> --- Leigh Meyers <leighcmeyers at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Thursday, August 18, 2005 5:21 AM [PDT],
>> Wendy Lyon <wendy.lyon at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> A friend of mine (who is Jewish and pro-Israel, although in as
>>> moderate a way as I think one could possibly be) visited a West Bank
>>> settlement a few years ago, to see a friend of hers who was staying
>>> with relatives there. She calls it "America Lite" and says that
>>> over half its population is from North America.
>
> I've wondered what longer-time Israelis think about US
> immigrants seeming to be overrepresented among the
> hardcore types. Any clues?
>
> Andy
The last time I spoke with my dad, who's carrer path, as I've previously mentioned, was WWII > MILINT > NASA > Bnai Brith ADL, retiring as ADL regional coordinator in the S.E. US...
In discussion last year he told me straight out that the folks who want to tear down the mosque @ the temple mount were... meshuga, and he extended that to the whole body of "spiritual" beliefs of the christian right as applied to Israel. That thought has room for extrapolation to a government that panders to the christian right as well.
My dad isn't a happy camper, he thinks the U.S. *HAS NO* Middle East policy anymore, that they absolutely don't know what they're doing (at least within context of US mid-east policy framework that evolved over the last 60-70 years).
My sense of it is that the people who fought for, and settled Israel ended up being risk averse in relation to the floods of settlers, and bozo like JDL/kach that came after. The original group got it's piece of the pie, then attempted to solidify it's gains diplomatically and politically (however that would work within the millieu). Not so the folks who came later, and their cheerleaders(christian right).
Leigh www.leighm.net