Those who’ve followed my basically pro-Olmert writings on the topic of Israel may be surprised to learn that the recent ads taken out in Jewish newspapers by Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind, calling for the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, do not bother me overly much. From one thing, such distractions keep Hikind from spending time defending the rights of local Jewish youth to beat up Pakistanis; they also serve the laudable function of making sure he does not have as much time to contribute his public policy input in places like Albany, where it might actually have an impact.
Most importantly, speaking as a proud member of Brooklyn’s Zionist community, I believe that such ads represent a marked improvement in the manner in which the far right among Brooklyn Zionists has past expressed its opinion concerning the best methods for removal of Israeli Prime Ministers whose politics they did not care for, which previously involved persuading the mentally unstable to become a martyr for our equivalent of Allah.