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Jack is a graduate of Rutgers University where he majored in history. His career in the life and health insurance industry involved medical risk selection and brokerage management. Retired in Florida for over two decades after many years in NJ and NY, he occasionally writes, paints, plays poker, participates in play readings and is catching up on Shakespeare, Melville and Joyce, etc.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Responses to Obama's Israel Position and a Couple of Short Stories


You don’t think I got away with my recent posting of Dr. Robert Watson’s thoughts on President Obama’s position in support of Israel without getting some responses, did you?  Admittedly, I also sent it out as an Email to a selected list.  Since this blog is for “everyone,” here are some of the responses I received … with names deleted since they do not know I am posting them. 

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This is a response I got from a friend when I forwarded Dr. Watson’s thoughts on Obama’s Israel policy. 

“Jack:  In response to this email, why don't you ask Israelis and find out how they feel about Obama? Oh, we forget, you would rather listen to the words of the ultra liberal Robert Watson instead.  No matter what Mr. Watson writes or says, we disagree with him and so please don't send us any more emails supporting Obama. We will NEVER support him for many reasons and you and/or Mr. Watson will not make us change our minds. I just find it disconcerting when we have to explain to our friends, relatives and acquaintances how the Jews in Florida can ever have supported Obama. They are astounded! We don't know how to explain it.  Now that you know our position and we know yours, please do not send us any more political emails.”

Nevertheless, I risked sending him this brief reply:
“Can you briefly list some of those many reasons you mention?”   Jack

And this is the reply I received:

“Jack:  You are relentless and at this point we don't have to list any of the reasons as long as we are sure of our convictions and we certainly don't want to discuss them with you as you seem to be an ultra liberal, too, and anything we say you will counteract with fabrications.
For anyone who can't see the light, let them support Obama. We won't and that is that. In addition, we will do everything in our power to make sure he doesn't get a second chance to ruin this country. The topic is over. We don't want to discuss it with you.”



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And here is another one.  I forgive the writer for a few spelling errors.

Before I knew anything about Obama, I was very open and I wanted to research what I could. I went to his web site and read this... "The Palestinian people are of the most oppressed people on the face of the earth." Who do you suppose he thinks has done the oppressing. Not the ones who send the suiside bombs over to Israel. I think that I know who he is when I see him kiss the ring of the Saudi King and go on his apology tour. On another note he gave part of General motors to the Unions. It was the unions who destroyed the company to begin with by negotiating salaries that made the company uncompetitive in the world market. Then they get this reward.


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And this one is a bit more complicated to figure out.  The “cousin” referred to is a Senior Fellow with the extremely conservative Hudson Institute and is a gentleman I personally respect as probably one of the nation’s leading experts on the Muslim Brotherhood.  The propaganda piece which follows comes from www.Townhall.com, a conservative website. 

Some (not all) of these people, you know, cannot think for themselves and turn to these packaged arguments when challenged.  Do you think Hillary Clinton’s reaction to “orthodoxy” and Panetta’s frustration with Israeli transigence warrant this kind of attack?  I do not.

My feeling is that Israel will negotiate and cede territory for a Palestinian state, but only when they are absolutely certain that their new neighbor will not turn out to be a violent aggressor bent on Israel’s destruction. It may take eighty years to reach that point, but Israel must be certain before it negotiates! 
 
This viewpoint is shared by most Israelis, except for the small minority who oppose any Palestinian state whatsoever and the ceding of any territory at all. Unfortunately, this minority position has an inordinate and undeserved influence on the opinions of Jews in the United States, including many rabbis. 

President Obama is aware of this, as is Leon Panetta, and of the actions of the Palestinians which in effect keep the Israelis from the negotiation table. Remarks such as those made by Panetta will not serve to change the Israeli position, but they do serve to paint the United States as an honest broker and thus, hopefully eventually will bring the Palestinians closer to a position which will enable the Israelis to be able to negotiate with them.   

But this blog aims at fairness, so read the following reply and decide for yourself.      

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Here is the response:
 
I am forwarding this as an additional response to an e mail I received regarding Obamas' loving stance on Israel.

To those who think that this administration is an ally of the only supporter of the US (Israel) in the middle east must be informed of the truth and not the spin coming from the White House. I am expecting a reply to the e mail received (that Email’s contents appeared on this blog’s most recent posting.)  which was NOT forwarded to you because of confidentiality....but might do so when I receive a reply from my cousin's think tank in Washington.  (The writer was apparently leery of forwarding Dr. Watson’s thoughts to those on his mailing list out of concern that its factual approach, which I suspect that even the Hudson Institute will find to be truthful, might influence some of them.)
Please scroll down and read.

Subject: Fwd: Obama administration's relentless attacks on Jews and Israel explode
Please print out and take a copy of the article below to your card, golf or tennis game to hand out to your Obama swooning friends. They might become so overwrought that you'd gain an upper hand in whatever form of competition you're in.


Townhall.com| December 9, 2011 - Suzanne Fields

Posted on Friday, December 09, 2011 6:13:50 AM by Kaslin (Don’t know who he is)
This has been a bad week in Israeli-American relations -- more accurately, (Jewish)-Israeli-Obama White House relations. Three White House players who should know better (and probably do) dumped on the only democracy in the Middle East, boldly contradicting the president's boast to Jewish donors that he's the most Israel-supporting president in history. (Where does that leave Harry Truman?)
Hillary Clinton went out of her way to pick a fight with Israel in the name of feminist principle. The secretary of state thought she was speaking "just among us girls" behind closed doors at the left-leaning Brookings Institute, but her remarks nevertheless made headlines in the Israeli newspapers.
Hillary was shocked -- shocked! -- to learn that Orthodox Jews segregate women and men, and buses in their Israeli neighborhoods acquiesced by reserving front seats for men. This naturally reminded her of Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Ala., and ultimately set off the modern civil-rights movement. But there is no such legally required segregation in Israel, by sex, race or otherwise, and Israeli courts have said so.
She was shocked again, poor lady, when she heard that several ultra-orthodox soldiers walked out of a military concert to avoid hearing women sing; it was against their faith to listen to women in song. The secretary of state apparently thought this sounded like Iran, and said so. Another cheap shot, which did not go unanswered in Israel. "The exclusion and segregation of women is something totally unacceptable, and it needs to be stopped," Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told the daily Ha'aretz, "but to cite this as a threat to Israel's democracy is a big leap."
Hillary would do better to measure her friends in Saudi Arabia against her feminist principles. Saudi women can't drive without a close male-relative chaperone, and if they do they risk a lashing. Saudi women have been promised the vote five years hence, but after decades of broken promises they're not holding their breaths. Women in Israel already share power with men, and have done so from the founding of the modern Jewish state. There must be someone in Foggy Bottom who could let Hillary in on the secret.
Hillary's feminist principles were offended, but Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking at the same conference, took a different poke at the Jewish state. He blames Israel for delaying negotiations with the Palestinians, as though it was the Israelis' fault there hasn't been "peace" talks for a while.
"Get to the damn table," Panetta said, like an irate father calling obstreperous children to dinner. He apparently hadn't heard that it was President Obama who set pre-conditions for talking about a complete construction freeze in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The president delays things by making the Palestinians even more recalcitrant than usual.
The president and his men could usefully read a new book, "Deception: Betraying the Peace Process," which describes the way the Palestinian Authority deliberately and systematically undermines the mutual trust necessary to accomplish anything. Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik meticulously document the way the Palestinians indoctrinate children to hate Jews, to idolize terrorists and deny Israel's right to exist.
In one chilling example in an "education" magazine sponsored by the Palestinian Authority, a teenage girl describes a dream of meeting her hero, Hitler, who tells her that he killed Jews to show her how horrible Jews are.
A close reading of the book could clear certain White House heads of the foolishness of Howard Gutman, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium (and a chief Obama fundraiser), who draws poisonous distinctions between the ancient anti-Semitism persistent in Europe and the anti-Semitism of Islamists, which he says arises from the behavior of the Jews. He wouldn't blame the Holocaust on the Jews, where European anti-Semitism was pervasive, but suggests that the Israelis can resolve Jew-hatred today by changing their ways. Every new settlement in Israel, he says, exacerbates the problem.
The White House quickly distanced the president and his administration from the ambassador's dictionary definitions of two kinds of anti-Semitism, but not before Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich accused the administration of undermining an ally. Newt said the president should fire the ambassador.
The two Republican presidential front-runners offer strong alternatives toward Israel. Romney said that his first foreign trip as president would be to Israel. (Obama hasn't visited Israel at all.) Newt promises to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Both challenge Obama's approach as unsympathetic, if not hostile, to Israel.
Jewish voters, many of whom are still enamored of the president, might think long and hard about how their man actually regards what's at stake in the Middle East, and how he might deal with Israel if he is re-elected and no longer has to worry about running for office or campaign money from the Jews.

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Let no one ever say that Jackspotpourri.com is not, in the words of Roger Ailes, “Balanced and Fair.”  But I must add that neither a trip to Israel by a “President” Romney nor a transfer of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as a “President” Gingrich promises, would come close to doing as much for Israel as the ultra modern armaments and missile defense systems which President Obama has made certain Israel receives from the United States.

 
Iron Dome Missile System Provided by United States
 
United States Embassy - Tel Aviv

And for the record, since the author of the above piece seems to think visiting there is vitally important to our relationship with Israel, note the following:

During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Barack Obama made his second trip to Israel, where he spoke at Sderot of an unshakable commitment to Israel’s security and reiterated that Israelis have, in the United States, a friend and ally that will always stand by the people of Israel.  It should be remembered that the only two Presidents to make an official state visit to Israel during their first term were Presidents Carter and Clinton.  Lyndon B. Johnson and Ronald Reagan, two of our most pro-Israel presidents, never visited Israel during their tenure as presidents. And George W. Bush did not visit Israel until the eighth year of his presidency.  

Jack Lippman

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And here are a couple of short stories to take your mind off of the serious matters addressed above.  Neither of them were written by me.  Hurrah!

BANG!

Harvey Sage  -  Author of Tuna Food     www.harvo1.com

The reflection in the mirror pleased him, so he smiled. After one last brushing of his ample hair, and a wiping of his forehead, Jay was ready to go. His newest girlfriend was waiting.

As he left his bedroom, which he shared with Amy, his wife of twenty years, he looked at her picture and felt a tinge of guilt. “Too bad babes.  I love you, but a man gotta do what he gotta do. Gonads you know.” He turned and started to leave. A thought flashed through his consciousness. He went to the dresser drawer and opened it. Jay looked at the bright shiny revolver laying there. It was a five shot 38 caliber Taurus. Should he lock it up with his many other guns? Jay hesitated. “Nah. What good is a gun locked up. Besides, I’m running late and fun is afoot.” Turning, Jay left. The house was empty. But not for long.



They were young and scroungey. Though school was in session, Delray and Hendry didn’t go. Who cared? The day was bright, the weather mild, and the area basically deserted. A great opportunity to rob and pillage at will. These were not known as “bad kids,” just mildly retarded and involved with petty crimes. In another county the school system would have dealt with them through alternative schools. Their day would have been regimented and they would be trained to work in a variety of menial and entry jobs. Their lives would be productive and they would be content.

Sad to say, in this county the education gurus dictated no help for the lower classes. They were seen as trash and garbage, destined to fend for themselves. Church programs and after school activities didn’t apply here. Delray and Hendry were deemed useless flotsam and jetson. However in the world of the street they possessed a survivor’s dose of genius. That is why they meandered through this gated neighborhood, eventually picking out a house. No one was around as they came round the back and forced their way in, closing the door behind them.

They were fast and thorough. Each grabbed a pillow case and then they went through the bedrooms looking for jewelry and other plunder that could be transformed into cash. Cash meant drugs, a high, a good time with girls, an escape from the humdrum life. As the juvenile entrepreneurs searched they came upon an unexpected find. “Look a here Delray. It’s a gun and it’s a beauty.” Then they heard the front door open.

Jay was pissed. Elaine, his girl friend, hadn’t showed. “The bitch stood me up!  My whole day off shot to hell.”  He thought of what he could have done- golf, fishing or even taking his guns out to the target range. Jay enjoyed shooting. A rabid supporter of the Second Amendment, Jay took his gun ownership seriously. His favorite saying was “The only way you’re going to take away my gun is to pry it out of my cold, dead hands.” 

Jay went upstairs and froze. At the top of the stairway stood a boy. In his shaking hands was Jay’s .38. The boy shouted “Don’t move!” Jay saw he was scared. Instead of turning and running for help, he started to climb.

Delray backed away. The gun shaking, he let himself be boxed with Hendry into a room as Jay - big, strong muscular Jay - kept coming.

“Come on son,” Jay said in a soft voice. “ You don’t want to get into trouble, do you. Give me the gun and get out of here. I won’t tell the cops and we’ll forget this ever happened.” Jay extended his hand and DelRay, who had never held a gun in his life went to give it to the big man. He was shaking very badly and in the midst of the transfer the inevitable happened. BANG! A body fell lifeless to the floor.  Tragic.


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Hey You!

Sid Bolotin


Hey you!  You in your fancy car with the windows rolled up. I see you trying to avoid looking at me, to avoid seeing me. My name is Nitolob, and I’m a person just like you. I know, I know; you can’t wait for the traffic light to change so you can escape. My appearance and my presence affront you. Well, I’m living in my culture, the culture of the great unwashed. You are part of the opposite culture, the one with all the haves, the cars, and the gated communities. I may be dirty, smelly, and unemployed, begging at traffic lights, but I am not uneducated. I was in college when I chose to forego my draft exemption and join the army to fight for my country.  Maybe it was the jungle of ‘Nam or the deserts of Iraq or Afghanistan which shredded my high noble ideals.  Don’t matter which.  My mind never fully reconciled the dichotomy of that experience when I finally came home. Oh I tried to return to the life I left, but I found it impossible. I’ve been drifting all these years without roots, city- to- city, job to job.    Now in Florida I’m part of a community of displaced people, struggling to exist within a paradox of economic opposites that rub shoulders with each other. You think we’re all shiftless, irresponsible failures who could catapult ourselves into your world if only we would try hard enough. Not so, my judgmental friend. Oh, I suppose some could; but the majority of us are not in this culture by choice. Various circumstances dropped us off the edge and have kept us here. Smiling and crying, I live in the streets. Smiling when I’ve gotten a few dollars to buy food; crying when I’ve spent ten hours on the roadway’s island in the burning heat without a single dollar to show for all that time and indignity. Think about this the next time you see me at a traffic light. Soften your heart and contribute a dollar or two to create a smiling day for both of us.

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JL

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