JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Ahmadinejad in the big city

By Uriel Heilman · September 23, 2008

With Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in New York for the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, more than a few media outlets are taking the opportunity to weigh in on the regime in Tehran, and some have sat down with the president of the Islamic Republic.

• National Public Radio's Steve Inskeep asks Ahmadinejad if he accepts the label as the man who would "wipe Israel off the map." Here's the response:

Please pay attention to the fact that there are two issues that go side by side in this discussion. The first part is the proposal we have given to resolve the problem of Palestine. For 60 years, wars and killings have been going on over there.

Every peace proposal that has been put on the table so far has failed to give results. Why? Because it neglects the rights of the Palestinian people. Our proposal has been to offer the Palestinian people a free referendum. Everyone who lives in Palestine [should be able] to participate in a referendum to decide the future and the nature of its government.

Let me create an analogy here — where exactly is the Soviet Union today? It did disappear — but exactly how? It was through the vote of its own people. So therefore in Palestine too we must allow the people, the Palestinians, to determine their own future.

And then the second side of this same issue, and I'd really like to invite you to pay attention to it. Especially you — you must, because you are always being subjected to [the] unilateral sort of information that is coming from the administration here.

Let's ask ourselves, where exactly did the Zionist regime come from? Palestine has existed historically with people who live there for thousands of years. Then at gunpoint several million of the indigenous people there were forced out of their homes and became displaced. And it didn't stop there; others were brought from elsewhere in the world to replace them. How can you accept this regime?

• The L.A. Times asked Ahmadinejad a similar question: "You have said repeatedly that the state of Israel should disappear from the map. What action does Iran plan to take to bring about the result of Israel's disappearance? Or is this just nothing more than talk?" Here's the response:

Iran has made its proposal loud and clear: We're calling for free referendums for the Palestinian nation to determine their own government. This will be reflected in a proposal which we will soon submit to the U.N. secretary-general. Palestine constitutes a nation that has lived there for hundreds if not actually thousands of years. Now, with the pre-planned thinking, [Israel has] actually displaced over 5 million people from their own lands and collected other people elsewhere from the world and has put them in their place. How is it possible to recognize a state that has come about as such?

If we agree and accept that certain events had occurred during World War II, well, where did they indeed happen? In Germany, in Poland and in Great Britain. Now, what does this exactly have to do with Palestine? Why is it that the Palestinian people should pay for it?

• And another question from the L.A. Times: "Does Iran feel or have any reservations about the possibility of a deal between Syria and Israel, in which Syria would get back the Golan Heights but in return would expel Hezbollah from its territory?" The response:

We welcome any part of the occupied lands that are freed. We believe that the freedom of the Golan Heights is exactly what the Zionist regime does not want. And we think it is very unlikely that it will happen as a result of the negotiations.

The regime resembles an airplane that has lost its engine and is kind of going down. And no one can help it. This will benefit everyone – more than anyone, the American people. Because in the name of the American people, this regime is carrying out crimes, crimes that fill the pockets of capitalists, for which the American people pay.

• In the Wall Street Journal, Bret Stephens finds Ahmadinejad has done more for the Islamic Republic in four years than all his predecessors combined managed in their 25.

Above all, you have given the world time to digest the notion that Iran will inevitably become a nuclear power, and that nothing can be done to stop it – at least at any kind of acceptable price. Will Americans agree to open a third military front in the Middle East? Does Israel, which couldn't so much as defeat Hezbollah, want to roll the dice on a bombing run that will spark another bloody regional war but retard Iran's nuclear programs by at most a few years? How will the U.S. afford its epic Wall Street bailouts if you shut down the Straits of Hormuz?

• In an editorial, the New York Times says what's needed is a game-changing diplomatic initiative to deal with Iran's constant evasions on its nuclear program.

Europe and the United States must agree quickly on a more persuasive set of punishments and incentives... We don't know if any mix of sanctions and rewards can persuade Iran's leaders to abandon their nuclear program. But without such an effort, we are certain that Tehran will keep pressing ahead, while the voices in the United States and Israel arguing for military action will only get louder.

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What’s missing at the U.N.

By Lisa Hostein · September 22, 2008

Remarkably little has been written in the media leading up to today's opening of the U.N. General Assembly, where leaders from nations around the globe gather in New York for official speeches and sideline meetings.

For once, Israel is not expected to be a major target of vilification; but neither is Iran, which poses the biggest threat not only to Israel but the world, as Dennis Ross and other top former diplomatic and security officials write in the Wall Street Journal.

Jewish groups appear to be leading the charge, starting with a rally today across from the United Nations protesting Iranian President Mahmoud Achmadinejad. The Jewish effort illustrates the tensions between not wanting to make it seem like the nuclear threat from Iran is a "Jewish/Israeli" issue and not wanting to idly stand by as the threat escalates.

In a meeting of foreign ministers on Friday, Russia and China reiterated their position that the United Nations should take no further action on sanctions.

Beyond Iran, it's sadly ironic that the intended theme of this year's General Assembly – global poverty – is being overshadowed by the financial crisis that is roiling the United States and the world.

As for President Bush, his address on Tuesday will mark his farewell speech to the world body.

By the way, if you want a primer on what the United Nations was originally intended to do, see this.

2 Comments | Share This | International, Iran, U.N. |

Edwin Black and Oil do mix

By Ami Eden · September 22, 2008

Occasional JTA contributor Edwin Black is out with his latest book: "The Plan: If the Oil Stops, No One Has Plan – Until Now." Check out the trailer.

Plus, there's a kickoff column in the Jerusalem Post:

It will come as a shock to most Americans and the media, but as the election reaches a crescendo on the issue of preparedness and energy, neither presidential candidate - nor anyone in local, state or federal government - has developed a contingency plan in the event of a protracted oil cut-off. It is not even being discussed. Government has prepared for hurricanes, anthrax, terrorism and every other disaster, but not the one threatened daily - a protracted oil stoppage, whether caused by terrorism, intervention in the Persian Gulf or a natural disaster. ...

our allies have developed oil contingency legislation and other administrative plans that will permit their nations to survive a stoppage. These measures include severe vehicle traffic reductions, enabling fast alternative fuel production and mass vehicle retrofitting, as well as rush public transit enhancement, and mandated changes in driving habits. Unquestionably, for America to survive such a catastrophe will require a very painful, multilayered program of immediate-term, short-term, mid-term and long-term fixes that will change our society and transform it off oil. The nation has no real alternative fuel or retrofitting infrastructure. But every lawmaker, mayor, governor and every candidate must develop such a plan - and now.

If the country waits until the disaster strikes, until the oil is shut off, we have little or no chance. If we start now, the day before, we can survive. How we start and when we start will define the degree of pain or success of this process.

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Eli Valley does superheroes

By Ami Eden · September 22, 2008

Click here (and magnify, unless you have X-Ray vision) to view artist Eli Valley's review – in comic strip form – of "Jews and American Comics: An Illustrated History of an American Art Form," edited by Paul Buhle. He usually works his super powers over at Jewcy, but in this case he's saving the day at the Forward.

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Our woman in Turtle Bay

By Ben Harris · September 19, 2008

In the New York Sun, B'nai B'rith International's Sybil Kessler Sanchez, who runs a Jewish NGO office devoted exclusively to U.N. affairs, takes stock of the Jewish state's progress at the U.N. as a new Israeli ambassador, Gabriela Shalev, assumes her post.

Sanchez's conclusion: Israel's situation at the United Nations has improved markedly in recent years – membership in a regional grouping and a "decrease in polarizing rhetoric" under the new secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon.

But ideological battles remain as rooted in the past as the decor of the U.N.'s 38-story headquarters on First Avenue: "On the front lines of international humanitarian and human rights law, Israel must continually prove itself in the battle for political and legal legitimacy," Sanchez writes.

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Livni’s mandate

By Uriel Heilman · September 18, 2008

As Israeli pundits are falling over themselves to point out, Tzipi Livni's mandate to serve as Israel's next prime minister came solely from the mere 17,000 people who voted for her in yesterday's primary.

Here are some of the different ways they are illustrating this point:

More people will arrive at the Yarkon Park to see Paul McCartney perform than the number of people who bothered to show up at poling stations in order to elect the person who may become Israel's next prime minister. This is the bothersome fact that emerged from the Kadima primaries, which ended up culminating in a tight race. A total of 0.5% percent of the public – this is the mandate received by a leader during one of the most fateful and complex periods in the State of Israel's history. – Sima Kadmon, Ynet

A decade ago, she was a fairly anonymous public sector official, at the helm of the Government Companies' Authority, a post to which she was appointed - ironically, given the challenge she now presents to his ambitions - by Likud leader and then-prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. She barely scraped into the Knesset for the first time in 1999 - 18th of the 19 Likud members who made it. Rapidly promoted all the way to foreign minister, she was truly tested only during the Second Lebanon War two years ago; her ostensible diplomatic achievements have proved significantly less than compelling. And now look at her, a mere Olmertian resignation away from the prime ministership. – David Horovitz, Jerusalem Post

She began nine years ago as head of the Government Corporations Authority, and now she is a step away from being head of the government. All her previous posts came to her because of a rare combination of circumstances. A junior minister under Sharon, she was promoted to justice minister after Shinui left the cabinet, and, eventually, foreign minister after Ariel Sharon fell ill. On Wednesday, she was elected Kadima chairman by some 20,000 voters. Ninet Tayeb needed ten times that to win the "A Star is Born" television talent show. – Yossi Verter, Ha'aretz

If the Israeli punditry has a problem with the size of Livni's mandate, why did they set the Kadima winner up for this scenario by excoriating Ehud Olmert in the press until he resigned, thereby forcing this strange election? Olmert may well prove to be guilty of corruption, but Israeli media didn't bother to wait for evidence.

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Anti-Semitism—still

By Lisa Hostein · September 18, 2008

The latest Pew Research Center survey of global attitudes on religion is out and the news is not good for Jews – or Muslims.

Anti-Jewish attitudes are up in most major European countries, with the highest numbers in Spain, Poland and Russia. Only British attitudes have remained constant in recent years. But the same is true about attitudes toward Muslims. And according to Pew, "there is a clear relationship between anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim attitudes: publics that view Jews unfavorably also tend to see Muslims in a negative light."

But none of this comes as a big surprise. Similar studies in recent years have come up with similar numbers, give or take a few percentage points. A major report last year by Human Rights First went beyond the numbers to chide European countries for not doing more to halt the trend. See JTA's analysis of that report.

But while anti-Jewish sentiments appear a constant (so what else is new in Jewish history?), some other troubling – though not necessarily surprising – findings have garnered less attention:

• The deepest anti-Jewish sentiments exist outside of Europe, especially in predominantly Muslim nations. The percentage of Turks, Egyptians, Jordanians, Lebanese and Pakistanis with favorable (my emphasis) opinions of Jews is in the single digits.
• A majority in people in Jordan express a positive view of Hamas. But views of Hamas tend to be negative in Lebanon, Turkey, and Egypt.
• Views of the militant Lebanese Shi'ite organization Hezbollah are overwhelmingly negative in Turkey, while slim majorities in Egypt and Jordan express positive views of Hezbollah. In Lebanon itself, Hezbollah is almost unanimously popular among the country's Shia community, but is overwhelmingly unpopular among Sunnis and Christians.
• Most Muslims continue to worry about the rise of Islamic extremism, both at home and abroad. Majorities in Indonesia, Pakistan, Tanzania, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Nigeria say they are concerned about extremism in their own country and in other countries around the world.

Perhaps, in these troubled times, we should take comfort in this, though it's hard to believe given the daily headlines:

* Since 2002, the percentage saying that suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilians are justified to defend Islam from its enemies has declined in most predominantly Muslim countries surveyed.

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Pope Pius XII revisited

By Lisa Hostein · September 17, 2008

The debate over what Pope Pius XII did or didn't do to save the Jews during the Nazi era continues to roil. The latest effort to cleanse the record of the pope who is on the path to sainthood came at a symposium in Rome this week where an American Jew led the charge. As reported by NCR Cafe, an online Catholic publication:

Organizers published a 200-page glossy book offering documentation of Pius' efforts to save Jews, including transcripts of eyewitnesses and previously secret material culled from diplomatic archives in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The case for the defense of Pius XII, as presented during the conference, is highly complex, but in essence it pivots on three claims:

• Charges that Pius XII was "silent" are false, because he spoke on numerous occasions in defense of Jews, in ways that were abundantly clear to everyone at the time and for decades afterwards; • If he did not directly and dramatically condemn Hitler or National Socialism, it was because he had well-founded fears that doing so might unleash greater persecution upon both Catholics and Jews; • Behind the scenes, he mobilized church resources in multiple ways to save Jews.

Jews, meanwhile, continue to challenge the Vatican to open up its archives before it moves to canonize Pius XII. For more on the debate, read this.

4 Comments | Share This | Christianity, Shoah |

Talansky’s tale

By Uriel Heilman · September 17, 2008

New York magazine's feature story on how Morris Talansky, a macher from the Five Towns of Long Island, brought down the prime minister of Israel, is called "Morris and Udi: A Story of Unrequited Love."

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Israel votes (well, some Israelis)

By Uriel Heilman · September 17, 2008

Israelis (actually, just Kadima members) went to the polls Wednesday to choose the man (or woman) who will be the next prime minister of Israel (or not, depending on whether the winner can put together a coalition government), finally ending the Ehud Olmert era (though not exactly, since Olmert will stay on as caretaker prime minister until someone can put together a coalition government).

In any case, on this big day for Israel (sort of), here's what the Israeli papers are saying (the ones that publish in English, that is):

• Aluf Benn in Ha'aretz: The question for the winner isn't so much how s/he will deal with the reality of Israeli politics and the challenges of coalition partners, but how the new prime minister will deal with international friends and foes.
• The Jerusalem Post editorialists: Can Kadima really provide a third-way alternative to Likud and Labor? It's a lot easier to explain where Kadima came from than what it stands for. Attila Somfalvi of Ynet adds: In order to survive, Kadima must prove that it truly wants to change Israeli politics.
• Guy Bechor in Ynet: The Arab world is fascinated by the Israeli people's ability to topple its leader, since that's impossible in the Arab world without a bloody revolution that leaves society in tatters.
• Gil Hoffman in the Jerusalem Post: What would Ariel Sharon think?

Results should be in the wee hours of Thursday morning Israel time (Wednesday evening in New York).

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