Killing Israel to 'save' it?
JTA's Ron Kampeas reports that some American Jewish organizations have decided that they cannot defend Israel unless they openly criticize it. I have no problem with that, but I do have a problem with the issue on which they have chosen to take their stand: The demand for transparency by NGO's. The American Jewish Committee and the Union for Reform Judaism have delivered broadsides in recent days against recent Israeli government initiatives targeting nongovernmental groups in Israel that monitor human rights. Last week, the Knesset approved in a preliminary reading a bill that would investigate the funding sources of nongovernmental groups that monitor and criticize the Israeli army.The proposed new transparency law applies to all NGO's that take money from abroad, but for the most part, it is only the Left's NGO's that are receiving money from foreign governments. On the other hand, the bill passed last week does limit itself to investigating the Left's NGO's, and many of those who have been pushing for NGO transparency feel that their cause has been set back by that bill. It certainly has if no one can tell the difference between the two bills and the NGO transparency bill baby gets thrown out with the investigation bath water. But that law may have passed its first reading (it's not law yet) in an effort to inject urgency into the matter. Not every law that passes a first reading passes a second and third reading and is enacted.
“The Knesset’s action today contravenes the democratic principles that are Israel’s greatest strength,” AJC Executive Director David Harris said after Israel’s parliament voted Jan. 5 to investigate human rights groups. “Israel’s vibrant democracy not only can survive criticism, but it also thrives and is improved by it.”
Echoing demands from Israel’s left, the AJC and the Reform body instead called for across-the-board transparency in Israel.
In its statement the Reform movement suggested that such actions make it more difficult to defend Israel in other forums.
“The recent initiative undermines Israel's place in the global community and is a source of concern to the Jewish community throughout the world and to Israel's friends everywhere,” the statement said.
That was a theme picked up by the Anti-Defamation League, which in a statement posted on its website did not directly address the proposed Knesset law but expressed concerns about the “highly disturbing trend” of “Israeli intolerance.”
“Inflammatory statements have a negative impact on attitudes toward Israel around the world, even in friendly countries like the U.S.,” the ADL statement said. “More important, however, is the impact they have within Israel, undermining the democratic fiber, creating a mean-spiritedness in society and enlarging already significant communal rifts."
The significance of such statements was in their bearers -- mainstream American Jewish organizations, which are more accustomed to slamming Israel’s critics. In the past, these groups have targeted manifestations of bigotry by marginal Israeli groups, Israeli government discrimination against non-Orthodox religious streams and, in some cases, remarks by Israeli officials about the country’s Arab citizens.
What’s new is the concern by U.S. Jewish groups that discrimination and a diminishing of democratic values is becoming mainstream in Israel.
Requiring NGO transparency is good government. The US has laws that require organizations that take money from foreign governments to register as foreign agents, Europe has laws that require organizations that take money from foreign governments to register as foreign agents, so why when Israel does the same thing is it wrong?
There's more to it than that, and you should read the whole thing. We have brought a lot of this on ourselves (there's a criticism!) by deluding ourselves and our allies that we could make 'peace' with the 'Palestinians' on terms that allow us to continue to live here. That's unlikely to happen in any of our lifetimes.
Labels: American Jewish Committee, Im Tirtzu, NGO funding, Union for Reform Judaism
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:38 AM
2 Comments:
Yup. The Israeli Left has the belief that if Israel made enough concessions, peace would be at hand. But what if the other side has no interest in peace? Then no amount of Israel servility to the Arabs will achieve it.
And peace is not going to happen in our lifetime.
The AJC is nothing more than a feeble organization with a Jewish veneer that exists solely to "give out plaques for being a mensch". That is it. -- What a Chillul HaShem to speak about for Israel's enemies here!
The Reform movment is antisemetic in general and does not count as an actual Jewish organization. And when it was founded they excoriated themselves from Israel, saying they were first and foremost members of whatever country they lived in... not only this, but they have no connection to the Temple, which they have declared openly in the past, and t his is why they call their Shuls, "Temple this-and-that" [which is why it is laughable when they complain about some female Reform Jew not being allowed to carry a Torah in a certain area next to Kotel!!! "Lady you belong back in Great Neck or Greater Neck"!].
The ADL, of course, represents the most disgusting examples of self-hating Jews. When Americans open up the Koran and see how antisemitic it is, and then speak about it publicly, the ADL is there to defend the Koran. And perhaps most offensive of all is the fact the ADL were Judenrat kapo snitches for the FBI against the valiant and heroic Jewish Defense League when the JDL was fighting for freedom for Soviet Jews [a fight they won, where 1 million Soviet Jews were freed and went on to form the bulk of the Israeli tech sector!!! Had the JDL not existed woe be to Israel!] -- For one Jew to snitch on another Jew in the Galut [who has done nothing more than act in the Jewish Idea!!]... again, what a Chillul HaShem... Abe "Arab Defense League" Foxman will have a nice and toasty spot waiting for him in Gehenom [if his name and memory are not destroyed first!].
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