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Dan Fleshler at Realistic Dove: “I am a self-hating Jew. Sometimes, that is.”
Sometimes I hate myself after losing my temper at my daughter or wife, or envying a friend’s success, or not comforting someone who needed comforting. Sometimes I hate myself for being too hard on myself.
Today, I am a self-hating Jew because I realize I’ve never taken the trouble to denounce those who call critics of Israel “self-hating Jews.”
If you Google “Richard Goldstone self-hating Jew Gaza,” you will find more than 5,000 entries. They include recent posts that invoke the new, controversial report from the UN Commission that Goldstone headed, which charges Israel and Hamas with war crimes and possibly even crimes against humanity. But his accusers are just getting started. By the time I finish writing this post, I bet a few hundred more will appear. A campaign of very personal character assassination is as predictable as a rain shower after the clouds have grown dark. . . .
I’ve just finished reading the Goldstone report. As the Forward notes, it “blisters with specificity.” It is upsetting. I don’t know exactly what happened in the Gaza Strip during “Operation Cast Lead” last winter. I do know that Israel will have a difficult time discrediting the report by citing the UN’s past transgressions, or insisting that Israel went out of its way to avoid civilian casualties, or explaining how the report neglected to include the “context” for Israel’s actions. White phosphorus provides its own context.
I also know that Richard Goldstone is my kind of Jew. And this time, I’m not going to hate myself for neglecting to lambaste those who reflexively call him “self-hating.”
Rabbi Brant Rosen at Shalom Rav: “The long awaited UN Human Rights Council Fact Finding Report on Israel’s war in Gaza has finally been released and its conclusions are breathtaking.”
The mission led by Justice Richard Goldstone . . . has concluded that serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by Israel during the Gaza conflict, and that Israel committed actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity. . . .
Based upon comments and e-mails I get on a daily basis, I know I will be considered by some to be a self-righteous simpleton at best and a traitor to my people at worst. But here goes: as a Jew, I am devastated by these findings. The moral implications of this report should challenge us to the core. And I am deeply, deeply troubled that the primary response of our Jewish communal leadership is to attack the source of the report while saying absolutely nothing about its actual content.
Yes, there are other human rights abusers in the world. And yes, some of them are even worse than Israel. Yes, the structure and governance policy of the UN is far from perfect. And yes, nations tend to use the UN for their own self-serving ends. But do these facts give us a pass on holding Israel up to the most basic standards of human rights and international law?
Originally posted by stevegmu
It can also mean murder of a population within a region.
Originally posted by stevegmu
Perhaps solely relying on UN definitions isn't the brightest course of action.
Originally posted by stevegmu
If the US were attacked on a daily basis from Canada, I would demand the US government take harsh measures to stop the attacks.
"Christians weren't murdered during WWII because they were Christians. Jews were because they were Jewish. Not a tough concept to understand."
Of course Israel has charges against them. The UN is a very anti-Semitic organization. Syria, China and Iran have representatives on the Human Rights Commission.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert included Israel among a list of nuclear states in comments in December 2006, a week after US Defence Secretary Robert Gates used a similar form of words during a Senate hearing.
Click on the numbers for a list of individual names and details about the circumstances of their death.
29.9.2000-26.12.2008
Occupied Territories
Israel
Gaza Strip West Bank Total
Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces
3000 1791 4791 69
Palestinians killed by Israeli civilians
4 41 45 2
Israeli civilians killed by Palestinians
39 198 237 490
Israeli security force personnel killed by Palestinians
97 148 245 90
Foreign citizens killed by Palestinians
10 7 17 37
Foreign citizens killed by Israeli security forces
4 6 10
Palestinians killed by Palestinians
458 135 593