My friend Jay came over yesterday with a leaflet that was left on his car, and, apparently, the cars of everyone else on his block. From time to time we get ads for gardening and cleaning services, with the odd "lose 30 pounds in 30 days" pitch thrown in for good measure, but this one was something else. And boy am I pissed off. Here's what it said, with my reactions in brackets:
Fellow Americans, Without America's "blank check" approval of Israel and without the billions of dollars annually Congress gives Israel, there would not have been a 9/11 or our soldiers dying daily in Iraq in a war costing us over $4 billion a month. [Right. First of all, Osama's big issue was that we had soldiers stationed in Saudi Arabia. He started mentioning Palestinians later to drum up support. Secondly, have you heard of a little thing called OIL?]While some American Jews - maybe even many - oppose Israel's policies, too many are Zionists which makes them Israelis first, Americans second, and a 5th column in America. ["5th column"!?!?! So Jews who believe in Israel's right to exist aren't really Americans?] They have tied Israel and its genocidal actions, like an albatross, around America's neck through their money (lobbying/bribing) of politicians, because of their influence in the media, and because of their numbers in government [oh boy. Where have I heard this before?] - 11% of the U.S. Senate are Jewish Zionists while Jews are only 13% of our population, and Jewish Zionists are even less. [Why no mention of Tom Delay or other Christian Zionists? How does this guy know all the Jewish members are Zionists? Where's his evidence?] Both of California's Senators - Boxer and Feinstein - are Zionists. Neither has seen a vote for money for or approval of Israel's policies they did not like. [Again, what does this mean and where's the evidence? Where's their voting record? How does it compare to that of others?]
Free America! Free Palestine! Stop U.S. Aid to Israel and Stop the curse of Zionism! Get Feinstein, Boxer, Lantos, Lieberman, and Pelosi out of Washington! [Right. Just the Jews. Don't worry about getting Bush or Cheney out of Washington, even though they led the march to war. Don't mention the Christian Fundamentalists, who want the Jews to take all of Palestine so that their apocalyptic End of Days prophecies will be fulfilled. And don't mention the neocons like Wolfowitz that led us towards this mess. (On the other hand, maybe it's just as well he didn't.)]
[then, in a box:]
Every American needs to know what Zionism is, how it started, and what its effects are. [Agreed.] Do you? Consult: www.ZionismExplained.org. Understand: being anti-Zionist is not being anti-Semetic. [Well, thank you for clearing that one up.]
If you agree with the website, recommend it to your friends. People are dying now, including Americans. [Israelis are dying too, but let's not mention that.] Your help is needed!---------------
I think I've mentioned before how frustrating I find the whole Israel issue, because I really hate Sharon and his policies, and believe that they've got to give up the occupied territories. In the process of trying to fight their war on terrorism they're destroying themselves (sounds familiar). I'm not happy that the U.S. keeps supporting Sharon, and, as Michael pointed out, it's true that Jews are overrepresented in many areas of public life, just as blacks are underrepresented.
But people like the nutjob behind this flyer draw a line in the sand that I can't cross. It's clear that he thinks that the existence of Israel is a problem and the presence of Jews in the government is a problem in and of itself. If he really was only concerned about policy, he would have targetted people by policy, rather than religion, surely. But no.
For those who are curious, if you look up ZionismExplained.org on Whois, it lists the author's name, address, phone number and email address. He lives a few blocks from me! How's that for neighborly friendliness?
I wish he would have recommended some actual useful information, like legislative voting records, which would have helped people figure out which representatives need a good talking-to from their constituents, or Benny Morris'sRighteous Victims, which is a detailed and unsparing look at the history of Israel, or the new anthology Wrestling With Zion, which reveals the wide spectrum of American Jewish response to Israel, and includes an essay about how organizations like AIPAC are so out of step with mainstream Jewish opinion.
But no, that would have been too open-minded. Hate is so much simpler.
