I am not an Israeli tax payer, but I am 100% with you.
I seconded the letter and directed it to a few friends of mine. Since Israel prides itself on being the only civilized country in the ME (and a Jewish state!), it should always be striving to live up to the description.
It was me. That's what deleting cookies does to you.
Who on earth are these alleged Americans for a Safe Israel? Have they ever actually *been* to Israel, or know anything about the reality we live?
Clearly a resounding "no" to the second question.
I hope that "overzealous" covers the whole issue.
But you can see a bit more about AFSI here:
http://www.afsi.org/id13.html
What PP said.
Happy to have linked this. That AFSI letter is what you call a freaking hasbara disaster, not to mention a shunder in itself.
AFSI : Shame on them !
Hmm what does AFSI know? Well AFSI was warning against Oslo and making deals with Arafat back when the Federations and all the usual organizations were looking glowingly to a bright new future.
Nevertheless I have been moved by your letter and decided to join your campaign with my own open letter to Mr. Rieger
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/...darling-
mr.html
Hi Sultan, thank you for your attention. I have read your post. Of course, we both did not expect from two of us to agree, did we?
I would have not used the term like "deranged liberals" on the person I don't know enough about, but being more of a spiritual personality, you see the reality deeper than many, I guess. So labeling must be easier for you...
One question, though - what does your rabbi say about the question of helping out the goyim in their hour of need? Unless you are the rabbi, then you can answer the question by yourself.
Hag sameach.
It's not a question of helping out goyim in need. It's a question of prioritizing goyim over Jews and diverting money donated by Jews to members of a hostile nation. You can go on about Druze and arabs in IDF units all you like but the majority of Arabs the money is going to are hostile, the responses to even the deaths of their own children by the Hizbullah should have made that bloody obvious.
I did not call you a deranged liberal nor do I know you. I call the mindset that not only defends but turns diverting money to the enemy, a matter of downright heroism.
I am not sure I follow you re "prioritizing", Sultan. A third of the population in the North is Arab and Druze.
And hostility or not is quite irrelevant where Tzedaka is concerned. You should know it better than I do.
Yes and 99 percent of the population of the middle east is Muslim. Hizbullah was not fighting a war against the Arab population of the North but the Jewish one. If Israel was an Arab state, they would not be bombing it. It is a war against the Jews. The money in question is being raised by a Jewish organization and should go to Jews.
Regardless of who else lives in the north. It was the Jews who were the targets of the war and the arabs who were collateral damage. With a limited amount of funds available, they should go to the Jews who were the targets of the war, rather than the enemy.
Hostility is not irrelevant for Tzedaka. A hostile population has no right, religiously speaking to even remain in Israel, let alone recieve Tzedaka. Let alone recieve monies when there are Jews in need.
And how are these 99% being relevant?
As a person I respect said, if the damage to the Arab Israeli citizens is good enough for our propaganda, it should be good enough for our help.
So if a family is hostile (it is your definition, mind you), it is OK to refuse Tzedaka to its members? Interesting.
I prefer to leave the issue of remaining in Israel alone, if you please.
How are the Arabs in the North relevant that Jewish money raised to help victims of a war against Jews should go to them, rather than the Jewish victims... to any degree?
Make up your mind, are we doing this for 'propoganda' or to genuinely help people? If we're doing it for propoganda then it's a futile task. We're not going to convince anyone that way.
When exactly did the Torah ever decree that Tzedaka has to go to our national enemies. Do you consider Neo-Nazi families in Idaho a good source for your Tzedaka money? Would you give to them before giving to a Jewish family or a regular non-Jewish one?
Ach, Sultan, you are hard in a dispute.
"should go to them, rather than the Jewish victims."
Who said so? I say it should go to all who suffered. You say "rather than", so let's put things straight.
Who said we are helping for propaganda? I said we have been using the damage caused to Arabs in Israel for propaganda. How do you read your quote in my words escapes me.
I believe that both our religion and our Jewish morality oblige us to help. And let's leave Idaho Neo-Nazis alone - they are not Isralei citizens far as I know.
Hag sameach.
There isn't a bottomless bucket of money. When 1/3rd of that money is going to Arab residents, that means that 1/3rd of the money isn't going to the Jewish residents. That is what has people upset.
When the money goes to the Arab residents, that money is going to them 'rather than' the Jewish residents.
I don't see anything in Jewish religion 'and' morality that requires us to divert money from Jewish victims of an Arab war to Arabs who suffered collateral damage from that war. In fact I see that stance as absolutely immoral.
If you don't like the Idaho Neo-Nazi analogy, there are any number of other ones that apply. The reality is that if you remove the handicap of a Jewish context, the idea of diverting money from the victims of an attack to a hostile population, much of which supported the attackers is immoral both ways around.
Sultan Knish & the Americans for a Safe Israel seem hell-bent on proving those who slander Israel as an Apartheid State to be right. Really it is only a matter of simple justice for Israel to provide for all of her citizens, Jew, Druse & Arab who have suffered as result of the Hezbollah rocket attacks against northern Israel.
Note: With friends like the AFSI & Sultan Knish (that name sounds like somebody who will be wrestling the Masked Maruader on cable TV!) Israel does not need enemies. Would let them know that there are American Jews who are donating money to help rebuild Lebanon execpt I am afraid it would cause them to go into such a rage that they would suffer a fatal stroke. We would not want that to happen now, would we?!
We are not talking about Israel providing for its citizens. The topic is Jewish charities diverting money from Jewish victims to Arabs.
You could read the topic before answering you know?
I'm well aware that there are American Jews who have donated money to the Lebanese. American Jews invested millions into Arafat's terrorist regimes. Those same Jews gave money to the Black Panthers and to radical left-wing groups too.
Self-hating Jews are nothing new.
As I recall Sultan, the topic is helping all Israelis, Jews & Arabs alike. Snoopy, myself & most of the commentators here agree that all Israelis affected by the Hezbollah War, Jew and Arab alike should be helped, while you and the Americans for a Safe Israel believe that only Jewish Israelis should be helped. Perhaps you also believe that Israeli Arabs should be made to sit at the back of the bus?
Jewish Israelis were the target of the war, not Arabs who blamed Israel for the whole thing and defended Hizbullah even when it killed their children.
And they can get on the bus when they stop blowing them up. Any more condescending liberal cliches to dose out?
Just to remind you, Sultan, that Hezbollah and their ilk do not much care whom they kill.
And let's avoid flames here. Please, I do not want to become a moderator, OK?
Hezbollah doesn't care much for human life period but Hezbollah's desired targets were Jews not Arabs.
How seriously should anyone take an open letter signed ''Snoopy the Goon'?
"Corrector of the Press". Oops. Looks like we are in deep doodo.
Actually, COTP, it was taken seriously enough by the addressees. Thanks for the remark anyway. We'll think of a more appealing signature next time.
Like HM SnoopyTheGoon 
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