I was preparing my talk for Pesach at the Hudson Valley (nee Granit) on the Goldstone Report when my mind started to wander.
Primarily because I just read the OU Jewish Action article on Pesach at US Army bases,in which I am featured, a number of thought came to me.
Goldstone accused the IDF of wanton irresponsible deliberate attacks on civilians.Yet the record shows that the ratio of civilian to terrorist deaths was 2:3 of the 1387 deaths.
In Pakistan, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Chechnya by the Soviets the ratios and numbers were much higher.In WW II we carpet bombed Dresden, and set off 2 atomic bombs without blinking an eye.Yes we saved Americans, but if Goldstone were investigation,that would be an unacceptable excuse.
My personal recollection of 2 B-52 bombing raids where the earth rumbled for miles away,and surgical instruments fell to the floor,and you were literally thrown out of your bed, as 500 pound bombs without any ability to tell friend from foe, were dropped in a pattern by a few planes from 35,000 feet,creating huge craters where once people,animals,homes rice paddies used to exist.
To continue to pick on Israel,where every effort is always made by the IDF to avoid civilian casualties just speaks to the hypocrisy of the world we live in.
I am grateful to my brother-in-law Kal Hartstein for bringing to my attention a law suit that seeks to disqualify Orthodox American citizens who pay school taxes,from serving on school Boards because they are orthodox.
Evidently they are accused of using their "RELIGIOUS BELIEFS" TO COLOR THEIR DECISIONS.HEY ISN'T THAT WHAT AMERICA IS ALL ABOUT ?Multiculturalism and participatory democracy encourages all citizens to get involved.
A group of orthodox groups have filed briefs in Manhattan Federal Appeals Court in the case involving the Lawrence-York School Districts.
