Scores Boteach - The Jewish Standard

A comment on Rabbi Shmuely Boteach’s March 25 Palinesque attack on President Obama’s handling of the Libyan situation: Rather than jump into a third Mideast war, the president chose to create a coalition of the willing (unlike President Bush’s coalition of the paid-off). He wanted to make sure we had a way out and an agreement with the U.N., NATO, and other Arab countries to take over the leadership and the action required to protect the Libyan rebels. This is not done overnight and takes quite a bit of diplomacy. “Go it alone” doesn’t work, as we’ve seen in Iraq. It was not “kicking and screaming,” it was thoughtful and deliberate. But I think you knew that.

Evangelical Christians and social conservatives have also championed war in general, waterboarding and other torture, the death penalty, attacks against the Muslim faith in general, and American Muslims in particular (as in “too many mosques in America”). They’ve championed hatred and intolerance of gays (they’re still human beings, by the way) and the blurring of the line of separation between church and state. Is this the noble effort you’re referring to?

And finally, Rabbi, please, please stop whining about the Libyans next door. You knew who owned that property when you bought yours and yet you chose to live there. You chose.

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