Itâ€™s strictly about Jews - The Jewish Standard

Each week I am eager to read the Jewish Standard, particularly when a week of war and sacrifice occurs in our Jewish homeland of Israel. There were many good articles with great first-hand accounts and experiences. As I was reading it occurred to me that too often when we, the Jewish people, refer to our homeland as Israel and not Jewish Israel we are helping the enemy in their insidious PR battle against the Jewish people. After all, none of this would be happening if the land was a democracy of Protestants, Catholics, Sikhs, etc. The Holocaust is still fresh in too many minds for the enemy to say they want the Jewish people in the sea – it is more palatable to the world when it is the country of Israel that they so describe. For example: Marla Cohen talks about the “hand that Israel has been dealt” (Nov. 23). Well this is not a new hand or a new game, so to speak, but rather a continuation of that which the Jewish people have been forced to suffer for over 4 millennia. Ben Sales wrote about Kiryat Malachi, their fear, rage and resilience (“Ethiopians make aliyah,” Nov. 23). It is a Jewish trait to march forward and adapt to a new Jewish reality. Lois Goldrich spoke to Jeffrey Salkin (“Salkin faults media coverage,” Nov. 23), who rightly comments: “â€¦many choose to portray the Israelis as the aggressors, even when they are responding to aggression. Things that would be permitted and celebrated (when done by) other nations are forbidden to Israel.” We the Jewish people need to substitute Jewish for Israel(is) and then it becomes easier to understand the world’s criticism.

None of what has ever gone on in Israel is about the country Israel, it has always been and will always be about the Jewish people, whether we live in Israel, America, Russia, Europe, or anywhere else on the planet.