Standing with Iranians against tyranny

As history is being made on the streets of Teheran, the Western world is relatively quiet. Yes, President Barack Obama has at last referred to the injustice of the regime's actions and criticized its violence, but he and other leaders have calibrated their responses.

Two Israel writers, Ben Caspit and Ben-Dror Yemini, have taken note and chastised the West for this reticence, contrasting how quickly condemnation of Israel rises to the surface in moments of crisis. They suggest that in certain circles it is far easier to criticize a Jew for killing a Muslim, even when provoked, than when a Muslim regime murders innocent protesters.

They simply dismiss the argument made by many American officials and commentators that the restrained approach is the correct one to prevent the regime from using American "meddling" to undermine the legitimacy of the demonstrators. They reason that this is just an excuse for inaction since the Iranian leaders are already blaming America and Israel.

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Seeing the glass half full - for now

Perspective is everything.  The glass can be half full or half empty.

These unoriginal thoughts came to mind after two significant events in the life of the state of Israel and the Jewish people - the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Israel and the meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

The tendency in the Israeli press was to focus on the negative. The Pope was widely criticized for the things he failed to say or said in an infelicitous way. And the Washington summit meeting was picked apart for the alleged lack of warmth between the leaders and for the pressure points and disagreements.

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Here we go again: "The Israel Lobby made them do it!"

I have said it before and I must say it again - anti-Semitic conspiracy theories claiming American Jews control US foreign policy and are disloyal US citizens continue to be expounded through the Internet and permeate mainstream Web sites, blogs and commentaries.

The most recent case is the Charles Freeman affair - the designated Chairman of the National Intelligence Council who decided to withdraw his name from consideration after concerns were raised about the central role he might play in intelligence affairs, given his anti-Israel statements and connections to the Saudi government, as well as to the Chinese. The Freeman appointment was disturbing on its own terms without generalizing about where US-Israel relations were heading.

On US-Israel relations his views fall far away from mainstream opinion in America and enter into that area of demonizing Israel and its supporters in the US. Nothing better illustrates where Freeman is coming from than in his statement explaining his withdrawal.  He articulates, in the guise of a victim, the essential conspiracy view of the Israel-supporting community which made his appointment so troubling in the first place. He sees the exposure of his troubling attitudes toward Israel as proof  "that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired."

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What Clinton's trip augurs for Israel

So what are the earliest vibes about the Obama administration's Middle East approach based on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to the region?

Overall, I'd say positive, with reason for some optimism, but also with a note of caution.

Up front, candidate Obama made clear that the big break from his predecessor would be in the area of engagement.  An Obama administration would see the issues between Israel and the Arabs as a priority that required US involvement early on.  And so we are seeing it, with the appointment and visits of George Mitchell as special envoy and with this early trip of the secretary of state.

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Dubai's unfortunate decision

The decision by the United Arab Emirates not to grant a visa to Israeli tennis star Shahar Peer is a shocking development which raises broader questions about the progress that has been assumed to have been made in Arab-Israel relations.
 
The decision is shocking because of its source. Let's remember that Peer played last year in a Women's Tennis Association tournament in Doha, Qatar, and spoke openly about how warmly she was received. Dubai, the home of the current event, is a place that has cultivated an image of openness to the world. Nowhere was this more evident than in past years' television coverage of the event, with pictures of mini-skirted ball girls running around the court while traditionally robed Sheikhs sat in attendance.

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Gaza goes global

Israel's operation to defend its people from Hamas rockets is having repercussions far beyond Gaza and the besieged cities of Sderot and Ashkelon. It is taking on a global reach and having a global impact, particularly for Jews in much of Western Europe and Latin America.

Assaults against Jews are on the rise. In Europe, Jews have been threatened and beaten on the street and synagogues firebombed. "Jews to the gas chambers" has been chanted at anti-Israel demonstrations in Europe and similar calls for death to Jews have been heard across the Arab and Muslim world.

While much of the violence and anti-Semitic graffiti has spilled over from anti-Israel rallies, where Israel and Jews are routinely likened to Nazis, it is part and parcel of the incitement against Jews and "World Zionism" endorsed by the terrorist leaders of Hamas. 

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Preventing the weapons flow to Hamas

In a media world which features images of destruction of human beings and property, the words "cease fire" have an understandable allure. Israel itself succumbed to that allure six months ago to bring respite to Sderot.
    
Whether a cease-fire is a good thing or instead an event that makes the next conflict inevitable at a higher level of violence depends almost entirely on whether it will provide mechanisms to ensure its reliable implementation.
     
Look at Lebanon and UN resolution 1701 which generated the cease-fire there. Its two most important components were barring Hizbullah from entering territory south of the Litani river and from getting weapons from Syria and Iran.

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Zionism, racism and a misbegotten encyclopedia entry

When Jimmy Carter published his book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" he was appropriately criticized for linking Israel's policies in the territories to that of apartheid South Africa. Whatever one's views of Israeli policy, comparing it to the ideological, race-based approach of South African white supremacists was outrageous.
 
Some of us, at the time, also noted that as bad as Carter's perspective was, it wasn't even the worst use of the term or the concept with regard to Israel. Even worse would be the accusation that Israel itself -- forget about the territories -- is a manifestation of racism and apartheid ideology. This, of course, was not a new concept; recall the abominable Zionism is racism resolution of the United Nations, passed in 1975 and on the books until the early 1990s, and the Durban UN Conference Against Racism in 2001 with its focus on alleged Israeli racism.

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Kristallnacht Remembered

I remember how a dozen years ago, a rash of arsons burned more than 30 Black churches, mostly in the Southern tier of the United States. In response, the Anti-Defamation League urged investigations by the Justice Department and published full-page ads in many of America's major newspapers deploring these acts, asking for letters of support that we passed on to the victimized congregations. We also established a Rebuild the Churches Fund. The response across America was heartening.

As Jews, we felt a special kinship with the victims of these arsons, because we lived with the memory of Kristallnacht - the Night of Broken Glass -- when ordinary Germans committed a so-called "spontaneous" pogrom against synagogues, Jewish shops, homes, hospitals, cemeteries, and against their fellow Jewish citizens.  In response, the world was essentially silent.

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Financial crisis brings out the anti-semites

It never fails. Whenever there is a financial crisis or trading scandal in the stock markets, the anti-Semites come out of the woodwork.  The classic stereotype of the Jewish Shylock out to have his Christian pound of flesh dies very hard, if at all.  The Jew as economic opportunist sucking the financial life-blood out of a nation or of the whole world is continually reborn.

So the crude anti-Semitic postings at extremist or financial websites and comment boards, and at Internet blogs available for viewing over the past couple of weeks, should not come as a total surprise. Still, I have to admit being dismayed to see these lasting age-old canards about Jews and money finding fresh outlet. 

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