Jewish voters perceive Israel as safe it will be back to the democrats for the liberal segment of the Jewish vote

I don’t think that’s the problem, and I don’t think GWB will pick up that many votes based on Israel, the war on terror perhaps.

Hillary wasn’t about Israel. At the time the peace process was in full gear, supported by most liberal US Jews. The Oslo War (aka al aska intiftada) had just started. If it was disappointment with Israel policy, they wouldn’t have overwhelming voted for a continuation of the Clinton policy under Gore.

Hilliary kissed Suha (sp?) after uttering a version of old libels (poisoning children) and was outed over her *ew bastard comment. She came off as a Jew hater. That was the issue, not Israel, and yes, that hatred will often transcend the liberal bias of many Jews.

If the Rep’s pick up Jewish votes it will be from demographic change, particularly economic and tax policies which appeal to younger voters. A backlash against perceived liberal anti-Semitism, yes, but I don’t think it’s perceived yet. Support for Israel, in the top 5 issues perhaps.

[Optimist]

I sent this article to my Rabbi (40-something and coming around). Here is his emailed reply:

Thanks for the article.... I may not be a conservative, but I'm no fan of the left,
as you are aware. Especially when it comes to Israel. They are detached from
reality. To give you a personal example: the {other} congregation {that I serve}
was asked to co-sponsor (and host at the synagogue) an event called Tapestry,
a story-telling presentation by two American women, one Jewish and one with
Lebanese Christian ancestry. We agreed, whereupon one of the co-sponsoring
organizations -- named Kansas Committee for a Just Peace in the Mideast --
asked whether they could distribute materials at the event.

I asked to meet with representatives and look over the materials. The two folks
who came to meet me (both ordinary midwesterners, one Jewish) were as nice
as could be. We talked for quite a while, and discovered our points of view
were widely divergent. (Surprise, surprise).

Then they handed me copies of three documents they wanted to distribute. The
first referred to suicide bombers as freedom fighters, the second equated the
occupation with the Holocaust, and the third called for the US to cut off all aid
to Israel.
AND THEY REALLY THOUGHT I MIGHT CONSIDER LETTING THEM
PUT THESE ON A TABLE AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE SYNAGOGUE!

They're just clueless. Even if I secretly agreed with any of those things (which of
course I don't) I'd be committing political suicide. But they were very nice. See
you next week.

We have a small congregation that hires this rabbi for alternate weekends. He also serves another similar congregation in another city on the alternating weekends. My wife and I are the lone conservative voices in a sea of life-long yellow-dog liberals. This rabbi undoubtedly feels tremendous leftist pressure and I like to think that I offer at least a little rightward force (and it is the joy of my Shabbat to "talk" politics with congregation members...at least until I begin shaking my head in frustration). But, the Rabbi strives to be well-read and open-minded, although it remains a constant battle to offset (redirect) the liberal (But they were very nice) part of him.

[Optimist]

midwest - Conservative

[cartoonistx]

There is no circumstance imaginable that would make a liberal Atlantic seaboard Jew vote like a Southern Baptist.

Imagine Krystalnacht II.

[Mamzelle]

Yeah, but they didn't have to rub elbows with Baptists. I have listened to liberal Jews claim, in all sincerity, that Christians who attempt to convert Jews are the same as Nazis. As if *listening*--or avoiding listening to, as is everyone's freedom!--some religious spiel is the same as being gassed and burned.

The ones bashing the French the hardest are probably conservatives, not Liberal Jews, yet it's the French bringing in a new era of synagogue burnings.