Political Insider: McCain's Own Endorsement Controversy

While Sen. Barack Obama continues to face questions about the unsolicited endorsement by Minister Louis Farrakhan, Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, faces his own endorsement controversy - one that will put pro-Israel leaders in an awkward spot.

This week McCain was endorsed by Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee, an open advocate of preemptive war with Iran who believes that will start the ball rolling for a great apocalyptic conflagration that will engulf the Middle East.

Hagee is a particularly controversial figure among Catholics because of his views on the role of the Church in "end-time" prophecy.

 And it's not just Catholics; New Orleans residents may have some concerns about the fiery preacher.   After Hurricane Katrina, Hagee preached that the catastrophe was divine punishment because "New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God."

Last year, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) said Hagee has demonstrated "extremism, bigotry and intolerance that is repugnant."

But Hagee is also the founder and president of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a group that is trying to organize "Christian Zionists" around the country into a coherent political force to support Israel.

Although most major Jewish leaders disagree with Hagee's domestic views and many with his "not one inch" view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they have generally been restrained in their criticism because he represents a growing source of political support for the Jewish state.

The appeal of groups like CUFI has increased as "mainline" Protestant churches continue to single Israel out for economic sanctions and, sometimes, consort with openly anti-Semitic pro-Palestinian groups.

But the McCain endorsement could stir up controversy among the groups that claim Hagee has slurred him and that he is an extremist on both domestic and international issues --  and thrust the Jewish community into an uncomfortable position.

One thing's for sure: when Republicans use the Farrakhan endorsement of Obama - even though he has denounced the Nation of Islam leader --  as a blunt instrument in their appeals to Jewish voters, Jewish Democrats will find ways to use Hagee,  whose endorsement McCain welcomed, in their effort to keep Jews on the Democratic reservation.

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This Jewish Life:  A Transformation and a Conversation

We often talk about the "transformation" that our students undergo during the course of a L'Taken Social Justice Seminar.  By now, I have witnessed the transformation many times-students who come to Washington DC with little or no interest in politics leave with an understanding of a variety of social justice issues and the ability to articulate their thoughts and viewpoints on at least one of these issues. 

Generally, it's during the meetings with Congressional staff on Mondays where the participants speak confidently about the issues that have inspired them over the weekend-long program that I get the chance to kvell about their accomplishments.  This past weekend was no exception.  But, I also got another, unexpected chance to witness a student in action.
 

On Monday morning, I hopped into a cab going to the Hill with two students.  The cab driver asked the students why they were going to speak with their Representatives.  One of the students eagerly (with no apprehension) told the cab driver that he was going to talk to his Senators and Representative about gay and lesbian rights.  Almost immediately, the cab driver shared his thoughts on the topic.  They weren't exactly in line with the views that the Reform Movement (or any other liberal-minded person) would espouse.  But, to my surprise, one of the students in the car was ready to respond immediately.  In summary, the conversation went as follows:

"Why do you want to do that?" asked the cab driver. 

"Because gay and lesbian people do not have the same protection as others in the workplace and I don't think that's fair," said the student.

"People aren't supposed to be like that. Man and woman were made for each other and that's just the way it is," said the cab driver.

"I don't believe that.  And I think that we need to respect people no matter what…"

It continued for a few minutes-with the cab driver offering his thoughts and the student replying with intelligent and informed answers.  It was an amazing conversation.  The student had enough confidence in his understanding of the topic to engage in an informal dialogue with a cab driver.  I was totally impressed with his courage and, frankly, his chutzpah!  The conversation made me wonder if I would have responded as clearly and self-assuredly if the questions had been directed toward me… especially when I was 16.

It's moments like these-when students wear their transformations on their sleeves-that I realize why working 40 hour weekends (with very little sleep) is my favorite part of my job.  

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This Jewish Life:  Eli's Back

I guess I kinda left you all with quite the cliffhanger.

In my previous blog I vented about the frustrating, agonizing, and anxiety provoking event of finding out whther or not I got into Cornell.

I got in.

So my hiatus from blogging was probably—no, most definitely brought about by an early onset of senioritis. I apologize.

So what’s been going on in the mind of your average teenage, Jewish kid?

Well there’s the obvious: Obama-rama, gleeful witnessing of Mets’ off-season wheeling and dealing, and the formulation of my plans for next year.

And the less obvious: Opinions on a family trip to Vegas, rediscovering my love for Simon and Garfunkel, and an overwhelming sense of accomplishment, now being able to grow a real pair of sideburns.

My life has been simplified and complicated at the same time. For the first time I have a sense of what my future s going to look like. And not just an idea, but a real picture. I know I’m going to be in Israel next year. I know that I am going to Cornell after that. That knowledge, realism not optimism, is both soothing and startling. There is an undeniable feeling of relaxation that accompanies this kind of “knowing,” but I also feel like Peter Pan. I don’t want to grow up. I won’t grow up. But I cannot deny the inevitable, after all, I have sideburns.

It’s odd. I’ve always wanted to be able to grow sideburns, but who knew that these hairy face-frames would have, implicit within their presence on my profile, a message about my life, heralding the eventual demise of my youth. Now I know college is still technically part of this epoch of youth, but it’s all so evanescent. I feel like I just started high school. 

But I have to leave high school, my house, and Teaneck some time, right? I just hope I’m ready.

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Route 17: Bad Day For Smear Police

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Political Insider: Hillary Recalls Her Fulani Moment

In Tuesday night’s debate Hillary Clinton implied that she was stronger than Barack Obama in standing up to anti-Semitism.

Her comments came after Obama responded to a question from NBC’s Tim Russert about whether he would reject the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan, and Obama equivocated, standing by his denunciation of the Nation of Islam leader.

That led the New York senator to refer to an incident during her 2000 Senate bid when she denounced a faction of New York’s Independence Party controlled by Lenora Fulani and did not seek the party’s endorsement. Fulani has accused Jews of being “mass murderers of people of color.”

“[The party] was under the control of people who are anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and I made it very clear that I did not want their support and rejected it and said it would not be anything I would e comfortable with,” Clinton said. “It looked as if I may pay a price for that … I would not be associated with people who said such inflammatory and untrue charges against either Israel or the Jewish peple in our country. I thought it was more important to stand on principle.”

That’s true enough. Clinton even went to the party’s candidates forum and, in a sort of Sister Souljah moment, denounced “voices of anti-Semitism, extremism, prejudice and intolerance.”

But critics at the time, as The Jewish Week reported,  said that she and her husband actively solicited the endorsement of the Independence Party, the state’s third largest, knowing full well of Fulani’s influence. President Clinton even played golf with the party’s three-time gubernatorial candidate,  Rochester billionaire Tom Golisano in a bid to win his support.

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Political Insider: Video Documents “Race for ‘Pastor in Chief’”

Jewish leaders continue to fret about the trend of dragging private religious matters into political campaigns – something that shows no sign of abating as the presidential election campaigns move into high gear.

To punctuate the point, a leading church-state watchdog group has produced a list of the “Top Ten Moments in the Race for ‘Pastor in Chief’”

And The Interfaith Alliance, which criticizes the “disproportionate role religion has played during the primary season, with candidates and the media shouldering the responsibility,” has produced a flashy video documenting some of the alleged abuses.

Watch the video here:

Among the top abuses: former GOP contender Mitt Romney being asked if he believes “every word” of the Bible, a CNN interviewer who asked Democrat John Edwards to name his “greatest sin” and Sen. Barack Obama’s notorious “committed Christian” brochure.

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Political Insider: Jewish, Other Religious Activists Meet Attorney General Mukasey

Attorney General Michael Mukasey met with a delegation of religious leaders on Tuesday – including several representing various Jewish factions.

Included were representatives of the Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel of America, which generally support Bush administration faith-based polices – and the Anti-Defamation League, which has been a staunch opponent.

The focus was on the administration’s religious freedom agenda, said Nathan Diament, the OU’s Washington director.

“In his opening remarks, he said he is very much committed to the Justice Department continuing the work it started at the beginning of the administration: strongly enforcing RLUIPA (the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which protects churches, synagogues and other religious institutions from interference by local authorities)  and working on religious discrimination cases.”

The OU, Diament said, asked for “proactive Department of Justice support” for the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA). 

That measure, meant to make it easier for employees to fulfill their religious obligations without jeopardizing their jobs, has languished in Congress for years, and supporters are hoping stronger administration support can get it moving.

But mostly, according to participants, Mukasey just listened.

Deborah Lauter, civil rights director for ADL, expressed concerns about administration charitable choice policies - rules making it easier for religious institutions to get government grants to provide human services, which the ADL argues weaken church-state protections.

Representatives of the Southern Baptists raised the issue of sex trafficking. That issue is a strong priority of the Reform movement, which was not represented at the meeting.

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Route 17: The Islamic Vote

A month is a lifetime in an election year, but this survey (released Jan. 30) is the most recent information I could find on American Muslim political preferences, and an interesting snapshot all its own.

Apparently U.S. Muslims didn’t get the e-mails linking Barack Obama to Islam. The poll, by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), reveals that American Muslims prefer Hillary Clinton for president, although more are undecided (45 percent) than support Clinton (24 percent) and Obama (20 percent) combined.  (Read the full survey here.)

The survey indicated that Ron Paul (2 percent) was the preferred Republican, slightly ahead of John McCain. Regarding party affiliation, 49 percent considered themselves Democrat, 8 percent Republican, with the rest independent.

The CAIR report said, “it is not clear” why Hillary was leading, but Paul was favored among Republicans because he was “fair minded.”

Asked about what issues mattered to American Muslims, Israel-Palestine was said to be  “important” by 90 percent (71 percent said it was “very important”), but Israel-Palestine is not the dominant issue for American Muslims. Twelve other issues were considered more important, and nine other issues ranked higher on the scale of “very important.” Education, civil rights and health care policies were the issues that mattered most.

Only 75 percent said brokering the Israel-Palestinian problem would improve America’s reputation in the Arab world, (I say “only” because we’ve been led to believe that this is the universally accepted antidote for America’s reputation.) Only 74 percent were against waterboarding (simulated drowning) as an acceptable interrogation technique when dealing with terrorists. (I say “only” because it is surprising that so many -- 26 percent—would approve of a torture technique that has been so roundly condemned in the media and among candidates).

I’d be curious to see a story, or poll, that could tell us if American Muslims resent, or are sympathetic, to Obama’s distancing himself from his father’s Islamic roots. How do American Muslims like it when Jews shout that it is a “smear” to mention an Islamic dad? Do American Muslims think Obama is a self-hater, the way certain American Jews would in an analogous situation, if a candidate (a practicing Christian whose father was Jewish) swore up and down that he had nothing to do with Judaism? A candidate who in some biographical material admits that he prayed in a mosque (or shul) as a child but whose official website insists he never did? How will this affect the American Islamic vote in November, or their relations with Jews after that?

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Political Insider: Obama in a Turban, Rudy in a Headdress: Let The Hat Wars Begin

Kudos to Newsday's Spin Cycle blog, which came up with the most interesting response to the ongoing flap about the picture of Barack Obama in native African garb.
 

That picture, snapped during a trip to Kenya in 2006, shows Obama in a turban; some Obama supporters have accused the Hillary Clinton campaign of starting its circulation on the Internet, and using it to create the impression that he is somehow foreign, or maybe even Arab (it's a foreign-looking headdress,  after all, right?)

But political observers point to a long history of politicians donning ethnic garb that goes back at least to Calvin Coolidge, who was particularly fond of dressing up like a Native American.  The image below is from the Library of Congress collection. 

To prove the point in the modern context, Newsday unearthed a picture by one of its photographers showing former Mayor Rudy Giuliani in what was represented as a native American headdress -- but which, with its flowered lei, looks more like a leftover from Johnny Carson's "Carnac the  Magnificent" routine.

 (see the item and picture here )

An earlier Newsday blog item shows former President Bill Clinton in a flattering Ghanian outfit.

And remember Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in an army outfit, sitting in a tank and looking abashed?

Other blogs noted that Clinton herself once appeared in Somali headgear, and that pictures are available on -- a picture now at the Bill Clinton Presidential Library.

Will ethnic headgear be an issue in the presidential election? Has John McCain ever posed in a funny hat? Stay tuned.

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Political Insider: The Farrakhan Factor

Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader, flying saucer aficionado and minister of discord, may be nearing the end of a long and controversial career, but his ability to shake up American politics seems undiminished.

His endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama’s run for the presidency over the weekend may play well for Obama on the South Side of Chicago, where the NOI influence is pervasive, but it poses a big dilemma for the candidate, who has already forcefully rejected Farrakhan’s controversial views but who is hardly in a position to spurn Farrakhan’s endorsement.

“What’s he supposed to do now, spit in Farrakhan’s face?” asked a leading Jewish Democrat who is supporting Obama’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
 

You can bet Jewish Republicans and independent political groups working on behalf of the GOP nominee will make full use of the Farrakhan endorsement if Obama is the nominee, especially in their pitch to Jewish voters. And you can bet Jewish Democrats are scouring the rolls of John McCain endorsers, looking for extremists in their midst.
 

The Farrakhan factor has also surfaced in a March 11 special election to fill a vacant congressional seat in Indiana.

Rep. Julia Carson, a Democrat, died in December, and her grandson, Andre, is running to fill her seat.

But Farrakhan attended Carson’s funeral and offered an implied endorsement of the younger Carson.

After praising Carson, Farrakhan said “she lives in Andre…she wants him to succeed her in service to the people. She wants him to be a good servant.”

That has forced Andre Carson to do some quick damage control with Indianapolis Jewish leaders, according to a report  in the Indianapolis Star, which said the 33 year old candidate recently met with  leaders of the local Jewish Community Relations Council and with local activists from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

If elected, Carson would become the second Muslim in Congress. He belongs to a black Muslim group that is not connected to the Nation of Islam – but his grandmother, the late congresswoman, was reportedly close to Farrakhan.

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A Rabbi's World: One Person, Two Homes…

One of the early op-ed pieces that I wrote for the Jewish Week was titled Between Two Flags.  Written during the second intifada in Israel, it spoke to the cognitive dissonance I often feel when I stand up to preach a sermon in my synagogue, my podium located between the Israeli and American flags.  One person, two homes…

 This morning, I returned from ten days in Israel, and I am feeling that dissonance acutely.  As I was leaving, family and friends in Israel wished me a "safe trip home," and of course their wish made perfect sense.  After all I live in Forest Hills, and work there, pay taxes there- you get the point.  By all objective criteria, it is my home.  It feels good to walk into my house, sleep in my own bed, see my cars in the driveway.

 But coming home from Israel is a uniquely unsettling experience for me.  It challenges all those basic assumptions about home and hearth, and forces me to once again encounter those lingering, nagging questions about why I am here, and where I belong. 

 It was, strictly speaking, work that brought me to Israel this time, as I've written about recently in this blog.  There were certainly moments during this recent congregational mission that I felt as if my work as an American rabbi was at its highest level.  Introducing American Jews to the magic of Jerusalem and Israel and helping them appreciate their timeless and timely significance is why I do what I do.  Many of them were there for the first time, specifically because I was there with them.   Without a doubt, traveling through Israel with them was a far better use of my time than attending meetings here in New York.  I listened to them closely as they were leaving, and their interest in Israel had been sparked and stoked.  Score one for the good guys, I thought to myself.

 But at the same time, I never, ever leave Israel- not even with such satisfying professional feelings as I had this time- without that difficult to shake feeling that I might be doing even more important work there, no matter what I was doing, simply by living there.  I am not necessarily convinced that a Jewish studies teacher in Israel is not doing more important work for the Jewish people than an American rabbi is doing here in New York.  Both are engaged in the cause of Jewish survival, and only one puts his/her life on the line in the name of that cause by serving in Israel's army. 

 You might read this and think "gratuitous guilt."  I'm sure some of my friends in Israel read it that way, and I understand them.  I also understand why I do the work I do, and hence the source of my conflict. 

 At the end of the day, I'm here and not there, so no matter what mixed feelings I might have, I have made my choice.  Like the fictional Private Ryan, I feel a special obligation to insure that my life and how I live it justifies the circumstances.  After a trip like the one just concluded, I allow myself a few minutes of feeling good about my work.  But it's never easy to leave Israel.

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Political Insider: Obama Defensive On Israel; Answers Nader As Jewish Republicans Weigh In

Barack Obama’s campaign has responded to Ralph Nader’s charge yesterday that Obama abandoned a previously pro-Palestinian view and was now supporting the “destruction” of Gaza by Israel.

Here’s the statement:

"Barack Obama's longstanding support for Israel's security is rooted in his belief that no civilians should have to live with the threat of terrorism. In Gaza, Hamas continues to fire rockets indiscriminately at Israeli civilians every day, and that's why it is long past time that Hamas renounces terrorism, recognizes Israel's right to exist, and abides by past agreements."

The Republican Jewish Coalition wasted no time pouncing on Nader’s comments as proof of Obama’s “leanings.”

"Ralph Nader added to the debate on Senator Obama's views on Israel and the Middle East and raised serious doubts and questions about the true leanings of Senator Obama on these important issues," says RJC director Matt Brooks:

"People should be very skeptical of Barack Obama's shaky Middle East policies.  When a long-time political activist like Ralph Nader, with a well-documented, anti-Israel bias, claims that Senator Obama shares this anti-Israel bias, that is alarming," said Brooks.

Interestingly, at almost the same time Nader’s criticism of Obama for not taking “a leadership position in supporting the Israeli peace movement” aired on Sunday morning, the candidate was addressing Jewish leaders in Cleveland and, according to JTA, faulting “elements in the pro-Israel community that equate being pro-Israel with being pro-Likud.”

"I think there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt a unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel that you're anti-Israel and that can't be the measure of our friendship with Israel," JTA reported Obama saying. "If we cannot have an honest dialogue about how do we achieve these goals, then we're not going to make progress."

JTA said Obama was “was addressing a series of attacks, most from Republicans, that suggest that he has surrounded himself with anti-Israel advisers. He noted that he did not take the advice of Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Carter administration national security adviser named in some of the attack e-mails.

Read the full transcript from JTA here.

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Route 17: Iraq Disappearing

You can decide if this item is indicative of how politically unbalanced the national network newscasts are, or if this is item is simply indicative of how “local” the national newscasts have become. (When I say “local” I mean the fact that late-night local TV news is infatuated with fire and murder stories, and bringing cameras to dramatic and chaotic scenes, rather than the more thoughtful stories you might hear on NPR that almost never deal with crime but with ideas and trends in American life).

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Political Insider:  Nader Blasts Obama On Israel

 
Now, things start to get really interesting.

In launching his third independent bid for the White House Sunday, Ralph Nader accomplished several things with just a few short sentences.

    * He raised the Middle East as a contentious issue for the first time in the campaign.

    * He became the first person to accuse Barak Obama of being too pro-Israel.

   
* And he guaranteed some major attention to his campaign with incendiary language about Israel that will surely create a response from the other candidates and Jewish groups.

(Watch the MSNBC video here)

Speaking to Tim Russert on “Meet The Press,” the consumer crusader and Green Party activist reacted to dismissive comments Obama made about him Saturday with this rejoinder:

"His better instincts and knowledge have been censored by himself, and I give you an example: the Israeli–Palestinian issue, which is a real off the table issue for the candidates. Don't touch that, even though it is central to our security and to the situation in the Middle East.

"He (Obama) was pro-Palestinian when he was in Illinois, before he ran for the state senate, during the state senate.

"Now he is supporting the Israeli destruction of the tiny section called Gaza, with a million and half people. He doesn't have any sympathy for a civilian death ratio of about 300 to one, 300 Palestinians to one Israeli.”

Unfortunately, Russert was too eager to press Nader about the ramifications of his entry into the race to probe this bizarre assertion about Gaza, from which Israel completely withdrew in 2005, and from which the Palestinians have since regularly launched rocket barrages across southern Israel.

But Nader wasn’t done yet.

“He has not taken a leadership position in supporting the Israeli peace movement, which represents former cabinet ministers, people in the Knesset, former generals, former security officials, in addition to mayors and leading intellectuals. One would think he would at least say, lets have a hearing for the Israeli peace movement in the Congress, so we don't just have a monotone support of the Israeli government 's attitudes toward the Palestinian people and their illegal occupation of Palestine.”

Nader is under no illusions that he’ll be elected, but he said his presence in the race would “open doors” to discussing key issues, and he may well accomplish that when it comes to the hitherto ignored topic of the Middle East.

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Political Insider: Is Clinton's Jewish Support Starting to Erode?

Are Sen. Hillary Clinton’s top Jewish supporters jumping ship as her once-unsinkable primary campaign lists badly?

Democratic insiders say most are staying where they are, for now – but that doesn’t mean they aren’t talking about when to end a campaign that some worry may now be playing into Republican hands.

Conversations with several leading Democrats and Clinton backers in recent days point to ferment in the ranks.

Big financial backers of the campaign aren’t backing out – largely because most have already maxed out on donations for the primaries.

But there is talk among even some strong and early Clinton backers about exit strategies.

“There have been meetings and calls,” said one. “I don’t see people getting out at this stage, at least not at the higher levels, but there is a lot of concern.  When do you decide a campaign is untenable? When do you decide that continuing to fight just hurts the party? And who’s going to tell the candidate?”

The discussions have intensified as Sen. Barack Obama picks up strength in Clinton’s “firewall” states of Ohio and Texas, which vote on March 4,  and after he cut deeply into her base of support in the Wisconsin primary.

And they come amid signs many Democratic superdelegates are starting to shift toward the Illinois senator.

Hopes for a big win among superdelegates – party official and political office holders who are not bound by primary results – are a key element in the effort to revive the Clinton campaign, along with big wins in Texas and Ohio. Early signs of a shift to Obama or to “uncommitted” status are bad news for the Clinton rescue effort.

Don’t look for wholesale desertions in the next week or so as Obama and Clinton mount major efforts in Ohio and Texas.

“The fast majority of Clinton’s supporters will hang with her and give her a chance to reverse the momentum” in those states, said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.

But if she loses or wins one or both primaries by a hair, “some will reconsider at that point,” he said.  “That will only be early March, after all; there’s plenty of time for the party to reunite and get ready for the August convention.”

In the end, Sabato said, the onetime frontrunner will have no choice but to listen to Democratic primary voters.

“The Clintons are too smart to press the self-destruct button, for themselves and their party,” he said.

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Route 17:  Debating Illegal Immigration

The other week, CNN’s Lou Dobbs called the Anti-Defamation League “a joke” for its stance on illegal immigration.

Is the ADL a joke? On this subject alone, one can make the case that they have been inflammatory, distorting the discussion rather than elevating it. For example, at the end of 2007, when the ADL released its annual “Top Issues Affecting Jews” list, here is how they framed the issue.

(I’ll quote in full): “Immigration Debate in the Spotlight: The national debate over immigration remained as divisive as ever and was a central issue in the presidential campaign.  A number of mainstream anti-immigrant groups resorted to the tactics and rhetoric of racist and anti-Semitic groups, using hateful stereotypes and outright bigotry to demonize immigrants, particularly Hispanics.  A number of media personalities in television and radio, as well as political leaders, adopted the same language when discussing immigration issues in this country.”

That paragraph is dishonest for the simple reason that the debate is not over “immigration” but over “illegal immigration.” No one is lifting pitchforks against decent people who apply legally to become immigrants, people who want to enter honestly and through the front door. Notice that the ADL doesn’t use the word “illegal” once in that paragraph. Instead, they use the most inflammatory words in their arsenal: “racist,” “hateful,” “bigotry,” “demonize” “divisive,” “stereotypes,” and “anti-Semitic” to tar the honorable and entirely reasonable debate over American border security and immigration policies.

There is also an increasing problem in cherry-picking opponents whose deficiencies anchor your argument. We see this in articles that draw sweeping conclusions about e-mails or blogs that go unnamed, or in this case, unnamed anti-immigrant groups, unnamed media personalies, conveniently making the problem seem more ominous, more shadowy, and all the while distracting from sober critiques made by those with names and addresses that aren’t as easily dismissed.

The ADL is trying to do nothing less than confuse and conflate criminal immigration with legal immigration. They are trying to do nothing less than sabotage all reasonable discussion. There is no other way to read that paragraph.

There have been numerous reports about Hezbollah training camps in South America. Should they have a free pass across the Rio Grande? Did the pattern of entry and residence in the United States by the perpetrators of 9/11 give us any right to even discuss who gets into this country and how long and in what capacity are they allowed stay?

I know a wonderful Jewish surgeon who arrived here legally and who may be forced to leave on a technicality because groups like the ADL have so muddied the debate that few bother to distinguish anymore between who ought to be here and who ought not.

If anything is anti-Hispanic it is to say that illegals do the work that legals won’t. Union men such as Cesar Chavez have long opposed farm bosses who undercut the minimum wage salaries of agricultural workers by hiring illegals who will work without benefits and below standard wages, claiming that the hardworking illegals are doing the work that the spoiled American citizens won’t. Illegals are easily exploited, taking jobs from farm workers and factory workers. When illegals start taking the jobs of their white-collar champions, watch how fast they’ll lose their cheerleaders.

Was there something “hateful” in the criticism of Gov. Spitzer’s plan that would have allowed illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses, which would have been license for voter fraud? I know, only Republicans are capable of voter fraud, but according to the National Voter Registration Act, anyone getting a license could be registered to vote just by inking a box. And federal privacy laws, promoted by many of the same people who want to give illegals a free pass, don’t allow checking that against immigration records. Is it “bigotry” to bring this up? Or is voter fraud cool if it helps your guy?

Former Mayor Ed Koch sent out an e-mail a few days ago in which says, “I am for legal immigration and expanding it, but I am not for ‘open borders.’  No country in the world has open borders. I believe we should double or triple the numbers of legal immigrants if that is what we need… . No one in his or her right mind suggests rounding up the illegal aliens in massive lockup efforts.  What rational people suggest is that U.S. employers knowingly hiring illegal aliens be subject to mandatory prison terms.  If there are no jobs, the illegals will go home on their own.  Indeed, we should pay their way.  I believe my opinion on this matter represents the majority opinion in the country.”

How is that bigoted, racist, divisive or hateful?

The ADL, of all groups, ought to be able to discuss an issue without name-calling -- names far worse than being called “a joke.”

There’s a right way and a wrong way to have a conversation. There’s a right way and a wrong way to enter the country.

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Political Insider: Jewish Silence on Iraq Continues - With Several Exceptions

The organized Jewish community – like most of the nation – remains anxious about the war in Iraq but mostly silent when it comes to urging an end to it.

A few notable exceptions will be spotlighted on March 7, when a coalition of faith groups – Christian, Jewish, Muslim and others --  will gather in Washington for an interfaith “Witness for Peace in Iraq” event that will include “prayer, vigil and civil disobedience.”

Speaking at the event will be representatives of the only major Jewish groups to take a stand on the war: Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and Sammie Moshenberg, Washington director for the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW).

One of the leaders of the event: Rabbi Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia.

Moshenberg said a major factor in her organization’s decision to participate is the impact the ongoing war is having on a wide range of other priorities.

“What pushed us to take a stand is that the war is the elephant in the room when it comes to the other issues we work on,” she said. “We’re lamenting a budget where human needs funding is being cut drastically, where there’s no money for social programs – and the fact of the matter is, what’s eating up all these resources is the war.”

Some other top Jewish leaders agree that the war is triggering a budget crisis that will devastate government-funded human services -- but the wall of silence on Iraq remains mostly intact.

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This Jewish Life:  Blast from the Past

I didn't think that I was old enough to have flashbacks to my past.  But last weekend, when I attended the North American Federation of Temple Youth's (NFTY) mid-year board meeting, I was flooded with memories of my term as Communications Vice President on the NFTY-Southwest regional board in 2002-2003. 

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Political Insider: Huckabee Will Run To Finish Line, Says Jewish Supporter 

A top Jewish supporter and fundraiser for Mike Huckabee, who has run two marathons with him, says the trailing GOP candidate will stay in the race until the finish line.

"You don't start out in a marathon knowing that you're going to quit," says Dr. Jeffrey Ross, a Houston podiatrist. "You're going to finish the marathon. Probably one of his background feelings is that he didn't start this thing out to quit midstream."

A Rhode Island Democrat turned Texas Republican Ross, 54, believes Huckabee is undaunted by the mathematical impossibility of wresting the party's nomination from frontrunner John McCain, and will stick it out until the Republican convention.

"McCain has had nothing negative to say about [Huckabee's] remaining in the race," says Ross. "He probably admires him for doing so, and still expressing his opinions on issues and strong convictions."

Huckabee has won a series of southern states, including Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and West Virginia. Ross is campaigning for him in his home state, one of the biggest prizes in the race, which holds its primary on March 4.

While Huckabee has dismissed talk of his seeking the vice presidential nomination, Ross believes that's one reason the former Arkansas governor won't drop out. The other is to command enough delegates to influence the party platform.

Ross, who co-chairs Texas Gov. Rick Perry's commission on fitness, says he's supporting Huckabee because of his position on health care and prevention and because of the governor's personal commitment to physical fitness: he lost over 100 pounds after being diagnosed as a diabetic and maintains an exercise regimen.  Huckabee opposes mandatory universal health care, which Ross feels will put too much bureaucracy into the medical profession. He also says Huckabee's position paper on Israel is "one of the strongest out there."

Ross, who belongs to Conservative and Reform synagogues in Houston, says he isn't concerned about the Southern Baptist minister's strong religious pronouncements and how he might weaken the separation of church and state, because Huckabee respects other faiths.

"He has said that he did not govern Arkansas with a steeple over the capital dome," says Ross. "I really liked that quote … I was a guest at his mansion on a Friday night. When he said prayers before dinner I asked if I could say some Hebrew prayers."

Because the governor doesn't drink alcohol, Kiddush was out, so Ross said the hamotze, the prayer over bread, and shehechiyanu, the prayer of thanks for milestones.

"You should have seen the smile on his face and how delighted he was," says Ross.
He later presented Huckabee with a Seder plate from Israel at a fundraiser.

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Route 17: Weatherman Says A Storm is Coming

There is a peculiar beauty to summer places out of season. Wooden floors are cold in empty bungalows and bunks. Swimming pools are drained down to the aqua paint. Small country shuls are hibernating. In the skies above the Catskills and upper Hudson valley, the bald eagle has returned.

According to the Times Herald-Record -- the wonderful upstate newspaper that does a terrific job covering everything from Satmars in Kiryas Joel to the onion farms and wildlife in the woods along Route 17 - New York State was down to one nesting pair of eagles in 1976.

Wayne Hall writes that the Department of Environmental Conservation just banded two baby eagles in nest 124. A mid-winter survey, conducted from helicopters, found about 200 eagles high above the Hudson and Delaware rivers, above the Mongaup pond and reservoirs, above the empty hotels and camp grounds.

Naturalist Tom Lake, according to the Times Herald Record, saw one wild pair of eagles "shadow each other over the ice with loop-de-loops and wing touches. At the apex of a long arc in the sky they locked talons -- one turned on its back in the air, the other mirrored from above -- and went into free fall for 100 feet before releasing and flaring out over the ice."

You can also see them, we're told, above the railroad, leaving Beacon.

On the ground, or rather on the ice of White Lake, 400 folks recently competed in the Catskill's annual "King of the Ice" winter fishing contest.

Nathan Mayberg, of the Times Herald-Record, tells us the fishermen battled an all-day rain, hail and biting cold, angling for a $500 prize - and ceremonial cape and crown - given for the largest fish. Out of the icy waters, reports Mayberg, came pickerel, walleye, blue gills, perch and trout. The winner, Wayne Quick, arrived at White Lake pre-dawn, drilled a hole in the ice, and at 7:30 a.m. snagged a three-and-a-half pound pickerel.

There are men who live in the mountains and this is what they know: A storm is coming. Snow will be general over hills and hollows. Eagles swoop in cast-iron skies, trout and pickerel swim under the ice, bear and deer share a winter forest, and God is in the quiet.

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Political Insider: Dems Play Hardball with Donkey Named Mordecai

Those Democrats will do just about anything to keep Jews pulling the levers for their candidates, it seems.

This week the party, as part of a seemingly endless torrent of publicity about a national convention that's still six months away, revealed that it has chosen the official donkey mascot for the event - and that it's name is Mordecai.

Mordecai was chosen by a "panel of experts on donkeys (at least the Democratic kind)," according to a pre-convention publication. "The judges went from donkey to donkey, searching for the best behaved, most well-groomed and the best-fit donkey of the lot to represent the Convention."

Party operatives lost no time contacting Jewish reporters and pointing out that there was something richly symbolic about the choice of a Mordecai on the eve of Purim.

See the connection? See?

And won't that just put the Jewish Republicans in a snit? Where will they find an elephant with a Jewish name?

And some folks said the parties don't care about Jewish voters any more.

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Behind the Headlines:  A Risk Worth Taking

Is it possible that if Israel didn't pursue Hezbollah, the terror group would leave Israel alone -- even though it is based on the commitment to liberate Jerusalem, which means destroy the Jewish State?

That's why I have a problem with the premise of an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times by Yediot Achronot corresondent Ronen Bergman ("Bracing For Revenge," Feb. 18), who argues that the assassination of leading Hezbollah terrorist Imad Mugniyah may have been a mistake because it will lead to escalated reprisals against Israel and Jews around the world.

Bergman notes that Israel has denied involvement in killing Mugniyah, who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans and Israelis, as well as for murdering French, German, Argentinean and British citizens. It was Mugniyah who was believed to have been the mastermind behind the bombing of the U.S. Marines barracks in Lebanon in 1982, which killed 241 American soldiers, and the two bombings in Buenos Aires against Jewish institutions that killed 114, among other atrocities.

But Bergman writes that when Israel has targeted and killed top Hezbollah fighters in the past, the group has retaliated and taken innocent lives and, "once more it is bent on vengeance."

"As Hezbollah draws no fine distinctions between the United States and Israel," he writes, "both nations, along with Jews around the world, might well have to pay the price for the loss of the man whose mystical aura was as important as his operational prowess."

This is a sobering conclusion, and may well be true. But it begs the question: if Israel did not pursue terror leaders, would they give up their arms and ideology and turn their swords into ploughshares?

We know they would, and will, continue to wage war against Israel in any way possible, and the only reason they have not retaliated already is because they have not been able to, aided by the fact that their leaders are worrying about whether they might be next.

Terrorism cannot be defeated through diplomacy, compromise or logic; it must be rooted out. And that is why free men and women everywhere took comfort this week in knowning that Imad Mugniyah will never take another innocent life.

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A Rabbi's World:  The Israel Magic Still Works

As I wrote last week, I am spending this Presidents Week in Israel with forty-one parents and children from the Religious School of my synagogue in Forest Hills.  Most of them have either never been to Israel, or haven't been here in thirty years or more.  There are nineteen young students on this trip, from freshmen in high school down to the earliest grades.  So far, weather notwithstanding, it has been simply wonderful to be here with them.

I am not, to say the least, a stranger to Israel.  I've lived here for two years as a student, and travel here once or twice a year, if only to visit family. 

So much of my work involves interpreting Israel and its situation for my congregants that I regard it as a sacred responsibility to know what's going on here in all its complexity.  My Friday night reading is not complete if it doesn't include as many Israeli newspapers as I can get my hands on.  I struggle with the question of religious pluralism in the Israel that I love, with the implications of the Winograd Commission, with the trials and tribulations of my family there…. I know well that Israel is not Disneyland.

But I must admit that it has been an invaluable tonic to my spirit to watch people fall in love with Israel for the first time.   It's been a while since I've witnessed that, when first-timers are completely without the cynicism that characterizes so much of what goes for American Jewish views of Israel these days. 

I remember now what it felt like when I first "got" Israel- when I first realized how existentially significant the implications of a Jewish homeland  were for me as an American Jew.  During this intense week, I have the chance every day to look in the eyes of the wonderful parents and children I am traveling with and watch them fall in love.  Such a privilege…

I have made a conscious decision on this trip not to focus on Israel's myriad problems.  If I do my work well, there will be time enough for my fellow travelers to figure out those problems, because they will come back, again and again.  From where I sit, you can only criticize Israel if you are invested in her security and well-being.  Once they understand why they must love Israel and be invested in her future, then we can talk more fully about the problems.  But not yet…

Like all epic romances, the beginnings are far less complicated than what it to follow.  But the beginnings lay the groundwork to which you return when things get more complicated.  You go back to the beginning to remember why you fell in love in the first place.  And that's what I hope I'm accomplishing here… creating beginnings.
  

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Political Insider:  From Rudy To Barack?

When Rudy Giuliani dropped out of contention for the White House after a humbling loss in Florida last month, Jules Polonetsky seemed to speak for many Jewish Rudy supporters when he wondered aloud what to do next.

"I'm still scratching my head," he said a few days after Giuliani quit. "I'm a Democrat who, like many others, has felt comfortable supporting liberal or moderate Republicans either because they are great on Israel or because there wasn't an acceptable Democrat in the race."

As a Democratic assemblyman from Brooklyn, Polonetsky gave Republican Giuliani a high-profile cross-party endorsement for re-election as mayor in 1997, and was rewarded with the job of Consumer Affairs commissioner, which he held from 1998 to 2000. He is now an executive at America Online, living in Maryland."

After some head-scratching  and soul-searching,  he's made a choice that may prove rare among Orthodox voters who were drawn to Giuliani's get-tough approach to crime and terrorism.

Polonetsky is an Obama supporter.

Obama and Giuliani have few positions in common and differ starkly on foreign policy, particularly the U.S. approach to Iran and the wisdom of the Iraq war, as well as matters closer to home like immigration.

But in the White House contest,  he said, "character is the important issue, being ready to recognize the changes that Israel and the U.S. face around the world and being ready to deal with a potential economic slowdown."

In a post on his Facebook page this week, Polonetsky defended the ascendant Illinois senator against persistent e-mail attacks trying to hurt his Jewish support, including rumors that he has ties to the Nation of Islam.

"Some of you know that the Nation of Islam once picketed me and sued me for $200 million," wrote Polonetsky, who successfully challenged a state contract for security at a oublic housing complex that had been awarded to a Nation of Islam group.

"So I am not fond of them, nor they of me. And I have little tolerance for anyone who appreciates the empowerment message of Farrakhan when it is intertwined with a hateful underpinning. I don't think Obama has an anti-Semitic bone in his body and he has a record of distancing himself from [NOI leader Louis] Farrakhan …"

He then quoted from an Obama statement decrying the views of Farrakhan and the decision of a magazine affiliated with Obama's church to honor the minister, as well as posting a transcript of Obama's March, '07, address to AIPAC.

Polonetsky surely won't be lonely among Jewish supporters of Obama. But he may find to hard to build a mailing list of Former Giulilani Appointees for Obama.

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This Jewish Life:  We're All In This Together

A few weeks ago, my roommate asked me if I would ever consider joining a synagogue that was not Reform. 

My response was that I couldn't rule out the possibility, but I know I would have a hard time leaving the Reform Movement because of its long tradition of commitment to social justice and tikkun olam, both of which are central to my Judaism. 

While I did not mean to imply that the other denominations within the larger Jewish community are devoid of social conscience, I clearly revealed my bias and (to an extent) ignorance about other Jewish groups.

Although, among the major denominations, the Reform Movement has the largest number of staff working full time on social justice advocacy, congregations across the country from all denominations are involved with this work. 

Yesterday I was reminded of how central social action and justice are to Jews across the spectrum when I accompanied Rabbi Saperstein as he spoke to the attendees of Rabbinic Assembly's yearly conference.  The Rabbis were preparing for a lobby day on Capitol Hill, learning from inside-the-beltway experts, and members of congress before visiting with Senators and Representatives to voice their opinions on important domestic and foreign policy issues. 

In that room, there was no "Reform social justice agenda" to contrast with a "Conservative social justice agenda."  There was simply an understanding of the need for change in the world and a desire to work together to make a difference.  It was inspiring and grounding-and, most importantly, a great reminder that the Jewish denominations can work together to pursue social justice.

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Route 17: Valentines Day At The Checkpoints / by Jonathan Mark

After the Six Day War, Shlomo Carlebach suggested that Israel give free plane tickets to several thousand hippies; they'd go with Shlomo to every Palestinian, handing out flowers, offering hugs, playing guitars…

It never quite worked out.

Why didn't anyone think it would have been a great idea to go around Germany in 1932 (before it got really ugly), handing out flowers, and offering hugs? The answer is simple. Jews are Western, we think of Germans as grown-ups and we infantilize Arabs. Even in 1932, Jews knew the Germans would slap them upside the head if the Jews tried hugging them. On the other hand, to Jewish neo-colonial eyes, the Palestinians are not grown-up Europeans but childlike and so we can be childlike with them; we can teach them not to hit; we can win them over with daisies.

If The Jewish Week was Esquire, Helene Aylon would be one of the "Women We Love." Helene, a provocative installation/performance artist (heleneaylone.com), e-mailed me the other day with some suggestions for Israel's checkpoints. She warned me that the suggestions "may be fanciful but reality doesn't work. So why not try utopia?"

Helene is not a total utopian. She writes, "I always sense a bias when the checkpoints and the wall are equated as an evil with the evil of terrorism by many people on the far left. I, too, feel bad about the need for checkpoints and the wall but I understand that they are necessary as they have reduced terror attacks."

Nevertheless, she wonders, reminding me of Shlomo, imagine if at the checkpoints "there would be delicious Israeli and Arabic food and drink for those detained on lines… There should be gorgeous music, Arabic and Israeli musicians playing together as people wait. (Soldiers are paid; why not musicians?) There should be toys for the young children, and chairs for the mothers," books she said, for someone to read to the children, books to be exchanged for the anti-Semitic books Palestinian kids grow up with. "And therapists to talk to as frustration needs to be spoken out to someone."

Why not try utopia? Utopians believe that what Teddy Roosevelt really meant was, "Speak softly and, well, speak softly." Their favorite foreign policy question is: "Why do they hate us?" That question reminds me of battered wives wondering what they did to so enrage their husbands. Why do they hate us? It's the West Bank turned "West Side Story," "this boy don't need a judge he needs an analyst's care."

Someone, writes Helene, should teach "nice manners to Israeli soldiers." After all, at the checkpoints "there is the volatile issue for the Arabic population of being insulted and humiliated."

I envy the Palestinians for feeling insulted and humiliated. They can feel. It tells me they're alive.

I wonder, dear Jewish reader, are you ever insulted and humiliated by 4,000 rockets falling on Sderot -- blowing the leg off a Jewish boy the other week -- while we weigh the cost of amputated limbs against the shtetl-like fear that somebody, somewhere, might scold us if we fought back as men would in any other family, protecting our young?

The other day, the Israel Government announced that it would allow "quick and efficient passage through the checkpoints" because of "the upcoming Christian holidays in the month of February."

Security is relaxed for St. Valentine's Day?

I see the utopian point: If, as Israel says, security can be maintained while allowing "quick and efficient passage" through the checkpoints on Christian holidays, why can't security be maintained, quickly and efficiently, when there are no Christian holidays?

Reality doesn't work, so why not try utopia? Put up the grill and buy some toys. Make an "Islamofascist," and the kid he drives in with, have to slow down and sit through a schoolmarm with an Israeli accent reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Bring in musicians. Send in the clowns.

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Political Insider: Washington Remembers Tom Lantos

Washington was set to bid an official farewell to Rep. Tom Lantos on Thursday. 

Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress and a longtime champion of both Israel and human rights around the world, died on Monday at the age of 80. He served 14 terms in Congress and was at the time of his death chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

A memorial service in the Capitol on Thursday will include tributes by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and several members of Congress, as well as Bono - the human rights activist and musician.

The benediction will be offered by Rabbi Arthur Schneier, a prominent New York religious leader.

While tributes from the world continued to pour in, Lantos' name was dragged into the mud of talk radio this week.

On his program Michael Savage, a political shock jock, called Lantos a "scoundrel" and said he used the Holocaust as "a weapon."

According to Media Matters for America, which distributed his comments to reporters, Savage's program is the third most popular radio show in the country, reaching 8 million listeners.

The Savage attack generated disbelief and outrage in Jewish political circles.

"Yet again, Mr. Savage has shown why he has no shame and no decency, and his remarks are an affront to all decent people," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) in a statement. "The ignorance of Mr. Savage's remarks makes it clear that Tom's work is still not done.  Every American should commit themselves to the example of Congressman Lantos.  I can think of no finer tribute to that great man."

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Political Insider: Dismal Day for Clinton, but Jews Stick With Her

If you're a Hillary Clinton supporter, there's no good way to spin the results of Tuesday's Potomac primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.  She lost all three, big time, to Sen. Barack Obama, and the Illinois lawmaker cut into key Clinton constituencies - including Hispanics, whites and women.

But there was one sliver of good news for Clinton: the Jewish vote in Maryland, the only one of the three measured by exit polls, stuck with her.  (read the latest results, including updated exit polls, here)

In fact, she won the Jewish vote there 60-40 over Obama - just about her best showing from any identifiable ethnic, religious or gender group (she did slightly better - 61 percent - among whites over 60 years of age).

Why did Clinton do so well with Jewish voters when she lost that segment in Massachusetts, Connecticut and California?

Kean University political scientist Gilbert Kahn said part of the answer lies in the Jewish demographics of Maryland.

"It has a higher percentage of Orthodox, who tend to be more conservative even when they vote Democratic," he said.

At the same time, he said, ongoing "cyberattacks" against Obama "resonated more in that environment and intensified the negatives against Obama."

The Jewish vote in the District of Columbia and and Virginia did not show up in early exit polls because of the small sample size. But another really bad sign for Clinton: she lost the overall white vote in Virginia - the capital of the Confederacy -- to Obama. And Obama won 90 percent of the African American vote there.

Clinton won the Latino vote in Maryland 55-45 but lost it in Virginia by about the same margin, suggesting Obama is making inroads with that critical constituency.

The focus now shifts to Ohio and Texas, and what a focus it will be.

"The amount and time already headed there will rival the last general election campaigns," said a Democratic Party official on Wednesday.

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said Texas will be "either Hillary Clinton's firewall -- or it's going to be her Alamo."

Clinton is ahead in Ohio and Texas, he said,  but most polls are old. 
While acknowledging  that the Obama bandwagon is picking up steam, he warned against writing Clinton off.

If she wins in those states and Pennsylvania, he said, "she'll be back in the hunt, and the see-saw race will continue. Today the odds don't look good for her, but the odds have changed quite a bit, and unexpectedly, all year."

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Political Insider: Workplace Religious Freedom Bill: Deja Vu All Over Again

It's hard to remember, what with the unending hoopla surrounding the presidential primaries, but Congress is still in business and still pretty much mired in partisan gridlock.

Nevertheless, a broad range of Jewish groups remain hopeful they can get one piece of legislation unstuck: the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA).

The measure, meant to make life easier for employees who sometimes have to risk their jobs to fulfill religious obligations like Shabbat observance, has been kicking around Congress for years. It enjoys broad bipartisan support - but leaders in both parties have been reluctant to make it a priority, so it has languished.

This week the House is having another go at it. On Tuesday a Education and Labor Subcommittee held hearings on the measure, and several prominent Jewish activist made their pitch.

"The arbitrary refusal of employers to provide a reasonable accommodation of a religious practice is an invidious form of discrimination," said Richard T. Foltin, Legislative Director of the American Jewish Committee, a key backer.

Current civil rights law, he said, does not adequately protect religious employees; as a result, many have to choose between their jobs and their faith.

He rejected arguments that WRFA would lead to conflict between employees or to denial of services to third parties.

"The WRFA balancing test provides assurance that religious employees will not trample the rights of others in the workplace," he said.

The Orthodox Union, another key supporter, wrote to Committee members before the hearing.

"The passage of this bipartisan legislation is long overdue, and will promote and protect the kind of religious freedom and diversity we cherish in the United States," said OU public policy director Nathan Diament.

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A Rabbi's World:  How Do You Measure Success?

In the world of the pulpit rabbinate, it is rare indeed for a rabbi to stay in one community- one pulpit- for his/her entire career.  Most rabbis change communities at least once, many far more often than that.