Thinking back now I cannot pinpoint when this started. Was it as far back as the attack on USS Liberty or only a couple of decades ago?
I am talking about the endless slew of rabbis, Jewish community leaders, representatives of Jewish organizations, spokespersons for the State for Jews and even the occasional “Jew in the street” being paraded on television or interviewed in the MSM apologizing profusely every time a nasty act is perpetrated by a Jew or a group of Jews.
(Photo courtesy of Rogues Gallery)
(Marc Rich–bigest tax evader in US history, fled to Israel, pardoned by Clinton in the last hours of his second term)
(Jonathan Pollard, convicted of spying)
(Rachel Corrie, victim –no further caption needed)
(Phosphorus bombing– done by Israel in Lebanon and Gaza. UPDATE: Note an expert in the use of phosphorus bombs informs us this image is not descriptive of a phosphorus bomb. See Comments.)
For all this and much more, Jewish apologies are a daily feature of our media:
“As a Jew/ as members of the Jewish … I/we strongly condemn the despicable/cowardly/inexcusable act/attack…. which is contrary to our Judaic values. Judaism is a religion peace, which upholds the highest moral standards of honesty, compassion and tolerance. We reject… etc.”
The more abject apologies go so far as to suggest a need to “reform” Judaism.
Events that trigger these apologies range widely from banking scandals, financial fraud (from large hits like Marc Rich’s to Ponzi schemes like Madoff’s), to assassinations, organ trafficking, misappropriation of public education funds to divert to the coffers of private Jewish orthodox schools, to treason and spying (think Pollard) and, when we include war crimes and human rights violations in Palestine, the list balloons enormously.
Why is this endless hand wringing and apology feast necessary? These are after all, isolated incidents carried out by “bad apples.”
I can understand why the Muslims need to apologize in this fashion for their own culprits and to defend Islam. After all, each of their perpetrators is ensconced in the powerful, worlwide Muslim network that facilitated his activities, protects him and, if he flees to the State for Muslims before being tried, he is safe from extradition to the US.
Muslims may well differ among themselves on many issues (especially strategy and tactics), for they are not a monolithic entity but admittedly a vibrant and diverse community.
Nevertheless, when it comes to making a common front against non-Muslims they surely jump to the culprit’s defense, openly and/or behind the scenes, in the places of power, to make sure he is not being scapegoated by anti-Islamists. It is safe to conclude that any destructive act committed by a Muslim does represent and has its roots in his Islamic identity.
Clearly that’s not the case with Jews. We know that. So enough with the apologies already!