Israel Matzav

Sarah Palin on Israel

Republican Presidential candidate John McCain selected Alaska governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate on Friday. Palin, who has high approval ratings and a reputation for having cleaned up her state's government, is the first woman nominated for a national ticket by the Republican party.

Sources in Alaska say that Palin is very strongly pro-Israel.

"The Jewish community should be very excited that Sarah was selected. She has been very conscious of the Jewish community here in Alaska and now with the opportunity of her new position, she'll have the opportunity to look at the Jewish community globally," said Alaskan Republican Jewish Coalition member Terry Gorlick, who knows Palin well and has worked with her on several issues.

"Sarah's absolutely pro-Israel," he said, referring to conversations with her and comments she's made about Israel's security and its importance to the United States. He noted that as governor she signed a resolution honoring Israel for its 60th birthday.

Alaska¹s AIPAC chairman, David Gottstein, said that he had spoken to the governor about arranging a trip to Israel, but scheduling conflicts had kept it from happening to date.

"She has ties and interests in the Holy Land," said Gottstein, and also described her as someone who could be effective across party lines, noting that he worked well with her despite being a Democrat.

Ironically, the National Jewish Democratic Coalition rushed to attack Palin for her lack of foreign policy experience.

But the National Jewish Democratic Coalition used the fact that Palin hasn't been to Israel to attack her familiarity with the country and the crucial foreign policy issues connected to the region.

"In Governor Sarah Palin, McCain chooses a running mate with zero foreign policy experience," said NJDC executive director Ira Forman.

"For a party which claims it is trying to reach out to the Jewish community, McCain's pick is particularly strange. Prior to today's selection Palin apparently has never spoken publicly about Israel."

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! The Republican Jewish Coalition, and the local Lubavitch Rabbi (who is one of a handful of Orthodox Rabbis in Alaska) both came out strongly in favor of Palin.

"Senator Lieberman and Representative Cantor would also have been excellent choices," said RJC spokeswoman Suzanne Kurtz, but stressed that McCain¹s nominee was just as good.

"They¹ll make a great team," she said.

The RJC put out a statement on Friday saying that, "Palin has a proven track record of experienced and principled leadership. Palin has been a leader on the critical issue of energy independence and lessening our need to buy oil from nations not sharing America and Israel's foreign policy interests."

And she received praise from other Jewish quarters, including from Anchorage Chabad Rabbi Yosef Greenberg. He recalled Palin's support for a Jewish museum he is building there and her hora lessons at the annual Jewish gala she has attended the last two years.

He also spoke of her reaction to giving birth to a child with special needs.

"She said, God doesn¹t give you something you can't handle," he said. "It was straight out of the Lubavitch book."

Finally, I received the following in an email just before the Sabbath yesterday from a friend who is the country coordinator for Israel for the McCain campaign:

The Chicago Tribune and Seattle Times report that Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska has been selected as the GOP running mate, and has departed Juneau in a private jet for announcement in Akron, Ohio later today with McCain.

"Sarah Baraccuda" was born in Idaho, but moved to Alaska as a young child. Her father taught science and math in High Schools. She was the star point guard on the state womens basketball championship team, earning her nickname to this day, hitting the winning shot with a broken bone but refusing to leave the championship game. She returned to the Lower 48 for college, graduating in Political Science and Journalism from University of Idaho.

She is a first term Governor. She met her husband, a native Inuit (eskimo in non-PC parlance) while spending the summer as a commercial fisherman. She claims to have broken three fingers that summer on the boat, but pulled in her Big Fish by summer's end. Husband continues as an Alaskan commercial fisherman to this day. The Palins have five children, eldest son serving in Iraq. Palin is a founding member of Feminists for Life. When informed by her OBY/GYN that her fifth child was going to be Down's Syndrome she refused to abort, and regularly quips "so he has an extra chromosome. Who is to define what is perfect and correct but God?"

Palin has proven a true maverick in cleaning up Alaskan environmental issues, often at the expense of major corporations. Like McCain, she is considered part of the West Coast political leadership within the GOP and Washington, as opposed to Clinton and Obama, considered very Eastern Ivy League. Both GOP candidates have sons on active duty in Iraq.

The editorial comments are my friend's and not the campaign's.

And as Boker Tov Boulder points out, Sarah Palin is no Dick Cheney.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:29 PM