Opinion

A MIX OF IDEAS

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Dry Bones

THE 19TH CENTURY
BOOK OF LES THAT
WED THE WORLD
AGANST THE JEWS
WAS JUST BEEN
REPACKAGED FOR
THE 21ST CENTURY,

Editorial

The Kagan Nomination

olicitor General Elena Kagan's
qualifications for the Supreme
Court — she was nominated by
President Barack Obama in May to replace
the retiring Justice John Paul Stevens —
will be judged by the Senate as part of the
confirmation process.
No doubt Jewish groups
with very different posi-
tions on church-state
questions and issues
such as abortion and
homosexual rights will
weigh in when delibera-
tions begin.
Elana Kagan
What we can say with
certainty is that her nomination, and the
public and media reaction to it, represents
another milestone for an American Jewish
community once held back by pernicious,
if not always overt, anti-Semitism.
If confirmed, Kagan, the former
Harvard Law dean and Clinton admin-
istration official, will become the third
Jew on the High Court, joining Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Stephen
Breyer on the bench next term. That
means fully one-third of the justices will
be Jewish — coming from a community
that represents only about 2 percent of the
overall population.
Amazingly, the other six justices are

Catholic. Two minorities could make up
the entire Supreme Court of the United
States just 50 years after the electorate
installed the first Catholic president and
three years after electing the first non-
white president.
Remarkably, while Kagan's Jewishness
has been a matter of interest to some —
mostly in our own community — it has
been a source of controversy to only the
tiniest fringes, including ultra-conserva-
tive political commentator Pat Buchanan,
whose concern about the Jewish influence
on the court is preposterous.
Sure, anti-Semitic Web sites were quick
to trumpet her background as yet more
proof of sinister Jewish conspiracies, but
to most of the nation, what matters are
her positions on the nation's hot-button
issues. The fact that, if approved, she will
also be the third woman on the Court is
getting more attention than her Jewish
background.
That change is not all for the good.
Ideology has become our overwhelming
focus in judging judges; too often lost in
the bitter arguments that ensue are ques-
tions of judicial temperament and judg-
ment. The judiciary was intended to stand
apart from the political fray, using the
rather than swings
Constitutions
in public opinion and political mood. One

wonders how many
exceptional candidates
are bypassed simply
because they could not
pass some ephemeral
political litmus test.
As far as her never
having been a judge,
her wide-ranging legal
background is still stel-
lar: associate White
House counsel and pol-
icy adviser to President
Clinton; Harvard law
professor and later
dean of the Harvard
Law School; and since
January 2009, U.S.
solicitor general. Famed
justices Louis Brandeis
and William Rehnquist
weren't judges before
joining the high court
either.
But enough kvetching for now
From a parochial point of view the
Kagan nomination is a source of justifi-
able pride.
More importantly, it represents yet
another clear sign that America is coming
closer to fulfilling a democratic promise
of full equality that our community has

EST SELLER

www.drybonsalog.som

taken as an article of faith for generations.
As a nation, we still have a long way to
go to ensure that promise is fulfilled for
every group, every minority. But Jewish
achievement, spotlighted by the Kagan
nomination, tells us just how far we've
come. ❑

This editorial comment originated with the
Jewish Week in New York.

In Support Of Israel

W

hat are we to make of the
unique condemnation of
Israel?
Turkey, today, continues at this very
moment to occupy Nicosia, Cyprus. It
is dramatically killing Turkish Kurds.
Turkey shows zero tolerance for human
rights organizations wishing to investi-
gate the treatment of Kurds in Turkish
prisons.
Despite these cruelties, Turkey sancti-
moniously professes outrage at the Israel
interdiction of a so-called "Freedom
Flotilla" from Turkey.
Six boats carried "humanitarian" aid
to the people of Gaza. As in the past,
Israel would have allowed them to pass
peacefully after going to an Israeli port
for inspection. Quite often, such boats on
their way to Gaza contain illegal goods
meant for Hamas in their war on Israel.
The largest flotilla ship, despite many
warnings, refused to change course,
resulting in a skirmish. This boat had
a large contingent of Insani Vakfi, also

known as IHH, a terrorist
organization that according to
American and European intelli-
gence chiefs is a radical Islamic
group with ties to Al Qaida.
A number of IHH members
had stated they wanted to be
martyrs and had planned a
violent response to any Israeli
attempt to stop the ship.
The blockade is rational
and legal. Hamas is a self-pro-
claimed enemy of Israel and
has continuously attacked Israel
with more than 4,000 rockets. Hamas
proclaims victimhood when deprived of
weapons. Under such conditions, Israel
has the moral and legal right to defend
its citizens.
The relative passive and benign
defense left to Israel is to board and
search cargo before it is sent on to
Gaza and llamas control. Even our U.S.
administration, through Vice President
Joe Biden, voiced the opinion that Israel

is at war with Hamas and
had the right to prevent arms
from reaching Gaza, although
the comments were far from
unqualified.
Unfortunately, false accusa-
tions and malicious propa-
ganda are spread worldwide
about Israel's actions in pre-
venting arms from reaching
the terrorist regime in Gaza.
In another hypocritical
attack on Israel, the United
Nations, at the 189-nation
nuclear proliferation conference on May
28, singled out Israel as the proliferator
— without including any mention of
Iran or North Korea as nuclear trouble-
makers. Ordinarily, this would mean
little. In this case, the U.S., for the first
time, accepted the conclusions of the
conference.
It's important to note that White House
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, in an
April meeting with a group of rabbis,

including Congregation Shaarey Zedek of
Oakland County's Joseph H. Krakoff, said
the Obama administration has "screwed
up the messaging" about its support for
Israel over the past 14 months, and it
will take "more than one month to make
up for 14 months." Clearly, the Obama
administration has an intent problem,
not just a messaging problem, as illus-
trated by its many negative actions
toward Israel in the world political forum
— including this latest one.
It is sheer folly to believe that blaming
Israel at every turn will bring peace to
the world. Israel must make allies when
it can, but it must be able to continue to
go it alone and defend itself, if necessary.
So far, Israel has accomplished so much;
however we would be derelict if we did
not continue to raise our voices in its
support. ❑

Joseph Savin of West Bloomfield is past
president of Zionist Organization of America-

Michigan Region.

iN

July 1 • 2010

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