Ameinu throws G-d overboard

Now that it got the Gaza giveback it wanted, the uber-liberal, Jewish organization, Ameinu couldn’t wait to throw its religious allies overboard. In a Press Release, dated 8/24/05, Ameinu publicly called for the Israeli government to prosecute to the full extent of the law those infiltrators who used violence against the IDF and police. Up until the Pullout was completed, Ameinu and their Labor party friends needed as many Sharon supporters as possible to maintain majority public support for Disengagement. Despite civil disobedience against Police and the IDF, in the months leading up to the actual withdrawal, Ameinu didn’t advocated punishing those protesting the Disengagement. Being careful, not to offend their “conservative allies of convenience”, until they had achieved their goal of giving back “occupied” land to the PLO.

Why is Ameinu the only Jewish Organization now calling for harsh reprisals against people who protested, the return of Gaza, based on religious principles? From its own Mission Statement; Ameinu envisions Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, at peace with its neighbors, committed to religious pluralism and social and economic justice for all its citizens. It is my contention that in the case of Ameinu, religious pluralism is a euphuism for, equivocation of Jewish Law just as their quest for social and economic justice equates to a rejection of Democratic Capitalism. I would suggest that the Israel of Ameinu’s dreams is; Jewish in character but devoid of Judaism, open to all of G-d’s children, but hostile to any mention of G-d himself and committed to orthodox socialism in a society that would gleefully commit Orthodox Jews to jail.

Their temporary alliance with Sharon and Likud must have been so distasteful to Ameinu, that it couldn’t wait to wash its hands of any semblance of mutual support. And just in case their natural, liberal allies might not think the Divorce was final, Ameinu called-in the cops to haul out their religious garbage and made sure everyone knew about it! So much for airing ones dirty laundry in private.
For the organization Ameinu, that advocates, “turning the other cheek” (on decades of Palestinian-sanctioned violence against Israelis) and negotiating more territorial giveaways, leading the cry for arresting Jews of Faith is hypocritical if not sinister.

Despite Ameinu’s hope that Gaza will be the first step in a Great Israeli Land Giveaway, Sharon and his governing coalition plan to wait for Abbas and his boys to disarm Hamas and Jihad before taking a next step. By the time that happens, even the secular faithless at Ameinu might get religion, G-d willing.