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March 02, 2006
America's useful Jewish idiots
Sonderkommando noun. German term for groups of Jewish concentration camp inmates whose job was to dispose of corpses from the gas chambers or crematoria. Some did the work to delay their own deaths; some thought they could protect friends and family, and some acted out of mere greed for extra food and money these men sometimes received.
Which leads me to this piece of lunacy, brought to my attention by a friend who sent it in an e-mail, subject line: Idiots.
JERUSALEM – While the U.S. Congress is attempting to push tough legislation aimed at financially and diplomatically isolating the new Hamas-led Palestinian government, WND has learned leftist American Jewish organizations are working to block the anti-Hamas efforts, some arguing the terror group – which has killed hundreds of Israeli civilians – may be willing to make peace with the Jewish state.
"We oppose the legislation. The U.S. should be extending carrots to Hamas, and not just slapping them with sticks. We should be trying to encourage Hamas to recognize Israel, not shutting them out completely," M.J. Rosenberg, director of policy for the Israel Policy Forum, a prominent leftist think tank, told WND.
Rosenberg is one of several leftist Jewish leaders opposing a bill initiated in the House of Representatives following Hamas' major election victory last month by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and Tom Lantos, D-Calif., that calls for a strict termination of aid to the new Hamas-dominated government.
You're probably wondering why any Jews would object to blocking aid to a terrorist organization dedicated to destroying Israel and, in the process, killing -- wait for it -- Jews. Well, I'll tell ya. I have no idea. Let's take a look at the legislation.
The Ros-Lehtinen legislation designates the Palestinian Authority under Hamas a terror supporting entity. It demands the halt of direct and indirect U.S. assistance to the PA with the exception of certain humanitarian aid, and bars American financial support for U.N. and non-governmental agencies connected to the PA.
The bill calls for PA officials to be prevented from receiving visas to enter the U.S., restricts the Palestinian government from maintaining representative offices in the U.S., and places travel restrictions on PA and PLO representatives to the U.N.
The congressional bill also states American diplomats cannot hold talks with members of any Palestinian terror group, including Hamas and Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyr Brigades. And it places tight restrictions on the U.S. president's options for circumventing the bill, omitting any national security waivers related to aid and requiring a 15-day waiting period before any humanitarian assistance can be forwarded.
According to the Ros-Lehtinen bill, the U.S. can reassess its support for the PA if the Palestinian government proves it is not employing members of Hamas or any other group featured on the State Department list of terror groups. The PA would also need to dismantle all Palestinian terror organizations, ensure democracy and financial transparency, and halt all anti-Israel incitement and instead distribute material that promotes peaceful coexistence.
Sounds good to me. If the terrorists PA actually decides to govern instead of sending 'splodey-dopes into Israel, the U.S. applies less stick, more carrot.
But leftist American Jewish organizations are up in arms about the legislation, arguing it is too tough on Hamas – a terror group whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel "by assaulting and killing."
Lewis Roth, assistant director of Americans for Peace Now, a leftist group supporting final status negotiations to create a Palestinian state, said while his organization is still formulating its stance on the Ros-Lehtinen legislation it "has a problem" with the new bill demanding Hamas must recognize Israel.
"This new call for the PA to recognize the existence of Israel as a Jewish state is not agreeable," Roth told WND. "It's something the U.S. has never applied before in negotiations with the Palestinians or with regard to Jordanian treaties. The clause is clearly drafted with Hamas in mind. It makes no sense. What if Fatah [which recognizes Israel as a Jewish state] comes back to power?"
Roth said Americans for Peace Now also opposes the bill because it restricts options for a presidential waver. He said his group "hopes to work to improve the legislation so it is better fit to promote regional peace."
Another leftist group, the Brit Tzedek v'Shalom Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace, has initiated an online petition calling for Americans to oppose the anti-Hamas legislation.
"Lehtinen and Lantos have introduced legislation that severely restricts the U.S. ability to constructively engage with moderate Palestinians and to provide critical aid to the Palestinian people. This bill, H.R. 4681, effectively forfeits any constructive US role in returning Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table," states the online petition.
Brit Tzedek calls for a "wait-and-see approach" toward the new Hamas government. "However," continues the online petition, "Congress has rushed to respond to this turn of events with legislation that, as currently written, threatens to shut the door permanently."
Rosenberg of the Israel Policy Forum said if Hamas declares it recognizes Israel, the Jewish state should negotiate with the new Palestinian government.
Seymour Reich, the forum's president, told WND, "Our concern is that the bill is too restrictive. We need flexibility regarding Hamas. We need to follow the situation."
I agree, we do need flexibility regarding Hamas. I was thinking 7.62mm versus .50 cal.
Liberal Jews, followers of the Reform movement, are the most likely to buy into the belief that that Hamas and it's followers are really just like us -- only more likely to blow themselves up in restaurants and on buses. But that's just because our Arab brothers are misunderstood, driven to violence as a result of the wrong-headed Israeli insistence on that oh-so-retro idea: self-defense.
What is it the liberals always say? "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." I prefer the way Sean Connery put it in the Untouchables: "You wanna know how you do it? Here's how, they pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way."
Conservative movement Jews are the squishes of the political world. Less likely to slip Arafat (or his successors) the tongue than their Reform brethren, they are still uncomfortable acknowledging that the Israelis defending themselves is not a perpetuation of the "cycle of violence," but a necessary response in the face of sheer, bloody homicidal madness.
Orthodox Jews are the most clear-eyed when it comes to the threat presented by the ascension of Hamas to the seat of power. Mention the article above to a Jewish friend. If he rolls his eyes, I'll bet you a hot corned beef on rye that he doesn't belong to a Reform synagogue, and I'll bet you an egg cream that he's not going to services at a Conservative shul, either.
As for the American Sonderkommando, they're just carrying on in the finest tradition of Jews who preferred to believe that anything can be resolved if we just talktalktalk. Talk, much like the leadership of the Polish ghettos who filled German quotas for crematoria-bound trains, because, if they were reasonable, maybe they could convince their overlords to halt the transports.
I'm flabbergasted by their stupidity, but not surprised. History is filled with tales of people who have made their deal with the Devil, only to find that he rarely lets them enjoy their side of the bargain. I think what we're seeing now is a rejection of the idea of the Jewish identity, a refusal to acknowledge that for the anti-Semites, the Jew haters, we are defined not by how we view ourselves, but how our enemies view us.
Those prominent liberal Jews crying in their beer over our mistreatment of Hamas? Well, in the final analysis, I can't improve on my friend's pithy subject line: Idiots.
Posted by Mike Lief at March 2, 2006 12:30 AM