Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, American Jewish leadership, American Jewish support for Israel, American Jews, David Friedman, Donald Trump, liberal Jews
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:12 PM
0 comments
“The Jewish community gave him their votes, their support, their financial support,” Bachmann told Tony Perkins on the Family Research Center's radio channel, “and as recently as last week, 48 Jewish donors who are big contributors to the president wrote a letter...to the Democrat [sic] senators in the U.S. Senate to tell them to not advance sanctions against Iran.”
“This is clearly against Israel’s best interest,” Bachmann continued, “and what has been shocking has been seeing and observing Jewish organizations who it appears have made it their priority to support the political priority and the political ambitions of the president over the best interests of Israel.”
“They sold out Israel,” she concluded.Unfortunately, the well-being of fellow Jews is way too down the Jewish community's list of priorities in the United States.
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, Barack Hussein Obama, Michele Bachmann
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:17 AM
1 comments
Israel would require some operational logistics and intelligence support from the United States, and I would not put it past the Islamist-centric President Obama to withhold such support. Furthermore, it is the “day after” which should mainly concern Israel. Will the United States back their play and have their backs?
This career soldier and former Paratrooper thinks not, and that is a major concern for PM Netanyahu — to a point. Since his rise to power, President Obama has effectively destabilized the neighborhood in which Israel resides, and not by incompetence, but by intention.
Yet the American Jewish community blindly followed this mastermind of disaster, not once but twice. And don’t forget, Hillary and Bill Clinton entertained Yasser Arafat in the White House. The question is, now that Obama doesn’t need the Jewish community for another election, will they awaken from their misguided politically-driven stupor?No, of course they won't. American Jews are liberals much more than they are pro-Israel.
Labels: Allen West, American Jewish indifference to Israel, American Jewish support for Israel, American Jews, Barack Hussein Obama, Judaism, liberalism
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:34 PM
1 comments
“My family’s been just as shocked by the lies and smears as I’ve been,” Aboushi said in a telephone interview. “I don’t think I’m radical at all. I have never done any radical behavior. For the writer to come out and claim that just builds lies on top of the lies.”
Aboushi, an offensive lineman from Virginia, has been besieged by angry tweets and messages since an article published Tuesday by the website Frontpagemag.com labeled him “a fundamentalist Muslim with radical associations and a heritage that pushes him towards a destructive world of violence and hate.”
The report also called for the Jets — whose fanbase includes such a large Jewish contingent that the team asked the NFL to reschedule its 2009 home opener to avoid conflict with Rosh Hashana — to immediately release Aboushi because of his views.”¨
Aboushi told The Post his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are anything but radical.
“My feelings are very fair — I wish both sides would come to a peaceful agreement and both live in peace,” Aboushi said. “I want to see them live together in harmony and enjoy the land instead of focusing on conflict with each other.”
Asked if he considers himself anti-Semitic, Aboushi scoffed.
“I have plenty of friends who are Jewish,” he told The Post. “Some of my best friends are Jewish. I have teammates who are Jewish, and I was brought up with Jewish kids. I never had any problem with them, and I respect them just as much as they respect me.
Asked if he considers himself anti-Semitic, Aboushi scoffed.
“I have plenty of friends who are Jewish,” he told The Post. “Some of my best friends are Jewish. I have teammates who are Jewish, and I was brought up with Jewish kids. I never had any problem with them, and I respect them just as much as they respect me.
“Everybody has a right to believe what they want to believe, and everybody has a right to say what they want to say. At the end of the day, I don’t have any disrespect or hateful things to say against the Jewish community, and I’m definitely not anti-Semitic.”The Anti-Defamation League has rushed to Aboushi's defense, while Major League Baseball's new media coordinator (whose Twitter account is now protected) posted this:
Arlington for the El bireh convention.
— Oday Aboushi (@Oday_Aboushi75) June 29, 2013
AL bireh convention was a pleasure. Proud Palestinians is always a good sight.
— Oday Aboushi (@Oday_Aboushi75) June 30, 2013
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, American Jews, anti-Semitism, Islamist, NFL, Palestinians, Rosh HaShanna
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:05 PM
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According to the group sponsoring the event, “El-Bireh Palestine Society was founded to perpetuate the strong ties among its members and to link their communities around the world together and with their ancestral roots in El-Bireh, Palestine.” One of the ways the group accomplishes this is by holding annual conferences.
Speaking at the Society’s August 1986 Fifth National Convention held in Dearborn, Michigan was Fouad Rafeedie. Two years later, the INS charged Rafeedie with being a high-ranking member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist group. The PFLP is currently named as such on the U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Also speaking was Osama Siblani, the publisher of Arab American News (Sada al-Watan) and a public supporter of Hezbollah and Hamas.
The three-day El-Bireh Convention 2013 (“Connect 2013″) began this past June 28thin Arlington, Virginia. Featured as a speaker at the event was Oday Aboushi. Also participating in the conference was Nitham Hasan, the President of the Islamic Center of South Florida (ICOSF). ICOSF’s mosque property is owned by the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), a group named by the U.S. Justice Department as being a party to the financing of millions of dollars to Hamas.
El-Bireh Palestine Society’s logo, found atop the organization’s website, contains a graphic of the entire nation of Israel covered in a Palestinian flag – a patent denial of Israel’s legitimacy and right to exist. Like Aboushi’s Nakba, images such as this fuel terrorism and hate abroad and potentially here at home as well. Worse still, the Facebook page for the conference – which is administered by the same individual who created the Society’s website, Ashraf Abed – is accompanied by horrifically anti-Semitic, anti-Christian and terrorist propaganda.
On the same El-Bireh Facebook site as the conference, there are contained different images of Hitler and rabid anti-Christian cleric Ahmed Deedat, who authored the infamous work CRUCIFIXION OR CRUCI-FICTION? There are terrorist memorials for Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, PLO leader Yasser Arafat, Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin and Hamas bomb maker Yahya Ayyash. About Arafat and Yassin, the site states in Arabic, “The martyr leader Yasser Arafat with the Mujahid Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. G-d have mercy on them.”NFL teams are very sensitive to the images that their players' off field activities give to the team. Just last week, the New England Patriots released tight end Aaron Hernandez after he was charged with murder. Patriots owner Bob Kraft said that his team was duped.
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, American Jews, anti-Semitism, Islamist, NFL, Palestinians
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:45 AM
2 comments
Poll finds nearly a quarter of Israelis are against accepting input from American Jewry on religious issues, but 66.3% of Israelis see the US Jewish community as having a positive influence on Israel's national security.I decided that the 'nearly a quarter' was even more suspicious, and decided I'd better read the article before I start posting. I wonder if the JPost editor who wrote the headline did the same....
Of the Israelis polled, 31.9 percent think Israeli leaders should not take into account the positions of American Jews on the peace process at all, and 33.6% said US Jewry’s views should be considered to a small extent. Only 21.6% called for those views to be taken into account to a great extent, and 9.4 to a very great extent.In other words, 65.5% of Israelis think that American Jews' opinions on the 'peace process' should be given little or no account. And that's as it should be. It's our lives on the line - not yours (or theirs).
On religious issues, such as conversion or the government’s relations with the Conservative and Reform movements, 24% of Israelis were against taking US Jewry’s positions into account, and 30.6% said they should be considered to a small extent. Still, Israelis are more willing to accept input from American Jews on religious issues than on the peace process, with 25.1% saying it should be taken into account to a great extent and 15.2% responding to a very great extent.In other words, 54.6% of Israelis think that American Jews' opinions on conversion and on the Conservative and Reform movements should be given little or no account. And again. If you want to have the right to express an opinion about how we run our country, you ought to live here.
According to the poll’s results, 66.3% of Israelis see the Jewish community in the US as having a very or somewhat positive influence on Israel’s national security.
In addition, 76% of Israelis responded that American Jewry’s support for Israel in the future will remain at the level it is today or even grow stronger. However, when asked whether American Jews feel a meaningful connection to Israel, 51% felt that half or less than half of US Jewry feel that connection.But love us like you love your adult children who make their own decisions, and not like your younger children for whom you still decide everything.
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, American Jewish support for Israel, American Jews, Conservative rabbis, Jewish converts, Middle East peace process, Union for Reform Judaism
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:49 PM
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Far from being an American dream, Oday Aboushi has exhibited this exact type of extremism. He too has targeted Israel with his Twitter account, one tweet even having anti-Semitic overtones. This past January, he posted a photo depicting an old woman looking down while three clearly Orthodox Jews talk to each other in the background. The caption reads, “88 year-old Palestinian evicted from home in Jerusalem by Israel authorities to make room 4 Orthodox Jews.”
The photo contains the logo of Middle East Monitor (MEM), an anti-Zionist publication based in England. The picture has recently been used in a smear campaign against Israel and her observant Jewish citizens. Aboushi chose to be one of the smear merchants.
On April 19, one week before the NFL Draft, Aboushi wrote a tweet exalting a fundraising dinner sponsored by Islamic Relief (IR), an organization with numerous ties to terrorism. He wrote, “Beautiful NJ fundraiser event for the kids of Palestine in refugee camps.” The affair was held in Hasbrouk Heights, New Jersey and was titled, ‘A Night for Palestine.’
In May 2006, Israel labeled Islamic Relief a front for Hamas after arresting the group’s Gaza program manager, Ayaz Ali, for providing “funds and assistance to various Hamas institutions and organizations.” Ali admitted that he had cooperated with local Hamas operatives.
As well, in 1999, IR collected and sent more than $6 million to Chechen rebels with ties to al-Qaeda. The same year, IR received $50,000 from Human Concern International (HCI), a charity that the U.S. Department of Treasury described as a “Bin Laden front.” Shortly after the September 11 attacks, IR itself was investigated by the Treasury Department as a possible source of funding for al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.”
Besides Twitter, Oday Aboushi also has a Facebook account. Currently in the ‘Likes’ section of his Facebook page is the imam of the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley (ICTV), Mohamed Mabrouk. Mabrouk was previously the imam of the Islamic Society of Greater Lansing (ISGL). Both of these mosques have ties to terrorism.
Last March, ICTV held a conference and banquet at the Anaheim Hilton, titled, ‘Muhammad (pbuh): The Prophet for Our Times.’ The event was co-sponsored by Islamic Relief. Among the speakers for the function was the imam of Brooklyn’s al-Taqwa mosque, Siraj Wahhaj.
Wahhaj had previously been named by the U.S. government as an “unindicted co-conspirator” for a trial dealing with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Wahhaj had been linked to the bombmaker of the attack, Clement Rodney Hampton-El, and during the trial, he was a character witness for the spiritual leader of the attack, Omar Abdel Rahman, whom Wahhaj has openly praised.Four years ago, the Jets seemed to know who their fan base is.
In April 2009, the Jets front office contacted the NFL to ask that the date of its home opener be moved, as it was going to coincide with the Jewish high holiday of Rosh Hashanah. The team did the right thing to complain on behalf of their Jewish fan base, and they need to do the same in the case of their Islamist draft pick.Well, yeah. Except that the Jets may figure that the three-day-a-year Jews who would go to synagogue on Rosh HaShannah and Yom Kippur would be pleased to show how liberal they are by embracing a creep like Aboushi.
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, American Jews, anti-Semitism, Islamist, NFL, Palestinians, Rosh HaShanna
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:38 AM
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Obama’s agenda concerning Israel during a second term will likely include the following:
Obama will try to divide Jerusalem and recognize a Palestinian state with its capital in east Jerusalem. The 2008 and 2004 Democratic Party platforms declared "Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel…It should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths." The original 2012 platform in which Jerusalem was unmentioned is consistent with Obama’s May, 2011 speech and with the recent State Department and White House spokespeople’s refusal to acknowledge under intense questioning by reporters that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
Obama will demand from Israel a complete and a full return to the 1949 armistice lines, which excludes from Israel east Jerusalem and the West Bank hills which look down at the country’s international airport and 80% of its the population. The 2008 DNC platform stated "All understand that it is unrealistic to expect the outcome of final status negotiations to be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949." This pro- Israel section does not exist in the 2012 platform.
Obama will demand the return of Palestinian refugees into Israel, not just to a future Palestinian state. Both the 2004 and 2008 platforms stated: "The creation of a Palestinian state should resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees by allowing them to settle there, rather than in Israel." The 2012 platform does not contain such language.
Obama will recognize Hamas, the terrorist organization which currently controls the Gaza Strip, and will begin negotiations with them, despite the fact that Hamas will never recognize Israel’s right to exist and supports and sponsors terrorism. The 2008 DNC platform declared, "The United States and its Quartet partners should continue to isolate Hamas until it renounces terrorism, recognizes Israel’s right to exist, and abides by past agreements." This language is gone from the 2012 platform.
American military cooperation with Israel will be reduced. The 2008 platform, for example, spoke of a "commitment which requires us to ensure that Israel retains a qualitative edge for its national security and its right to self-defense." The 2012 platform mentions only that "(the) administration has also worked to ensure Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region," with no commitment to doing so in the future.But most American Jews will still vote for Obama, because he favors unrestricted abortions at government expense. /sigh.
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, Barack Hussein Obama, Campaign 2012, Jewish vote, US-Israel relationship
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:45 PM
1 comments
Remember those 'offensive' ads I posted last month? I was under the impression that the ad that some American Jews found most offensive was the one where the kids want to celebrate Christmas. But Evelyn Gordon focuses on a different ad: The one where the Israeli woman is crying over Memorial Day and her spouse/boyfriend thinks the candle is a signal for a romantic dinner. Because this article from the JPost premium section and many of you cannot access it, I will post more than I would otherwise. The ads were pulled, but the issue won’t go awayIndeed.
By EVELYN GORDON
14/12/2011
The ill-fated ad campaign unwittingly addresses US Jews’ disaffection with Israel.
Last Monday’s Jerusalem Post editorial asked an important question about the advertising campaign that sparked the latest spat between Israel and American Jewry: Why did American Jews jump to the conclusion that the young man in the most controversial ad was Jewish? The answer to that question is crucial to understanding two of the major causes of disaffection with Israel among young American Jews.
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In short, they considered it reasonable to assume that someone who both had seemingly never even heard of Yom Hazikaron and couldn’t even recognize the highly distinctive yahrzeit (memorial) candle, was meant to be an American Jew.
Having been raised in the kind of non-Orthodox but identifiably Jewish community that once typified American Jewry, I find the second half of that assumption almost inconceivable: I can’t imagine any of the Jews I grew up with not recognizing a yahrzeit candle. They likely wouldn’t know it was Remembrance Day, but they would know “Dafna,” the girl in the video, was mourning someone.
But American Jewish leaders must find this conceivable, because, if they didn’t, the logical assumption would be that the oblivious male wasn’t Jewish. And therein lies the first problem: Outside of the Orthodox community, more and more young Jews are growing up ignorant of even the most basic Jewish traditions. Yet, without these traditions, the term “peoplehood” lacks even minimal emotional content. For what does being a member of the same people mean if not for having something in common that you don’t share with others?
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American Jewish leaders talk a lot about “peoplehood,” but there is no possible basis for Jewish peoplehood that doesn’t entail some level of Jewish knowledge and praxis. Unfortunately, too many young American Jews are growing up without either. Is it any wonder that they feel nothing in common with Israelis?
Now let’s return to the first issue: why American Jews saw themselves reflected in the man’s total incomprehension of Remembrance Day. Some disconnect would be basic human nature: most Israelis have friends or relatives in the army and most Americans don’t, so Israelis are naturally more emotionally invested. But the gap goes much deeper than that. The problem isn’t that young American Jews can’t share Israelis’ personal grief on Remembrance Day, it’s that they are also increasingly uncomfortable with the day’s national implications: Remembrance Day recalls the unpleasant fact that Israel has been at war since its inception, and still is.
American Jews find this uncomfortable for several reasons. First, unlike members of my parents’ generation – who, due to the draft, either served themselves or at least knew people who did – young Jews today rarely serve in America’s all-volunteer army, and the same goes for the liberal, well-educated non-Jews who comprise their social milieu. The result is that young American Jews tend to look at people who do serve – i.e., most Israelis – as people who aren’t like us.
Moreover, they have no conception of what military service entails: how difficult it can be, for instance, to avoid civilian casualties when terrorists fire rockets from a crowded urban area. Anyone who has served himself knows this. And anyone whose friends or relatives have served takes it on faith because he knows his loved ones aren’t cold-blooded killers and would avoid civilian casualties if they could. But if you have neither served yourself nor known anyone who has – if, in fact, you view people who serve as not like you – then it’s easy to assume those anonymous Israeli soldiers are cold-blooded killers, who don’t even try to avoid civilian casualties.
Finally, American Jews have never lived under attack. Never having known what it’s like to endure, say, daily rocket strikes, they can’t fathom why Israel sees a need to respond to such attacks militarily. After all, the rockets rarely even kill anyone; what’s the big deal?
Anyone who has served, or knows people who have, knows that reservists don’t rush to join wars that can kill or maim them unless they see real need for military action–and Israeli response rates to such call-ups typically approach 100 percent. But young Americans don’t know that, so they easily conclude that Israelis (who, after all, aren’t like them), are just warmongers who see military force as a solution to everything.
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Ultimately, these two issues are closely related. The more American Jews see Israelis as members of the same family, the more willing they are to take it on faith that their overseas cousins aren’t murderous warmongers, but decent people like themselves. That’s precisely why Orthodox Jews are less bothered by Israeli “militarism,” despite a social milieu equally detached from army service: Bound by ties of Jewish knowledge and praxis, they still do see Israelis as members of their “family.”
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, American Jewish leadership
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:41 AM
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Last week, I ran three videos that were posted by the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption. The videos, which were apparently run as television advertisements in some markets in the US, urge Israelis who have moved there to come back to Israel. Thanks to a campaign led by columnist Jeffrey Goldberg, Prime Minister Netanyahu (who also grew up in the US) ordered the videos pulled. Now, Goldberg warns of a 'growing rift' between Israeli and American Jewry (sounds like Peter Beinart, doesn't it?). This is from the second link. Goldberg notes that it is obvious that there is a rift, when 80% of American Jews are culturally politically and religion-wise like 25% of Israelis, Jews in Washington can identify with what's happening in Tel Aviv but not Jerusalem or the settlements.Our rabbis tell us that the only true love is love that is not dependent on anything. The rabbis even describe the two types of love based upon biblical stories: Love that is dependent on something (physical beauty) is the love of Amnon and Tamar (which ended quite badly), while love that is true is the love of David and Jonathan, which survived all attempts of Jonathan's father Saul to end the relationship.
He adds that there is a large gap between most Jews in the US and most Jews in Israel; Jews in the US are becoming more universal in their outlook while Israeli Jews are becoming more and more tribal in theirs. If the trend continues, he says, American Jews will see Israel as a far off foreign country.
Goldberg also warned of the growing gulf between American Jews and their Israeli counterparts over issues related to democratic values. He said that the things happening in Israel today are like a mystery to the American Jews who scratch their heads and ask themselves what in the world is going on in Israel.
Goldberg also spoke of the recent right-wing legislation, the exclusion of women from the public domain and the harm to freedom of expression. He noted that as American Jews, they were taught that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and that sadly, the recent legislation causes concerns – should Israel lose its democratic values, it will lose American Jewry.
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, American Jewish support for Israel, Jeffrey Goldberg
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:12 PM
5 comments
Caroline Glick argues that making Israel a wedge issue is a great idea for Republicans and for Israel. In the face of Obama's unprecedentedly harsh treatment of Israel, Cong. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee used the opportunity of a joint meeting with Netanyahu for leaders of the National Democratic Jewish Council and the Republican Jewish Coalition to make the case for silence on her party's weak support for Israel.The more that support for Israel becomes an issue that concerns non-Jewish Americans, the more likely that Republicans will be able to take advantage of it. And that's a good thing.
Her statement reportedly made Netanyahu so uncomfortable that he asked, "Do you guys want me to leave the room and give you guys some privacy?"
While requests to block debate on Israel were respected in the past, the current divide between Democrats and Republicans on Israel is so wide that avoidance of the issue no longer makes sense for Republicans. And so, days after the meeting with Netanyahu, RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks wrote a letter to Wasserman Schultz officially rejecting her request.
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Congressional Republicans have also stopped giving the Democrats a free ride for their tepid support for Israel. In the past Republicans avoided introducing major legislation on Israel without Democratic co-sponsors and willingly watered down their initiatives to attract Democratic support. This is no longer the case.
In August Cong. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee introduced a bill that will end US financial support for the Palestinian Authority and steeply curtail US funding for the UN if the UN upgrades the PLO's diplomatic mission. All 57 of the bill's co-sponsors are Republicans.
Cong. Joe Walsh introduced a resolution in September calling for Israel to annex Judea and Samaria. His resolution's 40-odd co-sponsors are also all Republicans.
Israel's enemies in the US peddle the anti-Semitic fiction that Israel's supporters are nothing more than a cabal of activists who band together to defend Israel at America's expense. Extensive polling data shows that the pro-Israel "cabal" includes the vast majority of Americans.
It is due to the public's overwhelming support for Israel that pro-Israel activists have no reason to fear injecting support for Israel into the political debate. The more politicians are called to account for their positions on Israel, the most pro-Israel their positions will be.
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, American support for Israel, Barack Hussein Obama
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:22 PM
0 comments
Unfortunately, Shmuel Rosner is probably right about this. Obama does not aim for the trust of Israeli Jews. He aims for the trust of American Jews, and his starting point with them is different: Most of them want to believe him.What could go wrong?
An American president who is in conflict with Israel is a president who confuses American Jews. A Democratic president who is in conflict with Israel is a president who confuses them even more. Who will the Jews vote for next year — a Republican candidate? It is hard to believe. Will they stay at home? They don’t usually stay at home. Will they vote for Obama? They will be happy to vote for Obama, only if he gives them a lifeline, only if he helps them to be convinced, only if he straightens a few things out. They will be happy to believe Obama, no matter what the Israelis believe.
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, Barack Hussein Obama, Jewish vote
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:49 PM
2 comments
On Thursday, President Obama had a conference call with 900 rabbis. On Friday, one rabbi, Dr. Richard L. Rubenstein, gave this account (Hat Tip: Dan F). Agudat Israel, the Orthodox rabbinic group, was included but they were at the bottom of the list so that none of their rabbis had a chance to ask a question. This is hardly a surprise since Orthodox rabbis are least likely to be in Obama’s corner. Two questions were selected, one on the economy and the other on the Middle East. There were no surprises. It was an electioneering effort by the President which was warmly received by the rabbinic left. I noticed one thing that seemed to reflect the President’s mind set: He twice emphasized that the road to peace in the Middle East, especially between Israel and Egypt and Turkey, was through successful peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, which, as we know, is nonsense. The Palestinians won’t make a genuine peace and the Israelis would be insane to give away an inch of territory after what they should have learned in Gaza, South Lebanon, and the Sinai. Moreover, Obama’s remarks seem to indicate that he believes the conflict is territorial rather than religious. A territorial conflict can be resolved through compromise and diplomacy, but not a genuine religious conflict. At least, Hamas speaks the truth on that issue.What percentage of American Jewry will donate to Obama's reelection campaign? (That - rather than what percentage will vote for him - is really the relevant question). How much will they donate?
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I would guess that Obama’s next move, perhaps through Hilary, will be to tell the Israelis, “Look what we’ve done for you. We can’t go on helping you forever so you had better come up with a plan that Abbas can accept. This may have to wait until term 2, if he has one, and he will then say that the US has done all it can but the Israeli “hard right” has not cooperated. Therefore, we have no choice but to support Palestinian statehood, putting all the blame on Netanyahu, with the Jewish left serving as the amen corner.
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, Barack Hussein Obama, Campaign 2012, campaign finance
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:48 AM
0 comments
Here's more on that poll that claims to show that only 43% of American Jews will vote for Obama in 2012. First, Caddell remains a Democrat, even if he is often turned off by his party. But even discounting Caddell, John McClaughlin is a respected pollster whose polls are frequently cited by the media. As for the “push poll” aspect, Matt Robinson makes the case in his book Mobocracy that there are multiple types of so-called push polls. Some, which put out false information — e.g. that someone fathered a child out of wedlock or was arrested for lewd behavior — are scurrilous and designed to slander. Others present charges that are likely to be raised by opponents in a political campaign and are therefore helpful in determining a candidate’s potential weaknesses. Politicians often recognize the value of these issue-oriented polls, while journalists frown on the ones that don’t correspond to their worldview. According to Robinson’s analysis, the McLaughlin-Caddell poll is clearly in the latter camp and suggests that Obama could be in trouble with the Jewish vote — and remember, trouble with the Jewish vote means he gets less than 70 percent of it — if the Republicans frame the case against him on Israel in an effective way. As Commentary’s Jonathan Tobin — who has his own problems with the poll — wrote, the poll still suggests that “it will be difficult for the president to even approach the smashing 77 percent of Jewish voters who chose him in 2008.”Hmmm.
Meanwhile, as Jonah noted earlier, another poll, this one by James Zogby, finds that Obama is less popular than Bush was in the Arab world. This means that Obama’s shifting of U.S. policy away from Bush’s pro-Israel stance – which is prompting the questions about weakening Jewish support for Obama to begin with — is not doing Obama any good in the Arab world, either.
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, Barack Hussein Obama, Campaign 2012
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:38 PM
3 comments
The Obama campaign is preparing a big offensive to shore up its support - and financial contributions - from the Jewish community (Hat Tip: Ben Smith). A group of well-known figures in the Jewish community has been in discussions with senior Obama adviser David Axelrod about how to respond to the criticism, which is expected to intensify as the campaign heats up. Among them: Alan Solow, the former head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; former Congressmen Mel Levine and Robert Wexler; and executive Penny Pritzker.Useful idiots all of them. No President has ever had approval ratings in Israel that are as low as Obama's. Does anyone really believe that all Israeli Jews are fools?
“We will have highly credible spokespeople and surrogates speak out in a general manner in support of what this administration has done, and articulate it in a way that we think will resonate with voters who care about this issue,” Solow said in an interview. “We will meet with supporters who have expressed concerns or want to be briefed on these issues on a one-on-one basis.”
“We got close to 80 percent of the vote among Jewish Americans in 2008, but we had to aggressively bat down efforts to divide the community and to inflame,” David Axelrod told me. “Plainly we have to be at least as assiduous about it this time. If we’re passive in response it would be a mistake.”
Politico reported this week that many Jewish Dems and donors are privately expressing doubts about Obama’s Mideast policies. But the piece was largely anecdotal, and a recent Pew poll found that a plurality of Americans who identify themselves as sympathetic to Israel think his Mideast policies get the balance right between Israelis and Palestinians. And pundits have been predicting that Obama is perpetually on the verge of losing Jewish support since before the 2008 election.
But the difference now, Obama’s supporters say, is that conservatives are having some success in distorting his record. Obama supporters do in fact worry about the concerns conservatives have succeeded in sowing among Jewish Democrats, and they expect conservatives to invest substantial resources in continuing that effort.
“I can’t deny that people express to me concerns about the president’s policies,” Solow said. “But when I run through the record with them, they are by and large convinced that the president’s policies are correct.”
The effort to make this point, I’m told, will also be proactive, with surrogates publishing op ed pieces that represent the White House’s point of view. And it will include a renewed effort to highlight other aspects of Obama’s record that have gone under-discussed, like increased military cooperation between Israel and the United States.
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, Barack Hussein Obama, useful idiots
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:36 PM
4 comments
James Lewis decries the silence of the Jews and other people of understanding in the face of what he calls the totalitarian Left. But in a democracy, people like us take back power at the polls -- if -- and only if -- they can to face the truth. If we do not act, it's because we lack the simple moral fiber our parents and grandparents had. It's not hard and dangerous for us to act. All it takes is concerted action by all the people who are ashamed and embarrassed by the moral depravity of our political leadership. We can stop paying corrupt corporations that control morally depraved celebrities. We can stop paying advertisers who collude with the corrupt and mendacious media. We can start telling them exactly what we think about them. You have free speech. Nobody has beaten you up or thrown you in jail, the way they do in other places. You have freedom, but if you do not exercise it you might as well be living in the gruesome little tyranny of Myanmar.Read the whole thing.
Our general gutlessness is even more deplorable for those who know the past so well, including American Jews, who can see Israel being more and more surrounded by morally backward reactionaries armed with rockets and missiles (and nukes in another year). We are doing nothing, while America and Israel, and decent Europeans wherever they still exist, are being slandered and scapegoated. No wonder they think they are winning.
Saddam Hussein, Kaddafi, Ahmadinejad, every sleazy little upstart generalissimo in the world gets to spit in the face of the two most decent nations in the world: America and Israel. Why is that? Where is our self-respect? Why do the worst abusers get endless chances to rip the most decent and peaceful people in the world? And our media morons collude with them?
The Democrats command the loyalty of most American Jews. But the Democrats have been penetrated by those who hate tolerance, democracy, and respect for sovereign nations. The Left has played American Jews for suckers. Obama is no exception -- he is supported by an inner circle of ideological fanatics some of whom were born into Jewish families, but somehow never got the point of civilized behavior. Part of that point is: It doesn't matter who you are. It matters how you act. If you collude with evil, you are a criminal in your heart, and perhaps in fact. Civilized nations repudiate criminals no matter who they are.
...
Conservatives keep asking why Jews vote for the Left. Part of the answer seems to be that Jews get suckered by utopian promises. If only we elect a clean-looking black Democrat from the Chicago Machine to the American presidency, all the problems of the Middle East will be solved! Jews may yearn for peace because they have felt the ravages of war and persecution. They may easily be taken in by false hopes that all it will take is a little bit of compromise, a little peace talk, for everything to turn out all right in the Middle East.
But there is no excuse for willing stupidity. I don't care how good your intentions are, if you do not have the courage to open your eyes you are colluding with evil.
Even before Obama, Israel was the only nation in the world directly threatened by nuclear proliferation to mad regimes -- covered up by UN criminocrat Mohammed El Baradei, who naturally received a Nobel Prize for his collusion with the nuclear maniacs in Tehran. Just a few days ago El Baradei came out of the closet by calling for Egypt to go to war against Israel if it defends itself against rocket barrages from Gaza. It's part of his election campaign in Egypt, believe it or not. Was anybody surprised? If you were, you haven't been paying attention. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, and ignorance of malignant evil is much, much worse.
Has anybody noticed these facts at the New York Times, where Baradei was butt-kissed while he was peddling lies about Iranian nukes? Is anybody over there waking up? I don't see it.
Ahmadinejad is celebrating a nuclear Armageddon to come, and the Left is getting panicked by the American Tea Party.
Please. It is beyond belief.
...
Meanwhile Obama is running for reelection, and I'll bet that a majority of brain-dead liberals will vote for him again. Obama has made nice with the most dangerous tyrants in Iran and North Korea, and now he is doing the most amazing thing any American president has ever done: He is deliberately pushing unstable allies into collapse.
Rumor has it that even Hillary is ready to leave. I wonder if she has the guts to tell the truth? If so, I might even vote for her. My standard is now truth-telling: Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, Hillary, I don't care. We are suffering from toxic lies, and a refreshing breath of truth reminds us that truth exists.
Ordinary Americans have allowed one of our political parties to be taken over by the totalitarian Left -- the people who instantly try to control your free speech, because they know that if you can be made to shut up about politics you can be rendered helpless. That is why there are speech codes on American campuses and in our news rooms. Speech codes are inherently totalitarian. The Left has totalitarian swings. Since the "Berkeley Free Speech Movement" of the 60s the Left has slammed the free speech door shut. We now have Forbidden Speech from the Left. That is why they are attacking the free web through the lie of "net neutrality."
We live in an age of corruption, and an age of cowardice among free peoples.
But the silence of American Jews on the fate of Israel is the most ominous reality today.
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, Barack Hussein Obama, radical Left
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:26 AM
3 comments
I probably get 100 emails a day just on my blog's gmail account, and to tell you the truth, unfortunately, I generally don't read them all. I clicked on this email because the person who sent it has the same name as my yeshiva roommate (and is definitely not him - although I may know him in real life anyway). I clicked on the article he recommended because he said he had co-authored it. I have to tell you that when I started reading the article, I was ready to just link it and say "good luck with that." Fortunately, I didn't.In contrast to the JCRC, JAACI was established to advocate primarily on issues directly related to the security and well-being of the Jewish people and Israel. In a span of a few months, this governing philosophy has garnered the support of the majority of Jewish congregational leaders in Indianapolis, the majority of rabbis in Indiana, as well as congregants from Indianapolis' Reconstructionist, Conservative, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi Orthodox synagogues. In addition to its unequivocal support for Israel, JAACI's stance on political, economic and social issues is shaped by traditional Jewish values and the enduring principles of the American Republic.Maybe it's just an Indianapolis thing? After all, Indiana is the State of Mike Pence and John Boehner. It's certainly not a Blue state. The authors don't think so.
Does the JAACI experience offer any lessons to American Jews for whom the New Jewish Agenda is a hollow, misguided, and ultimately self-destructive construct? We believe it does, and here are some of them:Read the whole thing. This is the first that has made me optimistic about the American Jewish community in a long time. If it spreads, maybe we can get them a consulting gig in Europe too.* 1. There is no inevitability to the New Jewish Agenda dominating the discourse within and beyond American Jewish communities. Even in a modestly-sized Jewish community such as Indianapolis, a handful of capable, motivated individuals (without any budget to speak of) have been able in a matter of months to completely rewrite the Jewish political landscape. We believe the time is ripe for concerned, informed, and determined Jews to begin to similarly challenge the status quo agenda that exists in many communities around the nation.There are Jews who have criticized us on the grounds that we are dividing the Indianapolis Jewish community. To those individuals we say: our sole intention is to promote Jewish values, ensure the survival of the Jewish people, and strengthen the Jewish state of Israel. We very much look forward to the day when we can combine forces with a local JCRC that shares these priorities. Until that day comes, we will do everything in our power to achieve our goals. We also look forward to seeing many similar-minded individuals around the nation follow our lead.
* 2. Politicians are impressed with groups that take pride in and make no apologies for who they are and what they stand for. Hillel's aphorism "if I am not for myself, who am I?" is a lesson that many Jews need to relearn. Including a spiritual leader(s) or advisor(s) may also strengthen the authoritative nature of such an organization's positions, especially if they are well respected.
* 3. We have more friends than we often realize. There are many excellent reasons why the large majority of Americans love Israel. Politicians are no exception. While it is our duty to constantly educate the public on why Israel remains of vital interest to the US, many non-Jews are not only aware that supporting Israel makes sense from a moral, economic, technological, civilizational, and geopolitical stance, but feel fulfilled when doing so. We just have to give them the opportunity.
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, Jewish American Affairs Committee of Indiana, Jewish Community Relations Council, New Jewish Agenda
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:23 PM
5 comments
The good news is that J Street is having a hard time being accepted into the mainstream Jewish community in the United States. The bad news is that it has a strong foothold in the mainstream American Jewish community of the future: The American college campus. J Street U displayed its secure position in the established Jewish campus world today by organizing a panel at the J Street conference that included two J Street U college activists and two Hillel professionals. After an introduction by Yale senior Ben Alter, J Street U’s East Coast representative, each panelist spoke about his or her view on campus discourse about Israel. Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, Hillel International’s director of campus initiatives, advocated pluralism in the campus pro-Israel conversation and stated Hillel’s much-publicized guidelines on which groups are and are not accepted in Hillel’s space. The clear implication was that J Street U, regardless of its criticism of Israel and support for Palestinian rights, falls within the bounds. Rabbi Lisa Goldstein, the executive director of the UC-San Diego Hillel, noted that even though Hillel does exclude certain Jewish groups (among others, JVP), every individual Jewish student is welcome in the community regardless of political affiliation. “Being part of the Jewish community does not mean you have to sign on a line that these are your values,” she said.Read the whole thing.
The J Street U panelists conveyed frustration over Hillel’s guidelines for inclusion, with one student–Princeton freshman Aliyah Donsky–noting her ambivalence about Hillel’s declaring “who was in and who was out.” Columbia freshman Cole Leiter spoke about facing tension from Hillel when the school’s J Street U chapter decided ot cosponsor a speech by John Ging, the head of UNRWA (the UN Palestinian refugee agency) in Gaza. Leiter said that the group’s board members had to sit down with Hillel staff and each state that they were Zionist, after answering a series of other questions. He added that restricting campus discourse is “un-American, undemocratic and simply not Jewish.”
But on the whole, the J Street U students seemed to have a good relationship with their respective Hillels. Donsky said that she became involved in Israel activity on campus because a staff person from her Hillel invited her to speak on a panel about the conflict. And Leiter noted that his group ultimately pulled their co-sponsorship of the Ging event because it recognized the value of staying withing Hillel’s community.
Other events speak to this recognition as well. While AIPAC won’t co-host events with J Street, a couple of months ago Leiter’s group hosted an Israel event with LionPAC, a Columbia campus group sponsored by AIPAC. In September, Hillel President Wayne Firestone had a productive meeting with the J Street U student board.
Labels: AIPAC, American Jewish indifference to Israel, Hillel, J Street U
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:08 PM
2 comments
Did any of you happen to notice any American Jewish organizations other than the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (OU) that came out against President Obama's betrayal of Israel in the United Nations? I'm especially interested in hearing if any non-Orthodox Jewish organizations came to Israel's defense.Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, Obama's obsession with Palestinians, UN Security Council, US veto
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:29 AM
6 comments
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
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