JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

RJC leader: I like Sinatra, Palin likes Israel

By Eric Fingerhut · September 2, 2008

A top Jewish Republican leader said today that Sarah Palin will help John McCain appeal to Jewish voters because her background reinforces the message that McCain is a "real agent of change."

Republican Jewish Coalition executive director Matt Brooks told reporters in Minneapolis today that McCain is "not your average ordinary Republican" where "it's going to be business as usual," and "Palin amplifies that message." Noting Palin's history of "taking on big oil," he said Republicans would likely emphasize the issue of energy independence to Jewish voters, as well as the foreign policy issues that the GOP has been hammering on for months against Democratic nominee Barack Obama – such as his statement that he would be willing to meet with Iranian leaders.

Brooks also said the discovery that Palin keeps an Israeli flag in her office was "extremely telling" as to her views on Israel.

"You choose to decorate your office with things that are important to you," said Brooks, adding that he is a big fan of Frank Sinatra and decorates his office with things related to the Chairman of the Board.

Brooks did condemn the "ugly and disgusting" e-mails that have circulated with false rumors about Obama, saying that anything the RJC puts out criticizing the Democratic candidate is on his organization's letterhead. He added that he was disappointed by the response of Jewish Democrats to his press releases questioning the votes and associations of the Democratic nominee.

"Any kind of substantive debate" brings allegations of "fear and smear," he said. "It tells me they don't like the facts."

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Palin was there

By Ben Harris · September 2, 2008

Pastor Larry Kroon confirmed to JTA today that Sarah Palin was present in church on Aug. 17 when a representative from Jews for Jesus gave a sermon describing how successful his group has been at converting Israelis and how the Middle East is in turmoil today because the locals don't accept Jesus.

Kroon said Palin had no way of knowing the speaker was on the docket for that day. He also said he would not presume that Palin shares all, or any, of the speaker's ideas.

He did say, however, that he disagrees with the Jewish groups who feel there's something fraudulent in telling Jews there's no contradiction in being a believer in Jesus and professing Judaism: "I don't feel it's deceptive. Look at Paul and Peter and the others – they were Jews and believed in Jesus as the messiah. There's gentile believers and there's Jewish believers that acknowledge Jesus as messiah. There's Swedish believers."

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RJC is a matchmaker for filmmakers

By Eric Fingerhut · September 2, 2008

When movie director David Zucker was first told there was a Republican Jewish Coalition, he replied, "That's like Indians for Custer!" But it turned out that the RJC was how Zucker, co-creator of the classic comedy "Airplane!" met Myrna Sokoloff, his co-writer for his latest film "An American Carol."

Both Sokoloff and Zucker were "9-11 Republicans," and Larry Greenfield of the RJC's Los Angeles chapter introduced Zucker to Sokoloff because the filmmaker wanted to write Sen. Barbara Boxer, whom he had previously supported, a letter telling he he now supported President Bush.

"We never wrote the letter," recalled Sokoloff, who had been a campaign operative for Democrats, including Boxer, in the 1980s and 1990s, has a masters in Jewish education from Hebrew Union College and was an aspiring screenwriter herself.

But they teamed up to make an anti-Kerry ad in 2004, and partnered to make "An American Carol," a spin on the classic "A Christmas Carol" in which a documentary filmmaker with a remarkable resemblance to Michael Moore is taught to love America. Kevin Farley, brother of the late Chris Farley, plays "Michael Malone," and Leslie Nielsen, Kelsey Grammer and Jon Voight are among the stars who appear in the film.

The movie was previewed in Minneapolis on the Sunday before the Republican National Convention, and after the film received a standing ovation, Zucker pointed out to the crowd that the producer of his movie, Stephen McEveety, also produced Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ." Zucker joked that since McEveety had been so successful with a film that consisted mostly of "Jews beating up God," he was urging Zucker to insert scenes of "Jews beating up the pope or Gandhi.|

As for the film, there is some of the slapstick and classic sight gags that Zucker's films are known for (at an anti-war protest, the back of one protester's sign reads "See Other Side"). And there are a few uproarious scenes, particularly a training film early in the movie showing the right and wrong ways to carry out a suicide bombing – Ahmad finds his target, while Ahman doesn't have the proper directions and blows up before he gets there. There's also a scene on a plantation when a character who gets tired of hearing the slaves sing old spirituals and requests something else –and they break into "Hava Nagila." But as the film goes along, the humor seems to give way to the political message – which gets very heavy-handed at times. And the filmmakers seem to really hate Michael Moore – the character is even called unprintable names by his niece. It will open nationally on October 3.

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Sarah Palin’s looming pastor problem?

By Ben Harris · September 2, 2008

The 2008 campaign has already offered one object lesson in what happens when the press starts looking into your pastor's sermons. Now it's Sarah Palin's turn to come under the microscope.

Less than three weeks ago, on Aug. 17, Palin's church, Wasilla Bible Church, hosted a talk by David Brickner of Jews for Jesus (audio here, transcript here).

Palin's pastor, Larry Kroon, introduced Brickner by calling Jews for Jesus "a ministry that is out on the leading edge in a pressing demanding area of witnessing and evangelism." Jews for Jesus is the same group the ADL accused of "aggressive proselytizing with a deceptive message: that Jews who accept Jesus as the son of God and their savior remain Jewish."

Brickner then spoke for about 30 minutes about his group's successful effort to introduce Israelis to Jesus. More on that in a second.

After Brickner's talk, the congregation took an offering for JFJ, and then Pastor Kroon offered this prayer:

We stand before you as a people who've experienced your grace, and we acknowledge that that grace was first extended to our people through your people, the Jews; that there is not a one here in this room who would know Jesus and serve him if there had not been a Jew, generations ago, that spoke Jesus' name to our people. Father, that comes full circle and we wish to extend your grace back to your people. And we pray and we ask that as a result of this time here, and as a result of this offering, there will be people among the Jews today who come to say the name "Jesus" with faith.

On the surface, not all that different from the Catholic prayer for Jewish conversion, whose revival aroused great concern in the Jewish community and nearly railroaded Pope Benedict's recent visit to New York City. In the end, he visited a synagogue and the Vatican gave some signals that this was a wish for the end of times, not the beginning an evangelical effort aimed at Jews.

It's going to be near impossible for the Palin camp to follow that road map after listening to Brickner's sermon, with its effusions over his group's success in Israel.

Here's his description of playing music in Jerusalem with his evangelical band The Liberated Wailing Wall:

Now, most Israelis are secular. And they were drawn by the music, and we had t-shirts on that said "Yehudim L'man Yeshua" (Jews for Jesus), so they knew who we were; but that was ok. They were enjoying the music; some were clapping. There were some that were even dancing off to the side. I thought to myself, "Boy, this is great! We're preachin' the gospel right here on the streets of Jerusalem."

Brickner talks about what he calls the "Jerusalem dilemma," essentially the apparent conflict between the fact that Jerusalem has been the site of so much religious revelation and also the nexus of so much war and bloodshed. The reason? Israel's rejection of God's messenger:

But what we see in Israel, the conflict that is spilled out throughout the Middle East, really which is all about Jerusalem, is an ongoing reflection of the fact that there is judgment. There is judgment that is going on in the land, and that's the other part of this Jerusalem Dilemma. When Jesus was standing in that temple, He spoke that that judgment was coming, that there's a reality to the judgment of unbelief .... And Jesus' words have echoed down through the centuries. Not a generation after He uttered this promise, Titus and his Roman legions marched into that city and destroyed both the city and the temple ... Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It's very real. When Isaac was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment—you can't miss it.

Isaac is Brickner's son, who just came back from a proselytizing trip to Israel and India. In India, he targeted Israeli backpackers on holiday after completing their army service. For Isaac, it was life-changing:

And for me, that personally has changed my life, making me realize how much God has a plan for each and every one of us, and how much we all need to witness to our fellow unbelievers; and for me, as a Jewish person, to my fellow unbelieving Jewish family.

No word yet on whether Palin was present in church on Aug. 17, but we'll find out. We're also trying to find out more about Pastor Kroon's apparently long connection to Brickner – Kroon says the pair go back to the 1970s – who was making his second appearance at the church. In his first appearance, in 2004, Kroon said: "If it were not for Jews for Jesus, I would not be standing here."

ADL chief Abe Foxman – whose organization has criticized Jews for Jesus as "deceptive," who called on Barack Obama to confront his "black racist" minister, and who called the Catholic prayer a "body blow" to relations with the Jews – told JTA Tuesday he didn't have much problem with Palin's pastor. For one, evangelicals, unlike Catholics, never promised to renounce proselytizing. For another, they don't have the same sort of history of violent persecution of Jewish non-believers. For one more, there's no evidence Palin knows or shares those views.

"If you could tell me that she approves of this guy, she invited him, I'm not aware of any of that," Foxman said. "The fact that she belongs to a church that believes in it, I don't have a problem."

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Political Tidbits: Rudy bumped for Lieberman, Hawaii’s Jewish governor praises Palin

By Ami Eden · September 2, 2008

• Rudy Giuliani bumped for Joe Lieberman tonight at the Republican convention. Lieberman: "I'm not going to spend any time tonight attacking Sen. Obama," Lieberman told CNN, but he added that he will explain "why I am an independent Democrat voting for Sen. McCain."
• Hadassah Lieberman talks to JTA about the same issue.
• Ha'aretz reports on Republican Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle – the first Jewish chief executive of the Aloha State – saying that Sarah Palin has more on-the-job experience than Barack Obama.
• Blogger notes that Jews for Jesus leader paid recent visit to Sarah Palin's church. (Listen to the sermon.)
• National Journal: Fred Zeidman, a veteran Texas money bundler for both of President Bush's campaigns, spent two days in Detroit with Sens. Joe Lieberman and John McCain hunting for Jewish support and campaign cash.
• Calev Ben-David, writing in the Jerusalem Post, opines on the importance of Barack Obama securing the support of Haim Saban.

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Hadassah Lieberman: Not a Republican, but backing McCain

By Eric Fingerhut · September 2, 2008

Like her husband, Hadassah Lieberman is backing John McCain. And on Monday afternoon she was the featured speaker at the Republican Jewish Coalition National Women's Committee fund-raiser and fashion show.

But, she insisted to JTA, that doesn't mean she's become a Republican.

A global ambassador for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Lieberman said she came to Monday's event at the Minneapolis Neiman Marcus because the RJC women's committee was raising money for the organization. As it turned out, because of Hurricane Gustav, proceeds from the fund-raiser will go to the American Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund, but women's committee chair Linda Law announced that she would match the total raised Monday for the breast cancer organization.

Lieberman told reporters after the fundraiser that she had been a registered independent until she married her husband, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and she was advised to become a Democrat. When Joe left the Democratic Party was defeated in the Democratic primary in 2006, and then won as an independent, she returned to political independence – and has no plans to change.

As for the presidential race, she said, "I love John ... I hope he wins," but said she wasn't "officially" endorsing anyone. Asked about disagreements she might have with the presumptive Republican nominee on issues such as reproductive rights, she acknowledged that there were "differences" between some of her views and McCain's, but reiterated that she was not a member of the Republican Party.

In her speech to the 200-person crowd at the RJC event, Lieberman did allude to the support that her husband received from Republican Jews in his 2006 Senate win. "When [Joe] decided to run as an independent, a lot of you were out there, and we did not forget that," she said. Lieberman lost in the Democratic primary to challenger Ned Lamont, but then beat Lamont in the general election.

It seemed that Lieberman wasn't totally familiar with the RJC – she mistakenly called the group the Republican Jewish Committee during her remarks.

Among the other luminaries in attendance Monday afternoon were Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, Florida state Rep. Adam Hasner, former Mass. Lt. Gov Kerry Healey, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Texas state Sen. Florence Shapiro and NBC newswoman Norah O'Donnell (who was invited by another guest).

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Biden & Schumer headed to Florida

By Ami Eden · September 2, 2008

In an interview with JTA last week, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz insisted that Joe Biden would be a big asset with Jewish folks in Florida, predicting he would "come down and move around the bagel places and the condos."

Well... it didn't take long. Biden heads to Florida on Tuesday – we don't see any bagel joints on the itinerary, but he's scheduled to work the Clubhouse Party Room at the Century Village in Deerfield Beach. Later in the day, he'll be hosting another town hall, at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

And for a follow-up ... the Obama campaign will be sending down perhaps the Jewiest Jewish member of Congress:

Next Sunday, September 7, U.S. Senator Charles "Chuck" Schumer of New York will visit South Florida to speak with voters about Barack Obama's vision for bringing the change we need to America. Schumer will visit the Turnberry Jewish Center in Aventura, Temple Solel in Hollywood and Temple Beth Shalom in Century Village in Boca Raton to discuss Senator Obama's long-standing support for Israel and other issues of interest to the Jewish community in this election.

Schumer's scheduled visit underscores a major development: In the primary most Jewish members of Congress were backing Hillary Clinton – this time around they'll be stumping for Obama. And that's a good thing for the Democratic candidate, especially in parts of Florida.

How desperate is Barack Obama's situation with elderly Jews down in the condos? Depends who you ask. Wasserman Schultz and one of South Florida's other Jewish congressman, Robert Wexler, sounded fairly optimistic at last week's Democratic convention. But two state lawmakers with their finger on the pulse of Jewish seniors in South Florida, Nan Rich and Steve Geller, said the situation is bad:

Florida state Sen. Nan Rich said Obama surrogates have been "shocked" by the hostility towards their candidate they have encountered at condominiums in her area.

Steve Geller, who serves as the Democratic minority leader in the Florida state Senate and represents parts of Broward County, said he was nearly chased out of the "condos" – shorthand for retirement communities – when he said he backed Obama.

"I've noticed almost a mob mentality," Geller said. "I can change people's minds in a group of five or 10. When there's 300 people in the room, they feed off each other and don't want really to listen to us."

Other members of Florida's convention delegation also expressed concern.

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