One of the worst antisemitic incidents in the history of the United States took place at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue on October 27, 2018, when 11 people were killed in a shooting.
On the face of it, Israeli and American Jews presented a united front over the tragedy.
Jerusalem’s Old City walls were lit up with the inscription “We are with you, Pittsburgh.” Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett immediately headed to the site of the attack to showcase Israeli solidarity.
However, the official level of unity and solidarity hide deepening inter-Jewish fissures. Upon hearing of Bennett’s visit, the pro-Israeli left-wing group J-Street tweeted that by defending the Trump administration, Bennett contributed to the “spread of fear, division and hate.”
One of the defining features of politics in the United States in the 21st Century is the partisan distaste Republicans and Democrats feel towards each other. This is increasingly in evidence in relations between Jews on both sides of the Atlantic.
Partisan divisions
Many liberal Jews blame Trump for inciting the attack with his rhetoric. Eleven left-leaning Jewish leaders in Pittsburgh went as far as to write the President an open letter stating he was not welcome in the city until he disavowed intolerance and white supremacy.
Correspondingly, Jews who support Trump have been vilified by some left-leaning Jews. One accusation that recurred was that Jews who support the president sold out the interests of the community in order to support Israeli interests.
Journalist Julia Ioffe tweeted: “A word to my fellow American Jews: this President makes this possible … I hope the embassy move over there, where you don’t live, was worth it.”
The veteran Jewish publication The Forward published an op-ed declaring “if you ignore his hateful tweets because you like his policies on Israel, you are part of the problem.”
Trump is popular in Israel and enjoys 49% support versus only 22% disapproval. In the United States, a recent Gallup poll found the president’s approval has sunk to 40%, while his disapproval rating is at 54%.
Many liberal American Jews resent the Israeli support for Trump, as well as the close governmental cooperation. As a result, some liberal American Jews blame the Israeli government for Trump’s racist policies and indirectly for the attack in Pittsburgh as well.
David Simon, creator of the television show The Wire, said that by supporting Trump, Netanyahu had chosen “white nationalism and creeping fascism.”
“American Jewry, now targeted, has eyes and memory,” he tweeted.
Liberal Jews claim that Trump-supporting Jews are traitors, putting their brethren at risk by supporting Israel at their expense. The accusations were one step away from accusing the Israeli government and right-wing American Jews of having blood on their hands.
This is an inversion of the classic accusation of disloyalty leveled at critics of Israel in the past by supporters of the Jewish state.
Conservative Jews in Israel and the United States vehemently disagree. In an editorial in the right-leaning Commentary magazine, John Podhoretz, who is not a Trump supporter, insisted: “Donald Trump should be assigned no such blame, even if the shooter were the president of the Donald Trump Fan Club, because he pulled no trigger and committed no crime. Period.”
In this they are in full agreement with their right-wing counterparts in Israel. Members of the Likud party Tweeted and exchanged messages stating that liberal American support for immigrants was encouraging anti-Semitism in the United States.
In response to their coverage of the attack, the liberal Forward was targeted by right-wing Israelis. The Forward’s opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon tweeted: “If you had told me a week ago that I would spend the days after a terror attack against my community being trolled by right-wing Israeli Jews, I simply would not have believed you.”
Denominational divisions
The shootings also highlight the denominational divide between the American Jewish community and their Israeli counterparts. In the US, the vast majority of affiliated Jews are either from the Conservative or the Reform streams.
However, in Israel the Orthodox stream controls the rabbinate and they refuse to recognize non-Orthodox conversions. Since the 1980s this has led to significant tensions between the Israeli government and American Jews.
After the shooting, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish media in Israel and the country’s chief rabbis avoided referring to the Tree of Life as a synagogue. Instead, they referred to it as a “Jewish Center” or other non-specific terms. This is seen by many American Jews as an intentional slap in the face, as it denotes that these are not houses of worship.
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union of Reform Judaism, was outraged, and said: “This tragedy should bring all Jews together, not rip us further apart. It’s unconscionable that any rabbi worth their name would question the Jewishness of those worshiping on Shabbat in a synagogue shattered by murder and the blood of Jews.”
A headline in The Forward objected: “Not a synagogue? Pittsburgh Victims Might Disagree.”
For decades Jews on both sides of the Atlantic have been concerned that familial relations between the communities will be torn asunder through disagreements over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, it appears that the true fault lines are over the very identity of American Jews.
Everyone can go to hell, except them; that’s what the believe and have been working on it for thousand of years.
Everyone can go to hell, except them; that’s what the believe and have been working on it for thousand of years.
The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA) presents the Zionist defense of the US right in this situation. in the past, it has published an article opposing the total destruction of ISIS, calling rather for a weakened ISIS, which could be used against states which US/Israel seeks to undermine.
https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/pittsburgh-massacre-cynicism/
"EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The claim that the mass murder of worshippers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh was the product of Republican discourse on immigration and citizenship is a cynical ploy to use the trauma to bar conservative positions from the public sphere. An anti-Semitic massacre does not preclude the legitimate positions of an incumbent administration. This attack was triggered not by current political discourse but by the fusion of rabid Jew hatred and a propensity for violence – a combination that unfortunately existed long before the founding of the US."
The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA) presents the Zionist defense of the US right in this situation. in the past, it has published an article opposing the total destruction of ISIS, calling rather for a weakened ISIS, which could be used against states which US/Israel seeks to undermine.
https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/pittsburgh-massacre-cynicism/
"EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The claim that the mass murder of worshippers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh was the product of Republican discourse on immigration and citizenship is a cynical ploy to use the trauma to bar conservative positions from the public sphere. An anti-Semitic massacre does not preclude the legitimate positions of an incumbent administration. This attack was triggered not by current political discourse but by the fusion of rabid Jew hatred and a propensity for violence – a combination that unfortunately existed long before the founding of the US."
It’s a shame people will only unite in times of extreme adversities but start bickering as soon as life is good. Such is the same for Jews as for Chinese, same for circle of friends to circle of nations.
It’s a shame people will only unite in times of extreme adversities but start bickering as soon as life is good. Such is the same for Jews as for Chinese, same for circle of friends to circle of nations.
Of course Israel, as a major terrorist nation, supports the terrorist supporting Trumpski, an agent of Russia and in the pay of Saudi Arabia, itself a major terrorist state. The typical Netanyahu-supporting Israeli Jew would be a red meat eating Trumpanzee in the US. The Jews in this country see where Trumpski’s racism must inevitably lead, and the irony that the Holocaust-wielding Israelis do not, says volumes about where their true piriorities lie. Maybe worse, they do realize that and simply don’t care. They will deal with Trumpski because he is supposedly "the enemy of their enemies." Lots of German Jews tried to deal with Hitler before the tragic error of their ways became self evident.
Of course Israel, as a major terrorist nation, supports the terrorist supporting Trumpski, an agent of Russia and in the pay of Saudi Arabia, itself a major terrorist state. The typical Netanyahu-supporting Israeli Jew would be a red meat eating Trumpanzee in the US. The Jews in this country see where Trumpski’s racism must inevitably lead, and the irony that the Holocaust-wielding Israelis do not, says volumes about where their true piriorities lie. Maybe worse, they do realize that and simply don’t care. They will deal with Trumpski because he is supposedly "the enemy of their enemies." Lots of German Jews tried to deal with Hitler before the tragic error of their ways became self evident.
Although Jews could use our prayers, concealed carry would help more in the short term. The Israeli defense forces swear in recruits on top of Masada where hundreds of Jews committed suicide rather than submit to the Romans. The ceremony ends with "Never again!"
American Jews have forgotten this lesson.
"The Long-Departed Gun Control Train" at http://www.scragged.com/articles/the-long-departed-gun-control-train points out that even in "gun-free" Europe, terrorists can easily buy guns. The Europeans know what they have to do, let’s see if they do it:
ABC News reports:
Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said today the U.S. and the rest of the democratic world is at a security crossroads in the wake of last month’s deadly al-Shabab attack at a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya – and suggested an answer could be in arming civilians. …
Noble said there are really only two choices … : either create secure perimeters around the locations or allow civilians to carry their own guns to protect themselves.
Nobody worries much about what Jesus said about armament:
Luke 22:36 Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
Better to be naked and have a sword than to have clothes and no sword.
Although Jews could use our prayers, concealed carry would help more in the short term. The Israeli defense forces swear in recruits on top of Masada where hundreds of Jews committed suicide rather than submit to the Romans. The ceremony ends with "Never again!"
American Jews have forgotten this lesson.
"The Long-Departed Gun Control Train" at http://www.scragged.com/articles/the-long-departed-gun-control-train points out that even in "gun-free" Europe, terrorists can easily buy guns. The Europeans know what they have to do, let’s see if they do it:
ABC News reports:
Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said today the U.S. and the rest of the democratic world is at a security crossroads in the wake of last month’s deadly al-Shabab attack at a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya – and suggested an answer could be in arming civilians. …
Noble said there are really only two choices … : either create secure perimeters around the locations or allow civilians to carry their own guns to protect themselves.
Nobody worries much about what Jesus said about armament:
Luke 22:36 Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
Better to be naked and have a sword than to have clothes and no sword.