The neurotic ‘peace’ movement

So you think Israel’s “peace movement” should be allowed out to play unsupervised?

In an op-ed piece for Ma’ariv, Peace Now Director-General Yariv Oppenheimer called Netanyahu’s behavior “unprecedented.”

It was no coincidence, he explained, that the Prime Minister’s “Israeli arrogance broke records,” and that “sentences that are supposed to be said behind closed doors and in internal discussions were exhibited for all to see in a condescending and ugly manner.”

Netanyahu’s “supercilious and patronizing attitude” in “scolding” Obama stems from the fact that Obama, the first black American president, is not part of the same social milieu as former presidents like Bush, Reagan and Clinton “and the like,” he went on. Netanyahu did everything he could to “humiliate and hurt” Obama, Oppenheimer told his Israeli readers.

Right-wing American Jews are also guilty of the same attitude, he went on.

Obama’s speech would not have earned the same amount of public condemnations and insults had Obama been “a rich white American president,” concluded Oppenheimer. Netanyahu, he said, should judge Obama by his deeds, which are supportive of Israel, “rather than his ethnicity, his past and the background he grew up in.”Israel National News

This is beyond crazy. I quoted Netanyahu’s comments and linked to the complete transcript here. I challenge anyone to find a single word that is “supercilious or patronizing.” There is of course the small matter that the PM disagreed with the President.

In fact I, a supposedly “right-wing American Jew” who as a matter of fact is registered as a Democrat, am the one who is insulted at being called a racist for doing the same thing — criticizing Obama for taking a sharp anti-Israel turn in policy.

But that’s not all:

Under the banner “Netanyahu said ‘no.’ Israelis say, ‘yes,’” leftwing groups plan to rally for a Palestinian state on Saturday night, June 4, in Kikar Rabin in Tel Aviv.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke in Washington Tuesday about recognizing a Palestinian state achieved through negotiations, but he put forward so many pre-conditions that he made such talks impossible, said Peace Now Executive Director Yariv Oppenheimer.

To be accurate, Netanyahu did not lay down ‘preconditions’ for negotiations. He’s said numerous times that he would begin negotiations immediately if the Palestinians would. Yes, he has insisted upon some conditions for a final settlement, but that refers to the outcome of the negotiations.

The Palestinians, on the other hand, refuse to even sit down until their demands are met. And Obama, who first demanded construction freezes and now talks about “1967 lines” gives them ammunition to hold out. As someone recently said “Abbas can’t be less Palestinian than the President.” Indeed.

I think Oppenheimer’s ill-advised and even stupid comments are revealing. They reveal that he does not believe that the Jew Among Nations has a rightful place alongside the nations that make up the ‘real’ world. On Oppenheimer’s planet, the voice of a Jew can’t be raised against that of a gentile, even if that Jew is a Prime Minister of a sovereign state.

Like so many others, Oppenheimer is a “sha, shtil!” Jew:

Throughout the history of the Diaspora, Jews have become almost genetically programmed to embrace the philosophy that they must meekly submit to the will of their rulers, that the worst thing to do was to call attention to themselves. Back-room politics was the preferred way to get things done, in places that Jews could exercise that prerogative. This was a very good survival tactic for a small nation that was spread out in the world.

Zionism brought with it an alternative method: defending your people from a position of pride and a knowledge that you are right.

These two methods have clashed in the past. During the Holocaust, there were many (mostly religious) Jews who tirelessly fought behind the scenes to save as many Jews as possible; there were others who fearlessly went public with their battles – much to the dismay of Jews who were raised with the idea of the Yiddish “Sha, shtil!” – “Shut up!” …

Israel finds itself still under attack by the “Sha, shtil” Jews, Jews who are fundamentally uncomfortable with the idea of fellow Jews acting truly independently. These Jews cannot wrap their heads around the idea of Israel proudly acting for its own best interests, or at best, acting against what they arrogantly believe are Israel’s best interests from the Diaspora.

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One Response to “The neurotic ‘peace’ movement”

  1. Shalom Freedman says:

    Yariv Oppenheimer appears to be an ignoramus who simply does not know what he is talking about. This does not mean he has not done and will not continue to do damage to Israel.