Dry Bones
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Editorial
Much To Be Proud Of
I
n 1922, Henrietta Szold,
the founder of Hadassah,
described her Zionist vision
as arukat bat-ammi and also
arukat ha-goyim — the healing
of my people and the healing of
the nations. As we celebrate the
58th year of the modern State of
Israel, this humane and peaceful
vision has not been realized.
There is no doubt that Israel is
healing for Jews. Ask the Israeli
Jews from Russia, Ethiopia, Syria
and Iraq or the more than 100
other nations. Ask the Holocaust
survivors and their families.
Ask the millions of Jews world-
wide who find meaning in both
Israel's antiquity and modernity,
personally committed to both its
past and its future.
We are healing. Looking back
to where we were 60 years ago
makes one shudder. Looking at
where we are now makes one
proud:
This doesn't mean we don't
have all the dysfunctions of an
extended family that threaten
to tear us apart. We have estab-
lished a Western-style democracy
in a desert of despotism. We are a
nation and people new to the use
of power — facing a large, moti-
vated, capable and seemingly
implacable enemy. We seek to
maintain our ancient religion in
modern times and are passion-
ate with each other about how
this should, or must, be done.
Plus, we've got the class divisions,
poverty, pettiness, rivalries, self-
doubt, hubris and honest and
deep differences of opinion that
everyone else has.
But our ingenuity, persever-
ance and faith that have seen us
through millennia have brought
us to the Promised Land. Israel is
militarily strong, well educated,
technologically advanced and
well connected. Its people are
strong; still pioneers seeking to
establish themselves and their
nation in peace and security in
the face of formidable forces
arrayed against them. American
Jews and Jews throughout the
world are strong in their support
of Israel while building their own
communities and nations.
The dream expressed in the
old Zionist song that "we've built
the land and have been built by
it" is unquestionably and proudly,
true. But while we heal and in
many ways flourish, many of the
nations — particularly those
OSAMA BIN LADEA7
JUST SAID ON AL-
JAZEERA TELEVISION
THAT ISLAM IS AT
WAR WITH THE US
AND EUROPE.
YOU'VE GOT TO
FEEL SORRY FOR
THE GUY . . .
around us — are still terribly ill.
As we celebrate the 58th year
of the modern State of Israel, we
know that others curse it. Many
suffer from the sickness of anti-
Semitism, extremism, terrorism
and ignorance. And many remain
embittered and deprived, more
interested in destroying than
building, due to their inability to
reconcile themselves to the exis-
tence and permanence of Israel.
Since Palestinian Authority
leader Yasser Arafat dropped the
pretense of recognizing Israel
by choosing to fight rather than
switch — to blow up rather than
sit down — things have only
gotten worse. Arafat has become
Hamas. Bin Laden lives and Al
Zarqawi attacks Americans in
Iraq. Khomeini's Islamic revolu-
tion again threatens the world as
Iran's president pursues nukes
and funds terrorism in order to
achieve his Muslim messianic
goal of seeing victory over the
infidels during his lifetime.
Demonizing Israel has become
a growth industry. Polite anti-
Semites attack Israel as a sur-
rogate for their attacks on Jews
while less-polite ones try to cow
us into submission. Some try to
appeal to people's morals while,
ironically, not being able to dis-
tinguish between good and evil.
But we will not be made to feel
guilty for being organized, edu-
cated, smart and effective advo-
cates. On the contrary, we take
pride in what Israel and its sup-
porters have done to build and
sustain American governmental
and public support at peak levels.
We shouldn't lose sight of how
much we have achieved.
Almost exactly 10 years ago,
Marlene Post, one of Henrietta
Szold's ideological heirs as then
national president of Hadassah,
said: "I thank God for the privi-
lege of living at a time when I
can travel to Jerusalem, be nour-
ished by her being and drink
from the cup of her dreams. Ours
is a blessed generation!'
Amen. L'chaim! fl
But I went online
and found dozens
of allusions to an
increased incidence
of rape in Sweden
and Norway, as well
as Australia. Most
were committed by
immigrants from
Muslim lands. Their
apologists say that
they have a right to
be offended by the
immodest dress of women in
these countries, and that it is
up to Europeans and Aussies to
moderate their behavior so as
not to offend these new multi-
cultural standards.
To which one can only
respond, "Are you out of your
unprintable mind?"
Muslims are very big on free
speech, a commodity that is in
short supply in their homelands.
Except, of course,
when it is free speech
they don't like.
Some of their allies
even introduced a
resolution in the
Michigan Legislature
to condemn Detroit
News columnist
Nolan Finley for writ-
ing that Palestinians
failed democracy by
electing a govern-
ment led by Hamas, an organi-
zation sworn to terrorism. He
added that Palestinians place a
higher value on killing Israelis
than on their own well-being.
Did I miss something? Is there
anything wrong with that?
Nolan is a big boy and can
fight his own battles. But I find it
utterly preposterous that a group
of pandering politicians (excuse
the redundancy) could waste
everyone's time by sponsoring a
resolution that strikes directly at
basic American freedoms.
Free speech for me, but you
shut your trap.
When a Swedish newspaper
covered one of these gang rapes,
it referred to the assailants as
"one from Finland, two from
Sweden and one from Somalia"
It did not see fit to mention that
all four were immigrants from
Somalia. That might have been
construed as "hate speech!'
Sweden, by the way, just with-
drew from European military
exercises scheduled this month
because Israel plans to partici-
pate.
Gee, what a surprise.
NO MATTER HOW
MANY TIMES HE
SAYS THAT ISLAM
IS AT WAR WITH
THE
bryBonesBlog.corn
Send letters of no more than 150
words to: letters@thejewishnews.com.
Reality Check
The Viking Way
ne thing puzzled me
about the controversial
e-mail that a Michigan
State University professor
recently sent to a protesting
Muslim student group.
Indrek Wichman said he was
not offended by the Danish car-
toons that touched off rioting
in Muslim countries. Instead,
he wrote that he was offended
by more "mundane" concerns
— such as terrorist bombings
and decapitation of hostages.
"I counsel you dissatisfied,
aggressive, brutal and uncivi-
lized slave-trading Moslems
to be very aware of this as you
proceed with your infantile
protests:' he wrote. "If you do
not like the values of the West
-- see the First Amendment
— you are free to leave. I hope
for God's sake that most of you
choose that option. Please return
26
May 4 2006
to your ancestral homelands and
build them up yourselves instead
of troubling Americans."
Well, just how insensitive can
you get?
Various Islamic organizations
demanded both a reprimand
for Wichman and multicultural
sensitivity training for the MSU
faculty. They did not address
the issue of whether or not he
was speaking the truth. Only
that it was very mean of him to
say such things, and offensive
speech is repellent.
Yeah. I kind of feel that way,
too, about Iranian officials. No
one suggests any sensitivity
training for them, however.
One of Wichman's state-
ments that puzzled me, however,
referred to a wave of rapes corn-
mitted by Muslim immigrants in
Scandinavian countries. I hadn't
heard about that before.
George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor614@aol.com.