![]() ![]() We have built many bridges among our Jewish and Muslim neighbors. But we live in a wonderful, diverse community here in Sacramento. I write not expecting that the words of one Jewish American mayor will change much. The moral culpability of others does not justify Israel losing its moral compass. Hamas’ behavior does not give Israel the right to make the lives of hard-working Palestinian people and their children even harder. Israel can both defend itself and not oppress innocent people. That old argument makes It too easy to dismiss grave injustices. Israel has the right to defend itself against rockets and external attacks.īut whether Israel has a true partner for peace among Palestinian leadership is almost beyond the point. ![]() Expanding settlements well beyond secure borders in the name of some extreme Biblical prophesy is antithetical to Jewish values and negates any possibility of peace. But fighting to take the homes of Israeli Arabs who have lived in them for decades has nothing to do with security. I am not naive about the plight of a Jewish state in a still hostile region. I cannot be selective in condemning overt discrimination and prejudice. The right-wing Israeli government whose official policies encourage massive settlements beyond the 1948 boundaries of Israel and conscript millions of Palestinians to inferior status is not a government that I can respect. The settlers who shout “death to Arabs” cannot be of the same Jewish faith that taught me that the Jewish people were once the stranger. The rage of the Jerusalem Palestinians added fuel not only to violence in that city, but also kindled the strife between Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews across Israeli towns." He writes: ‘‘Netanyahu’s far-right followers, and the police, went way too far in antagonizing and cracking down on Palestinians in Jerusalem right at one of the most sensitive moments - Muslim holy days at the end of Ramadan and after the Palestinian Authority decided to postpone elections. The second part of Friedman’s argument is more difficult for many American Jews, but every bit as valid and important. I quote the part that is easy for a proud American Jew who loves Israel, takes pride in its birth, and who is passionate about the continued imperative of a Jewish homeland amid unending and worldwide anti-Semitism.įriedman writes that Hamas is an “organization without a shred of democratic fiber that is dedicated to destroying the Jewish state and imposing a Tehran-like Islamic regime in Palestine." Thomas Friedman’s column that posted on the New York Times website on May 16 is essential reading. ![]() If my Jewish community expects me to speak out when Israel is in peril, as I always do, then my entire community expects me to speak the whole truth about the tragedy of what is occurring today in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. ![]()
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