JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Ayalon: I won’t retract

By Ben Harris · February 5, 2008

In his controversial op-ed in the Jerusalem Post last month, former Israeli Ambassador to Washington Danny Ayalon had this to say about Barack Obama:

As far as Israel is concerned, Obama has yet to suggest specific measures he would enact regarding the Jewish State’s Qualitative Military Edge that allows us to defend ourselves against our current and future enemies.

In fact, as the Obama campaign points out, Obama has been specific – more than once. Here’s what he told AIPAC in March 2007:

At the same time, we must preserve our total commitment to our unique defense relationship with Israel by fully funding military assistance and continuing to work on the Arrow and related missile defense programs. This would help Israel maintain its military edge and deter and repel attacks from as far as Tehran and as close as Gaza.

Obama’s position paper (PDF) on Israel, released over the summer, reiterates the point.

Ayalon concedes that he hadn’t read the AIPAC speech when he wrote the op-ed, but no matter. His point still holds, he says, because Obama has said he would negotiate with Iran, but hasn’t said what exactly he would negotiate about. Without that knowledge, it’s impossible to know how we would preserve Israel’s military edge.

“The QME is not just by counting bullets,” Ayalon said. “It’s also about a strategic approach to the Mideast.”

See full JTA story on this here.

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Forward clarifies Obama editorial—sort of

By Ben Harris · February 5, 2008

The Forward newspaper took a lot of heat for an editorial last week slamming insinuations in the Jewish community that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim agent (see JTA’s coverage of the issue here and here). Critics said the editorial, rather than debunk the claims, lent credence to them. Here’s the quote that got people riled up.

Accusations of antisemitism take on a life of their own. Once the A-word is in play, the defenses go up, and they don’t come down until it’s proved that there’s no danger. Moderate and liberal Jews who don’t share the conservatives’ agenda will give the benefit of doubt to the accusers. Thus the Jewish hawks have the final say, and the burden is on the candidate to avoid falling afoul of them.

Is Barack Obama a Muslim? Almost certainly not. Was he ever a Muslim? Almost certainly yes.

“Where does that ‘almost’ come from, in regard to a person who for decades has fervently prayed in a Christian church?” wrote Rabbi Arthur Waskow, the liberal Jewish Renewal rabbi and founder of the Shalom Center, in a letter to the Forward.

The Forward also printed an op-ed from Illinois Senator Dick Durban which accuses the paper of giving credence, “however partial,” to the rumors.

A blogger at the website Jewlicious also took the Forward to task, but for different reasons.

A clarification posted on the Forward website this week aimed to clear up the misunderstanding, but it didn’t address the core question: Why are claims that Obama is a Muslim almost certainly untrue.

So I asked Forward editor J.J. Goldberg. Reached last night, Goldberg said the claims against Obama are that he is secretly a Muslim and that as president he would sympathize with America’s enemies. The answer to that question, Goldberg said, resides solely in Obama’s head and there’s no way to know for sure what he truly believes.

“I can’t read his mind,” Goldberg said. “It’s fundamentally an unknowable. That’s as much as I can say.”

According to Goldberg, the point of the editorial was not to debunk the rumors, but to lay into liberals – and Obama staffers – for failing to counter the implicit suggestion that being a Muslim is something to be ashamed of.

“The whole thing strikes me as very distasteful,” Goldberg said. “If my editorial seemed a little unsympathetic to Obama in this campaign, it’s because of that.”

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Fish: Anti-Hillaryism is like anti-Semitism

By Ben Harris · February 4, 2008

So says Stanley Fish, the post-modern literary theorist (Fish reportedly prefers “anti-foundationalist") and Florida International University law professor, on his New York Times blog.

Perhaps mindful of the wrath of the anti-Semitism police, Fish is quick to point out they are profoundly different “in their significance or in the damage they do.” But the similarities are too close to ignore:

It’s just that they both feed on air and flourish independently of anything external to their obsessions. Anti-Semitism doesn’t need Jews and anti-Hillaryism doesn’t need Hillary, except as a figment of its collective imagination. However this campaign turns out, Hillary-hating, like rock ‘n’ roll, is here to stay.

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Coulter: I’ll vote for Hillary

By Ben Harris · February 1, 2008

This campaign is getting so loopy I’m starting to need a scorecard to keep track. Ann “Lets Perfect the Jews” Coulter says not only would she vote for Hillary if John McCain gets the GOP nod, but she’ll campaign for her too!

Michael Lerner’s embrace of Obama might hurt him with the pro-Israel crowd, but Coulter’s Clinton bear hug could be a knockout punch. Better yet, lets get Lerner and Coulter to duke it out among themselves in a Super Tuesday grudge match.

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Obama Girl returns

By Ben Harris · February 1, 2008

There’s a new short video out this week from everyone’s favorite political ingenue, Obama Girl. We didn’t love it quite as much as her breakthrough video, and not nearly as much as Perfected, the mock-ode to Ann Counter by Obama Girl vocalist and MOT Leah Kauffman.

Still, the prize for this week’s best political video goes to Hugh Atkin from Sydney, whose Tom Cruise/Hillary Clinton mash-up had the whole office laughing even on the third viewing. Good on ya, Hugh.

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At least Hillary is proud

By Ben Harris · January 31, 2008

John McCain might be too embarrassed to tout his endorsement from the New York Times. But not Hillary. Check out this new ad, apparently running only in New York.

Think Obama will do the same with his NY Post endorsement?

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The latest polls: McCain solidifying, Obama gaining

By Ben Harris · January 31, 2008

The latest national polls, released by Gallup yesterday, show John McCain solidifying his lead over Mitt Romney, 32% to 21%. On the Democratic side, Obama is gaining on Clinton, who still enjoys a lead pf 42% to Obama’s 36%. The polling was conducted over three nights before John Edwards withdrew from the race yesterday. Big question is where those voters are going to go.

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Whither the Orthodox Dems?

By Ben Harris · January 31, 2008

Couple of interesting nuggets today about where Orthodox Democrats are leaning in the election. According to the Daily News, New York City Councilman Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn Democrat, is planning to vote for Obama out of concern for the racially-tinged language employed by the Clintons in advance of the South Carolina primary.

Felder’s announcemnt should heighten concern in the Clinton camp for its prospects in Brooklyn, which the News calls a “hotbed” of Obama support. Over at Politico, Ben Smith reports that the Clintons are “scrambling” to woo Orthodox voters in the borough. Here’s how Smith breaks it down:

Their concern is that many of the Orthodox — whose political leaders support Clinton — simply won’t vote. While they may be registered Democrats, they often vote Republican, and support Mike Bloomberg for mayor and backed Giuliani’s bid for president. African-American turnout, meanwhile, has been stunningly high in the early primaries.

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Ayalon: I’m trying to help Obama

By Ben Harris · January 30, 2008

Former Israeli Ambassador to the US, Danny Ayalon, has been getting slammed for a recent op-ed in which he said Barack Obama’s candidacy should be met with “with some degree of concern.”

First, his successor, Salai Merridor, took a swipe at Ayalon, asserting that Israel has no intention of interfering in American elections: “Opinions to the contrary articulated by private Israeli citizens, including former officials, do not represent in any way the policy of the Government of Israel.”

Then an editorial in Ha’aretz ripped into Ayalon again, lumping his comments together with smears about Obama’s Islamic background that have been spread in the Jewish community.

In an interview with JTA, Ayalon shot back. First, he said he had been careful to steer clear of the Muslim smear, and wanted only to shift the discussion away from slander and towards a “substantial” debate about the candidate’s attitude towards Israel.

Second, Ayalon denied that he suggested Obama was being less than fully honest about his feelings about Israel, saying that he meant only that, in his two meetings with Obama, the senator had asked more questions than he answered.

Third, he noted that another former Israeli diplomat, Alon Pinkas, has weighed in with a defense of Obama, without a peep from the commentariat.

Fourth, his intention was to urge Obama to be more forthcoming about his commitments, and even took credit for Obama’s recent comments in an interview with Jewish media in which he pledged to maintain Israel’s qualitative military edge over the Arabs.

And fifth, he denied that the op-ed had any connection to his affiliation with Nefesh B’Nefesh, whose chairman and founder, Tony Gelbart, endorsed Rudy Giuliani the day after Ayalon’s op-ed was published. On Sunday, Giuliani spoke at the Boca Raton Synagogue, who rabbi, Yehoshua Fass, is another Nefesh founder.

“Nefesh B’Nefesh is apolitical, not for profit,” Ayalon said. “Certainly we did not discuss politics there. It goes without saying.”

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Chicago papers: Take Seals over Footlik

By Jacob Berkman · January 30, 2008

Just in case you forgot during all the presidential hoopla, JTA is looking at the Democratic congressional primary in the 10th District of Illinois, where former Clinton aide and M.O.T. Jay Footlik is vying against Dan Seals to see who will get the chance to take on the strongly pro-Israel Republican incumbent Mark Kirk.

Footlik, who was the Jewish liaison for both Bill Clinton and
John Kerry, and has run a campaign that specifically reached out to the Jews, both in the Heeb-heavy district in the suburbs of Chicago and across the country. He boasts plenty of endorsements from Jewish luminaries, including Alan Dershowitz and Elie Weisel.

Of course, Footlik may have Chutzpah and Night, but now Seals has the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun Times.

Both of the major Chicago dailies have endorsed Seals – though in neither was it exactly a ringing endorsement.

Here is the Sun-Times endorsement:

“Footlik, a scrappy fighter, is strong in several areas but can’t compete with the complete package Seals offers.

We like Footlik’s Middle East experience – he lived there for four
years, was an adviser to President Clinton and worked for the Peres
Center for Peace. The Buffalo Grove resident is also a founding board member of a nonprofit dedicated to reducing U.S. dependence on oil.

But Seals is the better overall candidate to take on Kirk, a moderate
first elected in 2000.”

And here is the Trib’s:

“There isn’t a great deal of difference between Seals and Footlik on
policy. They’re both smart, well-prepared candidates. Voters, though, might have reason to question either candidate’s long-term commitment to them. Seals still lives a couple of blocks outside the district – he says he can’t afford to move into the 10th. Footlik just recently returned to the area, renting a home in Buffalo Grove.

Seals gets the edge, based on a better grasp of local issues and concerns. He is endorsed.”

As for our endorsement?

We support… Oh shoot Edwards just dropped out of the presidential
race. We need to get onto that. More Feb.5 when the election goes
down.

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