Say it ain’t so…and maybe it isn’t

A lot like the icebergs melting in Antarctica are a sure sign of climate change, the effect of Israel’s cruelty toward Palestinians–however justifiable their defensive attacks are against Hamas–I have observed a melting of support from a quarter staunchly reliable as an iconic battler in behalf of everything Jewish. She is a news analyst who two weeks ago in an exchange with Ayman Mohyeldin, an MSNBC commentator (Egyptian-born with a background as a reporter for Al Jazeera), an articulate spokesperson for condemning Israel’s overall historical relationship to the Arabs (Eg. “Their occupation of the Golan Heights remains a violation of international law”) addressed him directly, after these remarks, as “my beloved colleague.”

Admittedly, it irked me. This unnamed analyst is iconic for her penetrating exposure of the Neo-Nazi threat to Jews in America, and the White Supremacy movement inspiring so much of America’s anti-immigrant frenzy. Was it possible she had swept under the carpet the facts of the 1973 Yom Kippur War when Syrian tanks broke through Israeli defenses on the Golan heights, even reaching Kibbutz Dan? I have been to Quneitra, the city on that border. It was the headquarters of Syrian officers–not Palestinians. No wonder, Israel, after its conquest in 1967, refused to consider a return. BUT, forgiving her geo-political amnesia as innocent of any mild grievance-based attitude toward Israel’s current (admittedly) detestable policies on the West Bank–and toward civilians in Gaza–for a blanket re-assessment of her fondness for Jews as a People–something has happened to really trouble me; to make me wonder whether her attitude toward the Jewish People has changed.

I could be wrong, which is why I’m leaving you to fill in her name. And please, use your own judgment. As we know, the first candle of Hanukkah and Christmas day both are occurring Wednesday the 25th. On her last program before the holiday, she wished her audience a beautiful, somewhat poetic–very specifically–Merry Christmas. Despite great expectations, I imagine her soul mate at home, a Jewish life companion about whom she occasionally speaks–may have waited (or not), in vain, as she refrained from expressing the seasonal sentiment,“Happy Hanukkah,” leaving me, along with, I suspect, a myriad faithful watchers, to wonder why.  

I dread the thought that it would have been easier for her to say “Free Palestine.”

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