According to a new Gallup poll, 77 % of American Jews oppose the war in Iraq, compared to 52% of the general public. Time to organize, nu?
Aryeh Cohen and Shaul Magid have launched Jews Against The War (JAW), a nationwide coalition of rabbis, Jewish leaders and shmos like you and me who just can’t stand around and kvetch anymore, or worse, keep silent for fear of being shouted down by idiots still holding up this “you’re not a patriot” nonsense.
“I know that many pulpit rabbis, myself included, have shied away from speaking out publicly against the war, in my case because it is safer to not talk about it, for fear of being divisive within the congregation,” said Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater. “But, like the prophets of Israel, I can no longer take the ‘safe’ road. This war is wrong and it needs to end. Our country’s moral voice in the world has vanished under the weight of torture, secret tribunals and occupation; our beloved Israel is in greater danger now, with Iran emboldened; and our nation’s budget has been sacked, in large part to fund this war.
I am naturally skeptical about polls so I am not sure whether I buy into this one or not. I grew up with Rabbi Grater and while I appreciate his thoughts I don’t know that I buy those either.
My thoughts on the war are varied. It would make far too long a comment so perhaps I will blog about it.
Suffice it to say that I have a problem with how the war has been executed but conceptually speaking it wasn’t such a bad idea.
Beyond that I think that far too many people want the comfort of the pre-911 world (myself included) but that world is gone. So now we have to determine the new rules to live by.
By that I mean we are forced to closely examine how we go about protecting our country and I am not sure that we have the luxury to act as we did in the past.
I just hope that our efforts to keep the crazies from nuking Israel don’t force us into nuking someone else. I wanted Saddam gone just as much as the next guy, but if the crazies take over in his absence then it seems as if Isreal is worse off than before. I know there are smarter folks than the groups in charge who can handle the Middle East a whole lot better without stirring up more trouble.