Amazing what one finds when cleaning house. In this instance, I uncovered a notebook with a variety of quotes I jotted down prior to the invasion of Iraq. Both Ferguson and the rally speaker made declarations containing gaps that one can drive a truck through.

How does the invasion of Iraq protect us from evil? Our leaders never presented an intelligible case to the American people. How is Israel’s control of its territories unjust? Yasser Arafat rebuffed Israel’s offer of an independent state five years ago, lied about the terms of the deal and facilitated a senseless war. How does the war in Iraq, or any war, give us peace? It’s kind of a contradiction. What is Palestine? There is no sovereign nation by that name.

Ferguson offered her views in a letter to the editor. The rally speaker complained about Israel during a televised rally against the impending attack on Iraq.

Their declarations beg these basic questions: What did the invasion of Iraq have to do with common sense, and what do hysterical, simplistic accusations against Israel have to do with legitimate protests against the war in Iraq?

The confrontation between the Bush administration and the anti-war movement places American Jews in a rotten position: We oppose the Iraq invasion and are appalled by many right-wing policies, and in fact we ourselves are harshly critical of some Israeli policies, but anti-Israel rantings that have become a staple of anti-war demonstrations are insulting.

It appears impossible to take “a pox on both houses” stance. Bush administration policies are atrocious. They affect millions of Americans extensively and impact on me personally to a limited degree, and I never know when said policies could have a far-reaching effect on me.

Yet the outcries of two anti-war groups and Cindy Sheehan’s alleged comments on Israel are at best confusing and at worst anti-Semitic. They brand Israel as an oppressor and ignore the abuses of the Palestinians. It makes it easy for many Jews to lose sympathy for the Palestinians.

I opposed the invasion of Iraq because neither the Bush administration nor the majority of Congress would establish a rationale for the war, and nobody bothered to assess the risks. Bush even lied, and these idiots did not bother to secure the borders nor guard hospitals and other facilities...unless they had something to do with oil.

I was not categorically against the incursion into Iraq, but none of the reasons made much sense, and who knew what we could be getting into. We are caught in a quagmire and all of us should be protesting it.

When Americans gather to object to the war, some speakers issue gratuitous declarations against Israel while neglecting to mention Palestinian aggression. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and United for Peace and Justice, which both sponsor demonstrations, each feature generalized criticisms of Israel on their Web sites. Sheehan, the new symbol of the anti-war movement, has been accused of claiming her son died in Iraq for Israel, which she denies, and reportedly made another anti-Israel comment.

In the spring of 2002, A.N.S.W.E.R. sponsored a rally against the invasion of Afghanistan in Washington, D.C., in which speakers blasted Israel for its assault on Jenin in the West Bank, which turned out to be a staging area for many of the bombing massacres in Israel proper. Speaker after speaker proclaimed, “Today I am a Palestinian.” I felt like telling them, “All of you stay off my bus.”

There is plenty of room for legitimate criticism of Israel, but these fools do not base their declarations on facts or rational thinking. There may be reason to question if Israel is linked to the war in Iraq, but there has been no proof to state emphatically that Israel is behind it, as they have done.

Jews like myself are enraged by this stupidity. I was willing to join anti-war protests in October, 2002, when opposition might have prevented the invasion, but I would not stand together with those who were utterly insensitive to my ethnic and religious concerns. The organizers have been so effective in sabotaging their cause that I genuinely wonder if Republican operatives infiltrated their operation.

If they are serious about helping the Palestinians, why don’t they initiate a dialogue with moderate and liberal Jews? There are numerous Jewish groups and individuals who are amenable to a respectful discussion, and they are easy to locate.

In the past three years, twists and turns have emerged which further complicate the mess. Beyond protesting the war, what must we do about it? Three years ago, this country had the choice between avoiding the assault altogether or giving the matter much more thought before taking a course of action. Now, if we remain we spend billions of dollars more and continue risking the lives of our troops. If we withdraw, we will leave a dangerous void in Iraq.

American Jews might also be reluctant to protest the war and other Bush administration policies for fear that support for Israel will be jeopardized. Actually, that condition has persisted on an organizational level since Bush took office. When a group of civil rights spokespersons decried John Ashcroft’s nomination as attorney general, their news conference was shunned by representatives of Jewish civil rights groups.

When I watched the last 40 minutes of the Sept. 24 anti-war rally, a half-dozen speakers proclaimed the obligatory invectives against Israel, though the weekly Forward newspaper reported that growing percentage of participants are protesting the war itself without becoming enmeshed in side issues.

Everyone involved in the demonstrations has freedom of speech, and we should not try to change that. Yet A.N.S.W.E.R. and United for Peace and Justice must decide if they want to continue antagonizing people who would help them or earn the right to be taken seriously.

BY BRUCE S. TICKER