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January 12, 2009

The inmates are in control of the asylum

Synagogues fire-bombed in France underscore the insanity unleashed by Israel's grotesquely disproportionate violence in Gaza. Yet they also underscore an even profounder insanity - responding to racist violence with racist violence.

As Ghandi reportedly once stated, "an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind", or something to that effect.

The fact of the matter is that Jews are hardly unified in support of what's happening in Gaza. Likewise, the restraint shown in the Occupied West Bank and the battle between Fatah and Hamas for control of Gaza a while back demonstrate that Palestinians are hardly unified in support of indescriminately firing missles into Israel (a war crime, btw).

But those of us protesting against the insanity are being widely ignored. Israelis and Palestinians alike are gravitating towards the insane, violent extremists. And their partisans are doing the same.

Stridently pro-Palestinian commenters at Blue Oregon (one of my few daily reads) have ratcheted up their stridency in what I personally would describe as a jack-booted fashion.

Their equally jack-booted bretheren stridently backing Israel openly embrace racists in making their arguments.

I increasingly feel like the proverbial voice in the wilderness that everyone is studiously ignoring - whether because they disagree or because they're sick of the whole thing. But ignoring it won't make it go away.

Be that as it may, I take solace in this:

"We as Jews have to say to this country that claims to represent us, 'Stop. Stop. This is a humanitarian disaster.'"

Posted by Kevin at January 12, 2009 03:58 PM