Steve Kramer – Israeli-American: Musings While Traveling
I’ve just finished watching the Netflix hit, Fauda, on my iPhone. This gritty Israeli series has Hebrew and Arab dialogue with English subtitles. Fauda is a realistic portrayal of the intelligence services’ activities in Israeli and Arab towns to prevent terror attacks or to apprehend or “liquidate” terrorists. Fauda’s pace is reminiscent of the original “24,” but the action is realistic, not Hollywood.
Even Arabs appreciate Fauda because it portrays all the characters, Arabs and Jews, as human. Though we don’t like to think of terrorists as anything but psychopaths, the truth is that “they love their mothers.”
Since Arabs and Israelis are both good and bad, one might think that there is a path to reconciliation between them, but unfortunately that’s not realistic. Our battles will continue until the Arabs accept compromise like Jews have done.
The Arabs say they have compromised too much already, with their two small, separated statelets: Palestine and Gaza. But that isn’t the crux of the matter. What is essential to know is that the Palestinian Arabs, and Muslims in general, wish for the demise of the Jewish State and its replacement by an all-Arab entity. Peace with a Jewish State isn’t an option.
So, watching Fauda may be a popular pastime for Israelis and Arabs, but it doesn’t signal a peace settlement on the horizon.
Will Democrats go the way of the British Labour Party? You may know that the venerable British party is headed by the antisemitic Jeremy Corbyn. The party’s membership has changed dramatically during his incumbency and now incorporates many antisemitic hard left members. As a result, some seven Labour MPs, Jewish and gentile, have resigned and formed a new liberal party. Obviously, this is a serious and welcome blow to Corbyn’s chance to become Prime Minister of Britain.
The Democratic Party might face a similar revolt among its Jewish and gentile members. A new “Gang of Four” is taking up all the oxygen in the current House of Representatives, or at least that’s what the media is presenting. There are three antisemites in this group; the fourth is their weakened, sorry enabler, Nancy Pelosi, serving her self-pronounced last term as Speaker of the House.
The three young antisemitic representatives are:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Her christening as AOC is a media master stroke, reminiscent of political icons FDR and JFK. But AOC is no JFK… She recently sent out a fundraising letter claiming there is a Jewish conspiracy against her and other antisemitic congresswomen. The letter said, “It’s official, AIPAC is coming after Alexandria, Ilhan, and Rashida.” The truth is, AIPAC has made no such statement nor taken any such action.
AOC is also notorious for ending the possibility of 25,000 Amazon jobs in Queens, NY and proposing legislative goals that must be achieved to avert the Doom’s Day in 2030. And she’s a 29-year-old avowed socialist who, from nowhere, became the most “newsworthy” Democrat.
Ilhan Omar of Minneapolis is also in the headlines. A Muslim, the Somali-American immigrant singlehandedly brought Speaker Pelosi – pathetically – to her knees after one of several antisemitic tirades from Omar. The result was a defanged anti-hate speech Congressional resolution which minimized antisemitism and failed to censure Omar. For her part, Pelosi said Omar didn’t understand the import of her words. Was that serious?
The last of this unholy alliance is Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, whose parents are Palestinian Arabs. Unsurprisingly, she proudly supports the demise of the Jewish State. She and Omar also espouse socialism as the way forward for Democrats and the nation.
Many British Jews have left the Labour Party, but some still retain their allegiance, perhaps by habit or ignorance. Could it happen in the US? The great thing about American politics is that every two years voters get to “throw the bums out” of the House of Representatives. Hopefully, that will happen in 2020.
If not, Jewish Democrats may find themselves supporting a party that legislates against their own interests. This may appeal to some Jewish “progressives,” but my guess is that many might decide not to vote in 2020 for either party: a pox on both their houses.
