.
The recent row over a U.S. art installation illustrates that our blanket embrace of Israel is outdated.
(Haaretz) – An exhibition in Chicago’s Spertus Museum features Israeli and Palestinian artists engaging with the subjectivity of maps, and all falls apart. After a short struggle, the exhibition is closed down. The curation is described by the Jewish Federation as “anti-Israel,” and one commentator goes so far as to describe the closed exhibition as “a cultural crime scene,”, no less. Articles are written about “freedom from censorship” on the one hand, and “Jewish communal commitments” on the other.
KFAR Center
But the huge elephant in the room has once again been stepped around.
The truth is that we don’t fundamentally disagree about freedom of expression, or about the need for Jewish cultural institutions to relate to their audiences. We just haven’t fully worked out how American Jewry can relate to Israel.
For now and the coming decade, US bi-partisanship assures a common policy in hugging Israel’s defense community …
American G.I.s are coming to Israel’s Negev desert – and this time they’re staying.
According to a report published in Defense News this weekend, the United States and Israel have signed an agreement to deploy the “X-band FBX-T” early-warning missile radar system, which is linked to a U.S. satellite-based alert network.
Deployment of the X-band comes as part of America’s agreement to help defend the Jewish State against any future strike by a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic.
For the first time ever, military personnel from the U.S. European Command are to be permanently based in Israel, in order to staff the high-powered radar system, built by the Raytheon Company.
MDA's Sea-Based X-Band Radar has returned to Pearl Harbor
A spokesman for the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency (MDA) said the new system could double or even triple the missiles’ range of identification, which would be particularly useful should Iran launch an attack on Israel.
According to the periodical, the radar will be operated by staff from the U.S. European Command, starting in early 2009. The system’s deployment may even be moved up to this autumn, in order to integrate it with the Arrow missile defense system.
An Israeli security expert said the significance of the deal lies primarily in its linking Israel with the U.S. satellite system, which will add “precious minutes” to its early warning ability.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
