By Jackie Mason & Raoul Felder on 5.15.02 @ 12:02AM
Would it be too much to back those at home who back the Jewish homeland?
If a Jew is threatened by somebody, he becomes a professional
wimp. Fighting is not his business. So the first thing he does is
start an organization, have a fund-raiser, and send in some money.
Even if he is mugged, he will tell the mugger to pull up a chair,
sit down, have a cup of tea, maybe a Danish, and "Let's talk things
over." But, put Jews together into an army like in Israel, and you
will have one of the toughest fighting forces in the world.
Nobody sounds more fearless than our American Jew celebrating
the military might of Israel. American Jews not only accept that
the Israelis will fight on behalf of all the Jews everywhere, they
expect it and demand it and will give their last dollar to pay for
it.
Why don't American Jews ask themselves a simple question: Would
there be a State of Israel today if the Israelis had adopted the
same philosophy as the Jewish leadership in America?
Jews everywhere, except in Israel, act as if they're destined by
G-d for periodic destruction. It is as if Jews believe they are
here by the whim and will of their enemies; as if the thought that
domestic Jews could fight back defies natural law. Can you imagine
any other minority talking about the possibility of its destruction
without in some way preparing to put a stop to it?
American Jews live a contradiction. On the one hand, they want
the Israelis to fight their battles for them. But, on the other
hand, in the United States they don't support the major political
party that supports Israel.
Jews are Democrats by genetics. If a person was Jewish it always
meant that he or she would, by knee-jerk fashion, vote for the
candidates offered up by the Democratic Party. Similarly, the
Democratic Party traditionally takes Jewish support for granted.
The Jewish vote has been a Democratic vote going back to Franklin
Roosevelt's time. President Roosevelt really did very little for
the Jews except take bows as their great protector. In reality,
this was not the case. From the beginning to the end of the war, he
did little to help them. Just before the war, he denied refuge in
America to the Jews aboard the ship St. Louis, sending
them back to certain death in Europe. Near the end of World War II,
his excuse for not ordering the bombing of the railroads leading
into the concentration camps, despite pleas from what was left of
World Jewry, was his reasoning that if he ordered the bombing, it
would seem as if this was a "Jewish war." However, the people being
herded into the concentration camps by railroad quickly understood
they were there because they were Jewish.
While it is true that Harry Truman recognized Israel as a state
in 1948, aside from that, notwithstanding the power and the
economic might of American Jews, Democratic presidents have not
done that much for Israel. Even with the money our government
consistently sends to Israel to enable the country to purchase arms
for its own defense, there is a kicker: one-third of the arms must
be purchased in the U.S. -- in order to help our economy.
Former Senator Alfonse D'Amato, who was as staunch a supporter
of Israel that has ever existed on the public stage anywhere in
this country, was voted out of office by New York's Jewish
voters.
Today, from the White House to the halls of Congress, it is
quite clear it is the Republican Party that is the main domestic
supporter of Israel. Democrats have been abysmal at worst and at
best, wishy-washy in backing Israel in its recent struggles.
Isn't it about time that American Jews stand behind the
political forces in America that stand behind Israel?
topics:
Business, Law, Military, Israel, NATO
