The Bible’s tough talk
Biblical verses most likely to be recited by Samuel Jackson in Pulp Fiction II (Hat tip: Jewschool)...
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If only Bush knew
Even if one disagrees with today's editorial in The New York Sun raising questions about the Annapolis conference, the neoconservative newspaper deserves credit on at least one point: It avoids the intellectually dishonest argument advanced by many pro-Bush pundits that Condoleezza Rice, and not the president, is the proper address for criticism of the current U.S. diplomatic push (in fact, the piece doesn't even mention the secretary of state).
Compare that, for example, to Bret Stephens or Frank Gaffney, who manage to vilify Rice without ever acknowledging that the buck stops with her boss.
Sure Rice is driving the current policy, but Bush knowingly handed her the keys to the car. If Elisabeth Bumiller of The New York Times is to be believed, Bush is well aware of Rice's increasing anti-Cheney tendencies – the president has even joked about them:
More often in those years, Ms. Rice used her relationship with Mr. Bush to try to gain control over the national security process as well as two powerful men who drove much of the agenda in the first term, Vice President Dick Cheney and Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the defense secretary….In recent months, Ms. Rice has gone so often to Mr. Bush to push him on diplomacy with Iran and North Korea that he has started to needle her that she expects him to talk to people like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the radical Islamist who is president of Iran, or Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader whom Mr. Bush has said he loathes.
"You want me to sit down with Ahmadinejad?" a White House official recalled that Mr. Bush had archly asked Ms. Rice. "Kim Jong-il? Is he next?" The White House official said that Mr. Bush had also taken to calling Ms. Rice "Madame Rice," as in "Madame Rice, you're not coming in to tell me that we ought to change our position?"
Bush's willingness to follow Rice's advice is no accident. The president is said to reward loyalty and value a sense of intimacy when it comes to advisers – and, on both counts, Rice reportedly fits the bill as much as anyone.
Of course, the same also is true of Bush's approach to the world – he reportedly tends to personalize foreign policy. Is it so hard to believe that a president who looked into Putin's soul and saw only happy colors, would decide that Mahmoud Abbas – as opposed to Yasser Arafat – was a man he could trust? Is it so hard to believe that a president who bet his entire presidency on building a stable democracy in Iraq, would decide that it's within the power of the United States to play midwife to a democratic Palestinian state?
Now throw in the fact that Abbas' reformist prime minister, Salam Fayyad, is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin – he and Bush were once reportedly seen exchanging the Longhorns' famous index-finger-and-pinkie salute – and it's quite easy to imagine that Rice and her boss are on the same page when it comes to the overall goal of pushing for a two-state solution by the end of 2008.
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Siegel Speaks: Election Apathy in Russia
Russia's Dec. 2 parliamentary elections are shaping up to be the least significant for the country's Jews in the post-Soviet era. With Vladimir Putin steering the country toward authoritarianism, why does nobody seem to care? JTA Moscow correspondent Matt Siegel talks to JTA Associate Editor Uriel Heilman.
Click the play button below to listen.
[audio:/images/archive/112707_heilman_siegel.mp3]
To subscribe to JTA's Behind the News podcast, click here.
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Our man in D.C.
D.C. Bureau Chief Ron Kampeas and I discuss his first day covering the Annapolis Summit.
Click the play button below to listen.
[audio:/images/archive/112607_kampeas_eden.mp3]
To subscribe to JTA's Behind the News podcast, click here.
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Olmert to U.S. Jews: Israel will decide on Jerusalem
What does Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert say about American Jewish groups that say he has no right to negotiate a deal that would divide Jerusalem?
Here's what he told JTA's Ron Kampeas at a press briefing on Monday:
"Does any Jewish organization have a right to confer upon Israel what it negotiates or not? This questions was decided a long time ago. The government of Israel has a sovereign right to negotiate anything on behalf of Israel."
The Orthodox Union, one of the groups taking the lead in fighting against a Jerusalem deal, was quick to respond to Olmert's comments. Here's a statement issued by the O.U.'s president, Steve Savitsky, and its public policy director, Nathan Diament:
"In vigorously advocating for the unity of Jerusalem in the weeks leading up to the Annapolis conference, the Orthodox Union has not sought to 'confer upon' or dictate to the Israeli government what it has the legal right to negotiate about with Palestinian or other Arab leaders. We have, however, sought to express our heartfelt and strong view that all Jews around the globe have a stake in the holy city of Jerusalem, and that to cede portions of the city which has been the spiritual and political capital of the Jewish people for millennia is a step the government of Israel ought not take."In this advocacy, we are engaging in the very sort of action which Prime Minister Olmert himself welcomed when he addressed the Orthodox Union's biennial convention in Jerusalem one year ago, when he stated: 'I always believed, all my life in listening to the Jews who live outside the State of Israel…that it is totally inconceivable to me that when we will need you, you will stand firmly behind us 100 percent; but then when it comes to issues which may define…also the quality of your life in your communities, [we] would say, this is our issues, you are not part of it. This is impossible. We have to be able to share with you, to dialogue with you, to talk to with you, to listen to you. We don't have to agree with you about everything, as you don't have to agree with us about everything. But we have to be able to open ourselves to you and to talk with you.'"
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Susser Speaks: Annapolis and the Day After
Is Annapolis going to be a case of form over substance? Will the conference propel Israel's ties with Syrians or Saudis forward? Will the Palestinians and Israelis get down to the nitty gritty? JTA's Leslie Susser talks with Associate Editor Uriel Heilman.
Click the play button below to listen.
[audio:/images/archive/112607_heilman_susser.mp3]
To subscribe to JTA's Behind the News podcast, click here.
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Y-Love + DJ Handler + Idan Raichel + Matisyahu
Here's a message and video link from Y-Love, the self-described Hiphop activist:
I wanted to give you a heads up on a breakthrough Jewish music video which hit YouTube last night. DJ Handler and Shemspeed.com arranged a musical mashup in front of 1,200 fans at Irving Plaza last night never before seen - the Idan Raichel Project with special guests, Matisyahu and Y-Love.
What is Shemspeed? Mordy Shinefield, the Forward's music columnist, explains. Here's the Web site's account of the big night:
Idan Raichel and dj handler are all set to perform at Irving Plaza when Shemspeed's good friends Matisyahu and Y-Love let us know they are coming through. We suggest that all of them do a song together. Everyone is psyched and the second they hit the stage it is like a bomb of excitement went off with the sold out thousand+ crowd! Here is what went down!
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Dinner with ZOA: Two Morts, a Weiner, Bibi Sr., a Berkley hawk
I spent several hours on Sunday night at the Zionist Organization of America's annual dinner, which was held at the Marriott Marquis Times Square. Under the leadership of its president, Mort Klein, the ZOA has been the most consistent and, often, the most effective American opponent of Israeli territorial concessions and U.S. support for the Palestinian Authority.
The ZOA's base is a mixture of secular and Orthodox right-wing Zionists, who can come together on at least one point: their belief that Arabs are murderous Jew-haters who will be motivated, not mollified, by Israeli and American appeasement. There were loud cheers when Klein insisted that peace could only be achieved after the Arab side was dealt a decisive military defeat and when he said that Jerusalem was more important than peace – that no deal would be acceptable, even if it were to bring peace.
The keynote address was delivered by Benzion Netanyahu, the 98-year-old professor, former Jabotinsky lieutenant and father of Bibi. Another scheduled speaker was Shelley Berkley, a Jewish Democratic congresswoman from Las Vegas who is one of ZOA's top allies, especially on her side of the aisle. I say "scheduled" because another Jewish Democratic congressman with strong ties to ZOA, Brooklyn's Anthony Weiner, continued his annual tradition of showing up for the dinner and giving an impromptu speech. And, of course, he broke out his usual line, saying that he and Berkley "come from the ZOA wing of the Democratic Party."
Weiner took what everyone I talked to understood to be a swipe at AIPAC:
There is no organization in Washington, no organization at the grassroots that is more in keeping with making sure that Israel stays strong and our relationship stays solid than ZOA. Without fear of contradiction I'll say this: more so than even that better known organization that does some very very important work.
ZOA is the organization, Weiner said, who can be counted on to take positions "without the fear of who's going to say what and is it really the right political thing to say." He added:
With Shelley Berkley and I standing up now as we are to make sure that we don't make this ridiculous deal where we're selling high-tech armarments to Saudi Arabia, some organizations are trying to figure out the right thing to do – ZOA knew instantly what the right thing to do [APPPLAUSE]. When we took the floor and said that this was folly providing more and more money for the Palestinians, not a single dime, not a single shekel should go. While other organizations hemmed and hawed, and looked to the editorial page, ZOA said we agree, there shouldn't be any more funding [APPALUSE]. When Shelley and I said, sure maybe we should be providing some aid to Egypt, but should we provide it with high-tech military hardware, year after year after year after year? Some organizations prevaricated, ZOA said absolutely we should not and stood with Shelley and me [APPLAUSE].
Weiner's comments come at a time when AIPAC is already facing heat from one of its top donors, casino mogul and GOP supporter Sheldon Adelson, for supporting a congressional letter urging more financial support to boost Abbas.
Both during her speech and afterwards, Berkley was critical of the upcoming Annapolis meeting, arguing that no peace conferences should take place until several more steps are taken by the Palestinians, including the cessation of terrorism. But she resisted the suggestion that the Bush administration is pressuring Prime Minister Ehud Olmert into participating.
You know what, I'm not going to second guess the prime minister of Israel. He was elected by the Israeli people, he's their elected representative. If I was prime minister I don't think I would be agreeing to the Saudi arms sale, I don't think I would be agreeing to send half a billion dollars in direct cash payments to the P.A. and I don't think I'd be sitting down to negotiate peace unless I had a partner who believed in peace.
I asked the congresswoman to comment on claims from Olmert's critics that he is going along with the peace talks to save his own neck, either from prosecutors or the voters.
"I wouldn't have a comment on that," Berkley said. "I don't know."
Do you have faith that his judgments are being made with Israel's best interests in mind?
"I would hope that any prime minister of Israel would have Israel survival first and foremost on his mind."
Mortimer Zuckerman, who was there to introduce the senior Netanyahu, seemed much more definitive when I asked him if he had confidence in Olmert: "I have confidence in every Israeli prime minister, sure I do. I think he is a patriot, too."
Zuckerman, a former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, gave thumbs down to Annapolis, warning that it could backfire, since neither Olmert nor Abbas are in a position to cut a significant deal. (Speaking of the Conference of Presidents … the group's top professional, Malcolm Hoenlein, was at the dinner, and received a "thank you" from Klein during his speech.)
"There is no doubt that there is great pressure from the secretary of state on the Israelis," Zuckerman said. At the same time, he praised President Bush and expressed complete trust in him on the issue of Israel's security.
Can one separate the president from his secretary of state?
"I don't want to get into that," Zuckerman said.
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Letter: Don’t forget Jerusalem
The plot thickens in the fight over whether the American Jewish groups will aid or obstruct the Bush-Olmert-Abbas diplomatic push (the third option is to say nothing). Check out this letter – recently obtained by JTA – from eight communal leaders who want the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to reassert its support for keeping Jerusalem as Israel's united capital (analysis to come later).
November 14, 2007Dear Chairperson June Walker & Executive Vice President Malcolm Hoenlein:
We respectfully request that the Conference publicly reissue its long-held position on Jerusalem as the undivided sovereign capitol of Israel or convene a meeting, without delay, to discuss the issue of Jerusalem.
As you know, there have been rumors and leaks, that Israel is being pressured to relinquish some parts of Judaism's holiest city and eternal capitol, which is wrong in and of itself, but this action would also endanger the rest of Jerusalem population by bringing potential terrorists closer to Israel's major Jerusalem population centers.
Jerusalem has always been a consensus issue for the Conference. It even required some newer members of the Conference to adopt the position of a sovereign undivided Jerusalem before they could be admitted.
We must always remember:
That throughout history, Jerusalem has never been the capital of any nation other than the Jewish people,
That Jerusalem contains the holiest sites in Judaism, including the Temple Mount,
That Jerusalem is mentioned seven hundred times in our Jewish holy books, but not once in the Koran,
That since the mid-1800's, Jerusalem has had a Jewish majority,
That under Jordanian control, from 1948 to 1967, Jerusalem was visited by no Arab leader except for King Hussein,
That only under Israeli rule have all adherents of all religions, represented in Jerusalem, been able to worship freely and access their religious sites.
We believe it is an imperative that the Conference make loud and clear that Jerusalem must remain the eternal, undivided, sovereign capitol of Israel and the Jewish people.
Thank you. We look forward to hearing from you.
Stephen Savitsky, President, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations Of America
Moshe Smith, President, B'nai B'rith International
Bob Zweiman, National Commander, Jewish War Veterans of the USA
Morton A. Klein, National President, ZOA
Kenneth Abramowitz, Chairman, American Friends of Likud
Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive Vice President, National Council of Young Israel
Hedy Klein, President, Emunah of America
Eli Hertz
(Stephen Savitsky is the person you should contact.)
Hertz is the chairman of CAMERA, but his organizational affiliation was not listed in the letter.
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Wasabi with your gefilte fish?
A few final tidbits on the G.A. (unless I think of some more)…
* All those people busting on Sarah Chasin need to get off of their high horse. Several G.A. attendees told me they found her honesty refreshing.
* Suddenly I don't feel so bad for not knowing the names of all of the country singers that we saw down in Tennessee (Jimmy Dickens – a country singin' dirty-joke-tellin' version of Henny Youngman – Hal Ketchum, The Grascals, T Graham Brown, Mandy Barnett, Jason D Williams?????). The guest MC at the G.A.'s night out to the Grand Ole Opry – Andy Groveman, the former chairman of the Memphis federation – made reference to hip hop artist Caine West (I think he met Kanye).
* As I milled around the airport waiting to go home, a man comes up and asks what I thought of the food at the G.A. Turns out it was the mashgiach, Dovid Lapin, from Baltimore. I asked him if he knew about the "Wasabi" at the Sushi bar during the big Monday night bash (it was actually Jewish-style horseradish dyed green with food coloring). He says: "Not only do I know about it – it was my idea!" Lapin, a former caterer, came up with the plan after the caterers told him at the last minute that they didn't have any Wasabi.
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