Janet Levy has just posted an article on the Olive Tree Initiative on PJ Media, which talks about the issue of Jewish self-hatred.
http://pjmedia.com/blog/jewish-self-hatred-and-the-olive-tree-initiative/
As I have stated many times before, being a Gentile, I prefer to leave the accusation of "self-hating Jews" for the Jewish community to sort out. It is a phenomena that I can't seem to put my grip on. It is true that American Jews are anything but monolithic on most issues-even those that deal with anti-Semitism and Israel. Indeed, they are fragmented. I have encountered so many of them that have joined the far-left and anti-Israel forces that, in the end, seek to destroy them. Call it leftist ideology or what have you. Hopefully, many who voted for President Obama in 2008 have now woken up to the fact that he is antagonistic toward Israel and more on the side of her enemies.
As to my own experiences with the OC Jewish Federation and OC Hillel, they have been well-chronicled here and don't need repeating. They have alternately been blind to the problems at UC Irvine, made contradictory statements about it, and have tried to silence those that would confront anti-Semitism on campus and complain about it. Levy's article is timely, and its good to see it on a major conservative blog with a national readership.
One explanation, certainly not a justification of the phenomena you can't get a grip on is that the Jews in the leadership positions that are responsible for these terrible decisions have standard liberal reactions (even though they deny they are liberal).
ReplyDeleteFirst, they believe that their motives ("dialog") are so pure and noble that anyone who opposes them must be bad or have bad motives ("splitting the community").
Despite ALL the dispostive evidence that has been revealed about OTI, they continue to fund it and allow their Jewish Federation's name to be used by OTI as a sponsoring organization. This applies to the extreme difficulty of abandoning a cherished belief. (Just as liberals everywhere defend the abysmal state of the economy and unconstitutional assumption of powers by equivications, minimizations, and hiding of the facts.)
As others have written, Liberalism has replaced Judaism as their religion. The Federation, aside from the OTI fiasco, has steadfastly refused to sign a simple pledge that they will not knowingly support any anti-Israel entity or any entity that encourages boycotts, divestments, or sanctions against Israel. ANY ordinary Jew would sign that immediately without equivication yet they will not go on record publically to support Israel.
I've given this problem a lot of thought over the years and have dismissed profits, aggrandizement, or other motives as simply not applying to the individuals I know in the Jewish organization leadership. They believe they are in the right (because of their motives) and anyone who disagrees is either uninformed or is incomprehensibly intent on splitting the community.
Another element is that the professionals in the Jewish organizations are defending their terrible records over the years because their salaries, which I estimate in the 6 digit range, are at stake. NOBODY in the opposition to their positions or strategies stand to make a dime from our efforts. In fact, some who can't stomach or fathom what and why they do such things, do so at considerable risk to their livelihoods.
Thanks so much for putting up this article on the phenomena of Jewish self-hatred as it applies to the Orange County Jewish Federation and the Olive Tree Initiative.
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Miggie,
ReplyDeleteYou are right here in the community and know the situation. Eventually, it all comes down to either ideology, a naive belief that they will bring peace---or money. This is an arrogant organization that thinks it is the one voice of the Jewish community. It's main mission is getting Jewish old folks to contribute money to them. Now it is time for people to know how that money is spent. That means the community has a right to know exactly how the OTI spends its money. Thus far, OTI cannot or will not provide disclosure on their expenditures-especially in the ME. That is why they are stonewalling a FOIA request.
I wasn't aware of any Freedom of Information Act effort but it doesn't surprise me that it would be stonewalled. All the messages and responses the "leadership" has communicated have the conviction that they "know best." I know anyone who complains about their efforts is given this message but now, because they stonewall disclosure of information regarding their efforts, they must have things to hide and, if they had any conscience at all, would know that they didn't know best.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, they have made a mess of things. The situation at UCI and the UC system has grown WORSE on their watch because of their flashes of brilliance that nobody ever thought of doing before.
The solution is for the head of the Federation and the Board of the Rose Foundation to RESIGN! Whatever else positive they may have done is completely overshadowed by the OTI failure at UCI and their stubborn refusal to sign the pledge. We've survived thousands of years without their new and innovative approaches and we will do fine long after we are rid of them.
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This all sounds about as credible as any other brand of psychoanalysis, which is to say, absolutely frivolous.
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