Dear John. (Forward Editorial re John Bolton)

[Tom Joad]

http://www.forward.com/articles/dear-john/
Forward is the largest Jewish Daily in the United States.

John Bolton’s resignation as American ambassador to the United Nations is an important and welcome step in the national healing process that began on Election Day, November 7.(Snip)

His decision to pack his bags is an occasion for a national sigh of relief and even gratitude.

Alas, one major constituency on the public stage has chosen to greet Bolton’s resignation not with relief but with regret. In a noisy, tin-eared outpouring of sycophantic unanimity, a phalanx of America’s most influential and respected Jewish organizations has flooded cyberspace this week with heartfelt salutes to Bolton and laments of his departure. At last count, the list included the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, the World Jewish Congress, B’nai B’rith International, the Orthodox Union and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. In statement after statement, the agencies hail Bolton for his supposed effectiveness and passion in defending Israel and advancing the causes of democracy and U.N. reform.

(snip)

That said, none of them has done as much as Bolton to undermine that American influence by alienating the rest of the world community. His actions, and the larger Bush administration policies that they reflect, have left Israel and America huddled together in utter isolation, facing ever-growing, worldwide impatience and disdain. Even the signature cause of U.N. reform, which had been taken up by Kofi Annan and advocated with determination in the Clinton and current Bush administrations, suffered crippling setbacks as a result of Bolton’s inflexibility, his insistence on holding out for the unattainable and refusing to accept the best deals possible.

All this is now obvious to the American public, to the Congress — even to the outgoing, Republican-led Congress — and, in the end, to Bolton himself. Everyone gets it except the Jewish advocacy community.

It’s no great secret why the Jewish agencies continue to trumpet support for the discredited policies of this failed administration. They see defense of Israel as their number-one goal, trumping all other items on the agenda. That single-mindedness binds them ever closer to a White House that has made combating Islamic terrorism its signature campaign. The campaign’s effects on the world have been catastrophic. But that is no concern of the Jewish agencies. Given the record, the agencies’ paeans to Bolton come as no surprise. And yet, they still offend. Coming barely a month after the midterm elections, in which Jews voted 7-1 against the Bush record, the statements show a communal representative structure working directly against the wishes and values of the community it purports to represent.
(snip)
______________________________

Comment: Bush must be happy that he has still a few bastions of support for his criminal international policies of military aggression.

[Tom Joad]

1. AIPAC & Bush... true love

www.stopAIPAC.org
We must challange all lobbies that support racism and militarism.

[oberliner]

3. AIPAC does not support racism

Unless you think Zionism is racism.

BTW, what are the other lobbies that we must challenge besides this one?

[Tom Joad]

4. AIPAC supports Bush's foreign policy. Bush's policy is racist and militarist

aipac disagrees.

aipac also supports Olmert's policy of Settlement expansion and dispossession of Palestinians from their land and homes. I call it racist. I call it apartheid. aipac disagrees.

What other lobbies?
My first act of civil disobedience was at a military electronics expo.. an Arms Bazaar... they were showing their wares to eager buyers from all over the planet. We sang "Give Peace a chance" while we symbolically blocked the doors (sort of, most of the convention participants just walked around us). So there is one example. Another example would be the crazies in Florida who want a policy of war against Cuba and want to remake it again into a gangster paradise... then there is the Christian Coalition... ohh and so many more...

What is your response to Forward's editorial? Do you think these groups are giving support for Bush's policies, even though the majority of American's oppose them, and most especially American Jews oppose them?

[oberliner]

5. I think the editorial raises some interesting points

Not the least of which being that the majority of American Jews, to quote the article, "cling in overwhelming numbers to values of liberalism and inclusiveness", while at the same time support the idea of the United States using its influence to "protect Israel from the designs of its enemies."

That is to say that one can be wholeheartedly against the Bush agenda (as most American Jewish voters clearly demonstrated that they are) while still believing that it is important for the United States to help ensure the continued safety and security of the State of Israel.

[Tom Joad]

6. But these groups support Bush policies, and the worst of Israeli policies.

[Tom Joad]

2. A Jewish Voice for Peace. More representative of Jewish thought in the US?

http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/

Like probably an overwhelming majority of US Jewish individuals, this group stands against the belligerent policies of W Bush.