Israel Matzav

Audio: Chuck Hagel discusses the 'Jewish lobby'; Nebraska Jews slam Hagel

Here's audio of potential Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel discussing the 'Jewish lobby.'

Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: Pat Dollard).



Meanwhile, the Jewish community in Nebraska doesn't have very fond memories of Senator Hagel.

Former editor of the Omaha Jewish Press, Carol Katzman, who was in that role while Hagel was in office, related her experiences with him in an interview with The Algemeiner.

“He was not the most responsive politician in Nebraska to me personally at the Jewish Press and to the Jewish community as a whole,” she said.

“Every other senator,  Nelson,  Mike Johanns, (congressman)  Lee Terry and (congressman) Peter Hoagland they were all very responsive,” she explained, “it didn’t really matter what their party affiliation was, if we were soliciting them for an interview or a greeting ad for Rosh Hashonah or Passover.”  However Katzman says that “Hagel’s office never even responded,” adding, “we would make repeated calls, (and received) no response it was pretty obvious that he and his staff were dismissive.”

“The universal feeling in the Jewish community was don’t bother, don’t waste your time, Katzman said, “I think after a while people gave up and said, we were not going to get anywhere.” 

“Hagel was the only one we have had in Nebraska, who basically showed the Jewish community that he didn’t give a damn about the Jewish community or any of our concerns,” Katzman concluded.

Gary Javitch, a leader and activist in a number of Jewish organizations and a resident of Omaha for over forty years met with Hagel at the Senator’s Washington D.C. office a number of times, and hosted him for a speaking engagement. “We were trying to get across certain points regarding Israel’s position and he would do a number of things,” said Jaivitch, “One thing he would do, is when we tried to express a viewpoint he would pick up on it and then go on a 15 to 20 minute explanation of his view-point, leaving us no opportunity or little opportunity to speak, taking advantage of his office [...] to take over the entire conversation,” he said.
“The second thing he would do,” continued Javitch, “and this was repeated office visit after office visit, he would have his aide come in, slip him a note and say, don’t forget you have a committee meeting in like 10 minutes and then he would go on to speak for 15 or 20 minutes, so we were under pressure for time and he was taking up all the time.”

“During his last year in office, we knew he was not going to run again, he never returned any of our calls,” Javitch, who was representing major Jewish organizations at the time added “I have always gotten callbacks, even as a turn-down.”

Asked about his positions on Israel, Javitch said that Hagel always placed the blame on Israel, demanding “more and more concessions, Israel was at fault when things went wrong, the Palestinians didn’t need to adhere to any standard.”

 Look for this guy to have a Freemanesque meltdown if he doesn't get the position.

Labels: Chuck Hagel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:27 AM