ZGram - 10/27/2001 - "Philadelphia Inquirer: America is divided over Israel"

[Ingrid Rimland]

Copyright (c) 2001 - Ingrid A. Rimland

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

October 27, 2001

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Interesting stats!  And to think that, according to Professor Tanya
Reinhart, who teaches linguistics at Tel Aviv University and the University
of Ultrecht in the Netherlands, quoting Ha'aretz's website, October 25,
2001

". . . the day the headlines announced that Bush and Powell's patience with
Israel is expiring, the US senate approved again $2.76 billion in
assistance for Israel, more than any other country in the world."

[START]

America is divided over Israel

By  Will Bunch  - w@phillynews.com

The plume of smoke from heavy artillery fire in Bethlehem, the biblical
birthplace of Jesus, is visible for miles.

   An Israeli Cabinet member is slain by Palestinian extremists. His close
friend, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, vows revenge. And Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat fears for his life.

   Once again, Israel is at war. But this time, America is divided over
what to do about it.

   The Daily News went to the heartland town of Green Bay, Wis., to the
sprawl of Atlanta, to Jewish delis of Philadelphia and to rural mosques, to
find out what Americans are thinking about Israel right now.

   And what we learned is surprising.

  Americans may stand united as never before when it comes to President
Bush, or our resolve to fight against terrorism.

  But when it comes to Israel, Americans are all over the map.

   Even where our reporters found support for the 53-year-old Jewish state,
it often seemed reflexive and shallow.

  There is no question that the global aftershocks of the hijacked
jetliners that slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on
Sept. 11 have caused a dramatic shift in the geopolitical plates beneath
the Middle East.

   The Israeli government knows that things are different now, that
Washington now considers the war against terrorism a much higher priority
than its half century of support for the Jewish nation. And that knowledge
may be driving this week's military adventurism on the West Bank.

  President Bush knows that Israel must stay calm - or his global
anti-terrorism coalition, including a string of Muslim countries with
bitter enmity toward the world's only Jewish state - could unravel. This
week, his administration issued an unusually strong warning that Israel
must pull its tanks out of the West Bank - a warning that Sharon
immediately rebuffed.

   Osama bin Laden wants Israel to lose control - not so much because he
cares about the Palestinian cause but to unite Islamic fundamentalists
behind him. "I swear to God that America will not live in peace before
peace reigns in Palestine," he has said.

   Jordan's ambassador to the United States said this week that while the
Sept. 11 attacks had nothing to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
the growing unrest on the West Bank has a lot to do with how the war on
terrorism will go forward. Leaders in Pakistan, Egypt and elsewhere fear
new and bigger anti-American protests.

   But what do Americans want for Israel?

   Most believe the United States should not take sides in the Arab-Israeli
conflict, and more than half of Americans back the creation of a
Palestinian state.

   A University of Michigan poll taken earlier this month found that 64
percent of Americans believe our support for Israel was a key factor behind
the Sept. 11 attacks.

   Listen to Wisconsin, where boisterous Green Bay Packer fans voice
support for Israel for no other reason than our government has always
supported them. Yet engineers and other professionals who attend a mosque
down the road see the Jewish state as the cause of the region's problems.

   Listen to Atlanta, where upscale blacks mix backing for President Bush
with a strong dash of skepticism about the U.S. government's policies in
the Middle East.

  Listen to Philadelphia - so close to the death and destruction of New
York - forging new psychic bonds with Israel. "I guess I feel sorry for
Israel more than anybody else," said Geoffrey Johnson, a former infantryman
from South Philadelphia. "They=EDve been part of it for 30 or 40-odd years
now."

   Listen to Israel, where many Jews feel that Bush's new zero tolerance
for terrorism policy gives Israel a license to make war against Palestinian
extremists and Arafat.

   "It's no fair," said Josh Levy, a Jerusalem shopkeeper. "America is
fighting terrorism by bombing Afghanistan and killing civilians. But when
Israel tries to do the same thing, America says 'no.'"

 TELL US WHAT YOU THINK

Share your thoughts with us on this special report. Send your comments to

feedback@phillynews.com

[END]

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Source:
http://dailynews.philly.com/content/daily_news/2001/10/24/local/isra24c.htm

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Thought for the Day:

"it is time to write, write, write to the President, the secretary of state
and your congressmen and senators. Let them
know that the Zionist lobby doesn't represent America!"

(Letter to the Zundelsite)