Why American Jews are Democrats. An Answer? Perhaps.

Originally posted by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

I somewhat frequently ask why American Jews vote Democrat. It has been a puzzle for years, and after 9/11, there seemed to be some hope that the Jewish vote would lean to the conservative side. It was a shortsighted, and perhaps naive hope.

I was perusing the posts over at Instapundit last night and found a piece by Ellen W. Horowitz - Justifying and Deconstructing Hagee and Ourselves. Ms. Horowitz characterizes Pastor John Hagee's recent and controversial "rhetoric" as the

...magnanimous political, humanitarian, and even theological support that the Jewish state is receiving from Pastor Hagee and the American evangelical community.

as well as attributing Hagee as "a well-intentioned, very generous and determined philo-Semite," but goes on to say:

That being said, we Jews need to remain vigilant because it is an historic truism that philo-Semitism can be a mere hair away from anti-Semitism, and when the church and Christians make sweeping and bold moves towards reconciliation – and Jews reciprocate in turn - sometimes things can go terribly wrong. So the Talmudic formula of “respecting and suspecting” would seem to be the wise approach.

I must admit that I Googled around for the definition of "philo-semite." Wikipedia says:

Philo-Semitism or Philosemitism, is an interest in, respect for, and appreciation of the Jewish people, their historical significance and the positive impacts of Judaism in the history of the western world, in particular. Within the Jewish community it also includes the significance of Jewish culture and the love of everything Jewish. The word is not new, but it has recently (ca. 2000) become a significantly growing phenomenon in the modern world. It is characterized (among other things) by an interest in Jewish culture and history, as well as increasing university enrollment by non-Jews in courses relating to Judaism (including Judaism, Hebrew and Jewish languages)[citation needed]. A Philosemite is one who substantially subscribes to, or practices, any of the above.

Philo-Semitism has been the subject of a series of books and journal articles (see partial listing below). The rise of philo-Semitism has been met by a mixed response among world Jewry. Some warmly welcome it and argue that it must lead Jews to reconsider their identity. This viewpoint has been expressed by the leading liberal Jewish publication The Forward (Editorial, 10 November 2000):

Others reject philo-Semitism, as they feel it (like its apparent opposite anti-Semitism) implicitly gives a special status to Jews. This contradicts the traditional goal of Zionism to make Jewry "a nation among nations." Daniel Goldhagen, Harvard scholar and author of the controversial Hitler's Willing Executioners, argues that philo-Semites are often closet anti-Semites. His detractor Norman Finkelstein agrees. The thesis is that Jew haters feel a need to talk about Jews, and with anti-Semitism no longer being socially acceptable they must instead make exaggerated positive statements.

So...now understanding that supporting Israel can be either a good thing or a bad thing (???), what really caught my attention was the back-and-forth bantering of two commenters - two Jewish gentlemen - regarding Christian proselytizing or "missionizing," and the monies that may flow to the Holyland from Christian organizations, specifically John Hagee's Christians United for Israel (CUFI). One of the commenters views this as "Zionist Christian support" and wants no part of it:

...we can live without their donations some of which I am convinced go towards missionizing, directly or indirectly.

This commenter (the one not wanting Christian support) mentions a book written by "a sort of relation," A Match Made in Heaven by Zev Chafets. In reading through an interesting review of this book, there's this:

“Jews are Democrats, Israelis are Republicans.”

Okay. Now I'm beginning to "get it." American Jews vote Democrat because their American friends (or not) attempt to bring their Jewish friends to Jesus. It makes more sense than the explanation I usually get: American Jews vote Democrat because "American Jews have ALWAYS voted Democrat and ALWAYS will." That's not much of an answer considering today's ever-present Islamic threat to annihilate Israel. Most of us could, rather quickly, get-over an old and harmful habit, when faced with extinction, but perhaps it is just easier to spite Christian "persecution" and pull the lever for a Democrat.

After a long, long time digesting this Instapundit post, I'm wondering if it is actually possible, in this day and time, that American Jews are simply frustrated at, or angry about, Christians attempting to convert them? And so they vote Democrat?

If this still isn't making a point with you, voting Democrat supports Islam. Voting Democrat supports Hamas, voting Democrat supports Syria, voting Democrat supports Iran (Speaker Pelosi claims that some of the success of the Iraq surge "is the goodwill of the Iranians - they decided when the fighting in Basra would end..."), voting Democrat supports the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision granting Constitutional rights to terrorists (in this case, Islamic terrorists) - who may have been complicit in bringing down the World Trade Towers, and if not complicit, would have been if they could have been. Voting Democrat demands that America remain tied to middle-eastern oil ($$$ flowing to Islamic countries - not comforting to those Republican-thinking Israeli's, I think). Did I mention that voting Democrat supports Hamas?

Do Jews ever attempt to tell their Christian friends that the Messiah has not yet come? Of course they do. I'm not angry about it, though.

The Horowitz piece, and the comments, are far more intricate than my focus in this post. To be clear, one commenter points out: "Jews and Israel need help now and Christian evangelicals are giving that help now. Jews should be embracing these Christian evangelicals. That does not mean embracing Christianity." Author and commenters: well-worth the read - please do read them.

Note: It's my opinion that ALL of Israel's land, should be Israel's land - no land for peace.

Others talking about the Jewish view of John Hagee and Christians United for Israel:
Daniel Pipes: John Hagee, the Holocaust and Me: Thinking About Allies
Anglicans for Israel - The Rise of CUFI,
Jews on First: Leader of Reform Judiasm Discourages Cooperation with Christians United for Israel

Memorial Day Prayer

This is the day we remember those who have fallen in battle, thereby making the supreme sacrifice in service to our great nation. Too many of us don't fully recognize what this day symbolizes. So I am offering a Memorial Day prayer, both to give my thanks and hopefully help us all be a little more appreciative. Here it is:

Dear God:

I pray for the fallen, those brave souls who gave their all for this country, never flinching from their duty, whatever they were called to do, and whether the leadership decisions that brought them to their last mission were well considered or not. They have given all they had, without question.

But I pray especially for the fathers and sons, mothers and daughters of these fallen princes, for they have to live on without, and doubtless would have taken their place without question, even if only to save themselves from such unbearable pain. Nothing can compare to the suffering endured by a mother who loses her child, or a child who loses his mother or father before their time. The fallen sacrifice their lives; the family sacrifices the rest of their lives. They will never see what their beloved’s life could have become, will no more share life’s trials and triumphs with them, never again see their smile or share their warmth on a cold winter’s night. They live in a sea of grief and will carry that wound for eternity. So, please God, bestow Your Tenderness and Grace especially on these families, whose loss can never be repaid.

But God, I pray also for the rest of us, for we lose too. We lose what could have been, from among the most selfless, principled, promising souls of our living generations. I would gladly exchange any ten Harvard graduates for one serviceman who willingly walks at the knifepoint. He has more guts, more integrity, more fortitude and likely more resourcefulness than the lot of them combined.

So, God, please let not their ultimate sacrifice be in vain. See to it that the objectives they were deployed to obtain are achieved. See to it that we have the satisfaction of realizing their mission successfully concluded. God, preserve this country for which they gave their lives, and give us all the wisdom, humility, and virtue to fully comprehend and gratefully acknowledge their sacrifices for what they are; for "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13).

Amen

Finally Someone Gets it Right

By Jim Simpson

In 2003, I wrote an article titled "Regime Change Means Eradicating the Ba'ath Party." In it I argued that the brutal, many-tentacled secret police apparatus of the Iraqi Ba'athist party would make long-term victory in Iraq very difficult. The ONLY option for creating a viable, peaceful Iraqi future lay in untangling that infrastructure and eliminating the vast network of vicious, corrupt Ba'athist apparatchiks and their informants.

I must give credit where credit is due here, and interject that there has been one prominent analyst, alone in the US foreign policy establishment, who has been bravely articulating the dangers posed by Saddam and his Ba'athists for years and that is Laurie Mylroie. Her studies of Saddam and his monstrous regime are more authoritative, by magnitudes than anyone else out there that I am aware of, and formed the basis for the Bush administration's original decision to invade Iraq. She has continued to raise the alarm about the mistake we make in misidentifying the enemy in Iraq. It is the Ba'athists.

Anyway, the first Coalition Provisional Authority chief, Paul Bremer, was widely criticized for being too tough on former-Ba'athists and has implicitly been blamed for the insurgency that supposedly arose when frustrated Ba'thists couldn't get their jobs back. But now Ali A. Allawi, an Iraqi insider long familiar with Saddam and his hideous Party, argues in a new book, The Occupation of Iraq, Winning the War and Losing the Peace, that Bremer's mistake was in not going far enough. As described in a Washington Post review:

In all of the back-and-forth, nobody of any stature has suggested that Bremer's approach toward the Baathists was too soft. But now, in a compelling, detailed history of the occupation, Iraq's first postwar civilian defense minister makes just that argument. In the first major account from an Iraqi insider, Ali A. Allawi contends in The Occupation of Iraq that one of Washington's principal mistakes was that Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority did not go far enough in dismantling the Baathist structure of Iraq's bureaucracy.

As you might imagine, I adamantly agree. Furthermore, I will add that Iraq is the final acid test for us. We have faced this kind of situation before. We failed to bring victory in Vietnam and Korea because of our unwillingness to fully appreciate the relentless, vicious nature of our enemy and his tactics. We are failing in the defense of Israel and Lebanon for the same reason. If, at this late date we cannot learn to confront and defeat this enemy and his methods, then it is only a matter of time before this same monstrosity is visited upon our shores.

Anyone Armed with the Facts Could Have Predicted

By Jim Simpson

An article in today’s Wall Street Journal, Straight Talk on Palestine, states bluntly that the Palestinian government remains committed to terrorism and still refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist. This only comes as a surprise to the cognoscenti.

In fact, way back in the 1970s, when we knew the PLO were merely monstrous terrorists, a plan was hatched by their Soviet sponsors to deliberately deceive the West into believing that then PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and his merry band of murderers had moderated.

It's a pretty amazing story. This counterintelligence deception is discussed in great length in a book, Red Horizons, by Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa. Gen. Pacepa was Romania’s intelligence chief under the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu and was the highest ranking Soviet block intelligence officer ever to defect to the West. You can get some of the threads by reading an interview with the author here.

He also has a lot to say about Saddam’s ephemeral Weapons of Mass Destruction. Read about that here. The cliff notes version: all Soviet-sponsored states have an emergency plan for removing or destroying their WMD if Western powers get too close to discovering them, and the Soviets helped Saddam get rid of his before the US showed up. This article makes a fascinating read regarding the entire subject. Read it if you have the time.

But I digress. Back to the PLO and Palestine. There are explicit, straight-forward reasons why the Palestinians do not now, never have and never will, settle for merely getting their own state. Some of the reasons for this may surprise you. I wrote an article shortly after Yasser Arafat died, which discussed the man, the history of the PLO and why it is an absolutely incontrovertible fact that the destruction of Israel always has been and always will be the Palestinians’ only true goal. Titled, “Who Was Yasser Arafat?” you can see it here.

This article will arm you with the facts regarding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and allow you to make easy predictions about what is to come. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the true nature of that conflict. It will also broaden your understanding of the entire Middle East problem. As the Arabs keep telling us, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is the epicenter. But few can really articulate why, when it directly affects such a small number of them. This article may suggest some answers.

Reading the few articles referenced above reveals to any open-minded person that the facts are out there, available for all to see, and provide pretty straight-forward, if not immediately apparent reasons for some of the chaos we face today. The rest can be similarly explained.

Yet we remain dangerously alone in the dark. It is a testimonial to the depths of duplicity some members of our political and media classes have gone to hide the truth, that these plain, simple facts are not common knowledge. Through ignorance in some cases, but I believe malevolent intent in many more, these people really do not want us to know the truth. I call them traitors and their numbers in Congress, the media and elsewhere are significant and growing. We are tottering at the brink. Time to raise the alarm bells.