Why do they hate America?

"Jonathan" at Jewschool threatens violence against Max Blumenthal because Blumenthal dared to produce the video shown in the post below. Meanwhile, many other Jewschool aficionados try to pretend that the violent opinions expressed in this video do not reflect the views widely held in Israel and by Israel's supporters in America. We are told not to worry: These are just a bunch of drunken kids.

Bull. The threat against Blumenthal proves my point -- and completely disproves the reassuring blandishments offered by other Jewschoolers. Something strange and terrible is happening within modern Judaism. I think it is affecting the young more than the old.

Antipathy toward America and "western culture" is on the rise among Israelis and among right-wing Jews who support Israel. I've discussed the subject -- citing numerous examples -- here and here. I quote at length from one pro-Israel site which seems to regard the United States as Israel's worst enemy.

Face it: We live in an era in which Alan Dershowitz (nobody's idea of a drunken frat boy) actually thinks he can get away with calling Desmond Tutu a "racist." Israel is a country where newspapers defend the decision to make women sit in the back of the bus; any critics of that policy are accused of imposing "western secular culture" on Israelis. Children's books in Israel openly promote race hatred.

One can cite many more examples, but the point is made: The "drunken kids" in the video are Israel. The guy calling for Max Blumenthal to be beaten is Zionism.

Israel is no longer a bastion of liberal values and western culture. Perhaps it once was, but those days are past. Modern Israelis sneer at "western secular culture," just as they sneer at their funders in the United States. They openly call for the assassination of the American president. Race hatred has transformed modern Israel into a force that is just as capital-O "Other" -- as un-American -- as is any other nation or movement in the Middle East.

I must quickly admit that many Jews in the United States have not fallen prey to this tendency. The Rabbis here speak, for the most part, in measured and rational terms. They represent the form of Judaism that I once admired. (I do disagree with the good Rabbi from Thousand Oaks who describes Arab culture as "deeply tribal and Oriental." Compared to what? To the folks in Israel who want to relegate women to the back of the bus?) Alas, I do not think that this humanistic form of Judaism is on the rise. In fact, I think that the forces of humanism and reason are being shouted down.

Look once more at those kids in the video (in the post below). They are the future. And perhaps not just the future of Israel or of Judaism -- perhaps they are the future of all of us, of an entire globe driven mad by arrogance, religious fanaticism, bloodlust and stupid macho dreams.

By the way -- some suggest that inebriation excuses the kids who called for the president's murder. I'm reminded of this story about the possibility of parole for Susan Atkins, the woman who murdered Sharon Tate. She (Susan) was high on LSD when she did it. So do we extend the "inebriated kid" excuse to her as well..? Just wondering.