[Perturbed]

Thank you for this submission and welcome to the site.<br /> <br /> I think you bring up an interesting point that Bush has not gotten much open support from the Jewish community despite appointing more Jews to government positions than any U.S. president ever has and, like Bill Clinton, receiving massive campaign donations from Jewish lobbyists. I believe the main hangup is Bush's fairly strong support for a Palestinean state, although his Iraq war benefitted Israel more than it did America, so if that doesn't please the Jewish community I don't know what will.<br /> <br /> In Canada, Gerry Schwartz raised 12.7 million for Paul Martin in one night at a dinner, and this may be why Martin was a huge critic of the Iranian President, although Martin was always very supportive.<br /> <br /> I'm less convinced of Harper's sincerity here, he is likely playing politics (which makes sense--you have to do these things to survive) on a commemoration day, and doing what the U.S. wants, which is what reform-style republican conservatives in Canada do. Not to diminish the importance of what he says, but I think any leader of any mainsteam party in Canada would have said the same things the way the world is today. Harper isn't stupid, he knows what he has to do to get the support of the media in his push for a majority government in the future.<br /> <br /> I also really love Algonquin Park by the way--if that's what your user name means....<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />

[jj_frap]

Reasons why North American Jews are not turning right:<br /> <br /> 1. A large proportion of North Americans who identify themselves of Jews are secular Jews.<br /> <br /> 2. Virtually every secular Jew (as well as many Reform and Conservative Jews) are socially liberal.<br /> <br /> 3. Fundamentalist Christians in North American tend to be intertwined with the political right. Their sentiments have traditionally ranged from out-right anti-Semitism to support for Israel solely as a means to fulfill some absurd Biblical prophecy about Jesus Christ's second coming when the Hebrews regain control of the entire holy land.<br /> <br /> 4. European Jews were among the first Whites in North American to broadly recognise the equality of races and to support the civil rights movement. In contrast, the aforementioned fundamentalist Christians where generally its most strident and longest-lasting opponents. (The largest fundamentalist hate cult in North America, the Southern Baptist Convention, was founded for the sole purpose of defending slave-owning ministers, pro-slavery congregations, and pro-slavery misssionaries. In other words, its sole reason for existence was to defend the institution of slavery. That it continues to exist is morally reprehensible.)<br /> <br /> As for my personal opinion of Zionism, I'm agnostic and see the Hebrews as being no better or no worse than any of their antiquity contemporaries. They pillaged, they killed, and they made life miserable for their neighbours like pretty much eevery other civilisation that lived during that era. They have the right to their hold and to practice their convictions without fearing any sort of political or social persecution, but that's more or less it.

[Perturbed]

[QUOTE BY= jj_frap] Reasons why North American Jews are not turning right:<br /> <br /> 1. A large proportion of North Americans who identify themselves of Jews are secular Jews.<br /> <br /> 2. Virtually every secular Jew (as well as many Reform and Conservative Jews) are socially liberal.<br /> <br /> 3. Fundamentalist Christians in North American tend to be intertwined with the political right. Their sentiments have traditionally ranged from out-right anti-Semitism to support for Israel solely as a means to fulfill some absurd Biblical prophecy about Jesus Christ's second coming when the Hebrews regain control of the entire holy land.<br /> <br /> 4. European Jews were among the first Whites in North American to broadly recognise the equality of races and to support the civil rights movement. In contrast, the aforementioned fundamentalist Christians where generally its most strident and longest-lasting opponents. (The largest fundamentalist hate cult in North America, the Southern Baptist Convention, was founded for the sole purpose of defending slave-owning ministers, pro-slavery congregations, and pro-slavery misssionaries. In other words, its sole reason for existence was to defend the institution of slavery. That it continues to exist is morally reprehensible.)<br /> <br /> As for my personal opinion of Zionism, I'm agnostic and see the Hebrews as being no better or no worse than any of their antiquity contemporaries. They pillaged, they killed, and they made life miserable for their neighbours like pretty much eevery other civilisation that lived during that era. They have the right to their hold and to practice their convictions without fearing any sort of political or social persecution, but that's more or less it.[/QUOTE]<br /> <br /> <br /> I disagree that the European Jews supported the civil rights movement out of the goodness of their hearts. They did so for many reasons, one of them being they were a minority themselves and wanted to be accepted as full citizens, which they hadn't been often in Europe--which is one reason they immigrated to America and other countries in the first place.<br /> <br /> Also, although Jews (especially from Eastern Europe) are often white visually, this definition I believe is unhelpful, as race is more than colour. Europeans are white too but they are a distinct and separate group.