The beauty of this blog is that I can write about anything.
One day, I can write about something so benign that it won't rub anybody the wrong way.
Today, I am going to write about something that could rub some people the wrong way.
Today, I am going to lash out at my own country, and other countries, and people in my own religion, for the way that they have reacted to the situation in the Middle East, where three young men were kidnapped, and then killed, simply because they were Jews.
Over the past few weeks, this story has been building, but funny, I didn't see the international clamor for justice that I saw when those girls in the continent of Africa were kidnapped by rebel leaders.
When that horrible situation became public, seemingly every Tom, Dick and Harry got on their pedestal to lash out at the kidnappers. There was an international lobby so strong against this that every day for a few weeks, you saw plenty of movers, shakers, famous people and average citizens like you and I demand that these young women be let go.
Well, then you had a somewhat similar situation in Israel, where three teenagers, hitchhiking, were kidnapped, allegedly by Hamas, the international terror group, and murdered.
But we didn't know that they were murdered until yesterday.
You saw the mothers of these men basically begging for their release.
But funny, I did not see the international lobby push for action like I did in the other situation.
I did not see our President, nor our First Lady, hold up placards saying, "Free the young men" like I did when they demanded that the young girls be freed.
I did not see Hollywood--which backs every liberal cause imaginable, including gay marriage and immigration reform--clamor to see these young men freed.
The only celebrity I saw who was doing anything related to this was singer Tony Orlando, who urged people to put yellow ribbons on trees to signify the plight of these teens, a la his hit with Dawn, "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree."
And I didn't see many American Jews--who are so prolific in backing every cause known to man whether it involves them or not--get together to demand the freedom of this trio.
What makes it all more worse is that one of the young men had dual citizenship--he was from Brooklyn, he was an American.
It wasn't a page one story, and only because that the young men were found to be murdered did it become one.
There is something very wrong here, isn't there?
Like I said before, Jews back every cause imaginable. It is in our blood, in our tapestry, in our upbringing.
We walked hand in hand with those looking for equal rights for minorities and women, and we are leading the cause for equal rights for gays and for immigration reform.
Why did we drop the ball here?
And our leaders are even worse. I mean, one of the kids was an American. If nothing else, we should have been more active in this situation because of that, not because he was Jewish.
But there was nothing doing on this front. Nothing.
I understand the situation entirely.
We, as a country, have recognized the joint Palestinian government, which includes Hamas, an international terror group that has even infiltrated our own country.
We have tried to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, refusing to understand that until the Palestinians recognize Israel as a sovereign country, there can be no peace.
We don't recognize Jerusalem as part of Israel, or its capitol. I bet you didn't know that.
We have politicians who claim to be friends of Israel--our only true friend in the Middle East--but don't act like it.
Take our President. Take Hillary Clinton, supposedly the front-runner in the upcoming Presidential stakes, who claims allegiance with Israel and her own nation's Jews--I remember when she ran a few years ago, she claimed to be "Jewish" because her 890th relation happened to be of that ilk--who has labeled Israel as "an aggressor nation."
And Jews voted for Obama in droves, and they will vote for Clinton that way, too, if she runs.
Jews have put themselves in a terrible position with this most recent episode, and it is almost a reverse "anti-Semitism" corner they have painted themselves into.
We have so homogenized ourselves into society that we are losing our religious identity.
We are "the chosen people," but we ourselves choose to do nothing in situations like this, basically turning our backs on our own.
We allow big-mouths like musicians Elvis Costello and Roger Waters to spew hate about Israel and about the Jews, just because of who they are.
And we allow a fellow Jew, and a fellow American, to die at the hands of one of our enemies who we seem to respect in a weird sort of way.
I don't get it, I really don't.
But in a way I do get it.
Israel's reaction to this entire episode will be condemned by the world, but it is the only thing it can do.
Before it came out that the young men were murdered, Israel did raids on Palestinian outposts, arresting hundreds, and they know who the "masterminds" are who did this latest tragedy.
They are currently bombing these Gaza outposts, showing that no matter what anybody else does, thinks, or says, they will take care of their own.
Hamas says they had nothing to do with the kidnappings and murders, but in the same breath, they say that they are happy that these things were done.
They like kidnappings of Israelis, and Jews, because they can use the kidnapped as bargaining chips for the release of their own who have been imprisoned by Israel for their heinous acts.
Or they can kill them, which is what happened here.
When is the international community, and Jews themselves, going to stand up, clamor for the right thing to be done?
I don't have that answer. I just don't know.
And it pains me to say that. It really does.
Anti-semitism lives, and oftentimes, some Jews even practice it on themselves.
What a tragedy.
And more importantly, what a fiasco.
Israel is never 100 percent correct in what it does, neither is the U.S.
But when Jews need help, need backing, need some thrust when certain situations happen, funny, I don't see it.
Where are the Al Sharptons, where are the Jesse Jacksons?
It almost makes me wish that there was a budding Meir Kahane out there, but I won't go that far.
The bottom line is this: the way the world, and many fellow Jews, reacted to this kidnapping was atrocious.
But, unfortunately, it was expected.
'Nuf said.
No comments:
Post a Comment