By Marty Katz
Special to The Chronicle
This past Sept. 11, at the request of the Institute of World Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, I joined five others on a panel that was to discuss the topic, “9-11 Revisited: The World in a Wake of Terror.”
I didn’t walk into the event hoping to solve the world’s problems nor even to make an impact on the new realities we face after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Instead, I honestly wished for some shared grief, consolation and understanding, at least from the panelists if not from the audience itself.
Unfortunately, while I know that moderator Dr. William Vocke, the institute’s director, did an outstanding job of conducting the question-and-answer period, and while I know that the panelists themselves knew what we were supposed to address, what actually took place demonstrated why I will forever be a Jewish community educator and activist
.
Hardly minutes into the event, I heard innuendoes and slurs that had no bearing on the topic but rather were potshots at Israel and its “inhumane occupation” of Arab land. One of the panelists actually described how since 1967 the Arab/Muslim world was forever shaken (as I sat and thought to myself that the Six Day War might have had something to do with this).
Frustrated by most of the other panelists, I was in a quandary. Do I respond to what I am hearing or do I stick to my original script? Do I abandon my desire to stay focused on the horror of Sept. 11, or do I start what would be an endless battle of words?
While I am strongly adverse to making comparisons to the Shoah, I looked at my notes and saw that I had written the Hebrew word “Zachor” (Remember). And I asked myself: Is there not some obscene similarity between the innocent lives murdered with intention in the Shoah and the innocent lives murdered with intention at the World Trade Center? Are we not obligated to remember not just the souls of the innocents, but also the horror of such ugly evils?
One specific question posed to me by an audience member, while not unexpected, was critically harmful. An Arab/Muslim man wanted to know “why when individual Arabs, Muslims or Christians do anything wrong, all Arabs, Muslims and Christians must apologize, but when individual Jews do wrong, why don’t all Jews have to apologize?”
He also said he objected to my inclusion in the panel since, to his thinking, there were four pro-Israel panelists, two of whom were Jewish (Dr. Shale Horwitz, professor of political science at UWM, was the other Jewish panelist).
How does one respond to such questions? How can one even begin to address their ugliness? My answer was threefold. I said:
1. Jews are still expected to apologize for the murder of a man that occurred approximately 2,002 years ago that they had nothing to do with.
2. Jews do apologize more than any other religion — too often when we don’t have to.
3. I will offer no apologies for our right to exist. I will continue to express my anger, frustration, agreement and disagreement with what “we Jews” do, but as for blanket apologies, I think we have done enough of that.
I tried to stay focused on this year’s memorial of last Sept. 11. I tried to keep our attention on the evil that exists and on the responsibility we have to recognize and address it. I tried to remind everyone why we were there, but instead heard all the reasons why we should not invade Iraq, why Israel should not defend itself and hints justifying the “martyrdom” of homicide bombers.
On Sept. 11 this year, some of us mourned the loss of innocents and innocence. But on Sept. 11, I also heard the sound of anti-Jewish/Israel rhetoric loud and clear. And I remembered why I was asked to sit on the panel and why I was proud that I did.
Marty Katz is president of the Milwaukee Jewish Council on Community Relations and a community educator and activist.
Editor’s note: According to Kathy Heilbronner, assistant director of the MJCCR, the program discussed was a follow-up to a program held last year shortly after 9-11. The panel format was essentially the same as the previous year, with the addition of Marty Katz. While last year’s program was not supposed to be “political” in nature, it shortly dissolved into an opportunity for Israel bashing. In light of that, the Institute of World Affairs invited a representative from the Jewish community to sit on this year’s panel. In addition to Katz and Horwitz, the panelists were: Othman Atta, representing the Milwaukee Islamic Center; Dr. Robert Beck, from UWM’s Center for International Education; Dr. David Graham, UWM professor of political science; and Caroline Seymour Jorn, UWM instructor in Arabic language. Each panelist was asked to make brief remarks at the beginning of the program and then the floor was opened for audience questions and comments. About 200 people attended.
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