THE OTHER SHOE DROPS: Updates To Previous Posts
† Israel And The Armenian Question: As Israel marks its 60th birthday, The Washington Post examines the “changing relationship between American Jews and the Jewish state”:
Multiple new polls show that younger American Jews feel less of a connection to Israel than older Jews. And while there is heated debate about some of the polls' methodologies and conclusions, most Jewish leaders are very concerned about the data.
The leaders see them as a long-term byproduct of intermarriage, assimilation and controversial Israeli policies, including settlement expansion in the occupied territories. …
One obvious question is: What affect would a weakening of the emotional link between Israel and American Jews have on U.S. policy toward the Middle East? Last month, a group of left-leaning Jews established a lobbying group hoping to counter the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has often lobbied U.S. governments to maintain a tough line toward Israel's adversaries. …
Many experts, Jewish leaders and philanthropists say that the waning attachment felt by some younger American Jews has been caused by changes on both sides. Israel has gone from a scrappy pioneer state of Holocaust survivors to a diverse technology and military power, and American Jews have intermarried and become increasingly absorbed into mainstream secular U.S. culture.
There is one other factor in the generational divide that the WaPo omitted: Shimon Peres, a founder and current president of Israel, is an Armenian Genocide denier and many American Jews – but particularly the younger generation - are experiencing a crisis of conscience over Israel’s state policy of Armenian Genocide denial and its close diplomatic, military and economic ties with Turkey. In Israel - of all places - they argue, the fierce vow “never again” should have meaning. The hypocrisy is too much for them to swallow and they are pressing the old guard, like Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, to help guide Israel out of the moral abyss into which it has fallen rather than aiding and abetting Armenian Genocide denial.
† It Takes A Village To Support Couple’s Lifestyle: Former college student Jocelyn Kirsch, 22, who allegedly stole the identities of neighbors in her Philadelphia condo to live a jet-setting lifestyle with Ivy League boyfriend Edward Anderton, 25, is close to copping a plea, reports The Associated Press. The scope of the fraud is estimated as being upwards of $100,000, which means Kirsch is likely facing prison under federal guidelines.
† The Other Shoe Drops ("Carrying The Torch For The “Genocide Olympics,” second item): A Washington Post editorial notes, “When Beijing was bidding to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, part of its pitch was that the games would help promote human rights in China, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) bought it.” But instead of China becoming less repressive, the IOC is becoming more so, prohibiting “political expression - even nonverbal expression - by athletes anywhere within Olympic venues.” These forbidden nonverbal expressions – the WaPo calls them “thought crimes” – include wearing the color orange. The WaPo correctly insists that “The United States must stick to its position that athletes, no less than other citizens, are free to express themselves peacefully in Beijing or anywhere else.”
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