The latest news about the Bar Mitzvah of Zach Emanuel is that he went up to the Western Wall alone, without his father as is customary. Israeli and American security must have decided that allowing the President's chief-of-staff to join in his son would represent too tempting a target for rightist Jews -- the ones who murdered Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
According to Ha'aretz, earlier in the day, the Emanuel family "surrounded by heavy security, was met during the visit by a crowd of angry far-rightists who accused him of being an 'anti-Semite' and 'hating Israel.' Police forces were on hand to dispel the demonstrators and to arrest their leaders, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Maezel."
The sooner the Emanuel family gets out of Jerusalem the better. There are few places in the world where President Obama is hated as much as he is in Jerusalem. Why? The combination of racism and the fear that Obama will actually produce an end to the occupation drives rightwing Israelis crazy and East Jerusalem's Jews are predominantly Orthodox settlers.
Now that the Bar Mitzvah is over, the Emanuels should get themselves to liberal secular Tel Aviv, Eilat, Haifa, a kibbutz, or just come home. One last thing: the President should not set foot in Israel so long as Israel's equivalent of the tea party right dominates the culture. If the half-Israeli, all-Jewish chief-of-staff to a President who provides Israel with more aid, by far, than any other country is not safe in Israel in Israel, who is? (Obama himself just approved an extra $200 million in aid; Israel is exempt to all the cuts applied here). The good news is that Rahm now has a hint of the kind of hate Palestinians endure nonstop.
It's time for the real Israelis (secular, liberal, tolerant, progressive) to take their country back. They should start by dumping the current government of fanatics. If they won't, America needs to start tightening the screws. A country cannot claim to be our best ally in the world when our leaders aren't safe there. It's time to re-think this relationship.
I look forward to the day the occupation ends and Israel can again be, what it once was, a strategic and moral asset to America and country of which all Jews can be proud. That is not the case today. Far from it.
Follow MJ Rosenberg on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mjmediamatters
Well done, Rahm Emanuel.
Some would call this type of behavior euphemistically "double standards". I do not like euphemisms: I call it discrimination – a form of racism. In this case, being directed against Jews, it's usually called antisemitism. And please do not explain to me that Mr. Rosenberg is Jewish. Even I know that (he keeps telling us in his blogs; he probably thinks that that somehow strengthens his argument!?); but I really don't think it matters what he IS. It's what he DOES that matters.
"According to Ha'aretz, earlier in the day, the Emanuel family "surrounded by heavy security, was met during the visit by a crowd of angry far-rightists who accused him of being an 'anti-Semite' and 'hating Israel.""
One crazy guy, that was condemned and vilified by every orthodox rabbi and orthodox and religious person out there.
I'm just not sure if Rahm really gets it, though.
Your statement reflect a total disconnect from reality.one of Israel largest migration came from Ethiopia ( have you seen a white Ethiopian yet? no and you never will) in other words a huge sector of the population of Israel is African blacks, who were and still are welcomed with open arms, and you suggest that Jew's don't like Obama because they are racist,MJ if your comments aren't racist then take that word out of the dictionary.
The reason why the popularity of the Obama's administration is low and only getting worse in Israel does not surprise any one. After all he is asking Israel to compromise on issue's that he would never ask his own country(he couldn't for legal reasons, due to our legal system based off democratic principals ) ,additionally it's at the expense of Israels security. And Israel has the right to defend it's self and follow it's own legal system too, as you would expect from any western democracy.(living up-to it's own democratic principals)
In addition are suggesting that in exchange of visiting Israel he should visit other middle eastern non voting states that host the Muslim brother hood, Say Egypt, right?. And you utter about Israel being extreme
Which country are you loyal to, Israel or America?
Yes, and those who brake the law certainly don't get a red carpet, who ever they and were ever they are.
"four Ethiopian girls enrolled in Lamerchav Elementary School are learning in complete isolation from their peers. They study in separate classrooms, have their own recess time and are even reportedly given daily cab fare so as not to ride home on the bus with other students. "
http://www.mediareviewnet.com/index.php/201005041531/Opinion-Article/Religious-Racism-in-Israeli-Schools.php
or
http://www.haaretz.com/news/olmert-ethiopian-jews-are-right-to-feel-discriminated-against-1.234885
Shut the frauds down real quick. The power of facts prevails again.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/856/eg9.htm
have you ever been to israel, have you ever spoken with Israeli's living in Israel, reflecting on you comments I don't believe you did. So then why are you talking in a area you don't bear the knowlegde for.?
With all due respect, Mr. Rosenberg, I think the rightwingers' problem with Obama is not the end of the occupation but rather the settlement freezes. From the HP article...
"The protesters began shouting insults and slogans from afar, yelling, "Jerusalem is not for sale." They were referring to the White House pressure for Israel to halt construction in disputed east Jerusalem."
I'd ask you for your source that states the rightwing Israelis oppose Obama over the occupation, but I know you don't have one.
And where are all these settlements built? If they're not on illegally occupied Palestinian lands, then why don't we call them Jewish neighborhoods as some wish to say.
I don't know who are your sources. Perhaps some of those ultra right-wingers who were shouting the insults at Rahm
- East Jerusalem has first been occupied by Jordan. Israel has taken it in 1967 after being attacked by Jordan.
- While United States (and other countries) do not "acknowledge" (as you say) Israel's annexation of E. Jerusalem, neither do they recognize the Palestinian claims to it. The US position is simply that the status of E. Jerusalem is disputed and needs to be decided through negotiations between the two parties.
I also hope that Rahm learned something about the kind of non stop hatred the Palestinians have to endure nonstop.
Please tell me a single, viable offer than any Palestinian government has ever made. 67 borders + right of return is a non-starter (Israel will not accept millions of "refugees"). One state solution is similarly a non-starter.
there were next to none there only 80 years ago
I wonder where these people came from?