Jews No Longer ‘At Home’ In America - Irving Moskowitz

October 18, 1991

ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT – Dr. IRVING MOSKOWITZ

Jews No Longer ‘At Home’ In America

            Not a long ago, a prominent Jewish professor authored a history of American Jewry entitled At Home in America. Certainly, it is true that for most Jews, the phrase “at home in America” was precisely how they have felt about the United States. But now that an American president has, for the first time, openly attacked the American Jewish community, perhaps the time has come to reconsider just what that phrase “at home” really means.

            Jewish tradition, of course, utterly rejects the concept that Jews could be “at home” anywhere outside of the Land of Israel. Judaism, in contrast to other religions, is very much a land-centered faith. Many of the Torah commandments are dependent upon Jews being physically resident in the land. Many of the prayers are for the reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, or for the return of the exiled Jews to their homeland.

“At home” in Crown Heights or the Valley? Impossible, say the classic Jewish texts. The Diaspora – or, more accurately, the Exile – is depicted as a punishment, a curse, a tragedy – not an opportunity to grow fat and comfortable.

Still most American Jews have never paid a great deal of attention to those texts, and even some of the observant Jews who are familiar with them prefer to skip over those “Land of Israel” – related passages whose implementation would be especially inconvenient.

So feeling right “at home” in America, Jews set to work contributing their talents and energy to making it a better country. They succeeded as no other ethnic minority group has ever succeeded. Their contributions have been unparalleled. Who can count the Jewish comedians who have made Americans laugh, the Jewish playwrights who have moved audiences to tears, the Jewish Hollywood producers who have entertained millions, the Jewish doctors who have healed, the Jewish lawyers who have pleaded, the industries built by Jewish sweat and Jewish brains...?

All of this was possible because anti-Semitism in the United States, while always present, never reached the levels of intensity that it reached elsewhere. Certainly, this country has had its share of “American First" rallies, Ku Klux Kim torching’s, and neo-Nazi marches, but in American political life they have always been the exceptions, not the rule. Anti-Semitism was always regarded by the governmental authorities as illegitimate.

Now all of that has changed. For the first time in this county’s history, a president has publicly attacked the American Jewish community for the “crime" of exercising its democratic right to lobby. Let nobody be fooled by his use of euphemisms like “the Pro-Israel lobby." That phrase means Jews. He knows we know it, and they know it. The “they” to whom I am referring are the millions of potential anti-Semites in this country who will interpret the president’s words as a declaration that it is open season on the Jews. These potential Jew—haters range from the editors who immediately filled their newspapers with wildly exaggerated stories about the amount of aid America has given Israel (read: the Jews) to the blue—collar workers in the neighborhood bars who nodded and grumbled about "the Jews" getting $10-billion while other Americans struggle to make ends meet.

If Jews begin to feel like they are no longer really “at home in America," it is with good reason. It used to be that the only time one would discover anti-Semitism in the White House was long after the official in question had retired — for example, former Vice-President Spiro Agnew’s rantings about the “Zionist lobby," or former President Richard Nixon's taped remarks about Jewish anti-war protesters. How times have changed. Now even the occupant of the White House can go after the Jews, provided only that he use the appropriate euphemisms.

Dr. Irving Moskowitz is a Member of the Board of Governors of Americans For a Safe Israel.

The Enemy Within: Jewish Turncoats, Then And Now - Dr. IRVIN MOSKOWITZ

August 23, 1991 - Still very relevant today as it was then

ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT – Dr. Irving Moskowitz

The Enemy Within: Jewish Turncoats, Then And Now

The tragedy of individual Jews siding with their people’s enemies is a phenomenon well known to anyone familiar with Jewish history. From the medieval Jewish converts to Christianity who became prominent anti-Semites, to the pro-PLO Jewish radicals of our own time, those renegades have caused untold damage to Jewish interests. It is no wonder that the verse in Isaiah, “Your destroyers shall come from among you,” is interpreted by most biblical commentators as refereeing to Jewish traitors who wreak havoc upon their people.”

Time after time throughout Jewish history, Jewish turncoats have joined forces with the enemies of the Jews and played important roles in the formulation of anti-Jewish policies. During the Spanish Inquisition, some of the fiercest Christian fanatics involved in the torture and murder of innocent Jews were former Jews who had converted to Christianity in order to escape their Jewishness and find material security in the Christian world.

In other European countries during the Middle Ages, individual “Court Jews” curried favor with the ruling authorities at the expense of the local Jewish community. In some instances, of course, Court Jews played a necessary and even valuable role as intermediary between the Jewish community and the local king. But all too often, Court Jews misused their positions to gain personal advantages, while the rest of the Jews suffered from poverty and oppressions.

Entire books have been written about the role of Jewish "Kapos," or collaborators, during the Holocaust. There can be no doubt that local Jewish leaders were in many cases forced into impossible situations by the demands of the Nazi occupiers: nobody should be quick to judge or condemn them. for in many cases they truly did their best to assist their fellow-Jews, despite the extreme circumstantiates in which they were trapped. Yet there can be no denying that some Jewish leaders went too far, becoming actual collaborators with the Nazi enemy in order to save their own skins. Ben Hecht's powerful book Perfidy (first published in 1962) told the horrifying tale of one such traitor. Rudolf Kastner, who deliberately  hid news of the gas chambers from the Hungarian Jewish community In exchange for a promise by the Nazis to spare him and a handful of his friends and relatives. After the war Kastner actually signed an affidavit on behalf of a Nazi war criminal with whom he had become friendly, resulting in the Nazi being set free by the Allies.

In this context, one cannot help but think of the role currently being played in the formulation of U.S. Middle East policy by President Bush’s handful of Jewish advisers. The Administration’s ferociously pro—Arab slant has been shaped to a large extent by Jewish turncoats like Dennis Ross, the Director of the Policy Planning for the State Department; Aaron David Miller, a senior member of the State Department’s Policy and Planning Staff, and Daniel Kurtzer, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near East and South Asian Affairs.

These Jewish Arabists operate almost entirely behind the scenes, so the Jewish community is generally unaware of the nature of their actions. But two years ago, the New York Times revealed that it was Kurtzer who, more than anyone else, had been the architect of the U.S. decision to recognize and negotiate with the terrorist PLO. This past April, a stunning expose of Bush’s Jewish henchmen, which was published in Moment magazine, detailed how Kurtzer and company have continued to push the pro-Arab line in U.S. foreign policy. The Moment article is must reading for every Jew who cares about Israel.

Kurtzer’s background will no doubt raise some eyebrows. He claims to be an Orthodox Jew, and at one time he actually served as a dean at Yeshiva University. One might think that in a view of Kurtzer’s anti-Israel activity, the Yeshiva University administration would forcefully criticize him. Instead, however, Y.U. president Norman Lamm has been quoted in the New York Times  as praising and defending Kurtzer.

Jewish turncoats who help plot the U.S. abandonment of Israel do not deserve to be praised or defended; they deserve to be condemned, forcefully and unequivocally, and made a persona non grata in the American Jewish community.

Dr. Irving Moskowitz is a Member of the Board of Governors of Americans For a Safe Israel.

JEWS WITH PRIDE, AND JEWS WHO LACK IT – Dr. IRVING MOSKOWITZ

Editors note: this is very relevant to today as well

One Minute to Midnight - March 9, 1990

JEWS WITH PRIDE, AND JEWS WHO LACK IT – Dr. IRVING MOSKOWITZ

There are Jews with pride. But is Efraim Zuroff one of them?

Zuroff, the Jerusalem representative of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, lives in the Jewish settlement of Efrat, which means that he and his family are the potential targets of Arab rock-throwers every time they leave home. Yet in a recent interview with the Jerusalem Post, David Horovitz writes that Zuroff is extremely unhappy with “the stereotypical image of the settler with his bushy beard, his gun in his belt and his eternally pregnant wife.”

Zuroff seemed to be echoing the sentiments of Shimon Peres, who in a 1988 outburst declared that “the appearance of the settlers, with their kippahs and beards, invites contempt, and ridicule.”

“Self-hatred" may be too strong a characterization for such expressions, but it is clear that Zuroff and Peres share a sense of acute embarrassment, even shame, at the thought that such Jews might be seen by the outside world as representatives of Israel.

What is not clear is exactly why Zuroff and Peres should be so perturbed. The kippahs and beards of the settlers are traditional signs of pride in one's Jewish identity. The settlers' guns are evidence that Israeli Jews have learned the bitter lesson of Diaspora Jewish history — that it is better to be armed and alive, than vulnerable and victimized.

And what in the world is wrong with a pregnant wife? Zuroff‘s profession involves documenting Nazi war crimes, so surely he must appreciate the devastating impact on World Jewry of the Nazis‘ murder of two million Jewish children. Jewish settlers who choose to have many children are patriots who are fulfilling the Jewish religious obligation to replenish the shrunken ranks of our people. In this era of “me-first” Yuppies and abortion-on-demand, we should welcome the sight of Jews who are prepared to sacrifice their personal material comfort for the sake of a higher goal. They deserve to be praised, not mocked.

If the Simon Wiesenthal Center wants to continue its world-wide reputation, and maintain its credibility, perhaps those in the leadership positions of the Simon Wiesenthal Center should give some in-service preparatory training to their representatives before sending them out to represent the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

The origin of the Zuroff-Peres line of thinking is no mystery. The ceaseless barrage of international criticism aimed at Israel has made some Jews excessively sensitive to world opinion. But being ashamed of the traditional symbols of Jewishness will not impress non-Jews. One must have some self-respect before it is possible to win the respect of others.

Dr. Irving Moskowitz is a Member of the Board of Governors of Americans For a Safe Israel.