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July 2, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The hallmark of a person

Abe Novick: Up, up, and aliya

July 1, 2009

Rabbi Avi Shafran: The Road Taken

The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta: Get into the holiday spirit with these Star-Spangled desserts

June 30, 2009

Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg: What makes a great parent?

Caroline B. Glick: Ideologue-in-Chief

June 29, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Beware of 'Caveat Emptor'

Steven Emerson: ACLU pushing for more money for Hamas

June 26, 2009

Rabbi Yoni Posnick: Learn the secret to a healthy marriage from a scriptural villain

Caroline B. Glick: Barack Obama vs. International Law

June 25, 2009

Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf: The Absurd Power of Truth

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 24, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Advancement of technology is a wake-up call for humanity

The Kosher Gourmet by Andrea Weigl: Summer on a stick: Making frozen treats can be easy, creative and fun

June 23, 2009

Martin M. Bodek: 'On Surnames': And so, We Begin

Caroline B. Glick: The Obama Effect

June 22, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Working for a corrupt firm

N. Richard Greenfield : Where are American Jews?

June 19, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Emotion v. intellect

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's rare opportunity

June 18, 2009

Jonathan Rosenblum: Sometimes it is more essential to define the nature of evil than good

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 17, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Language of Confusion

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Nothing pleases Dad more than a thick, juicy onion-smothered steak. Add home-Baked Potato Chips and …

June 16, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Career v. Careersism

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's losing streak and Israel

Richard Z. Chesnoff: ‘Palestinians’: Never Missing an Opportunity …

June 15, 2009

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: How Judea and Samaria can become 'Palestine'

Daniel Pipes: Where Netanyahu's speech failed

June 12, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Some big thoughts about not acting so big

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's High Commissioner

June 11, 2009

Victor Davis Hanson: Our historically challenged President

Mitch Albom: Beware the True Believers

Lewis Grossberger: What we learn from the new Hitler photos

June 10, 2009

Mort Zuckerman: What Obama and his advisors won't -- or refuse to -- grasp about Israel and the Muslim world

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky Lotsa pasta: Tips, techniques and (amazing) taste

June 9, 2009

Anne Bayefsky: Obama's stunning offense to Israel and the Jewish people

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: America's first Muslim president?

June 8, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Merchant must take responsibility for careless shopper?

Mark Steyn: A superpower that feeds on mediocrity cannot survive for long on leftovers from the past

Richard Z. Chesnoff: How do you say 'kumbaya' in Arabic?

June 5, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: In quest of spirituality

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's Arabian dreams

Charles Krauthammer: The Settlements Myth

June 4, 2009

Paul Greenberg: The War Comes to Little Rock

The Kosher Gourmet by Judy Hevrdejs: Splash it on! Tap your inner jazz musician and improvise when stirring up a vinaigrette

June 3, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Should terrible teacher be exposed?

Jonathan Rosenblum: The Israel Lobby: Missing in Action

June 2, 2009

Dennis Prager: The Speech President Obama Won't Dare Give in Egypt

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Pressure on Israel raises war risk

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review January 12, 2009 / 16 Teves 5769

Eyeless in Gaza, heartless at home

By Kathryn Lopez


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Creeped out: That's the best way I can describe my response upon stumbling into an anti-Israel protest one recent Sunday in Manhattan. Ranting picketers carried signs that made light of the Holocaust, children dressed up as Hamas militants dotted the crowd. I wanted to have a more profound response, a deeper analysis, but "creeped out" is how I felt walking away from it. Days later, a colleague, military historian Victor Davis Hanson, expressed a similar reaction to accounts of way too many similar scenes: We're living in "creepy times," he wrote on National Review's Web site.


It is indeed creepy that any protester, even understanding his anger and hurt, would minimize the Holocaust, and that the leader of Iran would hold a conference dedicated to denying it. It's creepy that Hamas would use a U.N. school for weapons storage and a shooting base, during the continuing battle with Israel for the Gaza Strip. It's creepy that the United Nations equates Israeli nationalism — a constitutional republic's struggle for its right to exist unmolested — with racism. It's creepy that few people can see the difference between Israel, which goes out of its way to avoid killing innocents, and Hamas, which displays a bloodlust for Jewish civilians.


But nothing is black and white, not even in the fight between Israel and Hamas. In a place many consider the holiest of lands, perpetual violence and hostility boil constantly. Humans hate easily; it's forgiveness (often understandably) that they have a tough time with. Out of those poisonous seeds grows vengeance. And while I don't hesitate to see a bad and good side politically and culturally in this issue, it remains true that Palestinian children are still children who deserve a shot at a decent life, even when — driven by vengeance — their guardians exploit them.


Israel seems to be able to recognize the moral complexity involved, even in spite of the countless, grievous wrongs it has suffered, and the world isn't giving it enough credit. Israelis, too, however, need to take a step back. For one thing, not every skeptical look at Israel's aggressive retaliation to Hamas missile attacks in Gaza stems from anti-Semitism. A lot of them, maybe even most of them — are. Anti-Semitism has long been a particularly prevalent evil about which, despite "never again," we seem particularly desensitized in the West even as it is embraced enthusiastically in the Middle East and the Arab world. But this doesn't give Israel a carte blanche when it comes to military action or diplomacy. Though it may be difficult, cool heads need to prevail on all sides of this debate.


The tragic demise of Cristina, a 15-year-old Christian girl, was reported by an Internet news service, zenit.org, which covers the Vatican: "She died of a heart attack after days of cold and lack of sleep due to the bombardment." The Rev. Manuel Musallam, the parish priest of the Latin parish in Gaza, recently read an account of her death to Christian leaders in Jerusalem, urging peace. The Zenit report continued: "Cristina is one of the 600 Palestinians to have died in the 11-day Israeli offensive, in which U.N. and Palestinian officials report that nearly half of the dead are civilians."


There's nothing wrong with focusing on such blunt facts. I think we need to do so, whatever the nationality of the children involved; it keeps us aware of the human costs of war. Prudence and justice must be kept in mind at all times, whether actively engaged in fighting a war, or merely attempting to help negotiate the end of one. And while the Vatican, too, is receiving criticism — for not fully weighing in on the conflict until violence had spiraled out of control — we should remember here, as well, who the good guys are. The Vatican has rejected "anti-Semitism in all its forms, including anti-Zionism as a more recent manifestation of anti-Semitism."


I see little question that Israel is the good guy. It's not aiming to kill Cristina. It just wants its own girls to have a safe home. And, unsettlingly all too often, its opponent wants those girls (as well as its other citizens) dead, not as an unfortunate collateral casualty of war, but just to make a point. This should creep us all out — and we should say as much. Isn't admitting a basic, unpleasant truth one of the Twelve Steps? That is, after all, a roadmap with some record of positive results — very unlike the same old creepy pattern of hatred, resentment and vengeance now on display in the Holy Land.

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