[GJM] Fw: Notes From the Trail... The Jewry is Still Out

[marguerite hampton]

Hi Everyone, 

So many of you commented on the "AIPAC" issue, 
a couple weeks ago, and then Steve Bhaerman spoke 
out and said that as a Jewish American he was concerned
with regard to the influence this group wields, I fetl it 
imperative that I forward his latest newsletter for the benefit
of those who do not subscribe to it. 

I don't know about the rest of you, but I sense something 
new in the air -- call it "hope" -- as things seem to be 
changing. 

eco 



 
-------Original Message-------
 
From: Steve Bhaerman
Date: 03/27/07 17:15:13
To: ecopilgrim at aabol.com
Subject: Notes From the Trail... The Jewry is Still Out
 
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mutually Assured Survival Or Mutually Assured Destruction? 
The Jewry is Still Out 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by Steve Bhaerman
Last year during one of my comedy performances, someone asked the Swami,
“What do you think about AIPAC?”
The Swami -- being the Swami -- answered, “AIPAC? I don’t know about AIPAC.
I’m more into Deepak. And Tupac. Gimme Deepak, Tupac and a six-pack, and you
can keep your AIPAC.” 
Well, the audience liked the answer, but my serious side wasn’t satisfied.
I’d been hearing disparaging remarks about AIPAC, which stands for American
Israel Public Affairs Committee, but I had dismissed them as fringy,
anti-semitic fulminations. The more I’ve read since then, however, the more
I realize that this organization -- supported by many well-meaning Jewish
people because it is “pro-Israel” -- is really a neocon front that hardly
represents the majority of the Jewish people, let alone the people of Israel
 
Just as George Bush and company have tried to pull the “you’re either with
us or against us” wool over our eyes, AIPAC and its posse define
anti-semitism as any questioning of Israeli’s policies no matter how
questionable. They’ve tried to silence non-Jewish critics with the
anti-semitic smear, and Jewish ones by calling them “self-hating Jews.” As a
Jewish American, I have come to the sad and disturbing conclusion that AIPAC
is why we’re still in Iraq and why we are now set to attack Iran. You’ve
only to look at the news story about the recent AIPAC conference and the
unenthusiastic response Nancy Pelosi received for not being sufficiently
pro-war. Opening our eyes to AIPAC’s power and influence makes it easier to
understand why Congressional Democrats backed off of their stand to make an
attack on Iran contingent on the approval of Congress. 
As the world seems to be hurtling toward that self-fulfilling prophecy
called “armageddon,” the forces of fear and destruction seem to be
polarizing to either side, each desperately trying to make sure that their
evildoers will be able to out evil-do the evildoers on the other side. I
like to consider myself a realist. As the old saying goes, “Just because
you’re paranoid doesn’t mean there isn’t someone following you.” So -- just
because our Middle East policies are fear-driven, greed-driven, misguided,
obsolete and dangerous -- doesn’t mean that there aren’t toxic Islamic
forces hell-bent on the destruction of Israel. 
Try to imagine what it must feel like to know that the enemy that has vowed
to destroy you has the power to launch weapons of mass destruction. Feel
that, and you can empathize with civilians in Israel -- and Iran. 
For in their fear for their own lives and destruction, many Israelis feel
resigned to preemptively doing the same to the Iranians. Same old “us or
them.” 

From M.A.D. to Madder 
For nearly 45 years, the Cold War was kept on ice because of an eerie
Strangelovian concept called “Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).” With both
the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. overarmed to teeth, if any one side pushed the
button, both sides would assuredly perish. Whether it was that delicate
balance of power and fear or some other form of divine grace, no button was
pushed and we are still here to be grateful. 
But there is no such balance of power today. As the last superpower standing
after the fall of the Soviet Union, the United States has super-abused its
superpowers. Instead of following the advice of former Senator Gary Hart and
treating terrorist cells like a criminal gang instead of a military force,
we have squandered any good will we might have had left and have shown the
entire world that we’re not in the Middle East to keep the peace, we’re
there to keep the pieces. Of course, this is not the intent of the majority
of Americans, nor is it the intent of the majority of Israelis. However with
the neocons in control of both countries -- and with AIPAC successfully
muzzling most dissent against Israeli policies, or marginalizing it as
“anti-semitic” -- our two countries together are drawing the battle lines
for an insane and unnecessary world war that will lead to countless deaths,
not to mention irreparable ecologic harm. 
Here’s how the real balance of power stacks up. On one side, we have the
“kill or be killed,” “dominate or be dominated” world view, the one that has
persisted for thousands of years and brought the world to the brink of
destruction. Everything about this side sounds rational at first hearing
because we humans habitually associate “normal” with “sane.” But rationality
has been replaced with rationalization, which goes something like this: The
world is a bad place. It’s always been that way, and always will be. We have
to protect ourselves. We sincerely regret any unnecessary deaths -- of
course, we will only do “surgical strikes” designed not to harm civilians,
and besides those people hate us anyway. 
Under this umbrella of self-protection, any violation of human rights, human
decency, rule of law and morality is permitted as long as it can be
rationalized as a “necessary evil.” Even better if it can be done in secret
and can be officially denied. That way, there can be the illusion of
democracy, justice and living by spiritual principles. Of course anything
built on a foundation of lies is destined to crumble and that accounts for
the disheartenment both in America and Israel. The “self-protection” clause
also means you can buddy up with “allies” who violate the very essence of
who you are and who you believe yourself to be. 
Check out this audio recording featuring Rev. John Hagee’s speech at this
spring’s AIPAC conference. In fact, check out all the speeches, but
particularly Rev. Hagee’s whose intolerant beliefs are now tolerable because
he supports Israel and in fact has asserted that the Book of Esther predicts
the very attack on Iran that is soon to be launched. But hey, this is about
self-preservation so it really doesn’t matter which devils you sleep with,
as long as they’re on your side now. 
That’s one world view, the one that is considered “mainstream” in our
society, despite any “naive” moral objections the rest of us may have. 
There’s a second world view, however, the same one put forth by spiritual
teachers from Buddha to Jesus, and is at the bottom of every religion once
the bullshit is boiled away. That world view insists that there is such a
thing as a common humanity, and we are all in it together. It seems to be
contrary to the “evidence,” because if you look at human history -- well,
it’s more like inhuman history. However, when you consider how this evidence
has been spun and is being spun, and how war is used to justify more war,
it’s easier to see how 80% to 90% of us get manipulated by a small group of
manipulators who know how to press the buttons marked “fear” “survival”
“patriotism” and “tribal loyalty.” 
This alternative world view that we’re all in it together is the foundation
of mutually-assured survival rather than the deadly alternative. It also
reflects the heart essence of Judaism, Tikkun Olam -- the healing of the
world. This notion of bringing healing to this world is in direct
contradiction of Rev. Hagee, who subscribes to the “We’re going to heaven
and everyone else can go to hell” insanity. 
Which brings us -- finally -- to the purpose of this email. My friend Diane
Perlman, a political psychologist and activist has formed a new organization
 JAIPAC (Jewish Analysts Investigating Peace and Conflict), and has written
a compelling letter under the title: The New Pro-Israel, Mutually Assured
Survival. There are indeed real problems and real conflicts in the Middle
East, and Diane turns her wisdom and experience towards alternative ways of
addressing them -- instead of doing what we’ve always done and being
surprised when things are like they’ve always been, only worse. Please read
and circulate this letter. 

Can We Stop the Ticking Toxin in Time? 
Reports from Soviet intelligence say that the United States plans to bomb
Iran on April 6th, less than ten days from now. Was the information
purposely released to give the Iranian government one more chance to drop
the program? Was it released by the Soviets to alert the world? Is it a
bluff? We don’t know. We do know that this Administration is in deep trouble
and has demonstrated that it will do anything -- anything -- to promote its
own survival. An escalation of the state of war could empower them to
declare a martial law state of “emergency.” It would be risky for them, but
then again their ass is just about grass anyway. 
The purpose of prediction isn’t panic, but prevention. I contend that had
the voting fraud story not broken through the “soundless barrier” via RFK,
Jr.’s Rolling Stone article last summer, people wouldn’t have been aware of
it, and the election results would have been different. Say what you will
about the worminess of the Democratic Party, Congressional investigations
are now going forward that will necessitate impeachment. So I am putting
this email out in the hopes of averting the possibility of the Iran attack. 
I am hoping that Jewish people of conscience allow themselves to lift the
lid on AIPAC and ask themselves if AIPAC represents their true values. Here
is a link to the upcoming issue of New York Review of Books where George
Soros -- a key Democratic Party funder of Jewish heritage -- takes on AIPAC.
I wish there was some kind of concerted action that would make a difference
in preempting this preemptive war. Perhaps the field of awakening will be
enough, perhaps it won’t. Maybe there needs to be a letter-writing -- real
mail, not email -- campaign to key members of Congress. Perhaps we need to
follow the lead of former army Colonel Ann Wright who has urged the military
to “refuse to drop bombs” if ordered to in Iran. The influence of the
military cannot be underestimated at this time, particularly when we
consider the loss of support for the current war on the part of troops in
the field, not to mention the extraordinary editorials in all the official
military publications the day before Election Day calling for Donald
Rumsfeld’s resignation. 
When I was a kid, one of the things that made me proudest of my heritage was
the willingness of Jews to be a stand for the rights of all, not just Jewish
people. You may remember that two of those three civil rights workers killed
in Mississippi in 1964 were Jewish, but what you may not know is that the
NAACP was co-founded by Joel Elias Spingarn, a Jew. These days, the cry of
“never again” no longer means never again a holocaust for anyone, but “never
again for the Jews.” This is an understandable nationalist sentiment, but it
contradicts the spiritual foundation of Judaism. 
This is a hugely challenging time for all peoples. How much easier it would
be for a Messiah to come down and declare himself “the only Universal Law
south of the Pleiedes,” or for the nasty machinations of empire to work
their nastiness without our ever having to know about it. How much easier
for us to immerse ourselves in reality TV so we don’t have to engage reality
 or insist we “create our own reality” without coming to grips with the
reality we all share. 
As with every religion, there comes a time when we have to distinguish
between the spiritual essence, and the distortion being used to keep the
powers that be in power in power. Or, as some wit once said, “Spirituality
is our relationship with the Divine. Religion is crowd control.” I hope this
article and the connected links provide plenty of cognitive dissonance for
both Jews and non-Jews alike. Which do we choose -- mutually assured
survival, or mutually assured destruction? Given the delicate balance of
life on earth at this point, the zero-sum game of “me or you” may end up as
a big zero for all humanity and an F in works and plays well with others. 
P.S. I expect lots of letters telling me I’m a self-hating Jew (with plenty
of evidence of how Israel is absolutely right and justified), and other
letters accusing me of being a zionist (including tons of evidence of how
Jews have been responsible for any and all evil since the beginning of
history). Please spare me these. I’ve read plenty on both sides already.
Please DO send me any links to organizations and actions designed to preempt
the preemptive strike on Iran. These will be sent to this list later this
week. Meanwhile, pray for healing even if you’re an atheist. As Swami says,
“Who cares whether you believe in God? What really matters is, do you
believe in Good?” 

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