June 26, 2012

Noteworthy

American Jews’ Cowardly Retreat from the term “Zionism”

Writing in the Jerusalem Post, Professor Gil Troy reprimands the American Jewish community for its abandonment of the word ‘Zionist’, even though it clearly subscribes to the philosophy.

American Jews’ gutless flight is particularly anomalous because the community is in many ways more Zionist than ever – and primed to accept a robust Zionist message.  American Jews are a people-people, more united by ethnic, national, cultural solidarity, than by belief in God. Despite critics’ claims to the contrary, three-quarters of American Jews consistently support Israel, the Jewish state.  The most successful program of the last decade, Taglit-Birthright, is a peoplehood project which helps young Jews aged 18 to 26 jumpstart their Jewish journeys by visiting Israel. Moreover, young, idealistic American Jews do not want to retreat or defend, they want to celebrate, dream, improve.

Syria: The International Travesty

The international community must end its shameful inaction on the bloodshed in Syria and take concrete steps to resolve the crisis, writes Alon Ben-Meir in Algemeiner.

Whether out of their unique political interests in sustaining the Assad regime (i.e. Russia, China, and Iran) or the weak lack of will and misguided political calculations by Western powers to intervene, there is no willingness to provide the opposition with the necessary equipment to effectively defend themselves and absolutely no appetite to use military means against the government’s merciless onslaught.

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