Being a NY Jew travelling in the South while Israel is Bombing

[clitzpah queen]

It sucks! I walk the line. I am sooo critical of and angry at Israel. However, being down south lately, I am still acutely aware of the everlasting strain of anti-semitism that pervades our country (OUTSIDE of LA, NY, etc.) This awareness of anti-semitism does NOT stifle me one iota from making VERY open critical statements about Israel's bombing spree and bullshit about being innocent victims. Sell that crap somewhere else. Despite the mainstream media's pro-Israeli bias, Israel's teflon staus is getting rather threadbare these days.

It's a weird feeling to wake up to the news of the bombing od the U.N. facility and the death of 4 or so U.N. observers and think "Good -- NOW maybe Israel will HAVE to have it's hand slapped by the U.S."

I FULLY UNDERSTAND ISRAEL's subordinate role as the US' junior imperialist partner in the region -- but SHE made that choice years ago -- and look where it had led her. To a Soul-Less existence.

I reFUSE to tie MY Jewishness to the State of Israel. My Yiddishkeit, my family's 3 generations of fighting oppression. My Jewish Bubbe (grandma) YEARS ago told me when she worked in Manhattan's sweatshops in the 20's they struck their Jewish bosses -- she said "A BOSS is a BOSS is a BOSS". I agree.

This is the way I see Israel: An out of control, greedy, agressive, bottomless bit of land grabbing and posturing and racism and bullshit. They are up there for me level of reVULSION alongside George and Company, et al-- then followed by the DLC, etc.

I love and support the PEOPLE of ISRAEL fighting for justice and peace, against racism, etc. We hardly get to hear from them -- except on Pacifica radio, etc. They DO exist. (I was married to an Israeli 30 years ago who refused to fight in occupied territory in the 1973 war and as a result spent 8 months in an Israeli prison). There ARE brave Israeli souls out there...but not ENOUGH of them....and certainly not enough Media folk with the spine and ability/access to Report their Existence.

Here in the US of A -- ALL of us, but especially us PWOGWESSIVE JEWS need to Speak out EN MASSE! against the arrogance of the Bush/Israeli regimes and the havoc they are creating in the Middle East -- on OUR BACKS thank you -- and we had better do it FAST -- before any MORE towers come tumbling down.

What do y'all think?

Abby Smith

[Freedom_from_Chains]

1. Thanks for your post

I have been studying Judaism recently, now talking to the local Hebrew Congregation, and what I am reading just does not match what I am seeing on the world stage.

[magellan]

2. Outstanding post

Love your handle, too!

Question: in your view are we taking cues from Israel on how to handle terrorism, or the other way around? I've been wondering this the last week or so; the hardline bs thinking on both sides is so in sympatico nowadays. My feeling is the former...or maybe it's a push-me/pull-you situation?

Recommended.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. Abby. Don't hold back honey. Tell us all how

you feel.
It is better for you.

lol.

give 'em hell... clitzpah! lol

never met ya, I already love ya.

[regnaD kciN]

4. Funny...I would think that, even in the deepest South...

...they'd still hate "them Ay-rabs" more than "them Jews" these days. :eyes:

It's a weird feeling to wake up to the news of the bombing od the U.N. facility and the death of 4 or so U.N. observers and think "Good -- NOW maybe Israel will HAVE to have it's hand slapped by the U.S."

As you can see, you were an optimist. :shrug:

It was interesting to see the headlines of Wednesday's papers, and how they tiptoed around the attack on the U.N. base. Typical was the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, who had a bold headline reading something like "Israel captures Hezbollah bases" followed by a smaller sub-heading that simply put it as "Bombs kill 3 U.N. observers." Not "Israeli forces," or even "an Israeli bombing"...just "bombs," as if they could have come from anywhere. Few of the other papers were any better, and most seemed to be going out of their way to reduce the incident to a minor sideshow in the ongoing War On Islamic Terror.

[elehhhhna]

36. LOL. Hint;p the Biblethumpers hate EVERYBODY who dosn't belong

to their "home church".

And they ask me if I'm jewish because I talk w/ my hands.

[Minnesota Libra]

5. I think your comments are interesting,..............

...and very well timed. Your comments will most certainly prove very popular at DU.

BTW, :hi:welcome to DU clitzpah queen:hug: - I trust you will enjoy it here.:applause:

[itzamirakul]

6. K & R...great post...

We really DO need to hear from the average Israelis who are probably sick and tired of this constant warfare and bandying for land and power.

[xultar]

7. Great Post. The Southern US is scary as hell. I live tere too! K&R!

[Philosoraptor]

8. Love the way you write.

And I am in sympatico, logic and reason are the goals, not racism and fear.

[chimpymustgo]

9. Thank you Abby, for seeing this with open eyes and an open heart, and

telling it like it is. Your honesty is restorative. K & R.

Welcome to DU :hi:

[MikeNY]

10. Once you get hit the Mason/Dixon line

Which by the way is not that far into New Jersey, you start getting people wearing cowboy hats and talkin with a southern swagger. Its extremely odd and creepy. I'm with you, and be careful down there.

I think you're brave for taking the position you're taking. Israel does not do much to help its cause by bombing civilian infrastructure / crushing Lebanon. One thing I have concluded is that the leaders of the US, Israel, etc. are not as stupid or ignorant as they act.

The people running these governments are intelligent people who, have made a conscious decision, to escalate the warfare. Do not think for a second that they are acting out of emotion. These people are businessmen who know what they are doing. (in a bad way that does not benefit the population)

[LostinVA]

15. I grew up in that part of NJ... I know!

[leveymg]

11. You remind me of someone who Howard Zinn urged me to read years ago:

"The individual whose vision encompasses the whole world often feels nowhere so hedged in and out of touch with his surroundings as in his native land."

And, this quote by her:

"I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck."

[Viva_La_Revolution]

51. Emma Goldman

“No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution - Revolution is but thought carried into action”

:applause:

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. The negativity you sense when you are in the south

may have little to do with whether or not your are Jewish, since usually you can't just look at someone and know they are Jewish. However, you sound like you are from NYC or up north? That can be a bigger problem down south, then whether or not you happen to be Jewish. Keep in mind many southerns are still fighting the civil war and as soon as they hear a Yankee accent, you are instantly on their shit list. I've learned the hard way, too many times, to avoid letting certain people know I grew up in NYC or to sound too northern, unless of course, I want to get served the greasiest and hardest piece of meat they can find in the restaurant.

In regards to the rest of your post, it's a pleasure to meet someone who is Jewish, who can still see reality when it comes to Israel. Welcome to DU. We need more people like you around here to help people understand that not everyone who is Jewish supports Israel's acts of aggression.

[BlueIris]

13. "as soon as they hear a Yankee accent..."

"...you are instantly on their shit list."

Yep.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

18. Ah've haid to hide mah accent...

at times. I'm from the North, and for years faked a mild Southern accent-in one job, I was told they couldn't understand me, which was a crock, because my Middle American accent was the one that broadcasters used to be taught. But you are right about the prejudice. We finished a job yesterday for an extremely picky customer, and the first thing out of the tech's mouth was, "Well, they're Yankees, what do you expect?"

I've long ago dropped my fake Southern accent and accentuated my Northern one. I looked that fellow in the eye and said, "Not all Yankees are bad--I know one who makes out your paychecks and makes sure you're paid overtime."

[DoYouEverWonder]

20. LOL

On the other hand, I don't want to paint the south with such a broad brush either.

My husband & I own our own business too. Most of the southerns I know and work with are wonderful people and just laugh at me when I say certain words. You mean there isn't an 'r' at the end of idea?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

37. there is when my husband speaks

and he was born in Texas! Being raised in NJ had an influence, I think....

[SmokingJacket]

42. I'm a dark-haired person with a northern accent who lived in the south

and had "Down with Jews!" shouted at me. :wtf: In my experience, southern bigots don't like northerners at all, but have a special hatred for Jews.

That said, the southern liberals I met were hardcore -- really great people -- and there were lots of them, too.

While there are racists and anti-Semites all over the country, there are places where those attitudes are more socially acceptable than others. Where I lived in the south, racism was just part of the furniture. I'm sure there are plenty of racists in the northern city I live in now, and even hidden racism is deplorable... but there's something totally horrifying about unabashed, socially sanctioned racism and anti-Semitism.

[mogster]

14. Great post and welcome, Abby!

:-) Progressive Jews certainly has a very important voice in this matter.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

16. thanks for this

interesting what you say about anti-Semetism in the South. What I'm seeing here in Arkansas is a variation on that--people are wearing pins showing both the US and Israeli flags, and say they totally support Israel--because that will bring about the end times. These people aren't supporting the Israeli people or Jews in general(they'll tell you that the Jews must convert or die in hell fire)--they are literally supporting the Israeli government because they view it as fulfilling their own desires.

[Fredda Weinberg]

17. I think you carry a lot of hostility

And it's misdirected. Land grabbing? Have you forgotten that Israel returned the Sinai, with all that oil - for peace? I guess so, but the event had a profound impact on my thinking.

So you see anti-Semitism now ... what, for the first time? Maybe, if you're really a NY Jew. But this one grew up in Crown Heights in the 60's and found herself in the middle of a race riot ... and I was the innocent victim.

So I think you've venting frustrations, but probably don't know any Israelis personally. When I met my first bunch, I listened carefully as they explained how little the land meant, when there was a chance for lasting peace. But that hope has faded since Sadat's assassination - but what remains is an Israel no longer in existential danger and for that, I'm grateful. Those Southerners could very easily impose their will nationally someday and Israel will be the only to welcome us with open arms.

[QuettaKid]

19. Bravo. K&R

....:applause: :applause: :applause:

[Douglas Carpenter]

21. thank you for your thoughts. recommended

[adriennui]

22. hmmmm, what do i think?

you're wrong and you don't represent me one iota. if things get bad i know there will always be israel.

[burythehatchet]

23. You give me hope.

[malaise]

24. Nice post indeed n/t

[furman]

25. I think you've been away from NY too long. n/t

[Jacobin]

26. Um, Southern Fundies

Love Israel and its people.

I live in the south....no not New Jersey (!)...fucking Louisiana.

Fundies say that the bible made a 'covenant with Israel' and they support Israel like NO ONE ELSE.

Whats up with the 'southerners are antisemites" shit?

[NavyDavy]

28. Have you heard of the KKK....their motto"No Jews No N*****"

If I am not mistaken LA has a very large group of the KKK. So yes a lot of southerners do hate Jews, because they hold them responsible for the killing Jesus.

[Lurking Dem]

31. I live in the South

and I've got to tell you, antisemitism is alive and well here.

Try having your 9 year old called a "Jew boy". Try being told to go shop "where you people go" for Kosher or holiday products. Having your child counted absent and having to make up work for missing school during the high holidays. Being witnessed in the grocery store parking lot because you have a Jewish sticker on your car. Being told your illness/handicap is because you haven't accepted Jesus as your lord and savior and you're going to burn in hell - in front of your child.

Better yet, try living in a place where National Alliance folk try to shoot up a Jewish daycare, Nazis pass out flyers about how you're not welcome in their neighborhood, threats are recieved weekly at your place of worship.

It's not "shit".

[tnlefty]

58. Damn, I'm so sorry to read that. How long have you lived here?

I'm asking because there has been a major shift backwards here for a decade or better.

Example: When my oldest (16) started school from Thanksgiving until school was out in Dec. they had discussions daily about different countries around the world and religions. Admittedly because most of the students would be celebrating Christmas, but Hanukah was discussed - he came home one day excitedly talking about "meauuras" and how pretty the one at school was. It took me a minute to figure out he was talking about a menorah. :dunce:

Anyway, this changed for the younger 2 and not much of anything was discussed - no craft projects of other faiths. Last year during a book fair I pissed some people off to be sure. One mom was talking about how the trees couldn't be called Christmas trees, no Christmas parties. Another chimed in, then another. I stated rather loudly that it's because no other faiths are even considered for representation anymore. Why not put a display in the entrance with a tree, a menorah, kwanza represented and then they could be happier. Of course they were very quick to say that no way did they want that, to which I responded that their attitudes of wanting to only have one religion represented symbolically to the exclusion of all others is the problem.

I wish I could put my finger on what caused such a huge shift.

Being threatened and having idiots trying to shoot up a daycare is bad, bad, bad.

[Lurking Dem]

59. It's been worse.

I've lived in TN for about 10 years now but am a Texas girl from way back.

We have at least crawled up from the days when we were lynched ala Leo Frank.

I almost made a t-shirt that read, "My parents went to Pulaski and all I got was this lousy sheet!"

On the plus side, we have places like Whitwell, TN and their paperclip project. But there are a lot of places where my son and I hide our "Jew tags", as he calls them - Magen David jewelry.

[bunkerbuster1]

34. This fundie "love" is based solely on a desire

for the Jews they claim to "love" to rule Israel--only to have those same folks heaped in a burning pit come the End Times.

Fundie Christians most certainly loathe Judaism, and they really, really, really hate Northeastern liberal jews.

[tnlefty]

43. Uh, no. What I've witnessed for years is the love of the militaristic,

warring STATE of Israel, but absolute nastiness for the Jewish people, the religion, culture and way of life.

[sandnsea]

47. The Jews killed Jesus

That's what I've always heard them say, you know some different group of fundies than I've ever met.

[NavyDavy]

27. See you have some Jews that think Isreal can do no wrong....

However in this situation, they are totally wrong. They were no more justified in attacking Lebanon than we were attacking Iraq. 2 soldiers were killed, so lets destroy a whole country including innocent women and children, yes I know Isreal loses women and children all the time.

Now Isreal is changing the reasons they attacked Lebanon, they say its because they shot missiles into Haifa(sp?) ala B**h Admin tactic for attacking Iraq.

[Vidar]

29. Wonderful post. K&R.

[China_cat]

30. I get flack even here for saying

that what the Jewish people suffered under Hitler is unforgiveable...but that Israel is the abused child who grew up to be the abuser.

Never forget. No. But, also, never forget what it felt like.

[Swamp Rat]

32. k&r

Shalom Aleichem ... As-Salamu Alayki!

[shadowknows69]

33. K+R

Excellent essay. Insightful to say the least. I suspect a lot of the Israeli people feel that their Government has been usurped by madmen much like many of us feel (know) about our government. Cold calculating people with no empathy for the people they flatten in their righteous destruction and seemingly no prescience of what repercussions their actions might have except for the expansion of their own power.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

35. All REAL Americans support America, no matter what.

All REAL Jews support Israel, no matter what.

All REAL Catholics support the Vatican, no matter what.

All REAL Muslims support Hezbullah, no matter what.

All REAL Aryans support the White Race, no matter what.

etc, etc, etc.

"I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all." - Thomas Jefferson

[blonndee]

38. Interesting post.

Thanks for sharing your experience, this is an interesting perspective. I'm sorry you've had trouble in the south. If it makes it even better, SOME people in the south--not all by any means, but some--don't much care for anyone that's not just like them, no matter what the difference is. Fear and ignorance, I think it is, mostly.

I hope things get better soon.

[mom cat]

39. Total WOOT!

:yourock:

[ananda]

40. Hail pwogress!

It's nice to see such passion tied to good thinking.

[mike_c]

41. good on ya, Abby!

Excellent post!

[emcguffie]

44. It's your accent, not your Jewishness.

I'm from the South, and there are quite a few Jews there, but there have southern accents just like everyone else. Believe me, it's that accent that freaks people out.

People are astonished when they hear those sounds coming out of a human mouth. To a southern ear, those sounds are very ugly (sorry), brash, grating, horrible -- nobody can quite believe that people actually choose to sound like that. Really. So if you have much of a northeastern accent, fuhgeddaboutit, they will stare at you as if you are an alien, which is what you are to them.

You also talk a lot faster than they do, and they probably can't even understand you. People in the south are not in a hurry like people in the northeast always are. They take their time, there's no rush.

I used to have a Jewish friend in Memphis, she lives in New York now, with her beautiful southern accent. Her father had a wonderful old-fashioned hardware store downtown. Nobody bothered them at all. Now, race is another thing. Jewishness, not a bit. It's being a Yankee. The yankees did do terrible things to the south, you know, things that absolutely qualify as war crimes. My father knew his great-grandmother, who lived to be 101. She was an adult during the Civil War, lived in Georgia, and experienced Sherman's March to the Sea firsthand. So dad got to hear about that from the lips of an actual witness. So I got to hear about it secondhand. That's pretty amazing.

Yes, the yankees came, they knew they were coming. So they hid the livestock in the woods and buried the silver. The yankees came, went through her house with their bayonets and ripped up every piece of upholstered furniture and every drape. They took every bit of food. They they burned every single building, every shed, to the ground. They left not a single bite of anything to eat, and no shelter of any kind. Sherman did a swath of this devastation 100 miles wide across Georgia. That's why there's just not much old stuff down there. It was all destroyed. Atlanta was burned to the ground.

And it just wasn't all that long ago, really.

[Ms. Clio]

45. I think

:yourock:

[julialnyc]

46. I just got back from the south last night (long drive home from Georgia)

and agree that the attitude changes as the territory heads south. All you have to do is look out your window on the drive to see the billboards change from movie posters to Got Jesus?............ of course the "Jesus Saves" and bible superstore billboards are mixed in with nude girls next exit signs. It's a different world.

[kdpeters]

48. Born and raised in the deep south -- Georgia

Though racism pervades almost everything, I never knew antisemitism until I left. I always attributed that to the fact that there just weren't any Jews around for anyone to have bias toward.

[Alcibiades]

49. The South is diverse

Here in Durham, I'd be shocked to find much antisemitism expressed openly. It's there, but it's now considered impolite. Now, Georgia or South Carolina is another story. Most of the comments about hating the Arabs more than the Jews are also accurate.

The other replies about accents hit it on the head. Having a yankee accent is worse than being Jewish or a New Yorker. Might I recommend a pinch of Copenhagen? This helps to generate the appropriately mouth breathing, drooling affect so needful if you are to put on a real redneck accent. Doing a more genteel accent, such as one finds in Charleston or Savannah, is harder. Just swoon a lot a claim to have the vapors.

I have always thought that much of the conservative Jewish support for the various Israeli offensives over the years is due in part to the nature of the Jewish experience. When most of us came as immigrants, in a sense we burned our bridges, in effect saying "The old country can get along without us." When the state of Israel was established, suddenly millions of American Jews had a homeland that they did not forsake in the way immigrants usually forsake their homelands. There's a struggle for authenticity, a sense that one is more Jewish if one returns to Israel, or at least sends one's kids there to live on a kibbutz for a summer. Immigrants always have a sense of romanticism for the old country (similar in a way to the romanticism many in the south feel for the old South), but it's different for Jews. For American Jews, it seems like being a hard-line Likudnik is a way of establishing one's Jewishness. Whenever I hear or see an Israeli politician, it always seems as though the Labor members are speaking Hebrew or have an accent, but the Likud guys all sound like they were born in Brooklyn.

As far as the need for Jewish progressives to speak out, we wouldn't have gotten very far if they had not, and so we need them to continue to do so.

[carolinayellowdog]

55. Southern Jews

The urban South has been a relatively welcoming environment for Jews for centuries, and after years of shrinking numbers due to assimilation there have recently been huge increases:

http://www.jewishpress.com/page.do/17645/A_Tribe_Apart_%3Ci%3EJews_of_the_American_South%3C%2Fi%3E.html

[walldude]

50. I think you speak for many Jews...

Myself and my wife included....

[stepnw1f]

52. Commendable Post, Bravo! (nt)

[HongKonger]

53. Fuck Yah.

You go Girl.

[Kickin_Donkey]

54. Thank you for your humanity and clear thinking,

.

[Duppers]

56. You go girl!

[Raster]

57. What do I think? I THINK YOU ROCK!!! Right on!

Thank you for your input. Though not Jewish, I have many dear friend that are, and while they believe in the concept of Israel and Israel's right to exist, they deplore the tactics Israel uses. It seems there is neocon scum in more than just one country.