Fascism, Israel And American Jews-- But Just the Non-Einstein Types

Hard to say which Lieberman is the eviler twin

There are a lot of bad players in the stalled Israeli-Palestinian normalization talks but no one-- no, not even the kook in Iran-- is as culpable and reprehensible as Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman, head of the neo-fascist Yisrael Beiteinu Party (which represents deranged and bigoted right-wing Soviet immigrants like Lieberman himself). The tiny splinter party-- which didn't find the Likud right-wing and crackpot enough-- has 15 seats (out of 120) in the Knesset. Lieberman has a checkered past, having been convicted of assaulting a 12 year old boy, involvement in stealing classified materials and a myriad of ongoing investigations and indictments based on a life of corruption one should always expect from any right-wing politician. One of his scams, in fact, was the mirror image of the scandal that helped end the freakshow career of sleazy Pennsylvania Republican, and former congressman, Curt Weldon. Like Weldon, Lieberman can't resist a bribe... ever. He claims the police have it in for him and swears up and down he's never taken any bribes. The decision of whether to indict him on the latest batch of charges-- corruption, bribery, breach of trust, fraud, money laundering, witness harassment, and obstruction of justice-- will come in late February.

Not all Jews are Albert Einstein. In fact, even if Jews make up a disproportionately large number of Nobel Prize laureates, there's no reason to believe that there aren't as many utterly stupid Jews as there are any other ethnic or religious group. There have always, for example, been Jews who have supported-- usually because of personal avarice and greed-- right-wing political parties regardless of the fact that the right-wing has been systematically exterminating Jews since the days of the Babylonian Captivity, the first Purim, the Roman Empire, the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the guy in Germany who, according to the idiotic Godwin, you're not supposed to ever mention, etc. Not all Jews have been as politically savvy as British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who once remarked that "The Jews are a nervous people. Nineteen centuries of Christian love have taken a toll." Some voted for Hitler and some voted for Stalin-- two tragic mistakes. And some support Republicans in the U.S. today. Come to think of it... that's what got me writing about Avigdor Lieberman today. He certainly has far more supporters among a certain subset of American Jews (not the Einsteins or Disraelis of the current generation) than he has in Israel.

Recently a friend of mine, a self-styled (minor) Mossad agent based in Florida, told me how his parents and "all their friends," lifelong Democrats, had re-registered as Republicans and are looking forward to voting against Obama. Instinctually I figured his parents are just middle class Jews who aren't fans of "schvartzas" but he persuaded me that some of their best friends (and favorite servants)... etc. Then I remembered that his sister was in a terrible accident-- and is now in a vegetative state-- and that the family had come into tens of millions of dollars in settlements. Settlements they'd rather not pay taxes on. That may have something-- even a great deal-- to do with it but it's a different kind of settlements-- the ones in Israel, he claims-- that are motivating them.

Perhaps you read Robert Naiman's post on Obama, the UN and Israel yesterday. If not, it's worth going over. It's the kind of stuff that has driven some non-Einsten types American Jews-- especially ones with $10 million settlements-- crazy.

A key resolution on the Israel-Palestine conflict is now before the UN Security Council. Largely echoing stated US policy, the resolution embraces negotiations, endorses the creation of a Palestinian state, and demands an immediate halt to Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. But even though the resolution echoes US policy, President Obama is under pressure to veto the UN resolution from forces in Washington who want to protect the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

Can President Obama say no to this pressure? Yes, he can! Urge him to do so.

I keep forgetting to tell my Mossad friend in Florida to tell his parents that Lieberman is behind a new version of the Law of Return, making it applicable exclusively to born Jews, and Orthodox converts as well as their offspring rather than converts to mainline sects of Judaism (not to mention from other religions). Remind you of any Republican proposal going around these days?

I almost forgot... I was just re-reading Rick Pearlstein's riveting Nixonland and I chanced upon this passage regarding the difficulty Nixon was having in getting the CIA to break laws for him regarding harassing domestic political opponents:

Hearing of his lack of control of any lever of government always sent Richard Nixon into flights of rage. He started ranting about the IRS.

"We have the power but are we using it? To investigate contributors to Hubert Humphrey, contributors to Muskie, the Jews, you know, that are stealing everybody... He trailed off.

...The next week the president took it up with Haldeman: "Bob, please get me the names of the Jews, you know, the big Jewish contributors of the Democrats... Could we please investigate some of these cocksuckers?"

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the way Nixon was dealing with his violent anti-Semitism was by importing thousands and thousands of Eastern European Nazi war criminals into states like New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan to give the Republicans a political advantage over Jewish-backed Democrats.