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Politics : Israel to U.S. : Now Deal with Syria and Iran -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sea_urchin who wrote (14085)	1/18/2007 1:41:33 PM
From: Tadsamillionaire	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22250

US lawmakers demand Bush ask Congress before invading Iran Jan 18 1:33 PM US/Eastern A resolution introduced in the US House of Representatives calls on President George W. Bush to obtain approval from Congress before using military force against Iran. The bill, introduced by longtime Iraq war critic Walter Jones, a Republican, and five other US lawmakers calls on the president obtain authorization for an attack on Iran, unless the United States or US interests are attacked first. Supporters said the legislation would prevent the United States from becoming embroiled in another intractable war like the one raging in Iraq. "Congress will not stand by idly -- it won't be railroaded into another war that will only make America and the world less safe," Democratic Representative Martin Meehan said at a press conference Thursday. He said recent administration statements and military maneuvers point to an imminent attack on Iran. "The indications of the initial saber-rattling are everywhere," Meehan said. "I'm not here to tell you that I trust Iran, but I am here to say that I don't trust the administration," Meehan said. breitbart.com

To: sea_urchin who wrote (14085)	1/18/2007 2:01:16 PM
From: Crimson Ghost	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22250

THE CHANGING VIEW OF ISRAEL AMONG JEWS ECONOMIST - Right from its foundation, the existence of Israel created new questions for world Jewry. If Israel's purpose was to accommodate a nation that could never be safe or fully itself in any other place, was it still possible for self-conscious Jews to flourish in "exile?" Some felt Jews had only two options: assimilate in the countries where they lived, or identify very closely with the new state, if not migrate there. Another dilemma arose from the idiosyncrasies of religious life in the new state. Many Israelis are secular - but religious authority in the country is in the hands of the Orthodox. Where does that leave Jews outside Israel who practice more liberal forms of the faith? And the biggest dilemma is this: however proud world Jewry felt of Israel during its early struggle to survive, how should a conscientious Jew react to Israel's new image as military giant and flawed oppressor? Faced with these puzzles, Jews all over the world are finding new ways to assert their identity and a new relationship with Israel. Most diaspora Jews still support Israel strongly. But now that its profile in the world is no longer that of heroic victim, their ambivalence has grown. Many are disturbed by the occupation of the Palestinian territories or more recently by images of Israeli bombing in Lebanon; some fear they give grist to anti-Semites. Quite a few think Jewish religious and cultural life in Israel is stunted. Others question the point of a safe haven that, thanks to its wars and conflicts, is now arguably the place where most Jews are killed because they are Jews. The most radical say, as the Palestinians do, that the idea of an ethnically based state is racist and archaic. What is more, the last great waves of aliyah, immigration to Israel, have ended. Barring a new burst of anti-Semitism, the map of world Jewry will change slowly from now on. Each community is evolving in its own way. Some are seeing a revival unthinkable a few years ago. And young Jews especially are asking what Israel means to them. Some, say Caryn Aviv and David Shneer, two American scholars, in a recent book, "New Jews," reject the notion that they are in a "diaspora", which "envisions the Jewish world hierarchically with Israel on top, the diaspora on [the] bottom.". . . Jewish Americans have long been Israel's strongest supporters. Many of the most zealous West Bank settlers come from America. The main Jewish lobby groups have tended to back right-wing Israeli governments and avoid criticising their policies. The fact that Israel is America's strongest ally emboldens this gung-ho stance. So does the ultra-Zionist stance of some American Christians. But Jews too young to have watched Israel rout three Arab armies in six days in 1967 are less likely to see it as heroic, morally superior, in need of help, or even relevant. "Israel in the Age of Eminem", a report written in 2003 for the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, a Jewish charity, concluded that "There is a distance and detachment between young American Jews and their Israeli cousins that does not exist among young American Arabs and has not existed in the American Jewish community until now." In Mr Cohen's survey, only 57% of American Jews said that "caring about Israel is a very important part of my being Jewish", down from 73% in a similar survey in 1989. The culprit is not just the Arab-Israeli conflict. American Jewry is pluralistic - many of its members belong to progressive denominations such as Reform and Conservative Judaism - while Israel's Orthodox establishment does not recognize conversions or marriages by other kinds of rabbis. Clashes over "who is a Jew" cooled American-Jewish attitudes to Israel well before the second Palestinian intifada. . . The old-style attachment to Israel, treating it as a potential future home, a shield against assimilation, and an ongoing emergency needing support, is a mistake, Mr Lerman argues. "The way to continue it is with common concerns about education, civil society, human rights and values." Even the Jewish Agency, a bastion of traditional Zionism, is changing tack. Makom, one of its partner agencies, now sends envoys to American Jews with a new brief: to get young Jews interested in Israel not by "hugging" it but by "wrestling" with it and its contradictions. Accepting this challenge may be Israel's best chance to stay relevant to non-Israeli Jews. . . Increasingly, today's young Jews see the future not as a choice between Zion and exile, but as a fruitful fusion of both. economist.com