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From: paulb@ttidcc.UUCP (Paul Blumstein)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Jews and Israel
Message-ID: <699@ttidcc.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 21-Aug-85 11:13:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: ttidcc.699
Posted: Wed Aug 21 11:13:45 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 23-Aug-85 20:32:31 EDT
References: <332@sol1.UUCP>
Reply-To: paulb@ttidcc.UUCP (Paul Blumstein)
Distribution: net
Organization: Transaction Technology, Inc. (CitiCorp), Santa Monica
Lines: 33
Summary: 

In article <332@sol1.UUCP> s252@sol1.UUCP (s252) writes:
>As Jews, is it our first responsibility to oppose the unjust regime of
>apartheid and all countries who are a party to it *or* to stand by the
>policies of the State of Israel?
>
>To take it a step further, do we have the right to "oppose" policies of
>the State of Israel as non-Israelis?

First of all, the USSR is several times worse than South  Africa  ever  was
when  it  comes  to  human  rights.  The  world  is  busy harrassing S.A. &
ignoring Russia for the simple fact that its  safer  to  pick  on  a  small
country  rather  than a large one---one of the major reasons that the world
picks on Israel.

A general principle is to clean up your own neighborhood before  you  worry
about cleaning up other neighborhoods.  As Jews, we should be concentrating
on getting Jews out of Ethiopia & the Soviet Union.  No-one  worries  about
the fate of Jews-- we must before we become extinct!!!!!!

About opposing Israel.  Israel is a democracy & a democracy  supports  many
opinions.  However,  Israel must live & we are doing no good by criticizing
it in public.  We should count on  the  internal  politics  and  democratic
actions  within  Israel  to  straighten themselves out.  Additionally, from
this distance, most of us do not see all sides of every issue.  It  is  one
thing to criticize from the grandstands, but quite another to be a player.
-- 
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Paul Blumstein                    "I may be drunk, but you're ugly.
Citicorp/TTI                       Tomorrow, I'll be sober."
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