Reply to Two Jews (Peter Beinart and Jon Stewart) discuss Israel

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Beinart is also the editor of Jewish Currents magazine, which is a super-lefty socialist publication. Still an interesting conversation, but I wouldn't say that either of them are representative of mainstream American Jews.[/quote]
A lot of American Jews are lefties. Not sure why you don’t think these views are representative of a LOT of people. [/quote]
American Jews have been trending to the political right since October 7, largely over the far-left's anti-Israel stance. There is, of course, room to be horrified by the starvation in Gaza and oppose Netanyahu's government. I just don't think that Beinart and Stewart are good spokespeople to do that, because they aren't representative of mainstream American Jewish views (largely), so it's hard to take them seriously on this serious issue. I will listen to Jon Stewart all day long when he's talking about support for 9/11 first responders, or another subject that he is clearly passionate about and can speak with authority. But he's used his Judaism as the butt of a joke so often that when he invokes his Judaism for something serious, like Israel-Gaza, it just doesn't feel sincere.[/quote]

so you havent watched the video  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:

So annoying since you clearly have no idea what they said.[/quote]
I did actually watch the video. And if I felt that either of them were coming to the discussion with care for the importance of the promise of Israel within Judaism and the importance of Zionism to Judaism, I would take it more seriously as two Jews talking about the subject. I think it was a good interview of two people talking about the conflict. But the framing of it as two Jews, when neither of them represents mainstream Jewish thought, is disingenuous and liable to be misinterpreted by non-Jews who don't understand that these two are outliers within the Jewish community.[/quote]

Perhaps you should expand your horizons and listen to Jews who don’t always agree with your idea that “Israel can do no wrong.” We can talk about Judaism and the existence of the state of Israel when the Israeli government stops starving children and committing gencide. [/quote]
Where did I say that "Israel can do no wrong"? I expressly did NOT say that (I said "There is, of course, room to be horrified by the starvation in Gaza and oppose Netanyahu's government." up above). I do listen to Jews who don't agree with me, as evidenced by the fact that I watched this interview, and I also have family members and friends who are to the left of me and to the right of me on the issue.

Talking about Judaism and the ideals of Zionism that the State of Israel isn't living up to is exactly relevant now. Beinart was right that there needs to be a conversation about how we live our Jewish values when we have power on the world stage. And that conversation would be taken more seriously if led by people who aren't editors of a far-left antizionist magazine.[/quote]

As I said before, talking about "how we live our Jewish values when we have power on the world stage" needs to happen AFTER the genocide and the starvation stop. Especially when it comes to Jews pontificating from their comfortable American homes.[/quote]

I don't understand your reasoning. I mean, I sort of do, but also I don't. And FWIW, the last couple pages of crazy haven't come from me. I had other stuff to do yesterday afternoon.

To me, the conversation of "Jewish values when we have power" and "Jewish values in wartime" are [i]more [/i]relevant during this crisis and more likely to change minds. Asking people to really think about what it means to wage war, to fight for peace, and at what costs, instead of "pontificating" from afar.[/quote]

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