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1. Poll: Obama has Lost Almost Half of his US Jewish Support
by Gil Ronen
United States President Barack Obama has lost nearly half of his support among American Jews, a poll by the McLaughlin Group has shown.
The US Jews polled were asked whether they would: (a) vote to re-elect Obama, or (b) consider voting for someone else. 42% said they would vote for Obama and 46%, a plurality, preferred the second answer. 12% said they did not know or refused to answer.
In the Presidential elections of 2008, 78% of Jewish voters, or close to 8 out of 10, chose Obama. The McLaughlin poll held nearly 18 months later, in April 2010, appears to show that support down to around 4 out of 10.
The poll showed that key voter segments including Orthodox/Hassidic voters, Conservative voters, voters who have friends and family in Israel and those who have been to Israel, are all more likely to consider voting for someone other than Obama.
Among Orthodox/Hassidic voters, 69% marked 'someone else' vs. 17% who marked 're-elect.' Among Conservative-affiliated voters the proportion was 50% to 38%. Among Reform Jews, a slim majority of 52% still supported Obama while 36% indicated they would consider someone else. Among Jews with family in Israel and those who had been to Israel, about 50% said they would consider someone else, while 41%-42% supported Obama.
Fifty percent of the Jewish voters polled said they approved of the job Obama is doing handling US relations with Israel. Thirty-nine percent said they disapproved. “This rating is not good for a group of voters who are 59% Democratic to only 16% Republican,” the poll's analysis noted.
A majority of 52% said they disapproved of the idea of the Obama Administration supporting a plan to recognize a Palestinian state within two years. 62% said that if given a state, “the Palestinians would continue their campaign of terror to destroy Israel.” Only 19% thought they would live peacefully with Israel.
As Obama loses support among members of the influential Jewish voter bloc, possible Republican candidate Sarah Palin seems to be doing her best to woo them to her camp. At Time Magazine’s May 4 dinner honoring the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World,’ she was sporting a US/Israel flag pin.
2. 'Obama Behind Jerusalem Apartheid'
by Maayana Miskin
Recent days have seen conflicting reports on construction in Jerusalem. While Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu states that construction in Jerusalem will continue, reports indicate that in practice, Jews are barred from building in some parts of the capital city. Arutz Sheva's Hebrew news service spoke to Jerusalem Construction and Building Planning Committee member Yair Gabbai to clarify the situation.
According to Gabbai, there is definitely a distinction being made between “west” Jerusalem, meaning the territory that has been under Israeli sovereignty since 1948, and “east” Jerusalem, the lands that were under Jordanian control from 1948 until 1967. Recently, officials have begun making a distinction between Jews and Arabs, allowing Arabs to build in neighborhoods where Jews are turned down for construction permits, he said.
"The most recent meetings have taken on a certain apartheid-like quality,” he said. “Construction permits in eastern Jerusalem are given exclusively to Arabs, while in the western half of the city there's no discrimination.”
United States President Barack Obama is behind the de facto construction freeze, Gabbai believes. “[Obama] is the source of the pressure on the prime minister and the government to freeze construction in eastern Jerusalem, even though it's not good for Jerusalem,” he said.
The construction freeze is not only discriminatory, but is even criminal, he said. By law, the entire city of Jerusalem is under Israeli sovereignty, and no distinction should be made between various neighborhoods.
Gabbai suggested two ways in which Israelis can fight the Jerusalem building freeze. One path would be a legal battle. “I'm convinced that if a Jew can prove he's been discriminated against, and that suddenly only Arab construction plans are coming before the committee even though he was supposed to come before the committee as well, the court won't allow it,” he said.
Another possibility is to fight the freeze at its source, by putting pressure on Obama, he said. If tens of thousands of Americans take to the streets and tell Obama to leave Jerusalem alone, the president will be forced to do so, he stated.
“The American public... is sensitive to the subject of Jerusalem, more so than to any other part of American foreign policy. If the public's anger is aroused, he will be forced to change his policy,” Gabbai said. Proof of the Obama administration's need for public support can be seen in the administration's efforts to enlist support from Jewish organizations in the wake of tensions over Jerusalem, he added.
3. Arab Activist: Attacking Israeli Civilians - Not a War Crime
by Arutz Sheva staff
In the midst of the Cast Lead counterterror offensive in late 2008 and early 2009, the Israeli Arab group Ittijah accused Israel of war crimes and called to put Israeli leaders on trial. The organization, which serves as an umbrella group for dozens of Arab non-profits, also accused Israel of genocide.
At the time, researcher Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi interviewed Ittijah's chairman, Amir Makhoul. Makhoul stated that he sees Hamas as a legitimate political group, and argued that terrorist attacks targeting Israeli civilians are not a war crime.
During Cast Lead Hamas fired over 770 rockets and mortar shells at Israel, murdering several civilians, wounding over 180, and destroying houses, schools, and other property.
The interview, conducted in 2008, gained relevance this week in wake of recent developments.
Below is part of Dahoah-Halevi's interview with Makhoul.
Question: What concrete steps do you plan to take?
Makhoul: We're planning a public struggle, demonstrations throughout the country, a general strike today (29.12.08) among the Arab populace, and we're working to make the struggle more organized and put an end to the slaughter. At the same time, we're working on the international level, organizing campaigns to boycott Israel and demonstrations against international groups that work with Israel, such as the United States, the UN Security Council, the European Union, the Egyptian government, and even part of the Palestinian Authority.
Question: You say you plan to bring those responsible to trial in an international court?
Makhoul: Yes, yes, we're doing that. We can't publicize our methods... We're working on that at a very, very high level, internationally.
Question: Who are you planning to target with that plan?
Makhoul: Our targets are the government ministers, the Defense Minister, the heads of the military, military commanders in Gaza and elsewhere, field commanders, the head of the Air Force, there's a series of people who bear responsibility. We won't publish their names yet, because then they'll take defensive action.
Question: You say the entire Israeli people bears responsibility?
Makhoul: We didn't say the entire people, rather, the public. The public, not every single individual. There are those who resist, who fight the occupation. We aren't talking about them. We're talking about those who give their support. The public supports the government's policy and will bear responsibility. This is true in every case in which a people suffers due to crimes or that its government committed crimes.
Question: What do you mean by 'a partner to the crime'?
Makhoul: The German people was responsible for the crimes committed by its regime.
Question: How does Ittijah see the Hamas leadership, does it see it as a ruling power that is a party to war crimes?
Makhoul: No, no. It's an elected governing body. The populace is under occupation. Ultimately, the UN and international law allow war against an occupying power, and one cannot say that Gaza is not occupied, because Israel is responsible for the siege, the siege is not a Heavenly decree.
Question: Organizations like Amnesty International and B'Tselem define rocket fire as a war crime. Does your organization see rocket fire as a war crime like those groups?
Makhoul: No, no. We oppose harming civilians, any civilians, but at the end of the day we know that the Palestinian people's battle is against the occupation and not against the Jews.
Question: Is rocket fire a war crime committed by Hamas?
Makhoul: No.
Question: Is harming civilians not a war crime?
Makhoul: No, no, no, that's something completely different. Israel is not the victim. The victim is the Palestinian people, including Hamas, which is a legitimate movement.
Question: The question is regarding rocket fire targeting civilians. The question is simple – is firing on civilian towns a war crime?
Makhoul: No, no. In and of itself, it's not defined like that... It's not a war crime. The definition of a war crime is different.
4. White House Reports Two-Year Building Freeze in Ramat Shlomo
by Maayana Miskin
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has agreed to freeze construction in a Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem for two years, officials in the United States State Department said Sunday. Netanyahu's office denied that he has agreed not to build in Ramat Shlomo in northern Jerusalem until 2012.
US officials said the move was part of an effort to create the right atmosphere for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Israel has agreed to freeze construction, and the PA has agreed to fight incitement, they said. Israel has long complained that the PA engages in incitement and indoctrination of its populace to revere terrorist murderers and hate Jews.
The PA announced Sunday that it has agreed to hold indirect negotiations with Israel, after threatening for several weeks that it would not do so unless Israel extended the freeze on construction in Judea and Samaria to eastern Jerusalem as well. The Israeli decision not to build in Ramat Shlomo may be a compromise between the pressure from the US and PA to declare a complete freeze in eastern Jerusalem, and the official government position that construction in the capital will go on.
US envoy George Mitchell left Israel on Sunday; the talks are scheduled to begin with his return to the region next week.
Earlier this year US officials were upset when the Jerusalem municipality confirmed the approval of a construction project in Ramat Shlomo during a visit from US Vice-President Joe Biden. At the time, Israeli officials said the US anger was misplaced, because the declaration was simply part of a long bureaucratic approval that would take years anyways.
During the same visit, PA officials met to honor deceased female terrorist Dalal el-Mughrabi, who led the most bloody terrorist attack in Israel's history.
Ramat Shlomo is a predominantly hareidi-religious neighborhood in northern Jerusalem. It was built on state land that was not previously owned by Arabs, and is surrounded by other Jewish neighborhoods. The land was under Jordanian occupation from 1948 to 1967.
The PA claims Ramat Shlomo as part of the capital of a PA state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. According to PA officials, all land east of the 1949 armistice line is rightfully Arab, including historically Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem.
5. MK Warns of Bloodshed after Yitzhar Yeshiva Razing Order
by Gil Ronen
The IDF's Civilian Administration issued a demolition order Sunday against the spacious building that houses Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva at Yitzhar, in Samaria. MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union), in an unprecedented statement, warned that bloodshed would ensue.
Local residents believe that authorities are purposely punishing the yeshiva because of a confrontation with the IDF that took place on Independence Day, and also because security forces hold the yeshiva's students responsible for various attacks against Arabs in recent months and years, including the burning of a carpet in a mosque at the nearby village of Yassuf.
"It turns out that the authorities are making special efforts to hurt the yeshiva in an unfair and vindictive way,” a yeshiva spokesman said Sunday. “It should be noted that the building is an ornate permanent structure, with an area of 1,300 square meters, which was built with the aid of the Ministry of Housing and was approved by the various authorities to serve as an educational institution.”
The destruction order, the residents said, cited an 11 year old work-stoppage order – one that they had never heard of until now. The building took years to build and cost over $1 million.
"We intend to take action on all levels to cancel and prevent the wicked destruction,” the yeshiva stated. “We hope that we will merit the right to see a proper Jewish government that recognizes its right and obligation to act on behalf of the Jews in their land.”
MK Eldad reacted to the news Sunday by declaring that “the Defense Minister and his yes-man, the Head of the Civilian Administration, declared war on the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria when they issued a demolition order against the Yitzhar Yeshiva that was established 11 years ago.”
"Only a person whose narrow political interests are served by the bloodshed that can be expected in this case would consider playing with fire in this way,” Eldad said, in a reference to Defense Minister Ehud Barak. “But the responsibility rests with the Prime Minister, who allows Nero to burn Israel even as he plays the piano in [his apartment at] the Akirov Towers.” This, too, was a reference to Barak, who lives in the luxurious Akirov Towers in Tel Aviv.
"If Bibi does not stop Barak – the blood that will be shed in this crazy action will be on his hands, too,” Eldad warned.
Residents say that the IDF is punishing them for an incident that occurred on Independence Day. The IDF said that residents from Yitzhar tried to enter the Arab village of Madma, and IDF soldiers blocked their way. A violent altercation ensued in which residents from Yitzhar allegedly threw rocks at the soldiers.
Inside the yeshiva.
6. Samaria Residents on War Footing Against Demolitions
by Gil Ronen
Grassroots leaders in Samaria are ratcheting up their resistance to the government's demolitions of Jewish homes, in response to what they see as an escalation of the Defense Ministry's campaign against them.
Last week's demolitions of homes in Ganei Modiin and Shavei Shomron, and the beating of Shavei Shomron's rabbi, convinced the grassroots Samaria Residents' Council that it was time to roll up its sleeves and organize resistance. The Council has established an Emergency Headquarters that is manned 24 hours a day and that has called upon residents to be alert and report any movement of police vehicles.
The HQ is interested in reports of movement by regular police, Border Police and special Yassam police, especially if there are signs that they are headed to one of the Jewish communities for demolition of homes and other structures that are deemed illegal.
The HQ crosschecks such information with reports it receives from other sources and issues alerts to activists whenever destructive action by the authorities is identified. The HQ then calls up “reinforcements” to try and prevent the demolitions.
Council Director Esther Karish said that in several cases, the HQ has already succeeded in organizing resistance to the arrival of inspectors and security forces, thanks to citizen reports to the HQ. “In the Shavei Shomron demolition last week,” she said, “the destruction forces arrived in small units so that a large scale convoy would not be detected.”
7. IAF Responds to Fire, Blasts Terror Sites
by Maayana Miskin
The Air Force demolished two targets in southern Gaza early on Monday morning. The targets, part of Gaza's terrorist infrastructure, were destroyed in response to a Saturday night rocket attack.
"The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm the citizens of the state of Israel, and will continue to operate against those who use terror,” an army spokesman said following the strikes. “The IDF holds Hamas as solely responsible for maintaining peace and quiet in the Gaza Strip.”
The Saturday night attack ended with no injuries after the rocket hit an open field in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council.
Gaza terrorists have fired approximately 50 rockets at southern Israel since the beginning of 2010. Terrorists have fired more than 330 rockets since the end of the Cast Lead counterterror offensive in Gaza in early 2009.
