Reading Roger Cohen’s op-ed of August 21 in The New York Times entitled “Jews in a Whisper”, I now understand why people make anti-Semitic jokes, have hated Jews worldwide throughout history and certain Jews are embarrassed to be Jewish. Following Mr. Cohen’s logic, one can understand why a friend of Cohen’s made an Anti-Semitic joke regarding a blackberry, why someone pointed at a Jewish family in a London neighborhood in 1970 and whispered the word Jew, why as he puts it many Jews whisper about Judaism in a “subliminal, awkward, half-apologetic way”, and their “priority was assimilation.” Here is Cohen's article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/opinion/sunday/cohen-jews-in-a-whisper.html Read on – it’s quite simple. Cohen details how he can’t stand up with Israel because of “Knesset members who have met in Israel with European rightists.” All of this explanation goes on to a very clear ending – as he states “The lesson is clear: Jews, with their history, cannot become the systematic oppressors of another people. They must be vociferous in their insistence that continued colonization of Palestinians in the West Bank will increase Israel’s isolation and ultimately its vulnerability.” That — not fanning Islamophobia — is the task before diaspora Jews. Anti-Semitic jokes, embarrassed shameful Jews – it’s all because of the “West Bank.” If one believes Mr. Cohen, the Jewish settlements which Israel won in a defensive war in 1967 are to blame for worldwide anti-Semitism. The concept that the settlements are the reason Jews are embarrassed to be Jews is an absurdity of absurdities. If this is the case, why did Israel face annihilation in 1948 or 1956 before there were any “occupied territories” ? Why was Israel attacked in 1967 by the Arab world before the Jewish state was forced to take Judea and Samaria ? I don’t understand – Israel has given land repeatedly – Oslo Peace process, Camp David – Mr. Cohen why is there still not peace and the end of Anti-Semitism ? Jews like Mr. Cohen of the J Street ilk can choose so many positive manifestations to celebrate Judaism – whether the beauty of the Torah or Jewish philosophy, the Jewish gift of the Sabbath or Judaism’s many humanistic values. Within Israel, they could choose to celebrate the multi-cultural way of life, democratic country or physical beauty of the State. Instead the lesson these fools learn from years of anti-Semitism is that “Jews, with their history, cannot become the systematic oppressors of another people.” A man calls you a pig. Do you walk around with a sign explaining that, in fact, you are not a pig? Ze'ev Maghen of Bar-Ilan University in Israel says it so well: "A man calls you a pig. Do you walk around with a sign explaining that, in fact, you are not a pig? Do you hand out leaflets expostulating in detail upon the manifold differences between you and a pig ("A pig has a snout, I have a nose; a pig wallows in mud, I only occasionally step in a puddle, and then, of course, inadvertently...")? Do you stand on a soap box and discourse eruditely on why, in general, it is extremely not nice to call people pigs, and appeal to the populace to please have no truck with an individual rude and nasty enough to say such things about an upstanding citizen like yourself? Fellow Jews, where in hell is your dignity? Where is your abhorrence of useless, thoughtless, counterproductive endeavor?” Shouldn’t be surprised reading The New York Times whose headline today read "Casualties on Both Sides as Israel and Gaza Trade Fire,” as if there is a moral equivalency between Hamas targeting women and children going about their daily lives and a democratic state protecting its own civilians. Couldn’t one have referred to 9/11 as one which saw casualties of Americans and Arabs as well? “ Better to have an Israel that is hated than an Auschwitz that is loved .”
