Quote of the Day
Jeff Barak in The Jerusalem Post: “Ehud Barak’s shameless determination to stay on at the Defense Ministry, even at the expense of destroying the Labor Party and making a mockery of the election results, is diverting attention from a more problematic ministerial appointment: the choice of Avigdor Lieberman as foreign minister.”
In J Street’s new poll of American Jewish opinion, they found that “When told about Lieberman’s campaign slogan requiring Arab citizens of Israel to sign loyalty oaths and his threats against Arab Members of Knesset, American Jews opposed these positions by a 69 to 31 margin. One in three believe their own connection to Israel will be diminished, if Lieberman assumes a senior position in the Israeli cabinet.” And Lieberman needs to represent Israel’s interests not just to American Jews, but to Americans of all kinds. And, for that matter, to Egyptians and Jordanians and Turks. It’s extremely difficult to imagine him doing that effectively.
33 Responses to “Quote of the Day”
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March 23rd, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Sounds like a problem for American Jews and there aren’t too may of them.
March 23rd, 2009 at 4:52 pm
I’m going to guess that AIPAC doesn’t have a comment on that poll…
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:04 pm
There is no doubt that Lieberman is a very bad guy, and that it would be much better if people like him could not win political power in Israel. I am, however, surprised that so many people regard him as *uniquely* bad. In fact, he is much less bad than the religious fundamentalist settler parties (who have participated in many Israeli governments in the past), for whom eternal oppression (or expulsion) of the Palestinians is a fundamental religious value. Lieberman is openly in favor of a two-state solution, and his constituency is mostly right-wing secular Russians (many of whom are not even Jewish according to religious law) who want to live in the kind of modern secular Western state that a liberal Zionist like me could support. Lieberman and his constituency should be viewed as problematic, but also as potential partners to be co-opted. The guys who should be beyond the pale are the guys who want to turn Israel into something completely different and utterly immoral.
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Why are American Jews such Anti-Semitic half-breeds (to borrow a phrase being batted around by commenters recently)?
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Do 31 percent of American Jews (+/- the MOE on the poll) really believe that Israeli Arabs should be forced to sign loyalty oaths? Wow. That’s a rather significant minority.
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Would Lieberamn institute the armband requirments for Israeli arabs and less desired Sephardic Jews?
“The only democracy in the Middle East.” a vacuous and pathetic joke!
Dismantle the apartheid state and try the officials for the war crimes and crime against humanity. Nazim and Zionism share a lot of values including an eternal love for genocide.
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Barak is a disgrace if he stays. How far has Labor fallen; the Israeli political system is very, very dysfunctional.
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:46 pm
What’s the problem with loyalty oaths? Anyone who enlists in the military has sworn something like that. Why wouldn’t a citizen be loyal to his country? My guess is that the same American Jews who don’t like the idea of Israeli Arabs having to sign loyalty oaths to Israel would have a problem signing loyalty oaths to America. That’s probably not just true of most American Jews but of most American liberals as well. That, and cowardice, might explain why there are so few liberals and American Jews in the U.S. military.
How stupid are American Jews? At a time when their fingerprints are all over the escalating decline of America — from its cultural decline, to its financial decline — they see fit to stick their thumb in the eye of the only other country in the world that might plausibly accept them if their welcome here ran out.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:16 pm
e mi
Wow Juan, with a welcome like that, why would anyone look any further?
I wouldn’t sign a loyalty oath to this country, nor any other.
Have you ever said or even read thlitary enlistment oath? Because it’s not a loyalty oath to the United States, it’s an oath to protect the constitution of the United States. I might be willing to die to protect the constitution, but there are plenty of circumstances where I wouldn’t be willing to die to protect this country (like if it deviated from the constitution and descriminated against me)
The earlier oaths (in the late 18th and early 19th century) don’t even use language like “bear true faith and allegiance” those oaths are basically the restating of a contract, and are incredibly dry and are hardly “patriotic” in any way.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Mr. Balan,
Take it from this Jewish person, there is nothing Western or secular about an ethno-religious state, no matter how much the Zionists want to jam their ideology down our throats.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Holy sheep shit. Where do these klansmen come from, and why do they read Matthew Yglesias’ blog?
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:00 pm
“When their welcome here runs out”: these guys fundamentally misunderstand America, yet accuse us of being un-American etc. etc. for objecting to things like loyalty oaths.
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Juan C,
Yours is the most anti-Semitic comment I’ve read in days. I’m sure we can find a few Juans we can blame for cultural and financial decline. But guess what, not all Juans can be blamed even if some of them may be at fault. Besides, i’m certain that more Jewish people have served in the US military than people named Juan. Does that mean you Juans are cowards?
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Seriously, how does that work?
“I sure do hate me some Jews. Un-American bastards. Their fingerprints are all over the downfall of this white, Christian nation. Where’s my lugar?
So, anyway, I wonder what’s on the Think Progress page today?”
Howzat work?
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:32 pm
I’m sure we can find a few Juans we can blame for cultural and financial decline.
Anyone else want to put this guy in a steel cage with Steve Sailer?
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:29 pm
“Take it from this Jewish person…”
Hey, a Jew throwing his fellows under the bus. What a surprise. Well, not really. Anyone who studies history knows how Jewish police helped Hitler kill their brothers. With your innate lack of understanding of the concept of loyalty — even to each other — no wonder there are so few of you.
“I’m sure we can find a few Juans we can blame for cultural and financial decline.”
I’m sure you can, but those are primarily mestizos and Indians from Mexico, not descendants of European immigrants such as myself. Believe it or not, there are educated Europeans named Juan. There’s one country in particular where a lot of men are named that, including the king.
“Besides, i’m certain that more Jewish people have served in the US military than people named Juan.”
I’m not so certain of that, especially if you want to look at the numbers since the U.S. military became all-volunteer. Look at all the young and healthy American Jews such as Mr. Yglesias — many of whom were cheerleaders for the war in Iraq. There seem to be more of them pecking keyboards in D.C. than wielding rifles in the military.
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Yes, Juan, not all Jews think the same way on every issue! It has nothing to do with loyalty or throwing fellows under the bus.
Your understanding of Nazi Germany is flawed.
I really would be interested to hear how an anti-Semite like you finds his way to Yglesias’s blog…
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:37 pm
My guess is that because his handle is “Juan C”, he’s really SLC disguising himself as Juan Cole.
Pathetic.
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Naw, the reason for that is because Jewish chicks love anal. Really.
Now more seriously, do you wear your hood when you’re typing on the computer?
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Re: Holy sheep shit. Where do these klansmen come from, and why do they read Matthew Yglesias’ blog?
Good question, Joe. It’s the logical outcome of postmodernist ‘tolerance’. A society which is tolerant of everything, sooner or later becomes tolerant of Klansmen, Nazis and Jihadists. And that is precisely what’s wrong with postmodernist BS about tolerance, privileged discourse, transgressive tropes, and I don’t know what else. In a civilized society of course, Nazi-Klansman literature ought to be burned by the public hangman.
March 24th, 2009 at 12:10 am
In a civilized society, Hector, you would have been laid out in the snow to die as a baby.
And, no, you wouldn’t have been one that survived.
Or maybe you did and the cold is why you’re as brain dead as you are.
March 24th, 2009 at 1:52 am
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March 24th, 2009 at 2:58 am
What’s the problem with loyalty oaths?
Juan C, this is a reasonable question. The answer is that Lieberman appears to be proposing an oath of loyalty to “the Jewish State,” in so many words. Many if not most Arab citizens of Israel – who are 20% of the population of Israel proper – don’t accept the privileged status of Judaism in Israel and would prefer the country to be expressly secular.
March 24th, 2009 at 7:21 am
Yessir, Jews don’t serve in the US armed forces. Obviously, Air Force Chief of Staff, Norton Schwartz is an impostor.
March 24th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Does Lieberman want to require only Arab Israelis to sign a loyalty oath?
That’s the way the J Street’s representation reads, in any case.
March 24th, 2009 at 9:47 am
With the bar for calling someone an anti-Semite set so low these days, it’s almost refreshing to see someone like “Juan C.” vault so clearly into the ether of stupid bigotry.
Maybe if you added a lithp, let you superior European roots show through?
March 24th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Re David in DC
Jstreet is either lying or uninformed. Mr. Lieberman would require loyalty oaths from the entire population of Israel (not saying that I agree with this position). Furthermore, in discussing Mr. Liebermans’ anti-Arab bias, it should be noted that he is equally biased against ultra-orthodox Jews.
March 24th, 2009 at 11:34 am
David J. Balan Says: March 23rd, 2009 at 5:04 pm “a liberal Zionist like me” — What, “Liberal Racist” a little too literal for you?
Bloix Says: March 24th, 2009 at 2:58 am — The truth!
You Zionists feel much better about yourselves when you admit your racism. See Lieberman – Joe and Avi.
Juan C. Says: March 23rd, 2009 at 5:46 pm “What’s the problem with loyalty oaths?” — Juan C shows that he has some of the same mindset as the 31% of the Zionist State.
Loyalty oaths? What’s next, genital mutilation to prove you are part of the team?
March 24th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Right, Juan. Feel all the tolerance we’re extending to your sorry ass.
Go crawl back under your rock.
March 24th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Re Seedee Vee
Loyalty oaths? What’s next, genital mutilation to prove you are part of the team?
Apparently, fucktard Vee is unaware that Muslims practice male circumcision, not surprising considering what a fucking moron his is.
March 24th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
SLC Says:
March 24th, 2009 at 1:08 pm — same old shit. What the hell does what your momma say to you about her Muslim tricks have to do with loyalty oaths? Go back to polishing knobs and shoving salami up your ass and let us have a conversation here.
Please.
April 8th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
This is very hot info. I think I’ll share it on Delicious.
April 15th, 2009 at 6:36 am
This topic is quite hot in the net right now. What do you pay attention to when choosing what to write ?