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
Labels: American Jews, Donald Trump
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:11 AM
3 comments
How can Jews still vote for this party? (Rhetorical question).A group founded by the Muslim Brotherhood paid for @keithellison to go to Mecca. Here are some pictures from trip: https://t.co/FYUY8k2zNq pic.twitter.com/jsGKyzpQQk— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) November 30, 2016
Labels: American Jews, Keith Ellison, National Democratic Party
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:11 PM
3 comments
Labels: American Jews, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Jews, US presidential campaign 2016
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:02 PM
4 comments
On Friday, August 19, 2016, 10:15 AM, Beth Meyer Synagogue wrote:August 19, 2016
Shalom Beth Meyer Family,
I write to you with a very heavy heart.
The past few weeks have been extraordinarily painful for me, Rabbi Jenny, our congregation's leaders, and many in the Beth Meyer family and extended Jewish community. This letter - which admittedly is quite lengthy - is designed to provide a detailed explanation of how this situation came about and how I have chosen to resolve it.
During my time at Beth Meyer, I have led four "pilgrimage" trips to Israel that visited many of the historic and spiritually-rich sites that lift the soul and build one's love for and connection to the State of Israel. These tours included stops at sites that illustrate the threats and precarious security issues Israel faces on a daily basis. I will continue to offer such tours in the future.
A few months ago, I invited Beth Meyer members to participate in a trip to Israel and the West Bank under the auspices of MEJDI Tours, a company that provides customized educational tours in regions worldwide suffering from conflict. In this case, the tour was to be a "dual-narrative" tour with both Israeli and Palestinian tour guides that would visit Israel and the West Bank.
This process began some two years ago when I first heard of MEJDI Tours and began to look into the organization. I learned that MEJDI, in the past, has partnered with the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Israeli educational institutions and numerous American synagogues. In addition, MEJDI has been featured in a range of respected media outlets, including Haaretz, Forbesand National Geographic Explorer.
After thoroughly researching MEJDI's credentials with rabbis and Jewish leaders across the U.S. and Israel, I was comfortable that MEJDI was, in fact, a non-partisan tour operator that offers individuals unique immersive experiences to learn about complex issues first-hand. MEJDI does not preach or support any specific agenda or form of hate, violence or terror. Rather, it is an apolitical organization that believes increased education and understanding can help build bridges across cultures and stimulate peace.
While studying in Israel in the summer of 2015, I took the opportunity to tour the West Bank in a group that had with it a Palestinian MEJDI guide. It was, to say the least, a profound (and often surprising) experience that allowed me to hear perspectives few of us ever hear. For example, the guide was highly critical of the Palestinian Authority and its leaders, both past and present. He condemned violence by Palestinians and emphasized that he "despises Hamas." When I asked challenging questions, his responses recognized weaknesses in Palestinian positions. Moreover, he mocked the backwardness of the Arab world, as well as its lack of support for human rights and democracy. And, while he did criticize a number of Israeli government policies, his words were balanced, thoughtful and nuanced.
After reviewing this idea with Beth Meyer's leaders and securing their approval, I invited the Beth Meyer family to participate in a MEJDI tour next spring. I wholeheartedly believed I was helping to provide a rare opportunity for seasoned Israel travelers to learn about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a broader, deeper way. With expert guides who would be both supportive and critical of their own government's policies, I hoped participants would gain new insights and hear from peace-makers working on the ground to make a difference. I thought, perhaps naively, that this MEJDI tour would offer a different kind of experience for Zionist, Israel-loving Jews who want to explore the many intricacies of this terrible conflict.
For some in the congregation, there was immediate interest in participating and many quickly submitted their deposits. For others, there was no interest at all. Some congregants asked thoughtful questions, and others criticized my attempt to organize such a trip due to their belief that the itinerary was unbalanced. And there were some who expressed serious concerns about the potential damage the tour could cause the Beth Meyer community and the image of the State of Israel.
While my intentions were pure, my heart broke as I listened to the pain my actions had caused some congregants. I listened carefully to this feedback and discussed what I heard with Rabbi Jenny and synagogue leaders.
After deep reflection and soul-searching, I have decided to cancel the trip. To anyone who feels confused, hurt or upset on account of my actions, I sincerely apologize and ask your forgiveness.
Please know my decision was not made because I don't believe in the tour's value - I do. Nor was it made because a handful of individuals outside of our holy congregation - none of whom have ever talked or met with me - spread inaccurate and misleading information about Rabbi Jenny and me that spawned threats of personal violence. In this season of Tisha B'Av when we remember the many tragedies of our people, personally experiencing this kind of sinat hinam (baseless hatred) was especially painful.
Rather, I made this decision because I deeply love Beth Meyer and what we, as a family, have built these past 11+ years. And I want to emphasize that my love embraces each and every one of you, regardless of where you land on the spiritual, social or political spectra. I am touched that so many congregants pleaded with me to move forward as planned, but I cannot - and will not - do anything that jeopardizes the integrity of the Beth Meyer family.
I want to thank everyone who has shared their thoughts with me about this issue. Most particularly, I want to acknowledge the input and guidance I received from our President Eric Lamb, the Beth Meyer Synagogue Executive Board, lay leaders and, of course, my wife and partner, Jenny.
Just as the Torah teaches that God created the world with immense variety, so too my vision of our congregation is one where we accept and celebrate both the common bonds and differences among us. Civil discussion, respectful debate and honoring diverse opinions are Jewish values that our people have embraced for millennia. They are the values that form the foundation of my rabbinate, and they are the values that make Beth Meyer such a welcoming community.
When appropriate and rooted in Jewish values, I will continue to take public positions on issues where I believe my contribution can be constructive. I want to stress, however, that I do not and never will expect to have consensus across our membership on any issue, least of all, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (In fact, if all I heard was a unanimous "Amen," I would think something was wrong. It wouldn't be Jewish, and it wouldn't be the Beth Meyer that I cherish!)
At some point in the future, perhaps, our congregation may again consider an educational initiative such as a MEJDI tour. But that would happen only after there has been ample opportunity for all interested members to learn about the opportunity and discuss it thoroughly with input from a broad cross-section of our members.
In that spirit, I invite anyone who has questions about this situation or would like to share any other concerns to contact me via e-mail (rabbi@bethmeyer.org ) or phone (919.848.1420). I will be delighted to sit down and hear your thoughts and ideas.
This episode, though challenging, has been a valuable learning experience for all of us. I pray that we use it to deepen the bonds we share and inspire us to continue nurturing the Beth Meyer family and strengthening our commitment to and love of God, the Torah, the Jewish people, the State of Israel and one another.
At this moment, perhaps more than ever, I thank God and each of you for the privilege of serving as Beth Meyer's rabbi. Rabbi Jenny and I, along with our entire family, look forward to welcoming the New Year with our holy, hamish (warm) congregation at the High Holy Days.
Something tells me there may still be a trip in the future....B'ahavah (With love),Rabbi Eric Solomon
Labels: American Jews, anti-Israel Jews, Judaism, liberalism, Palestinian terrorism, Yasser Arafat
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:46 PM
2 comments
> Dear Friends,
>The emphasis added was mine - not in the original.
> Thank you for being in touch with me personally regarding the unfortunate insinuation, opprobrium and personal defamation that has surfaced based on the inaccurate and reckless premeditated judgments from a member in our community about the draft of an itinerary to Israel in June, 2017. The refusal to have communicated directly with me has added hate and peril into this world.
>
> I very much appreciate your requests to help.
>
> Here's where things stand -- if you can communicate this information to expanding circles and to folks who have reached out to you, or whom you know would be interested to have a fuller/current briefing, this would help to bring accuracy to a volatile and distressing situation.
>
> 1. The draft of the itinerary that has gone public is no longer accurate. That itinerary was cancelled.
>
> 2. There will be a trip to Israel in June, 2017 that will be planned with a different itinerary in the coming weeks, with the input of the leadership of Agudas Achim. I believe that the goals of exploring Israel as it wrestles with its status as a democracy and Jewish state can be achieved in alternative, affirming ways -- and rest assured, the new itinerary will not stop at the grave of Arafat.
>
> Please do not hesitate to be in touch as we continue to strive to build engagement, literacy, and positive excitement for Israel within our community -- and as we look to keep each other safe and well.
>
> Am Yisrael Chai.
>
> Neil Blumofe
> Rabbi.
> ___________________
> Neil F. Blumofe, Rabbi
>
> Congregation Agudas Achim
> P.O. Box 28400
> Austin, Texas USA 78755-8400
Labels: American Jews, anti-Israel Jews, Judaism, liberalism, Palestinian terrorism, Yasser Arafat
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:57 AM
3 comments
Labels: American Jews, anti-Israel Jews, Judaism, liberalism, Palestinian terrorism, Yasser Arafat
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:10 PM
5 comments
Indoctrination @ Newton, a new video released today by Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT), exposes a pattern of anti-Israel teachings found in Newton, Massachusetts high schools, including:
Charles Jacobs, APT President said, “The video also shows that Saudi, Palestinian, and other Arab-funded teaching materials have been inserted into the curriculum, much of it containing anti-Israel bias.”
- Newton’s high schools have used Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) maps that falsify the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Newton students were not told that the maps were created by the PLO’s propaganda unit.
- Newton’s schools presented students with a falsified version of the Hamas Charter. In Newton’s doctored version the word ”Jews” – as a target of hatred -- is replaced with the word “Zionists.”
- In one lesson, Newton students are asked to consider the Jewish state’s right to exist. (The legitimacy of no other nation-state’s existence is questioned.) The lesson included “expert” opinions, which are drawn overwhelmingly from anti-Israel academics and anti-Semitic activists.
- A book used in Newton high schools has a recommended reading list that includes the extremist writings by Muslim Brotherhood leaders including Sayyid Qutb, and Yusuf Qaradawi, whose sermons call for the murder of Jews and homosexuals.
- Newton schools officials are shown to continuously refuse to make school curricula and teaching materials available to the Newton residents.
The Saudi funded Arab World Studies Notebook was used in Newton high schools until public pressure forced its removal. The Notebook, condemned by the American Jewish Committee (AJC), and rejected by many other school boards, teaches students, among other things, that Israeli soldiers murder Palestinian women. Newton’s Superintendent of Schools David Fleishman claimed that use of the Notebook helps develop “critical thinking skills.”
The video’s release follows news reports of anti-Semitic incidents, including hateful graffiti found in Newton North High School and at the F.A. Day Middle School. The graffiti featured swastikas and the genocidal statement “Burn the Jews.” According to media reports, Newton Day school officials – in violation of required mandatory reporting procedures – failed to inform parents and police about the incidents. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed concerns about these escalating anti-Semitic incidents.
Upon discovering racist graffiti at Boston Latin High School, city, state, and federal agencies immediately launched an investigation into the matter. Jacobs said, “Concerned parents in Newton demand equal protection for Jewish students. Accordingly, in light of Newton’s biased education, its ongoing refusal to allow public access to curricula and teaching materials, and the recent escalation of anti-Semitism, we urge Newton Mayor Setti Warren, Massachusetts’ state education officials, and the FBI to investigate this hateful situation in Newton schools.”Let's go to the videotape. More after the video.
Labels: American Jews, anti-Semitism, Hamas, Islamic indoctrination, lies, Newton South High School
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:26 AM
2 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
Obama's Chanukah parties have had issues in the past. But this time it teetered over into full-blown violently offensive territory. Obama's own remarks were boilerplate inoffensive stuff. Israel's President Rivlin, a political hack who desperately sucks up to the media, was equally insipid.
But the White House chose Susan Talve to light the Menorah. Talve is a member of the anti-Israel group T'ruah which is currently promoting assorted "soft BDS" programs.
She's also a Ferguson activist. Her behavior was deeply insulting to the religious Jewish community and made it clear that the White House was determined to hijack even a Chanukah party to promote an anti-Jewish agenda.
So the general conviviality of the Chanukah party was disrupted by a crazed rant from Susan Talve in which she seemed determined to jam as many leftist talking points as possible in her limited time. Instead of talking about Chanukah, Talve blathered on about getting, "guns off our streets" and to "clean up the fires of toxic nuclear waste".
Talve screeched, "I stand here with my fierce family of clergy and black lives matter activists who took to the streets of Ferguson".
Having celebrated the race riots which destroyed a community, she pivoted to Syrian Muslim migrants. Chanukah is a celebration of the Maccabees defeating a Syrian occupation, but Talve may not even know that. Radical clergy tend to be light on the religion and heavy on the social justice.
Instead she rambled on about how the "gates of this nation would stay open for all immigrants and all refugees".
Then, not satisfied with having made a disgrace of the Chanukah ceremony, Susan Talve declared, "I stand here to light these lights to say no the darkness of Islamophobia and Homophobia and Transphobia."
Talve babbled about insuring "justice for Palestinians" and began gleefully chanting, "Ins'Allah, Ins'Allah". Or "Allah Willing".Power Line's Paul Mirengoff makes it clear that the Jewish community ought to feel insulted.
Talve’s position on these matters is well known, as is her outspokenness. Team Obama had to know, or strongly suspect, that Talve would deliver remarks like these. Presumably, that’s why it selected her.
If Greenfield’s account is accurate, it makes me wonder whether Obama has much use for Jews other than as cheerleaders for his “social justice” agenda — in other words, left liberalism.
...
I should note, however, that it was Israel’s president, who first said “Ins’Allah,” after Talve talked about justice for the Palestinians. Talve then repeated it several times.
The Israeli president looked towards President Obama as he said this, thus living up to Greenfield’s description of him as a “suck up.”
Israeli Jews live among Arabs, and I have heard them say “Ins’Allah.” I wouldn’t have expected to hear it during a Jewish religious ceremony, but the White House event turned into more of a political event than a religious one.I have to wonder who the kipot in the audience were and why none of them had anything to say about this. I had never heard a speech like that before east of Berzerkely.
While singing the blessings for the Hanukkah candles, Talve added a word to the second prayer which states that God “performed miracles for our forefathers in those days, at this time.” She added the Hebrew word which would translate as the feminine “foremothers” following the recitation of that word in the prayer.
In Reform prayers, female equivalents to male words are often added to the liturgy.
Some conservative commentators expressed outrage at the introduction of politics to the reception.
“Yet again, Obama disrespects Jewish people, this time on Hanukkah,” radio personality Mark Levin Saturday posted on Facebook,
Levin linked to an American Thinker article where Thomas Lifson wrote, “Does anyone remember a White House Iftar dinner calling for an end to Islamic persecution of Jews? I didn’t think so.”
“Her behavior was deeply insulting to the religious Jewish community and made it clear that the White House was determined to hijack even a Chanukah party to promote an anti-Jewish agenda,” Daniel Greenfield wrote in FrontPage Magazine.I've got to wonder whether anyone there other than Rivlin had a clue what the words of Maoz Tzur (which they sang at the end) mean....
Labels: American Jews, Barack Hussein Obama, Chanuka, Chanuka party, White House
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:01 PM
3 comments
PLEASE SIGN ONLY IF YOU ARE AN ORDAINED RABBI —THANK YOU!
We, the undersigned rabbis, write as a unified voice across religious denominations to express our concerns with the proposed nuclear agreement with Iran.
For more than 20 months, our communities have kept keen eyes on the nuclear negotiations overseas. As our diplomats from Washington worked tirelessly to reach a peaceful resolution to the Iranian nuclear challenge—we have hoped, and believed, that a good deal was possible.Unfortunately, that hope is not yet realized.
We have weighed the various implications of supporting—or opposing—this agreement. Together, we are deeply troubled by the proposed deal, and believe this agreement will harm the short-term and long-term interests of both the United States and our allies, particularly Israel.
Collectively, we feel we must do better.
If this agreement is implemented, Iran will receive as much as 150 billion dollars, without any commitment to changing its nefarious behavior.
The Iranian regime denies basic human rights to its citizens, publicly calls for America’s downfall and Israel’s annihilation, and openly denies the Holocaust. This dangerous regime—the leading state sponsor of terrorism—could now be given the financial freedom to sow even more violence throughout the world.
But what do we get in return?
Even after flooding Iran with an influx of funds, this deal will not subject Iran to an airtight, comprehensive inspections structure—granting the regime the means to violate the agreement and develop a covert nuclear program.
The deal would also lift key arms embargos, so that in eight years Iran will be given international legitimacy to arm terror groups with conventional weapons and ballistic missiles.
The agreement also entitles Iran to develop advanced centrifuges after 10 years—all-but paving Iran’s path to a nuclear weapons capability with virtually zero “breakout time.”
We fear the world we will leave our children if this deal is approved. And we fear having to someday bear the responsibility for Iran becoming wealthier, further empowered and better equipped to produce nuclear bombs when we had the chance to stop it.
For these reasons, we agree with the assessments of leaders and experts in the United States, along with virtually all Israeli voices across the political spectrum, that we can, and must, do better.
We call upon our Senators and Representatives to consider the dangers that this agreement poses to the United States and our allies, and to vote in opposition to this deal.
Furthermore, we strongly support and heed the call to action of many Jewish organizations to express our collective opposition to this dangerous agreement.
At this historic moment, with so much at stake, we have a critical responsibility to shape the world we pass on to our children. With no less than the safety of future generations hanging in the balance, we must insist on a better deal.
We hope and pray that God will assist us in ushering in for the entire world a time promised by Isaiah (2:4) when “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they engage in war anymore,” when peace will prevail. Until then, we simply cannot afford to empower and enrich a regime that continues to lift its sword without mercy towards so many who stand for good, freedom and peace.If you're an ordained rabbi and have not signed yet, you may add your name here.
Labels: American Jews, Barack Hussein Obama, Iran Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran sanctions regime, Iranian nuclear threat, nuclear weapons, rabbis
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:46 PM
2 comments
The participant told me that some Jewish leaders in the meeting objected to how the administration characterized the JCPOA’s critics. “Words have consequences, and when they come from official sources, they can be even more dangerous,” he said the president was told. “The community worked hard to keep it from getting personal and didn’t make it specific to him. The president complained about the lobbying, and said some of the same people who brought you Iraq are opposing the Iran deal. He was told those characterizations are not accurate. Jewish lobbyists didn’t support the Iraq war.”
Another participant who also asked to remain anonymous told me that some people expressed discomfort with “how the debate is being framed—framed as, ‘if you are a critic of the deal, you’re for war.’ The implication is that if it looks like the Jewish community is responsible for Congress voting down the deal, it will look like the Jewish community is leading us off to another war in the Middle East.”
Apparently, President Obama wasn’t paying attention because the one point he made sure to drive home in his speech the next day at American University in Washington, D.C. is that there are only two choices: the JCPOA or war. And the only nation in the world that does not think this is “such a strong deal” and “has expressed support” is the Israeli government. In short, if you don’t like the agreement, then you want war and you’re aligned not with the United States and the rest of the civilized world, but with a Jewish pariah state.
A senior official at a Washington, D.C.-based Jewish organization involved in the Iran fight told me: “The President told concerned Jewish Americans that he would turn down the constant refrain of anti-Semitic insinuations from the White House. Then he went out and gave a speech implying that Jews are dragging American boys and girls into war.”
It’s unfortunate that the president of the United States seems to really believe that Israel and the American Jewish community was responsible for taking America to war in Iraq. But Obama is not an anti-Semite and it seems he doesn’t even really want to use anti-Jewish dog whistles, like he did last month on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. But the JCPOA is the cornerstone of his foreign policy legacy and he’s determined to win. AIPAC is leading the countercharge with a multi-million dollar campaign managed by a group called Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran. According to The Washington Post, “The president suggested to AIPAC that ‘if you guys would back down, I would back down from some of the things I’m doing.’’’
Or, as one of the participants told me Obama said, “If you don’t like the claims that are being made, don’t run the advertisements.” In other words, lay off criticizing the Iran deal and I’ll lay off the Jew-baiting.Read the whole thing. Yes, Obama is an anti-Semite.
Labels: American Jews, Iran Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran sanctions regime, Iranian nuclear threat, Lee Smith, Obama's anti-Semitism
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:56 PM
1 comments
Kerry rejected criticism from Israel, and from many in the American Jewish community, that by publicly warning Israel that it will be further isolated internationally if the deal should be rejected, he has encouraged scapegoating of the Jewish state: “If you’ve ever played golf, you know that you yell ‘fore’ off the tee,” he explained. “You’re not threatening somebody, you’re warning them: ‘Look, don’t get hit by the ball, it’s coming.’”
Kerry believes that a congressional rejection of the deal will lead to war—he explains his theory of his case in detail below—and he finds the “visceral” and “emotional” criticism of the deal in Israel, and among many of Israel’s supporters, flummoxing. “I’ve gone through this backwards and forwards a hundred times and I’m telling you, this deal is as pro-Israel, as pro-Israel’s security, as it gets,” Kerry said. “And I believe that just saying no to this is, in fact, reckless.” When I asked him how he interprets Israeli criticism of the deal, he said there is a “a huge level of fear and mistrust and, frankly, there’s an inherent sense that, given Iran’s gains and avoidance in the past, that somehow they’re going to avoid something again. It’s a visceral feeling, it’s very emotional and visceral and I’m very in tune with that and very sensitive to that.”
Though he says he is in tune with this set of Israeli fears, he does not endorse a view widely shared by Israelis—and by many Americans—that Iran’s leaders, who have often said that they seek the destruction of Israel, mean what they say. “I think they have a fundamental ideological confrontation with Israel at this particular moment. Whether or not that translates into active steps to, quote, ‘Wipe it,’ you know ...” Here I interjected: “Wipe it off the map.”
Kerry continued: “I don’t know the answer to that. I haven’t seen anything that says to me—they’ve got 80,000 rockets in Hezbollah pointed at Israel, and any number of choices could have been made. They didn’t make the bomb when they had enough material for 10 to 12. They’ve signed on to an agreement where they say they’ll never try and make one and we have a mechanism in place where we can prove that. So I don’t want to get locked into that debate. I think it’s a waste of time here.”They didn't make the bomb when they had enough material for 10-12 (which only happened during the Obama administration by the way), because they figured why become a pariah when a little bit of patience will let you do it with the 'international community's approval.
The highest-ranking Jewish Democrat in the House announced his opposition to the nuclear accord with Iran on Tuesday, in a blow to the Obama administration’s lobbying efforts.
"I'm going to vote against the Iran deal," Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) — the former head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — told Newsday.
"I tried very hard to get to yes. But at the end of the day, despite some positive elements in the deal, the totality compelled me to oppose it.”
In addition to Rep. Israel, Reps. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) also came out against the deal on Tuesday, saying that the multinational agreement did not include enough safeguards to prevent Iran from cheating on its commitments or limit it from supporting extremist groups such as Hezbollah.
“After a decade in public life working to stop Iran from ever acquiring nuclear weapons, I cannot support a deal giving Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief — in return for letting it maintain an advanced nuclear program and the infrastructure of a threshold nuclear state,” Deutch wrote in the Broward County Sun Sentinel.So it's not just the Israelis who are opposed.
Unbelievable.“The ayatollah constantly believed that we are untrustworthy, that you can’t negotiate with us, that we will screw them,” Kerry said. “This”—a congressional rejection—“will be the ultimate screwing.” He went on to argue that “the United States Congress will prove the ayatollah’s suspicion, and there’s no way he’s ever coming back. He will not come back to negotiate. Out of dignity, out of a suspicion that you can’t trust America. America is not going to negotiate in good faith. It didn’t negotiate in good faith now, would be his point.”
Labels: American Jews, Barack Hussein Obama, Iran Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran sanctions regime, Iranian nuclear threat, Jeffrey Goldberg, John Kerry, Nita Lowey, Steve Israel, Ted Deutch
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:12 PM
0 comments
[T]he Orthodox Jewish community has a different view. This was voiced by, among others, the Orthodox Union and the Agudath Israel of America. The latter, in a statement Friday, warned that its members faced “moral opprobrium” and were in danger of “tangible negative consequences” if “they refuse to transgress their beliefs.”
To judge by recent events, they are understating the case. The whole campaign for same sex marriage, however high-minded its ideals and however real — and all too often violent — the injustices endured by same-sex couples, has been levied at the expense of religious Jews and Christians. The U.S. Supreme Court majority knows that full well. But it dodged the issue, with Justice Anthony Kennedy, author of the majority opinion, giving the fears of religious Americans less than a paragraph.
Kennedy emphasized that “religions, and those who adhere to religious doctrines, may continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine precepts, same-sex marriage should not be condoned.” He noted that the First Amendment, part of the Constitution’s Bill of Rights, “ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths, and to their own deep aspirations to continue the family structure they have long revered.”
That was a reference to the free speech part of the First Amendment. But it was startling — shocking even — that the majority gave no mention at all of the Constitution’s second principle of religious protection, the right to the “free exercise” of religion. That is where the battle lines are being drawn by liberal and left-wing factions in America seeking to force religious individuals to embrace same-sex marriage.
In recent months, Americans have been reading about a Christian baker who has been the subject of an enforcement action in Colorado for declining to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding, a husband-and-wife clerical team that reportedly may have to close their for-profit wedding chapel because they won’t hold same-sex nuptials in it, and a New York family that is tangled in a legal proceeding for refusing to rent out their home for a same-sex wedding reception. A Catholic adoption agency that would not work with same-sex couples has been forced out of its charitable work.
“In all likelihood, many of these rear-guard actions against marriage equality will soon fall of their own weight,” Jeffrey Toobin, who covers the Constitution for the New Yorker, wrote after the Supreme Court spoke. “Like so many of their fellow-Americans, wedding photographers and the like will make their peace with the new rules that guarantee their neighbors an equal chance at happiness. (Besides, they need the business.)” Maybe, but I’m not so sure things will go as smoothly as he imagines in the Orthodox Jewish world.
“The issue here is not whether all human beings are created in the Divine Image, or whether they have inherent human dignity. Of course they are, of course they do,” the Agudah said in a statement after Obergefell vs. Hodges was handed down. But it went on to assert that “the truths of Torah are eternal, and stand as our beacon even in the face of shifting social mores.” At some point this is going to come to a head in a way that will test George Washington’s promise to the Jews to a degree that we haven’t yet seen.I'll shut the comments on this post if I have to, but I can tell you that I would not want my children taught by someone who is openly gay. No way. I want my children to be able to look up at their teachers as religious role models. Then again, since I live in Israel, it's unlikely that any of my children's schools (except for the children in university, which is a different category) could be forced to hire gay teachers.
Labels: Agudath Yisrael, American Jews, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, gays, Orthodox Jews, US Supreme Court
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:51 AM
8 comments
Last night at a public hearing on the budget in Prince George’s County, Maryland, a flyer with the following headline was circulated:
From Baltimore to Jerusalem It’s the Same Game. In 10 years Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin sent 1.2 billion dollars of Maryland Federal taxpayer money to the Apartheid state of Israel to build schools, roads and other infrastructure while saying Maryland doesn’t have the money to help develop our communities....
Who circulated the flyer? Surely, it was supporters of Donna Edwards, the African-American congresswoman who is running against Van Hollen for the Senate. It would be interesting to hear what Edwards has to say about this attack on her rival and a sitting Democratic (Jewish) Senator.
Anti-Israel rants by Black radicals are nothing new; nor is Black anti-Semitism. But injecting them into a Democratic primary campaign via a publicly circulated flyer suggests that the anti-Israel, anti-Semitic Black left has become emboldened.
Why? Perhaps it’s because President Obama has been so eager to attack Israel, though not, of course, as viciously as Edwards’ supporters have. Israel bashing is now acceptable for left-wing Democratic officer holders.Read the whole thing. But don't hold your breath waiting for American Jews to wake up and vote Republican and donate to Republicans.
Labels: American Jews, anti-Semitism, Baltimore, Democrats, racism
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:18 PM
1 comments
One evening this past September, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, hosted a gathering in Washington to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. The guests—political supporters, leaders of Jewish organizations, members of Congress, Jewish officials of the Obama administration, and the stray journalist or two—gathered by the pool of the vice president’s house, on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Biden was characteristically prolix. He talked about the Shoah, and about the many contributions Jews have made to American life, and he mentioned, as he invariably does in such settings, his first encounter with a legendary Israeli prime minister.
“I had the great pleasure of knowing every prime minister since Golda Meir, when I was a young man in the Senate, and I’ll never forget talking to her in her office with her assistant—a guy named Rabin—about the Six-Day War,” he said. “The end of the meeting, we get up and walk out, the doors are open, and … the press is taking photos … She looked straight ahead and said, ‘Senator, don’t look so sad … Don’t worry. We Jews have a secret weapon.’ ”
He said he asked her what that secret weapon was.
“I thought she was going to tell me something about a nuclear program,” Biden continued. “She looked straight ahead and she said, ‘We have no place else to go.’ ” He paused, and repeated: “ ‘We have no place else to go.’ ”
“Folks,” he continued, “there is no place else to go, and you understand that in your bones. You understand in your bones that no matter how hospitable, no matter how consequential, no matter how engaged, no matter how deeply involved you are in the United States … there’s only one guarantee. There is really only one absolute guarantee, and that’s the state of Israel. And so I just want to assure you, for all the talk, and I know sometimes my guy”—President Obama—“gets beat up a little bit, but I guarantee you: he shares the exact same commitment to the security of Israel.”Who'd have thought that Biden actually gets it?
Labels: aliya, American Jews, Joe Biden, US-Israel relationship
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:12 PM
0 comments
Labels: American Jews, Palestinian refugees
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:46 PM
1 comments
The former presidential candidate did not hold back before the enthusiastic audience. He went after Mr. Obama’s foreign policy, and for weakening the military and “apologizing for America” during overseas visits. Mr. Romney even criticized Democratic candidates for distancing themselves from the president during the run-up to the midterm elections.
“The White House may view the inaugural Israeli-American convention as an anti-Obama victory party,” says Chemi Shalev, a columnist for Haaretz. “It would be inhuman to expect Mitt Romney to refrain from some gloating and schadenfreude at a groundbreaking meeting of expat Israelis.”
Indeed, Mr. Romney discussed the election, Israel’s close relationship with the U.S. and founding values on stage with Dan Senor, a former policy adviser for the George W. Bush administration. The pair are among 100 speakers at the three-day gathering, which frames the Israeli-American community as a particularly strategic asset on the global landscape. Also on hand: Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bob Menendez, Rep. Ted Deutch, former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer, former Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman — as well as uber-business leaders and philanthropists Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban, who will lead a session titled “The Israeli-American Dream” on Sunday.Now, someone tell me where Romney has been for the last two years.
A new Pew Research Center survey found that while 66 percent of Jewish voters backed Democratic candidates during the midterms, “Democrats appear to have lost some ground with Jews.” The analysis notes: “In 2006, Jewish voters favored Democratic candidates over Republicans by a 75-point margin — 87 percent to 12 percent. In 2014, by contrast, the margin of victory for Democratic House candidates among Jewish voters nationwide was 33 points — 66 percent to 33 percent.”Still waiting for Jewish support for Democrats to decline below 50%. Read the whole thing.
Labels: American Jews, Barack Hussein Obama, Campaign 2012, Jewish vote, midterm elections, Mitt Romney
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:40 AM
3 comments
So, is this the moment when American Jews realize the Democratic Party has left them?
Gallup surveyed 88,000 Americans through June and found that 55 percent of Jews approved of the president, while 41 percent disapproved. Among all religious groups, Muslims gave him the highest approval, at 72 percent.
The 55 percent Jewish approval marks a big decline from the 69 percent of the Jewish vote Obama got in 2012, and the 78 percent he got in 2008.
Despite what anti-Semites believe, not all Jews care equally about Israel, and certainly don’t agree on what is best for Israel. Other issues affect their vote as well.
Still, the well-being of the lone Jewish state is a significant factor for many, and they want a president who shares their concern. Given Obama’s recent hostile conduct and comments, a new poll likely would find his support falling even more.
It’s not a “Reagan moment,” but it’s getting closer.It's long past due.
Labels: American Jews, Barack Hussein Obama, National Democratic Party, Republican party, Ronald Reagan
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:22 PM
0 comments
Good morning Gaza. Have a nice day! @KurtSchlichter @Powermanium @LaRochelle123 @LTCPeterLerner pic.twitter.com/3gdrdHl8lE
— Mike Truman (@mike_truman) July 21, 2014
To those who suggest that Prime Minister Netanyahu is over-reacting to the missiles, I offer this response which I have now shared regularly at campus and communal conversations:
Israel is treating wounded Palestinians during this conflict, risking Israeli lives in surgical strikes to destroy weapons-smuggling tunnels created with building materials Israel allowed into Gaza for infrastructure projects to benefit Palestinian society. Just for a moment, consider the deaths that would result from Israel wishing harm on Palestinian civilians. In just the last 48 hours, Israel has allowed over 10 tons of goods into Gaza. During the past weeks, Israel has agreed to two humanitarian cease-fires. In the first hours of those ceasefires, Hamas rained down over 70 missiles onto Israel civilians.
I ask: What do Israel's enraged critics truly desire? How is it possible to hear indignant claims of human rights violations in the context of Syrians slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands, state-sanctioned terrorism around the globe, and young immigrants treated like chattel by the US and other? Israel is doing its best, sacrificing its own children to preserve the lives of Palestinians.
I also ask, regarding the world's seemingly acceptance of Hamas' tactics as the only remaining option left for a desperate leadership:
Were Hamas to truly lead its people forward to a life of stability and peace, wouldn't it use building materials for schools instead of smuggling tunnels? Wouldn't Hamas stop stockpiling weapons in mosques and transporting them in UN ambulances? Wouldn't Hamas stop firing missiles from civilian population centers if it valued Palestinian lives as much as Israel does? If Israel weren't so concerned for Palestinian lives, wouldn't it respond to Hamas' horrific decisions in kind?
I ask the enraged critics of Israel's defensive responses to Hamas: Would you have us not respond to this monstrosity? Do you think it's not worth losing the PR battle to retain our humanity and save as many lives as possible? What country would stand by when thousands of terrorist missiles assault its citizens? I, a Jew, have lost 20 of my sons in the last three days, because I will not lose my humanity and stage a careless ground war in Gaza that would cause mass casualties. Though I fight monsters, I will not become one.
My response has changed these last few weeks, in which three Jewish teens were murdered by Arab terrorists and Palestinians celebrated by distributing sweets to children and an Arab teen was murdered by Jewish terrorists and the Jewish world condemned the hatred. I am done trying to apologetically explain Jewish morality. I am done apologizing for my own Jewish existence.
Some will call this needless hyperbole. But, having watched in this last week anti-Semitic "die-ins" in Boston, violent assaults against Jews in Los Angeles and Antwerp, and an almost pogrom at a synagogue in Paris, I'm done mincing my own words.
We will do what we must to protect our people. We have that right. We are not less deserving of life and quiet than anyone else.
No more apologies.Spot. On.
Labels: American Jews, anti-Semitism, Binyamin Netanyahu, civilian casualties, Gaza, Hamas, human shields, IDF, Leftist Jews, Operation Protective Edge, outrageous apologies
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:31 PM
0 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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