Bob Green responds to a Ha'aretz Editorial

Dear NileMedia Reader: Bob Green is one hell of a writer. When he cares to write. We wish he would do more of it. He recently responded to a Ha'aretz Editorial (1/22/02) that tackled the thorny issue of how European Jewry is confronting a 'stormy tide of anti-Semitism' after the September 11th atrocities. The editorial had the following advice for the Jews of France and England:

"The anxiety of some one million Jews, members of proud and Zionist communities, should trouble their brethren in Israel, if only because Israeli policies and actions are a reason - or at least an excuse - for much of the local expressions of hostility to Jews. While the Israeli government should not be asked to measure diplomatic or military stepsaccording to their potential ramifications on Diaspora Jewry, those ramifications cannot be ignored. The strength and well-being of those Jews, particularly those living in the West, contribute significantly to the Jewish state's general welfare.

Just as Israel must take these communities into consideration, so must the Diaspora community's leaders take care with their own steps, making sure their rhetoric remains restrained and wise. The Diaspora leadership's historic role is not to wage religious war against Islam. The state of Israel rightly has taken care during all the years of its political-territorial conflict with its Arab neighbors not to turn the conflict into a religious war. European Jewry must adopt the state's approach on that sensitive issue."

In Response, Bob Green wrote back to Ha'aretz with a little advice of his own.

Your editorial claims that the government of Israel has rightly taken care not to turn its conflicts into a religious war, and cautions European Jewry to do the same. How can you make a claim this hypocritical? The conflict in Israel is specifically due to the deprivation of rights to Gentiles: Palestinians who profess Christianity or Islam as their faith are treated like targets for the boots, guns and missiles of the IDF.

If a Palestinian were to be converted to Judaism by an "approved" Orthodox procedure, he or she would be welcomed as a family member and given the very land still being stolen from other Palestinians. The central contradiction of the Israeli "democracy" is that it is as democratic as was ancient Rome: democracy is only for citizens; in this case, defined by their religion, Judaism. This IS a religious war, and its prosecution threatens Jews in all countries, not just in Israel. I suspect that Sharon's intention is precisely to make the world unsafe for Jews, so we will all flee to Israel and help his forces with their plans for regional conquest, expansionism and hegemony.

There is an obvious way to stop it: democracy, as in, universal suffrage. There already is only one State, and it runs from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, from Lebanon to Gaza. The problem is that the residents of that multi-cultural state have different levels of political rights, with the Euro-American Jews at the top and the Palestinian Gentiles of the Occupied West Bank and Gaza at the bottom. Ask any Israeli Palestinian Gentile about democracy. Let's not kid ourselves: this is ONLY about religion, and the increasingly unsuccessful attempt to establish a permanent Jewish theocracy.

Bob Green
Vermont U.S.A.