The Difference: Christians, Muslims, and Jews

I posted this to Facebook and it was well received, so ...

Something interesting that my dad pointed out to me.

Christians are more than happy to kill other Christians who don't practice the faith the way that they do. (Look at Ireland.) 

Muslims are definitely more than happy to kill other Muslims who don't practice the faith the way they do. (Sunnis vs. Shi'ites, Hamas's religious leanings vs. moderate Muslims, etc.) 

And Jews? Well, when it comes to Jews and other Jews who don't practice or live the way they do, they complain a lot, they treat each other poorly a lot of the time, they tell them they're "not Jewish" or that they're "too Jewish." But you know what they don't do? They don't kill each other en masse.

It just. Doesn't. Happen.

Why?

Jews value life, above all. The life that we live in this world is the most important for Jews. We don't worry about the afterlife, what's coming, what's not coming. We live in the here and now, so we cherish life more than anything.

And that's the difference.

Note: My dad was raised in a Christian household. Not a crazy bible-thumping one, but a moderate one, and he raised us with one rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That helped guide me to Judaism.)

I Hate Getting Political, but ...

I can't help but post this. A good friend, who currently is spending the summer in Israel, sent this my way. Read on, friends.

Pilar Rahola (above) is a Spanish politician, journalist and activist and member of the far left. Her articles are published in Spain and throughout some of the most important newspapers in Latin America. She writes:

Why don't we see demonstrations against Islamic dictatorships in London, Paris, Barcelona?

Or demonstrations against the Burmese dictatorship?

Why aren't there demonstrations against the enslavement of millions of women who live without any legal protection?

Why aren't there demonstrations against the use of children as human bombs where there is conflict with Islam?

Why has there been no leadership in support of the victims of Islamic dictatorship in Sudan?

Why is there never any outrage against the acts of terrorism committed against Israel?

Why is there no outcry by the European left against Islamic fanaticism?

Why don't they defend Israel's right to exist?

Why confuse support of the Palestinian cause with the defense of Palestinian terrorism?

An finally, the million dollar question:Why is the left in Europe and around the world obsessed with the two most solid democracies, the United States and Israel, and not with the worst dictatorships on the planet? The two most solid democracies, which have suffered the bloodiest attacks of terrorism, and the left doesn't care.

And then, to the concept of freedom. In every pro Palestinian European forum I hear the left yelling with fervor: "We want freedom for the people!"

Not true. They are never concerned with freedom for the people of Syria or Yemen or Iran or Sudan, or other such nations. And they are never preoccupied when Hammas destroys freedom for the Palestinians. They are only concerned with using the concept of Palestinian freedom as a weapon against Israeli freedom. The resulting consequence of these ideological pathologies is the manipulation of the press.

The international press does major damage when reporting on the question of the Israeli-Palestinian issue. On this topic they don't inform, they propagandize.

When reporting about Israel the majority of journalists forget the reporter code of ethics. And so, any Israeli act of self-defense becomes a massacre, and any confrontation, genocide. So many stupid things have been written about Israel, that there aren't any accusations left to level against her.

At the same time, this press never discusses Syrian and Iranian interference in propagating violence against Israel; the indoctrination of children and the corruption of the Palestinians. And when reporting about victims, every Palestinian casualty is reported as tragedy and every Israeli victim is camouflaged, hidden or reported about with disdain.

And let me add on the topic of the Spanish left. Many are the examples that illustrate the anti-Americanism and anti-Israeli sentiments that define the Spanish left. For example, one of the leftist parties in Spain has just expelled one of its members for creating a pro-Israel website. I quote from the expulsion document: "Our friends are the people of Iran, Libya and Venezuela, oppressed by imperialism, and not a Nazi state like Israel."

In another example, the socialist mayor of Campozuelos changed Shoah Day, commemorating the victims of the Holocaust, with Palestinian Nakba Day, which mourns the establishment of the State of Israel, thus showing contempt for the six million European Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

Or in my native city of Barcelona, the city council decided to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel, by having a week of solidarity with the Palestinian people. Thus, they invited Leila Khaled, a noted terrorist from the 70's and current leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist organization so described by the European Union, which promotes the use of bombs against Israel.

This politically correct way of thinking has even polluted the speeches of president Zapatero. His foreign policy falls within the lunatic left, and on issues of the Middle East he is unequivocally pro Arab. I can assure you that in private, Zapatero places on Israel the blame for the conflict in the Middle East, and the policies of foreign minister Moratinos reflect this. The fact that Zapatero chose to wear a kafiah in the midst of the Lebanon conflict is no coincidence; it's a symbol.

Spain has suffered the worst terrorist attack in Europe and it is in the crosshairs of every Islamic terrorist organization. As I wrote before, they kill us with cell phones hooked to satellites connected to the Middle Ages. An yet the Spanish left is the most anti Israeli in the world.

And then it says it is anti Israeli because of solidarity. This is the madness I want to denounce in this conference.

Conclusion:

I am not Jewish. Ideologically I am left and by profession a journalist. Why am I not anti Israeli like my colleagues? Because as a non-Jew I have the historical responsibility to fight against Jewish hatred and currently against the hatred for their historic homeland, Israel. To fight against anti-Semitism is not the duty of the Jews, it is the duty of the non-Jews.

As a journalist it is my duty to search for the truth beyond prejudice, lies and manipulations. The truth about Israel is not told. As a person from the left who loves progress, I am obligated to defend liberty, culture, civic education for children, coexistence and the laws that the Tablets of the Covenant made into universal principles.

Principles that Islamic fundamentalism systematically destroys. That is to say that as a non-Jew, journalist and lefty I have a triple moral duty with Israel, because if Israel is destroyed, liberty, modernity and culture will be destroyed too.

The struggle of Israel, even if the world doesn't want to accept it, is the struggle of the world.

Shabbos + Flotilla + Sigh ...

The sun in the sky in Caesaria, November 2009

I don't have much to say ... as I'm still exhausted from the pre-wedding weekend, the wedding, and three "official" sheva brachot celebrations. What I do have to say, is that I'm thoroughly disgusted at how the Flotilla incident has been going down in the news. There's a viral video that's pretty amusing (a nice play on "we are the world," but that also has some of the horrifying video of IDF soldiers being beaten and stabbed), but other than that all I can offer is the following. Good Shabbos, and may the world figure out its messes before history repeats and we're writing more history books about our mistakes.

Pray for Injured IDF Navy Commando Soldiers this Sabbath

The names of the rest of those injured in the recent “flotilla” incident , June 2010, are listed below. It is customary, in Jewish practice, to pray for an individual using his given name and the name of his mother. IDF commandos are not identified by first and last names for security reasons.

Dean Ben Svetlana

Roee Ben Shulamit

Yotam Ben Dorit

Ido Ben Ilana

Boris Ben Eelaina

Below is the prayer for the welfare of IDF soldiers, as brought in translation by the Council of Young Israel who also publicized the list of wounded.

He Who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – may He
bless the fighters of the Israel Defense Force, who stand guard over
our land and the cities of our G-d from the border of the Lebanon to
the desert of Egypt, and from the Great Sea unto the approach of the
Aravah, on the land, in the air, and on the sea.


May the Almight cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down
before them. May the Holy One, Blessed is He, preserve and rescue our
fighting men from every trouble and distress and from every plague
and illness, and may He send blessing and success in their every
endeavor.


May He lead our enemies under their sway and may He grant them
salvation and crown them with victory. And may there be fulfilled for
them the verse: For it is the Lord, your G-d, Who goes with you to
battle your enemies for you in order to save you.


Now let us respond: Amen.

Obama and Israel

Okay. I can't help it, I have to say something. It will, however, be brief, as I know a firestorm is on its way in the comments section (right? right).

Obama is not out to destroy the Jewish State of Israel. He's not secretly uniting with all the Muslim powers to destroy the Jewish State of Israel. Have you ever heard of presidential choreography? Does it seem at all strange to you that this whole building in East Jerusalem thing came out of -- literally -- nowhere?

It's choreography. It's superficial. It's part of the game of being in bed with Israel, stam.

You can't be too tight with Israel, you can't be too against Israel (unless you're, you know, Iran). If the U.S. is super tight with Israel and Israel decides to take preemptive action and blow something in Iran up, the U.S. -- by association -- is screwed. So what does the U.S. do? It builds roadblocks (pardon the expression) in its relationship with Israel; it stays close, but not too close.

It's easy to come to an independent state's rescue. It's not easy to participate in its preemptive action against another sovereign nation. Right? Right.

This is my philosophy. Call me nuts, call me a collaborator, call me whatever you want. This kind of political choreography has always existed. You get close with some nations in order to screw them over, you have a faux falling out with another so that you don't get associated with their bullshit. It's choreography, it's superficial, that's it. The U.S. is famous for this stuff. Why are people in such a huff about this?

I'm really pro-Israel. I would pick up and move there tomorrow if Tuvia was down with it. I feel safe there, I feel at home there, I feel whole and complete there. I believe in a solution that allows Palestinians to live NOT under the thumb of Hamas and other militant organizations that plainly and flatly DO NOT even consider "peace" an option. I also believe in a solution that -- first and foremost -- allows Israel to continue to exist, as it does, as a sovereign and NECESSARY nation with its land and its freedom. Israel, to be sure, has every right in the world to defend itself, preemptively or postemptively.

I do, however, believe that peace in the Middle East will come at the cost of a huge and catastrophic event that I can't even begin to describe. It will happen, because it is only after catastrophe that we understand human life and its value in peace. It sucks, but that's how I have always seen the situation.

As someone said recently at a Shabbat dinner, "I am not optimistic, but I am hopeful."

Sticking it to the UN: Have You No Shame?

Hat tip to Jack for posting this up. I have to say, well put. He puts it perfectly.





"A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies the murder of six million Jews? While promising to wipe out the state of Israel? The state of the Jews? What a disgrace. What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations."

So you want to boycott Israel?

This video, brought to my attention by the lovely Aliza , is pretty hilarious. I know it looks long, but just watch it. Seriously.

A brief interlude for a kvetch

Listen, have your opinions about Israel and Hamas and the "Zionist conspiracy" or whatever, but don't spam my photos on Flickr with your pro-Hamas, down-with-Israel "Nazi Zionist" crap propoganda, mmk? Thanks.

It's amazing how ugly the world is getting, isn't it? Synagogues set ablaze, warning sirens in Jerusalem, people who you maybe thought were friends spewing anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiments in your face. I'm not trying to be extreme, but it echoes of another time. It reminds me of a poem I wrote, and the line that history repeats, repeats, repeats. Maybe I'll post it here sometime. It's one of my slam poems, about being Jewish, about the world we live in, and how we have a tendency to recycle our emotions. They don't get worse or better, they don't get different, they just get reused.

Anyhow, here's the screenshot of the guy who decided to spam comment my photos with a bunch of "free Palestine" crap. Too bad the guy doesn't know his history.