Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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We should pity them, as well as oppose their wildest demands. Those claiming to speak for them (the terms “leader” or “leadership” are too grandiose for their history) have brought them to blind alleys. Demanding too much (it would not be an exaggeration to say “demanding everything,” or “everything imaginable”) have led them to one failure after another. You can start with their rejection of the British proposal to divide the area between Jews and Arabs, which would have provided the Palestinians (then calling themselves, for the most part,...
By Ira Sharkansky It’s not easy—it may not be possible—to identify the real Barack Obama. We can say the same about other, perhaps all, politicians who reach the top of a steep climb. Yet the Obama puzzle is especially daunting, given his position at the head of the most power country of them all. His power up there is also something of a mystery. He’s not alone. An antagonistic Congress may provide us with a dramatic demonstration of the separation of powers and checks and balances. It’s best to put aside assertions about missing or faulty bi...
Now it’s almost official, having become the subject of a detailed article in The Economist. Barack Obama has produced a New Middle East, but it ain’t the one he intended. Democracy has not blossomed as called for in his Cairo speech of 2009. The new Egyptian government that the American president cheered and supported, is now in the dust. Its president, Mohamed Morsi, is facing a death sentence, imposed by a court under the newer Egyptian government, and hoping for a reprieve to life in prison. The newer ruler, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, operates in...
In the background of this note is the recent one about the misadventures of great powers, and producing unintended outcomes. It could have employed Barbara Tuchman’s title, “The March of Folly.” Here the focus is on the diplomatic maneuvers, proclamations, politely announced policy preferences, along with the yelling, screaming and chanting of the unwashed. At issue is what stands for international politics focused on Israel and the Palestinians. It includes Barack Obama’s comments that it may not be possible for his government to protect...
It’s not easy. Perhaps it’s not wise, to comment on someone else’s politics. American officials, and lots of American Jews, especially those to the right and left extremes, often sound like loonies when expressing themselves about Israeli politics. Israelis have also blundered, at high cost. The greatest was Ariel Sharon’s certainty about the bridges he thought he was building with the Christians of Lebanon. We should remember Sabra and Shatilla, and everything else the Israelis did not get from the Christians. With all the appropriate reserva...
How important is Judaism for the Jews? We’ve long confused social science by being both an ethnic group (or tribe) and a religion. Among us are members of the tribe who deny religion, and converts to the religion who may have to wait a generation or two before being fully accepted by others as members of the tribe. We argue about members of the tribe who have adopted another religion. What are they? Their descendants can be welcomed back. And, depending who is judging, the converts themselves can change their minds. The question here is w...
A number of individuals from my hometown of Fall River have traveled to Ponta Delgada in the Azores to commemorate the refurbishing of a synagogue that they had financed. They also met with the one Jew still living in the islands. Jews had once been a major element in Portugal, but no more. They also were a major element in Fall River, but no more. Jewish history in Portugal resembled Jewish history in Spain. A sizable population developed in the early Middle Ages, by some reports a larger percentage of the total population than in Spain. In bo...
The two countries I know best are both immersed in political frenzy. In the United States it is the onset of the 2016 presidential campaign. In Israel it is sorting out the goodies and the claimants after last month’s election. Both are marked by hyperbolic claims and promises, which are not likely to produce more than tiny increments of what affects the future of each place. The American presidential race may end up as a competition between two dynasties, with Jeb Bush against Hillary Clinton. So much for claims of being the most openly d...
It isn’t yet a deal, but an oral recitation of principals. That there isn’t something to be signed is potentially significant, to be tested over the next 80 days or so during which the agreement is supposed to be finalized. Among what we hear is that the Farsi version does not square with the English version. Israel Radio reports that Iranian officials are saying that Americans are lying about the contents. What we heard from the European official who described the contents sounded promising, but only to those who trust Iran. Its record is repl...
Barack Obama had some nasty comments about Netanyahu’s election day call that Arabs were going to the polls “in droves,” which the President saw as Bibi’s eroding the meaning of democracy. In a post-election meeting with Arabs, Netanyahu said “I know that the things I said a few days ago hurt some citizens in Israel, the Arab Israeli citizens. This was not my intention and I am sorry,” What Netanyahu actually said on election day, and what Likud sent to Israelis in text messages, were comments about Arabs going to the polls in great numbe...
The heading is not meant to mourn the election results, but the month or more of haggling and babbling that will surround us until there is a new government. Several times a day we’ll be hearing commentators speculating about who gets what ministries. Just as often we’ll hear the self-appointed “ranking” members of each party likely to join the coalition telling us what ministries they deserve. Kahlon, Lieberman, and Deri have threatened to bolt if Bibi doesn’t cooperate. So far we haven’t heard about talks between Bibi and Lapid, but that ma...
The latest news for those dreaming of a Palestinian state is the refusal of the United List, a group of four largely Arab parties, to sign an agreement with Meretz to provide to one of them the excess votes left over to each after the parceling out via Israel’s system of Proportional Representation. This would have been a standard technical agreement, common between parties close to one another on the political spectrum, to assure that their cluster does not lose any votes to the mechanics of dividing votes for the 120 Knesset seats. The U...
Bibi remains the leading choice to be prime minister, even though Likud has been losing ground. Buji is below Bibi in polls asking preferences for prime minister, but Labor/Zionist Union has moved one or two seats ahead. However, its obvious partners are still below the obvious partners of Likud. Washington is the big question mark, that may put Likud into the lead and assure another Netanyahu government, or leave a complex outcome to the president’s choice of who gets the first chance to form a government. A video has gone viral with Diane Fei...
Barack Obama is not a Muslim, but he shows signs of a Wannabe. He emphasizes his middle name and his father’s origins when talking to Muslim audiences. That’s not a sin, but an effort to establish identity. He’d be a lousy politician if he didn’t play that game. However, he also contributes to the delusion of himself, and others with his frequent assertion that the war against terror is not about Islam. He says, “They are not religious leaders; they are terrorists.” No doubt that they are terrorists, but they are also religious leaders, ca...
By Ira Sharkansky We can’t avoid it. There are a billion or so Muslims, and the rest of us are more or less dependent on what they do. Oil and gas is one dependence, which we should not minimize despite the current dip in price. Physical presence is another dependence, even in places where non-Muslims are large majorities and control government. Israel’s 20 percent Muslim population, with Muslim dominant countries all around is one setting with a disproportionate influence on world politics. European percentages between 5 and 10, higher in maj...
The UN may do good somewhere, but the case would take some convincing. Its people are spread throughout the Third World. All told, they are probably not worse than the governments they are meant to help. We often see UN vehicles and personnel in our neighborhood. They are here to help the Palestinians, but living in Israel because it is more desirable. The UN reached the limit of its peacekeeping role in Korea, and has not returned to anything close. That exercise, like later ventures in Vietnam and elsewhere, was managed by the U.S., and...
Waiting for someone in authority to say Kadish. It isn’t prominent in any of the major party platforms. To be sure, one must be wary of making any conclusions about what candidates say and write in the midst of a political campaign. If they are not lying outright, the chances are that they are not telling all the truth. In a context such as Israel, where a coalition government is inevitable, the importance of campaign promises is even dicier. No matter what politicians really think and intend, the unpredictable politics of a coalition may m...
There has been widespread condemnation of attacks on Charlie Hebdo and the Kosher market in Paris, with interesting differences between the condemnations. There are Muslims condemning both as deviations from true Islam, while other Muslims praise both as appropriate defense measures for the sake of Islam. And some Muslims condemn the attack on Charlie Hebdo but praise the attack on the Jews. A recent YouTube featuring an ambassador from the Arab League assigns much of the blame for Middle Eastern ferment to Jews who control the media and...
Israel and Palestine are having another dance that may seem unreal, but is the essence of our relationship. Each is pressing on the other. Palestinians say they will bring charges against Israel for war crimes, overlooking the capacity of Israel to bring charges against Palestinians for war crimes. Israel is responding by withholding the taxes collected at the ports, levied by Palestine on imports. Palestinians may respond by postponing the payment of workers’ salaries, threatening an increase in unrest and violence. Palestinian extremists are...
It sounds worse than it really is. This is an optimist’s view of Israel’s condition with itself and in the world. Most of the resolutions seeming to recognize a Palestinian state are advisory. Resolutions expressing the sense of the house, but not requiring action, are a dime a dozen among what legislatures do. Moreover, many of them hitch on to their sentiments the process of a negotiated settlement. Several of them are explicit in mentioning a two-state solution. The U.S. is prominent in demanding a negotiated agreement, and opposing an impos...
Jews have had a Diaspora at least since the middle of the sixth century before the Common Era. During the time of the Second Temple, a substantial number, perhaps even a majority, lived outside of the Judean homeland. The Jerusalem-centered Diaspora figures in Christian anti-Semitism, via the episode of Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers. The story features elements of Jews whose concern for money competes with what should be sacred. The reality was that money changers were essential to the religious rites. Jews came for the...
Currently Israeli politicians are wrapping themselves around a high intensity bit of meaninglessness, which is also dangerous, about the country’s self definition of being a Jewish state. The issue was settled 60 years ago when the founders left dangling in the Declaration of Independence the wonderful sounding ideals of being both Jewish and democratic, with rights for all. It’s worked, as well as democracy and equality has worked in other western democracies. Not perfect, but it ain’t perfect anywhere. Minorities generally suffer short share...
It would be prime material for a standup comedian if it were not the reality that could do us all a lot of harm. The current triumvirate dealing with three interdependent, national entities, with more than the average capacity to affect wider catastrophes, have all been operating as political caricatures, making things worse while proclaiming their certainty about making things better. They are Mahmoud Abbas, Benyamin Netanyahu, and Barack Obama. A cynic would say that they deserve one another. They all speak in hyperbole, talk past one another...
I have known Dick Sharkansky since my first memory. Our families lived for a while in the same building on Belmont Street, and sometime during our second year, I’m pretty sure that he bit my finger. He may have a differ set of memories. We were in the same classes from about fifth grade through high school. Dick went the route of engineering and law, and we’ve drifted apart and gotten closer together over a half century or so. What prompts this note is Dick’s complaint about my using the word “goyim” in my notes. I replied that the word has...
Every day there are violent demonstrations on the borders of several Arab neighborhoods. “Violence” means stones, fireworks, and firebombs thrown at the ranks of Border Police, who respond with tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and real bullets on occasion. There have been Palestinian casualties and minor to moderate injuries among the police. A Border Police officer was killed in one of the two incidents of Palestinians driving into pedestrians. The drivers died in a local version of suicide by cop. Palestinians say that the upsurge is...
