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COMMUNITY VIEWS

Overcoming A Disturbing Silence

L

Rocker [of the Atlanta Braves baseball
et us assume that a profes-
team]
a place on New York's most-
sional baseball player on a
wanted
list. Politicians have been
major team tells black jour-
crushed
for less." [Rocker has drawn
nalists that they are members
media attention for his intolerant
of a race inferior to the white race.
remarks about minorities in
Would that make a story in
New York.]
the media? Would the black
Asks Wolper, "What took
community be up in arms?
so
long for people to read
The answer is obvious;
about
it — especially in
there would be a national
New
York,
with the largest
controversy.
Jewish
population
outside
Or let us assume that the
of Israel?"
ballplayer is advising gay
journalists in the locker room
Avoiding Trouble
that they will rot in hell for
Of course, there are no easy
their sexual preference. A
BERL
answers.
But it seems to
story? Undoubtedly.
FALBAUM
come
down
to the tradition-
Yet, nary a word has been
Special
to
al
mindset
of
the Jewish
written about outfielder Chad
the
Jewish
News
body
politic:
Don't
make
Curtis, who played for Detroit
trouble.
in 1995-96. Before his last
Wolper, who is Jewish —
team, the New York Yankees,
"that's not why I wrote the column"
traded him to the Texas Rangers this
— makes the following observation in
year, Curtis continually berated Jewish
his piece:
writers, advising them of the risk they
"Stories about the problems
were taking by being Jewish.
encountered
by minority journalists
Allan Wolper, who writes the
fill
the
pages
of newspapers, but Jew-
"Ethics Corner" column for the jour-
ish journalists tend to keep their
nalism magazine Editor & Publisher,
unhappy encounters to themselves."
discusses the lack of coverage of Cur-
Sound familiar? Time after time, the
tis' remarks. Wolper writes that this is
Jewish community, in the face of anti-
the " . . . kind of stuff that gave John
Jewish or antisemitic incidents, prefers
to take .a low profile — indeed, total
Bed Falbaum, a Farmington Hills
silence — over one that makes the
offending incident front-page news.
public relations executive andfbrmer
political reporter, teaches journalism at
Other minorities — blacks, gays,
women and others — recognize that
Wayne State University in Detroit. He
can be reached at (248) 737-1588.
only confrontation and public embar-

Proselytizing
Wolper reports that Jon Heyman, a Jew-
ish columnist for the Long Island, N.Y.-
based Newsday, finally wrote a story
about Curtis. In it, Heyman states:
"Chad was telling the [Jewish] writers
that they might be damned, that they
might go to hell. He was telling them
why his religious beliefs were correct and
why they were taking a chance."
Equally important, Curtis' prosely-
tizing apparently was not an isolated

incident. Writes Wolper, "Curtis' reli-
gious escapades remained locked
inside a small circle of sports writers
for two years."
Wolper speculates that the Jewish
reporters in the Yankee locker room did
not want to "burn bridges or lose access"
by reporting Curtis' comments.
But losing access or burning bridges
did not stop journalists from reporting
on Rocker. The implications made by
Wolper in his column are that other
minority writers go public if they
experience discrimination.
Indeed, women sports reporters fre-
quently report on incidents of sexual
harassment or discrimination in locker
rooms. Blacks do not hesitate to write
about being taunted with racial epi-
thets and slurs, and gays would not
hesitate to make public any insults
they suffer.
The Jewish journalists' stance makes
it easier for them because those involved
do not want to appear vengeful. But
after being publicly embarrassed, [ath-
letes] generally — obviously there are
exceptions — work cooperatively with
those they formerly abused. And the sys-
tem, in this case Yankee management,
certainly would be responsive.
Now that the story is public —
thanks to Heyman and Wolper — let
us see what organized Jewry will do in
response.
Given the record of the Jewish
body politic, probably as much as the
Jewish sports reporters did covering
Curtis. O

have brainwashed an entire generation
of Israelis into believing that they can
magically end the conflict with the
Arab world.
By proving the Jews are not obsta-
cles to peace and by appeasing their
enemies, Israelis expect to convince
their enemies to be their friends.
Thus, Israel's vulnerability is decidedly
self-inflicted due to those Israelis
infected with the self-destructive
."post-Zionist" ethos. According to
post-Zionists, like [Israeli cabinet min-
isters] Shimon Peres and Yossi Beilin,
once Israel "wins over" the interna-
tional community to its defense,
strategic territory and defensible bor-
ders will be unnecessary.
Instead of facing the facts that
Zionism in its present form is
anachronistic and, therefore, incapable

of sustaining the Jewish state, Israelis
are quick to blame external forces, like
the U.S., for their philosophical defi-
ciencies and loss of political will to
confront and defeat their enemies.
This practice only serves to prevent
Israelis from taking responsibility for
their flawed ideology. By purging Zion-
ism (and Judaism) of its irrational and
utopian elements and replacing them
with truly national and nationalistic
political system, Israelis could undo the
harm they have done by pursuing goals
such tikkun olam (repairing the world)
and "land for peace."
A proper political system would not
tolerate suicidal territorial withdrawals
under any conditions, lest of all when
the recipient is an unrepentant and
corrupt terrorist for whom "peace" is
merely a tactical strategy to weaken

But it seems to
come down to the
traditional mindset
of the Jewish body
politic: Don't make
trouble.

rassment achieve the desired results:
some semblance of just treatment, an
end to discrimination — at least in
the public arena — restitution where
appropriate, remedial action, public
confession, etc.
If nothing else, one's self-respect
dictates the need for action. Silence
sends terribly disturbing messages.

LETTERS

Israel's Decline
And Ideology

Dore Gold, [Israel's ambassador to the
United Nations], in his article "Why
Camp David II Failed" (Wall Street
Journal, July 27), is a perfect example
of what Jonathan Tobin warned
against in his special commentary
"Don't Blame Bill" (Jewish News, July
14, page 39).
As a member of [former Istaeli
Prime Minister] Bibi. Netanyahu's
administration, like [the late Prime
Minister] Menachem Begin at Camp
David in 1978, Ambassador Gold
helped blur the distinction between
the Right and the Left in Israel by
enabling future territorial withdrawals
at the Wye summit in 1998.

8/11
2000

36

The failure of the so-called "peace
process" is that Israelis, like Gold, who
claim to support a strong Israel, con-
tinue to blame the U.S. for "forcing"
Israel to make concessions as if Israel
was a helpless and powerless victim,
The reason Israel, whether under a
Labor-left or Likud-right government,
fails time and again to defend its
strategic interests, including protecting
its sovereign territory, is that most
Israelis accept the dubious proposition
that one day Israel's benevolent and
universalistic behavior will convince
the world that the Jewish state is
unworthy of hatred.
The intellectual origins of Israel's
decline is that its founding ideology,
Zionism, consists of vestigial enlight-
enment/Haskala utopianism and pseu-
do-messianic principles. These ideas

