Letters, June 19, 2009
 
Old news 
PHILIP Mendes, the self-appointed expert on the “Jewish Left”, sets out a crude binary between mainstream Jews on one hand, and the “anti-Zionist” Left on the other (AJN 12/06), which does not reflect the dialogue and lively debate in Israel or in other Jewish communities (AB Yehoshua, Avraham Burg) about the political character of a Jewish state.¬†Many and various positions and views about this are possible, just as there is debate and shift in Australia about the nature of Australian identity. Zionism is not one cohesive ideology as he claims. ¬†
For example, I would hope most Melbourne Jews find the Israeli Right’s proposals (AJN 05/06) for apartheid or deportation of the Palestinian population in order to ensure the Jewish nature of a Greater Israel wholly abhorrent. Does that make most Melbourne Jews also non-Zionists?¬†What is really curious is that Philip Mendes and The AJN seem to want to resurrect the empty spectre of ultra-Left anti-Zionism at just the moment when progressive Left Jewish positions, which have always advocated two states, are regaining credibility with the Jewish ¬≠mainstream.¬†
MIRIAM FAINE 
Hawthorn, Vic 
 
Poor research 
PHILIP Mendes’ article on Jewish anti-Zionism was marred by its sweeping oversimplifications and was riddled with half-truths (AJN 12/06).¬†He used the very tactics of those that he most abhors to launch his attack, armed with little ¬≠substance or evidence, and readily ignoring any nuances that relate to the issues.¬†His attempt to dismiss anti-Zionists throughout history simply as “freak shows at best, and self-hating Jews at worst” was highly disingenuous. ¬†¬†
Opposition to Zionism is, in fact, a complex and diverse tradition in 20th-century Jewish political thought. Most Jewish anti-Zionist groups through history have opposed Zionism because it runs contrary to their own Jewish self-understanding. The Jewish Labor Bund, for example, was one of the most innovative and popular Jewish political parties in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. Bundists were vehemently anti-Zionist, not out of hatred of Jewish statehood, but because it went against their principle of doykayt (here-ness), which asserts that no Jewish community should be privileged over another, and that there is no singular Jewish centre. 
Even after the war, Bundists around the world continued to oppose Zionism, because they believed that Jewish culture should be developed in all places where Jews lived. They did not “cynically persuade Jewish members to exploit their own religious and cultural origins in order to vilify their own people”. Nor was their Jewish identity “solely based on a rejection of Zionism and Israel”.¬†Jews who opposed Zionism come from many different backgrounds and do so for many different reasons. Rather than try to dictate to people how to form their Jewish identity, Dr Mendes should take more care in crafting an argument based on more careful research.¬†
DAVID SLUCKI 
Caulfield South, Vic 
 
Friend of Israel 
I RECENTLY returned from my sixth visit to Israel and, although I am not Jewish (I am a follower and believer in Yeshua), I have a strong, lifelong affection for both Israel and the Jewish people. On returning from this recent trip, which happened to be a most wonderful and enjoyable time catching up with my Israeli friends, I was surprised by the reaction of a number of people. I have occasion to mix with people who are of the Left in their politics and several of them expressed surprise that I went to Israel. 
All my friends know that I am a friend of Israel, but the difference today for me experientially is that there appears to be a significant increase in the frequency and potency of these expressions of anti-Semitism. This was particularly apparent upon return from this most recent trip.¬†Another observation I would like to make is that anti-Semitism has been “sexed-up” and is now called anti-Zionism or thinly disguised as being “merely” criticism of Israel. Israel has become the proxy for anti-Semitic attacks against the Jewish people.¬†
This new anti-Semitism is not new at all, but is the ancient hatred repackaged and now made apparently palatable enough that individuals of the academic Left might be able to join in the torrent of hatred directed at both Israel and the Jewish people. I observe now that the world is an unfriendlier place for Israel and for the Jewish people. Fortunately for Israel it does not have to rely on the UN to protect it. The real truth for Israel is that Hashem is protecting His people. Where are those once mighty nations and powers of history that rose up against the Jewish people? They reside today only in museums as relics and within the dust of the ages. Finally I can say with certainty that come what may in the future, and no matter what an American president may or may not dictate, Am Yisrael Chai! (the people of Israel live!). 
Ron McLay 
Auburn, NSW 
 
Crying wolf? 
AT worst, Gary Max (AJN 12/06), Petty’s cartoon in The Age (08/06) was insensitive and careless, but I don’t believe it was anti-Semitic. The cartoon shows a Star of David flag and a dollar sign atop a building, which at first sight suggests the old anti-Semitic thing about Jews and control of money.¬†
But if you read what is says in bold print on the front of that building namely, “Temple of US Support”, it becomes clear that what Petty is saying is that the US is Israel’s financial backer hence, the Israeli flag and the dollar sign, and not, as you interpreted, “Jewish money dictates world power”.¬†We indeed must remain vigilant of anti-Semitism, but before we cry wolf, as in the case of Petty’s cartoon, we should take a closer look at the “big picture”.¬†
HENRY HERZOG 
St Kilda East, Vic 
 
Shoulder to shoulder 
MEMO Steve Brook (AJN 12/06). The play you support isn’t called “Seven Israeli Children”, nor “Seven Zionist Children”, but Seven Jewish Children.¬†It characterises Jews as believing that because “we suffered” the Holocaust, because “we are stronger” and because “they’re animals”, we have the right to kill Palestinians.¬†I have met thousands of Jews, and thousands of Israelis in my 15 years in Israel, but not once heard these arguments. ¬†¬†
Ironically, they are the very arguments put by Islamist clerics to justify killing Jews, right down to the animals … monkeys and pigs specifically. In citing the Jewish claim to Israel as “G-d gave it to us”, the play ignores Jewish land purchase, and the division of Ottoman state lands in 1924, assigning today’s Israel, West Bank and Gaza to the “Jewish homeland”.¬†That is the largely secular Zionist legal claim to the land. The Arabs received 80 per cent of Palestine as a gift, but bigotry hasn’t allowed many to countenance any Jewish state on what was once proud Muslim empire.¬†Nowhere in Obama’s speech will you find concurrence with this play’s outrageous bigotry, but you are right, Mr Brook, you do not stand alone. You stand shoulder to shoulder with bigots and anti-Semites the world over.¬†
MORRY SZTAINBOK 
Bentleigh, Vic 
 
Being right not always right 
STEVE Brook’s triumphalism that the Australia Jewish Democratic Society’s (AJDS) minority views have been endorsed by President Barack Obama is evidence not of being right but, as Gorbachev recently wrote, the need for Perestroika in the US (AJN 12/05).¬†When the US government declares that letters of understanding with Israel can be ignored, it undermines all agreements made by the US.¬†
Obama’s demand for a cessation of all “natural growth” in settlements echoes Nazi sterilisation policies. It declares that settlements are on Palestinian land and its residents have a choice of dying out or moving away.¬†Obama’s call for “two states” whose borders he has already determined on the basis of Palestinian claims, rather than negotiations demanded by 242, shows contempt for rulings and agreements and for the democratic choice of Israelis.¬†And this Brooks hails as vindication of AJDS’ position on the Israel/Palestinian conflict!¬†
PAUL WINTER 
Chatswood, NSW 
 
Shabbat gift 
EVERY now and then, The AJN publishes a recipe that has non-kosher ingredients. This upsets me because I believe it to be inappropriate, never mind that we know very well that not all of us keep kosher.¬†Kerrie Sackville, in her column, “A stab in the back” (AJN 12/06), wrote that she spends Saturdays doing the laundry. (I wonder if the family is in the habit of chucking every item into the dirty linen basket after every single wear without checking to see if it is really dirty?)¬†
This upset me even more. 
Shabbat is for recuperation, revitalisation, rejoicing and resting, both physical and spiritual. Not in vain is it said that more than the Jews have kept the Shabbat, the Shabbat has kept the Jews.¬†We received this gift of one day out of seven at Sinai and other nations have adopted it from us also, albeit keeping a different day. Until then every day was the same, for work for the workers and leisure for the rich.¬†What will Kerrie Sackville answer when asked before the throne, “What did you do with the precious gift of Shabbat I gave you?” ¬†¬†
“Laundry?”¬†
ADRIENNE SCHWARTZ    
Darling Point, NSW 
 
Rightists no obstacle 
AS a proud right-wing Zionist, I think it is ridiculous of David Langsam (AJN 12/06) to accuse those who stand on the Right of being “the real obstacle to a safe homeland for Jews”!¬†Was it not the legendary right-wing former prime minister Menachem Begin who got peace with Egypt, Israel’s most dangerous enemy at the time? Compare this to the “centrist” former prime minister Ehud Olmert, who sent Israel into a terribly handled Second Lebanon War and who released hundreds of Palestinian terrorists from Israeli jails as “goodwill gestures” to the moderate but really terrorist, Mr Abbas. Who has made Israel more dangerous? I wonder.¬†
Just because those on the Right have real principles and proper red lines and stand by them, doesn’t make all of them extremists.¬†While a small minority are, most of them are far from being extreme. With regard to the “US support” Langsam is so grateful for, remember, it’s not always about holding a view that’s popular with “world opinion”, it’s about what is right and how one must hold true to one’s beliefs. Otherwise, they become like a dead fish being pushed down the river by the current. ¬†¬†
JOSH BARTAK 
St Kilda East, Vic   
 
Loved Limmud-Oz 
IT is fitting for the Jewish community to offer hearty congratulations and thanks to the Shalom Institute for the most inspiring and educational Limmud-Oz seminar on June 7 and 8. Limmud-Oz must truly be a unique global experience where an extensive and diversified selection of the Jewish community are availed the opportunity to attend a weekend seminar covering so wide a range of topics expertly presented. 
These included challenging issues to Israel and the Jewish people, important global topics, our local community, parenting, art, religion, mentoring and many more subjects so relevant and interesting in our daily lives. The quality of the speakers both local and international was impressive, while the presence of a few world-class personalities gave the weekend a dynamic buzz! The entire organisation is to be highly commended from the choice of topics and guest speakers, to the relaxed and efficient atmosphere that prevailed during the two-day seminar. 
Our community is fortunate to be graced with the vital work and influence of the Shalom Institute and I hope will continue to support the institute in every way. Their work will continue to have a meaningful effect at all levels of our community, not least on the education of our younger generations. 
GERALD CAMBERG 
Vaucluse, NSW   
 
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