Posted by Daniel Gordis in
Zionism on January 15, 2009 |
1 Comment
When we lived in the States, periods like this were agonizing for me, providing, as they did, massive overdoses of cognitive dissonance. I was thinking about only one place, but I'd chosen to live in another. I was concerned about one group of people more than anyone else, but I'd elected not to live with them. The gap between what I felt and where I made my home felt unbearable.
Yes, we sought to compensate. In those pre-Internet days, we read the paper voraciously. We listened to the radio incessantly, and when things were truly tense, we found ways of rigging up televisions in our offices. But still, it was vicarious participation, and at times, the pain of that dissonance was more than I ...
While President Obama's speech was addressed to the Arab world, it had been nervously anticipated in Israel, as well. In its aftermath, some Israelis are quibbling with word choices or wondering whether he is naïve in believing that Hamas might renounce terror or that Iranians can be entrusted with civilian nuclear capacity. Others are assailing his comments about settlements.
But the real news is that contrary to what many expected, or feared, President Obama assumed positions virtually identical to those of Israel's political center -- namely, that the Palestinians must renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist, while Israel must cease settlement building and permit a Palestinian state ...
Dr. Daniel Gordis is Senior Vice President of the Shalem Center, where he is also a senior fellow. The author of numerous books on Jewish thought and currents in Israel...
The Jewish State must end, say its enemies, from intellectuals like Tony Judt to hate-filled demagogues like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Even average Israelis are wondering if they wouldn't be better off somewhere else. 
