I'm a Jew, though not very observant...I've been to temple maybe a couple
dozen times in my life. But every single one of those times since I've
been old enough to remember, there's something about great holy Israel
and how it's the duty of all Jews everywhere to protect her.
Israel was founded on Zionism. Zionism is predicated on the belief
that there should be a Jewish state. And Jews everywhere are told,
on the holiest of days, that it is their duty to protect Israel.
These concepts are too deeply intertwined to apply pure logic.
Personally, I /do/ see the conceptual differences. I don't think that
supporting Israel-the-religious-concept necessarially equates to full
support of Israel-the-political-entity. In fact, I absolutely /don't/
fully support the political entity. And I know there are a lot of other
American Jews of varying levels of observance who feel the same way.
But when I went to one of the bigger anti-war marches a few years ago,
and listened to one of the speakers screaming about evil Zionists who
run the world and control all the money and all the usual crap, barely
changed for centuries...I felt my ancestors wailing.
I knew, right to my bones, that in a not- so-distant era he would've
said "Jews" and received the same applause. And whether that's actually
accurate or not....
These concepts are too deeply intertwined to apply pure logic.
