Must Jews always see themselves as victims? Fierce debate has been raging in 'The Independent' about Israel's conduct in Gaza. Here, one leading Jewish thinker argues that until Jews shake off their persecution complex, there can never be peace in the Middle East By Antony Lerman
Saturday, 7 March 2009  In the wake of Israel's attack on Gaza, eager voices are telling us that anti-Semitism has returned – yet again. Eight years of Hamas rockets and the world unfairly cries foul when Israel retaliates, they say. Biased media are delegitimising the Jewish state. The Left attacks Israel as uniquely evil, making it the persecuted Jew among the nations. Even theatres keep wheeling out those anti-Semitic stereotypes, Shylock, Fagin and the "chosen people", just to torment us. If this bleak picture were an accurate portrayal of what Jews are experiencing today, who could deny that suffering is the determining feature of the Jewish condition? Related articles Robert Fisk’s World: A Christian painter who could not see the light in Palestine In most Jewish circles, if you pause to question this narrative and suggest that it might be exaggerated, that it unrealistically implies a level of dreadfulness and victimhood unique to Jews, you'll attract hostility and disbelief in equal measure, and precious little public sympathy. But in the work of Professor Salo Baron, probably the greatest Jewish historian of the 20th century, we find powerful justification for just such a questioning. Professor Baron spoke out angrily against what he called the "lachrymose conception of Jewish history", which placed suffering at the centre of Jewish life. "Suffering is part of the destiny" of the Jews," Professor Baron said in an interview in 1975, "but so is repeated joy as well as ultimate redemption." Another distinguished historian, Professor Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, said Baron always fought against the view of Jewish history as "all darkness and no light. He laboured mightily to restore balance". Baron, who was born in Poland and went to America in 1930 to teach at Columbia University in New York, died aged 94 in 1989, perhaps one of the most significant years in post-war Jewish history. With the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR, the suppression of Jewish religious practice and cultural expression came to an end. More than two million Jews were finally free to choose to be Jewish or not. An astonishing number chose Jewishness and a remarkable revival of Jewish life began. This historic moment aptly illustrates the central truth of Baron's critique. Twenty years on, that revival continues, but the world's response to Israel's war on Gaza and the dramatic rise in anti-Semitic incidents in a number of countries since the war began have led many to paint a very dark picture of the current Jewish predicament. So, in thinking about the accuracy of this, especially in view of the poisonous weed of anti-Semitism that Howard Jacobson, writing in The Independent last month, claims to find growing in…

 
GETTY No explanation for bomb suspect boarding airliner By AP
Top US law enforcement officials offered no explanation today for how the suspect in the failed Times Square bombing was allowed to board an international flight despite being hunted by the FBI and being placed on the US no-fly list. At a news conference, Attorney General Eric Holder said the suspect, Faisal Shahzad, had admitted trying to set off a car bomb in crowded Times Square on Saturday. He will face terrorism and weapons of mass destruction charges, Holder said.  "Based on what we know so far, it is clear that this was a terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest places in our country," Holder said.  Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Shahzad, a Pakistani-born US citizen, was placed on the no-fly list as authorities closed in. She credited Customs officials for recognizing Shahzad's name on a passenger manifest and stopping the flight.  But she had little explanation for how Shahzad was able to board the flight with a last-minute ticket. Passengers on the no-fly list should not be allowed to board a plane.  "I was never in any fear that we were in danger of losing him," Holder said.  But he, too, would not say how a terrorist suspect whose name was being widely circulated by federal law enforcement was allowed to board an airliner two days after a nearly catastrophic bombing.  Shahzad's flight had left the gate. It was called back so authorities could arrest him.  Shahzad is being questioned and has provided useful information, Holder said. The FBI read Shahzad his U.S. constitutional rights to remain silent after he provided information, and he continued to cooperate, FBI Deputy Director John Pistole said. The break in the case came when investigators matched the car's vehicle identification number to a Nissan Pathfinder that had recently been sold for cash in the state of Connecticut. The dashboard registration number had been scratched off, but there are other numbers elsewhere on the car.  President Barack Obama said Tuesday the FBI was investigating possible ties between Shahzad and terrorist groups. Officials would not say whether they believe Shahzad acted alone or as part of a conspiracy.  Shahzad became a US citizen in April 2009 after passing the required criminal and national security background checks. Law enforcement officials familiar with the inquiry say investigators would go through Shahzad's citizenship application line by line to see if he lied about anything  

 Immigrant rights supporters rally in L.A.The march downtown is part of an orchestrated effort across the country to pressure lawmakers to move ahead with immigration legislation this year. Read Article

 Kirk’s ad boldly sends him to the top of the rich listMartin Waller Shatner as Captain KirkFor Captain James T. Kirk, technology was a way to boldly go where no man had gone before. For the man who played him, it was more a way to become insanely rich. William Shatner, who was forced to live in his camper van after the original Star Trek TV series came to an end, has made a colossal sum from becoming the voice and face of an online travel company. Taking Mr Spock’s Vulcan salute of “Live long and prosper” very much to heart, Shatner, 79, is now worth hundreds of millions of dollars courtesy of his starring role in the adverts for Priceline.com. In 1997, when he was hired by the nascent travel comparison site, Shatner agreed to take shares in the company. The shares took a battering during the dot-com bust and were as low as $1.80 in 2000. But they are now heading for $300, and while Priceline has never said how much he is paid or how many shares he holds, his personality, the adverts and the company are inextricably linked. Reports from Wall Street, therefore, have put his fortune at $600 million. The adverts have become an institution in the US, featuring the actor, who has never fought shy of self-mockery, as the Priceline Negotiator. He will stop at nothing to save customers money, they promise, including dancing, doing karate chops and zapping someone with a Taser gun. His performances are widely available on YouTube. In one, in an ironic, Post-Modern touch, the actor is marched into the Priceline office. “We are going to have to let you go,” he is told by a representative of “the new Priceline”. “But who could possibly replace me?” asks Shatner. Enter Leonard Nimoy (aka Mr Spock). The two featured in several subsequent adverts. Shatner’s early adverts for the company parodied his musical career, which began with the 1968 album The Transformed Man, in which he half-talked, half-sang his way through various songs including Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The recording regularly ranks in lists of the worst albums ever made. Shatner’s unusual style eventually achieved cult status, which, reluctantly at first, he came to embrace. His self-mockery has not always gone down well with Trekkers, who take the series very seriously; Shatner famously once told them to “get a life”, exclaiming on Saturday Night Live: “I mean, for crying out loud, it’s just a TV show! I mean, look at you, look at the way you’re dressed!” He struggled in the 1970s after the end of the original series and a messy divorce, and at one point he made ends meet by appearing in character at social events. His career was revived by the Star Trek films and success followed as a policeman in T. J. Hooker and an Emmy-winning role in Boston Legal. Kirk-related memorabilia has become a lucrative trade and Shatner…

   "US heads for civil war over health insurance"