Israel and The United States Are Two Separate Countries

As a resident of a large, heavily Jewish senior condominium, I encounter much commentary about Israel.  All too many of the missives I encounter imply that Israel is part of the United States, or (even worse) the United States is part of Israel. Here is my response.

First, I am an American. True, I am Jewish. But that does not make me Israeli. I believe that the United States has serious problems to resolve and must focus all of its  resources on American problems.

Second, neither Israelis nor Palestinians seem to have either great liking for the United States or much dedication to the need for a political resolution of their differences. Each has had many chances; each has, if you'll excuse my casual language, "blown" opportunities to move toward peace. They seem to take turns rejecting pro-peace advances by the other.

Third, support for Israel does not equal blind adherence to Israeli policy. And, just as the minority Tea Party people here have, in a real sense, hijacked our government, so the ultra-orthodox religious parties in Israel unfairly and unfortunately dominate Israeli policy.

I consider Israel a moderately friendly ally. Nothing more. And I don't much like the company they're keeping - a farrago of right wing zealots whose support for Israel is based on their religion.

I've offered the friend whose letter triggered this response the opportunity to reply to it. If I get a response I will publish it.

Stop Balkanizing Our People!

One of our big problems is the Balkanization of the electorate.

Some of my friends immigrated from Haiti. They have dark skins. Does that make them African Americans. The ones who aren't citizens or working toward citizenship are generally identified with a specific country, which might be an African country, a Caribbean county, ... If they happen to speak Spanish they might even be considered black Hispanics. I have NEVER met anyone who considers himself or herself "African American." With very few exceptions (those few who have dual citizenship) there IS no such thing as an "African American."

Many of my neighbors identify strongly with Israel. Does this make them Israeli Americans? With very few exceptions (those with dual citizenship) it does not.

Get lost in Miami and you had best know some Spanish. You'll have a hard time finding anyone who speaks English. Does this make those folks Spanish Americans? Not even close - I doubt that 5% of them have even visited Spain. Hispanic Americans? Same issue. I had the opportunity once to speak with a few young ladies whose ancestors came from a couple of Spanish-speaking countries. The asked me how "Latinas" could advance. My answer, as you might guess, was a more polite version of

"Forget the word "Latina." Be Americans."

In the interest of transparency, I'll disclose my own ancestry. My father was born in a city that was Austrian at the time; now it's Russian. My mother was born in New York City; both her parents were immigrants from Poland.Both my parents considered themselves Jewish, and by Jewish law they're right. That means that under Israeli law they - and I - have the right to move to Israel and be automatically granted Israeli citizenship even though the only Hebrew word I really know is l'chaim. Until recently my hair was as kinky as anyone's, so it's likely that there is some black blood in my ancestry. Almost anything else might be lurking in my past. So what am I?  ½Austrian-½Russian-Polish-Jewish-maybe black-potentially Israeli American? I can't even say it on one breath.

 I'm an American. My attributes include European ancestry and Jewish heritage, but there's a lot more to me. I'm a scientist, a family man, a software designer and developer, a blogger, ... My brother, a professional artist and translator can go further - he has dual US and Canadian citizenship and could legitimately call himself a Canadian American or an American Canadian. Of course like me, he can also claim to be ½Austrian-½Russian-Polish-Jewish-maybe black-potentially Israeli American.

This business of attaching national labels to people based on their ancestry is childish and meaningless. We must start thinking of people as Americans (possibly with a second citizenship) or non-Americans. Anything else is racism.