. . . . don't assume there will be a lack of even-handedness tonight. Actually, Bassam Eid is an outspoken critic of human rights violations BY the Palestinians. He is publicly AGAINST the "Right of Return" and against the murder of Israelis due to Arafat's political agenda. It's a wonder this guy is still alive, since he lives in the Middle East. I'm told by my own well-connected sources (Jewish, Zionist activists) that Eid is in NYC for very positive reasons relating to Jewish-Arab relations.

He must be in the US for this conference, for rabbis and cantors and student rabbis and cantors, which takes place this weekend. If you want to see a roster of the most lefty rabbis in America, scroll through that list. (Sprinkled throughout are a few more moderate people as well.) But you can tell what kind of a conference it is by the fact that a keynote address is by Human Rights Watch Director Ken Roth. You know, the one who unjustly accused Israel of war crimes.

International Human Rights Day: A Dialogue on Judaism and Human Rights in Our Time - Conference Keynote Addresses Delivered by Dr. Moshe Halbertal, Professor of Jewish Philosophy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ken Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch. Followed by discussion moderated by Ruth Messinger, President, American Jewish World Service. Sunday, December 10, 7:00–9:00 pm UJA/Federation Conference Facility 130 East 59th Street at Lexington Avenue, New York City General Admission: $18

I think Halbertal is reality-based, I hope he challenges Roth.

I almost went to the thing at St Bart's, but I have too many things to do before I leave for Israel next week (did I mention I am going to Israel next week?).

Fortunately a friend attended and just sent me this report:

I'll try to spare you all the boring details and cut to the obvious points.
It won't be easy. Nava . . . . was the only speaker.
Basam's plane was delayed, but the Rabbi moderator did chime in occasionally.

There were 4 of us: Coretta, David (NYICE), myself and [Mr Anonymous].

So-o-o glad we were there as all the others (maybe only 15 or so) were the touchy-feely-kumbaya crowd. After 45minutes or more of Nava recycling all the same talking-points and buzz-words:
Peace is all she cares about. Teaching the Israelis to love Peace, etc (huh?)
And lots of referencing :"The Other" (I never heard this before.)
She never used any other word to describe the aggressors against Israel. Just "The Other".

She's religious. She's a Zionist. Her mission is Peace in our time by DIALOGUE.
We need to learn to TALK so there will be no war. (Kumbaya my Lord...)
So the Israelis can learn to understand the Palestinians.We must educate the youth....(zzzzzzz)

But, "The YOUTH" who need that (re-) education (ie: indoctrination) were always the ISRAELI youth. Teach the youth of Israel that WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER.
Then we'll have NO MORE WAR (Why didn't we all think of that?)

All the poor Palestinians want is to live in their homes (peacefully).
The homes they have scraped and saved to build for their LARGE familes (20 to a home)
...that somehow translates into 200,000 displaced Palestians. (math is not my strong-suit)
And Israel is turning them all into SUICIDE bombers by destroying their homes.

It's ALL politics. The borders are ALL politics. The borders are all arbitrary. Land-grabs.
And the Israelis kept those borders a secret from those poor, trusting Palestinians.
Let them build within those borders. Gave them utilities and then told them,
"You can't build here". (Those greedy Israelis tricked them.)

NOTHING being done by the Israelis is motivated by anything other than POLITICS.
And of course, Nava was such a NICE person. (They all are) We're the bums.

Floor opened to questions. Of course ALL we had heard was a one-sided presentation
so Coretta got up first and nailed her. I don't have those questions but each ended with
"What are you going to do about that".

You could hear the room of apologists start russling. You could feel their panic
(it was palpable) And Coretta was shut-down. She was excused from the mike in a rush.

Nava answered nothing and we were lectured by a young woman. She said:
"Now we want you ALL to leave here happy. happy that you were able to ask your questions.
We don't want anyone to go home unhappy. But, please remember to phrase your questions in a manner that embraces your curiosity; not a challenge"

Oh, boy! Someone we didn't know was immediate in his response. He was not HAPPY.
"They were shutting down the questions that would deviate and not support their point-of-view."
He was great. They pulled back just-a-hair. And the our [Mr Anonymous] had a fabulous challenge! (We were definitely causing them some stress) He asked something like:
"Didn't Nava feel the Israelis should have a right to live on their land in peace." It was much more involved. He was relentless. But, she never answered him.

Later, I managed to ask her why, after she said those nasty walls had actually stopped the bombers,
Why did she not support the good that had come from them. Why did she keep hammering on Human Rights. Human Rights. Human rights... of the PALESTINIANS!!

Well, she says Torah demands that you fight for the oppressed; the disadvantaged.
And...No Wall ever did any good. The China Wall. The Berlin Wall.

FYI: she told us her family came to Israel from Egypt in 1948.
Her father was a Communist and a Labor Party organizer.
I think that should tell you a LOT about Nava.

Then I asked her how did she feel about the fear the Christian Palestinians have of the Arab Palestinians. They have needs. Fears, too. Yet I didn't hear her ever mention them.
"Hmm....uh...Well...the situation in Palestine is very complex. Nuanced and...well, we help those who ASK for help." (I wonder if those silly Christians know that. All you gotta do is ASK!)

Eventually they let Coretta ask a question again. (fools)
This one: "What are they doing about educating the Palestinian children?"
Guess what. She NEVER answered it.

Finally, once the kumbaya fest took off full-force, we left. (my head hurt...just as I feared)

Judith sez: I think it's funny that the Palestinian journalist might be more critical of Palestinians than the Israeli Jew. That would have really confused the kumbaya crowd.

The bit about "The Other" is a post-modern Said-ism. The West defines its culture as normative, so every other culture is "other." (Every dominant culture has done that throughout history.) The Left transforms this academic treatment of identity politics into a manipulative way to question people's perception of reality. For example, there is no real enemy bent on eradicating Israel and subjugating or murdering Jews. There is just our projection of our fears onto "the Other." When you hear the term "the Other" used in this way, you know someone is trying to manipulate you into feeling guilty about criticizing the behavior or goals of other identity groups.