While I normally stay out of these political and religious threads (I find them burdensome on this
list, whether or not preceded by 'OT:'), I cannot let my friend Joseph Rosenblatt's note pass
without comment. We share many values, but here I part company with him. Since he wrote his note to
the list, I feel compelled to respond in the same venue. I am not intending to start or continue a
thread here about the value or legitimacy of the State of Israel. This is not the place.

1. Joseph is entitled to his anti-Zionist views and to state them as much as he pleases. However, he
does not speak for many Jews in the United States and around the world who view the establishment of
the State of Israel in 1948 (following a U.N. Resolution in November, 1947) to be the beginning of
the redemption of the Jewish people. I proudly count myself in this camp. That is not to say that I
agree with everything this government or previous governments of the State of Israel say or do.

2. Whatever one thinks of Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of the State of Israel, and the policies he
follows, it is offensive in the extreme to group him in a sentence with Saddam Hussein, Manuel
Noriega "and other despots and criminals." Ariel Sharon has been elected twice in free and open
elections in the only democracy in the Middle East. Yes, he has made mistakes of both action and
inaction -- in my view. The view of this man should be viewed part of a brilliant career in
defending the State of Israel since 1948 when the nascent democracy was invaded by armies and
irregular forces from five or six surrounding/nearby Arab countries and ever since.

(speaking for myself and not my employer)
--
Leonard S. Berkowitz
Perot Health Care Systems
(Harvard Pilgrim Health Care account)
voice: 617-509-1212
fax: 617-509-1955
pager: 781-226-2431



                      "rosenblatt,
                      joseph"                  To:       [log in to unmask]
                      <rosenblatt_josep        cc:
                      [log in to unmask]>               Subject:  [HP3000-L] OT: Who's Next? (was: too quiet)
                      Sent by: HP-3000
                      Systems
                      Discussion
                      <[log in to unmask]
                      TC.EDU>


                      04/15/2003 08:52
                      AM
                      Please respond to
                      "rosenblatt,
                      joseph"






I have been trying to limit my OT presence on the list. I would have liked
to have stayed out of this fray as well. Much like Michael Corleone I keep
trying to get out but "they keep pulling me back in." (Actually, it is my
ego that keeps pulling me back in but it easier to blame" them".)
I try to respect everyone's opinion even when I disagree vehemently with
that opinion. I try to refrain from name-calling or personal attacks because
such actions do not further the dialog. That said there are lines that are
crossed that cause me to have to take the offensive.

One lister equated the anti-war sentiment with anti-Semitism. This statement
is not only offensive it is ill informed. I am one of the lists most vocal
anti-war members and those that know me or have even briefly seen me know
that I am not an anti-Semite (if 20 years of Rabbinic seminary didn't make
me anti-Semitic there's not much that could). I, therefore, feel qualified
to rebut this statement.

This statement accepts the idea that the zionist entity in power in the Holy
land speaks for the Jews. I do not accept that premise. The zionist movement
and the regime that grew out of it have always been and still are
diametrically opposed to anything and everything for which Judaism stands.
The secular zionist movement has long held the ideal that they should be "a
nation among nations." Their poet laureate, Chaim Bialik, once said, "I know
we will have a Jewish state when we have Jewish prostitutes on the streets
of Jerusalem and Jewish policemen arresting them." Good for you Mr. Bialik,
your wish has come true.

To be against the zionist regime does not automatically make one an
anti-Semite. Just as to criticize the Bush regime does not make a person
anti-American. People must take a moral stand when they believe a government
is in the wrong. It is my belief that that both the zionist entity and the
Bush administration have crossed the line of acceptable behavior. I do not
think that that makes me an anti-Semite or anti-American. To those who think
it does, the "America Love or Leave It" crowd, I can only hope that someday
you will be able to attribute positive motives to my actions.

I do not for one minute believe that that the American government is doing
anything for anybody based on religion. The Jewish lobby and Jewish money
play a strong role in American politics. In the current political situation,
it is better to alienate the Arab-American vote than it is to alienate the
Jewish-American vote. When that changes, the American government will change
its policy toward the zionist entity. The American government has backed
Saddam Hussein, Manuel Noreiga and other despots and criminals including
Arik Sharon, until it suited them not to support these regimes. Once they
decided that it did not further their political goals to support these
regimes, the regimes became an anathema. This will happen to the zionist
entity as well.

To those of you that would wish to play the "self hating Jew" card on me I
say, "Play it and be damned." I do not need the zionist entity to justify my
existence. My G-d promised my father Abraham that his children would
continue to exist forever and that is all I need. I do not seek to deny
anything that is essentially Jewish and I proudly display that which is.

You also may have noticed that I refuse to call the zionist entity by the
name they chose to call themselves. This is because the name Israel belongs
to the Jewish people not the zionist entity. The zionists have stolen the
name G-d gave my father Jacob, a name denoting Jacob's devotion to G-d and
morality and dragged it through the offal. They have attached a stench to
this name, our father that bore it and his children that have tried for 3500
years to be worthy of bearing the name. In a short hundred years the
zionists have laid low a name that stood for the moral high ground for
millennia. Our good name can never be regained. It is lost forever.

Do not equate the zionist regime with the Jewish people. They are separate.
Most of the time, their ideals are diametrically opposed.

In short, sir, I do not accept your assertion that being against this war is
being anti-Semitic, anti-American or anti-freedom for the Iraqis. I believe
the stand I have taken is pro-freedom, pro-life and pro-Peace. I am now and
hope to forever remain pro-dialog.

I hope we can disagree without besmirching each other's character.

Let Peace be the maxim by which we act because we will Peace to become a
universal law.
Work For Peace
The opinions expressed herein are my own and not necessarily those of my
employer.
Yosef Rosenblatt

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