TIMES OF ISRAEL
by Steven Frank
July 24, 2014

Recently, in Slate, Allison Benedikt, Slate Senior Editor, raised the question “what makes an American kid with shaky Hebrew decide he is ready to die for Israel?” Ms. Benedikt was referring to the recent death in Gaza of Israeli “lone soldier” and native of Los Angeles, Max Steinberg. Ms. Benedikt opined: “[t]here are many people to blame for Steinberg’s death. There is the Hamas fighter behind the weapon that actually killed him. There are the leaders, on both sides, who put him in Gaza, and the leaders behind all of the wars between Israel and the Palestinians. * * * But I have no doubt in my mind that along with all of them, Birthright shares some measure of the blame.” Ms. Benedikt referred to Birthright Israel, an organization whose goal, according to its web site, is “to strengthen Jewish identity, Jewish communities and solidarity with Israel by providing a 10-day trip to Israel for young Jewish people.” To hear Ms. Benedikt tell the story, Max Steinberg participated in a birthright trip, moved to Israel, joined the Israeli Defense Forces, and died. Ms. Benedikt incongruously concludes that Birthright “spend[s] hundreds of millions of dollars to convince young Jews that they are deeply connected to a country that desperately needs their support [and] [t]his is what you get.” (See http://slate.me/1p9phRG for Ms. Benedikt’s entire Slate piece, but please come back).

Of course, Ms. Benedikt’s attempt to place the blame for Max Steinberg’s death in part (aside from the “Hamas fighter behind the weapon that actually killed him”) on an entirely benevolent organization dedicated to fostering ties between young Jewish Americans and Israel is misplaced at best. Her lack of respect for the death of this young man is abhorrent. The piece can be summed up in one familiar word: a shanda.

At first, I was prepared to just let it go, considering all that Ms. Benedikt has suffered as a result of her conversion to an anti-Israeli mindset at the direction of her husband, former Gawker editor-in-chief, John Cook. Ms. Benedikt herself chronicled her journey from Young Judea Zionist pioneer to pro-Palestinian sympathizer under the tutelage of her non-Jewish, adamantly anti-Israel husband in an elaborate tell-all confessional in the Awl in 2011. You can and should read it yourself. (See http://bit.ly/1nhVnyj for Ms. Benedikt’s Awl piece, but, again, please come back).

It is a sad story that calls more for prolonged therapy than a logical response. In her Slate piece, Ms. Benedikt realizes how similar Max Steinberg’s journey was to her own, comparing Birthright to the kind of Jewish summer camp she attended as a child and describes at length in her Awl article. But for her conversion to pro-Palestinian sympathizer at the behest of her husband, she might well have ended up herself as an Israeli, like Max Steinberg did. In fact, Ms. Benedikt’s sister currently lives in Israel with her own family. However, Ms. Benedikt’s piece was so over the top that it called for some response. It also raised the questions I have often contemplated: why are people like Ms. Benedikt, her husband, and his ilk, including many liberals, “humanist” Christians, news organizations and social media posters, obsessed with Israel and why do they set higher standards for Israel than they do for other countries?……

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-shameful-disparagement-of-a-lone-soldier/#ixzz38NztZX5V