Dear Sarah Palin, George Bush and other End of Time Believers,

I am sorry to inform you that I will be preventing the second coming of you savior. It's nothing personal, but I just don't intend to move to Israel just to suit your religious beliefs. Let me explain below.

You see, End of Timers, I'm Jewish. Now, I don't actually keep Kosher (I love pulled pork way too much...and bacon cheese burgers are pretty damned good too) and I only occasionally attend synagogue. In fact I think I have visited more Buddhist temples in Japan than I have visited synagogues anywhere in the world. Though I did spend some time and effort a few years ago to help save a synagogue in Latvia, if that counts.

But I am still Jewish because my mother was Jewish and her mother and so on, and that is what really counts. And I have been circumsized (sorry if that is too much information for some End of Timers, who I know feel a bit nervous at mentions of body parts, but it really matters in Judaism), and I honor no gods before YHWH (in fact I am not always sure I believe in YHWH). So basically by the strictest definitions of what it means to be Jewish, I am Jewish. Interestingly, both Lubavichers and anti-Semites in Eastern Europe seem able to recognize I'm Jewish on sight. Plus, I really have always considered myself Jewish, so there you are.
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[UPDATE: The Israeli government has rejected the loyalty oath bills. Good for them!]

A leading Jewish organization fighting against anti-Semitism in particular and intolerance in general, has issued a statement opposing two bills from the far right wing party of Israeli bigot and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. From Jewish Week:

A panel of government ministers is scheduled on Sunday to vote on introducing a bill to institute a loyalty oath as a precondition for citizenship, a proposal that helped Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party to an unprecedented third place finish in recent elections.

The second bill is slated for a full cabinet vote and would outlaw public expressions of grief over the Palestinian displacement in 1948 — known as Nakba, or catastrophe in Arabic — on Israel’s Independence Day holiday.

Entitled “Loyalty Oath – A Condition for Citizenship,” the draft legislation proposes requiring citizens to declare “loyalty to the state of Israel as a state that is Jewish, Zionist, and democratic, to its symbols and values” and promise to fulfill national service requirements.
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Location

But is it good for Israel?...The now seemingly age-old refrain of American Jews whose support for Israel sometimes affects their reason. Now despite some anti-Semitic accusations, I don't know a single American Jew whose support for Israel EVER interferes with their loyalty and patriotism as American citizens. But sometimes American Jews are willing to make what seem to me to be idiotic alliances in the name of Israel.

Right wing Christian extremists, like Christians United for Israel (CUFI), have become supposedly ardent supporters of Israel and many American Jews have been willing to form alliances with these right wing Christian fundamentalists because of this supposed support for Israel. This despite the overall repulsive positions taken by groups like CUFI, which advocate the mixing of church and state and often advocate intolerance and use hate speech. The founder of CUFI is one of those right wing nuts who condemns Harry Potter books as advocating witchcraft, calls Russia and Islamic nations the Antichrist, and, of course, is anti-choice and anti-gay. He also is a scam artist who is one of the highest paid televangelist out there. His view on Free Speech is: "What is the point of having free speech if you have nothing to say?" His view on Hurricane Katrina: "All hurricanes are acts of God because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that." And, for those Jews who love him, let's consider what he thinks of Jews: "If you live your life and don't confess your sins to God Almighty through the authority of Christ and His blood, I'm going to say this very plainly, you're going straight to hell with a nonstop ticket." (Quotes from Wikipedia).
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Don't be reading this. Henry Rollins is on IFC right now. His regular show starts 11 PM EST tonight. But before that IFC is airing a show he did in Israel. Both funny, crazy and an interesting American Jewish Punker view of Israel. If you are online right now, STOP and turn on IFC, NOW!!! Rollins rocks and he tells it like it is with both naivete and cynicism in a bizarre but mesmerizing mix. Watch it...now!