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Winning, Losing And Moving On
Dry Bones
IRAN HAS PLEDGED
TO STOP IT'S
SECRET NUKE
PROGRAM...
BUT ISRAEL SAYS
MAT IRAN HAS A
SECRET SECRET
PROGRAM!!
K: The wounds were wide and deep. Now we
need to work on healinab them and getting on
with the business of the Jewish community in
America.
In the presidential election three weeks ago, four
Jews voted for the Democratic candidate, John F.
Kern; for every one who supported the incumbent
Republican, George W. Bush. The numbers were not
radically different from past national elections and
reflected the gradual easing of the once absolute
Democratic control of the Jewish vote.
The uptick in Republican support among Jews
tracks our rising affluence and acceptance in the main-
stream; the more our socioeconomics mirror national
patterns, the more many of us will feel com-
fortable within the GOP. This is good for
the American Jewish community, which
should have standing a and influence in both
parties.
However, the shrillness of the debate over which
presidential candidate would be better for Israel result-
ed in unprecedented accusations, mean-spirited com-
ments and finger pointing that has lingered beyond
Nov. 2. On the one hand are traditional liberals,
appalled at a government that they believed deliberate-
ly lies to America, disgusted with the collapse of envi-
ronmental protections, frustrated by the indifference to
corporate felonies, saddened by the erosion of constitu-
tional protections and scared by the power of evangeli-
cal Christianity. On the other are passionate defenders
of Israel who were convinced that Bush's announced
commitment to bringing democracy to the Arab and
Muslim nations was the best thing that could ever hap-
pen to the Jewish state; many in this group also
embraced the president's vision for family values.
People who have been allies in
Jewish community building in
Metro Detroit for decades are no
longer on speaking terms, based on
presidential preferences. People with
impeccable records of support for
Israel, on both the Democratic and
Republican sides of the aisle, feel
hurt, shunned or ignored by their
colleagues
We have work to do at local,
national and global levels. We are
not about to back away from our
••••••
dedication to a just society, to
human rights, to educa-
tion and the environment,
to appropriate medical
care for all, to the battle
against terrorism. We need to work
together on our schools and social
services and on maintaining Jewish
identity.
Nor can we afford to lose sight of
the need to assure the security of
Israel. Yasser Arafat is dead, and the
wheels are spinning quickly in
America and abroad to put pressure
on Israel to make quick concessions
to Arafat's Palestinian successors.
That should serve to refocus our
community's collective attention and
energy right now
In this season of giving thanks, we need to set aside
the acrimony and just move on. If we can't make peace
with each other, what sort of model are we being to
Gone But Not Forgotten
The terror he had set in motion empowered
approach. We want to believe that our oppo-
him like no turn to statesmanship ever
nents can be persuaded, that they are open
could.
to negotiation as.reasonable people, that dif-
Even now there is no way of knowing
ferences can be resolved in the middle.
whether Arafat personally ordered the ongo-
Did you watch the coverage of Arafat's
ing attacks on Israelis or whether he was
burial in Ramallah? Still believe that?
powerless to stop them, a man who was run-
A few weeks ago, I used the term infan-
ning as fast as he could to stay ahead of the
tilization to describe what has happened to
mob he had created.
the Palestinians after decades of life under
GEORGE
Who clearly understood that if he accept-
Arafat's despotism. The hijacking of their edu : CANTOR
ed
the terms presented to him at Camp
cational system to teach unrelenting hatred of ,
David by Israel's' Ehud Barak, terms that
Jews. The turn to violence as the first option or
Check
exceeded anything he might reasonably have
protest. The idea that any form of restraint is
expected, he was a dead man.
unmanly and self-expression is best achieved
The mainstream media, dedicated to high-mind-
by firing off a few rounds in the air.
edness whenever it comes to a hero of the left, told
How long will it take to outgrow that mindset
us that some might revile Arafat as a terrorist but to
now that Arafat is gone? A year? Five? Ten?
others he was a statesman, a nation-builder.
Until that happens, how can there be peace? How
A lot of Germans thought Hitler was just peachy,
do you arrive at an understanding with organiza-
too. But let's not be judgmental.
tions that exist for the sole purpose of murdering
Arafat did not invent terrorism, the random tak-
people?
ing of innocent lives that blights our existence
The Israelis want a partner for peace. But the very
today. But he brought it to center stage, made it
moment they choose a likely candidate from the
acceptable to the intellectual elites, dressed it in glad
PLO leadership, his life insurance company cancels
rags. I'm sure he's being rewarded for that now. I
his policy.
In his lifetime, Arafat could never get off the tiger.
0
.
George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor@thejewishnews.corn
VOW
r
•■
EDIT OIIIAL
I forget who said it first. Either Yoai Berra,
Sparky Anderson or Pancho Villa.
"Nobody knows nothin',” he remarked, and
truer words were never uttered.
At least, in the journalism game.
Opinions we've got by the gross, and we all know
where to go to get experts' opinions, too. But at the
end of the day, nobody still knows nothin'.
That's what I kept thinking as I read through the
reams of copy about the death of Yasser Arafat and
its consequences for the PLO and Israel.
Entire forests in Quebec were felled to supply
newsprint for this commentary. And what did it all
mean?
Trying to understand what goes on in the minds
of the PLO leadership — if there really is such a
thing — is an exercise in pointlessness. How do you
get inside the head of someone who thinks from an
entirely different frame of reference than you do?
We value rationalism, logic, the analytical
k
C.2>
AND ISRAEL'S
PLANNED RESPONSE
TO IRAN'S SECRET
SECRET PROGRAM...
the rest of the world? Let's keep our eyes on the broad-
er goals, swallow our pride and our hurt and get on
with being Jews in the greatest democracy the world
has ever had.
11/26
2004
33