[Open Letter] Half-Jews and Birthright Israel

Dear Sarah Schlesinger and Inna Levitz,

Probably because of the bad PR associated with the Goldstone Report, I have been inundated with stories of half-Jewish gentiles, who are getting in touch with their Jewish side through Birthright Israel:

• Sarah Schlesinger: The Power of Israel, A Birthright Experience
• Defining Birthright Finding Personal Meaning - InterfaithFamily.com.

An increasing number of people are realizing that E. European ethnic Ashkenazim have only mythological connection to Palestine.

Here are some blog entries on the topic from Phil Weiss on Mondoweiss:

• Shlomo Sand’s ‘The Invention of the Jewish People,’ reviewed by Jack Ross
• ‘There are Israeli, not Jewish people’ –Sand
• At NYU, devilish Shlomo Sand predicts the Jewish past and pastes the Zionists
• Sand blasters
• Trying to rationalize Israel’s bar on intermarriage. No can do

I have a slightly different take on the construction of the "Jewish People" in Importance of Nuremberg Tribunal Law.

My wife Karin Friedemann specifically addresses ethnic Ashkenazi usurpation in her Khaleej Times op-ed: Israel Steals Palestinian Heritage, History.

I have no problem when the two of you express an interest in your ethnic heritage, but why do you decide to identify with Zionism and the State of Israel, which together constitute the bastard child of the absolute worst of Eastern European ethnic Ashkenazi culture: The Pattern of Ethnic Ashkenazi Genocidalism: The Jewish Century by Yuri Slezkine?

After the Gaza Rampage and the Goldstone Report, don't you owe it to yourselves to learn more about real Jewish history: Introduction: Jewish Historical Political Economics.

A growing number of Jews are revisiting their misconceptions and realizing that not only does their heritage demand unequivocal opposition to Zionism and the State of Israel, but it places upon them a categorical imperative to stand in solidarity with Palestinians.

Shouldn't you be supporting victimized Palestinians and Jewish anti-Zionists?

Sincerely yours,

Joachim Martillo

President

Ethnic Ashkenazim Against Zionist Israel

BTW, the story of Inna's father's rejection at Moscow State University echoes many claims made in the United States in support of Russian Jewish Refuseniks in the 70s and 80s.

A few years ago I asked a Russian Junior Harvard Fellow about discrimination against Jews in the Soviet Union.

He told me that there were about 200 students in his division, and only two were identified as Jewish by nationality, but of the rest only he and another student were not at least half-Jewish.

I joined the protests in the 70s and 80s on behalf of the Refuseniks. Nowadays, I feel as if I was conned.

Note

Sign of the Times: Metro-NY Muslim Jewish Interaction discusses part-Jews and self-hating Jews.

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