Word: israel
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Regarding John L. Larew's opinion piece, "Israel's Worst Best Friends," I am truly amazed that he could claim to understand the intellectual and psychological crises of the contemporary American Jewish community, based on introductory psychology. Though I am honored that he classified me in the same intellectual category as Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz, I am left wondering who appointed him the arbiter of "Zealotry...
First of all, though I cannot speak for my fellow "Zealots," I, as a Jew, support Israel first and foremost because it is a Jewish state. I have never hidden that fact, nor do I ever intend to. I resent Larew's implication that this position is somehow embarassing or morally reprehensible or that it requires a justification that his non-zealotous position does not. Nobody has the right to claim that somehow I am less of a loyal American because of my commitment to Israel. Every American, regardless of other ethnic or national ties, is equally American. That said...
Criticism is necessary to a healthy democracy, but many of us who also defend Israel have agonized over and considered the issues at stake at least as deeply as Larew. His psycholanalysis of our opinions is false and offensive...
...Israel's democracy is precious to me. That democracy is still vital and strong, though it faces challenges in recent years perhaps greater than other democracies have recently had to face...
Criticism, where genuinely motivated, should be welcomed. But I will not lambast Israel because I don't think it is deserved. Nor does the necessity of its existence as a Jewish state embarass me. The defense of a nation that one admits is imperfect but basically moral should be intelligible to most Americans. Donald Seeman...