I am hardly in the dark when it comes to politics, the news generally and Israel specifically. After all, I write this blog post regularly, do three hours of talk radio a week and I’m a Jew. Which is why I was so surprised to hear today, for the first time ever, the term “Israel-Firsters.”  I had no idea what it meant or whose agenda it was supposedly furthering. It turns out the term may have been created by MJ Rosenberg, writing for the Left’s  Media Matters financed on-line blog “Political Correction.” I am not certain whether Mr. Rosenberg originated the phrase or just likes to use it a lot. But use it he does.

I am somewhat familiar with Mr. Rosenberg from my work several decades ago that involved interaction with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (A.I.P.A.C.). Back then, Mr. Rosenberg had a diametrically opposed position on American-Israeli relations than he has today. While I have no idea what caused his political “conversion,” he is now the prototypical convert. He is a zealot for his new belief system. In his case, that belief system is founded upon a disdain (a mild choice of wording for sure) for all Americans who support the right of Israel to exist as well as any strategic interest common to both the United States and Israel.

Israel-Firsters apparently refers to those Americans who allegedly put the interest of Israel before the best interest of the United States and see it as “Israel first and above all else.” This term is thoroughly expounded upon, in the negative, by Michael Scheuer in a post titled “Turning The Tables on The Israeli-Firsters.”

I’d like to address two points to both Messrs. Rosenberg and Scheuer.

First, when a position is so extreme that it can’t help but be conveyed with a mean spiritedness, such an undertone belies both objectivity and any assertion of neutrality. Both Messrs. Rosenberg and Scheuer cannot help but write about Israel without sounding as if they have either some axe to grind or political agenda to advance. So much for intellectual honesty.

Secondly, Mr. Scheuer’s assertion that the U.S. is inappropriately enmeshed in a “religious war” between Jews (Israel) and Muslims (the Arab world) is another attempt to reframe the reality in order to advance a political agenda. While it is true that the Koran, and thereby Arab nations, seek the annihilation of the State of Israel and all Jews on religious grounds, Israelis and Jews generally simply seek to live in peace within the borders of their state without imposing any religious agenda on those whose belief system is different from their own. Any insertion by the United States into that conflict is for the sole purpose of obstructing the stated intention of the Arab nations to eradicate the only democratic government that remotely resembles and supports principles and values similar to those held by the United States. Simply put, like attracts like and friends stand up for friends.

As a guardian of the Constitution and free speech, I defend Messers. Rosenberg’s and Scheuer’s right to publicly state their opinions. Unfortunately, both are giving voice merely to their “estimates of reality” based upon very limited perspectives and as such, reach conclusions that are grossly imprecise.

I, personally, prefer to draw my conclusions based upon fact, not opinion.

 

Comments are closed.