Wolpe: Obama Misunderstands Jewish Aspirations

David Wolpe on the big speech:

The aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied." That is not true, and unfortunate to say. The aspiration is rooted in deep, enduring roots in the Land of Israel, which the Islamic world has lately taken to denying. Claims that the Temple never really stood in Israel, or that the Jewish connection to the land is a later fabrication, are also malevolent and ignorant denials of history. Jews do not claim Israel because we were slaughtered; that merely proved the necessity of a refuge. We claim Israel because it is our ancient homeland. That the world proved incapable of living in peace for centuries proved not our entitlement, but its urgency of fulfillment. And he might have mentioned that much suffering was a product of the Islamic world; while many historians argue that Islam was more tolerant than Christianity (an argument I believe has a great deal of merit) nonetheless the catalogue of Jewish suffering under Islam is considerable and should have been noted.