Caroline Glick writes about the necessity for Israel to cultivate non-Jewish supporters and then gives a shout-out to two of them: Jon Voight and Rick Santorum.
Consider the case of Jon Voight.
The celebrated Oscar-winning actor is an outspoken champion of
Israel. Earlier this month, Voight published an open letter to Penelope
Cruz and Javier Bardem in Variety where he harshly criticized the
Spanish performers for their public statement condemning Israel and
siding with Hamas in its war against the Jewish state.
In his words, “I am heartsick that people like Penelope Cruz and
Javier Bardem could incite anti-Semitism all over the world and are
oblivious to the damage they have caused.”
...
Last week, two UCLA professors, Mark LeVine and Gil Hochberg,
co-authored an article published in The Huffington Post assaulting him
for his views and his temerity to suggest that Israel is a moral,
embattled democracy fighting genocidal forces committed to its
destruction.
The two Jewish academics are supporters of the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
The principal aim of the BDS movement is to make it socially
unacceptable to support Israel. In 2010 LeVine and Hochberg signed a
petition calling for California state universities to divest from
companies that do business with Israel.
Online Hollywood commentators, such as Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva,
opined that Voight, who was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role in
Showtime’s Ray Donovan series, was liable to lose his Emmy bid due to
his support for Israel.
Hochberg and LeVine’s assault on Voight was a long-winded voyage into
the post-Zionist and anti-Zionist literary moonscape. Their principal
criticism of Voight was that he refuses to accept this intellectual
wasteland’s rejection of the known facts of history.
Voight is not an academic, nor has he ever claimed to be an expert on
Middle Eastern history. He is a non-Jewish American concerned about the
future of America.
That is why he stands with Israel. Voight recognizes that when Israel
is under assault, and its right to defend itself is denied while
terrorists are supported, the US is endangered. And so he feels
compelled to speak out, regardless of the price.
...
Another non-Jewish champion of Israel is former US senator and
Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum. Both during his tenure in
the Senate and since, Santorum has spoken out strongly against Iran’s
nuclear program, insisting that it is a serious threat not only to
Israel, but to the US itself.
Like Voight, Santorum recognizes that the fate of the US is directly tied to the fate of Israel.
For his trenchant support for Israel, and his outspoken concern about
Iran’s nuclear program, as well as his support for domestic issues
where he has not shied away from taking controversial, inconvenient
position, Santorum’s critics have demonized him.
...
Last week, Santorum led a solidarity mission to Israel. The majority
of his colleagues were non-Jewish opinion shapers from Iowa, the first
state to hold Republican presidential contests. Santorum explained that
his goal in coming to Israel was not simply to show Israelis that the
American people support us. It was to build support among Republicans in
Iowa for a robust US engagement in foreign affairs based on supporting
Israel, fighting America’s enemies and preventing the forces of hatred,
like Hamas and Iran, from expanding their power.
Santorum’s chief concern is that weary of foreign policy failures,
more and more Republicans are embracing the isolationism most identified
with Senator Rand Paul. Paul is currently polling well in Iowa.
...
Santorum is convinced that if Iowans are educated about the nature of
the threats emanating from the region, and of Israel’s singular
contribution to the cause of freedom and stability, their position can
become the basis for a Republican foreign policy that rejects
isolationism and embraces US leadership in world affairs as the only way
to secure the US and strengthen its embattled allies.
In other words, like Voight, Santorum’s support for Israel is rooted
in his concern about America, and its future. Like Voight, Santorum
recognizes that the growing penchant among elite opinion shapers to
ignore truth in the pursuit of moral relativism and fake sophistication
or isolationism constitutes a danger to America.
Amazing video: Jon Voight slams Obama and Kerry on Israel
At a pro-Israel rally in Las Vegas on Tuesday, actor Jon Voight slammed President Hussein Obama and US Secretary of State John FN Kerry for their treatment of Israel.
Conference on the Perils of Global Intolerance: The United Nations and Durban III - Part 2
Here are the rest of my notes on Conference on the Perils of Global Intolerance: The United Nations and Durban III. Unfortunately, I missed a chunk in the middle for work....
There was a brief press availability during the conference break. It was especially interesting listening to Zuhdi Jasser describing his Congressional testimony and how they tried to pigeonhole him into a right v. left scenario and how the left got its talking points from the Islamists. None of the speakers really had a definitive answer on why the left is so enthralled with the ‘Palestinians’ and the Islamists generally, who stand for so much that is anathema to the Left. Douglas Murray speaking – he is hysterical. He says that he picked up the New York Times only because the hotel delivered it. He says that Yasser Arafat after his death gets better coverage than Republicans. Arafat was greeted at the UN by ‘wife beater Idi Amin and Nazi Kurt Waldheim.’ He then reads from Moynihan’s 1975 rejection of the Zionism is racism resolution. He’s hysterical. Simon Deng is a Sudanese Human Rights activist. He is furious about UN for ignoring enslavement of southern Sundanese by Arabs – instead the UN is only focused on the ‘Palestinians.’ He himself was tricked into slavery by an Arab when he was 9 years old! Says he’s been to Israel five times visiting Sudanese refugees. Says they were promised shelter in Egypt but escape to Israel where they find shelter. They have to dodge Egyptian bullets to get there. Deng is blasting the notion that Israel is racist. The room is so silent you could hear a pin drop. He talks about black Jews in Israel (presumably Ethiopians). He says that the people who suffer the most from the UN are not the Israelis but the people ignored by the UN as part of its big lie against Israel. Deng just announced in the name of the President of Southern Sudan that their embassy will be built in Jerusalem – not in Tel Aviv. They will not be part of Durban. Jon Voight is next. He praises Deng, and then all the other speakers. Anti-Semitism is a disease. Jason Kenney, Canadian Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism points out Canada’s lead role in boycotting Durban. He explains why. Mike Huckabee is the last speaker. I will have to leave in the middle. Obama’s speech yesterday applies to the ills of humanity like a mother kissing a child’s wound when she has no medicine. Obama’s speech won’t resolve conflicts. He doesn’t understand why so many Jews support Obama. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. He talks about the NY9 election last week and says it shows how Obama has no clue what’s at stake in Israel. Talks about first trip to Israel in 1973. People came to escape tyranny. Israel stands and fights for its very existence. It’s irrational to think that Israel giving up increasing amounts of territory will bring peace, just like it’s irrational to think that a Barack Obama speech will bring peace to the world. He says that if UN votes on ‘Palestinian state’ US should cut off all funding and kick them out of the US. We have pressured Israel more for building bedrooms than we have pressured Iran on building nuclear bombs. And Obama’s response has been ‘can’t we all just get along’? How many rockets from Canada would it take for US to react? One. But Israel has taken 4,000. US can’t ask other nations to do what US won’t do. He mentions Fogel family.
Actor Jon Voight, who is here for the Glenn Beck rallies, had a blunt and correct assessment of the 'Palestinians,' which he shared at a Jerusalem Holocaust event on Monday night.
"How have we come to a time when blowing up babies and cutting their throats are acceptable means to a political goal?" Voight asked. "I feel complete contempt for anyone not intelligent enough to see that the media propaganda portraying the Palestinians as victims endangers the state of Israel. We are facing a new Holocaust, and people of all faiths must demand that truth be heard. The Palestinian radicals have only one prayer on their lips: To remove every Jew from Israel."
Voight, the father of actress Angelina Jolie, received a standing ovation for saying that "We will not bend to terrorism in any way, shape, or form for the sake of peace."
The event, which was carried on Beck's new television network, featured a film about Holocaust survivor Rudy Wolf's visit to his childhood home in Germany. Speakers at the event noted the significance of holding a Holocaust-themed evening at the former Jerusalem train station after world armies did not bomb the tracks to Auschwitz in World War II.
"If you stare evil in the eye, it's a coward," Beck told the crowd of American Christians who came to Israel for the series of events he organized. "If you confront your biggest fear, it goes away. It's not enough to remember the Holocaust, because it has happened time and time again. This will be the generation that stops it in its tracks and says 'never again, we mean it.'"
Indeed. We can only hope and pray that this generation is the one that stops all future Holocausts in their tracks.
Tomorrow: The Israeli Presidential Conference 2011
I've received some promotional material for Tomorrow, the Israeli Presidential Conference 2011. The conference is taking place in Jerusalem June 21-23. There's a list of speakers here and a list of topics here. The conference is sponsored by Shimon Peres.
Here's a video with past highlights of the conference.
Let's go to the videotape.
Anyone think Barack Obama will show up? Personally, I'd rather Jon Voight showed up again.
Elizabeth Taylor's longest lasting love was the State of Israel.
American media coverage of Taylor’s life has understandably focused on her on- and offscreen dramas, as well as her pioneering AIDS activism. But she was also a supporter of Israel to a degree that largely went unmentioned this past week, bringing to the cause a commitment nearly unimaginable among Hollywood stars today. In a life famously shared with seven husbands, Taylor’s relationship with Israel was one of her longest.
It began in 1959, when Taylor, then a recent convert to Judaism, purchased Israel Bonds in such volumes that her films were boycotted in Arab nations. The elements of the story are so mismatched — the sultry starlet and the Third World country then absorbing displaced Jews from the Arab world — that it makes your eyes pop, as Taylor did in so many of her films.
Eight years and two Oscars later, Taylor canceled a visit to Moscow to protest the U.S.S.R.’s condemnation of Israel in the Six Day War. She would later sign a letter denouncing the United Nations’ odious “Zionism is racism” resolution, and in 1976, she offered to trade places with one of the hostages held by Palestine Liberation Organization hijackers from a flight originating in Tel Aviv. (Her willingness to become a hostage didn’t lead anywhere in real life, but she eventually got to play one in a TV version of the incident, ABC’s “Victory at Entebbe.”)
She was Hollywood’s most famous Cleopatra, and she stayed involved in the Middle East long after her career slowed down. She lent her star power to Israel with a 1982-83 visit — she met with Prime Minister Menachem Begin — and by publicly supporting the right of the Soviet Union’s trapped Jewry to emigrate there.
Like her old-school glamour and professional roots in the original studio system, Taylor’s activism for Israel was, in many ways, an artifact of a different era. An increasingly cynical world challenged the actress and Israel in similar ways, with their idealized early images coming back to haunt them. Taylor, it turned out, was merely mortal, and prone to tabloid-worthy missteps despite her preternatural beauty. Israel, with its foundations in Jewish desperation and trauma, could be as dysfunctional and disappointing as any other nation.
The only one I can think of who is like her today is Jon Voight, and he's not even mentioned in the article.
Video: Meeting among Mike Huckabee, Jon Voight and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
Here's video of Monday's meeting among former Arkansas Governor (and likely Republican Presidential candidate) Mike Huckabee, actor Jon Voight and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Let's go to the videotape.
In case you're wondering, the tall guy in the royal blue tie that you keep seeing in the background is Ron Dermer, Netanyahu's bureau chief.
Mississippi governor and possible Presidential candidate Haley Barbour arrives here on Saturday for a 4-day visit.
This trip will include briefings and meetings with senior leaders in Israel, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It will also include touring important sites in the country. In addition, given the Governor's strong interest in energy issues, there will be visits to several sites such as the Noble Energy offshore gas rig and the Better Place electric car facility outside Tel Aviv. The trip will conclude with Governor Barbour making a major address at the prestigious Herzliya Conference on February 9.
RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said, "We are especially pleased that Governor and Mrs. Barbour will visit Israel at this incredibly important time. The Middle East faces many challenges, from the instability in Lebanon and Egypt and the threat of a nuclear Iran to the continuing danger posed by Hamas in Gaza. As Iran and its proxies attempt to expand their reach in the region, it is vitally important that American and Israeli officials build and nurture a strong partnership in the fight against terrorism.
"This visit will give Governor Barbour the opportunity to learn more about the difficulties facing Israel, about the current thinking of Israel's political, military, and economic leaders, and about the Jewish state's exciting advancements in the development of new technologies."
Huckabee attends groundbreaking for new Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem
Republican Presidential front-runner Mike Huckabee was the guest of honor at the groundbreaking for a new Jewish neighborhood on the backside of the Mount of Olives on Monday.
During a visit to the Mount of Olives for a cornerstone-laying ceremony in a Jewish east Jerusalem neighborhood, likely US presidential candidate Mike Huckabee asserted that Israelis should be able to live "anywhere in Israel they wished to live."
"It is inconceivable in many ways that we would have to even argue and debate whether or not Israelis could live in Israel, not just in parts of Israel but anywhere in Israel they wished to live," Huckabee added. "I cannot imagine as an American being told that I could not live in certain places in America because I was Christian, or because I was white, or because I spoke English. I would be outraged if someone told me that in my country, I would be prohibited and forbidden to live in a part of that country, for any reason."
The new neighborhood will not be large – only 24 units – but will mark the expansion of the Jewish residential presence to new parts of liberated Jerusalem. The site, currently home to Yeshivat Beit Orot, a hesder yeshiva, is located just off Mt. Scopus.
The new neighborhood is a bane for those who wish to see clearly delineated borders between Jewish and non-Jewish areas in Jerusalem, which they feel will make it easier to negotiate a settlement for the division of Jerusalem. Those who oppose such a division, therefore, welcome a Jewish return to all areas of the Holy City, as this will render more difficult its negotiated division.
Actor Jon Voight, a longtime dear friend of Israel was also there on Monday (Hat Tip: Memeorandum). Huckabee and Voight also met with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
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
