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Whose side are they on?-many Jewish groups place community, nation, Israel distant 2nd to politics
Jerusalem Post ^ | 9-21-08 | MARK GOLD

Posted on 09/21/2008 4:00:24 PM PDT by SJackson

Too many American Jewish groups place the community, the nation, and Israel a distant second to their own political agendas.

Many large, long-established mainstream American Jewish organizations have outlived their usefulness.

An Iranian Shihab-3 missile paraded in Teheran. Photo: AP The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, United Jewish Communities, UJA-Federation of New York, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs commendably sponsored a "Rally to Stop Iran." But after Republican vice-presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin accepted an invitation to speak at the event, they disinvited her. This followed Sen. Hillary Clinton cancelling her planned appearance upon learning of Palin's planned appearance.

The event organizers claimed they did not want political figures to appear at the rally - despite the fact that they touted such appearances in the past, and logically so, as high-profile personalities lend weight to the cause.

WHAT CAN we conclude from this chain of events?

1. The importance to Clinton of avoiding an appearance with Palin is greater than the need to stand together and speak out against Iran's nuclear weapons program and incitement to genocide.

2. For the Jewish organizations sponsoring the rally, placating some behind-the-scenes groups with an apparent hatred of Palin is more important than ensuring decency and fairness; the interests of the Jewish people and Israel; and opposing Iran's nuclear ambitions.

There is an element of hypocrisy here, as well. Palin's appearance was deemed "political," but Clinton's attendance would not have been?

THE UNFORTUNATE recurring theme seems to be that too many American Jewish organizations place the interests of the community, the nation, and Israel a distant second to their own political and personal agendas.

In 2003, when Israel was battling relentless, deadly Palestinian violence, one major Jewish organization that one might have relied on to lend its support was devoting its resources to filing a brief supporting the University of Michigan's affirmative action program.

The next year, the Union for Reform Judaism criticized Congress "for passing one-sided pro-Israel resolutions." The URJ leadership also opposed the US intervention in Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein, who was, among other things, paying the families of Palestinian terrorists who killed Israelis. Did URJ leaders oppose US action in Iraq because they were looking out for Israel's or Jews' best interest, or because it was more important for their positions to fit in with their leftist milieu?

Most recently, URJ President Rabbi Eric Yoffie declared that the movement would not cooperate with Christian Zionists. That in itself is bad enough for Israel, but the URJ and other Jewish organizations' hostility to Christian Zionists hardly encourages more support for Israel.

OTHER MAINSTREAM Jewish organizations are slow to focus on fighting Islamofascism's threat to the Western world as a whole, and to Jews in particular. They don't realize or let on that anti-Semitism today is centered in the Muslim world, with a virulence every bit as horrific as the Nazis'. They prefer to warn us about the relative non-threats of conservative Christians, sightings of neo-Nazis in Europe, or Jewish cemeteries being desecrated with swastikas.

Often, the fact that Israelis in Sderot and elsewhere have been bombarded daily from Gaza often doesn't rate as much concern as the neo-Nazi bogeyman. Is it a perceived need for atonement for their failures during the Holocaust that these organizations seem to prefer to wallow in its "lessons" and the last-war threat of neo-Nazis, rather than face today's enemies?

Recent turmoil in the financial world has claimed a number of hallowed names. Others were bailed out by American taxpayers. A number of the old-line Jewish organizations will - no doubt - also have their saviors, but it would make more sense to let the hoary, wizened ones pass from the scene and leave the battlefield to the others. Newer groups like JINSA, Stand With Us, CAMERA, and MEMRI, and a few older ones like ZOA* are better attuned to today's challenges and more effective at meeting them.

*Acronyms stand for Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs; Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America; Middle East Media Research Institute; and Zionist Organization of America, respectively.

The writer does volunteer work on behalf of US national


TOPICS: Editorial; Israel; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: israel; jewishvote; mcainpalin; mccainpalin

1 posted on 09/21/2008 4:00:24 PM PDT by SJackson
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]

----------------------------

An ascendent Iran is a relatively minor concern while the task of anointing "The One" is at hand.

2 posted on 09/21/2008 4:01:25 PM PDT by SJackson (as a black man, you know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station, Michelle O)
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To: SJackson

What they say in public and how they vote in private, will be two different things. As it will be with the rest of the country. McCain will win by a landslide and everbody will wonder how did that happen.

SMILING FACES, SMILING FACES...SOMETIMES THEY DONT TELL THE TRUTH!!


3 posted on 09/21/2008 4:02:29 PM PDT by Texas4ever (SIT DOWN JUNIOR :))
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To: SJackson

I will not forget


4 posted on 09/21/2008 4:02:55 PM PDT by Carley (she's all out of caribou.............)
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To: 1st-P-In-The-Pod; 2ndDivisionVet; A_Conservative_in_Cambridge; af_vet_rr; agrace; Aiko; ...
FReepMail to be added or removed from this pro-Israel/Judaic/Russian Jewry ping list.

Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.

5 posted on 09/21/2008 4:06:03 PM PDT by Alouette (Vicious Babushka)
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To: Alouette

Where’s Jackie Mason when we need him? Now there is a real American.


6 posted on 09/21/2008 4:14:15 PM PDT by doosee
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To: SJackson
The first step in answering the authors question is to understand that most American Jews are non-observant to aethiestic in belief.
7 posted on 09/21/2008 4:18:14 PM PDT by fso301
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To: SJackson
Title: "Whose side are they on?"

Who is "they?" Naming a group instead of the people directly responsible doesn't get it. Only when actual names of individuals are put out in the press will this story grow legs.

8 posted on 09/21/2008 4:25:15 PM PDT by Rudder
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To: Rudder

Many Elites are Liberals first, Jewish by accident of birth.


9 posted on 09/21/2008 4:44:37 PM PDT by stocksthatgoup (`Pontius Pilate voted "Present")
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To: fso301
"The first step in answering the authors question is to understand that most American Jews are non-observant to atheistic in belief."

From what I understand, this is also a problem in Israel.

10 posted on 09/21/2008 4:50:02 PM PDT by CASchack
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To: stocksthatgoup
Elites are Liberals first, Jewish by accident of birth.

Yep. Some of this misplaced allegiance goes back to the labor movement of the 30's.

11 posted on 09/21/2008 5:07:43 PM PDT by Rudder
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To: CASchack

The majority in Israel are non-observant but by the same token the majority in Israel serve in the army and are honest, loyal citizens. Outside Israel Jewish identity is associated with religion. Here Jewish identity is associated with your nation. Apples and oranges. The status quo ante of 1948 regarding the role of religion in society is the usual reference point for settling disputes politically. What is the problem?


12 posted on 09/21/2008 5:14:58 PM PDT by idov
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To: SJackson

As a Jew, it sickens me that so many of us vote Democrat out of some twisted liberal guilt. Voting for Obama in 2008 is equivalent to a vote for Hitler in 1933. Its beyond idiocy - its suicidal. Obama is a Muslim committed to the destruction of Israel. No matter how well he fakes it, his upbringing and his associations as an adult prove his true beliefs.


13 posted on 09/21/2008 5:19:15 PM PDT by Astronaut
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To: SJackson
Stand with Us is a great group. I have been to some of their events.

Groups like The Union for Reform Judaism are most similar to the kapos and other Jewish traitors during the Holocaust who aided in the attempted destruction of the Jewish people. Groups like Stand with Us, on the other hand, are most similar to heroes like Mordecai Anilewicz who led the Warsaw ghetto uprising against the Nazis.

American Jews, which group would you rather be associated with? There is no time for weakness on these issues- anti-Semitism grows among the Muslim animals every day.

14 posted on 09/21/2008 5:28:31 PM PDT by LiberalsSpendYourMoney (Barry, you're more racist than 99% of Americans. And you're ugly.)
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To: Astronaut

As a Jew, it sickens me that so many of us vote Democrat out of some twisted liberal guilt. Voting for Obama in 2008 is equivalent to a vote for Hitler in 1933. Its beyond idiocy - its suicidal. Obama is a Muslim committed to the destruction of Israel. No matter how well he fakes it, his upbringing and his associations as an adult prove his true beliefs.”

Well said.

This election really is, as sarah says, “shaking things up!”

It is causing people to re-examine previously held beliefs about particular groups and their motivations, including supposed women’s rights groups, groups supporting Israel, the role of abortion in mainstream politics (that’s a usual suspect, but has a different spin currently),the acute MSM bias...

A lot of stuff is coming to the turbulent surface, and this Jewish Congress group really has egg on its face as a result of this latest fiasco. It was a serious error in judgment that will prove to be a costly one, too.


15 posted on 09/21/2008 6:24:26 PM PDT by Canedawg (Show me an old Liberal and I'll show you someone with no brains. - Winston Churchill)
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To: idov

I have no quibble with honest and loyal citizens. However, what set apart Israel from all others was its belief in the one God of Abraham—God’s chosen people. Now, you have non-observant politicians who are willing to give away land and have ceded access to the Temple Mount to the Muslims. IMO, this is a problem.


16 posted on 09/21/2008 6:54:58 PM PDT by CASchack
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To: SJackson
OTHER MAINSTREAM Jewish organizations are slow to focus on fighting Islamofascism's threat to the Western world as a whole, and to Jews in particular. They don't realize or let on that anti-Semitism today is centered in the Muslim world, with a virulence every bit as horrific as the Nazis'. They prefer to warn us about the relative non-threats of conservative Christians, sightings of neo-Nazis in Europe, or Jewish cemeteries being desecrated with swastikas.

Being rather cynical I suspect that most of the losers desecrating cemeteries only know that a swastika will get their highjinks mentioned in the news.

17 posted on 09/22/2008 3:36:44 PM PDT by Fraxinus (My opinion, worth what you paid.)
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