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This was written in response to a letter asking me to explain the JWD's principles after I stated that political decisions are never based on moral principles. Dafna Yee As far as the principles of the JWD are concerned, I'd have to say that we act more pragmatically than on a prescribed set of moral principles. The purpose of this site -- which is stated on the home page -- is to alert the world to the anti-Jewish/anti-Israeli propaganda on the Internet. To do this, we list alerts of websites of organizations and people who are using the Internet to work with Israel's enemies to destroy Israel as a Jewish State and to promote anti-Semitism, either openly or covertly. Our alerts list the URL, a contact address if available, and a quotation from the site which demonstrates why it was selected. They often have a personal comment, as well, urging people to write the people running these sites (except for terrorist groups) to try and inform them of the truth (or at least, to let them know that every hit is not from a supporter). Frankly, there are no principles involved with our decisions to include a site -- they are either visibly promoting anti-Israel/anti-Jewish propaganda or they aren't. The other aspect of the JWD is the "Friends of Israel" category which lists groups who are all fighting for Israel's survival as a Jewish State. The only requirement for inclusion is that they do not compromise their goal by advocating "negotiation" with Israel's sworn enemies. Types of organizations include media watch groups, historical information sites, hasbera-fighting groups like yours, etc. The sites' philosophies range from secular Zionists to strictly Orthodox ones. (I am a strong Conservative Jew but I try not to let that influence me.) It does include Christian Zionist sites, such as "International Christian Zionist Center" (AKA "Israel, My Beloved"), but it does NOT include Christian Evangelist ones; they are given alerts of their own because we believe that, while they are not out to destroy the physical State of Israel, they are out to destroy its soul as a Jewish State. Unfortunately, too many of your "moral Christians" fall into the latter category. I should make it clear that, in order to be given an alert, a Christian group has to do more than just BELIEVE in a Christian's duty to missionize; the group has to be actively working to convert Jews and to be deliberately using Israel's political troubles to further their goals. We especially target so-called "Jewish-Christians/messianic jews" in order to demonstrate their mendacity when they use Jewish symbols and rituals in their attempts to pollute Judaism itself. (My late partner and I actually met when we were active anti-missionaries which might explain our applying these standards to Christians.) We do not list individual posts in forums or chat rooms (or hate letters), although we might list the organization sponsoring them, no matter what is said; the quote cited has to have a direct link in order to be included. I was not merely "implying" that moral principles are completely irrelevant to world politics, I meant exactly that. There are indeed a very few individuals who make all their personal decisions based on moral principles, but there are no governments who make political decisions for that reason. In fact, many politicians believe that, in order to be successful, compromise of ones' principles is a necessity. One can only believe the actions of politicians, never their statements, and documents like treaties are only good as long as it is known to be expedient to keep them (or from fear of consequences if they are broken). Look at how well the law prohibiting financial aid to the PLO stopped Bush from issuing a presidential waiver and giving them $20 million! Or at how people twist UN resolutions to say what what was never written -- or the UN itself, for that matter! You specifically mentioned George Bush and his advisors in your original letter. I deliberately did not list examples of Bush's double talk and betrayals in my response as I was expressing a general opinion about governments/politicians and didn't want to get bogged down with Bush himself. I only named Bush's two top advisers, Powell and Rice, because of space limitations; I certainly could have given examples of the lack of moral principles in the decisions of every one of them, including the entire State Department. (And I could do the same for the Democrats!) On a personal note, I don't put my faith in ANY politician, anywhere, in any country! I believe in Zionism, but not in individuals who call themselves Zionists (like Sharon, for example). I believe in documents only to the point where I see they are enforced (and I don't trust that they will continue to be obeyed just because they of their moral statements). Since I won't put my faith in politicians, I certainly won't put my faith in millions of faceless Christians in the hope that they will act with moral principles. (The acceptance of accuracy from the majority of Christians to Mel Gibson's disgusting film, "The Passion of the Christ" did NOT surprise me in the least!) I also think that their support, even if you managed to obtain it, would be extremely fickle. My "peace" lists, which contains hundreds of organizations who use ideals to attack Israel, contains a multitude of groups who do so in the name of Christianity (and of Judaism). If you'd like to see my list, I'll be glad to send it to you for you to examine for yourself. When I was 17 I visited Yad Vashem for the first time. There was a group of American tourists just ahead of me. One of the memories that has always stuck with me is of one women bursting into tears upon reading how FDR refused to bomb the railroad tracks at Auschwitz and saying over and over: "But we believed in him. He was a friend to the Jews." In all my studying of history -- and it is considerable -- over the more than 30 years since that incident, I have seen countless examples of that exact situation. That is why when a politician DOES take an unpopular stand based on moral principles, it is newsworthy and rare. (Abba Eban is a wonderful example of such a man.) I don't remember who said this, but it is very apt: International law is something the evil ignore and the righteous refuse to enforce. (Of course, more often, evil people use the law for their own ends and it is the righteous who are helpless to stop them.) Here is an example of people who are trying to follow a law because they are law-abiding citizens while their enemies ignore it: "When the settlers talked about this to us [referring to police and soldiers fighting Israelis but not Arabs], the adults seem uneasy about the kids fighting the police. They are indignant that the Government broke its promise that they could farm during the day, but they believe in the rule of law. They resent that the Government doesn't apply the same rules of law and legality to the Arabs who build in Yesha and in the rest of Israel without permit and without reprimand. Zar himself owns a piece of land on which the Arabs have built illegally and the police ignore his requests to get them out." (http://www.think-israel.org/afsitrip.html) (You might read the entire article; it's well worth the time). This is probably not the response that you were expecting to receive when you said that you looked forward to hearing from me. But, I hope that you can understand why what you said made enough of an impression on me to make such a detailed response. I suppose that I can sum up the principles of the JWD as using truth and historical knowledge to fight Israel's enemies as best as we can. We will not compromise those goals, whether for misplaced trust in "friends" or for "negotiatations" with Israel's enemies. Personally, I do not trust people who claim their motives are altruistic. (Before you take the time to point out examples of altruism -- which I agree exist -- let me point out that such a person never attributes his/her own actions to altruism.) Remember that the Torah warns against displacing your trust and it NEVER says anything about "negotiating" with your enemies. (It certainly never said anything that could be interpreted as it being a good thing to put one's faith in politicians or their supporters!) Am Yisroel Chai! Dafna Yee, director JWD - Jewish Watch Dog http://jwd-jewishwatchdog.home.comcast.net --- / o o \ PNEWS Topic Specific Portals (Vortals) ===OO=====OO================================================= http://pnews.org/vortal/ New World disOrder and Myth Busters http://g0lem.net/vortal/ Insane Planet and Wacko World http://g0lem.net/portal/ Bad-Ass Truth and TheGolemsPortal http://pnews.org/portal/ Naked Truth and PNEWS Portal ============================================================= \_/ \_/
