2 Responses to “Yom ha-Atzmaut 5771-Recommended Reading”
1
DF:
May 10th, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Harry S. Truman is a perfect example of the complicated nature of men. Truman could easily be called an anti-semite. He wrote the following: “The Jews have no sense of proportion nor do they have any judgement on world affairs. . . . The Jews, I find, are very, very selfish. They care not how many Estonians, Latvians, Finns, Poles, Yugoslavs or Greeks get murdered or mistreated as DP as long as the Jews get special treatment. Yet when they have power, physical, financial or political neither Hitler nor Stalin has anything on them for cruelty or mistreatment to the under dog . . .” Yet at the same time he had a very close relationship with Eddie Jacobson, a Jew, and as Menachem Mendel wrote, he did the right thing in recognizing the state of Israel and helping it get off the ground.
Richard Nixon is another example. He too made anti semtic remarks, as the media [who are always trying to stick it to republicans, even dead ones] gleefuly reported recently. Yet during the Yom kippur war, it was Nixon’s airlift to Israel, in the face of much opposition, that saved the day.
One can nitpick with both of these, and say that whatever they did for Israel was really based on ulterior motives, or extraneous considerations. If so, one can make the same nitpicks about nearly every decsion in history. The fact is, both of these presidents, from both political parties, no matter what views they expressed about Jews in private, ultimately did the right thing. That’s something to keep in mind.
2
minda:
May 11th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
because of him Israel exists
FDR might have waited for the next election, even tho he was not running
May 10th, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Harry S. Truman is a perfect example of the complicated nature of men. Truman could easily be called an anti-semite. He wrote the following: “The Jews have no sense of proportion nor do they have any judgement on world affairs. . . . The Jews, I find, are very, very selfish. They care not how many Estonians, Latvians, Finns, Poles, Yugoslavs or Greeks get murdered or mistreated as DP as long as the Jews get special treatment. Yet when they have power, physical, financial or political neither Hitler nor Stalin has anything on them for cruelty or mistreatment to the under dog . . .” Yet at the same time he had a very close relationship with Eddie Jacobson, a Jew, and as Menachem Mendel wrote, he did the right thing in recognizing the state of Israel and helping it get off the ground.
Richard Nixon is another example. He too made anti semtic remarks, as the media [who are always trying to stick it to republicans, even dead ones] gleefuly reported recently. Yet during the Yom kippur war, it was Nixon’s airlift to Israel, in the face of much opposition, that saved the day.
One can nitpick with both of these, and say that whatever they did for Israel was really based on ulterior motives, or extraneous considerations. If so, one can make the same nitpicks about nearly every decsion in history. The fact is, both of these presidents, from both political parties, no matter what views they expressed about Jews in private, ultimately did the right thing. That’s something to keep in mind.
May 11th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
because of him Israel exists
FDR might have waited for the next election, even tho he was not running