\”I want my children to have a future of hope, a future where they can contribute positively to American society as Muslims,\” Al-Marayati said. \”I don\’t want a future of prejudice, fear and victimization.\”
While Israelis are furious with their government and military leaders over a war that was badly fought, very few believe that the effort was unjust. From their recent writings and in discussions with influential Israeli opinion makers, I was exposed to a variety of thinking.
I\’ve thought way too much about terror this week. As I sat down to write this, I tried to do a rough accounting. What\’s a clever unit of measure for moments spent obsessing about terror? An osama? No, that gives the cretin too much credit. A chertoff? Better. A chertoff is a full cycle of terror-think.
The American political system is on the verge of a major change. The Republicans are in danger of losing to the Democrats in the November congressional elections. Foreign affairs will be central to the outcome. Are the Democrats ready for their big curtain call?
Olmert\’s perceived blunders have given the Israeli right a new lease on life. They believe the war has dealt a lethal blow to Olmert\’s plans for a major unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank.
Recently, I sat behind a one-way mirror and watched a group of about 30 voters — half Democrats, half Republicans — respond to images and opinions about Israel\’s war in Lebanon. The overall results were as shocking as they were commonplace: the opinion of Israel among the Democrats was consistently 10 to 20 points lower than that of the Republicans.\n
How is Israel\’s security served by the creation of a failed state on its northern border? This is the question that has fallen like a dark shadow across the landscape of stunningly unanimous Israeli, Jewish, and American support for Israel\’s ongoing attack on Lebanon. Has Israel truly attacked Lebanon, or has it merely attacked Hezbollah as a terrorist organization operating from within Lebanon? On July 23, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seemed to answer that question for the benefit of his cabinet: \”We have no war with the Lebanese people, and we have no intention to harm their quality of life.\”
Most of the more than 20,000 Ethiopian Jews left in Ethiopia today are Falash Mura, people whose families were converted to Christianity about 100 years ago, but who still identify as Jews. The Israeli government for years has been wavering on whether they are real Jews and should be brought to Israel, even though most have family there. Today there are about 85,000 Ethiopian Jews in Israel, including about 20,000 who were born there.
With the fighting along Israel\’s northern border showing no sign of letting up, Israel\’s most popular summer tourist region has been turned into a battle zone. Instead of the sounds of kids splashing in swimming pools and canyons, there is a constant booming of artillery shelling and tank fire. Instead of birds quietly hovering in the skies over the Hula Nature Reserve, attack helicopters and fighter jets streak across the sky headed north, into Lebanon.
Letters to the editor: Bush administration\’s failure to deal with violence in the Middle East; maintaining Jewish unity instead of deference to the Jewish Left; Torah portion by Rabbi Lisa Edwards on Leviticus; response to Michael Steinhardt on Jewish philanthropy; and more.
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