Large majority of Jews favor abortion—for non-Jews
In a footnote to Chapter 5 of Separation and Its Discontents, I describe the work of Felix Theilhaber, a racial Zionist working in Germany in the early twentieth century. Like all racial Zionists, Thielhaber wanted to end Jewish intermarriage, increase Jewish fertility, and preserve Jewish racial purity. Theilhaber was very concerned about the declining Jewish birth rate and was politically active in attempting to increase Jewish fertility (going so far as to propose to tax “child-poor” families to support “child-rich” families). At the same time, he was also instrumental in creation of the Gesellschaft für Sexualreform, whose aims were to legalize abortion and make contraceptives available to the German public. (On the other hand, because they were ethnic nationalists, the National Socialists encouraged fertility and enacted laws that restricted abortion and discouraged birth control.)
Now an article on Mondoweiss by Allison Deger points out the hypocrisy of American Jews who simultaneously are staunch supporters of abortion in America but also support anti-abortion organizations in Israel (“‘Pro-Life? Pro-Israel?’: Israeli anti-abortion organization reaches out for US support to fight demographic war in the Jewish state“).
American Friends of Efrat, the U.S.-based fundraising arm of Efrat …, is an Israeli anti-abortion group with hundreds of volunteers that counsel Jewish women against abortion and provide support for the first year of the child’s life. While in the U.S. pro-life discourse focuses on morality, the American Friends of Efrat looks at abortion from a demographics perspective. Their advertisement for the Committee to Rescue Israeli Babies (C.R.I.B.) program … markets what they call an “inner aliyah,” or increasing Israel’s Jewish population not by flying in new immigrants, but by pumping up the birthrate via anti-abortion counseling and subsidies.
Though Efrat only assists women in Israel, the group has garnered support from inside the beltway through its American partner. Senator Chuck Schumer, a noted pro-choice champion who has used the issue of abortion to secure his New York Senate, attended a 30th anniversary gala for Efrat. Schumer has been lauded by Planned Parenthood who called him a “hero,” with “a 100% pro-choice, pro-family planning voting record,” but in 2007 Schumer put his pro-choice position aside and joined his anti-abortion foes at the celebration. …
According to IRS 990 tax reports, the American Friends of Efrat pulls from mainstream foundations including matching donations from Deutsche Bank, The Goldman Sachs Foundation and the Prudential Foundation. But the heftiest sums come from the Jewish community. Despite the fact that 89% of American Jews support abortion rights, the Federation Foundation of Greater Philadelphia sent the group $100,000 in 2004 and 2006, while the Jewish Community Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles gave C.R.I.B. just over $5,000 in 2007 and $10,000 in 2008. In addition, the Madav IX Foundation, a charitable organization funded by Jewish family foundations but administered by the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, gave the C.R.I.B. program $10,000 in 2008. The Madav IX Foundation shares the same Ohio address of the Bennet and Donna Yanowitz Family Foundation that gave the C.R.I.B. program $2,000 in 2004 and $1,000 in 2007.am
To repeat: Chuck Schumer and 89% of American Jews support abortion rights in the U.S., but an anti-abortion rights organization in Israel has no problem attracting money from broad-based mainstream Jewish organizations as well as support from a Jewish politician like Schumer. An ad put out by the group illustrates the mindset:
Israel is currently fighting a demographic war for her survival. As we go to print Israel’s borders are in jeopardy. The Arab birthright [sic] is about double the Jewish birthrate. General Uzi Dayan speaking as the Director for the Council of National security announced: ‘Demographic projections forecast an Arab majority in Israel by the year 2020 less than 15 years from now.’
This feeds into a prominent theme on TOO: Jews in the West behave as a Diaspora group that sees its interests as opposed to the continued demographic dominance of the West’s traditional peoples and cultures. That means that the organized Jewish community and the great majority of Jews embrace the multicultural, pro-immigration, anti-White left in America and elsewhere while also embracing Israel as a Jewish ethnostate. And it means supporting policies like abortion on demand in the Diaspora, but not in an Israel intent on retaining its Jewish ethnic majority.
After posting this blog (and retracting it for further thought), a correspondent sent me the following two points, which further nail down the point that in Israel, birth control all about ethnic interests, not religious belief or individual freedom. Then in the U.S. and elsewhere in the West, Jewish organizations and the vast majority of Jews favor abortion.
1. In Israel abortion is illegal for married woman of childbearing age (17 years to 40 years old). All abortions must be approved by a five member “Termination committee”.
“Abortion in Israel” Wikipedia article:
Circumstances under which abortion is legal
A termination committee approves abortions, under sub-section 316a,[1] in the following circumstances:1. The woman is younger than seventeen (the legal marriage age in Israel) or older than forty.
2. The pregnancy was conceived under illegal circumstances (rape, statutory rape etc.), in an incestuous relationship, or outside of marriage.
3. The fetus may have a physical or mental birth defect.
4. Continued pregnancy may put the woman’s life in risk, or damage her physically or mentally.
Thus Jewish organizations actively work for and support laws legalizing abortions in Christian European ethnic countries and societies but do not oppose or publicize the fact that Israeli law outlaws abortion for woman of childbearing age.
2. Ethiopian Jewish women were told that in order to be allowed on the plane to Israel they had to agree to take Depo Provera birth control shots, though they were not told that this is long term birth control. This got some publicity in the Israeli press (as an exposé) but was ignored by the Western media. Imagine if any White country had done this what a firestorm of publicity this would have gotten.
Here is a video about it:
As the correspondent implies, one story here is the double standard and hypocrisy involved in birth control issues in Israel vs. the Diaspora. The other is the media silence in the U.S. reflecting Jewish power in the media. It’s easy enough to find articles on the Depo Provera scandal like the article in Haaretz linked above, but a search of the New York Times will come up with nothing. “All the news that’s fit to print” and all that.
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