Guest Column
Editorial
Time For One Jewish
Political Organization
U.N.'s Israel Probe
Seems Predestined
makes a convincing case about
the Second Amendment protect-
ing the right to bear arms, but
because of the implied threat —
actually not so implied — that
those opposing the organization
will pay a price. Presently, we
lack that power.
Further, the BDS movement
against Israel is not a political
argument. It is a power tactic
designed to economically pres-
sure Israel to succumb. We lack
such a tactic as well.
Now, I understand only too
well what this would entail given
that organizations would have to
give up their independence. I also
appreciate the inherent Jewish
trait of arguing every possible
angle of an issue. We have an
entire line of humor addressing
this penchant. Nevertheless, we
need to come to grips with pres-
ent political ineffectiveness.
The diffused message we are
sending weakens our political
power. Much has been written
about the many divergent voices
that tried to affect U.S. policy
during the Holocaust but in the
end, may have hurt the cause and
cost lives.
We cannot afford to repeat the
mistakes of the past nor can we
afford to let the hatred of Jews
and Israel to continue to grow.
We cannot continue to waste pre-
cious resources with a duplica-
tion of organizational talent.
Only a strong, powerful unified
voice, which, while identifying
carefully defined objectives and
articulating serious consequences
for the bigots and haters, can
help change the ugly interna-
tional political scene.
Let us hope the powers-to-
be in the Jewish organizational
community understand what is
at stake — that they recognize
the weakness of present political
efforts, and take courageous and
selfless actions to act accord-
ingly.
I
srael is a sliver of a country geographically — less than
300 miles long, less than 100 miles at the widest, less
than 10 miles at the narrowest. Yet the United Nations
believes the Jewish state is inherently evil. Every U.N. probe
seems to carry a damning agenda.
Take last week's announcement that an "independent" panel
will examine the shelling of U.N. agencies
during this summer's Israel-Hamas war and
also the cases where weapons caches were
uncovered on U.N. grounds.
On the surface, such a panel would have
merit — provided it can be impartial.
When U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon couched the announcement in
terms of also measuring the "proportional-
ity" of Israel's response to endless Hamas
rocket fire, however, you had to consider his
motives. Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip,
is a United States-, European Union- and Israel-declared ter-
rorist organization. By charter, it seeks Israel's eradication.
We don't question the top U.N. official saying he found
"mile after mile of wholesale destruction" on a visit to Gaza.
War typically leaves a trail of carnage. The U.N. pegs the
number of homeless Gazans at 100,000 with at least half
housed in temporary U.N. shelters. That's heartrending.
But Ki-moon is aggressively playing the proportionality card
to Israel's disadvantage. While acknowledging Hamas rockets
and tunnels were designed to kill, maim or otherwise strike
fear in Israelis, he says Israel precipitated those rockets and
tunnels by its "grinding occupation" of Palestinian lands and
blockade of Gaza.
Thus, he preemptively cast Israel as the villain.
❑
Dry Bones
THE ANTISEMITISM
NOW INFECTING
WESTERN CAMPUSES
IS THE BOLA
VIRUS OF THE
ACADEMIC WORLD
DRYBO NES.
Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC), the American Jewish
Committee (AJC), American
Jewish Congress (AJC), the Anti-
Defamation League
(ADL), the Conference
of Presidents of
Major American
Jewish Organizations
(CPMAJO), the Israel
Defense League (IDF),
StandWithUs (SWU),
the World Jewish
Congress (WJC) and the
Zionist Organization of
America (ZOA).
It is unlikely that
members of the Jewish commu-
nity can articulate the differences
between some of them, nor can
they financially support all of
them, even if they favor main-
taining the status quo.
Although each might have its
own carefully defined mission,
it is inextricably linked to other
organizations with different
defined missions. For instance,
the Airs fight against discrimina-
tion cannot be totally separated
from those working to protect and
ensure the long-term viability of
Israel. Their interests overlap.
The African American politi-
cal body is more focused (and
much more aggressive.) I googled
"major black organizations" and
discovered only about 30 organi-
zations and the black population
is 45 million, or 13 percent of the
316 million people in the U.S.
while the Jewish population, with
some 100 organizations, is only
2 percent of the population, or a
mere 6 million.
In addition, and this is impor-
tant, most of the black organiza-
tions are devoted to assisting
blacks in specific professions,
i.e. accountants, nurses, etc. It
appears the NAACP, along with
two much smaller groups, the
National Action Network and
CORE, are the only ones address-
ing civil rights and discrimina-
tion generically.
In politics, power is the uni-
versal currency. For instance,
the reason the National Rifle
Association (NRA) is so effec-
tive politically is not because it
PO LITICALCARTOO NS. COM
I
t has been quite clear for
some time that we, as a
people, are losing the politi-
cal war worldwide.
Anti-Israel senti-
ments are growing
unchecked, and anti-
Semitism is flourish-
ing while efforts to
stem the tides are
failing miserably.
Why is that?
Primarily because
logic, fairness and
facts cannot trump
political expediency
(read the growth of
the Muslim population), preju-
dice, bigotry and hatred. We can
argue all we want that Hamas
forced Israel to kill civilians dur-
ing the conflict in Gaza, that
Israel has offered several peace
proposals that Palestinians have
rejected, that our nation's cam-
puses are hotbeds of anti-Sem-
itism or that we continually are
the victims of a double standard
in the news media.
It does not matter that these
arguments, and many others,
are true. Our voices are falling
on deaf ears. We are losing the
battle, and it is time to ask: What
are we doing wrong and what can
be done about it?
One of the major problems:
We lack a powerful political
force sufficiently potent to affect
change. We not only speak with
diffused voices but sometimes
with contradictory ones.
Thus, and this is stepping into
a minefield, we should consider
uniting all the Jewish political
organizations into one organiza-
tion, at least on a national level, if
not, internationally.
I googled "Jewish major orga-
nizations" and a list of almost
100 surfaced. I am confident that
many have identical objectives,
thereby wasting valuable resourc-
es. In seeking contributions,
they fight for the same dollars.
And worse, some may actually
undermine the efforts of others
at times as unintentional as that
may be.
Among the major organiza-
tions are the American Israel
&COTT
Si4 Pkt-
6
DINAS-1
FREE
PAI.Kr%
❑
Cam- a
A veteran West Bloomfield journal-
ist and author, Berl Falbaum was an
adjunct faculty member of Wayne
State University's journalism depart-
ment in Detroit for 45 years.
THE TIME HAS COME TO ISOLATE AND
CLEAN OUT THE DANGEROUS INFECTION
October 30 • 2014
49