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
In blaming Israeli policy for the fact that on many U.S. campuses, the classmates of Jewish students “shun them for identifying with Israel at all,” perhaps American Jewish leaders are overlooking the failures at home, particularly among liberal progressive diaspora Jewish leaders. Many Jewish students are stuck entirely in an American bubble, with no understanding of the centrality of Jewish self-determination (i.e., Zionism) to our survival as a people. So how can they even begin to understand Israel, let alone give us advice?
For two decades, too many American Jews have ignored or downplayed the gratuitous post-colonial Israel-bashing from the supposedly liberal bastions such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and which are echoed in the mainstream media. When Israeli soldiers are repeatedly and falsely accused of being child murderers and war criminals, where is the outrage from the mainstream American Jewish establishment? A couple of years ago, the federations finally established a fund to fight boycotts, but this group is also largely invisible and very timid.
Instead, fringe Israeli voices that polarize and demonize our society under the façade of human rights, democracy and peace are given legitimacy and resources in America, and the Jewish leadership is silent or in some cases complicit. Much of the BDS war — and make no mistake, the goal is the elimination of Israel — involves bogus peace NGOs that received their initial funds and public relations boost via U.S.-based Jewish groups who thought they knew better than the Israeli public. Such groups include the Coalition of Women for Peace, the Israel Committee Against House Demolitions, Breaking the Silence, Jewish Voice for Peace, and many others.
And now, when the Israeli public finally demands an effective response to the NGOs that lead to this demonization, the American Jewish leadership condemns Israel, repeating liberal pieties about free speech, but without addressing the real issues. In all of the criticisms of the proposed new NGO funding transparency laws, I have yet to see any serious understanding of the threat or alternative strategies. On this, as on so many issues, criticizing Israel from a distance is far too easy.
When crying out for an Israeli peace plan, “any plan,” your interlocutor makes it seem so simple. Like most Israelis, I also hope for a peace plan, but not any plan, and certainly not one that will bring us yet another disaster when it fails. The reality that I see not far from the windows in my Jerusalem home includes Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, Assad, Iran and others. Our only “peace partners,” led by Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah group, are corrupt and stuck in the rejectionist dead-end of 1948. So no, “any plan” that helps Israel’s PR among liberal students, but makes our security situation even worse, is not better than the status quo.
On this and many other issues, I understand why American Jewish leaders want us in Israel to take risks, and probably think that this is for our own good. But we do not see many American Jewish leaders taking many risks in terms of criticizing President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry when they put all of the blame and responsibility on Israel, and patronizingly give the Palestinians a free pass. And where are your tough decisions to exclude BDS groups and Israel bashers from the big “Jewish tent?”
So it is not only “that Israel’s leadership is moving in a direction at odds with the next generation of Americans,” but that America’s liberal Jewish leadership is moving in a direction at odds with Israel and our realities.Indeed.
Labels: American Jewish leadership, American Jewish support for Israel, American Jews, Breaking the Silence, Coalition of Women for Peace, Gerald Steinberg, Jewish Voice for Peace, liberal Jews
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:42 AM
2 comments
She’s too smart for anti-Israeli tantrums: As secretary of state Hillary Clinton had tough moments with Mr. Netanyahu. In her memoir “Hard Choices,” she describes their relationship as partners and friends and opines that it was best not to corner Bibi or he would fight. She writes that she worried that President Obama’s decision to have it out with Israel on settlements would trigger a confrontation that would lock Jerusalem and Washington into an unproductive battle. Nor did she relish having to be the bad cop to Joe Biden’s good cop and delivering anti-settlement messages to the prime minister. It seems clear in light of the administration’s anti-Netanyahu messaging after Israel’s elections last month that Mrs. Clinton perceives that kind of rhetoric as bad for her and the U.S.-Israel relationship. Last month, in a heavily publicized phone call to Malcom Hoenlein, executive director of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish-American organizations, she called for a return to a constructive bilateral relationship.
Should Hillary Clinton win in 2016 her pragmatic pro-Israeli streak would no doubt set a different tone in U.S.-Israeli relations. That may well be true for a Republican president, too. Frustrations with Prime Minister Netanyahu will remain high. Mrs. Clinton will look for opportunities to revive prospects for a two-state solution, something she cares about. But as the Middle East implodes, she will also try to find a way to reset relations with Mr. Netanyahu. She knows to avoid unproductive fights with the Israelis, particularly ones you can’t win. That will disappoint those who believe that more vinegar than honey is needed to get Israel to move. But that’s not Hillary Clinton’s style. She’d fight with the Israelis on peace if she thought she could win and in the process do something that was good for the U.S., Israel and the Palestinians too.But Caroline Glick does not cut Clinton so much slack, and believes that American Jewish donors to the Democratic party must force Clinton to take a stand in favor of Israel.
To date, Hillary, who was herself a full partner in Obama’s moves to marginalize Israel supporters during her stint as secretary of state, has said as little as possible about his foreign policy. As a result, she has given no reason for Democratic senators to consider parting ways with the president on Iran.I'm with Caroline. I'm not a big fan of Bill Clinton, but Bill's affection for Israel is genuine albeit misguided with respect to his views of what's in our interest. Hillary, on the other hand, has a long history of being anti-Israel.
So far, Clinton’s only move to put distance between herself and her anti-Israel former boss was to allow Malcolm Hoenlein from the Conference of Presidents to issue a statement late last month in his name claiming that Clinton told him that she thinks the US and Israel should bury the hatchet. Clinton, for her part, neither confirmed nor denied Hoenlein’s statement.
Almost simultaneous with Clinton’s announcement Sunday that she is running for president, came a statement from her campaign that she seeks to raise the whopping sum of $2.5 billion in order to secure her election.
There is no way that Clinton can hope to raise that sum without securing the support of major Jewish donors. While some major Jewish donors do not care about whether or not the US supports Israel, as an unnamed Jewish Clinton supporter told JTA this week, Clinton will also need to win the support of donors who do support Israel.
In the source’s words, “Some of the most prominent Jewish Democratic donors are very concerned about the relationship the president has had with Netanyahu and the Iran deal.”
If these Jewish donors band together and condition their support for Clinton on her issuing a clear statement opposing Obama’s deal with Iran and opposing any plan to abandon US support for Israel at the UN Security Council, they will accomplish three vital things.
First, they will loosen Obama’s control over otherwise pro-Israel Democratic senators and other pro-Israel groups in the Democratic Party, including the NJDC. In so doing they will reopen the possibility that Congress will scuttle Obama’s deal with the mullahs.
Second, they will take a major step toward rebuilding Democratic support for Israel that Obama has worked so hard to diminish.
Finally, they will reestablish their political significance in American politics. By supporting Obama, even as he has abandoned the US alliance with Israel, Jewish Democrats have lost their political leverage and power. That power is contingent upon their refusal to abandon Israel.
During the next two months, Obama will be focused on closing his deal with Iran, and Clinton will be avidly seeking to lock up the Democratic nomination for president by building an impregnable fortress of campaign funds. If the American Jewish community uses this critical period to leverage Clinton’s financial requirements to convince her to oppose Obama’s deal that paves the way for a nuclear armed Iran, then they will reassert their relevance in American politics and they will restore support for Israel to its pre-Obama position as a bipartisan position.
If they fail to do so, then Obama’s bid to transform Israel into a partisan issue will succeed. If a Republican wins the White House in 2016, he will face an anti-Israel Democratic opposition. And if Clinton wins the White House, she will have no reason to support Israel.
It seems that in the Obama White House, the boss may not be the biggest Israel hater. That title may well belong to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (Hat Tip: Shy Guy).The only time in her adult life that Hillary Clinton was pro-Israel was when it was necessary to be elected as US Senator from the heavily Jewish state of New York. I don't believe that Hillary Clinton is worthy of Jewish support at all, but if American Jews are going to donate to her campaign they should at least condition their support on a clear and irreparable break with President Hussein Obama's policies on both the Iranian nuclear file and the so-called 'peace process.'
In his book American Evita, Christopher Anderson writes.Read the whole thing. After that second story, anyone want to try to convince me that she 'only' hates Israel and not Jews?At a time when elements of the American Left embraced the Palestinian cause and condemned Israel, Hillary was telling friends that she was "sympathetic" to the terrorist organization and admired its flamboyant leader, Yasser Arafat. When Arafat made his famous appearance before the UN General Assembly in November 1974 wearing his revolutionary uniform and his holster on his hip, Bill "was outraged like everybody else," said a Yale Law School classmate. But not Hillary, who tried to convince Bill that Arafat was a "freedom fighter" trying to free his people from their Israeli "oppressors." (1)Of course Hillary's feelings about the PLO and Israel are only one aspect of her character, often a person's true nature is more closely revealed in a more intimate setting. In an early showcase of Hillary's diplomatic skills Christopher Anderson relates an experience that she and her future husband had during a trip to Arkansas in 1973.
It was during this trip to his home state that Bill took Hillary to meet a politically well connected friend. When they drove up to the house, Bill and Hillary noticed that a menorah-the seven branched Hebrew candelabrum (not to be confused with the more common and subtler mezuzah)-has been affixed to the front door.
"My daddy was half Jewish," explained Bill's friend. "One day when he came to visit , my daddy placed the menorah on my door because he wanted me to be proud that we were part Jewish. And I wasn't about to say no to my daddy."
To his astonishment, as soon as Hillary saw the menorah, she refused to get out of the car. "Bill walked up to me and said that she was hot and tired, but later he explained the real reason." According to the friend and another eyewitness, Bill said, "I'm sorry, but Hillary's really tight with the people in the PLO in New York. They're friends of hers, and she just doesn't feel right about the menorah." (2)
Labels: American Jewish support for Israel, anti-Semitism, Barack Hussein Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Iranian nuclear threat, Middle East peace process, US presidential campaign 2016
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:37 AM
2 comments
Labels: American college campuses, American Jewish support for Israel
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:57 AM
0 comments
When future historians write about this period in U.S.-Israel relations, this editorial will warrant serious mention. The unease felt by some American Jews about Israel's direction is moving into the mainstream. Over the past few months, I've spoken with lay leaders of many of the largest Jewish organizations (organizations that would very much prefer not to be affiliated with such left-wing outfits as J Street), and the question they ask is this: Just what is Bibi doing? If American Jews are forced to choose between their liberal values (and most American Jews are liberal) and support for a Jewish state that seems to be growing increasingly illiberal, these leaders say that Israel -- and not the Democratic Party -- will be the one to suffer.Do those unelected 'American Jews' speak for American Jewry? Does American Jewry still back the Democratic party (Goldberg's holy grail) to the extent that he thinks they do? Given the poll numbers in the upcoming midterm election, one has to wonder.
The Israeli government doesn't seem to understand that the status quo is unsustainable. As I've written (over and over again), I am not arguing for an immediate pullout from the West Bank; the times are too dangerous, and the Palestinian Authority too weak and corrupt and cowardly, for such a move. But in the meantime, Israel could help create conditions so that a Palestinian state could one day be born. What this means is simple: Netanyahu should take no steps that further entangle Israel in the lives of Palestinians. It also means that Israel should try to negotiate in good faith with President Mahmoud Abbas, who is the best interlocutor Israel is going to have, despite his many obvious flaws. If nothing else, Netanyahu should call his bluff.Netanyahu and his predecessors have called Abu Mazen's and his predecessor's bluff numerous times. There was Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat (2000), Ehud Olmert and Abu Mazen (2008) and Netanyahu and Abu Bluff (2010). How many more times does it have to be called? What incentive do the 'Palestinians' have to negotiate seriously if everything is going to be frozen forever anyway? Why should they ever compromise?
It also means understanding that while most settlement expansion that is now taking place in the West Bank is happening in areas that will most likely come under Israeli control in the event of a final peace deal, the Palestinians haven't agreed to this division yet. Unilateral moves do not help. They certainly don't help Israel's international standing, which is lower than it has ever been, and they certainly don't help maintain Israel as a cause that garners bipartisan support in the U.S.So let's make sure the 'Palestinians' have nothing to lose by not compromising? That's going to get them just rushing to the table. /sarc.
Labels: Abu Mazen, American Jewish support for Israel, Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Jeffrey Goldberg, settlement freeze, two-state solution
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:15 PM
1 comments
Labels: American Jewish support for Israel, Hamas, kidnapping, murder, Palestinian terrorism
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:16 PM
0 comments
Labels: Abish Brodt, American Jewish support for Israel, American Jews, Hamas, kidnapping, murder, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian terrorism
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:27 PM
0 comments
They are in their 20s, were raised in families with only one Jewish parent, do not associate themselves with any Jewish denomination and are likely to hold liberal political views.None of this should come as a surprise to anyone. And given an intermarriage rate of 71% among the non-Orthodox, it's a trend that, unfortunately, is likely to continue.
This is the profile of one in five young American Jews and, according to a new analysis of data collected by the Pew Research Center in its 2013 survey of American Jews, they feel deeply alienated from Israel.
...
Cohen, a leading sociologist who researches the American Jewish community, has defined in his analysis a new category that combines detachment from Israel and opposition to the country’s policies. “When it reaches 20% of Jews under the age of 30, this is huge,” he said. “There is a real leap in various forms of alienation from Israel.”
The category of “Israel-alienated” includes members of the Jewish community who both indicate having low attachment to Israel and think the United States is too supportive of it. Combining these two aspects, Cohen explained, provides a look at those in the community who are not only critical of Israel, as are many Jews who do not agree with the positions of the government in Jerusalem, but also reached this position without having any attachment to the Jewish state.
The analysis found that a fifth of non-Orthodox young Jews could be categorized as “Israel-alienated.” In general, younger Jews tend to be less attached to Israel and less supportive of Israel in the context of its conflict with the Palestinians.
The portrait of Israel-alienated American Jews that emerges from the data analysis includes several main characteristics: They are young (18.8% of Jews between the ages of 18 and 29 feel alienated from Israel) and they are more likely to be unaffiliated with any denomination within Judaism (14.9%), liberal in their politics (21.6% describe themselves as very liberal) and have grown up with only one Jewish parent. Of those raised in interfaith families, 19.4% have low attachment to Israel and think America is too supportive of it. Only 4.4% of American Jews raised with two Jewish parents share these sentiments.
...
Similar views on Israel among young American Jews have been detected in polls for almost three decades, but the recent analysis pinpoints the reasons for detachment and alienation, and points to interfaith marriage as a key indicator of resentment toward Israel. “The rate of alienated remained the same, but there is a change in their characteristics,” Sasson said. “A couple of decades ago they came from homes with two Jewish parents, and now they are coming from intermarried families.”
Children of interfaith families, experts explain, show less engagement in all aspects of Jewish life, including attachment to Israel. But while there was a relatively small decline among children of interfaith parents in participation in certain religious ceremonies (Passover Seders, for example), their feelings toward Israel demonstrated a greater drop.
“The non-Jewish parents have an understanding of Judaism that comports with Christianity, and that’s why going to synagogue makes sense to them” Cohen said. On the other hand, he added, “there is no counterpart in Christianity to the idea of an ethnic state.”
The Jewish community’s evolving attitude toward intermarriage could, however, hold promise for forging a better connection between these younger Jews and Israel.
...
According to the recent analysis, alienation toward Israel among those who never visited Israel hovers around the 20% marker. This figure drops only slightly among young American Jews who have visited once. A real decline in alienation is seen only after a second trip to Israel, or after living there for a while.
Also, while researchers agree that intermarriage is the leading indicator for alienation from Israel, political views still play a role. The data analysis shows a steady increase in negative feelings toward Israel that correlates with the spectrum of conservative to liberal views. The alienation rate among the self-described “very conservative” is less than 1%, while among the “very liberal” it reaches 21.6%.
Labels: American Jewish support for Israel, American Jews, intermarriage, Jewish, Torah
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:55 PM
2 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
For example, twice as many white evangelical Protestants as Jews say that Israel was given to the Jewish people by God (82% vs. 40%). Some of the discrepancy is attributable to Jews’ lower levels of belief in God overall; virtually all evangelicals say they believe in God, compared with 72% of Jews (23% say they do not believe in God and 5% say they don’t know or decline to answer the question). But even Jews who do believe in God are less likely than evangelicals to believe that God gave the land that is now Israel to the Jewish people (55% vs. 82%).That very sad statistic translates into stronger support for aid to Israel among evangelicals than among Jews and into much more realistic views about the prospects for 'peace' and for a 'two-state solution.'
Labels: American Jewish support for Israel, American Jews, Evangelical Christians
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:17 PM
4 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
0 comments
Yesterday, a group of 100 liberal American Jewish leaders released a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling on him to make "painful territorial sacrifices" to the Palestinians. In response, ECI has written its own letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu:
Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu:
We know you don’t need our advice on how to handle the peace process – but given the decision by a group of self-described American Jewish leaders to call for you to make “painful territorial sacrifices,” we felt it appropriate to convey our own thoughts on the matter.
Be assured that they don’t speak for us or for a majority of Americans. We not only question the wisdom of their advice, we question their standing to issue such an admonition to a democratically-elected prime minister whose job is not to assuage the political longings of 100 American Jews, but to represent – and ensure the security of – the Israeli people.
Indeed, it’s puzzling to us why a small group of American Jews believes it appropriate to demand “painful territorial sacrifices” of Israelis, when those issuing the demand will not experience the pain, or be compelled to sacrifice anything, should their advice prove foolish – as it has so many times in the past. We affirm the words of Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, who recently asked an American Jewish audience to “respect the decisions made by the world’s most resilient democracy.”
The “American Jewish leaders” who deign to advise you today are largely the same leaders who rarely, if ever, demand “painful sacrifices” of Palestinian leaders – or even demand that they come to the negotiating table, which they have refused to do in any meaningful way since 2008. From the safety of America, in the past they have recommended trusting Yasser Arafat, dividing Jerusalem, surrendering the Golan Heights to Syria, and withdrawing from territory that today is controlled by Iranian-backed terrorist groups.
Before rushing to issue new recommendations, we suggest that these oracles of bad advice might pause to reflect on the wisdom of the recommendations they’ve already made.
We, too, have strong opinions on the peace process – but one thing we never presume to do is instruct our friends in Israel on the level of danger to which they should expose themselves.
We trust, of course, that you are under no misapprehensions about any of this. But we felt it important that you heard from a mainstream voice in addition to the predictable calls from a certain cast of American activists for more Israeli concessions.
Sincerely,
I wish they would add my name to that letter. it's very well said.William Kristol
Rachel Abrams
Gary Bauer
Noah Pollak
Michael Goldfarb
Labels: American Jewish support for Israel, American Jews, Binyamin Netanyahu, Emergency Committee for Israel, Middle East peace process, unilateral concessions
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:58 PM
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I am a huge AIPAC fan. There is no more important American Jewish organization. Well beyond the Jewish community AIPAC is a model of professionalism lobbying for an unqualified good. In 20 years I have barely missed an AIPAC policy conference, such is the ardor of my support. I publicly introduced my friend Mayor Cory Booker, now running for the United States senate, at an AIPAC summit in Chicago and we have jointly addressed AIPAC groups around the country.
But with 10,000 activists about to gather in DC next week for AIPAC’s annual policy conference, the organization’s definition of friendly incumbents being based solely on a lawmaker’s voting record on Israel must undergo serious review.
When I ran for Congress last year against Congressman Bill Pascrell [a Democrat. CiJ], AIPAC designated him a friendly incumbent based on his voting record for Israel aid and in favor of Iran sanctions. The problem was that Pascrell had also signed the infamous Gaza 54 letter which falsely condemned Israel for collective punishment against the Palestinians rather than soundly laying the blame at the Hamas terrorists who have turned Gaza into a launching pad to kill Israelis.
Now, I completely understand AIPAC’s policy of friendly incumbents. Why would any politician feel loyalty to AIPAC if someone who is considered more pro-Israel comes along and immediately gets their support? But my candidacy was an opportunity for AIPAC to approach Pascrell and pressure him to repudiate past statements. Israel’s battle today is not just one against bullets and bombs but against a ferocious attempt to delegitimize the Jewish state. It is a war of words and pictures and what political figures say matters.
Now, what a lone congressman opines is far less serious than the contemptible comments coming out of an incoming secretary of defense. Hagel’s broadsides against Israel are shameful and he must be called on it. American Jewry gave President Obama seventy percent of their vote. Is Hagel the reward?
In 1991 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir requested $10 billion in loan guarantees to help settle Russian Jewish immigrants. President George H. W. Bush said Israel could only have the guarantees if it froze all settlement building and guaranteed that no Russian Jews would be resettled in the West Bank. Shamir demurred and called on the American Jewish community to mobilize in support of the loan guarantees. AIPAC drafted a letter that was signed by more than 240 members of the House and 77 senators supporting the loan guarantees. On September 12, 1991, Jewish lobbyists from all over the country descended in huge numbers on Washington. President Bush famously responded with a televised press conference in which he complained that “1000 Jewish lobbyists are on Capitol Hill against little old me.”
Then, on the very next day in a speech I will never forget and at which I was present, Tom Dine, AIPAC’s Executive Director, declared thatSeptember 12, 1991 is a day that will live in infamy” as an American President had had the chutzpah to criticize the constitutionally guaranteed right to lobby our government, found in the very first amendment.It was high theater and I had chills down my spine as Dine directly challenged a sitting American president. We all know the rest of the story. Months later, the loan guarantees were approved. Bush would later receive only 12 percent of the Jewish vote and was trounced by Bill Clinton. President Bush’s son would eight years later become President of the United States and would take a completely different posture toward Israel, becoming its greatest ally ever to occupy the White House.
I also remember how, the following day, Ron Brown, Chairman of the National Democratic Committee, stood up and said that this November we had to send President Bush packing from the White House. The crowd erupted with huge applause. There was no attempt to disguise the hostility to a President whose policies were simply unfair to Israel.
Labels: AIPAC, American Jewish support for Israel, Barack Hussein Obama, Bill Pascrell, Chuck Hagel, George H. W. Bush, National Democratic Party, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, United States Senate
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:28 AM
0 comments
In an attempt to get Hagel installed as secretary of defense before next week’s recess, the majority leader set up a Friday vote to cut off debate, setting up a crucial 60-vote test. If Reid can find five Republicans to join the 55 members of the Democratic Caucus, the Senate could approve Hagel quickly — possibly Saturday or earlier.
But if he can’t, the White House could be forced to recalibrate its strategy as the nomination drags out into late February. And that could give the GOP more time to mount opposition to Hagel’s nomination, which has been targeted because of the former Nebraska senator’s past comments on Iran, Iraq and Israel and his shaky performance at his confirmation hearings.The Democrats are whining that this has never happened before.
Democrats are warning Republicans that the precedent they set by forcing a cloture vote on the national security nominees — particularly on Hagel — would come back to haunt them when a GOP president eventually returns to the White House.
“This is the first time in the history of our country that a presidential nominee for secretary of defense has been filibustered,” Reid said on the floor. “What a shame, but that’s the way it is.”
Labels: American Jewish support for Israel, Barack Hussein Obama, Chuck Hagel, Harry Reid, National Democratic Party, United States Senate
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:41 AM
0 comments
It is a source of great frustration, even pain, among liberal American Jews that Israel finds such stalwart support among American evangelical Protestants, with whom they share very little. It is, of course, a source of great comfort to Israeli politicians such as Benjamin Netanyahu and to his even more right-wing colleagues, that evangelical support for Israel is so strong. Evangelical support always struck me as a narrow reed on which to rest Israel's fortunes in America, and not only because many evangelicals, in my experience, have no love for Jews as autonomous people, but merely as vehicles for the Christian redemption. I also thought it was odd to build a strategy around evangelicals because evangelicals don't represent a majority of Americans.I have three points to make. First, we (or at least the people with whom I hang in this country) rely only upon God. We don't rely on American Jewry or Bibi or Obama or even on Evangelical Christians.
Labels: American Jewish support for Israel, Evangelical Christians, Jeffrey Goldberg, liberal Jews, New York Times
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:14 AM
1 comments
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
American Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jewish leaders have finally found something on which they can agree: They're all angry at Gaffetastic Joe Biden. The leaders of the three movements were all expected to criticize Biden at a post-Rosh Hashana toast he was to host Wednesday night at his Washington residence. The party comes in the wake of a September 23 meeting with Florida rabbis in which Biden condemned Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard to die in prison and called him a "traitor."My guess is that Obama will release Pollard... sometime between October 1 and election day, 2012.
Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman was expected to bring to the reception a long list of top American and Israeli leaders who have urged US President Barack Obama to commute Pollard's life sentence to the nearly 26 years he has already served.
The New York Jewish Week published an article with quotes from the heads of the Jewish streams in the US supporting Pollard's release and criticizing Biden.
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism and a political dove, told the newspaper that the subject of Pollard had been "taboo" for years, but now he was prepared to raise the issue with Biden.
"No major political figure would identify with a release-Pollard petition, but now there are people in the political system who - without justifying his actions - are saying [clemency] is something that should be done," Yoffie said.
Rabbi Steven Wernick, president of the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, told the newspaper that Biden's statements confused him because of the vice president's many years of support for Israel.
"I can't help but suspect there is more information at play than is available [to explain] why he would take a harsh stance on clemency," he was quoted as saying.
Orthodox Union director of public policy Nathan Diament, who like Yoffie and Wernick intended to attend the reception, said he expected Biden to bring up Pollard during his welcoming remarks.
Rabbi Pesach Lerner of the Orthodox National Council of Young Israel, who is very close to Pollard, pointed out to the newspaper that Biden was incorrect in calling the Israeli agent a traitor.
"He was convicted of spying for a friendly country with no intent to harm the United States," he said, adding that Pollard is the only person convicted of spying for a friendly country who received a life sentence.
Labels: American Jewish support for Israel, Barack Hussein Obama, Joe Biden, Jonathan Pollard
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:27 PM
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The Obama administration thought it had a great selling point for the President's reelection. Tell the Jewish community how Joe Biden was in charge of reaching out to them, and everyone would feel good that our 'long-time friend' was going to be in charge. So they leaked details of a meeting that Biden had with a group of Florida rabbis to the New York Times, in the hope of getting some mileage out of it. I haven't seen much about it since in the US media, but here in Israel, the Obami - and Biden himself - are getting slammed over Biden's opposition to Jonathan Pollard's release. In fact, that is the only part of the Times story that has been reported here.Up until several days ago, you, Mr. Biden, were considered "Israel's closest and truest friend in the White House." As such, we here in Israel are wondering what exactly was going through your mind when you declared that Jonathan Pollard would be given clemency over your "dead body." It's important to us, here in Israel, to understand. To all of us: to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's supporters and detractors, to the far right and the far left, to the rich and the poor, the Ashkenazi and the Sephardic.There's more. Much more. If this starts playing back in the US Jewish media, Obama will have yet another major crisis with the Jewish community on his hands. That's your jobs :-) Read the whole thing.
Anyone with eyes in their head and hearts thumping in their chests would like to know what led you to issue that unhinged statement. Are there things that you know that the rest of the world does not? What has changed since 2007, when you declared, in your own voice, that Jonathan Pollard's bid for clemency was justified? I'll tell you what has changed: Pollard has spent five more years in prison, in solitary confinement; his health has worsened (I recommend you use your influence to verify to what extent); his chances of starting a family have been decimated; his father died and he was barred from accompanying him on his final journey; and more and more respectable people have stepped forward and declared that the time has come for his release.
That's what has changed.
Is it possible, Mr. Biden, that you know something that James Woolsey, former director of the CIA, and Dennis DeConcini, former chairman of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, do not? Because the two of them are both in favor of releasing him. Do you know something that Henry Kissinger, George Shultz or John McCain does not?
All of them, esteemed American patriots, are in favor of clemency. Do you know something that the former US attorney-general Michael Mukasey does not?
Are you holding on to intelligence that Lawrence Korb, assistant defense secretary under Casper Weinberger, was not privy to?
Korb was there, in real time, but Korb, an honest and decent man, felt his conscience claw at him, and today he leads the call to free Pollard, who next month will mark his twenty sixth year in American prison.
On Wednesday, you, Mr. Biden, will host a Rosh Hashana party at your residence for American Jewish leaders. You, as I said, are considered to be our closest friend among President Barack Obama's inner circle. Now, as the race toward the presidential elections picks up pace, you have taken upon yourself to serve as the president's ambassador to the Jewish community.
I suggest that during the festive celebration at your residence, you ask Abe Foxman, a man whose integrity cannot be called into question, or Malcolm Hoenlein, one of the most astute watchers of American politics and a man whose finger is always on the pulse of the American Jewish community, why they support Pollard's urgent release.
Foremost, though, I ask that you examine your own conscience. Ask yourself, Mr. Biden, why Pollard has been in prison for 26 years for a crime that generally receives a two-to-four year sentence in America.
Ask yourself why spies who have committed far graver sins, betrayals that led to the killing of American agents on foreign soil, received far lesser sentences? Ask yourself why it is that the blood libel of attributing those murders to Pollard was circulated so widely. Ask yourself why, once those allegations were proven to be false, his sentence was not commuted.
Ask yourself why the United States of America, a society governed by law and order, did not honor its plea bargain with Pollard. Ask yourself where the limits of human suffering lie. Ask yourself about the nature of compassion.
What, in your eyes, are its dimensions?
Labels: American Jewish support for Israel, Barack Hussein Obama, Campaign 2012, Joe Biden, Jonathan Pollard
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:39 AM
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The New York Times reports that the Obama administration is using Joe Biden to reassure the Jewish community. A heck of a lot of good that is doing. The headline in the JPost reads (I've screen capped it in case they change it) "Obama mulled freeing Pollard but Biden opposed." And in YNet its "Biden torpedoed Pollard's pardon" (got that one screen capped too). And in fact, the Times reports that, but that's only one small part of the report. Here's more (from the first link). Topping the list, though, is Mr. Biden, who on Wednesday will host a Rosh Hashana party at his residence for Jewish leaders. Mr. Biden has taken on the job of fund-raising among Jewish Democrats, at the same time that he has been seeking to assure the party’s base that the Obama administration remains a loyal friend to Israel. At a fund-raiser Sept. 20 at a home in Shaker Heights, Ohio, all but one of the questions that Mr. Biden took were about foreign policy — namely Israel. Ditto for many other fund-raisers where Mr. Biden has been the top attraction, administration officials said, as he has sought to soothe, clarify and reassure.Am I the only one who keeps noticing that the Obama administration keeps sending people to say that Obama should have gone to Israel, and yet Obama continues to stay away? I guess that's because he's afraid of the massive demonstrations that would accompany any visit here by the one. Sorry, if he comes here, I'm going to stop blogging for a few hours, and you'll all have to follow me on Twitter instead. Unless I get a press pass... in which case I'll tell all of you how many hundreds of thousands show up to protest.
“Am I going to the party on the 5th? Yes,” said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. Mr. Biden, Mr. Foxman said, “is comfortable with the community, and the community is comfortable with him.”
“He’s seen as a friend,” Mr. Foxman said.
Administration officials say that the White House clearly agrees, and it needs all the Jewish friends it can get; American Jews have long been a dependable source of campaign contributions for Democrats. Mr. Biden has been encouraged to provide a narrative for Jewish constituents that offers a counterpoint to Republican presidential candidates who have accused the administration of being too tough on its foremost ally and too sympathetic to the Palestinians and Israel’s other Arab neighbors.
...
Mr. Biden, who through his foreign policy work in the Senate built lifelong ties with Israeli politicians, is able to sprinkle his remarks with asides about how he first met Yitzhak Rabin back in 1973 when Mr. Rabin was working with Golda Meir, then the Israeli prime minister, and how Mrs. Meir once confided to Mr. Biden that Israel’s secret weapon is that it has “nowhere else to go.” He talked about having dinner at the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and about how he autographed a photo for Mr. Netanyahu with “love you, love you, love you, but we don’t agree on anything,” Mr. Klein said.
It is a level of comfort with all things Israeli in general and Jewish in particular that Mr. Obama simply cannot convey, White House officials acknowledge.
“Joe Biden has been in the Senate for 30-something years,” Mr. Klein said, “while I think Obama probably did take every right vote on Israel when he was in the Senate, he just hasn’t been around that long.”
Mr. Biden told the rabbis that the administration had made a few missteps in its handling of the Israel relationship, including Mr. Obama’s decision not to go to Jerusalem as president, after he made his famous Cairo speech in 2009 in which he elevated the plight of the Palestinians to equal status with the Israelis’. (In fact, it was Mr. Biden who traveled to Israel that year, in what ended up being a disastrous trip in which the Israeli government announced new settlements just before his meeting with Mr. Netanyahu, prompting a sharp response from the Obama administration that included an irate 45-minute telephone call from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Mr. Netanyahu.)
Labels: American Jewish support for Israel, Barack Hussein Obama, Joe Biden, Jonathan Pollard
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:41 AM
1 comments
According to the American Jewish Committee's annual survey, American Jews are finally starting to understand that their President is an incompetent boor. Here are some highlights of the survey (written by me).“The AJC poll reinforces what we saw in the special election in New York’s 9th congressional district two weeks ago – that President Obama is losing Jewish support,” said RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks. “In fact, the approval numbers that President Obama got in this poll put him at near-Jimmy Carter levels of disapproval among American Jews. For the first time, a plurality or majority of respondents disapproved of the President’s handling of key issues such as the economy and the U.S.-Israel relationship. These numbers show why Democrats are scrambling to shore up their support in the Jewish community.”Shmuel Rosner agrees. Among eight insightful observations he makes about the survey is this one:
Brooks concluded, “These results demonstrate on a national scale what the vote in NY-9 showed us on a local scale. Despite the Democrats’ spin to the contrary, there can be no dispute now that President Obama has a serious problem among Jewish voters.”
If the President’s team was exposed to numbers similar to the ones presented in the AJC poll, it makes the effort invested in the Jewish community in recent weeks much more understandable. If these are the real numbers of Jewish support than NY-9 was not an outlier, it was reality.Read the whole thing (it's quick).
Labels: American Jewish Committee, American Jewish support for Israel
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:43 AM
3 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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