
ISRAEL IS THE NEW JEW,
Israpundit, (from National Post -- Canada)
February 2003
[This is an excerpt of a speech by the Canadian former Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney last night at the opening of a conference on anti-Semitism at
the University of Toronto]
"It was not until I entered law school at Université Laval in Quebec City in
1960 that I really came to know Jews. I had two Jewish classmates, Michael
Kastner and Israel (Sonny) Mass, one from a wealthy family and one working
class like me. We became friends and remain so to this day. I learned about
the tiny but impressive Jewish community there, but little of its history
and challenges in Canada. It was when I moved to Montreal to practise law in
1964 that I first came into contact with a large Jewish community, which
ignited my interest in and support of the Jews and Israel. By this time, the
horrors of the Holocaust and the systematic persecution of Jews was fully
documented. Why, I asked myself, would such evil be visited upon anyone, and
specifically the families of this vibrant community I was getting to know?
The Jews of Montreal were remarkable. Families were close, values were
taught, education was revered, work was honoured and success was expected.
How could it be, I often wondered, that the progenitors of people
demonstrably making such a powerful contribution to the economic, cultural
and political life of Montreal and Canada were reviled over centuries and
decimated in a six-year period, beginning in the year of my birth? Thus
began my first serious reflections on, and encounters with, anti-Semitism.
Following the Holocaust, the cry of "never again" became both affirmation
and promise. We expected that humanity would forswear anti-Semitism forever.
The founding of the state of Israel in 1948 reinforced this hope.
Unfortunately, today, Jewish communities and the world's only Jewish state
globally confront this re-emergent evil. This latest anti-Semitism did not
surface suddenly, in a vacuum. It forms part of a historical continuum that
was only briefly interrupted, if at all, following the Second World War.
Where did it all come from, what makes it so resistant to suppression--and
will it ever end? It all begins, I think, in that transitional period from
BC to AD, a time with a variety of faiths vying for attention. This came
abruptly to a halt in 70 AD. The destruction by the Romans of Jerusalem's
Second Jewish Temple was the pivotal event of that era. Only Christianity
and Judaism survived the catastrophe. Originally, the people who followed
Jesus considered themselves Jews. Once a Christian Church evolved, however,
it took up an antagonistic position towards Judaism and its practitioners.
Jews, first and foremost, were branded with the most devastating of
charges--Deicide. They were accused of the stubborn refusal to accept
Christ's Godhead and His sacrifice. They were pictured as consumed with a
detestation of Christianity and defilers of its rituals and symbols, the
agents of Satan and the future allies if not the progenitors of the
Antichrist, their ultimate aim to destroy the one true faith. We can well
imagine how ordinary men and women would have felt about Jews as a result.
Individuals in the medieval world were overcome by fear of a world where so
little was understood. Demons lurked unseen, and therefore beyond
retribution. There was, however, one visible demon against whom one could
retaliate--the Jew. It was the Jew who was said to have poisoned the wells
and who was responsible for the Black Death. The disappearance of children,
in what has become known as the "Blood Libel," was readily and falsely
blamed on alleged Jewish murderers who required the blood of Christian
children for nefarious rituals. All this infected countless Christians with
the soul-devouring virus of Jew-hatred. The founding of the Inquisition in
15th-century Spain fully effected the transition from religious to racial
anti-Semitism. The issue in Christian-Jewish relations was no longer God but
genes. The Nazis, with their emphasis on racial and ideological purity, were
the natural inheritors of those who for two millennia have been centrally
motivated by anti-Semitism. Nothing captures better the anti-Semite's
single-mindedness than the account of Hitler, just prior to his suicide as
the Third Reich lay in ruins, calling on Germans to maintain the "struggle
against the Jews, the eternal poisoners of the world." Contemporary
anti-Semitism has added the state of Israel to its list of targets, to deny
the Jewish state its rightful place among the community of nations. Israel
has become the new Jew. Canadians talk proudly of our tolerance and
fair-mindedness. Often a tone of moral superiority insinuates itself into
our national discourse. But…we have little to be smug about. In 1933,
Toronto witnessed the Christie Pits riot--anti-Semites terrorized a Jewish
baseball team in a street battle that went on all night. The next year in
Montreal all the interns at Notre-Dame Hospital went on strike to protest
the hiring of a Jew who had graduated first in his class at l'Université de
Montréal. This man was forced to resign because, as Le Devoir reported,
Catholic patients would find it "repugnant" to be treated or touched by a
Jewish doctor. In 1938, the Canadian Jewish Congress decided not to publish
a study of the status of Jews in English Canada because the findings were so
profoundly unsettling. Overt anti-Semitism was not limited to minor players
in Canadian society. On Feb. 10, 1937, prime minister Mackenzie King met an
elderly Russian immigrant who related that he had built a furniture and
clothing business on Rideau and Banks Streets, had three sons and a daughter
and was now retired--a true Canadian success story. King recorded in his
diary: "The only unfortunate part ... is that the Jews having acquired
foothold ... it will not be long before this part of Ottawa will become more
or less possessed by them." A few months later, King visited Germany to meet
Chancellor Adolf Hitler, and recorded: "My sizing up ... was that he is
really one who truly loves his fellow man ... There was a liquid quality
about (his eyes) which indicates keen perception and profound sympathy.
Calm, composed, and one could see how particularly humble folk would have
come to have profound love for the man. As I talked with him I could not but
think of Joan of Arc. He is distinctly a mystic." The following day, our PM
had lunch with the Nazi foreign minister Konstantin von Neurath, who
"admitted that they had taken some pretty rough steps ... but the truth was
the country was going to pieces ... He said to me that I would have loathed
living in Berlin with the Jews, and the way in which they had increased
their numbers in the city, and were taking possession of its more important
part. He said there was no pleasure in going to a theatre which was filled
with them. Many of them were very coarse and vulgar and assertive. They were
getting control of all the business, the finance, and ... it was necessary
to get them out to have the Germans really control their own city and
affairs." And how did Canada's prime minister react to these diabolically
racist and extremely ominous comments by one of the most powerful leaders of
the Third Reich? "I wrote a letter of some length by hand to von Neurath
whom I like exceedingly. He is, if there ever was one, a genuinely kind,
good man." The prime minister sets both the agenda and the tone in Ottawa.
Is it any wonder then that Canada was slammed shut to Jewish immigrants
before and during the war? Or that, when asked how many Jews would be
allowed into Canada, a senior immigration official famously replied: "None
is too many"? The government even refused entry to a shipload of desperate
Jews, who instead sailed back to Europe on a voyage of the damned. This was
a moment when Canada's heritage and promise were betrayed. To this day, I
cannot watch footage of the faces of Jewish mothers, fathers and children
consigned to the gas chambers without, as a Canadian, feeling a great sense
of sorrow, loss and guilt. Because of Ottawa's abdication of moral
leadership, countless Jews perished in Hitler's death camps and we as a
country were deprived of them, their children and the glory of their lives.
…The rise in the number of attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions in Canada
and the pathetic but startling ravings of David Ahenakew testify to the
intractability of the problem, and the constant need for vigilance,
consistency and strength in dealing with the entire sweep of anti-Semitism.
In Dante's Inferno it is noted that "the hottest place in hell is reserved
for those who in times of great moral crisis, strive to maintain their
neutrality." Prime ministers are not exempt from this, and because I served
in that office for almost nine years, let me briefly recount some personal
experiences: In 1967, while a very young lawyer, I made my first (modest)
contribution to the defence of Israel. It was a moment of extreme peril for
Israel and I simply wanted to show my support. In 1976, at a Quebec Economic
Summit chaired by premier Lévesque, I was astonished to hear Yvon
Charbonneau, then president of la Corporation des Enseignants du Québec (now
an MP from Montreal) denounce Sam Steinberg and other Montreal Jewish
leaders in a decidedly racist manner. I demanded the microphone and
denounced Charbonneau and his views on the spot. When the government in 1984
invited the Palestine Liberation Organization's United Nations
representative to be heard in Parliament (when the PLO was officially known
as a terrorist organization), as leader of the Opposition I summoned the
Israeli ambassador so that we could jointly excoriate both the government
and the PLO. My government appointed the Deschenes Commission of Inquiry on
Nazi War Criminals who had escaped to Canada… Much more could have been
achieved had such a commission been appointed decades earlier when the
evidence was fresher and the suspects much younger. But Ottawa had refused
to act. I appointed Jews to my Cabinet and to the highest reaches of the
public service and judiciary. I appointed three Jews in succession--Stanley
Hartt, Norman Spector and Hugh Segal--as chief of staff, perhaps the most
sensitive and influential unelected position in Ottawa. I appointed Norman
Spector as Canada's first Jewish ambassador to Israel, smashing the odious
myth of dual loyalties that had prevented Jews from serving in that position
for 40 years. I invited Chaim Herzog to make the first official state visit
to Canada by a president of Israel. On June 27, 1989, I had the high honour
of introducing president Herzog as he spoke to a joint session of the House
of Commons and Senate. Senator David Croll was an outstanding member of the
Jewish community from Ontario, elected to Parliament as a Liberal in 1945.
He never made Cabinet for no apparent reason other than his Jewishness. I
elevated this remarkable Canadian to the Privy Council on his 90th birthday.
My view of Canada's foreign policy in the Middle East was articulated as
leader of the Opposition when I said that Canada under my government would
treat fairly with the moderate nations in the region such as Jordan, but
that, first and foremost, Canada would make an "unshakable commitment" to
the integrity and well-being of Israel. And for nine years we did precisely
that. We committed Canada to participate in the Gulf War in 1991. The many
reasons included the security of Israel. History will record we did the
right thing. In 1993, I was the first foreign leader invited to meet with
president Clinton. At a joint news conference we were asked about the peace
process. I said: "I'm always very concerned when people start to lecture
Israel on the manner in which it looks after its own internal security,
because for very important historical reasons, Israel is of course better
qualified than most to make determinations about its own well-being." I
believe that to be true today. Canada is a marvellous country that has
provided sanctuary and opportunity to millions, but many groups of
immigrants have suffered injustice and discrimination. The story of the
Jews, however, remains markedly different. The Holocaust saw to that. So
when I ceased being prime minister, I continued publicly denouncing those
that showed hostility or malice to Israel or the Jews. History has taught us
what happens when we don't. This does not mean that Israel should be immune
from criticism. One can strongly disagree with policies of the government of
Israel without being called an anti-Semite. Nor does it mean that a strong
defence of Israel's right to security precludes the acceptance of a
Palestinian state whose citizens come to know the benefits of health care,
educational excellence, economic opportunities and growing prosperity
similar to those available in Israel. This should be the objective of all
who believe in justice."
Greenspan warns
over war uncertainty. Uncertainties over a possible war against Iraq are
weakening a major pillar of US economic growth, iconic banker Alan Greenspan
has warned,
BBC, February 11, 2003
"Mr [Alan] Greenspan, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, has said
that political instabilities have only acted as a further brake on business
investment, a significant prop to economic growth. The cocktail of
'uncertainties' has created 'formidable barriers to new investment and thus
to a resumption of vigorous expansion of overall economic activity', Mr
Greenspan told US policymakers ... Stocks lost further ground after the
release of a tape said to be by Osama bin Laden was viewed as raising the
chances of war against Iraq."
Jer-ry, Jer-ry. Ohio's trashiest TV icon is also its best hope for a
progressive senator,
By Michael S. Gerber, American Prospect,
February 11, 2003
"The idea of a [Jerry] Springer run for Senate has triggered a
wealth of media coverage, most of it focusing on his talk show, currently in
its 12th season, and its outrageous topics. (Tomorrow's episode, for
instance, is titled 'I'm Sleeping With My Uncle!') But Springer was once a
serious politician and an Emmy-winning local news commentator, something the
media has recently been glossing over in their coverage of him. In fact,
Springer's political record shows that he is very much a candidate
progressive Democrats could embrace ... Springer ran for Congress on an
anti-war platform in 1970, losing in a conservative district. He didn't give
up, though, and by 1971, the English native -- he was born in London, where
his parents arrived after fleeing the Holocaust, and came to the United
States at age 5 -- was a member of the Cincinnati City Council. He was 27
... Of course, Springer's stint on the city council is now widely
noted for one event, and one event only: In 1974, a raid on a Kentucky
prostitution ring turned up a personal check with Springer's name on
it. Soon after, he resigned from the council. But a year later, he returned.
Without the Democratic Party's endorsement, Springer ran and won,
demonstrating that while the prostitution scandal might be a big issue
today, Cincinnati voters three decades ago weren't fixated on it above all
else. In 1977, Springer won re-election with the most votes any candidate in
the city had ever received. At the time, the council member with the most
votes became mayor, and the job was his for a term. In 1982, Springer ran
for governor a... His campaign also produced the nation's most talked-about
political ad of the year, in which Springer bluntly addressed his
1974 run-in with scandal. ('Some nine years ago, I spent time with a woman I
shouldn't have. I paid her with a check,' he said in the TV spot. 'I wish I
hadn't done that.') ... Today his biggest liability, other than the
prostitution scandal, is his television show. But though it may cloud his
image, it has also provided him with two assets he did not have in his last
statewide campaign: celebrity and cash. His name will be recognized by
almost every voter, and his personal wealth could stock his campaign
coffers."
[Two of the nine American Supreme Court justices are Jewish -- 22%.
Jews are 2.5% of the American population.]
Is there a Jewish seat on the Supreme Court?,
Jewish Telegrpahic Agency, February 13, 2003
"Is there a Jewish seat on the Supreme Court? Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
contends that there once was, but that is no longer the case. She explored
the subject during the 2003 Louis D. Brandeis Lecture on Tuesday,
February 11, at the Seelbach Hotel. Immediately following the lecture, the
University of Louisville’s Louis D. Brandeis School of Law
Brandeis Scholars presented Justice Ginsburg with the Brandeis
Medal ... Although Brandeis [the first Jewish Supreme Court justice]
did not practice ritual Judaism, he was an active
Zionist and worked hard for a Jewish homeland. He believed it would
be a refuge for the persecuted Jews of Europe and that it is the obligation
of Jews in the U.S. to help build the land. While Benjamin Cardozo
served on the Court while Brandeis was still sitting there, the
subsequent appointments of Felix Frankfurter, Arthur Goldberg
and Abe Fortas had one Jew filling the seat vacated by another. This
pattern, Justice Ginsburg said, was broken when President Bill
Clinton appointed her and Justice Stephen Breyer."
Subtext: Scholars might wonder if this indicative of a spreading revolt against Jewish
and U.S. hegemony?
The spreading revolt against U.S. hegemony,
Gulf News, February 12, 2003
"[Russian President Vladimir Putin] declared that Russia's ambition was to
see the emergence of a multipolar, rather than a unipolar, world. Putin's
remarks signal that, beyond the trans-Atlantic dispute over Iraq, we are
witnessing a rebellion by major European states against the dominance of the
United States, a dominance which has characterized international relations
since the collapse of the Soviet Union a dozen years ago. The notion that a
single hegemony can dictate terms to the rest of the world and make war on
whomever it pleases is being categorically rejected. The rebellion has
spread beyond Europe, seeing that China has expressed its support for the
solemn joint February 10 declaration by Russia, France and Germany (read out
at the Elysée Palace by President Jacques Chirac himself). It states that
the disarmament of Iraq, in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions, is
the common aim of the international community, but that 'We are sure there
is an alternative to war' ... Volleys of insults are being fired across the
Atlantic. France, in particular, has been the target of a barrage of abuse
from American right-wing pundits and columnists, who have accused it of
ingratitude, of appeasement, and of a lack of moral fibre. A New York
Times columnist, Tom Friedman, wants France voted off the
Security Council, while Jonah Goldberg of the National Review
Online has depicted France as a nation of 'cheese-eating surrender
monkeys,' a phrase taken up with glee by many others. All in all, it is the
worst quarrel inside the 'West' for several decades. ... Who is driving the
rush to war? As most people have grasped by now, the 'war party' in the
United States is a coalition of three main forces. First are the so-called
'neo-conservatives' or 'neo-imperialists' who want to affirm America's
global domination, and see off any potential rival ... A second group
consists of right-wing American Jews, close to Ariel Sharon's Likud
party in Israel, who have achieved unprecedented power in the Bush
administration. Several of them are themselves 'neo-conservative' activists,
but their principal concern would seem to be Israel's security, expansion
and regional hegemony. One of the most prominent is Paul Wolfowitz,
Rumsfeld's deputy in the Pentagon, but there are many others in influential
positions inside and outside government, in think tanks, in the media and in
lobbying organisations. Almost as one man, they are baying for war. In
Israel, Prime Minister Sharon (and the brutal men around him such as
defence minister Shaul Mofaz, chief of staff Moshe Yaalon,
Mossad chief Meir Dagan, and air force commander Dan Halutz)
make no secret of their belief that the smashing of Saddam Hussain's regime
will change the Middle East balance of power in Israel's favour, allowing
them to complete the destruction of Palestinian society, of the Palestinian
national movement and of its leader Yasser Arafat, with the ultimate aim of
absorbing all, or at least a great deal more, of historic Palestine into the
Jewish state ... A third group are the so-called 'born again' Christian
fundamentalists, like Bush himself, Attorney General John Ashcroft and many
others in America's 'Bible belt', who profess to believe that God gave the
Holy Land to the Jews ... This is just one indication of the way right-wing
American 'Likudniks' have hijacked America's 'war on terror' to promote
Israel's criminal agenda in the Middle East. It is a recipe for more
violence against both America and Israel for years to come."
The Space Shuttle's Secret Military Mission Astronaut Ilan Ramon Spied on
Iraq with a Multispectral Camera. Were spectral emissions from the shuttle
powered by americium-242?,
by Yoichi Clark Shimatsu, The Laissez Faire Electronic
Times, (freedom.orlingrabbe.com)
"The only way to spot such 'smoking-gun evidence,' as in the case of Iraq's
alleged chemical weapons program, is to mount a beam-generating technology,
basically a souped-up version of night vision, on to a platform circling
over the suspect territory. Thus, for 16 days in orbit, Israeli astronaut
Ilan Ramon made earth observations with a cluster of instruments, which
NASA called 'a multi-spectral telescope.' Designed to survey the air quality
over the deserts of the Middle East, his 'telescope' was built by a research
team at Tel Aviv University and a U.S. company, Orbital Sciences Corp. His
research project was called MEIDEX (Mediterranean-Israel dust experiment).
According to Israel Line magazine, MEIDEX 'called for Ramon to
observe and take pictures of atmospheric aerosols in the Mediterranean area
using ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared array-detector cameras.' The
acronym seems disingenuous because the letters ME are usually employed by
Israeli research projects to stand for 'Middle East.' The
computer-controlled cameras were pointed earthward to detect desert dust and
'pollution aerosols . . . to provide scientific information about
atmospheric aerosols and the influence of global changes on the climate.'
The data was directly transmitted to Tel Aviv University and, according to
investigative journalist Gordon Thomas, on to the Israeli Biological
Institute, the hub of Israel's nerve-gas and bioweapons programs ... It
turns out, however, that Ben-Gurion University's nuclear physics department
has produced an exotic type of fissionable fuel called americium-242 ... A
more immediate application of this exotic nuclear fuel is to provide the
kick for space-based weapons, including laser cannons and electromagnetic
pulse weapons. (Not by coincidence perhaps, Ilan Ramon and Commander
William McCool were both specialists in electromagnetic warfare.) Space
weaponry mounted on orbiting platforms, however, is illegal under several
United Nations treaties; international law is the major obstacle to their
deployment. Therefore, the anti-missile missiles developed by the U.S. and
Israeli militaries serve as a convenient ploy to sell the National Missile
Defense program to a technology-illiterate public. The Arrow and Patriot
series are hopelessly clumsy ground-based technologies. How then can the
Bush and Sharon administrations win public support for space-based
weapons? A cynical solution is to make martyrs of an Israeli-American space
shuttle crew. Show them to be victims of outmoded technology and, more
important, obsolete thinking in NASA and in Congress about keeping space
free of nuclear power and potential war-making technologies. Is it
conceivable that an American president would deliberately sabotage the
Columbia? If his agenda is to affect a shift of NASA from a hybrid
civilian-military space agency to an arm of the Pentagon's ballistic missile
defense program, then no sacrifice could be too great – especially if Ilan
Ramon's telescope had failed to detect any smoking guns over Iraq. As for
the Israeli leader, it must be recalled that the Likud movement is built on
the cult of martyrdom – from ancient Masada and the Warsaw ghetto to the
Irgun fighters killed in fratricidal violence by Haganah militiamen at the
birth of Israel, from Yonathan Netanyahu's demise in Entebbe to – now
– the death of Colonel Ilan Ramon, nonchalant bomber of Iraq's nuclear plant
repackaged as a hero of science. An Experiment Gone Awry? Undoubtedly, the
official investigation will determine the Columbia disaster was not an
accident by design. Blue-ribbon committees will piously give their
independent endorsements, even if martyrs were made to order."
Jewish "demands" are omnipresent. A country wants to join NATO?
Scholars argue that history shows it must jump through the requisite hoops
of the powerful international Jewish Lobby, which rules American foreign
policy.
NATO and the Jewish question,
Ha'aretz (Israel), February 16, 2003
"After discussions and debates for nearly the entire 12 years since the fall
of the Communist bloc, several Eastern Europe countries have recently made
important decisions concerning their attitude toward the Holocaust and, more
especially on such sensitive subjects as Nazi collaborators and the return
of plundered Jewish property ... The 'Jewish demands,' nearly all of which
had to do with the Holocaust, were part of the price exacted from the East
European countries for entering NATO. Rabbi Andrew Baker, director of
International Jewish Affairs in the Office of Government and International
Relations of the American Jewish Committee, who coordinated the Jewish lobby
on this subject, explains, 'Even though this is a security partnership, the
terms of entry to NATO were not defined solely in security terms. After all,
a country such as Lithuania does not have much to offer NATO from the
military standpoint. The terms of entry were therefore defined at the civil
level as well, in terms of a 'partnership of values' - that is, in the
direction of democracy and a free economy, including a 'confrontation with
the past,' especially in the context of the Holocaust period. That includes
education to heighten awareness of the Holocaust, combating anti-Semitism,
putting a stop to the rehabilitation of war criminals and returning
property, at least community property [referring to buildings that belonged
to the Jewish communities, such as synagogues and ritual baths]. Baker was
officially invited to monitor the progress being made in the reforms and to
report on his findings at various forums convened to discuss the membership
in NATO of the aspirant countries such as the Prague conference and a
previous meeting in Bucharest in March 2002. It is important to emphasize
that even though the 'Jewish terms' were formally put forward by all the
NATO members, in practice the only country that took a substantive interest
in this subject was the United States. The U.S. administration set the
criterion of democratic values as one of the conditions for admission to
NATO. American ambassadors in Eastern European were instructed to monitor
the development of democracy in general and, within that framework,
'confrontation with the past,' and some of them cooperated with Jewish
representatives on this subject."
Howard a hero in Israel,
Herald Sun (Australia), February 17, 2003
"The speaker is a young Israeli, a tall lantern-jawed, friendly young man,
and his is a view I heard every day for a week in Israel. The [Australian]
Prime Minister may be having his troubles at home, but there is one country
where he would win a popularity contest in a canter. The Howard position on
Iraq, after decades of support for the Jewish state, has made him a pin-up
star in Israel. I didn't go to Israel looking for Howard, but he was
everywhere - on television with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, with
his parliamentary speech on Iraq used as an opinion piece, on TV again with
British Prime Minister Tony Blair - and his praises were sung by government
and opposition, conservative and liberal, young and old ... Israel may be
the one place outside Washington and Whitehall where Australia the nation,
and Australia's Government, are widely popular."
Goy vey! Now every presidential candidate is digging for jewish roots,
St. Louis Post Dispatch, Februray 17, 2003
"Despite terror warnings, Iraq, the French, the Germans, the Belgians and
the bizarre doings of the 'king of pop,' there is a bit of fun to be had in
the news these days, and for that we can thank the Democratic candidates for
president. Discovering one's Jewish ancestry is
suddenly all the rage in the Democratic Party. You will recall that
when she assayed the possibilities of winning a Senate seat from New York,
Hillary Clinton disclosed that some distant relation had been Jewish. But
that was nothing compared with former North Atlantic Treaty Organization
commander Gen. Wesley Clark. Clark, who has so far merely showed a little
ankle in the presidential sweepstakes, and who was raised as a Baptist, has
proclaimed that he descends from 'generations of rabbis in Minsk.' Ah yes,
the Minsker Clarks. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts - that is, John Forbes
Kerry - claims no mere distant relations but instead an actual paternal
grandfather. It seems that Frederick A. Kerry was born Fritz Kohn in
Czechoslovakia. In 1902, he changed his name to Kerry and, in 1905,
emigrated to the United States. Kerry, of course, was raised Catholic and
only recently discovered his Jewish heritage. On his mother's side (which is
the only side that really counts, from an orthodox Jewish perspective), he
is pure WASP. Sen. Joe Lieberman has first claim on Jewishness, of course.
And his press secretary clinched it by assuring The Washington Post
that only Lieberman had a genuine 'lox box.' Howard Dean, the
governor of Vermont and a declared presidential aspirant, proudly points to
his Jewish wife. It seems that President Bill Clinton's secretary of state,
Madeleine Albright, actually started a trend when she revealed her
Jewish roots, though one sensed, in her case, that she would much prefer to
have kept the matter under wraps. What goes on here? ... There is real worry
among Democrats that President George W. Bush's bold and steadfast defense
of Israel will sway Jewish voters in 2004. It already has begun to show in
the donations flowing into Republican coffers. If you cannot match the
president in support for the Jewish state or willingness to confront terror
all over the globe, you can always tell voters about your great uncle
Moishe."
What Did Hart
Mean? [in column: Yes to cloning research],
Washington Jewish Week,
"Once, and possibly future, Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart
raised some eyebrows in the Jewish community this week with a line in a
speech he delivered Monday before the World Affairs Council and Council on
Foreign Relations in San Francisco. 'We must not let our role in the world
be dictated ... by Americans who too often find it hard to distinguish their
loyalties to their original homelands from their loyalties to America and
its national interests,' said Hart near the end of a speech outlining what
America's role in the world should be in the 21st policy. The quote was
first noticed by ABCNews.com's The Note. Was the statement
criticism of some Jewish Bush administration foreign policy officials --
such as Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz or undersecretary of
defense for policy Doug Feith -- who are known as strongly pro-Israel
and have reportedly been instrumental in developing a policy toward Iraq? A
spokesperson for Hart said that the former senator was not 'singling out' or
'referring to any specific people' in his speech, but simply saying that
American foreign policy should always be based on U.S. interests. Hart also
cites 'ideologues,' 'militarists' and 'think-tank theorists' as others who
should not "dictate" America's role in the world. Hart's speech argued that
America's dealings with the world should be based on 'principles shaped by
our democratic values and our republican form of government.'"
LIBERATING
AMERICA FROM ISRAEL,
by Paul Findley, Media Monitors, September 11,
2002
"Nine-eleven would not have occurred if the U.S. government had refused to
help Israel humiliate and destroy Palestinian society. Few express this
conclusion publicly, but many believe it is the truth. I believe the
catastrophe could have been prevented if any U.S. president during the past
35 years had had the courage and wisdom to suspend all U.S. aid until Israel
withdrew from the Arab land seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The U.S.
lobby for Israel is powerful and intimidating, but any determined
president-even President Bush this very day-could prevail and win
overwhelming public support for the suspension of aid by laying these facts
before the American people: Israel's present government, like its
predecessors, is determined to annex the West Bank-biblical Judea and
Samaria - so Israel will become Greater Israel. Ultra-Orthodox Jews, who
maintain a powerful role in Israeli politics, believe the Jewish Messiah
will not come until Greater Israel is a reality. Although a minority in
Israel, they are committed, aggressive, and influential. Because of deep
religious conviction, they are determined to prevent Palestinians from
gaining statehood on any part of the West Bank. In its violent assaults on
Palestinians, Israel uses the pretext of eradicating terrorism, but its
forces are actually engaged advancing the territorial expansion just cited.
Under the guise of anti-terrorism, Israeli forces treat Palestinians worse
than cattle. With due process nowhere to be found, hundreds are detained for
long periods and most are tortured. Some are assassinated. Homes, orchards,
and business places are destroyed. Entire cities are kept under intermittent
curfew, some confinements lasting for weeks. Injured or ill Palestinians
needing emergency medical care are routinely held at checkpoints for an hour
or more. Many children are undernourished. The West Bank and Gaza have
become giant concentration camps. None of this could have occurred without
U.S. support. Perhaps Israeli officials believe life will become so
unbearable that most Palestinians will eventually leave their ancestral
homes. Once beloved worldwide, the U.S. government finds itself reviled in
most countries because it provides unconditional support of Israeli
violations of the United Nations Charter, international law, and the
precepts of all major religious faiths. How did the American people get into
this fix? Nine-eleven had its principal origin 35 years ago when Israel's
U.S. lobby began its unbroken success in stifling debate about the proper
U.S. role in the Arab-Israeli conflict and effectively concealed from public
awareness the fact that the U.S. government gives massive uncritical support
to Israel. Thanks to the suffocating influence of Israel's U.S. lobby, open
discussion of the Arab-Israeli conflict has been non-existent in our
government all these years. I have firsthand knowledge, because I was a
member of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee ... On
Capitol Hill, criticism of Israel, even in private conversation, is all but
forbidden, treated as downright unpatriotic, if not anti-Semitic. The
continued absence of free speech was assured when those few who spoke
out-Senators Adlai Stevenson and Charles Percy, and Reps. Paul 'Pete'
McCloskey, Cynthia McKinney, Earl Hilliard, and myself-were defeated at the
polls by candidates heavily financed by pro-Israel forces. As a result,
legislation dealing with the Middle East has been heavily biased in favor of
Israel and against Palestinians and other Arabs year after year. Home
constituencies, misled by news coverage equally lop-sided in Israel's favor,
remain largely unaware that Congress behaves as if it were a subcommittee of
the Israeli parliament ... No one in authority will admit a calamitous
reality that is skillfully shielded from the American people but clearly
recognized by most of the world: America suffered 9/11 and its aftermath and
may soon be at war with Iraq, mainly because U.S. policy in the Middle East
is made in Israel, not in Washington. Israel is a scofflaw nation and should
be treated as such." ["Mr. Paul Findley ... served as a Republican
congressman from Illinois for 22 years ..."]
Jewish
donors back main political parties,
by Bernard Freedman, Jewish News
(Melbourne, Australia); posted here at Focal Point, February 20, 2003
"Jewish donors were among the biggest corporate and individual contributors
to party political funds in 2001 and 2002, the Australian Electoral
Commission revealed in its political donations return released last week.
Westfield shopping mall developer Frank Lowy topped the list of
Jewish donations with $624,200 - $311,900 to the Australian Labor Party
(ALP) and $312,300 to the Liberals. The bulk came from Lowy's private
company Croissy Pty Ltd, supplemented by smaller donations under
$10,000 from Westfield Capital Corporation. Harry Triguboff's
Meriton Apartments gave $250,000 to the Liberals' fundraising front
The Free Enterprise Foundation. Another $27,917 went to the Liberals
in NSW. The ALP's NSW branch received $107,400 in two $50,000 donations and
a number of other smaller donations. Packaging magnate Richard Pratt,
through Pratt Holdings Pty Ltd, was also a major contributor to
The Free Enterprise Foundation with a $200,000 gift. Another $6000 went
directly to the Liberals and $2500 to the National Party in NSW. The ALP's
Victorian branch received $100,000 and the ALP in NSW $25,000. Both the
Liberal Party and the ALP benefited from the Gandel Group and another Gandel
company, Northgan. The ALP received $95,000, the Liberals $86,300. Isador
Magid gave $50,000 to the Victorian branch of the ALP."
Man
of Peace? As Joe Lieberman runs for president, one Hartford activist
questions his commitment to peace,
Hartford Advocate, February 20, 2003
" The [anti-war] activists found [Joseph] Lieberman polite and
cordial. He listened mostly. Then Allen-Doucot unveiled his photographs of
starving, bullet-riddled Iraqi children, gathered from his repeated trips to
sanction-plagued Iraq, and Lieberman found himself face to face with
the consequences of the policies he so vocally supports. Since ascending to
the U.S. Senate in 1988, Lieberman's national security mindset has become
central to his political reputation. He was one of only 10 Democratic
senators to vote for Operation Desert Storm. In 1998, he banded with arch
conservative Sen. Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) to pass the Iraqi Liberation
Act, making regime change there official U.S. policy. As he now embarks on a
presidential run, Lieberman is a leading cheerleader for a full-scale U.S.
invasion of Iraq, without the backing of the United Nations if necessary.
... Lieberman's seal of approval [of Bush administration pro-war
policies] adds the aura of bi-partisanship, and it garners more press
attention because of his presidential ambitions. In addition, the senator's
well-known religious views -- he is an Orthodox Jew -- are also a factor in
justifying the war, El-Eid says, by providing a sense of moral purpose."
Peretz to
Bush: Bomb Iraq You Call This Daring?,
Counterpunch, February 21, 2003
"The New Republic, the 89 year-old 'liberal' journal of politics and
the arts, has shifted its editorial stance recently by publishing stories
that supports a war with Iraq and criticizes the Democratic party for its
weakness, according to a story in Wednesday's New York Observer.
Moreover, the weekly magazine will unveil a new redesign with the
publication of Friday's issue. But putting the magazine through a makeover
is a cheap way to conceal from its subscribers Editor-in-Chief and co-owner
Martin Peretz's personal stance on Iraq. In a recent press release,
The New Republic says its coverage as of late represents 'several
daring political stances' on issues such as the U.S. going to war with Iraq
without the support of the United Nations. This is misleading. The only
thing that's daring about the 'new' New Republic is how Peretz
is fooling readers of the magazine into believing that The New Republic's
editorial stance does not represent the personal politics of its editors.
Many of The New Republic's readers are unaware that Peretz,
along with several other journalists and right-wing lawmakers, lobbied
President Bush nine days after the September 11 terrorist attacks to start a
war with Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power, claiming that Iraq may
be linked to the attacks, an allegation that the Bush Administration has
made many times without a shred of evidence to back it up ... What's most
troubling about the letter to Bush is that it was written by The Project
for the New American Century, a right-wing think tank that has been
instrumental in advising Bush what America's foreign policy should look
like. It's founder and chairman is William Kristol, editor of the
conservative magazine The Weekly Standard, and its former members
have included Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary
Paul Wolfowitz. Kristol also signed the letter to Bush. It can be
viewed at http://www.newamericancentury.org/Bushletter.htm
"
It's Back. The socialism of fools has returned to vogue not just in the
Middle East and France, but in the American left and Washington,
by David Brooks, Weekly Standard,
February 21, 2003
"After Joe Lieberman completed his unsuccessful campaign for the
vice-presidency, I pretty much concluded that anti-Semitism was no longer a
major feature of American life. I went around making the case that the
Anti-Defamation League should close up shop, since the evil they were
organized to combat had shrunk to insignificance. Now I get a steady stream
of anti-Semitic screeds in my e-mail, my voicemail, and in my mailbox. It
transpired that I couldn't have been more wrong. Anti-Semitism is alive and
thriving ... Lawrence Kaplan recently wrote an op-ed in the
Washington Post, gathering some of the highly questionable statements
politicians and columnists have made over the past few weeks, accusing Jews
of dual loyalty and worse ... Not long ago I was chatting with a prominent
Washington figure in a green room. 'You people have infested everywhere,' he
said in what I thought was a clumsy but good-hearted manner. He listed a few
of 'us': "Wolfowitz, Feith, Frum, Perle' ... I
mentioned that I barely know Paul Wolfowitz, which is true. But I do
admire him enormously, not only because he is both a genuine scholar and an
effective policy practitioner, not only because he has been right on most of
the major issues during his career, but because he is now the focus of world
anti-Semitism. He carries the burden of their hatred, which emanates not
only from the Arab world and France, but from some people in our own
country, which I had so long underestimated."
Merely telling the truth, as always, is sometimes grounds for the charge of
"anti-Semitism."
'JEWISH' CRACK SPURS POLITICAL WAR OF WORDS,
By David Seifman, New York Post,
February 22, 2003
"A city councilman found himself in a firestorm yesterday by suggesting an
anti-war resolution hasn't been passed by the council because many Jews feel
it's 'not in the best interests' of Israel. Councilman Robert Jackson
(D-Manhattan) made the comment during an interview Thursday on Brian
Lehrer's popular WNYC radio show. 'New York City is the home away from home
for most Jews,' Jackson responded when Lehrer asked why the council was
lagging behind municipalities around the country in opposing a war against
Iraq. 'And this is seen by many members of the Jewish community as a
resolution that will go against Bush and, in the long run, will not be in
the best interests of the state of Israel.' Lehrer announced on the air that
irate Jewish listeners were lighting up his phone lines minutes after those
remarks were uttered. Assembly Dov Hikind, who represents one of the
city's largest Jewish communities in Borough Park, Brooklyn, yesterday
ripped Jackson as 'divisive.' 'It's sad he has to decline into the mud of
anti-Semitism,' said Hikind. 'It only does one thing. It divides us.'
Council Speaker Gifford Miller's office had no comment on Jackson's remarks.
Other colleagues defended Jackson - but called his words poorly chosen. 'Bob
Jackson is no anti-Semite, and not opposed to the Jewish community,' said
Councilman Oliver Koppell (D-Bronx), who represents a large Jewish
constituency in Riverdale. But Koppell said the problem with
Jackson's comments are that they suggest American Jews would place Israel's
interests before those of the United States."
IMPERFECT JUSTICE Looted Assets, Slave Labor, and the Unfinished Business of
World War II. By Stuart E. Eizenstat. Illustrated. 401 pp. New York:
PublicAffairs. $30,
By SAMANTHA POWER, New York Times Review of Books,
February 23, 2003
"Stuart E. Eizenstat, an ambassador to the European Union and an
under secretary in the Clinton administration's State and Commerce
Departments, is the American official most responsible for drawing attention
to their [Holocaust survivor] fates, and for providing them a measure of
reparative justice. As an American Jew, Eizenstat was upset by the
Roosevelt administration's wartime denial of entry to Jewish refugees and
its refusal to bomb Nazi train tracks leading to the death camps. He
believed that like the Swiss bankers, German car manufacturers and Austrian
art dealers, he needed to make amends for the sins of his nation. ''For me,
this was not just another public policy challenge but a chance to help
remove a cloud over the history of the United States,'' he writes in
''Imperfect Justice,'' a dense but readable memoir on his experiences
negotiating the 'unfinished business' of the Holocaust. Eizenstat's
efforts began in 1995, when he was assigned the 'limited mission' of helping
bring about the return of Nazi-confiscated religious property in Eastern
Europe ... Eizenstat describes how Swiss bankers were pressed into
setting up a billion-dollar fund for holders of dormant bank accounts. This
precedent then helped him broker deals with the Germans, Austrians and
French ... Crucially, globalization was rendering European companies with
branch offices in the United States far more vulnerable than ever before ...
Just as Richard Holbrooke did with the Bosnian peace negotiations in
'To End a War,' Eizenstat provides readers with a look at how a
gritty American negotiator can drive home a deal nobody especially likes but
all learn to live with."
[Insights into the Jewish government cartel:]
First chapter of 'Imperfect Justice',
By Stuart E. Eizenstat, New York Times,
February 23, 2003
"On a typically dreary, wet winter day in Brussels in January 1995, I was
working in my office at the United States Mission to the European Union.
Carolyn Keene, my longtime assistant, told me that Richard Holbrooke,
assistant secretary of state for European affairs, was on the line. Dick and
I had been friends and colleagues for almost twenty years. I had brought him
to Atlanta in 1976 as a foreign policy adviser to Jimmy Carter's
presidential campaign, for which I was the chief policy adviser. After
Carter's victory, I helped Dick become the youngest assistant
secretary of state in modern history. I respected his boundless energy,
creativity, and dedication to public service. And I recognized his ambition
for higher office. This call would change my life. It would also help propel
onto the world's agenda many shameful events that had long been buried in
memory, often deliberately, and that only now were coming to light. Dick
asked if I would undertake a special 'limited mission' that he assured me
would take only a few months. He offered me the position, in addition to my
regular duties in Brussels, of the State Department's special envoy to
encourage the return of property confiscated from religious communities by
the Nazis and then nationalized by Eastern European Communist governments. I
would concentrate primarily on the Jewish communities facing the greatest
barriers ... There was a special twist to Holbrooke's call. The
previous spring, I had expected to be promoted to Holbrooke's
position. He had hosted a dinner for Fran and me at his residence in Bonn,
where he was serving as U.S. ambassador to Germany. Dick took pride
in showing us the small framed picture of his grandfather, a German Jew, in
full World War I military regalia, steel-pointed helmet and all, prominently
displayed on an end table in his living room. He wanted his German guests to
know that his grandfather had fought for the Kaiser-and by extension, to
recognize the contributions that Jews had made to their country before, as
he privately put it, 'they killed them all' in the Holocaust. As always,
Dick was one step ahead of the news. He startled me by saying the post
of assistant secretary of state for European affairs would soon fall vacant
and that I would be asked by his other guest of the evening, Undersecretary
of State Peter Tarnoff, to return to Washington and take the job.
Sure enough, Peter pulled me off in a corner after dinner and made
the offer ... Holbrooke's call did not arise from a sudden
brainstorm. He was under political pressure from Edgar Bronfman, a
friend of President Clinton's and the president of the World Jewish
Congress; Israel Singer, its flamboyant, creative general secretary;
and Elan Steinberg, a gifted publicist and the head of the congress's
North American division, who were already deeply involved in encouraging
property restitution in Eastern Europe. All three were leaders of the World
Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO); Bronfman was also its
president. Singer, joined by Steinberg and Maram Stern,
the World Jewish Congress' European director, had met with Holbrooke
to seek the administration's support in restoring confiscated Jewish
property. Holbrooke, whose highly developed political antenna could
not let him forget Bronfman's close relationship with President
Clinton, agreed and asked who should lead the government's effort. Stern,
based in Brussels, had already briefed me on the problem. Without advising
me in advance, he told Holbrooke I was the right person.
This is a perfect example of a nongovernmental
organization pushing its cause at the right time and using the levers of
power to influence government policy. The leaders of the WJRO knew
that they needed the U.S. government's help to accomplish anything in the
former Communist lands."
Israel
urges U.S. help to bolster economy,
Washington Times, February 24, 2003
"Israel is asking the United States for billions of dollars in direct aid
and loan guarantees to help prop up its stumbling economy and bolster the
Israeli Defense Forces as war looms in Iraq. Dov Weisglass, a top
aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, led a delegation that
met with Bush administration officials for three days last week to lay the
groundwork for congressional approval of about $12 billion in aid, in
addition to the $3 billion given to Israel each year ... Israel reportedly
is seeking $4 billion in direct aid — mostly for the military — and $8
billion in loan guarantees to help lift the country out of a two-year
recession. A source at the Israeli Embassy said he is 'optimistic' that
Congress would approve the additional funds. If passed, the aid would come
on the heels of a request by Turkey of more than $6 billion in direct aid
and $20 billion in loans as U.S. forces prepare to use bases in that country
as a staging area for any attack on Iraq ... Duncan L. Clarke, professor of
international relations at American University, said 'Israel tends to get
what it wants from Congress.' 'The combination of Congress being a yes man
for Israel and a president who is the same way, I'd say that bodes well for
Israel and poorly for the American taxpayer,' Mr. Clarke said. The question
that he said probably is not being asked on Capitol Hill is: 'Is it the
appropriate role of the U.S. to pump up a foreign country's economy?'"
Staff change means Mideast policy shift,
Washington Times (from UPI), February 25, 2003
"A staff shake-up at the National Security Council is likely to mean the
United States will take a harder pro-Israel stance in the Middle East,
several serving and former intelligence officials tell United Press
International. According to these sources, Elliott Abrams, the
controversial former Reagan administration official who President Bush last
December appointed to the NSC to take charge of the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict, has removed several staff members who were regarded as even-handed
on the issue. Ben Miller, who was on loan from the CIA and who had the Iraqi
file at the NSC, was 'abruptly let go,' according to former long-time CIA
Middle East analyst Judith Yaphe. Yaphe, whose account was confirmed by
administration officials speaking on condition of anonymity, said two other
officials, Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann, have also been removed from the
NSC. Leverett, who was also seconded from the CIA, had worked at the NSC
since February 2002 and was appointed senior director for Middle East
initiatives on Dec. 3, 2002 -- the same day that Abrams took up his
post ... Josef Bodansky, the director of the Congressional Task Force
on Terror and Unconventional Warfare, confirmed that Miller had been fired.
He said Miller's leaving was very abrupt. He said Abrams had 'led
Miller to an open window and told him to jump,' adding, 'that's his
(Abram's) management style.' Bodansky confirmed that Mann and
Leverett had also been told to leave. He said that Abrams believes 'a
strong Israel will prove to be the U.S. cornerstone in the Middle East.' As
a result, Abrams 'is not going to yield to those who want to pressure
Israel over the Arab-Israeli peace process." Bodansky said Abrams
will 'impose a policy and administer it very vigorously' ... In 1991,
Abrams was indicted by the Iran-Contra special prosecutor for giving
false testimony before Congress in 1987 about his role in illicitly raising
money for the Nicaraguan Contras. He pleaded guilty to two lesser offenses
of withholding information to Congress in order to avoid a trial and a
possible jail term. He was pardoned by President George H. W. Bush along
with a number of other Iran-Contra defendants on Christmas night 1992.
Cannistraro said that the shake-up means Abrams and the White House,
'are getting rid of people willing to compromise on the Arab-Israeli
dispute.'"
New head of House panel says she’ll go to mat on Israel Issues,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, February 25, 2003
"When Rep. Benjamin Gilman announced he was retiring from Congress
last summer, many on Capitol Hill speculated that the House of
Representative’s Middle East panel would go with him. After all, the
subcommittee was created in 2001 to give Gilman a forum for his
Middle East advocacy when tenure rules forced the New York Republican to
turn over the gavel of the House International Relations Committee. But the
subcommittee has been saved, thanks in part to Republican efforts to court
the American Jewish community. The panel’s new chair, Rep. Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), says she is ready to come to the Jewish state’ s
defense. 'I feel great solidarity with the Israeli people,' Ros-Lehtinen
told JTA last week, after leading a congressional delegation to Israel. 'I
treasure heading this subcommittee and will take it on with a great deal of
seriousness.' Officially entitled the House International Relations
Committee’s subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, in just two
years the Mideast panel has become one of the largest forums for lawmakers
to express their pro-Israel leanings. Contrary to most House subcommittees,
attendance at hearings by members of the Mideast subcommittee was
impressive, with many touting their ties to Israel. That’s the reason the
subcommittee was maintained, one Democratic congressional staffer said. 'I
don’t think there’s any question that the Republicans are working very hard
on outreach to the Jewish community,' he said. 'And this is a forum to
highlight a principle objective of the Republican Party to the Jewish
community.' Democrats also have said that the promotion of Rep. Eric
Cantor (R-Va.), the only Jewish Republican in the House, to the post of
chief deputy whip also was done to court the Jewish community. As Congress
set up its structure for this term, there was concern that the subcommittee
could be turned over to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), one of the
strongest critics of Israeli policy in the last Congress. But Rohrabacher
has been kept off the panel this year, and Jewish leaders are breathing a
sigh of relief that Ros-Lehtinen was chosen instead ... Ros-Lehtinen is an
interesting choice to lead the panel. A Cuban refugee in a Miami district
with a large Jewish population, she is considered a good soldier in the
Republican conference and a lawmaker with strong ties to AIPAC. She says she
lobbied hard to keep the subcommittee and to chair it, because there are so
many issues in the region that need to be tackled. Ros-Lehtinen’s priorities
coincide largely with those of the American Jewish community — including
securing additional foreign aid and loan guarantees for Israel; punishing
the Palestinian Authority and its president, Yasser Arafat; and
investigating U.S. funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency,
which helps Palestinian refugees. Ros-Lehtinen says she’s willing to go to
the mat on these issues, even when it means taking a stand against the White
House ... If the Iraq war goes well, Ros-Lehtinen’s main job could be
building support for the $4 billion in military aid and $8 billion in loan
guarantees Israel is seeking from the United States after the war ...
Ros-Lehtinen replaces a lawmaker whose ties to the
Jewish community often seemed stronger than his ties to his own party ...
While Ros-Lehtinen is not Jewish, she is likely to do much of the
work on issues of concern to the pro-Israel lobby. That is not a new task
for her, however. Since coming to Congress in 1989, she has done much to
further the Jewish community’s interests in Florida and across the country."
NYC=JFK(24/7),
by Alan Cabal, New York Press, February 26,
2003
"My advanced age and sedentary lifestyle have condemned me to a regimen of
pot and booze, punctuated with the occasional dose of Immodium to stave off
the body’s natural reaction to having a Bush in the White House.
I used to laugh at the Aryan Nation Nazis with their
addle-headed notion of 'ZOG,' the 'Zionist Occupied Government.' But then
Ariel Sharon stood up in the Knesset and said, in front of God and
everybody: 'We, the Jews, control America, and the Americans know it.'
The Mossad is boasting of sending roving death squads around the world to
whack the 'enemies of Israel' wherever they may be, including here. I feel
like I’ve stepped into some nauseating Nazi propaganda movie. The ADL sent a
cease and desist letter to the proprietors of rotten.com claiming that their
sensibilities were offended by a spoof involving the Pillsbury doughboy.
What the fuck were they doing at rotten.com? That site is the Sistine Chapel
of bad taste—it’s all pictures of deformed fetuses, monster turds and people
who have been decapitated by helicopters. If the ADL thinks the folks at
rotten.com give two flaming shits about offending the Holocaust Cult, Foxman
and his gang must be huffing solvents. Abe Foxman should get a real job."
Israel's 'Use' Of Its
Nuclear Weapons Against US,
rense.com, February 26, 2003
Ari Gets
Laughed Out of the White House Briefing Room,
Buzzflash, February 26, 2003
"Although we didn't see this occur, we have received three separate reader
accounts indicating that the White House press corps finally laughed at the
absurdity of [Jewish White House Press Secretary] Ari Fleischer's
lies, at least once. The following is the account from one of our BuzzFlash
e-mail reporters about the White House news briefing on Tuesday, February
25: ...A reporter asked about a French report that says Bush is offering a
bundle of concessions (and I think she actually said 'buying votes') to
Mexico and Colombia, granting worker amnesty and so on. Ari tap-danced. Then
she (the reporter) started to press the issue by saying 'they (the French)
are quoting two US State Dept. Diplomats that Bush intends to give work
permits to Colombia and Mexico.' WOW. WOW.... Ari just drew himself
up with imperious indignation and said something like 'you're implying that
the President is buying the votes of other nations and that's just not a
consideration' or words to that effect. And guess what happened? The whole
press corps, normally sheep, broke out in laughter... sweet, derisive
laughter. They kept on laughing as Ari turned on his heels and strode
out. Sheesh. Go down to White House Press Briefing (02/25/2003) and click on
the video. After it buffers, play from about 28 minutes forward for context,
30 minutes forward to watch Press laugh at Ari's BIG FAT GOP LIE.
http://www.c-span.org/
http://video.c-span.org:8080/ramgen/edrive/iraq022503_whpb.rm Addtional
Reader Note: Here is the excerpt from today's WH Press Briefing transcript
posted at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/02/20030225-9.html#18
to add to the discussion about him being laughed out of the room."
Israel's
Role: The 'Elephant' They're Talking About
[Jewish] Forward, FEBRUARY 28, 2003
"'It is the proverbial elephant in the room,' wrote liberal columnist
Michael Kinsley in the October 24, 2002, edition of the online journal
Slate. 'Everybody sees it, no one mentions it.' Kinsley was
referring to a debate, once only whispered in back rooms but lately splashed
in bold characters across the mainstream media, over Jewish and Israeli
influence in shaping American foreign policy. In recent weeks, in fact, the
Israeli-Jewish elephant has been on a rampage, trampling across the airwaves
and front pages of respected media outlets, including the Washington Post,
The New York Times, the American Prospect, the Washington
Times, the Economist, the New York Review of Books, CNN
and MSNBC. For its encore, the proverbial pachyderm plopped itself
down last weekend smack in the middle of 'Meet the Press,' NBC's top-rated
Sunday morning news program. Many of these articles project an image of
President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon working in tandem to promote
war against Iraq. Several of them described an administration packed with
conservatives motivated primarily, if not solely, by a dedication to
defending Israel. A few respected voices have even touched openly on the
role of American Jewish organizations in the equation, suggesting a
significant shift to the right on Middle East issues and an intense loyalty
to Sharon. Still others raise the notion of Jewish and Israeli
influence only to attack it as antisemitism. The key moment on 'Meet the
Press' came when host Tim Russert read from a February 14 column by the
editor at large of the Washington Times, Arnaud de Borchgrave, who
argued that the 'strategic objective' of senior Bush administration
officials was to secure Israel's borders by launching a crusade to
democratize the Arab world. Next, Russert turned to one of his guests,
Richard Perle, chairman of the Defense Policy Board, a key advisory
panel to the Pentagon. 'Can you assure American viewers across our country
that we're in this situation against Saddam Hussein and his removal for
American security interests?' Russert asked. 'And what would be the link in
terms of Israel?' It was a startling question, especially when directed at
Perle, the poster boy — along with Deputy Secretary of Defense
Paul Wolfowitz and Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith — for
antisemitic critics who insist the United States is being pulled into war by
pro-Likud Jewish advisers on orders from Jerusalem. But Russert is no David
Duke, nor even a Patrick Buchanan. He is generally regarded as a balanced,
first-rate journalist in sync with the zeitgeist of Washington's media and
political elite. If Russert is asking the question on national television,
then the toothpaste is out of the tube: The question has entered the
discourse in elite Washington circles and is now a legitimate query to be
floated in polite company ... The barrage of commentary on supposed Israeli
interests in an invasion of Iraq has triggered a powerful backlash of sorts:
a parallel barrage of commentary on the bounds of legitimate criticism of
Jerusalem, American Jews and Jewish officials working in the White House.
Several Jewish commentators have recently written articles warning that
subtle and not-so-subtle antisemitic undertones permeate the new wave of
anti-war criticism. In turn, critics have charged these writers with
unfairly playing the antisemitic card in hopes of silencing opposition to
the war."
As Lieberman runs for president, his Senate office focuses on war,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 3, 2003
"Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) may be spending his weekends in the
early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, but inside his Senate
office, the talk is all about war. As Lieberman, who is running for
president in 2004, prepared for a speech last week on the post-Saddam agenda
for Iraq, the phones rang off the hook in the front office. Two staffers
took call after call from opponents of a possible U.S.-led war on Iraq, part
of the Virtual March on Washington organized for Feb. 26 by the Win Without
War Coalition. By the end of the day, about 1,000 anti-war calls were logged
But inside Lieberman’s inner Senate office, with a mezuzah affixed to
its door, Lieberman remains one of the staunchest supporters in the
Democratic Party of U.S. military action against Iraq, even suggesting that
the United States should act without the aid of its allies if necessary ...
Bush chose the evening of Feb. 26, just hours after Lieberman’s
speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, to announce his vision of the
Middle East after Saddam has been swept from power. Lieberman learned
of the confluence of speeches only the night before, when a staffer saw an
item announcing Bush’s speech on The Washington Post’s Web site. But
the Lieberman camp quickly spun the story, arguing that 'Lieberman
leads, Bush follows.' The two speeches shared similar themes — calling for
instillation of democracy in Iraq, enhanced security and an increase in
engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ... Lieberman is
seeking the Democratic nomination for president at a time when global
anti-Semitism is on the rise. While he experienced little bigotry on the
campaign trail as the first Jewish vice presidential candidate on a major
party ticket in 2000, the world is a very different place just two years
later. But Lieberman says he is confident that, if elected, the world
will accept him, largely because of the power and influence the U.S.
president holds, regardless of his religion."
Gerstner's Surprise,
Business Week, November 21, 2003
"To the small universe that knows about it, Carlyle Group has an image right
out of a John Grisham novel -- a secretive firm of bigwigs that buys up
lucrative defense businesses, wins hush-hush military contracts, and
manipulates governments around the world to wring private profit out of
public policy. It doesn't help that Washington-based Carlyle's payroll
includes such formers as President George H.W. Bush, Secretary of State
James A. Baker III, British Prime Minister John Major, and Securities &
Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt Jr. Now Carlyle is about
to scramble the conspiracy theories. On Nov. 21, it announced that Louis V.
Gerstner Jr., the former CEO of IBM, will join Carlyle as chairman in
January. In the real world, Gerstner's appointment has little to do with
geopolitical intrigue. Instead, it's the clearest signal yet that the firm
has outgrown its old shell. From its roots in defense, Carlyle has expanded
rapidly into the world's largest private-equity manager. Drawn by its 36%
annual returns, wealthy individuals and big institutions have committed
$13.9 billion for the firm to manage. Carlyle has always been more than a
defense boutique, but now it is scooping up companies in a wider range of
businesses -- from the world's largest maker of artificial Christmas trees
to semiconductors. And it's in the midst of closing the biggest buyout deal
since RJR Nabisco Inc. in 1989 -- Qwest Communications' $7.05 billion
spin-off of its QwestDex Yellow Pages business .... Gerstner won't be
changing the basic direction set by Carlyle's co-founders: David M.
Rubenstein, a lawyer and domestic-policy adviser to President Jimmy
Carter; William E. Conway Jr., once the CFO of MCI; and former Marriott
executive Daniel A. D'Aniello. This triumvirate doesn't win much
recognition. But they, and not the famous ex-politicos they've recruited,
actually run the firm, heading a deep bench of 280 dealmakers in 21 offices
worldwide."
Israel, Jewish money, Lieberman, Jewish money, Israel, Jewish money,
Lieberman, Jewish money ... Welcome to the New America.
Democrats Facing Fight for Jewish Soul,
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, March 7,
2003
"The Democratic Party may be about to experience a battle for its Jewish
soul. Less than a year before the first primary, the field for the 2004
Democratic presidential nomination has turned into a crowd, but two names
have special significance for Jewish voters and the politicians who woo
them: Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and the Rev. Al Sharpton — the
cautious, conservative lawmaker and the rhetorical bomb thrower. Sharpton’s
presence could trigger the long-predicted reevaluation of the Democrats by
many Jewish voters, said Johns Hopkins University political scientist
Benjamin Ginsberg — especially if the civil rights leader does better
than expected in the polls and primaries. And since expectations for
Sharpton [who is Black] are minimal, any kind of positive showing during the
primary season could drive more Jewish voters and contributors into the GOP
orbit. Sharpton 'reminds a lot of Jewish voters about what they’ve come to
dislike about the Democratic Party,' Ginsberg said. 'It will sharpen
longstanding concerns.' Any success by Sharpton could have an especially
significant impact on Jewish campaign contributors, he added. That will be
'a real problem for party leaders; without Jews there
isn’t much of a Democratic Party, and they’d better start saving
their nickels and dimes, because they’re not going to get as many Jewish
dollars,' Ginsberg said. But Republicans shouldn’t start celebrating
yet, Ginsberg warned. A strong showing by Lieberman, and the prospect
of the first major party nominee for president, could 'cement Jewish ties to
the Democrats.' Most analysts predict a Lieberman candidacy would
draw a record Jewish vote. But it’s not just the Jews ... 'There’s a
tremendous amount at stake here,' said University of Richmond political
scientist Akiba Covitz. Sharpton is the 'public face' of rising black
anti-Semitism, he said. 'American Jews continue to see anti-Semitism as the
most pressing issue facing them today; to many, Sharpton represents that'
... A recent study by Gary Tobin suggested there is more
anti-Semitism now in the Democratic Party than on the GOP side, reflecting
both changing attitudes among African Americans and anti-Israel bias in some
liberal circles ... But as 2004 approaches, he said, there is greater
receptivity to the Republican domestic agenda among Jewish voters, and a
growing feeling among voters who put Israel at the top
of their political agenda that the Republicans have been much more
supportive of the current Israeli government. Republicans interested
in Jewish outreach are licking their chops over the prospect Sharpton will
do well in a few early primaries and thereby tear the party apart and drive
Jews to the GOP side of the aisle."
In
Crowded Field, Candidates Are Scrambling for Big Donors,
[Jewish] Forward, March 7, 2003
"The turmoil in the Middle East and the heat of the political debate over
war with Iraq have complicated Democrats' efforts to attract the major
Jewish donors who traditionally form much of the backbone of their finance
system. The result is a race for Jewish donors that appears more competitive
than in the past. Democratic fundraisers are busily honing their pitches and
working their social networks — including their Jewish connections — for the
benefit of their candidates ... Some, however, pointed to ideological and
political reasons for the large numbers of Jewish Democrats remaining on the
fence. Foremost among these is concern for Israel.
'The Jewish community as a whole is going to take a fresh look at the
Republicans, partly because of their support for Israel,' [Stuart]
Shorenstein said. 'Democrats should be getting out in front of the
Republicans on this, but they are not at all. That's why the Jewish vote
will re-examine.' It may be a sign of that issue's sensitivity, as well as
the growing acceptability of public discussion about Jewish political
activism, that those campaigns that could supply names of Jewish supporters
were quick to do so ... Candidates Start Attracting Backers Below are the
results of an informal survey of how the various presidential campaigns are
doing in their search for Jewish backers. * * * Howard Dean.
The former Vermont governor's campaign sports a past president of the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Democratic National
Committee, Massachusetts businessman Steven Grossman, as a top
adviser. Grossman named Wall Streeter Roy Furman, who hosted
an event Wednesday at New York's Harmonie Club, as a major player in Dean's
New York fundraising operation. Kenneth Klothen, former executive
director of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the
United States, is spearheading Dean's efforts in Philadelphia, while the
co-chairman of Dean's California operation is actor-producer Rob Reiner.
John Edwards. The North Carolina senator has the support of
Manhattan fundraiser Laura Ross, a former chairwoman of the DNC's
Women's Leadership Forum, and Strauss Zelnick, a top entertainment
executive. Richard Gephardt. The Missouri congressman is
supported by St. Louis investment banker Lee Kling, a former DNC
finance chairman, who is serving as campaign treasurer. Gephardt's campaign
also touts the involvement of Missourians Steven Stogel and
Michael Newmark and New York heavy hitters Felix Rohatyn, the
financier credited with saving New York City from bankruptcy in 1975; Loral
Space Communications mogul Bernard Schwartz; financier Elliot
Stein; lawyer Martin Nussbaum, and real estate magnate John
Tishman. Others for Gephardt include Joyce Schecter of Texas,
Gene Pavalon and Jack and Sandy Gutman of Illinois, Ira
Middleberg of Louisiana and Bobby Sager of Massachusetts.
John Kerry. The Massachusetts senator has the backing of Boston
philanthropist Alan Solomont, a former DNC finance chair and big
supporter of Jewish charitable causes. Also for Kerry: Boston real estate
magnate Alan Leventhal, New York literary super agent Mort Janklow
and San Francisco real estate scion Darian Swig. Joseph
Lieberman. The Connecticut senator has tapped Fort Lauderdale
attorney Mitchell Berger, a top Democratic fundraiser, as national
finance co-chairman of the campaign. According to Berger,
Lieberman can also count on the efforts of such Florida fundraisers as
real estate developer Michael Adler, accountant Richard Berkowitz
and lawyer Jerry Berlin. In Los Angeles, Lieberman has lawyer and
former congressman Mel Levine. New York chemicals magnate Jack
Bendheim is also raising money for Lieberman."
Some modern scholars surmise that this is yet another Jew who champions Israel in editorial power at a
newspaper --this one is Germany, of all places -- notes the widespread
international understanding of the foundation of modern America, that the
United States has been usurped by Jewish/Zionists interests in its bid to
fulfill all the old anti-Jewish stereotypes about dominating the world.
America, subservient to Jewish power and influence, has BECOME
Israel.
Enemies, a post-national story,
By Yair Sheleg, Haaretz (Israel), March
7, 2003
Josef Joffe: "'Images that were in the past
directed against the Jews are now aimed at the Americans: the desire to rule
the world; the allegation that the Americans, like the Jews in the past, are
interested only in money and have no real feeling for culture or social
distress. There are also some people who connect the two and maintain that
the Jewish desire to rule the world is being realized today, in the best
possible way, by means of the `American conquest.' This is one of the
ways in which Dr. Josef Joffe, editor of the German weekly Die
Zeit, explains the link that certain circles in Europe, and even more in
the Arab world, see between hatred of America and hatred of the Jews.
Joffe spoke this week on the topic of 'anti-Americanism, anti-Israelism
and anti-Semitism' at the Center for German Studies at Ben-Gurion University
of the Negev in Be'er Sheva, inaugurating a two-year series of lectures on
Jewish-German relations. Joffe, who is Jewish, is definitely an
authority on this subject, both personally and professionally ... What
happened, he said, is a complete transformation of American policy [since
9-11]. According to Joffe, Bush said to himself that for the past 50
years the West lived more or less reasonably with the pathology of the
Middle East. As long as the pathology did not spread to the outside and did
not endanger Israel's existence, the West could live with it and even forge
alliances in the region to counterbalance the Soviet Union ... But there is
also another factor, he notes: 'The Europeans know the U.S. guarantees
Israel's security, so it is easy for them to play the `Arab game.' If it
were not for that American guarantee, I think they would be far more
cautious' ... Joffe, then, is the embodiment of a European Jewish
conservative; pro-American and pro-Israeli, he is a modernist who believes
in the advancement of democracy even at the price of American
neo-colonialism. So cogent was this thrust in his talk [in Israel], that one
of the students at the lecture told him that his comments on the 'Arab
pathology' were tainted by racism, and Prof. Yitzhak Nevo, from BGU's
psychology department, argued that he was being too easy on Israel.
Offended, Joffe refused to allow the full text of his lecture to be
published, for fear that what he said, with its reservations and emphases,
had not been understood properly."
Moran’s Talk of Jewish Control is “Stunning”,
National Jewish Democratic Council, March 7,
2003
"According to a March 5th article published by The Connection Newspapers
of northern Virginia, Congressman James Moran (D-VA) – speaking in
Reston, Virginia on Monday night – '…blasted the Bush administration for its
rush to war but saved some of his harshest criticism for Jewish leaders in
the United States. 'If it were not for the strong
support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq we would not be doing
this,'' he said. 'The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough
that they could change the direction of where this is going and I think they
should.' 'It is simply stunning to hear Representative Moran make
such accusations,' said National Jewish Democratic Council Executive
Director Ira N. Forman. 'We can only hope that in making these
statements, the Congressman is unaware of the long and tragic history of
demagogic leaders who have singled out Jewish communities around the world
as being responsible for various unpopular policies. Historically, such
accusations have – wittingly or unwittingly – fed the paranoia of the worst
anti-Semitic elements in societies, often with very tragic consequences."
Poll: Springer Unfavorable in Ohio,
Earthlink (from Associated Press), March 10,
2003
"Talk show host Jerry Springer, who has said he might run for the
Senate, scored the highest unfavorable rating in the 14 years that the Ohio
Poll has been taking the state's political pulse. Springer, a
Democrat and former Cincinnati mayor, drew an unfavorable response from 71
percent of those surveyed in the Ohio Poll. Thirteen percent had a favorable
opinion, while 14 percent knew little about Springer and 2 percent had not
heard of him. Springer's unfavorable rating surpassed the 65 percent logged
in 2000 by real estate magnate Donald Trump, poll director Eric Rademacher
said Monday. The Ohio Poll began tracking such numbers in 1989. The poll
also found that Republican Sen. George Voinovich was favored over Springer
77 percent to 16 percent in a head-to-head matchup. Springer, whose
nationally syndicated show is known for racy subjects, raunchy language and
on-air brawling, has said he might run against Voinovich next year."
Israelis training in South Dakota?
Janklow wants Israel to use SD as training area against terrorism,
Aberdeen News (Southj Dakota), March 10, 2003
"Rep. Bill Janklow says that when he visited Israel last month, he suggested
Israel use South Dakota as a laboratory to help train the United States to
defend itself against terrorism. 'They thought it was a heck of an idea,'
Janklow said of high-ranking Israeli leaders he talked with. 'I know they
are working on it.' He was in Mitchell on Saturday to help judge the state
high school debate tournament."
Jewish double standards
Hollywood publicist calls for boycott of French wine,
Atlanta Journal-Constiution, February 25, 2003
"In response to a strong sense of disgust with France's lack of support of
America, prominent Hollywood publicist Michael Levine has agreed to
lead a nationwide boycott of French wine in an effort to send a strong
signal to both the French government and people. The boycott will be focused
on French wine and will begin immediately, he said. 'I am asking Americans
not to buy, drink, or give French wine at all until they recover from their
political amnesia. Nearly 200,000 American GI's died to liberate France from
World War II alone,' said Levine. Levine noted that France's
recent actions in opposition of America's U.N. efforts, along with its
continued flirtation with anti-Semitism, prompted his call for a boycott.
Levine said he has been frustrated with France's 'immeasurable
ingratitude' for decades. 'I have turned my cheek probably twenty times in
the last decade alone but France's recent conduct and continued indifference
to anti-Semitism is, for me, like many Americans, just beyond what I can
support.'"
Mayor of
Seclin, France brought to court for recommending boycott of Israeli products,
Alternative News, March 10th, 2003
"On March 12, 2003, Mayor Jean-Claude Willem (French Communist Party) will
appear in the high court in Lille following accusations of incitement to
anti-Semitism on account of his campaign of protest against Israeli policies
in the Palestinian territories. The accusations were filed by
representatives of the Jewish community in northern France. The matter came
up in October 2002, when Willem recommended at a municipal council meeting
that the school refectory catering service avoid purchasing Israeli
products, 'starting with fruit juices.' The mayor had visited a photo
exhibition devoted to the Occupied Territories and in an effort to raise
awareness about the Palestinian predicament, initiated a campaign to boycott
Israeli products. He condemned the 'crimes of the Israeli government and of
its army', notably in Jenin. 'Some Israelis supported me,' he added. The
president of the Israelite Cultural Association in northern France,
Jean-Claude Komar, wrote him a letter where he allegedly explained 'this
gesture [boycott] is not conducive to peace and penalizes Palestinians just
as much since Palestinians supply for Israeli food industry, for example
growing oranges.' Willem answered, writing that Israeli crimes in the
territories were akin to genocide. 'It was a gut reaction,” the Mayor
explained himself later. Komar and a colleague, Guy Bensoussan,
then decided to file an official complaint against Willem, judging that his
initiative would favour the rise of anti-semitism in the region. The Mayor
of Seclin received convocation to court on January 7, 2003, for 'provoking
discrimination and hatred toward a person or group of persons on account of
their origin, their affiliation to a particular ethnic, national, racial or
religious group, specifically because of the request that catering services
boycott Israeli products.' Willem’s lawyer, Daniel Joseph, was surprised by
the accusation. 'This is the first time I have encountered a case that
claims that economic boycott constitutes incitement to racial hatred. I do
not see how that is possible. It is absurd.'" (From Le Monde, France 3
Regional Nord -- Pas de Calais -- Picardie Newsletter, Seclin Council
information service, and AIC partners in France.)
[As this article notes, "Mr. Perle is a director of Hollinger
International Inc., which is an investor in the (New York) Sun."]
PERLE SUING OVER NEW YORKER ARTICLE,
New York Sun, March 12, 2003
"Richard Perle, the influential foreign policy hawk, is suing
journalist Seymour Hersh over an article he wrote implying that Mr.
Perle is using his position as a Pentagon adviser to benefit
financially from a war to liberate Iraq. 'I intend to launch legal action in
the United Kingdom. I'm talking to Queen's Counsel right now,' Mr. Perle,
who chairs the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, a non-paying position, told
The New York Sun last night. He said he is suing in Britain because
it is easier to win such cases there, where the burden on plaintiffs is much
less. Mr. Hersh's article, which appears in the March 17 issue of the
The New Yorker magazine, said Mr. Perle met for lunch with two
Saudi businessman in France in January in an attempt to seek Saudi
investment for a company Mr. Perle is associated with, Trireme
Partners L.P. ... Mr. Hersh writes that Mr. Perle said that
the meeting was convened only to talk about a diplomatic alternative to war
in Iraq. One of the meeting's participants, Harb Saleh Al-Suhair, a Saudi
born in Iraq, wanted to discuss averting war with Mr. Perle. But
according to the article, both Saudi businessmen - Mr. Al-Suhair and Adnan
Kashoggi - thought the purpose of the meeting was to discuss Iraq as well as
Saudi investment in Trireme. But the article quotes all three participants
saying that Saudi investment in Trireme was not discussed at the lunch,
because, as Mr. Al-Zuhair says, Mr. Perle said 'he was above the
money"and that he "stuck to his idea that 'we have to get rid of Saddam.''
And to this day, according to the article, no Saudi money has been invested
in Trireme. When asked what part of the article is incorrect, Mr. Perle
told the Sun: 'It's all lies, from beginning to end.' The editor of The
New Yorker, David Remnick, is sticking by Mr. Hersh's
piece. 'It went through serious reporting, with four members of the board
talking to Sy [Hersh], and rigorous factchecking,
legal-checking and all the rest,' Mr. Remnick told the Sun. He said
he took issue with Mr. Perle's description of Mr. Hersh on CNN
Sunday as 'the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist.'' 'I
would have thought after all this many years, Mr. Perle would be a
bit more refined than that,' Mr. Remnick said. The Saudi Arabian
ambassador to America, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, is quoted in the article
accusing Mr. Perle of 'blackmail.'"
Kinsley, like so many media pundits, is of course Jewish. It's really
quite funny. The more Jews try to explain massive Jewish political
manipulation away, the more they are neck deep in advertising the truth of
its existence.
J'Accuse, Sort Of. You never
know where you're going to find anti-Semitic propaganda,
by Michael Kinsley, Salon.com, March 12,
2003
"Nevertheless, Moran is not the only one publicly exaggerating the power and
influence of the Zionist lobby these days. It is my sad duty to report that
this form of anti-Semitism seems to have infected one of the most prominent
and respected—one might even say influential—organizations in Washington.
This organization claims that 'America's pro-Israel lobby'—and we all know
what 'pro-Israel' is a euphemism for—has tentacles at every level of
government and society. On its Web site, this organization paints a lurid
picture of Zionists spreading their party line and even indoctrinating
children. And yes, this organization claims that the influence of the
Zionist lobby is essential to explaining the pro-Israel tilt of U.S. policy
in the Middle East. It asserts that the top item on the Zionist 'agenda' is
curbing the power of Saddam Hussein. The Web site also contains a shocking
collection of Moran-type remarks from leading American politicians. Did you
know, for example, that former President Clinton once described the Zionist
lobby as 'stunningly effective' and 'better than anyone else lobbying this
town'? Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has gone even further (as is his
wont), labeling the Zionists 'the most effective general interest group …
across the entire planet.' (Gingrich added ominously that if the Zionist
lobby 'did not exist, we would have to invent' it.) House Minority Leader
Dick Gephardt is quoted saying that if it weren't for the Zionist lobby
'fighting on a daily basis,' the close relationship between America and
Israel 'would not be.' Sen. John McCain has said that this lobby 'has long
played an instrumental and absolutely vital role' in protecting the
interests of Israel with the U.S. government. There is a string of quotes
from leading Israeli politicians making the same point. According to this
Web site, the Zionist lobby is, like most political conspiracies, a set of
concentric circles within circles. The two innermost circles are known as
the 'President's Cabinet' and the 'Chairman's Council.' Members allegedly
'take part in special events with members of Congress in elegant Washington
locations,' 'participate in private conference calls,' and attend an annual
'national summit' ... And who is behind this Web site? Who is spreading the
anti-Semitic canard that Jews and Zionists influence American policy in the
Middle East, including Iraq? It is a group calling itself the America-Israel
Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, and claiming to be 'pro-Israel.' They
all claim that, of course. But in this case, AIPAC actually is considered to
be the institutional expression of the amorphous Zionist lobby. All the
foregoing quotes and assertions about the huge Zionist influence with the
U.S. government and the lengths to which Zionists go to protect and expand
it actually refer to AIPAC itself ... Just as African-Americans can use the
'n' word when joshing among themselves and it sounds a lot different than
when used by a white person, talk about the political influence of organized
Jewry sounds different when it comes from Jewish organizations themselves.
Nevertheless, you shouldn't brag about how influential you are if you want
to get hysterically indignant when someone suggests that government policy
is affected by your influence."
The Jewish Lobby takes aim at those who dare to notice them.
Pattern of blame Jewish activists: Moran's remarks not surprising, but
beyond the pale,
Washington Jewish Week, March 13, 2003
"Six Jewish Democratic members of Congress are encouraging Rep. Jim Moran
not to seek reelection in 2004, and say that if he does run, they 'cannot
and will not support his candidacy.' In a letter to House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), the legislators -- Reps. Henry Waxman
(Calif.), Martin Frost (Texas), Tom Lantos (Calif.), Sander
Levin (Mich.), Benjamin Cardin (Md.) and Nita Lowey (N.Y.)
-- say Moran's statements were not only 'offensive' and 'ignorant,' but
'grossly irresponsible' and 'violate the basic standards we hold ourselves
to as Democrats.' Frost, Levin, Lantos and Cardin
were among 11 Jewish members of Congress who signed a letter calling Moran a
'strong supporter' and 'friend' of Israel last October, a document that the
Virginia congressman used on the campaign trail in 2002 ... Other comments
made by the Virginia Democrat over the years dabble in the same kinds of
allegations of Jewish control over the government suggested by his
statements last week, portraying Israeli policies and leaders in viciously
hostile terms and raising questions about Jewish claims to Israel."
The Washington Post -- long-owned by the Graham family of
Jewish lineage and with a top-heavy Jewish editorial hierarchy --
editorializes what you'd expect: Readers, don't pay attention to the Jews
everywhere in positions of power. Their prominence everywhere means NOTHING
to their editorial staff.
Blaming the Jews,
Washington Post, March 12, 2003; Page A20
"Our view that Rep. James P. Moran Jr. is unfit to serve in Congress is not
new. Last July, citing Mr. Moran's ethical obtuseness, we urged Democrats in
Alexandria and surrounding neighborhoods to find another candidate for the
fall election. Now, by blaming American Jews for an Iraq policy he opposes,
the seven-term congressman has confirmed our opinion about him. House
Democratic leaders quickly dissociated themselves from his remark; it will
be interesting to see whether they, and Northern Virginia Democrats, will
make an effort to find a better candidate to run in 2004. Meanwhile it may
be useful to examine Mr. Moran's assertion, for he is far from alone in his
view. 'If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for
this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this,' Mr. Moran said, as reported
first by the Reston Connection newspaper. 'The leaders of the Jewish
community are influential enough that they could change the direction of
where this is going, and I think they should.' The comment perpetuates a
stereotype of Jews as a unified bloc steering the world in their interest
and against everyone else's. Over the centuries anti-Semites have used this
libel to distract attention from their own failings and to instigate
violence and discrimination against Jews. In the United States today, though
anti-Semitism is far from eradicated, such violence may seem a mercifully
distant danger. But Mr. Moran's comment will be used to concentrate the
poison of anti-Semitism in many parts of the world where it remains virulent
and dangerous."
Foreign Ministry mobilizes to confront 'theory' Jews behind push for Iraq
war,
Israel Insider, March 12, 2003
"Representative James P. Moran of Virginia apologized for remarks he made
suggesting that Jewish leaders were influential enough to push the nation
toward war. Congressman Jim Moran Foreign Ministry officials in Jerusalem
are concerned over a widely disseminated theory suggesting that American
Jews are pushing the Bush administration to launch military action against
Iraq, in the belief that the removal of Saddam Hussein from power would help
Israel. The White House and Congressional leaders yesterday joined Jewish
groups in sharply criticizing a Democratic congressman who said Jews were
behind the buildup towards war. Army Radio reported today that the Foreign
Ministry has instructed Israeli embassies and consulates around the world to
report how widely spread the 'Jewish push for the war' theory is in various
countries ... Jewish groups have condemned attempts by critics of the war to
link military action against Iraq to the desires of Israel or Jewish members
of the Bush administration, the New York Times reported."
State Jewish Republicans
Still Giddy,
Baltimore Jewish News, March 14, 2003
"Last November, when Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was elected governor of Maryland,
David Blumberg cried. 'I shed tears of relief and joy,' recalled Mr.
Blumberg, a longtime Republican who chaired the Baltimore City
Republican Party for 16 years. Mr. Blumberg isn't the only Republican
who is still giddy over the election of the first GOP governor in Maryland
since 1966. But for Jewish Republicans, who have endured years of abuse in a
sea of Jewish Democrats, the victory is even sweeter. Almost a year before
the election, Mark Luterman organized a campaign for Mr. Ehrlich in
Northwest Baltimore. 'When people heard that I was leading the effort among
Pikesville Jews, they said, 'How can you support a Republican? They don't
help people in need,' said Mr. Luterman, another longtime Republican
and local businessman. In the end, Mr. Ehrlich received 54 percent of
the Jewish votes in northwest metropolitan Baltimore, according to Mr.
Luterman, not including the Orthodox vote, which went 70-75 percent for
Mr. Ehrlic ... The numbers [of Jewish Republicans in Maryland]
may be minimal but the influence is not. David L. Cahn, an attorney
who lives in Prince George's County, said Mr. Ehrlich showed up at a meeting
of Jewish Republicans and 'indicated there's a place for them' in his
administration."
Moran's
remarks on Jews stoke debate,
"Rep. James P. Moran's remarks on the influence of American Jews on the Bush
administration's hard line against Iraq have put a public face on a bitter
and intensely personal debate among policy-makers and pundits over the
motivations of those pushing a new war in the Middle East. The Alexandria
Democrat has apologized profusely for his March 3 comment that there would
be no military strike against Saddam Hussein 'if it were not for the strong
support of the [American] Jewish community.' But some argue that Mr. Moran
did not go far enough with his apology. Both the White House and senior
Democratic leaders in Congress were swift to condemn Mr. Moran's comments.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer called the remarks 'shocking.
They are wrong, and they should not have been said.' Charges of 'dual
loyalty' and countercharges of anti-Semitism have become common in the feud,
with some war opponents even asserting that Mr. Bush's most hawkish advisers
— many of them Jewish — are putting Israel's interests ahead of those of the
United States in provoking a war with Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein. 'A
stronger Israel is very much embedded in the rationale for war," said
Richard Stengel, a columnist with Time magazine's online edition. 'It
is a part of the argument that dare not speak its name, a fantasy quietly
cherished by the neoconservative faction in the Bush administration and by
many leaders of the American Jewish community.' MSNBC talk-show host Chris
Matthews said war supporters in the Bush Pentagon were 'in bed' with Israeli
hawks eager to take out Saddam. That line of argument has spurred a furious
counterattack, with many saying that some of the criticism has crossed the
line from legitimate policy debate to classic anti-Semitism ... Sometimes
the line between legitimate and illegitimate criticism is difficult to see,
said Shoshana Bryen, special projects director for the Jewish
Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), a small but influential
Washington think tank ... JINSA's advisory board in recent years has boasted
such prominent Iraq hawks as Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Deputy
Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Pentagon adviser Richard
Perle ... But both sides say the debate has substantially broadened this
time, in part because of the strong influence of neoconservative hawks on
the security policies of the Bush administration and in part because many
leftist protesters in the anti-war movement have raised the same issue.
Critics such as Mr. Buchanan and many peace activists say that Israel and
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will be the prime beneficiary of any move
to oust Saddam."
Congressman
Apologizes for Blaming War Push on Jews,
[Jewish] Forward, March 15, 2003
"Embattled Rep. James Moran is apologizing for claiming that the Jewish
community was pushing the country into war. But the Virginia Democrat's
apology failed to allay the increasing fears in some circles that Jews will
be blamed for a war against Iraq. Moran, a seven-term congressman
representing a heavily Muslim and Arab-American district in Washington's
northern Virginia suburbs, made his controversial remark March 3 during a
speech in front of 120 people. He was condemned by the White House and
several congressional Democratic leaders. Six area rabbis and a Washington
Post columnist called on him to resign. The
controversy comes at a time when Jewish community leaders are increasingly
alarmed by the willingness of mainstream media pundits to discuss the
influence of Israel and American Jews on the White House's Iraq policy. In
particular, pundits have highlighted the key role played by several Jewish
hawks in the Bush administration, the lobbying activities of Jewish groups
and the president's strong relationship with Prime Minister Sharon.
'Moran is symptomatic of a problem that we have been watching for several
weeks and months, and that is that the charge that the Jews are instigators
and advocators of military action has moved from the extreme into the
mainstream,' said Abraham Foxman, national director of the
Anti-Defamation League. This shift, he added, is emboldening people such as
Moran to 'have the chutzpah to say such things.'
'It's out there and therefore we are concerned,' Foxman said.
'If, God forbid, the war is not successful and the
body bags come back, who's to blame?' Fueling such anxieties is the
increasing media focus on the White House's concern with protecting Israel
and the views of Jewish hawks in the administration, including Paul
Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith at the Pentagon and the recently
appointed Elliott Abrams at the National Security Council ... Later,
in an interview with the Washington Post, Moran denied that he was an
antisemite, pointing out that his daughter is in the process of converting
to Judaism as part of her plans to marry a Jew ... Six
Virginia rabbis called for Moran's resignation, as did Washington Post
columnist Marc Fisher, who compared the
congressman's remarks to a speech Adolf Hitler delivered to the German
parliament in 1939, accusing 'Jewish financiers' of plunging Europe
into a world war. The Republican Jewish Coalition and the National Jewish
Democratic Council both slammed Moran over his remarks.
The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times
ran editorials blasting the congressman. Key Democrats, including
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi,
strongly condemned Moran, as did the White House. Virginia Rep. Eric
Cantor, a Republican, called on Democrats to remove Moran from the House
appropriations and budget committees ... But while organizations have
attempted to stay quiet on the issue, the two most influential pro-Israel
groups — the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — appeared to be working
actively in favor of action against Iraq. AIPAC, the most influential
pro-Israel group in Washington, lobbied last fall in favor of Bush's
successful efforts to obtain congressional authorization to use force
against Iraq. Several other Jewish organizations, responding to press
queries at the time, expressed support for the president's efforts to obtain
a United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing military action to
disarm Iraq."
Another pro-Israel Zionist -- this one not even an American citizen --
was hired by a fellow Zionist speechwriter to write George Bush's speeches
to Americans.
Axis of Ego,
The American Conservative, March 24, 2002
[Review of :The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush,
by David Frum, Random House]
"Eyebrows were raised in Washington at the beginning of George W. Bush’s
administration when a prominent Canadian journalist named David Frum
was hired as bottom banana on the new president’s speechwriting team. The
reason for that surprise is supplied by Frum himself in The Right
Man. When chief Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson first made his
offer, Frum writes, I believed I was unsuited to the job he was
offering me. I had no connection to the Bush campaign or the Bush family.
I had no experience in government and little of
political campaigns. I had not written a speech for anyone other than
myself. And I had been only a moderately enthusiastic supporter of
George W. Bush … I strongly doubted he was the right man for the job.'
What’s more, as Frum explains, 'I was a
Canadian citizen when I entered the White House.' Nor did he
represent any wing of the Republican Party. While identifying himself as a
conservative, his first book, Dead Right (1994), expressed intense
dissatisfaction with supply-siders, evangelicals, and nearly all Republican
politicians. He had first attracted major American
attention in 1991 with a mean-spirited, unjustified accusation of Pat
Buchanan practicing 'sly anti-Semitism.' In a White House unusually
suspicious of outsiders, Gerson ushered in Frum apparently because he
regarded him as an insightful intellectual (M.A. Yale, J.D. Harvard) and a
stylish writer ... Insensibly, the book becomes a brief for Sharon’s
Israeli policy. Bush may have decided in favor of a Palestinian state, but
not Frum. 'One of my speechwriting colleagues put it nicely: ‘Let’s
see: they kill six thousand Americans [the best estimate of the casualties
at that time], and we give the Palestinians a state. If they kill six
thousand more Americans, do we give Palestinians twice as big a state?’' If
Frum purported to present Bush warts and all, Sharon was wart-less.
Could Bush, Frum asked, 'condemn Israel for doing in the West Bank exactly
what he was doing in Afghanistan?' The climax of The Right Man is
what made David Frum a Washington celebrity. His wife, writer
Danielle Crittenden, sent e-mails to a wide circle of friends saying, 'my
husband is responsible for the [axis of evil] phrase' and expressing “hope
you’ll indulge my wifely pride” (though Frum’s original words were
'axis of hate')."
Every single name in this excerpt is Jewish (except the guy
who asks the questions), which some say is reflecting our times. The American political world
has become an in-house Jewish argument.]
Press Briefing with Ari Fleischer,
White House, March 13, 2003
Q Ari, Richard Perle is the Chairman of the Defense
Policy Board and the lead public advocate for war on Iraq. In the New
Yorker Magazine this week, Seymour Hirsch reports that Perle
is also managing partner of a venture capital company, Trireme Partners, and
is positioned to profit from a war in Iraq. The Federal Code of Conduct,
which governs Perle in this matter, prohibits conflict of interest.
Henry Kissinger resigned from the 9/11 Commission because of similar
business conflicts. When asked on Sunday by Wolf Blitzer about the
New Yorker article, Perle called Hirsch 'the closest thing
American journalism has to a terrorist.' Two questions. Given Perle's
conflict of interest, and given the widespread public belief that this war
is being driven by corporate interests -- war for oil, and war for defense
contracts, war for construction companies -- does the President believe --
MR. FLEISCHER: Who's informed judgment is that?
Q Widespread public belief.
MR. FLEISCHER: Widespread? Or just that chair?
Q No, widespread. Does the President believe that Richard Perle
should resign from the Defense Policy Board? And second question, do you
agree with Richard Perle that Hirsch is the closest thing
American journalism has to a terrorist?
MR. FLEISCHER: Russell, there's absolutely no basis to your
own individual and personal statement about what may lead to war. If
anything leads to war, it's the fact that Saddam Hussein has refused to
disarm. And I think you do an injustice to people -- no matter what their
background -- if you believe that people believe that Saddam Hussein should
be disarmed for any reason that suggests personal profit.
Q Okay, what about the question, Ari? Should he resign and is
he a terrorist? MR. FLEISCHER: Russell, you've had your --
you've made your speech.
Q You didn't answer the question.
MR. FLEISCHER: You've made your speech."
An Open
Letter to Paul Wolfowitz To My Former Dean and Other "Court Jews",
by JOSH RUEBNER, Counterpunch, March 14,
2003
"Dear Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, I doubt it if
you remember me. That's okay though. I don't think that I did anything to
merit drawing the attention of the dean as a graduate student at Johns
Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) ... The
comfortable, accessible relationship that you had with your students at SAIS
makes it difficult for me to address you as the Assistant Secretary of
Defense of the United States of America ... I am not writing this letter as
a secular American critic of a unilateralist U.S. foreign policy that has
run amok. Instead, I decided to write to you as one fellow Jew to another.
And as Jews, we do share that intimate connection and shared sense of
destiny even if we do not really know each other. Perhaps in Hebrew school
you learned the dictum kol yisrael arevim zeh la'zeh-that all Jews are
responsible for and to each other. It is in this spirit of mutual
responsibility that I write to you. Brother, I am concerned about you. I am
concerned that you are being exploited and that you do not realize it ...
Lately I have come to the disturbing conclusion that the Bush Administration
is using you as its 'court Jew' par excellence ... Often, these ambitious
Jews were so eager to serve the interests of the rulers so that they could
ease their feelings of internalized self-hatred. They viewed serving the
power structure as a way to overcome the marginality and stigmas associated
with being Jewish which were built into the very fabric of society by the
power structure to begin with. The rulers understood this yearning to enter
the halls of power and took advantage of it by dangling a carrot of
illusional power before the hungry eyes of this wayward Jewish elite. These
"court Jews" were given politically unimportant, yet highly visible
positions within the regime. Why? So that when the subjected masses rose up
from time to time in justified outrage at the oppressive nature of the
regime under which they lived, there was a convenient, ready-made scapegoat
in place. The "court Jew," as a highly visible symbol of the regime, served
as the lighting rod to bear the brunt of the blame and deflect criticism
from where it belonged rightfully ... Your job is to interact in the
high-brow world of intelligence briefings and diplomacy. My job is to
interact with the people and mobilize them against the very steps that
you're taking. With all due respect, I think that I am in a better position
to hear what the people are saying. Do you know what
they're saying already? That the war in Iraq is being planned by a cabal of
extremist Jews. That it is the first part of a Zionist conspiracy to redraw
the map of the Middle East. That Israel stands to be the prime beneficiary
of this war. And it's not just the marginalized skinheads who are saying
this either. It's also mainstream folks who would swear up and down that
they don't have an anti-Semitic bone in their bodies. I'm sure that
you, like me, recoiled in horror when you heard Congressman Jim Moran assert
that it is the Jews who are advocating for this war and that only the Jews
have the power to stop it. It pains me that so many of my fellow citizens
are falling into this age-old trap of blaming the powerless Jews who seem so
powerful because of the existence of a handful of "court Jews" who front for
the power structur ... Take a few 'court Jews' and give them unimpeded
access to the mainstream media and, voila, you create the impression among
the masses that 'the Jews' are spoiling for a war. Do you see brother how
you are misrepresenting us? I wish that we in the Jewish peace movement
could have as much access as you do to the mainstream media so that we could
shatter the monolithic view of the Jewish community which the 'court Jew' by
definition is set up to propagate. Of course, we are denied that access by
the same power structure which has an interest in making sure that yours is
the only 'Jewish' voice heard. I'm really afraid that we are heading for a
calamity. If the people are this incensed now my brother, how do you think
they will feel when American men and women start returning from the sands of
Kuwait in body bags? Who is going to be blamed if, God forbid, we are
subjected to another terrorist attack? Do these thoughts keep you awake at
night? Are you scared like I am that this imperialistic war in Iraq
threatens the existence of the Jewish people? My brother, I don't blame you
for accepting the starring role of 'court Jew' ... For the sake of your own
dignity, you must refuse to be exploited as the "court Jew." Step down and
deprive the power structure of its 'court Jew' and you will expose to the
world the actors who really motivate the Bush Administration. Please, before
it is too late, tell the world that it is not the powerless Jews who are
pushing for this war, but the greedy, venal barons of corporate America who
stand to profit while cowering behind the myth of the all-powerful Jew. Tell
everybody what you and I both know. That the real interests hawking for this
war are the defense contractors and the oil industry who will make billions
of dollars to first destroy Iraq and then 'rebuild' it under the protective
wing of American 'democracy' ... With love, Josh Ruebner."
Jim Moran and
the Dixie Chicks: Never Say "Sorry," It Only Makes Things Worse; by
Alexander Cockburn, Counterpunch, March 15,
2003
"At last the leaders of the Democratic Party have moved decisively, hauling
out their ripest comminations and hurling them at-no, not at George Bush.
The man at whom they've been leveling their fire this past week is 7-term US
Rep James Moran of Virginia. Moran, a former mayor of Alexandria, Va., is in
hot water over his head for having remarked in a March 3 town hall session
with his constituents that, as quoted in the Virginia-area Connection
newspapers, 'if it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community
for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this The leaders of the Jewish
community are influential enough that they could change the direction of
where this is going, and I think they should.' The House and Senate
Democratic leaders, Nancy Pelosi and Tom Daschle, promptly denounced Moran's
remarks, and six Jewish House Democrats have taken it upon themselves to
advise Moran that he not seek re-election in 2004. Should he do so, 'we
cannot and will not support his candidacy.' Moran has been forced to give up
on his positions as Democratic Party leader in the mid-Atlantic region,
though not as yet his committee posts on the Hill. The game plan is clearly
what it was with Hilliard of Alabama and McKinney of Georgia, both evicted
from Congress last year as conspicuous acts of retribution against critics
of Israel: Breathe a word about justice for Palestinians, and you'll lose
your seat. Moran says he'll certainly run again, and the decision will
belong to the voters of his district. One reason Moran is getting whacked so
hysterically is that Jewish nerves are raw on precisely the point he raised,
the role of Jewish opinion here in pressing for the attack on Iraq. It's one
thing for Pat Buchanan to raise the issue of dual loyalty in the American
Conservative (as he has just done), but when Tim Russert starts pressing
Richard Perle to assure us that he's advocating an attack on Iraq in
the interests of the United States, not some other power, we know it's
perched squarely on the front burner. Suddenly researchers from Nightline
(one called me on the matter) and other mainstream outfits are rushing for
copies of 'A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,' the 1996
briefing plan for Benjamin Netanyahu prepared by such pro-Israel
hawks as Perle, Douglas Feith and others now high in the Bush
Administration, advocating attack on Iraq. It's now OK for reporters (Robert
Kaiser in the Washington Post, for example) to describe the Jewish
neocon lobby for war, starting with Perle, Wolfowitz and
Feith, and heading on down the list to Elliott Abrams, now
running the Israel-Palestine portfolio at the National Security Council. The
op-ed pages are beginning to vibrate with predictable charges from people
like Lawrence Kaplan of The New Republic that all this talk of
dual loyalty and Israel's agenda is nothing but rank anti-Semitism. To his
credit, Michael Kinsley, editor of Slate, ran a piece (subtitle: 'If
You're Going To Be Jewish And Powerful, You Can't Whine When Someone Notices
It') saying that uproar raised by American Jews was probably evidence that
Moran was on the money, and that when it came to testimonies to the power of
the Jewish lobby, none was more publicly boastful on the matter than AIPAC.
Moran is plummeting, whirling in the familiar downward spiral of contrition
and self-abasement.But does his remark about "strong support" for attack on
Iraq in the Jewish community have any basis in reality?... Of course there
are Jewish groups, not least in the big peace coalitions, that are strongly
and effectively antiwar ... Don't Blink Moran, now being put through the
never-ending rituals of self-abasement should take a leaf from the songbook
of the Dixie Chicks. The chicks are getting stick from some in the country
music crowd after lead singer Natalie Maines stuck it to Bush in some
remarks to a London audience last week. 'Just so you know,' Mains said,
'We're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.' The group
later released a statement Thursday saying they have been overseas for
several weeks and 'the anti-American sentiment that has unfolded here is
astounding.'"
American Teens Volunteer in Israeli Army,
Grand Forks Herald (Nebraska) (from
Associated Press), Mar. 15, 2003
"When Omer Friedman told his parents he was leaving California to
join the Israeli army for three years, they offered to buy the 18-year-old a
new car if he reconsidered. The bribe didn't work. Friedman joined 19
other Americans in a volunteer program that brings American Jews to Israel
for army service, and closer to a bloody conflict that has killed thousands
in just 29 months. He could see combat as early as July ... Friedman's
decision to leave the United States comes as many of his Israeli
counterparts dream of escaping the Jewish state's stagnant economy, brutal
conflict with the Palestinians and potential dangers associated with a
U.S.-led war with Iraq ... More than 200 soldiers have been killed during 29
months of fighting, and several of them have been Israeli-Americans.
More than 2,200 Palestinians have also been killed.
Yeela Porat, 18, from Sunnyvale, Calif., scrapped college plans and
her job at Starbucks to enlist in the Israeli army. Her fellow employees
didn't understand why she would want to leave. 'They think it has to be
political ... but it's not. It has to do with a feeling of where you belong,
and you can't explain that to them,' said Porat, who was born in Israel but
left as a child. More than 100,000 Americans live in
Israel, holding dual citizenship. The volunteer program, which began
four years ago, has brought dozens of Americans to the Israeli army ... Many
say they'll stay in Israel after their service, but some are keeping their
options open. Israel encourages Jews of all nationalities to immigrate.
Yossi Nachemi left his family in Chicago for the Israeli army. For the
21-year-old, coming to Israel was a dream realized. He changed his name from
Joe Osgood to the name his grandfather gave up decades ago, and
signed up for the army. He initially hid his plans from his parents. 'I feel
like I'm fighting not only for Israel, but for the Jewish people,' he said.
Chen Bloom, 19, from Boston, said she often received strange looks
from Israelis when she told them she'd volunteered. 'People say 'what were
you thinking?'' she said, shrugging. 'I feel I'm making a difference.' Other
acknowledge there's also the draw of adventure, and the urge to escape the
boredom of suburbia."
Another influential Jew, this time in U.K.'s government, wants war.
Goldsmith will advise that war on Iraq is legal,
The Independent (UK), March 17 ,2003
"Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, will advise Parliament today
that an attack on Iraq is justified under international law without a second
United Nations resolution. The Government's senior legal adviser will
bolster Britain's case for war by telling Parliament that UN resolution 1441
and previous UN resolutions allow for a military strike. His public
intervention will be interpreted as a sign that the momentum for war is
growing and of ministers' frustration at the chances of a second resolution
being passed by the UN Security Council. Lord Goldsmith, whose advice
to the Government is usually private, will tell the House of Lords that 1441
warns of 'serious consequences' if Saddam Hussein does not comply. Lord
Goldsmith is believed to have told Tony Blair last week that the legal
case for war could be weakened if a second resolution was vetoed or voted
down by a majority of the Security Council. The latest advice is expected to
prove controversial. Last week Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, warned
that military action would be outside the organisation's charter."
Playing Ethnic Politics at Ground
Zero,
by Sam Smith, Progressive Review, March 17,
2003
" There is no doubt - if one considers the 'Jewish community' as the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee and various large Jewish campaign
contributors - that Rep. Moran was quite correct in saying that they could
have a significant effect on the course of our policy in the Middle East.
For example, it took only three days for them to have a significant effect
on the course of Rep. Moran's career, getting his cowardly colleagues to
force out of his House leadership position. Earlier, they helped to have a
similar effect on Rep Cynthia McKinney, who went down to defeat thanks in
part to an influx of pro-Israel money. The fact that this Washington
leadership may not accurately reflect the diversity of its national
constituency is not uniquely a Jewish problem; it is part of the
displacement of democracy from the consensus of the many to the will of a
select few that is speeding the decline of the Republic ... In other words,
what is considered anti-Semitic when stated at a town meetings, becomes in
another context just your standard keen political analysis. When you look at
the facts rather than the Washington rhetoric, you find that Moran was even
more right than it appeared at first. A study by
Belief Net found that only Jewish groups and the South Baptist
Convention supported the military approach and every other major domination
listed opposed it. True, the Southern Baptists were unequivocally in
favor of war while the Jewish groups - Orthodox Union, Union Of American
Hebrew Congregations (Reform), and United Synagogue Of Conservative Judaism
- wanted to exhaust other alternatives first, but every other religion
Belief Net checked opposed the war including the Evangelical Lutheran
Church of America, Episcopal Church, Greek Orthodox Church in America,
Mormons - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Presbyterian Church
(USA), Quakers - American Friends Service Committee, United Church of
Christ, United Methodist Church, United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops, Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Unitarian
Universalist Association. The Catholics weren't included but the Pope has
taken a clear stand against the war. So why go to such efforts to
deliberately conceal and prevaricate concerning the role of key Jewish
organizations in supporting the Iraq invasion? Part of the answer can be
found in none other than the hypocritically outraged Washington Post, in an
article written by its White House correspondent, Dana Milbank, last
November: 'A group of U.S. political consultants has sent pro-Israel leaders
a memo urging them to keep quiet while the Bush administration pursues a
possible war with Iraq. The six-page memo was sent by the Israel Project, a
group funded by American Jewish organizations and individual donors. Its
authors said the main audience was American Jewish leaders, but much of the
memo's language is directed toward Israelis. The memo reflects a concern
that involvement by Israel in a U.S.-Iraq confrontation could hurt Israel's
standing in American public opinion and undermine international support for
a hard line against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ... Thomas Dines,
then executive director of AIPAC and now head of Radio Free Europe and Radio
Liberty - is a member of the advisory committee of the Committee for the
Liberation of Iraq ... The danger of the dishonest debate about the Middle
East was well described by Joan Didion in a recent New York Review of
Books, quoted by Bill and Kathleen Christison in Counterpunch: "[We need
to] demystify the question of why we have become unable to discuss our
relationship with the current government of Israel' ... The very question of
the US relationship with Israel, in other words, has come to be seen as
unraisable, potentially lethal, the conversational equivalent of an
unclaimed bag on a bus. We take cover. We wait for the entire subject to be
defused, safely insulated behind baffles of invective and counter-invective.
Many opinions are expressed. Few are allowed to develop. Even fewer change."
What we are facing is, in major part, a religious war in which bin Laden,
Bush and Sharon comprise a triptych of theological terror that is putting
everyone at great risk. They are each involved in a vicious heresy, falsely
defining their own immoral, sadistic ambitions as their religion's moral
faith. This is no time for politeness, politics or silence. And while Jews
are far from alone in needing to call their leadership back to sanity,
neither are they exempt."
James Moran: Questions
Remain,
by Sam Francis, VDare, March 17, 2003
"Does the Guinness Book of World Records have an entry for the politician
fastest to apologize for Thought Crimes about ethnic issues? I figured Sen.
Trent Lott held the world championship in the apology Olympics. But now
comes Rep. James Moran, who seems to have trounced even the Mississippi
senator in the belly-crawl competition. Mr. Moran's offense, as the world
now knows, was to say that American Jews have played a large role in pushing
the United States into the coming war with Iraq and thereby utter what is
supposed to be unutterable about Jewish power and Jewish loyalty.
Specifically, what he said at a rally of religious opponents of the war in
response to a Jewish woman who wondered why more Jews were not present, was
'If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war
with Iraq, we would not be doing this,' and 'The leaders of the Jewish
community are influential enough that they could change the direction of
where this is going, and I think they should.' Jewish leaders in and around
his own constituency at once denounced him and, despite his immediate belly
flop, demanded his resignation from office, as did the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, the Republicans, sniffing blood, paddled in to take a bite of Mr.
Moran's flesh. The world's only Jewish Republican congressman, Rep. Eric
Cantor, told a meeting of 150 Orthodox Jewish leaders that what Mr.
Moran said was 'reminiscent of the accusations
contained in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,' a classic
anti-Semitic forgery. Of course Mr. Moran said nothing like tha ... What Mr.
Moran actually said is more or less (though perhaps not literally) true. ...
[A]s Michelle Goldberg noted in an article on Salon.com last fall,
'mainstream Jewish groups and leaders are now among the strongest supporters
of an American invasion of Baghdad.' What Mr. Moran said was close enough to
the truth not to be so ruinously 'offensive' as his enemies are claiming.
And the Jewish leaders who started the stampede for Mr. Moran's resignation
aren't mainly concerned about 'anti-Semitism' anyway ... If American Jewish
leaders, inside or outside the Bush administration, can't make that
distinction and insist on using the charge of 'anti-Semitism' simply to
smear and silence all critics of Israel and our policies toward it, then there
may be good reason to ask more and much harder
questions about their real political and foreign policy agendas."
Zionism Has
Triumphed. Commentary,
rense.com, March 18, 2003
"After only a single century, the political movement, Zionism, has
triumphed. All of its connivings have been fulfilled by Washington. ... How
did Zionism do it? First, a national animosity for Germany had to be
generated in America over decades by boycotts and propaganda (and
corresponding sympathy for Zionism). Done! (The super-merchandisers
super-promoted the slaughter of their own people into a Holocaust, ignoring
the millions of murdered Gentiles as inconsequential.) Next, a separate
state of Israel had to be approved by Washington. Done! Third, since Israel
was not self-supporting, the American people would have to support Israel
each year by billions in contributions, rising constantly. Done! Then,
Israel had to subvert the American electoral process by bribery and install
'friends of Israel' in all important offices, elected and appointed,
focusing on the Senate which approved appointments. Done! (Look at the names
in Washington today). Fifth, the mass media had to be monopolized to
propagandize and brainwash the American people and influence their elections
in favor of Zionism. Done! Sixth, the American people must be forced to
mindlessly support Israel in its military expansion in the Middle East
against a defenseless Arab people by billions more in the latest weaponry
and regime changes as required by Israel. Done! Seventh, the American people
must be rendered utterly subservient in the manner of a conquered nation
through Zionist control of Washington. Done! Now, on the verge of World War
III, Zionism has totally triumphed. The American people are captive to this
vile parasite because of the perfidy of Washington."
Editorials | Article published Tuesday, March 18, 2003. Whose national
interest?,
Toledo Blade, March 18, 2003
"The Democratic Party’s shunning of Virginia Congressman James Moran because
of remarks some wrongly construe as anti-Semitic suggests a greater fear of
losing conservative American Jewish money in 2004 than an adherence to
honest, intelligent, political principles. Mr. Moran, an 11-term
congressman, was critical of U.S. Jewish leaders who, he felt, could alter
war fervor. He said many were swayed after talking with hawkish former
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. If he misrepresents their
position, they can say so. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is out of line
to demand Mr. Moran’s head. For half a century there has been a wrongheaded
effort to label anti-Semitic any criticism of anyone or anything Jewish,
including Israel. Fear of the hateful tag inhibits open discussion,
minimizes honest criticism, and blocks informed decisions. Mr. Moran isn’t
alone in linking White House policy makers to Israeli interests. He may be,
sad for him, the first elected official to be forthcoming. And he erred in
alluding to strong support for war in the Jewish community, which is
diverse. Stanley Heller, American and Jewish, has tried to keep his
co-religionists honest for 20-odd years. In a Feb. 20 article at
www.antiwar.com, he cited 'rabid neocons' - some of whom, 'like
Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, and David Wurmser, actually
worked for Israeli think tanks writing grand papers for (Likud) Prime
Minister Netanyahu on how the U.S. and Israel should take apart and
reconstruct the Middle East,' and who now hold key roles in shaping U.S.
foreign policy Though Mr. Heller ascribes most war zeal to oil,
empire dreams, and weapons testing, he says 'We owe it to Americans to tell
them the whole truth, that part of the war drive is being fueled by a wacko
militarist clique from Israel and its interlocking bands of American Jewish
and Christian supporters.' He’s not alone. In the Feb. 23 (London)
Observer Ed Vulliamy, and in the March 3 San Diego Union-Tribune,
James O, Goldsborough, speak in the same vein - of America’s first religious
war and proponents’ visions of empire. Mr. Vulliamy takes on the empire
theme. In 1992, he says Paul Wolfowitz wrote a blueprint for
America’s 21st century foreign policy that seems a play book for this
administration. It talks of using 'nuclear, biological, and chemical
weaponry, pre-emptively ‘even in conflicts that do not directly engage U.S.
interests.’' Is this what Americans want? Does Israel have too strong a hand
in our foreign policy, or do its interests merely coincide with ours?
Americans won’t know without open discussions free of political
repercussions and stifling accusations."
File: US - Feith, Perle, Wolfowitz and
Bryen, Israel's men at the DoD,
by Thomas Stauffer,
Middle East International, March 21,2003
"Inside the United States Department of Defence the war party around
Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld - commonly dubbed the 'chicken hawks" -
has a long history of working on behalf of Israel. They are typically
designated as 'neo-conservatives', but that is a misleading euphemism for a
small cabal with intimate links both to Israel and Israeli espionage against
the US. Knowing the backgrounds and histories of the key figures in the war
cabal is critically important in understanding the push for war against
Iraq. The three most widely cited are Paul Wolfowitz, deputy
secretary of defence; Douglas Feith, under-secretary of defence for
policy (number three in the department); and Richard Perle, chair of
the Defence Policy Board. The biographies of the three leading warriors
reveal the close connection between Israel and the war party. We must
differentiate between different roles which have been played. One function
in the intelligence business is that of the spy - who transfers secret
material to a foreign power. A second function, no less important, is
recruitment, i.e. arranging the placement of spies or agents of influence in
key positions. The third is that of the 'agent of influence', the operative
who may steal nothing but who steers policy. These are the fondest dreams of
any spymaster. The Mossad also draws a distinction between full-time agents
and people it calls 'sayyanim', committed Zionists prepared to serve
without pay who range from clerks in the Internal Revenue Service to senior
officials. The trio of 'chicken hawks' have changed their roles from time to
time over the 20-30 years during which they have held influence, and those
shifts are important in tracing their histories. Douglas Feith He has
played all three roles. In the early 1980s, when serving on the National
Security Council, Feith was reportedly caught transferring classified
materials to an Israeli contact. Colleagues are believed to have passed on
their suspicions to the FBI, which then gathered enough evidence to have him
dismissed from the NSC, although no formal charges were filed. Feith
was later appointed by Richard Perle (see below) to a senior position
in the DOD as deputy assistant secretary in charge of international
negotiations. Thereafter, on leaving government service once more, he
represented Israeli arms manufacturers in Washington and Turkey, before
being appointed by Paul Wolfowitz to the third-ranking slot in the
DOD in the present Administration. There, Feith was in turn
responsible for lower-tier, but senior appointments of other Zionist
sympathizers. Richard Perle has always managed to evade outright
charges of espionage, although, early in his career, working for Senator
Henry 'Scoop' Jackson, he was investigated by the Justice Department and
found to have violated US policies relating to unlawful transmission of
sensitive classified information to Israel. Again, no charges were filed.
Perle was subsequently active in recruiting Israeli sympathizers into
the DOD, such as Feith. In 1981, while Caspar Weinberger [note:
Weinberger was of partial Jewish heritage] was defence secretary,
Perle appointed a certain Stephen Bryen as assistant deputy
secretary of defence with the brief for trade security policy, an office
with broad responsibility for technology transfer and arms exports. Bryen,
then working for the Senate Armed Services Committee, had been caught a few
years earlier while delivering secret documents to an Israeli officer in the
coffee shop of the Madison Hotel. Paul Wolfowitz appointed both
Perle and Feith. He nominated Perle as chairman of the
Defence Policy Board, a position that involves access to highly classified
materials and which would almost certainly have entailed fresh security
clearance, in which case Wolfowitz would have been advised of the
thick dossier on Perle's activities. Also in the present
Administration, Wolfowitz appointed Douglas Feith as deputy
secretary for policy, a critical slot within the DOD. He did so with full
knowledge of the record, because Feith's previous activities were the
subject of a heated meeting between Wolfowitz and his boss Secretary
Rumsfeld, who is believed to have agreed to Feith's appointment when
persuaded by Wolfowitz. All three men appear to share the same
agenda: confrontation first with Iraq, and then, ultimately, with Iran and
Saudi Arabia. Their involvement in writing Middle East strategy for Ariel
Sharon and Likud is widely known; their task today is to influence the
Bush Administration to execute that strategy on behalf of Israel and
Sharon."
Swine
Before Perle – 'The National Review' Attack on LRC,
by Richard Cummings, lewrockwell.com, March 24,
2003
"But talk about bizarre. Richard Perle, the architect of the war
policies The National Review has backed and who is their darling, is
now a paid consultant to Global Crossing, to get the Defense
Department to lift its ban on its sale to Hong Kong billionaire Li Kashing
that would turn its fiber optic technology over to China, even as he
continues to serve as chairman of the influential Defense Policy Board, a
position that makes him, by law, a 'special government employee.' He denies
any conflict of interest even though he can’t remember what was in an
affidavit he signed. Perle spoke recently, as reported by The New
York Times, in a conference call sponsored by Goldman Sachs, the
firm that was headed by Bush’s current economic advisor, Stephen Friedman,
in which he advised participants on possible investment opportunities
arising from the war. The conference title was 'Implications of an Imminent
War: Iraq Now. North Korea Next?' There’s nothing like business as usual
according to The National Review, is there?" [Richard Cummings
taught international law at the Haile Selassie I University and before that,
was Attorney-Advisor with the Office of General Counsel of the Near East
South Asia region of U.S.A.I.D, where he was responsible for the legal work
pertaining to the aid program in Israel, Jordan, Pakistan and Afghanistan.]
National Review’s
Anathema Corner,
by J.P. Zmirak, LewRockwell.com, March 26, 2003
"The spitball bombardiers of the imperialist 'right' aren’t satisfied with
imposing 'democracy' abroad – they also want to stifle it here at home. The
most serious attempt in recent weeks to silence discussion in American
politics is David Frum’s cover story in the current National
Review. If you haven’t slogged through it yet, it’s a compilation of all
the most unfortunate things ever said – or almost said, or never said but
possibly implied – by thinkers whom the ex-Canadian speechwriter broadly
labels 'paleoconservative.' Rather than refute his charges point by point –
that has been done extraordinarily well elsewhere, such as here and here –
I’d rather address what Frum is trying to do, and why. I’ve a certain
insight into this question, since, like Frum, I was once a
conservative columnist at Yale. I came in just after he graduated, and made
a lot of noise in the campus papers, just as he had, so inevitable
comparisons were drawn. And contrasts. You see, Frum had made himself
well-known among the amazingly intolerant leftist students of early 1980s
Yale by loudly espousing Reaganite foreign and budgetary policy ... The few
undergrads who advocated traditional Christian values made themselves almost
radioactive. Shunned and loathed, they would eat alone, or in tiny groups of
fellow thinkers, in the cavernous Gothic dining halls, as if they’d
contracted some contagious, incurable skin disease. (And no, they didn’t get
to date much.) As if to publicly proclaim his distance from the misfits who
were so despised, Frum led a public campaign to close down a
conservative literary magazine, The Yale Lit, because – well, because
'he couldn’t stand that type of conservative,' as he told a friend.
Enlisting student opinion, and the Yale administration’s help, Frum
succeeded in quashing an exquisitely edited, beautifully produced student
magazine, which was promptly replaced, under the same name, by a fourth-rate
broadsheet that printed students’ trashy, confessional poems about their
drug experiences and tentative erotic fumblings. Frum’s first purge
of right-wing opinion was accomplished. No ostracism for David. He went from
Yale to swim among the suits at The Wall Street Journal, and write a
number of mildly interesting books, en route to rising smoothly through the
ranks of what was by now called 'neoconservatism.' He really 'arrived' (or
'made it' in the sense of Norman Podhoretz in his revealing,
appalling autobiography) when his commentaries began to appear on that
bastion of respectable opinion, National Public Radio."
CNI Action Alert: BUSH ASKING $10 BILLION IN AID FOR ISRAEL.
National Call-In Day, March 26th, 2003
"Despite the slumping economic conditions in this country, President Bush's
emergency war budget for the war on Iraq includes a special request of $1
billion for Israel in supplementary military aid. In addition, he will seek
$9 billion in 'loan guarantees' at low interest rates to assist the Israeli
people through their economic slump - a slump provoked by the Israeli
suppression of the Palestinian intifada. Would that Americans were so lucky!
The "loan guarantees" allow the Israelis to borrow money from American banks
at special low interest rates, because they are guaranteed by the federal
government, and they are given generous grace periods in which to repay the
loans - as much as ten years. They are almost never collected unless Israel
"defaults" on its low interest payments. American states and municipalities
are not accorded such sweetheart deals. Call your congressman with the clear
message asking them to vote against any further aid to Israel until they
agree to rejoin the peace process and to stop building Jewish colonies in
the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. To e-mail members of Congress go to
www.cnionline.org and link to the "Act Now" and "CNI Action Center"
connections. For those without Internet connection, you can phone your
members of Congress at the Senate switchboard, 202 224-3121 or the House
switchboard, 202 225-3121, To verify the names of your senators and
representatives, go to www.capwiz.com/cni and enter your zip code
under the section "elected officials."
Former Pentagon official Richard Perle resigns as key Rumsfeld adviser,
Boston Globe, March 27, 2003
"Richard Perle, a former Reagan administration Pentagon official,
resigned Thursday as chairman of the Defense Policy Board that is a key
advisory arm for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. In a brief written
statement, Rumsfeld thanked Perle for his service and made no mention
of why Perle resigned. He said he had asked Perle to remain as
a member of the board ... Perle became embroiled in a recent
controversy stemming from a New Yorker magazine article that said he
had lunch in January with controversial Saudi-born businessman Adnan
Khashoggi and a Saudi industrialist. The industrialist, Harb Saleh Zuhair,
was interested in investing in a venture capital firm, Trireme Partners, of
which Perle is a managing partner. Nothing ever came of the lunch in
Marseilles; no investment was made. But the New Yorker story, written
by Seymour M. Hersh, suggested that Perle, a longtime critic
of the Saudi regime, was inappropriately mixing business and politics. Perle
called the report preposterous and ''monstrous.'' Perle, 61, was so
strongly opposed to nuclear arms control agreements with the former Soviet
Union during his days in the Reagan administration that he became known as
''the Prince of Darkness./''
Global Crossing is controlled by Garry Winnick, who is Jewish
Perle inquiry is being
urged,
International Herald Tribune (from The New York
Times), March 26, 2003
"A senior House Democrat has asked the Defense Department to investigate the
business dealings of Richard Perle, the head of an influential
Pentagon advisory board who is also an adviser to Global Crossing Ltd.,
the large telecommunications company that is seeking to overcome Pentagon
objections to its proposed sale to Asian investors. 'I am aware of several
potential conflicts that warrant your immediate review,' John Conyers Jr. of
Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said in a
letter sent Monday to the Pentagon's inspector general. He urged a broad
examination of Perle's business dealings. Pentagon officials declined
to comment about the request. . Perle was appointed by Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld in 2001 to head the Defense Advisory Board, an influential
group of unpaid advisers to the administration. By law, Rumsfeld is
ultimately responsible for deciding whether the Pentagon should grant
permission to Global Crossing to complete its sale ... Global Crossing is
trying to overcome opposition from the Pentagon and the FBI to its proposal
to emerge from bankruptcy by being sold to a group led by Hutchison Whampoa
Ltd., a conglomerate controlled by the Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing.
Some Democrats pointed out Monday that during the Clinton administration,
prominent Republicans such as Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi criticized
the company for its ties to the Chinese leadership. Perle said last week
that he had violated no ethics rules, would not be lobbying anyone at the
Defense Department and would only advise the company about how to structure
itself so that it could satisfy the administration's concerns."
All in the
Neocon Family,
By Jim Lobe, AlterNet, March 27, 2003
"What do William Kristol, Norman Podhoretz, Elliot Abrams,
and Robert Kagan [Jewish too?] have in common? Yes, they are
all die-hard hawks who have gained control of U.S. foreign policy since the
9/11 attacks. But they are also part of one big neoconservative family – an
extended clan of spouses, children, and friends who have known each other
for generations. Neoconservatives are former liberals (which explains the
'neo' prefix) who advocate an aggressive unilateralist vision of U.S. global
supremacy, which includes a close strategic alliance
with Israel. Let's start with one of the founding fathers of the
extended neocon clan: Irving Kristol. His extensive resume includes
waging culture wars for the CIA against the Soviet Union in the early years
of the Cold War and calling for an American 'imperial' role during the
Vietnam War. Papa Kristol, who has been credited with defining the
major themes of neoconservative thought, is married to Gertrude
Himmelfarb, a neoconservative powerhouse on her own. Her studies of the
Victorian era in Britain helped inspire the men who sold Bush on the idea of
'compassionate conservatism.' The son of this proud couple is none other
that William Kristol, the crown prince of the neoconservative clique
and editor of the Rupert Murdoch-owned Weekly Standard. In 1997, he
founded the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a front
group which cemented the powerful alliance between right-wing Republicans
like Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld, Christian and Catholic Right leaders like
Gary Bauer and William Bennett, and the neocons behind a platform of global
U.S. military dominance. Irving Kristol's most prominent disciple is
Richard Perle, who was until Thursday the Defense Policy Board
chairman, is also a 'resident scholar' at the American Enterprise Institute,
which is housed in the same building as PNAC. Perle himself married
into neocon royalty when he wed the daughter of his professor at the
University of Chicago, the late Alfred Wohlstetter – the man who
helped both his son-in-law and his fellow student Paul Wolfowitz get
their start in Washington more than 30 years ago. Perle's own protege
is Douglas Feith, who is now Wolfowitz's deputy for policy and
is widely known for his right-wing Likud position. And why not? His father,
Philadelphia businessman and philanthropist Dalck Feith, was once a
follower of the great revisionist Zionist leader, Vladimir Jabotinsky,
in his native Poland back in the 1930s. The two Feiths were honored
together in 1997 by the right-wing Zionist Organization of America (ZOA).
The AEI has long been a major nexus for such inter-familial relationships. A
long-time collaborator with Perle, Michael Ledeen is married
to Barbara Ledeen, a founder and director of the anti-feminist
Independent Women's Forum (IWF), who is currently a major player in the
Republican leadership on Capitol Hill. Richard Perle, Douglas
Feith, and another neo-con power couple – David and Meyrav
Wurmser – co-authored a 1996 memorandum for Likud leader Binyamin
Netanyahu outlining how to break the Oslo peace process and invade Iraq
as the first step to transforming the Middle East. Though she doesn't focus
much on foreign-policy issues, Lynne Cheney also hangs her hat at AEI. Her
husband Dick Cheney recently chose Victoria Nuland to become his next deputy
national security adviser. Nuland, as it turns out, is married to Robert
Kagan, Bill Kristol's main comrade-in-arms and the co-founder of PNAC
... And which infamous ex-Reaganite do the Kagans and another leading neocon
family have in common? None other than Iran-contra veteran Elliott Abrams.
Now the director of Near Eastern Affairs in Bush's National Security
Council, Abrams worked closely with Bob Kagan back in the Reagan era.
He is also the son-in-law of Norman Podhoretz, long-time editor of
the influential conservative Jewish publication Commentary, and his
wife, Midge Decter, a fearsome polemicist in her own right.
Podhoretz, like Kristol Sr., helped invent neo-conservatism in
the late 1960s. He and Decter created a formidable political team as
leaders of the Committee on the Present Danger in 1980, when they worked
with Donald Rumsfeld to pound the last nail into the coffin of detente and
promote the rise of Ronald Reagan. In addition to being Abrams'
father-in-law, Norman Podhoretz is also the father of John
Podhoretz, a columnist for the Murdoch-owned New York Post and frequent
guest on the Murdoch-owned Fox News channel. As editor of Commentary,
Norman offered writing space to rising stars of the neocon movement for
more than 30 years. His proteges include former U.N. ambassador Jeane
Kirkpatrick and Richard Pipes, who was Ronald Reagan's top advisor on
the 'Evil Empire,' as the president liked to call the Soviet Union. His son,
Daniel Pipes, has also made a career out of battling 'evil,' which in
his case is Islam. And to tie it all up neatly, in 2002, Podhoretz
received the highest honor bestowed by the AEI: the Irving Kristol award.
This list of intricate, overlapping connections is hardly exhaustive or
perhaps even surprising. But it helps reveal an important fact. Contrary to
appearances, the neocons do not constitute a powerful mass political
movement. They are instead a small, tighly-knit clan whose incestuous
familial and personal connections, both within and outside the Bush
administration, have allowed them grab control of the future of American
foreign policy."
Zionist Influence On The US War Machine,
gooff.com, March 28, 2003
"The Israeli lobby has many 'thinktanks' that provide future advisors to the
various administrations, both Republican and Democrat. During the Clinton
Administration, the Israeli lobby provided officials from the Washington
Institute for Near East Policy like Martin Indyk. During the Bush Jr
Administration, many of the officials the Israeli lobby provided are from
their Republican 'thinktanks,' like the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). 1).
Richard Perle ---- One of Bush's foreign policy advisors, he is the
chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board. A very likely Israeli
government agent, Perle was expelled from Senator Henry Jackson's office in
the 1970's after the National Security Agency (NSA) caught him passing
Highly-Classified (National Security) documents to the Israeli Embassy. He
later worked for the Israeli weapons firm, Soltam. Perle came from
one the above mentioned pro-Israel thinktanks, the AEI ... 2). Paul
Wolfowitz----Deputy Defense Secretary, and member of Perle's
Defense Policy Board, in the Pentagon. Wolfowitz is a close associate
of Perle, and reportedly has close ties to the Israeli military. His
sister lives in Israel. Wolfowitz came from the above mentioned
Jewish thinktank, JINSA. Wolfowitz is the number two leader within
the administration behind this Iraq war mongering. 3). Douglas Feith----Under
Secretary of Defense and Policy Advisor at the Pentagon. He is a close
associate of Perle and served as his Special Counsel. Like Perle
and the others, Feith is a pro-Israel extremist, who has advocated
anti-Arab policies in the past. He is closely associated with the extremist
group, the Zionist Organization of America, which even attacks Jews that
don't agree with its extremist views. Feith frequently speaks at ZOA
conferences. Feith runs a small law firm, Feith and Zell,
which only has one International office, in Israel. The majority of their
legal work is representing Israeli interests. His firm's own website stated,
prior to his appointment, that Feith 'represents Israeli Armaments
Manufacturer.' Feith basically represents the Israeli War Machine.
Feith also came from the Jewish thinktank JINSA ... 4). Edward
Luttwak----Member of the National Security Study Group of the Department
of Defence at the Pentagon. Luttwak is reportedly an Israeli citizen
and has taught in Israel. He frequently writes for Israeli and pro-Israeli
newspapers and journals ... 5). Henry Kissinger-----One of many
Pentagon Advisors, Kissinger sits on the Pentagon's Defense Policy
Board under Perle. For detailed information about Kissinger's
evil past, read Seymour Hersch's book (Price of Power: Kissinger
in the Nixon White House) ... 6). Dov Zakheim----Under Secretary
of Defense, Comptroller, and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the
Department of Defense. He is an ordained rabbi and reportedly holds Israeli
citizenship. Zakheim attended attended Jew's College in London and
became an ordained Orthodox Jewish Rabbi in 1973. He was adjunct professor
at New York's Jewish Yeshiva University. Zakheim is close to the
Israeli lobby. 7). Kenneth Adelman-----One of many Pentagon Advisors,
Adelman also sits on the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board under
Perle, and is another extremist pro-Israel advisor, who supports going
to war against Ira ... 8). I. Lewis Libby -----Vice President Dick
Cheney's Chief of Staff. The chief pro-Israel Jewish advisor to Cheney, it
helps explains why Cheney is so gun-ho to invade Iraq. Libby is longtime
associate of Wolfowitz. Libby was also a lawyer for convicted
felon and Israeli spy Mark Rich, whom Clinton pardoned, in his last
days as president. 9). Robert Satloff----U.S. National Security
Council Advisor, Satloff was the executive director of the Israeli
lobby's 'think tank,' Washington Institute for Near East Policy ... 10).
Elliott Abrams-----National Security Council Advisor ... He played an
important role in the Iran-Contra Scandal, which involved illegally selling
U.S. weapons to Iran to fight Iraq, and illegally funding the contra rebels
fighting to overthrow Nicaragua's Sandinista government. He also actively
deceived three congressional committees about his involvement and thereby
faced felony charges based on his testimony. Abrams pled guilty in 1991 to
two misdemeanors and was sentenced to a year's probation and 100 hours of
community service. A year later, former President Bush (Senior) granted
Abrams a full pardon. He was one of the more hawkish pro-Israel Jews in the
Reagan Administration's State Department. 11). Marc Grossman-----Under
Secretary of State for Political Affairs. He was Director General of the
Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources at the Department of State
... 12). Richard Haass-----Director of Policy Planning at the State
Department and Ambassador at large. He is also Director of National Security
Programs and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He was
one of the more hawkish pro-Israel Jews in the first Bush (Sr)
Administration who sat on the National Security Council, and who
consistently advocates going to war against Iraq ...13). Robert Zoellick-----U.S.
Trade Representative, a cabinet-level position. He is also one of the more
hawkish pro-Israel Jews in the Bush (Jr) Administration who advocated
invading Iraq and occupying a portion of the country in order to set up
setting up a Vichy-style puppet government ... 14). Ari Fleischer----Official
White House Spokesman for the Bush (Jr) Administration. Prominent in the
Jewish community, some reports state that he holds Israeli citizenship.
Fleischer is closely connected to the extremist Jewish group called the
Chabad Lubavitch Hasidics, who follow the Qabala, and hold very extremist
and insulting views of non-Jews. Fleischer was the co-president of
Chabad's Capitol Jewish Forum. He received the Young Leadership Award from
the American Friends of Lubavitch in October, 2001. 15). James
Schlesinger-----One of many Pentagon Advisors, Schlesinger also
sits on the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board under Perle and is
another extremist pro-Israel advisor, who supports going to war against
Iraq. Schlesinger is also a commissioner of the Defense Department's
National Security Study Group, at the Pentagon. 16). David Frum-----White
House speechwriter behind the 'Axis of Evil' label. He lumps together all
the lies and accusations against Iraq for Bush to justify the war. 17).
Joshua Bolten----White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Bolten was
previously a banker, former legislative aide, and prominent in the Jewish
community. 18). John Bolton----Under-Secretary of State for Arms
Control and International Security. Bolton is also a Senior Advisor to
President Bush. Prior to this position, Bolton was Senior Vice President of
the above mentioned pro-Israel think tank, AEI ... 19). David Wurmser----Special
Assistant to John Bolton (above), the under-secretary for arms
control and international security. Wurmser also worked at the AEI
with Perle and Bolton. His wife, Meyrav Wurmser, along
with Colonel Yigal Carmon, formerly of Israeli military intelligence,
co-founded the Middle East Media Research Institute (Memri),a
Washington-based Israeli outfit which distributes articles translated from
Arabic newspapers portraying Arabs in a bad light. 20). Eliot Cohen-----Member
of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board under Perle and is another extremist
pro-Israel advisor ... 21). Mel Sembler-----President of the
Export-Import Bank of the United States. A Prominent Jewish Republican and
Former National Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee. The
Export-Import Bank facilitates trade relationships between U.S. businesses
and foreign countries, specifically those with financial problems. 22).
Michael Chertoff ----Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal
Division, at the Justice Department. 23). Steve Goldsmith----Senior
Advisor to the President, and Bush's Jewish domestic policy advisor. He also
serves as liaison in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community
Initiatives (White House OFBCI) within the Executive Office of the
President. He was the former mayor of Indianapolis. He is also friends with
Israeli Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert and often visits Israel to coach
mayors on privatization initiatives. 24). Adam Goldman-----White
House's Special Liaison to the Jewish Community. 25). Joseph Gildenhorn-----Bush
Campaign's Special Liaison to the Jewish Community. He was the DC finance
chairman for the Bush campaign, as well as campaign coordinator, and former
ambassador to Switzerland. 26). Christopher Gersten-----Principal
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Administration for Children and Families at HHS.
Gersten was the former Executive Director of the Republican Jewish
Coalition, Husband of Labor Secretary, Linda Chavez, and reportedly very
pro-Israel. Their children are being raised Jewish. 27). Mark Weinberger-----Assistant
Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy. 28). Samuel Bodman-----Deputy
Secretary of Commerce. He was the Chairman and CEO of Cabot Corporation in
Boston, Massachusetts. 29). Bonnie Cohen-----Under Secretary of State
for Management. 30). Ruth Davis-----Director of Foreign Service
Institute, who reports to the Office of Under Secretary for Management. This
Office is responsible for training all Department of State staff (including
ambassadors). 31). Lincoln Bloomfield-----Assistant Secretary of
State for Political Military Affairs. 32). Jay Lefkowitz-----General
Counsel of the Office of Budget and Management. 33). Ken Melman-----White
House Political Director. 34). Brad Blakeman------White House
Director of Scheduling."
Hillel Reports to Senate Republicans about Anti-Semitism on Campus,
Hillel, March 27, 2003 (Washington, DC — March
26, 2003)
"Hillel's Director of the Center for Israel Affairs and the Israel on Campus
Coalition Wayne Firestone joined Rubin at the meeting
requested by senators to discuss the rise of anti-Semitism on campus with
major Jewish organizations and government representatives. Senators Rick
Santorum (PA), Robert Bennett (UT), Sam Brownback (KS), and Norm Coleman
(MN) all spoke in support of Senate efforts to eliminate anti-Semitism on
campus. Coleman encouraged the attendees to keep senators informed,
stressing 'This is not just a Jewish senator being concerned, but it's about
all of us.' Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (TN), and Senators Lindsey
Graham (SC) and George Voinovich (OH) sent staff representatives. During the
meeting, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Education,
Office for Civil Rights Louis Goldstein, said that universities that
receive federal funding cannot discriminate on the basis of race, color, or
national origin. Goldstein said that although there are some cases of
anti-Semitism on campus pursued by his office, many fall through the cracks.
He asked Jewish organizations to help by reporting incidents of
anti-Semitism ... Santorum announced a plan to introduce an amendment to the
upcoming review of Title IX legislation requiring 'ideological diversity' at
universities across the country. Brownback said he would introduce a
commission under Title IX to investigate anti-Semitic incidents on campuses.
'We have to hold the universities responsible when there are incidents and
claims of intimidation or a student feeling uncomfortable,' concluded
Hillel's Wayne Firestone. 'Students in the classroom
must feel comfortable to express their views. American campuses are places
where everyone can go to express their views freely no matter where they may
stand.'"
The pro-Israel Jewish Lobby owns California governor Gray Davis and
the Democratic Party. South African apartheid had no web of millionaires and
dual loyalists with a censorial stranglehold over so much of the American
political system:
State
Fund to Keep Israel Investments: “California will not abandon its friends,”
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, March
28, 2003
"The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the nation’s
largest public pension fund, has decided to keep Israel on its list of
permissible foreign countries in which to invest, in spite of campaigns
spearheaded by groups on several University of California campuses demanding
that it divest itself of Israeli equity holdings. At the Feb. 18 meeting of
the CalPERS Board of Administration, Israel was green-lighted for its 10th
straight year as an approved country for investment. Reacting to calls for a
CalPERS boycott of Israel, Byron Tucker, a Los Angeles spokesman for Gov.
Gray Davis, told The Journal this week, 'We will continue to stand
side by side with our friends in Israel, both in business and friendship.
The people of Israel are going through tremendous difficulties right now.'
'They live with daily unrest, violence and death,' Tucker continued.
'California will not abandon its friends in their time of need.' Campus
activist groups — led by Arabs in Students for Justice in Palestine and Jews
for a Free Palestine — had been gaining ground in their campaign for
divestment from Israel, to the point where the UCLA Daily Bruin
editorially endorsed divestment last July. This prompted a pro-Israel
backlash, headed up by the UC Justice Campaign (www.ucjustice.org). The
Legislature formally rejected divestment in a joint Assembly-Senate
resolution in September. Until last month, Israel was the only Middle
Eastern country in which CalPERS was permitted to invest. Neighboring Jordan
has now been added to the list. Egypt was evaluated but did not make the
cut. In other action, the CalPERS board, which oversees a fund with assets
of approximately $131 billion, complied with its requirement to report to
the Legislature on equity holdings in companies that may have benefited from
slave labor during the Holocaust era."
Governors' Trip Cemented Bush's Bond With Sharon,
[Jewish] Forward, March 28, 2003
"In November 1998, then-Texas governor George W. Bush did something very
unusual, at least for him: He traveled abroad. Together with fellow
governors Paul Celucci of Massachusetts, Mike Leavitt of Utah and Marc
Racicot of Montana, all Republicans, Bush spent three days in Israel as a
guest of the National Jewish Coalition, currently known as the Republican
Jewish Coalition. The trip, best remembered for Bush's helicopter ride along
the edge of the West Bank with then-foreign minister Ariel Sharon,
played a crucial if little-understood role in one of defining
transformations in recent geopolitical history: the
dramatic emergence of the 43rd president as one
of the most pro-Israel figures in American political history.
The trip is legendary among Bush-watchers as the
moment America's current president bonded with Israel's current prime
minister. Less noticed is the fact that the
Bush-Israel bond was precisely the purpose of the governors' mission.
Although presented as a political junket by four Republican governors eager
to burnish their pro-Israel bona fides, 'Bush was clearly the objective,'
said an official who participated in the mission. The reason: unhappy
memories of the tense relationship between Israel and the elder George Bush,
coupled with a growing sense among Washington insiders that the younger Bush
had an inside track to the Republican presidential nomination. Accordingly,
said the official, the mission was slapped together in order to 'patch
things up between Israel and the Bush family.' While Israel obviously
welcomed the trip, officials there said Israel did not initiate the trip.
The two key planners of the trip were Mel Sembler — later nominated
by Bush as ambassador to Italy — and Matthew Brooks, executive
director of the Republican Jewish Coalition. Brooks told the
Forward that this was a "governors' trip" and stated flatly that Bush
was not the focus, though he attracted more media attention because of his
name. He acknowledged that the move has since paid off handsomely. 'We
brought Bush to Israel and he brought Israel back with him,' he said,
pointing to the strong bond between Bush and Sharon."
Jewish/Zionist in-house networking. The head of Loral,
Bernard Schwartz, is also Jewish.
Adviser to U.S. Aided Maker of Satellites,
New York Times, March 28, 2003
"While he led an influential Pentagon advisory board, Richard N. Perle
advised a major American satellite maker, Loral Space and Communications,
as it faced government accusations that it improperly transferred rocket
technology to China, administration officials said today. Officials at the
State Department said that the senior official considering how to resolve
the rocket matter, Assistant Secretary Lincoln P. Bloomfield Jr., was
contacted by Mr. Perle once or twice in the second half of 2001 on
behalf of the company. At the time, Mr. Bloomfield, who heads the
State Department's bureau of political-military affairs, and other officials
were investigating accusations that Loral turned over expertise that
significantly improved the reliability of China's nuclear missiles ... Mr.
Perle said this afternoon that he was retained by Loral seven months
before his appointment by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to head the
Defense Policy Board and was given a one-time retainer at the outset of his
work ... Mr. Perle declined to say how much he was paid by Loral. He
said he did not file a lobbying disclosure statement because he did no
lobbying on behalf of Loral. After criticism of his business deals, Mr.
Perle announced on Thursday that he would resign as chairman of the
Defense Policy Board but would remain on the board ... The case against
Loral, which originated in 1997 with a Pentagon finding that Loral and
Hughes Electronics had improperly turned over technical information to the
Chinese, was settled in January 2002. Loral, without admitting or denying
that it had violated the law, agreed to pay a $20 million penalty, the
largest settlement of a technology transfer case at the time. The government
accused Loral of providing Chinese officials with confidential materials
from an American panel that investigated the February 1996 crash of a Loral
satellite, which was built for Intelsat, the international consortium, and
was launched by a Chinese Long March rocket. The inquiry into Loral and
other companies resulted in restrictions that have prevented the industry
from seeking new business with China. The Defense Department declined to say
what Mr. Rumsfeld knew about Mr. Perle's work for Loral ... Jeanette
Clonan, a spokeswoman at Loral, said last week that she would ask Bernard
L. Schwartz, the company's chairman and chief executive, about Mr.
Perle's role in the case. Since then, Ms. Clonan has not replied to
daily messages, including one today, left at her office, seeking comment.
Other people involved in the case have said Mr. Perle was retained on the
instructions of Mr. Schwartz, who came under criticism by some
Republicans during the Clinton administration for being one of the largest
political donors to Democrats. Mr. Schwartz retained a prominent team
to defend the company in the investigation. Among those who worked on the
matter were Douglas J. Feith, who is now under secretary of defense
for policy. Mr. Feith is also an old friend and former colleague of
Mr. Perle. When Mr. Perle was an assistant defense secretary in the
Reagan administration, Mr. Feith was his special counsel. The Loral
matter is the second instance in which Mr. Perle was doing business
on behalf of an American company encountering government difficulties over
ties to China. Mr. Perle had been retained by Global Crossing, the
communications giant, to overcome Defense Department opposition to its
proposal to be sold to a venture led by Hutchison Whampoa, the conglomerate
controlled by the Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing."
Is the racist "Anti-Defamation League" really a shill for the racist
Israeli state, in league with the rest of the Jewish Lobby?
The battle for Washington,
by David Landau, Haaretz (Israel), March
30, 2003
"Next Tuesday, about 3,000 activists of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC), the pro-Israel lobby, will come to Capitol Hill in
Washington in an impressive display of support for Israel. They have a
complex mission this time, as the United States is at war, and it's not a
convenient moment to clash with the administration. Nevertheless, prominent
Jewish leaders told Haaretz correspondent Nathan Guttman
(March 26), they will not mute their criticism of the 'road map' that is
being drawn up in Washington. Abe Foxman, the national director of
the Anti-Defamation League, doesn't like the 'timing' of the map or the fact
that President George Bush has created a connection between the war in Iraq
and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice
president of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations,
promises that if the Israeli government expresses reservations about the
road map, it will have the support of the Jewish community, and 'we will not
hesitate to make our voice heard.' Before their annual conference concludes,
the 3,000 AIPAC activists will undoubtedly be asked, upon their return home,
to encourage their friends and relatives to write to their representatives
in Congress and make known their concern about the road map and about the
linkage the administration is creating between the war in Iraq and peace
here. Senators and members of the House of Representatives will duly receive
stacks of letters and telegrams, along with faxes and e-mails, from which
they will conclude that the American Jewish community, like the Israeli
Jewish community, has fears and anxieties about the road map that the
administration officials are preparing. That's how it works. AIPAC has
plenty of influence and clout, and it tilts to the right. The majority of
the other Jewish organizations are also on the right when it comes to the
conflict. So sweeping is the success of the Israeli right and its allies
among the Jews (and Christians) in the United States that an unchallenged
political axiom has emerged, to the effect that if the president decides to
push ahead with the road map, he will generate hostility among millions of
voters. This is presented as an unassailable fact in the political discourse
and in newspaper commentaries. The only point that remains unclear is
whether Bush will accede to the urgings of British Prime Minister Tony Blair
and of his own State Department and adopt the map despite the political risk
that step entails. Other voices within the American Jewish public, of a more
moderate character, are shunted to the margins of organized Jewish life."
Top: Jewish
Occupied Governments:
United States
JEW$ AND GOVERNMENT
12 FILE FOLDERS OF NEWS & REPORTS
  
File 1 |
File 2 |
File 3 |
File 4 |
Part 5 |
File 6 |
File 7 |
File 8 |
File 9 |
File 10 |
File 11 |
File 12
Archived for Educational Purposes only Under U.S.C. Title 17 Section 107
by Jew Watch Library at www.jewwatch.com
*COPYRIGHT NOTICE**
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in the Jew
Watch Library is archived here under fair use without profit or payment to those
who have expressed a prior interest in reviewing the included information for
personal use, non-profit research and educational purposes only.
Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
|