JStreet Does Not Speak For Me

Is Anybody Home?

As an American Jew, I have become so disillusioned and so disappointed in American Jewry. Have you?

Have American Jews lost their way? Have they become too secularized? Do they just want to fit in at any cost? Are they born into Democratic leaning families and therefore must remain lifelong Democrats? Are they fearful of retribution by friends, social media, and yes – maybe even the IRS if they share their true fears?

This week I listened to President Obama speak to the upcoming Netanyahu address before Congress. Obama stated it was American policy not to allow the Prime Minister to use this platform so close to an Israeli election. So I ask a simple question; was it OK for a freshman Senator Obama to address a crowd of 200,000 in Germany while President Bush was still in office? In order for Obama to muster foreign policy credentials he traveled as a candidate to Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, England, France, Israel, the West Bank and Germany all while George Bush was still in office. As an ironic side note it has just been announced President Obama will visit Chicago in the final week of Chicago’s mayoral election to help clinch Mayor Emanuel’s reelection bid.

Do American Jews really believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu is speaking before the American Congress as a cheap political ploy? As the deadline looms for Iranian Nuclear Talks, is the cautionary input of the Israeli Prime Minister not of worth? If Netanyahu were to remain silent now what kind of Jewish leader would he be? Are American Jews aware that President Obama just stated Iran won’t use nuclear weaponry because it’s contrary to Islam? Am I the only American who thinks that is a naive and unsophisticated perspective?

This week brought still other disappointments. I sat dumbfounded this week as I listened to President Obama reference the ‘folks’ randomly killed in a ‘deli’ in Paris. Once again I awaited the outrage of American Jewry to this President’s dismissal of the blatant anti-Semitic terror crime against French Jews. No, Mr. President Amedy Coulibaly was not just stopping in for a pastrami on rye when he decided to gun down Jews. The administration through Josh Earnest proceeded to double down on the claim that this was random violence. I am one American Jew who is bristling at this insensitive, irresponsible and dangerous misrepresentation. Where is the outrage?

In the past days we have seen a horrific, barbaric death of a Jordanian pilot. The Jordanians responded by executing ISIS prisoners and leading massive air strikes against ISIS. I am not here to evaluate whether this was disproportionate or just retaliation. I just want to know why Obama did not call for restraint in response, as is his mantra when Jews are attacked. As he did when Rabbis were slaughtered as they prayed in a Har Nof synagogue.

Unfortunately, a young American aid worker was first abducted and now killed at the hands of ISIS. Does anyone doubt that she was targeted because she was American; this was not a random abduction and the President wouldn’t dare say it was. President Obama is calling for Congressional backing to strengthen our response to ISIS. We are fighting a war in a continent almost 7,000 miles away by air travel. This same American President asking to ramp up our war efforts feels Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel’s continued concerns and important message about their neighbors to the north should be overlooked.

The icing on the cake this week was JStreet declaring “BIBI does not speak for them”! So a bunch of American Jews safe in their suburban splendor, living in a country free of a conscription military and far from the reach of rockets, underground tunnels, barbaric terrorists, air raids, gas masks, nuclear threat and a generation of Israeli children with PTSS feel they represent all of American Jewry and Israelis. May I go on record to say “JStreet, you do not speak for me” and I venture to say you do not speak for multitudes of American Jews who believe in a secure, strong, unapologetic and proud Israel.

Now is not the time to speak of anti-Semitism and the continued threat to Israel’s existence in the safety of your home amongst like-minded people. Now is the time to step up and defend the rights of Jews and Israel. I will not allow anyone to marginalize my people as the random ‘folks’ in the French deli.