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Jewish Left Wins, Jews And Israel Lose (Dennis Prager On The Anti-Iran Rally Cancellation Alert)
Townhall.com ^ | 9/30/2008 | Dennis Prager

Posted on 09/29/2008 9:14:32 PM PDT by goldstategop

For decades most of the organized Left has fought against Republicans and conservatives more than against the world's greatest evils. During the Cold War, starting in the late 1960s, one heard little if anything from the Left about the evils of Communism or of Communist societies such as the Soviet Union or Communist China. But one heard a great deal about the evils of American anti-Communists; Ronald Reagan was vilified much more than Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

But last week, a new line seems to have been crossed. The organized Jewish Left -- i.e., left-wing Jewish organizations that claim to be committed to the welfare of Jews -- made it clear that even in the fight against the greatest enemy of the Jewish people, the Jewish Left prefers to fight what it considers an even greater enemy -- conservatives and Republicans.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who has repeatedly called for the annihilation of Israel and who denies the Holocaust, came to speak at the United Nations. The day before he was scheduled to speak, Jewish organizations across the religious and political spectrum had organized a "Stop Iran" rally at the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza across from the UN. They had invited Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and then invited Republican vice-presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

The intent was to maximize publicity for the anti-Iran cause, the most important Jewish concern (and arguably the most important world concern) today. With Clinton and Palin present, the world press would cover the anti-Iran rally, and the Jewish community could show the world and America that this was one cause that knew no politics -- the most prominent female Democrat and the most prominent female Republican would both lend their names and prestige to this rally.

However, the moment that Clinton learned that the organizers had invited Palin, she withdrew. For Clinton, giving the other most popular woman politician in America publicity was unacceptable -- even among New York Jews, one of the steadfast liberal and Democratic groups in America. The near collapse of the Stop Iran rally was of less consequence to Clinton than denying Palin a public platform.

Not many were surprised by Clinton's action. What was alarming was the realization that for much of the Jewish Left -- not Leftists who happen to be Jews and for whom the welfare of the Jewish people is not particularly significant, but Left-wing Jews who claim to care deeply about Jewish survival -- fighting Palin is of greater importance than fighting Ahmadinejad.

Left-wing Jews and Jewish organizations put intense pressure on the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to cancel the invitation to Palin. And the pressure worked.

As the liberal editorial page of New York's major Jewish newspaper The Jewish Week put it:

"But somehow, a big-tent cause like Iran as a terrorist power seeking nuclear arms has become so politicized within our community that Monday's rally was more about the non-presence of Gov. Sarah Palin than about the very real presence at the UN of a Holocaust denier whose goal is to destroy our way of life."

Yet, in a rare move, publishing an entire speech that was never given, Ha'aretz, Israel's equivalent to The New York Times in its prestige and in its liberal politics, published the speech that Palin would have given. In Israel, liberal and even many Left-wing Jews know that Iran is a greater threat to Israel than American conservatives.

The Palin speech was so good it should be read by every American concerned with Israel's survival. And it was so nonpartisan that it praised Clinton for being at the rally. To say that Palin -- who has the American, Alaskan and Israeli flags in her Juneau office -- is a better friend of the Jews and Israel than much of the American Jewish Left sounds odd only to Jewish Leftists.

But the Jewish Left acts as if it fears and hates her more than it fears and hates Ahmadinejad. That is why within days of her nomination Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., announced that "John McCain's decision to select a vice presidential running mate that endorsed Pat Buchanan for president in 2000 is a direct affront to all Jewish Americans. Pat Buchanan is a Nazi sympathizer with a uniquely atrocious record on Israel. … It is frightening that John McCain would select someone one heartbeat away from the presidency who supported a man who embodies vitriolic anti-Israel sentiments."

Wexler's statement was false: Palin supported Steve Forbes, not Buchanan. And associating Palin with Nazi or anti-Israel sympathies is morally loathsome, not to mention weakens the struggle against real anti-Semites.

For Left-wing Jewish organizations and their supporters -- as opposed to many rank and file liberal Jews -- the real fight is against Republicans and especially Christian conservatives (as a community, the Jews' best friends) more than against a nuclear Iran.

After the cancellation of Palin, a Left-wing Jewish organization that was influential in opposing Palin's appearance, an organization called J Street, on whose Board of Advisors sits the executive director of MoveOn.org, headlined on its website: "We Won!"

That is indeed the case. The Jewish Left did win. Which is why the Jews and Israel lost.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events; Philosophy; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: antiranrally; dennisprager; haaretz; israel; jewishleft; jewishvote; jstreet; prager; sarahpalin; townhall
An opportunity for Jews and Israel to rally bipartisan sentiment against a nuclear Iran was lost when the Jewish Left succeeded in getting Sarah Palin disinvited from an anti-Iran rally. For the Jewish Left, defeating the Republicans and conservatives takes precedence over securing the Jews' future and stopping a nuclear Iran.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

1 posted on 09/29/2008 9:14:35 PM PDT by goldstategop
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To: goldstategop

The odious comments by one democratic congressman Alcee Hastings suggesting Palin would kill blacks and jews is also reprehensible.


2 posted on 09/29/2008 9:19:04 PM PDT by lonestar67 (Its time to withdraw from the War on Bush-- your side is hopelessly lost in a quagmire.)
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To: goldstategop

Talk about a group which has totally taken their eyes off the basic issue of survival.


3 posted on 09/29/2008 9:26:44 PM PDT by nufsed
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To: goldstategop
Dennis Prager is one of the most consistently correct and wonderful humanists on the planet. His balance of humor, righteousness and convervativism is unique. His sense of outrage at the small insults of the idiots in public life are priceless.

I only wish he was on a listen-able station in Seattle...and in a different time slot.

4 posted on 09/29/2008 9:37:54 PM PDT by HardStarboard (.......this should demand a revolt - but against who? They are all guilty.)
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To: nufsed

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”

J Street stands for Jewish Jerks and I’m Jewish. We are cursed with the Left and they will be the ones who make it possible for another Holocaust to happen, this time to Israel.

They make the Kapos of WW2 look almost honorable.


5 posted on 09/29/2008 10:02:43 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper

Amazingly, the same week Iran is mocking the Holocaust as myth, Ahmadinejad endorses Obama - and nobody seems to notice.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2091167/posts?page=1


6 posted on 09/29/2008 10:24:08 PM PDT by T. Buzzard Trueblood ("Capitalism still works. The free marketplace and competition still work." -Gov. Sarah Palin)
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To: T. Buzzard Trueblood

Don’t worry, be happy. On Nov. 5th, we could get our own Achmednutjob as president.

Then I’ll be worrying about Alcee Hastings, that paragon of virtue, and his hunting habits.

At least I know that Sara will be packing on our side.

I’m going to shual tomorrow to pray for us all, except the Democrats (unless the see the light very quickly). And Rahm Emanuel used to belong to my shual. What a schmuck.


7 posted on 09/29/2008 10:28:31 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: lonestar67

leftist jews hiding behind judaism and blacks hiding behind racism.

absolutely obnoxious.

IMHO


8 posted on 09/30/2008 5:48:46 AM PDT by ripley
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper

nufsed


9 posted on 09/30/2008 6:16:52 AM PDT by nufsed
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To: goldstategop

This is a 15 minute video originally recorded in 1985.

This is MUST see!

Please pass this along to all your friends.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k6KUDv1wzraWhwlBt1


10 posted on 10/01/2008 2:30:20 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (Barack Obama: In Error and arrogant -- he's errogant!)
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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, WOT

..................

11 posted on 10/02/2008 9:18:44 AM 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: lonestar67
The odious comments by one democratic congressman Alcee Hastings suggesting Palin would kill blacks and jews is also reprehensible.

Clothed, of course, in the issue of gunownership and hunting. Ironically Alcee makes the arguement that led to our first acts of gun control, that blacks can't be trusted with weapons since they'll kill whites.


Gun Control is Racist!

12 posted on 10/02/2008 10:52:43 AM 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: goldstategop

The Jewish Left’s action here is so nonsensical that the only possible explanation is self-hatred. They are acting diametrically against their own and Israel’s interests. Insanity. I’m glad Prager sees it, and he expresses it well.


13 posted on 10/02/2008 2:38:34 PM PDT by Paul_B
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