He realizes that Israel. by use of military power, political lobbying and media manipulation now defines the narrarative of what being Jewish is supposed to be. Lerner was given exposure on soundbites r'us CNN in a interview that he found much too short to explain his outlook.
Critics, especially Jews like myself, are dismissed, and marginalized if not attacked violently in Israel and labeled as "self-haters" for not embracing this redefinition of Judaism as militarism, idealism as authoritarianism, and a new fascism with a Hebrew face. (A prominent defender of Israel has already labeled this attempt to offer another perspective as antisemitic and "Jew hatred." So much for the permissible 'its our way or the highway' discourse." Another Israel defender wrote to tell me I was worse than 'Hammas' (Misspelled!)
I share Rabbi Lerner of Tikkun Magazine's view when he writes, "I'm heartbroken to see the Judaism of love and compassion being dismissed as "unrealistic" by so many of my fellow Jews and rabbis. Wasn't the central message of Torah that the world was ruled by a force that made possible the transformation from "that which is" to "that which can and should be"? And wasn't our task to teach the world that nothing is fixed, that even the mountains can skip like young rams and the seas can flee before the triumph of God's justice in the world?
Instead of preaching this hopeful message, too many rabbis and rabbinical institutions are preaching a Judaism that places more hope in the might of the Israeli army than in the capacity of human beings (including Palestinians) to transform their perception of "the other" and overcome their fears."
So whatever Israel is "winning," the Jewish people are loosing by being associated with the carnage carried out in our names and as if we all agree.
Most American Jews do not support the political extremism of Sheldon Adelson et. al, but even groups like Peace Now and J Street pander to the loudmouths of the Lobby and its many front groups because of intimidation.
The key lesson of the holocaust was human rights of all peoples need protection. That is not a lesson that the droning on robots of Israel's Sparta-like PR Army has any use for.
The rest of the world is judging us. Jews have to judge us well, and be willing to speak up and speak ou,t even if our views are not welcome in that manipulated CONsensus that led l00 members of the US Senate--l00!-- to "stand behind Israel."
Let me close with the words of Ahmad Kathrada who spent 26 years in prison in South Africa alongside Nelson Mandela, and was considered his closest comrade. He recently visited Palestine and said it felt all too familiar. He wrote recenty:
"What worries me is the sheer impunity with which Israel acts. It reminds me of the many years that apartheid was allowed to flourish in South Africa with little constructive action on the part of the major powers such as the US, France, Germany and the UK, including some of the leading Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
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