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1. Jewish Donors Outraged by 'Sociopath' Obama, Says Columnist
by Gil Ronen
If senior journalist David Goldman is right, the correct word for describing the way a growing number of US Jews feel about President Barack Obama is not 'anger' but 'rage' – white-hot rage, at that, and a conviction that they have been swindled.
Goldman, Senior Editor of First Things magazine and 'Spengler' columnist for Asia Times Online, spoke last week at a convention on intellectuals and terror at Ariel University in Samaria. In his lecture, he quoted a top Jewish campaign donor who used the word 'sociopath' to describe Obama. In an interview with Israel National News, he predicted a possibly dramatic 'train wreck' for the Democrats in the November mid-term elections, with Jewish fundraising for Democrats drying up and a possibly high turnout of anti-Obama evangelical Christians.
INN: The recent McLaughlin group poll shows US Jewish support of Obama at about half its level in the 2008 election. Is this an accurate reflection of the mood among US Jews?
DG: When the American Jewish Committee conducted its annual poll of American Jewish opinion in February, just before Obama provoked the diplomatic crisis [over construction at Ramat Shlomo], 55% of respondents approved of Obama's handling of relations with Israel, slightly less than the 57% that approved of the Netanyahu government. American Jews were under the mistaken impression that Washington and Jerusalem were on the same track. But 61% opposed any compromise on Jerusalem, while 75% agreed with the statement, “The goal of the Arabs is not the return of occupied territories but rather the destruction of Israel.” Support for Obama, in short, was a mile wide and an inch deep before he provoked the diplomatic crisis with Israel.
The outrage among Obama's erstwhile Jewish supporters, reflected daily in Marty Peretz's 'The Spine' blog at the New Republic, is heightened by the sense of wounded self-esteem felt by clever people who have just been swindled. I have spoken privately to several large Jewish contributors to Democratic campaigns who express a sense of outrage that I never have heard before. Jewish contributors to Democratic campaigns are selectively funding Republicans, for example Mark Kirk in Illinois, who is running for Obama's Senate seat, as a warning. Democratic Congressmen trying to defend Obama have been booed off the dais of meetings at traditionally liberal Reform synagogues in several parts of the country. If the train wreck proceeds as programed, the change in attitude within the American Jewish community could be dramatic.
This also is reflected in the harsh tone with which centrist liberal Jews have criticized Obama--for example Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, Alan Dershowitz, and former New York Mayor Ed Koch.
INN: In the conference at Ariel you quoted contributors who used the word "sociopath." Is this actually the word they used? What makes Obama's broken promises different from the campaign double-talk we are used to from politicians?
DG: The actual phrase I heard from one important player in Jewish Democratic circles was, "Sociopath is too nice a word to describe Obama." That was a Kiddush [festive synagogue event] conversation, so no names, of course. The difference is the magnitude and depth of the deception. In July 2008, the press was full of reports of Obama's anti-Israel connections, including the fact that his foreign policy advisor in his Senate office was the odious Samantha Power – who proposed international military intervention to end the 'Israeli occupation' – as well as Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was an official campaign spokesman, along with many others.
Obama gave assurances to the Jewish community which were so persuasive that Martin Peretz announced in his 'Spine' blog that Obama could be trusted. Brzezinski and Power were shown the door (Power after she made inappropriate remarks about Hillary Clinton) and the Jewish community was satisfied that Obama was as reliable as, say, Bill Clinton. Obama has extraordinary gifts of persuasion, and has been profligate about employing them. He persuaded some very wealthy and sophisticated people that he was on their side, and then turned on them.
INN: Ed Koch has predicted the Democrats will suffer a 'tsunami' in November. If this scenario materializes, how much pressure would this create on Obama to change his Middle East policies?
DG: The President, not Congress, controls foreign policy. That said, politics is always a factor – but it is not the only factor.
Many observers are predicting a crushing defeat for the Democrats in November. Dick Morris, the former Clinton advisor and Fox News commentator, claims that the Republicans will take both Houses of Congress. The fact that Democratic fundraising among Jews will be a tough sell contributes to the problem, but is not a decisive factor; there are enough other reasons for the Democrats to lose, starting with high unemployment and the fact that Obama has failed to create any middle ground with the Republicans and is perceived as too far too the left to suit the national mood. Obama almost certainly has resigned himself to a bad interim election; his best play is to spend the next two years running against a 'do-nothing' Republican Congress in the hope of winning a second term in 2012.
If Obama attempts to impose a settlement on Israel prior to the November elections, it will give the Republicans a stick with which to hit him. American support for Israel is running at all-time highs, with 64% supporting Israel according to Gallup vs. 18% sympathy for the Palestinian Arabs. And if he forces a crisis in diplomatic relations with Israel, it will become a significant factor in 2012. Not only will Jewish fundraising dry up (with some going to Republicans), but evangelical Christian support for Israel may become a factor. The evangelicals are an amorphous movement without centralized leadership, and the big question regarding their weight in elections is turnout. If they are highly motivated by an issue close to their concerns – and Israel is such an issue – they can be an important factor. Evangelicals comprise roughly 28% of the electorate, and a big change in turnout could shift 2% to 3% of the national vote to the Republicans – probably a winning margin.
That is why many Democrats are warning Obama against pursuing a confrontational strategy with Israel. The degree of Obama's ideological fervor in support of conciliating the Muslim world surprised the political world, as did the ferocity of his diplomatic approach to Israel. It is hard to avoid the conclusion – which I have long believed – that Obama has a profound personal commitment to reconciling America with the Muslim world which will override the usual political calculus. Given that he had a Muslim father and stepfather, was raised for four years in Indonesia, and has written with passion about his sympathy for the traditional identity of Indonesian Muslims, this is not surprising.
Obama's personal impulses are in conflict with his evident political interests, and it is impossible to predict how things will work out. There are other considerations as well. American troops are supposed to start leaving Iraq in the summer, and the country well might explode. Iran will make progress towards acquiring nuclear weapons, and reinforce its presence in Iraq, Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere. Obama's policy in the region may blow up in his face in the advent of the November elections. He has some incentive to make Israel the scapegoat for this failure, by arguing that if only Israel were reasonable in dealing with the Palestinians, the US could win Muslim support in other parts of the region. This is entirely specious, in my view, but the probability is that Obama will stick to his guns.
2. Yaalon: Without Jerusalem, There Would be No Tel Aviv
by Gil Ronen
Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon reassured a Jerusalem audience at a Jerusalem Day ceremony that the capital will not be divided. Yaalon, who is seen as one of the more steadfast nationalists in the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, said: “Without Jerusalem there would not have occurred the Return to Zion. This should be repeated: Without Jerusalem there would be no Tel Aviv and there would be no State of Israel.”
“Let me be clear about this,” Yaalon said in a speech at the Bnei Akiva Yeshivat HaKotel on Tuesday evening. “All the talk about redividing Jerusalem or internationalizing it is 'like dust in the wind and a fleeting dream'” – a quote from Unetaneh Tokef, a Jewish liturgical poem that is recited on the High Holy Days. The audience responded with fervent applause.
Netanyahu had also stressed the Jewish people's connection to its capital of 3,000 years in a Jerusalem Day speech at a yeshiva in another part of the city, Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav, although he disappointed those who hoped for an explicit vow not to freeze construction in Jerusalem. “We are building it,” he said, “we will continue to build it and we will continue to develop it.”
Rabbi Baruch Vieder, head of Yeshivat HaKotel, spoke of Jerusalem as the heart of the Nation of Israel and said that the stones of the Western Wall (Kotel) were “stones with a human heart.” The Kotel, he added, opens the hearts of the Jews who visit it, from the Paratroopers who cried at its liberation to the thousands of Jews who come there every Friday night to sing “G-d, we love You.”
Additional speakers at Yeshivat HaKotel were the Head of Yerucham Yeshiva, Rabbi Eliyahu Blumenzweig; Rabbi Yitzchak Levi of Har Etzion Yeshiva; and Ilan Moreno, whose son Lt.-Col. Emanuel Moreno was a fallen hero of the Second Lebanon War.
3. US Muslim Envoy: Representing Who?
by Hana Levi Julian
Controversial U.S. Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference Rashad Hussein is back in the spotlight over an interview published Monday in the English-language edition of the Arabic international daily Asharq Al-Awsat.
Commentary magazine's political columnist Jennifer Rubin first raised the alarm over the interview, charging in an Internet post that in a “foreign, Arabic publication,” Hussein “skewers, without justification or basis in fact, the Bush administration.”
However, within 24 hours, Rubin was posting an update to inform readers that “no doubt alarmed by the Rashad Hussein interview, the State Department has provided a transcript and an audio recording of the interview that departs in significant respects from the interview that was printed at the Asharq Al-Awsat website.”
The Arab version was indeed quite different than that which the U.S. Government later provided to Commentary, leading Rubin to “wonder whether there is utility in speaking to such publications if the words of our special envoy are simply converted to anti-American and pro-Palestinian talking points.”
It was not clear whether the State Department would ask for a retraction.
Numerous political commentators pounced on the transcript posted on the Asharq Al-Awsat website, which called into question the issue of who the American Muslim envoy was really representing. A sampling from the site follows:
Q: Do you think it will be easy to overcome the hostility in the Islamic world towards certain US policies, especially in light of the actions taken under the previous US administration?
A: We are concerned about this but we are determined to move forward, without looking to the past and the negative effects of this, in order to erase the hostile feelings caused by the administration of former President George W. Bush. There is now a suitable opportunity to overcome the past, and open a new page in relations between the US and the people in the Islamic region.
However, the State Department's transcript and audio recording of the interview revealed a different response entirely:
“What we are really concerned about and moving forward on, is implementing new areas of cooperation. Just to give you an example, to be fair to the previous administration, the envoy to the OIC was something that President Bush announced towards the end of his administration, so we are looking to go forward and really build on that and to make sure that the cooperation between the envoy and Muslim communities around the world is based on a whole range of issues, and some of those I've discussed with you.”
Other examples between the inflammatory attitude displayed on the Arabic site, and the actual words spoken by the American Muslim envoy, can be seen below. On the Asharq site, the following was posted:
Q: What is your strategy to heal the rift in relations between the people of the Islamic world and the United States of America?
A: “U.S. President Barack Obama's speech from Cairo was clear in drawing up the policy that will be followed by the U.S. administration towards the Islamic world, and putting an end to the ongoing conflict over the issue of Palestine that has caused wide hostility among the Islamic people.”
Q: Do you think the Israeli settlement building in Jerusalem complicates your mission to improve US relations with the Islamic world?
A: Of course, there are fears that any action or provocation will negatively affect feelings, and as a Muslim I know full well that the Al Aqsa Mosque was the first Qibla [direction in which Muslims pray] and is the third holiest site for Muslims and is revered by Muslims. President Obama is committed to calming the situation in the city of Jerusalem, and finding solutions that are both acceptable to the Palestinians and the Israelis.
There is also a clear position by the president to reject any settlement building in east Jerusalem, and there is a statement to this effect from the US administration, which has many ways to settle the conflict in the region that has lasted for 60 years. However, it is not easy for this to be settled overnight so we must bridge the differences between the conflicting parties. Over the last few days we have heard good news to the effect that indirect negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis have begun, so I think we are making progress in this regard, and we must not take a step backwards.
The State Department audio transcript subsequently released to clarify matters indicates a much milder comment on how America plans to repair the "rift in relations between the people of the Islamic world and the United States of America":
“The main thing which is going to improve relations between the United States and Muslims around the world is first of all when we make it clear that we have created a framework of cooperation, and that our cooperation will not simply be based on one or two issues such as violent extremism, and that the United States makes it clear that we recognize that this is an issue where Muslims reject violent extremism and terrorism. That is the first step.
"But another step will be to really show results in a number of areas and those include working towards resolving the political conflicts... The United States is working tirelessly on a solution with the parties involved on the Middle East issue, but we've also implemented programs in the area of education where we've increased exchanges, in the area of health we're working on polio eradication, we've cooperated before Hajj on H1N1.The President just held an entrepreneurship summit as you know, and we have many forums for interfaith dialogue. So we think that as we continue to develop these areas and Muslims and all people around the world see progress, then we'll have a good basis for restoring positive relations.”
Nevertheless, it is still clear, as Rubin points out, that Hussein takes an apologist stance in dealing with the Muslim world, and sidesteps the issue of whether there is a link between Islam and terrorism. Hussein also chooses to narrow his focus to the PA-Israel conflict, and avoids discussing the real threat to the region and the world posed by Iran's headlong rush towards the nuclear technology that will enable the Islamic Republic to achieve an atomic weapon of mass destruction.
4. Fatah Leaders Call for All-Out Boycott of Israel
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
A member of the central council of the Fatah party, headed by Abbas, calls on the Palestinian Authority to extend its boycott of Yesha (Judea and Samaria) products to all of Israel.
Speaking at a recent conference in El Bireh, next to Ramallah, Mahmoud al Aylool said an all-out boycott of all Israeli products is “legitimate resistance” and is effective because the PA market is Israel’s second largest outside of the United States. “The struggle is not political but rather is cultural and is connected to our daily lives,” he declared. Jordanian trade unions also are calling for a total boycott of Israel.
Aylool called on students to oversee activities in their homes and schools to keep out Israeli products. The conference was organized to raise awareness in the PA community of the boycott of Jewish products from Judea and Samaria, but Aylool extended its mandate.
Previous agreements between the PA and Israel ensure open markets, and implicitly prohibit boycotts. PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has led the movement to place an embargo on goods and merchandise from Judea and Samaria. Several weeks ago, he attended a public burning of thousands of dollars of Jewish products that were confiscated, and PA forces have arrested several Arabs for purchasing Jewish goods.
The PA is not likely to call officially for an full boycott of all Israeli products because it would not be accepted by the American government, but can cause de facto acceptance of it. It is an impractical idea in the long term, because as pro-Israel activists have noted,if the international campaign to boycott Israel were put into full effect, it would include giving up life-saving medicines as well as cellphones, computers and telecommunications equipment, often originating in Israeli factories.
The de facto Hamas authority, which receives daily shipments of humanitarian assistance via Israel, has not called for a boycott on Jewish products from Judea and Samaria or from the rest of Israel.
However, Akiva Eldar, a columnist for the left-wing Haaretz newspaper, not only backed the PA boycott on Judea and Samaria but also called on the Israeli government to “follow in the PA's footsteps and cut itself off from the settlers…. Instead of hiding behind the self-righteous claim that it is providing livelihoods for thousands of indigent laborers, let the government open the Israeli markets to more Arab goods and workers from the territories.”
Haaretz and the Ynet web sites also were noted in a recent report by the CAMERA media watchdog organization for publishing misleading and often incorrect anti-Israel information.
5. Israel Slams Russian Hypocrisy, Nixes Hamas
by Hillel Fendel
Alluding to Russian hypocrisy vis-à-vis terrorism, Israel’s Foreign Ministry turns down Russia's request to include Hamas in the diplomatic process, saying Hamas is a terrorist group just like Chechen terrorists.
“Israel has always stood behind Russia in its fight against Chechen terrorism,” the Foreign Ministry noted in a sharp response, “and we expect similar treatment in the case of Hamas terrorism against Israel.”
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul in Ankara on Wednesday, and the two called afterwards on Israel to include Hamas in the peace talks with the Palestinian Authority. Gul mentioned Hamas by name, saying, "Unfortunately Palestinians have been split into two... In order to reunite them, you have to speak to both sides. Hamas won elections in Gaza and cannot be ignored." Medvedev sufficed with saying that no group should be excluded from peace efforts, without naming any specific group.
The Foreign Ministry said it “absolutely rejects” the presidential calls and “expresses its deep disappointment in President Medvedev’s meeting with Khaled Mashal in Damascus.”
“Hamas is a terrorist organization in every sense of the word,” the statement continues, whose “declared purpose is the destruction of the State of Israel. Members of Hamas have been responsible for the murder of hundreds of innocent civilians, including Russian citizens and other former residents of the CIS. It is totally unacceptable for enlightened nations to divide terrorists into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ according to some geographical division… Israel sees no difference between the Hamas terror operating against Israel and the Chechen terror operating against Russia.”
6. John Bolton to Speak at NYC Dinner for Jerusalem Reclamation
by Gil Ronen
Friends of Ateret Cohanim in the United States will celebrate Yom Yerushalyim (Jerusalem Day) Thursday evening at a dinner marking the 31st anniversary of the Jerusalem Reclamation Project. Ateret Cohanim is behind Jewish development at the Yemenite Village (Shiloach) – an ancient Jewish village just outside the Old City of Jerusalem walls that is now overwhelmingly Arab.
Ateret Cohanim is constantly defending the parts of Jerusalem it reclaims. It announced Tuesday that it intends to take action on its own against Arab squatters who took over the Yemenite Synagogue in the neighborhood several decades ago, if no police help is forthcoming.
Also Tuesday, Ateret Cohanim hosted Knesset members from the Likud on a tour of Shiloach and Beit Yehonatan. The residents of Beit Yehonatan are under threat of eviction and the building is supposed to be sealed up, according to a court order. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has been trying to avoid evicting the Jews from the building, because evicting Jews while not taking action against Arabs in the illegally built houses surrounding them would constitute discrimination.
Ateret Cohanim also supports projects in Abu Dis, Maaleh HaZeitim and the heart of the Old City. These include playgrounds, student dormitories, renovation of synagogues and more.
The dinner offers friends of Jerusalem in America a way to help Israel hold on to its ancient capital in the face of an increasingly hostile world.
The dinner will be addressed by former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton. The guests of honor will be Dr. Joseph Frager and Mel Wadler. Jerusalem Chai awardees will be Joseph and Helen Mermelstein; Bonei Yerushalayim honorees will be Mark and Galina Moerdler and Mr. Moe Tawil. Dinner chairpersons will be Dr. Paul and Drora Brody, Elly and Brochie Kleinman, Robert and Laurie Koppel, Rubin and Cecelia Margules and Herry Wartski. Shoshana Hikind is one of the moving spirits behind Friends of Ateret Kohanim.
It will be held at Terrace on the Park, 52-11 111th Street, Flushing Meadow Park, Corona, New York. Reservations can be made by calling the NYC-JRP office at 212-216-9270 or by email: ateret@juno.com .
7. Moskowitz Prize Awarded in Jerusalem Ceremony
by Gil Ronen and Hillel Fendel
The 2010 Moskowitz Prize for Zionism was awarded Wednesday evening at Ir David. Among the speakers at the ceremony were Minister Moshe Yaalon and Brigadier General Avigdor Kahalani, representing the prize committee.
The recipients in 2010 are:
Anita Tucker, one of the early pioneers of the Gush Katif settlement enterprise, who became one of the leading spokespersons for the residents during the long and intense struggle against the Disengagement.
In 1976, she and her husband Stuart moved southward to develop a new agricultural community named Netzer Hazani – the first in Gush Katif. They stayed there for 29 years, building up Netzer Hazani, a vegetable-raising and packing business, and their family of five children. When they were ultimately expelled in the Disengagement, they lived for 11 months in temporary lodging in dormitories, and now live in the community’s temporary quarters in Kibbutz Ein Tzurim. Anita now works to help the Gush Katif communities retain their unique, pre-expulsion character of Torah and Land of Israel values, friendly communal relations, and pioneering spirit.
Rabbi Yoel Schwartz is the founder and driving force behind the Nahal Hareidi – the first IDF unit organized especially for hareidi-religious soldiers. The framework allows the soldiers to maintain their religious way of life, including scheduled time for prayers, Torah classes, kosher l’mehadrin food, and the like. Rabbi Schwartz was originally shunned within his own hareidi public for his work in Nahal Hareidi.
Author of dozens of books on Jewish Law and Thought, Rabbi Schwartz says he started Nahal Hareidi in order to make sure that Israeli society did not develop into two separate nations, one religious and one secular. “This was a dream of unity,” he explains.
Gen. Aharon Davidi is most well-known for having headed Sar-El, an organization for IDF volunteers from abroad, for nearly 30 years. He began his army career in 1944, volunteering for the Palmach and taking part in the conquest of the city Be’er Sheva. He took part, in increasingly higher-ranking capacities, in the War of Independence, the Sinai Campaign, the Six Day War, and the Yom Kippur War.
Sar-El was founded in 1982 for the purpose of recruiting volunteers to help fill the places of reserve soldiers who were called up for the Peace for Galilee War. The organization grew increasingly larger, and today has 5,000 volunteers from some 30 countries, serving several weeks each year. The volunteers chiefly help in logistics, guard duty, medical services, catering and the like. The goal is to free up soldiers for work that requires more training, as well as to forge ties between the volunteers and Israel and the IDF. Some 6,000 Sar-El volunteers have made Aliyah over the years.
The Moskowitz Prize for Zionism, founded by Dr. Irving and Cherna Moskowitz, was first awarded in 2008. It is given to three Israeli citizens every year, whose deeds exemplify modern Zionism and who deal with the challenges facing Israel in the fields of education, research, settlement, culture, security and more. It includes a cash award of $50,000.
