What Israel Means to Me

Alan Dershowitz

Description

Personal and Passionate Reflections on the Land and Its People

"The Mediterranean landscape, the exuberance of the Israelis, the way politics is a matter of life and death there-all these things beguiled me."
-Erica Jong, author

"What does Israel mean to me? Courage. The Israelis have more courage in their pinky finger than I have in my whole life."
-Tovah Feldshuh, actress

"It is an unparalleled story of tenacity and determination, of courage and renewal. And it is ultimately a metaphor for the triumph and enduring hope over the temptation of despair."
-David Harris, Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee

"I have no desire to be like everyone else. Something in me wants the entry of the Jewish people into world politics to be judged by the highest conceivable measure. Indeed, that may be what is both so inspiring and confounding about the existence of Israel."
-Rabbi Lawrence Kushner?

"Israel isn't a symbol. Israel is the practical manifestation of hope, freedom, and self-determination."
-Larry King, television host
Introduction by Alan Dershowitz.

Yosef I. Abramowitz.

David Adler.

Shulamit Aloni.

Robert Alter.

Christina Applegate and Nancy Priddy.

David Arnow.

William J. Bennett.

Meron Benvenisti.

Theodore Bikel.

Edwin Black.

Laura Blumenfeld.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

Paul Buhle.

Judy Feld Carr.

Leon Charney.

Norm Coleman.

Richard Ben Cramer.

Paul Eidelberg.

Stuart Eizenatat.

Marc H. Ellis.

Amitai Etzioni.

Avner Even-Zohar.

Jane Falk.

Tovah Feldshuh.

Charles Fenyvesi.

Barney Frank.

Samuel Freedman.

Leslie Gelb.

Uri Geller.

Judy Ginsburge.

Nathan Glazer.

J.J. Goldberg.

Ari L. Goldman.

Monty Hall.

Joshua Hammer.

David Harris.

Mark Helprin.

Susannah Heschel.

Rabbi Marvin Hier.

Arthur Hiller.

Judd Hirsch.

David Horovitz.

Erica Jong.

Max M. Kampelman.

Jonathan Kellerman.

Rabbi Naamah Kelman.

Aviva Kempner.

Larry King.

Morton Klein.

Edward Koch.

Melvin Konner.

Rabbi Harold Kushner.

Rabbi Lawrence Kushner.

Stan Lee.

Rabbi Michael Lerner.

Norman Liss.

David Mamet.

Daniel S. Mariaschin.

Laraine Newman.

Michael B. Oren.

Norm Ornstein.

Judea Pearl.

Natalie Portman.

David Raab.

Pat Robertson.

Anne Roiphe.

Donna Rosenthal.

Amnon Rubinstein.

Douglas Rushkoff.

Julie Salamon.

Stephen Schwartz.

Bernie Siegel.

Ned L. Siegel.

R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.

Milton Viorst.

Rabbi Noah Weinberg.

Rabbi Sherwin Wine.

Rabbi Eric Yoffie.

Fred S. Zeidman.

Stephen Zunes.

Sujets

• Middle Est
• Mediterranean
• Histoire
• Israel
• Israelis
• Middle East
• Mediterranean Sea
• Judaism
• Alan Dershowitz
• History
• Exxon Valdez

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 21 avril 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780470315415
• Langue: English

Extrait

What Israel Means to Me
What Israel Means to Me
By 80 Prominent Writers, Performers, Scholars, Politicians, and Journalists
A LAN D ERSHOWITZ
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 2006 by Alan Dershowitz. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com . Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions .
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty:While the publisher and the author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
What Israel means to me / [edited by] Alan Dershowitz.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-471-67900-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-470-16914-8 (paper)
1. Israel. 2. Celebrities—Attitudes. I. Dershowitz, Alan M.
DS102.4.W45 2006
956.9405—dc22
2005028991
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedicated to the memory of my dear friend James Oliver Freedman (1935–2006), for whom Israel and the Jewish people meant so much. He always pursued justice, wisdom, and righteousness. He was a real mensch.
Contents
Introduction by Alan Dershowitz
Yosef I. Abramowitz
David Adler
Shulamit Aloni
Robert Alter
Christina Applegate and Nancy Priddy
David Arnow
William J. Bennett
Meron Benvenisti
Theodore Bikel
Edwin Black
Laura Blumenfeld
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
Paul Buhle
Judy Feld Carr
Leon Charney
Norm Coleman
Richard Ben Cramer
Paul Eidelberg
Stuart Eizenstat
Marc H. Ellis
Amitai Etzioni
Avner Even-Zohar
Jane Falk
Tovah Feldshuh
Charles Fenyvesi
Barney Frank
Samuel Freedman
Leslie Gelb
Uri Geller
Judy Ginsburgh
Nathan Glazer
J. J. Goldberg
Ari L. Goldman
Monty Hall
Joshua Hammer
David Harris
Mark Helprin
Susannah Heschel
Rabbi Marvin Hier
Arthur Hiller
Judd Hirsch
David Horovitz
Erica Jong
Max M. Kampelman
Jonathan Kellerman
Rabbi Naamah Kelman
Aviva Kempner
Larry King
Morton Klein
Edward Koch
Melvin Konner
Rabbi Harold Kushner
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
Stan Lee
Rabbi Michael Lerner
Norman Liss
David Mamet
Daniel S. Mariaschin
Laraine Newman
Michael B. Oren
Norm Ornstein
Judea Pearl
Natalie Portman
David Raab
Pat Robertson
Anne Roiphe
Donna Rosenthal
Amnon Rubinstein
Douglas Rushkoff
Julie Salamon
Stephen Schwartz
Bernie Siegel
Ned L. Siegel
R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.
Milton Viorst
Rabbi Noah Weinberg
Rabbi Sherwin Wine
Rabbi Eric Yoffie
Fred S. Zeidman
Stephen Zunes
Introduction
by Alan Dershowitz
It’s a tiny country, barely the size of New Jersey. Its population of six million ranks it among the least populated member states of the United Nations. Yet, with the possible exception of the United States—the world’s only superpower—the Jewish nation of Israel provokes more passion, receives more media coverage, and engenders more criticism than any other country in the world today. It is fair to say that few people are neutral about Israel. Many love it with the uncritical exuberance of a doting mother toward her child. Many more hate it with what one observer has aptly characterized as an almost “eroticized” passion.
What explains the world’s disproportionate love-hate attitude toward Israel?
In one sense, it should come as no surprise that tiny Israel, the Jew among nations, attracts such disproportionate attention from the world. After all, the Jewish people—both before and after the establishment of the state Israel—has always been the focus of disproportionate attention, mostly negative, despite the small number of Jews in the world. Public opinion polls constantly show that non-Jews overestimate— often by a factor of ten—the proportion of Jews in any given country. For example, a recent poll in the United States showed that most respondents believe that Jews constitute twenty percent of Americans, whereas actually we constitute a mere two percent. There’s an old joke about a Nazi rally during the 1930s at which Hitler was ranting and raving about the Jews. He ended his speech with a rhetorical question: “Who has caused all of Germany’s many problems?” A member of the audience responded loudly, “The bicycle riders.” Taken aback, Hitler asked, “Why the bicycle riders?” to which the man replied, “Why the Jews?”
Recently, in some of the parts of Europe that Hitler controlled during World War II, a public opinion poll asked which country in the world posed the greatest threat to peace today. Fifty-nine percent of the respondents answered: “Israel.” Why Israel? Why the Jews? The question may be different, but the answer is not. Until recently, the following chant could be heard on American campuses at anti-Israel rallies (and also at anti-war rallies protesting the U.S. attack against Iraq): “Sharon and Hitler—it’s the same, the only difference is the name.” Israeli prime ministers are never compared to Mussolini, Pinochet, or even Stalin. It’s always Hitler!
This kind of extreme reaction cannot be justified by reference to reality, any more than Hitler’s blaming the Jews for all of Germany’s woes could be justified by the facts. The explanation lies deep in the history and the psyche of the accusers. This is not to suggest that all criticism of Israel is necessarily motivated by anti-Semitism. It certainly is not. Rational, calibrated, and proportional criticism of specific Israeli policies and actions—such as those contained in some of the essays in this volume—is to be welcomed. Indeed, most Israelis are vociferous critics of at least some of their own government’s policies and actions. But when Israel is condemned out of all proportion to its own fault and without comparable criticism of other nations and groups with much greater faults, then the Jewish nation is being subjected to the kind of double standard to which the Jewish people have been subjected throughout history. It is being treated as the Jew among nations.
I am passionate about my defense of Israel, despite my own criticism of many of its policies and actions, because I hate bigotry and double standards. I am passionate about Israel’s right to exist, despite my own decision not to make my home in the Jewish state, because I remember the history of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust to which it led. All I ask is that critics of Israel apply a single standard of judgment to all the nations in the world. Judged by any reasonable standard, uniformly applied, Israel rises to the top of any list of nations facing comparable threats, both internal and external.
Yet there are those who would deny Israel’s basic right to exist. The very idea of a Jewish nation is anathema to many who would never challenge the right of the many Muslim and Christian countries to exist. If any people in the world has demonstrated why they need a homeland, it is surely the Jewish people, who without a homeland— and an army to protect them—have been so vulnerable to persecution, discrimination, and even genocide. The nations of the world, even our own, shut the gates to Jews during their greatest time of need. Had there been a single nation willing to accept Jewish refugees from Nazi oppression, millions of lives might have been saved. If the Jewish nation of Israel had been in existence, so many lives might not have been snuffed out. Had the British and the Palestinians not closed the door to mandatory Palestine, Hitler might have been satisfied to rid Europe of Jews by emigration rather than by genocide.
A new and different kind of holocaust is not out of the question. With nearly six million Jews now concentrated in tiny Israel, a nuclear bomb could do in a minute what it took Hitler years to do. Had Saddam Hussein’s nuclear capacity not been destroyed by the Israeli Air Force in 1981, the scuds he rained down on Tel Aviv during the first Gulf war could have been loaded with nuclear warheads. Today Iran is threatening Israel with nuclear devastation: “In 2001 Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former president of Iran, speculated that in a nuclear exchange with Israel his country might lose 15 million people, which would amount to a small ‘sacrifice’ from among the billion Muslims worldwide in exchange for the lives of 5 million Israeli Jews. He seemed pleased with his formulation.” (Suzanne Fields, “Confronting the New Anti-Semitism,” Washington T