UNESCO chief blasts 'Palestinian' attempt to have Western Wall declared a Muslim holy site
As the 'Palestinians' decry Israel for supposed 'changes to the status quo' on the Temple Mount, they are attempting to create one of their own by orchestrating a UNESCO vote (you will recall that they are members of UNESCO - that's why the US hasn't paid dues in four years) declaring the Western Wall (pictured) to be an Islamic holy site. UNESCO director general Irina Bukova is not pleased, and blasted her own board today for bringing the matter to a vote.
“We all have responsibility to UNESCO’s mandate, to take decisions that
promote dialogue, tolerance and peace,” said Bokova. “This is especially
important for young people, who should be nurtured and educated for
peace.”
She issued her statement on Tuesday, in advance of
Wednesday’s highly publicized vote by UNESCO’s Executive Board in Paris
on a draft resolution, which “affirms that the Buraq Plaza [the Western
Wall] is an integral part of al-Aksa Mosque/al-Haram al-Sharif.”
A
statement put out by her office said that Bokova “appeals to the UNESCO
Executive Board to take decisions that do not further inflame tensions
on the ground and that encourage respect for the sanctity of the Holy
Sites.”
Her office added that the discussion “could be seen to
alter the status of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls, inscribed
on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, and that could further incite
tensions.”
The “protection of culture heritage should not be taken hostage, as this undermines UNESCO’s mandate and efforts,” Bokova said.
She
has consulted with nations on the 58 member board to encourage them to
pursue constructive dialogue that promotes tolerance and mutual respect
such as outlined in the mandate of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Jerusalem is a city that is
holy for Jews, Christians and Muslim and it should be a place of
dialogue for all three faiths, she said.
Bokova called on “all
parties to ensure that cultural heritage, including religious, is
preserved and accessible to all and to resume dialogue in the spirit of
mutual understanding.”
The six-page draft resolution – submitted
by Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Kuwait, and the United Arab
Emirates on behalf of the Palestinian Authority broadly condemns Israeli
actions in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.
At no point does
the resolution mention the Jewish historical connection to Jerusalem,
which dates back to biblical times. Nor does it reference the Temple
Mount or the Western Wall, which was part of the retaining wall King
Herod built for the Temple Mount more than 2,000 years ago. It also
relies solely on Arabic names for the holy sites on and around the
Temple Mount.
Israeli Ambassador to UNESCO Carmel Shama Hacohen
called the resolution “a total Islamization” of a site that is revered
by both Jews and Muslims.
Funny that we have not heard equally vehement opposition to this resolution from US President Hussein Obama, Secretary of State Kerry, UN Ambassador Power or National Security Council Chief Rice.
I wonder why the self-proclaimed 'most pro-Israel administration evah' has not come out against this. /sarc
Former NSA official joins chorus accusing Obama of ordering Kerry and Power to miss Netanyahu speech
As those who follow me on Twitter know, I've been trying to get AP's Matt Lee to question the State Department on Secretary Kerry's and Ambassador Power's absences from Prime Minister Netanyahu's UN speech on Thursday.
Rick Grenell was for years the spokesman at the US Mission to the UN and is a very well-informed observer according to former National Security official Elliott Abrams (Hat Tip: Abu Yehuda).
Think of how petty that instruction, which can only have come from
the White House, really is. To sit in the seat and listen to Netanyahu
isn’t endorsing his remarks, it is the politeness we owe an ally.
Deliberate absence recalls the years in which dozens of delegations,
Arab and “Third World,” would leave the chamber when any Israeli rose to
speak. This administration is still griping about diplomatic errors
Netanyahu has made, but a refusal to have the US ambassador listen to
his speech is petty and damaging, hinting to anti-Israel delegations
that the United States may be willing to let all sorts of anti-Israel
measures go without opposition or criticism.
This is a low point for seven years of Obama diplomacy. I’ll admit to
surprise that Kerry, who appears to value diplomatic niceties greatly
(and arguably too much) let this happen. But perhaps he knew nothing
about it or was overruled by the White House.
As for Samantha Power, one has to wonder what was running through her
mind when she was instructed to stay away. Is this really why she left
the academic and intellectual life– to be used by the Obama
administration to insult and damage Israel?
Abrams gives Power too much credit - she's an Israel hater too. But his criticism of Obama's pettiness (which we've seen many times before) is spot-on.
You might all want to retweet the tweet below (and this post) to see if we can get Matt to hit the State Department on Power's (and Kerry's) absence.
'Most pro-Israel President evah' orders Secretary of State, UN Ambassador to skip Israeli PM's UN speech
President Hussein Obama, the self-proclaimed 'most pro-Israel President evah,' ordered his Secretary of State John Kerry and his Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power to skip Prime Minister Netanyahu's address to the UN General Assembly on Thursday (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
“Ambassador Power and Secretary Kerry
were unable to attend Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech before
the General Assembly because they were called into a meeting with
President Obama, which they participated in via video teleconference,” a
State Department Official told Breitbart News.
Although they were both in New York
for the United Nations General Assembly meetings, the two high-ranking
U.S. officials were notably absent for the entirety of the Israeli Prime
Minister’s speech.
“The United States was represented at
the speech by Ambassador David Pressman, Alternate Representative of
the United States to the United Nations for Special Political Affairs,
Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro, and Ambassador Richard Erdman,
Alternate Representative to the UN General Assembly,” the official
added.
Only viable political solution for Syria is 1 w/out Asad; partnering w/ regime wld not only be wrong, but dangerous b/c wld strengthen ISIL
— Samantha Power (@AmbassadorPower) March 31, 2015
The tweet above was retweeted by the French Ambassador to the US, @GerardAraud, and by the US State Department.
Obama says there won't be a 'peace agreement,' blames Netanyahu, will try to force creation of a 'Palestinian state'
Barack Hussein Obama has acknowledged the 'reality' that there won't be a 'peace agreement' during his term in office, and has decided instead to attempt to force the creation of a 'Palestinian state' through the United Nations. For all of this he blames Binyamin Netanyahu.
In a stark assessment of U.S.-Israel relations,
Mr. Obama, speaking at a news
conference, put a firm end to one of the
top foreign-policy goals of his second term: a Middle East peace deal that
includes the creation a Palestinian state.
“What we can’t do is pretend that there’s a
possibility for something that’s not there,” Mr. Obama said. “And we can’t
continue to premise our public diplomacy based on something that everybody knows
is not going to happen at least in the next several years.”
He added, “For the sake of our own credibility I
think we have to be able to be honest about that.”
...
Messrs. Obama and Netanyahu are deeply divided
over nuclear talks with Iran, an issue likely to resurface as the next deadline
in negotiations arrives next week. The two leaders have long disliked each
other, but Mr. Obama played down the notion that personal discord was motivating
his policy decisions.
“The issue is not a matter of relations between
leaders. The issue is a very clear substantive challenge: We believe that two
states is the best path forward for Israel’s security, for Palestinian
aspirations, and for regional stability,” Mr. Obama said. “And Prime Minister
Netanyahu has a different approach.”
The president said the U.S. is considering
alternatives to Israeli-Palestinian talks, including taking action at the United
Nations that would afford Palestinians statehood.
Most pro-Israel administration evah? Really? Is this what we can expect next? Now that the US has left Iraq to Islamic State and Afghanistan to the Taliban, they have the troops available. What could go wrong?
Obama backs down - sending Rice and Power to AIPAC
WASHINGTON (AP) — AP sources: Rice, Power to represent administration at #AIPAC conference in bid to cool #US-#Israel tensions
— Matt Lee (@APDiploWriter) February 26, 2015
Of course: Security Council to hold 'emergency session' over Israeli construction in Jerusalem
The massacre of hundreds of thousands of Syrians - first by Assad and then by Islamic State - doesn't merit a Security Council meeting. The massacre of thousands of Kurds by Islamic State doesn't merit one either. Nor does Iran's unwillingness to accept any limitations on its burgeoning nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles program. But 1,000 Jewish apartments in Jerusalem - that's something for the Security Council to call an 'emergency.'
The UN Security Council will hold an "emergency meeting" on Wednesday
to discuss Israeli plans to build more Jewish homes in Jerusalem,
diplomats said.
The "urgent" talks were requested by Jordan following a letter from
Palestinian Authority envoy Riyad Mansour who called on the 15-member
council to "address this crisis situation in occupied east Jerusalem."
The announcement follows harsh criticism by senior Israeli officials
of the negative international response to building projects for Jews in
Jerusalem.
Contrary to Mansour's statement, the building plans announced include
neighborhoods throughout Jerusalem, and not just in its eastern sector.
"East Jerusalem" is a euphemism for parts of the capital liberated from
Jordanian forces, when Jerusalem was reunited by Israeli forces after
the 1967 Six Day War.
If there were a Republican in power, the US would announce in advance an intention to veto any anti-Israel resolution, and that might even thwart the meeting in its tracks. But with Obama and Power, you know this is going to come down to the last minute, and Israel may be condemned or worse.
As many of you may have heard, Defense Minister Moshe (Boogie) Yaalon was denied meetings with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Adviser Susan Rice in Washington last week.
U.S. officials said the Obama
administration had rejected requests by Ya'alon for meetings with Vice
President Joe Biden, National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Secretary
of State John Kerry during Ya'alon's five-day trip to the U.S. last
week.
While in the U.S., Ya'alon did meet with
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha
Power. The Obama administration had sought to stop Ya'alon from meeting
Power, but the objections were made too late to cancel the meeting,
according to U.S. officials.
The Obama administration is miffed with
Ya'alon over negative comments he has made about Kerry's efforts to
broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal and the nuclear negotiations
being held between world powers and Iran.
But it's not that the administration is miffed with Yaalon's comments about Kerry. It's something far deeper than that. Yaalon is a straight shooter.
Secretary Kerry
recently said the lack of resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue is
leading to street anger and recruitment for the Islamic State. What is
your response?
Unfortunately, we find
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is dominated by too many
misconceptions. We don’t find any linkage between the uprising in
Tunisia, the revolution in Egypt, the sectarian conflict in Iraq and the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mainly, these come from the Sunni-Shia
conflict, without any connection to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The
core of the conflict is their reluctance to recognize our right to
exist as a nation state of the Jewish people — whether it is
[Palestinian Authority President] Abu Mazen or his predecessor [Yasser]
Arafat. There are many who believe that just having some territorial
concessions will conclude it. But I don’t think this is right.
Will territorial concessions bring peace?
No, they would be another stage of the Palestinian conflict, as we experienced in the Gaza Strip.
We disengaged from the Gaza Strip to address their territorial
grievances. They went on attacking us. The conflict is about the
existence of the Jewish state and not about the creation of the
Palestinian one. Any territory that was delivered to them after Oslo
became a safe haven for terrorists.
Bearing that in
mind, to conclude that after the [recent] military operation in Gaza
this is a time for another withdrawal from Judea and Samaria [the West
Bank] is irrational. If we withdraw now from Judea and Samaria, we might
face another Hamastan.
...
Do you believe in a two-state solution?
You
can call it the new Palestinian empire. We don’t want to govern them,
but it is not going to be a regular state for many reasons.
What does that mean — the Palestinian empire?
Autonomy. It is going to be demilitarized.
In Gaza and the West Bank?
It
is up to them. According to the agreement, they should be
demilitarized. It is up to Abu Mazen if he is able or if he wants to
demilitarize Gaza. Otherwise, we are not going to talk about any final
settlement.
Is Abu Mazen the best Palestinian leader you’re going to get?
I don’t know, but he is not a partner for the two-state solution. He doesn’t recognize the existence of the Jewish state.
He says he is against violence.
Fine.
But this is a tactical consideration. He believes he might get more by
what he calls “political resistance” — going to the United Nations or to
international bodies to delegitimize us. He prefers it to violence
because in his experience, terror doesn’t pay off.
Is that why you said Secretary Kerry should just get a Nobel Prize and go home? Do you think the West just doesn’t get it?
I
spoke about misconceptions. It is a misunderstanding, without naming
anyone. It might be naivete or wishful thinking — ‘We the Westerners
know what is good for the Arabs.’ To believe that you can have
democratization with elections . . . it is collapsing in front of us.
And part of it is ignorance, yes.
Anyone want to count how many sacred cows Yaalon just slaughtered?
Although the United Nations calls for our replacement with a 'state of Palestine' every November, when push comes to shove, they always call on Israel to help. But this time, despite a request from the United Nations and the Obama administration to open IDF field hospitals, Israel said 'no,' it will not send its troops to Africa to fight Ebola. No, not because of the danger of Ebola, but because of the danger to IDF troops' lives.
The Foreign Ministry
recommended the Defense Ministry respond positively to the American's
request, even though it was a complex mission, which runs the risk of
infection for medical crews, who would have been forced to wear full NBC
suits.
The mission was further complicated by the need to provide security for each such encampment.
Despite all these risks, the Foreign Ministry believed that
participation in such a mission would help bolster Israel's
international standing, which suffered a severe blow in the aftermath of Operation Protective Edge.
However, after examining the request and mission details, the
Defense Ministry decided against Israel's participation, saying there
was no feasible way to provide for the safety of the Israeli doctors and
medical crews, which could then return to Israel and further spread the
virus.
Despite the decision –
or maybe because of it – the foreign minister decided to up the level of
Israeli aid to the Ebola effort.
That's just fine with me. If they want our help, they could learn to be nicer to us (just sayin'...).
US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power has all but admitted that the Obama administration's claims to have destroyed '96% of Syria's chemical weapons' are false.
Samantha Power spoke to reporters after the Security
Council received a briefing from Sigrid Kaag, who heads the
international effort to rid Syria of its chemical weapons.
The joint mission of the United Nations and the
Organization for the prohibition of Chemical Weapons will end at the end
of the month after destroying nearly all of Syria’s declared stockpile.
But Kaag said the OPCW is still working with Syria to resolve
discrepancies in its declaration, which she said range from outdated
records to discrepancies on the volume of materials.
Power said the U.S. is concerned not only that President
Bashar Assad’s regime still has chemical weapons but that any stockpiles
left behind could end up in the hands of the Islamic State group, which
has seized large swaths of Syria and Iraq.
Gee, ya think? Well, yeah....
[D]oubts shadow the Assad regimes statements. The main one is
whether Assad is hiding undeclared poison gases and there is an
investigation into reports of alleged chlorine gas use in some Syrian
towns. Chorine is not specifically classified as a chemical weapon.
So here are the solid facts – Syria has not give up even a
small portion of its chemical weapons. Assad is a master of deception
and he found himself in front of a naive west that believed him.
Syria has one of the most advanced chemical warfare (CW)
capabilities in the Middle East. The country’s initial CW capability was
provided by Egypt prior to the October 1973 war against Israel. Since
then, Syria appears to have acquired an indigenous capability to develop
and produce chemical weapons agents, including mustard gas and Sarin,
and possibly also VX nerve agent. Chemical weapons agents have allegedly
been produced since the 1980s at facilities located near the Hama,
Homs, and Al-Safira villages in the Aleppo region. However, Syria
remains dependent on foreign sources for some dual-use equipment, and
for the precursor chemicals critical to CW agent production. In recent
years, Iran has been identified as a supplier of technical assistance
and facilities for developing and producing CW-related precursors. Syria
possesses Scud-B and Scud-C ballistic missiles, artillery shells, and
rockets that are believed to be capable of delivering chemical warheads.
Until recently, Syria had refused to become a member of the Chemical
Weapons Convention (CWC)
The problem isn't that the West is naive. The problem is that Obama never wanted to deal with Assad's chemical weapons capacity in the first place (particularly because it might have verified claims by the hated George W. Bush administration that Saddam Hussein transferred chemical weapons to Syria for safekeeping before the Second Gulf War).
Oh my: US Ambassador Power refers to Daniel Pearl as part of 'cycle of violence'
If you're an American citizen, this is your ambassador to the United Nations:
Daniel Pearl's story is reminder that individual accountability & reconciliation are required to break cycles of violence. @DanielPearlFNDN
— Samantha Power (@AmbassadorPower) February 24, 2014
Remind me now... to which 'cycle of violence' did Daniel Pearl belong when he had his throat split by a Pakistani Muslim? When was the last time Israel attacked Pakistan?
Daniel Pearl was a Jew, and he was murdered for being a Jew. Although as one of my friends pointed out this morning, the Daniel Pearl Foundation often spits out the same kind of drivel.
There are many comments on this tweet, and they are uniformly against Ambassador Power.
But recall, that this is the woman who wanted to send US troops to drive Israel out of Judea and Samaria. She fits right in with the Hussein Obama administration....
The United Nations has barred Jews from attending a Monday meeting of the United Nations Division of 'Palestinian' Rights reports Adam Kredo at the Washington Free Beacon (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
The Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust (IHRH), a U.N.-approved NGO group, claims the U.N. Division for Palestinian Rights
(UNDPR) has unjustly barred 18 pro-Israel Jews from attending a Monday
event marking the “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian
People.”
U.N. security officials initially had granted the Touro Institute
credentials permitting 18 Birthright Israel alumni to attend the daylong series of meetings, which will be attended by the U.N.’s most high-level officials.
However, those credentials were quickly revoked at the behest of the
UNDPR, according to IHRH officials and e-mails obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The incident has sparked a pointed back-and-forth between U.N.
officials and IHRH director Anne Bayefsky, who accuses the body of
allowing the UNDPR to effectively bar pro-Israel groups from attending
major events regarding the Palestinians.
Bayefsky is concerned that this behavior is part of a larger trend by
the Palestinians to control the narrative at the U.N. and prevent
dissenting voices from being heard.
Bayefsky has registered her concerns with multiple U.S. officials and
even U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, who has yet to reply.
“This is the face of modern anti-Semitism by the U.N.,” Bayefsky told the Free Beacon
when asked about the days-long back-and-forth. “This is the how
discrimination works in the real-life operation of the U.N. Where is
Ambassador Samantha Power?”
Well I sure hope she's fighting anti-Israel bias like she promised. Still waiting for someone in the Obama administration to speak up about this. Not holding my breath....
Samantha Power had her confirmation hearing to be US Ambassador to the UN on Wednesday, and Anne Bayefsky reports that it went far better than Power deserved.
The actual record, notwithstanding, Susan Rice ended her term by
appearing before the cameras at U.N. Headquarters on June 25 and
reciting a list of Team Obama’s purported achievements. Among other
things, Rice claimed that she had saved American taxpayer dollars going
to the U.N. and had created new “transparency.”
Actually, in 2010 the Obama administration stopped reporting the
total U.S. contributions to the U.N. and has never produced this figure
since. Every indication is that the amount has gone up, not down.
So where does Samantha Power fit in this sorry state of affairs? In
general, Power will parrot the Obama/Rice mantra that it’s all about
issuing in “a new era of engagement to the United Nations.”
In fact, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic
Communications and Speechwriting, Ben Rhodes informs us that Power has
already been hard at work applying the “engagement” agenda. The
specifics reveal a troubling record on Israel, a subject which has
become a touchstone for her appointment.
Speaking to the Israeli paper Haaretz in June – as part of an evident
campaign to repair her pro-Israel credentials – Rhodes said: “Sam had
been the point person at the White House on all issues related to Israel
at the U.N.”
This is not a plus.
The U.N. Human Rights Council, the U.N.’s top human rights body,
might be described as Israel-delegitimization headquarters. But instead
of delegitimizing the delegitimizers, Power has urged the president to
do just the opposite and lend the prestige of the world’s leading
democracy to this human rights sham. Consistent with her advice, the
administration joined the Council and remains a member.
An unnamed “senior U.S. official” also told Haaretz: “Power
claimed…in discussions with the White House… that joining the Human
Rights Council would give the United States better tools to protect
Israel from discrimination…” and he continued: “It was manifestly
true…We were able to rally Europeans to stand with us against
anti-Israel resolutions…creating…a moral majority.”
When I saw this article in my email, I assumed it was about how Samantha Power, the radical libtard whom President Hussein Obama named US Ambassador to the United Nations this week, was a perfect match for the other radical libtards in the Obama White House. I was wrong. This article by Melanie Phillips is about how Power is a perfect match for the fascist regimes who dominate the United Nations.
No, she was talking about invading Israel to prevent a genocide, or
major human rights abuses, (her language wasn’t clear, but the point is
the same), against the Palestinians -- something which, in any rational
universe, not only could not possibly be laid at Israel’s door but also
held out the possibility that Israel might commit atrocities against
people who themselves make Israel the victim of precisely such atrocities (and indeed, commit them regularly against other Palestinians).
She also suggested that defending Israel was not a cause that should
be dear to all Americans and indeed all decent people everywhere, nor
that the great majority of Americans do indeed thus support Israel, but
that the only people who might be alienated by invading Israel would be
American Jews who exercised tremendous political and financial power
over American politics.
Subsequently she said of these comments that she couldn’t remember what she had said and didn’t understand what she had meant.
Maybe a clue lies in what she told the New Statesman during Obama’s first presidential campaign:
'So much of it is about: "Is he going to be good for the Jews?" '
Or when she bemoaned the tendency of US policymakers
‘to defer reflexively to Israeli security assessments, and to replicate Israeli tactics…’
Failing to understand herself seems to be a persistent problem beyond this amnesia about her own bigotry.
Read the whole thing. She will indeed fit right in at the UN. In fact, she'd fit in even better at the 'human rights council.'
Republican Jewish Coalition statement on Samantha Power nomination
The Republican Jewish Coalition has issued a statement in reaction to the announcement that Samantha Power has been nominated to replace Susan Rice at the United Nations, as Rice is moving up to the National Security Council.
In 2008, as an academic who taught at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Samantha Power suggested
that the U.S. should invade Israel militarily to impose a settlement to
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and protect “a new state of
Palestine.” Her writing and public appearances reflected her views that special-interest lobbies in this country (read, the “Israel lobby”) have too great an impact on our foreign policy in the Middle East.
More recently, she served as the first director of President Obama’s
new Atrocity Prevention Board. In her months in that role, the APB was
silent about the thousands of civilians killed by the Syrian government,
the attacks by the Sudanese government of the Nuba tribes in South
Sudan, and other crises around the world. The APB has no web site or social media presence, and has not responded to letters from human rights activists and genocide scholars regarding ongoing atrocities.
Sounds like she'll fit right in the Obama White House and the United Nations.
But her bit of nastiness seems to be tinged with a bit of anti-Semitism as well.
When concerns arose in 2008 regarding Barack Obama and his views towards Israel it generated wrath from Ms. Power,
who was a key foreign policy adviser to candidate Obama. She let loose
in a radio interview while in Europe, "So much of it is about: 'Is he
going to be good for the Jews?" Her writings and sayings are laced with
more of anti-Semitism.
She even went so far as to call Israelis "bastards"
She even promoted Palestinian propaganda that a massacre was committed in Jenin-even telling off a New York Times reporter (!) who did not agree with her view
She also wanted to impose a settlement on Israel, backed up with the placement of US troops (Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel thinks likewise, btw).
Her
adherence to the Soros-funded principle of Responsibility to Protect as
an international policy can be used as a cudgel against Israel when it
comes to the Palestinians and any actions Israel may be compelled to
take in Lebanon to defend herself from Hezb'allah (now busy committing
war crimes in Syria at the behest of the mullahs in Iran).
Ms. Power also derided concerns about Iran's nuclear weapons program in a Time magazine column,
stating that it was a figment of the imagination conjured up and
promoted by George Bush to gin up pressure on Iran . She counseled, what
else, outreach and engagement not further pressure. She will be great
at the United Nations: great for Iran, great for Hezb'llah, great for
Hamas.
She will be widely welcomed in that hotbed of hatred.
The appointments of Rice and Power not only represent the ascension of
women to top roles on Obama’s national security team, but the rise of
two officials who have made human rights a priority — at a time when the
U.S. faces an agonizing decisions over Syria where President Bashar
Assad has killed tens of thousands of civlilans.
...
People close to Obama expect Republicans on the Hill to continue
their anti-Rice drumbeat, but they have no authority to stop her
selection — the position is one of the few at the senior level that
requires no Senate confirmation. Power, however, will face confirmation
hearings for her nomination.
Obama is eager for that fight, and was embittered by the attacks
against Rice to an extent unmatched by nearly any other episode in his
fight-filled presidency.
Conservatives responded quickly — and negatively — to the Rice pick.
Power was forced to resign from Obama's campaign in March 2008 after
calling former Secretary of State and then Obama rival Hillary Clinton a
'monster.'
But in the Jewish community, Power is better known for another
undiplomatic 'slip of the tongue.' For those who have forgotten or for
whom the name doesn't ring a bell, let's go to the videotape.
Rice may be drawing the attention, but Congress can do nothing to stop Rice's nomination and it's a lot less worrisome to Israel's supporters than Power's nomination.
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
