American Jews are on the wrong side of history

By Robbie Michaelson, TOI blogs

At this point in time it could be noted that many American Jews are appear to be on the wrong side of history.  Events speak for themselves.

American Jews have been at the forefront of the battle for so-called “immigrant rights”.  Americans were all immigrants once; just ask the Native Americans. America was built by immigrants; true enough. So why the controversy? Because, today, there is an immigration crisis on America’s southern border that has been caused by a broken immigration system and is being fuelled by partisan politics.

The crisis on the border could be ameliorated by reforming America’s antiquated decades-old immigration system. It is a policy that allows for immigrants to cross over into the U.S. illegally and then claim sanctuary under the existing right to claim “Asylum”. However, upon an asylum hearing examination, which because the system is so overwhelmed usually takes months,  most migrants have been found to not qualify for asylum and have had their applications denied. The problem arises from the fact that from the time most migrants claiming asylum enter the U.S. they are released into the country to await their hearing –  for which the majority of the migrants never show up; and they remain in the U.S. illegally.

What makes this whole process a farce are two points: 1) most of the migrants originate in Central America and could have claimed asylum in Mexico – but choose to cross through Mexico in order to claim asylum in the more wealthy United States and 2) many of these migrants have been held in substandard detention centres that have been unfairly labeled “Concentration Camps”. American Jews tend to side with the would be immigrants because they support the globalisation of much of American foreign policy and because they support anything that is opposed by President Trump. Their hatred for President Trump therefore extends to their opposition to funding a physical barrier that would seal America’s south border; their being okay with people forcing their way into the U.S. illegally; and their ignoring the fact that the vast majority of these asylum claims are bogus. They are okay with letting in millions of mostly uneducated, unilingual, unskilled people into America to overwhelm the medical, security and social services networks at the expense of the American citizens. And if you choose to hold a different opinion you are labeled a “Racist`’.

Another major problem confronting America Jewry is the growing power of the radical left within the Democratic Party. The so-called squad of 4 have become media darlings and have created a scenario where the tail is wagging the dog. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib,  and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seem to delight in questioning America’s bipartisan support for Israel. They criticise Israel at every opportunity and talk about Jews having too much power and holding a dual allegiance with a foreign power. They voice support for the BDS movement and are working to get more “progressives” to run and get elected to future congresses. The American Jewish community continues to support and vote overwhelming for the Democratic Party. This support continues despite the fact the Democratic leadership could not even bring forth a resolution to condemn the growing anti-semitism in the U.S. and censure Congresswoman Omar for some of her anti-Jewish statements.

Historically American Jews have always been at the forefront of the American civil rights movement. Nonetheless that support hasn’t stopped many within the “Black Lives Matter” Organization  from attacking Israel and supporting the Palestinians. It is hasn’t stopped the “Woman’s March Movement”s” leadership from discriminating against Jewish supporters and preventing “Jewish dykes” joining an LGBT parade in Chicago. For some reason American Jews forgive these “transgressions” but when it comes to President Trump most American Jewish Organizations call his statements “racist”. You can’t find anti-semitism with racism says the “Jewish Journal” and apparently allowing Muslim Congresswomen to single out the State of Israel for criticism is considered “kosher” because they are only exercising their “First Amendment Rights”.

American Jews have been strong supporters of the so-called “Two State Solution” and many of them have been vocal in their criticism of the Israeli Government and our handling of our Palestinian neighbours. Most do not have any “skin in the game” and have bought into the narrative that only a “Two State Solution” will settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unfortunately there is little attention being paid to the facts underlying the current impasse in the “peace process”. Inconvenient truths about the Palestinians and their uncompromising positions are continually glossed over by many Jewish Americans in their utopian desire to help create a peaceful Palestinian State – if only Israel would be more accommodating. History obviously counts for nothing and to many American Jews it has been Israel’s desire to hold onto Judea and Samaria that has prevented peace with the Palestinians.

And then there is the problem that is Iran. Most American Jews support the JCPOA agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran.  Most Israelis do not. The reasons why this plan was wrong from the beginning are myriad. It is an arrangement where it is easy to cheat inspections; where not all sites covered; where a fast break to assembling a nuclear bomb can be easily attained; where billions of frozen Iranian assets were released to the Ayatollahs to do with as they wish; where the missile development to deliver nuclear weapons continues outside of the agreement; and where continuing aggressive moves by Iran in the region were not addressed, etc., etc. Recently traces of radioactive material have been discovered at the Fordow facility. Iran’s often-repeated threats to wipe the State of Israel off of the map has not been condemned in any International forum.

Nevertheless American Jews continue to support the JCPOA Agreement and oppose the U.S. withdrawal from the Agreement. As a point in fact most of the Democratic candidates for President would return the U.S. to the agreement and blame the current Administration for provoking the crisis with Iran.  One wonders if they would still feel the same way if Iranian Military Forces were stationed 50 kilometres from their Northern border and Iran was threatening to wipe out the United States?