Recognition of non-orthodox streams ‘in progress’

By SAM SOKOL, GREER FAY CASHMAN, JEREMY SHARON

06/26/2013 18:27

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President Shimon Peres promises Rabbinical Assembly members that change is in the wind regarding recognition policy.

Peres meets with Rabbinical Assembly members Photo: Mark Neiman/GPO

“Pluralism is already in process,” President Shimon Peres told leaders of the Conservative/ Masorti Movement, indicating that he sees recognition of non-Orthodox streams of Judaism as already underway in Israel.

Peres’s remarks were addressed to a gathering of close to 200 members of the Rabbinical Assembly, an umbrella group representing Conservative rabbis from around the world, who came to discuss issues of religion and state with the president at his official residence in Jerusalem.

Related:

• US Conservative, Reform leaders praise Kotel plan

In response to his comments, the president was told by several rabbis that their stream supports Israel unconditionally and regards itself as a Zionist movement, but is pained by the fact that it does not have what it considers proper recognition.

Peres commented that there has been some progress and that a dialogue is taking place.

He had no doubt that eventually the different approaches of all non-Orthodox streams of Judaism would be recognized in accordance with their equal rights as citizens of the country.

“Every Jew has the right to be a Jew as he sees fit,” said Peres. “We’ve always had different streams within Judaism.”

As for differences among Jews, Peres noted that the debate as to whether Israel is a Jewish state or a state for the Jews remains unresolved. Herzl wrote about a state for the Jews, he said.

Whether it is a Jewish state or a state for the Jews, Peres was adamant that the only way to preserve the Jewish character of the state is by carrying out the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A one state for two nations solution would eventually result in the Jewish population being demographically dwarfed by the Palestinian population, he cautioned.

Other Israeli leaders also expressed their sympathy for the concerns of the Conservative movement.

Religious Services Minister Naftali Bennett, who is Orthodox, addressed the visiting rabbis in the Knesset, telling them that since Israel is “the home of all Jews in the world,” he feels “the magnitude of the responsibility” when Jews “do not feel at home here.”

Bennett stressed the need for unity among Jews and said that all Jews, “in their own way,” can “contribute to the chain of generations of the Jewish nation.”

Sectarian discord sowed the seeds for the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, Bennett asserted, citing a Rabbinic tradition. Accordingly, he said, “We will not let the Third Temple be destroyed” by such internecine conflict.

“We agree on seventy percent” of the issues but have “a talent for fighting over the rest,” he said, asking the audience if they think he agrees with coalition partner and Yesh Atid party chief Yair Lapid on everything.

“I don’t have all the answers or the solutions, so we need to form a dialogue as equals and in partnership. I’m committed to a roundtable with all denominations and every part of the Jewish people, until we can feel like we are one family once again,” said Bennett.

“I am not just the minister for the national-religious but for all of the Jewish people,” he explained.

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, who also addressed the rabbis, said that in matters of religion and state, it is important to know how to manage disputes.

“When one side wins, the Jewish people lose,” he said.

Executive vice president of the Conservative Movement’s Rabbinical Assembly Rabbi Julie Schonfeld said she felt that Bennett’s words indicated real progress was being made in terms of the relationship of non-Orthodox movements and the state.

For a head of an Israeli party to talk in terms of roundtable discussions and that no one is above anyone else is real change,” Schonfeld told The Jerusalem Post.

“We have, though, seen over the years a failure to fulfill promises, and the proof of progress is only in people’s actions.”

Schonfeld emphasized that the Conservative Movement would continue to demand equal funding, equality before the law and freedom of religious conscience for non- Orthodox movements in Israel.

“The goal for the Conservative Movement is for us and our leaders here in Israel to build an indigenous non- Orthodox religious expression in this country,” she said.

However, the playing field is not equal, she said, given the fact that non-Orthodox movements do not receive state funding for their rabbinic leaders or communal activities.

“In a democratic country everyone is equal before the law, so there should be equal funding and freedom for people to practice religion in ways their conscience dictates.

“Anything else does not meet the standards of Judaism or democracy,” said Schonfeld.

“Given the legislative difficulties in such steps, Schonfeld said that the Conservative Movement would continue to seek redress with the High Court of Justice but said that legislation on the issue was still a better option.

“In many democracies, the court is the avenue of last resort for minorities around the world, but it is preferable that legislatures legislate justly,” she said.

Attorney Yizhar Hess, the director of the Conservative Movement in Israel, said that the meeting between Bennett and the Rabbinical Assembly itself, as well as Bennett’s comments, demonstrated a new beginning in the relationship between “official Israel” and non-Orthodox Jewish movements.

Hess attributed these developments to the increasing numbers of Israelis who say that they affiliate or identify with non-Orthodox Judaism.

“This number has doubled in the last decade, and this change also has political and electoral ramifications, and the first people to feel this are the politicians.

Why no Palestine in our lifetime

In Gaza, Islamic Jihad is running camps for kids featuring lessons on how to shoot an AK-47 and how to kidnap an Israeli soldier. In an Agence France Presse YouTube video, the commander of the children's camp says, "We have full confidence that they [the children] will be able to carry weapons and open fire against the enemy because we have planted hatred of the enemy in their hearts." Tens of thousands of young boys ages 6 to 16 will be indoctrinated into this mindset this summer.
    When the UN partitioned Palestine, the Jews, tempered by a couple of thousand years in the diaspora and influenced by the European enlightenment, decided to compromise and accept part of what they considered their rightful homeland. The Arabs couldn't relate to the concept of compromise at all. They have never given up on their certainty that Israel's very presence in Palestine is unjust, and they have never given up their desire to drive the Jews into the sea. But without the ability and will to compromise, whether they know it or not, they have no hope.

Saudi money buying our politicians and universities

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Arab money in the US and a vibrant 5th column - By: Craig Read

Back in the 1930s various socialist and Marxist groups decided that orthodox-Western civilization could only be destroyed from within. Gramsci, the Frankfurt school, Derrida and the post-modernists along with others observed that a flanking movement which took over the media, the political elite and the university system, was the only feasible plan to achieve Marxist domination of the Western nation state.

We can see the results of their insight today. A vibrant 5th column of socialistic thought and Marxian analysis dominates the above mentioned sectors of our political-economy. Now we see the same attack from Arabs and Islamic radicals. It is extremely advanced in Europe – but its most vital victim is fast becoming the USA.

Saudi money is fueling the rise of Islam within the US. They are doing so in 3 ways. First, they subvert the US political process by buying off politicians. Second, they pervert US universities by taking over 'Middle Eastern' studies and programs. Third, they convert most of the US media, a generally apathetic population and social commentators with virulent propaganda emanating from 'think-tanks'; webzines and Islamic groups posing as 'moderates'.

Saudi Arabia has sent about $70 billion in the past 10-15 years promoting extreme Islam around the world. Madrassas across Asia, Africa and beyond receive Saudi money to promulgate a 7th century intolerant paganism. Billions of Saudi dollars now dominate US politics and campuses. Saudi Arabia is home to most of the 19 September 11th terrorists, yet the US has not done anything to force the Saudi regime to stop its funding of terror; its exportation of radical Wahhabiism nor to disengage itself from contaminating US politics.

It is an open secret that Arab money greases the wheels of Washington politics. How many US politicians are in the pockets of the Arabs? Hard to say, the media, the supposed 'watchdog' of politicians has never roused itself to investigate the trail of Arab money in Washington. But some things are certain. Carter, Clinton, Bush I, Bush II, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore and others have received millions of dollars in Arab money for speeches, campaigns, libraries and support of family business.

Al Gore and Bill Clinton raise millions in capital from Dubai speaking engagements to fund political campaigns, political advocacy groups, and environmental initiatives. Clinton, Carter aides, former Bush(I) appointees and other former top political and bureaucrat operatives receive million dollar consultancy contracts from Arab firms to lobby for contracts in the US and Europe. Bush II and Clinton libraries were built of course with Saudi money.

Even Jimmy Carter's peanut farm was saved from bankruptcy by Arab money: 'There is no evidence that the former president received direct payment from the Saudis. But according to... the bank files, [the Arabs] renegotiated the repayment terms...[giving a] savings of $60,000 for the Carter family... The President owned 62% of the business and therefore was the largest beneficiary.'

Apparently Carter ran his peanut farm like his presidency – very badly. So it is no surprise to hear Carter vent anti-semitic racism in badly written books, and rant on about the Jews. The Arabs saved him from a pre-Presidency bankruptcy – something that would not look good on the resume while you are running for the highest office in the country. Of course the leading Arab financier in saving the peanut farm was a Saudi named 'Pharaon' who later, rather unsurprisingly, contributed generously to Carter's library and center. Plus ca change….

Then we have the hundreds of billions in Saudi money washing around US business. As a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia stated; 'There is perhaps $800 billion in private Gulf-Arab money outside the Gulf, the vast majority of it in the United States, $600 billion or so from Saudi Arabia alone…. The possibility of a financial panic and the sudden withdrawal of large amounts of money is something to be considered.'

Much of this money is invested in US holdings, corporations and entities with strong political ties ranging from Jeb Bush's internet software company to large resource based firms with huge lobby power in Washington. There is no accurate list of how many US politicians are tied to Arab money. Instead of crying about climate change maybe some in the media might want to take this on as a more worthy and immediately necessary project. We need to know how many members of the US congress and Senate have ties through business, family or political donations to Saudi money. My guess based on anecdotal evidence, would be that probably 50% of US politicians are in some way linked to Arab money.

Just as pernicious as buying off political votes, hundreds of millions of dollars annually goes to funding radical mosques. In these Islamic centers the contemplation of the divine is ignored and a political program of Muslim domination inserted. There is nothing spiritual or religious about US mosques. Mosques preach a radical hatred of the US, of Jews Christians and non-Muslims while advocating the dismemberment of the US Constitution and the establishment of a US caliphate. Literally thousands of speeches and articles emanating from US mosques and their leaders support the above observation.

The Saudis are also funding a propaganda war – and are winning it. Islamic and Arab 'rights' organizations are built and sustained with Saudi money. These groups rewrite history and current events to demonize Israel, the US, and the Western world. They portray Muslims and Arabs as victims and usually engage in conspiracy theories; Jew-baiting; and anti-capitalist rhetoric. CAIR [Center for Arab-Islamic relations]; Black-Islamic fronts; Islamic Student Unions and literally thousands of radical US based mosques survive off of Saudi largesse. Like radical mosques these groups demand a US caliphate. The media is very sympathetic to their message.

And don't forget about the Blacks. Quite chillingly the largest group of converts to Islam in the Western world are US blacks. You think the race wars are over? Think again – when a large minority of Blacks become Muslim and belong to Muslim groups demanding the eradication of whites then social discord and civil strife will follow. Think that is extreme? Read the website of the Black Panthers or other Black-Muslim groups and decide yourself.

Lastly we have the Saudi and radical Muslim takeover of 'Middle Eastern' studies at campuses throughout the US. It is well known that Berkeley, Georgetown, Columbia, Baylor, Brown and literally hundreds of other US campuses have had any curriculum concerning the Middle East taken over by radical Saudi and Muslim money and propaganda. This subversion and perversion of young, innocent minds means that the Americans are training a huge cadre of largely anti-American; anti-Semitic pro-Muslim sympathizers. The consequences – both political and economic – of such a shift in philosophical orientation amongst the young will be grave.

Much as the philosophical zeitgeist of 'strong-man' rule, 'Zarathrustra', and the hatred of liberal-democratic 'decadence' gave rise to theories supporting Hitlerism; Russian Communism and social-darwinism, so today do we witness the brainwashing of young minds to justify Arab persecution of Jews; Muslim atrocity and terrorism; and Islamic jihad. By controlling the minds of American young, Saudi money will allow radical Islam to convince apathetic and inattentive Americans that Islam is peaceful; religious and can co-exist with other cultures. No evidence in history exists to support any of these claims.

Saudi money has compromised a US government program called 'Title IV' which was created in the 1950s to increase the number of Arabic speaking experts in the CIA and FBI. It has been an abysmal failure. Only about a few dozen Arabic language experts are employed in US agencies – below the level in 1955. About $100 million annually goes into this program – with no oversight. This is very odd. The Fulbright program [where Americans go abroad to learn about other cultures] is fully staffed by a permanent board. But not Title IV. The Saudi's have hi-jacked this program with their own direct funding of 'Middle Eastern Studies Programs' ensuring that sympathetic academc coverage is given to Arab and Islam curricula and that US campuses become radical hotbeds of anti-semiticism and anti-Americanism.

It is working.

As one analyst who tracks Saudi money inside US universities commented; 'The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Conference at the San Francisco Hyatt Regency, which I attended…was anything but such a scholarly exchange. …..I looked over the information tables. One table offered what can only be described as anti-Israel, anti-U.S. propaganda in the guise of scholarly and professional research society materials.'

When pro-Israeli, and pro-American speakers give lectures at leading US universities the campuses are inflamed against them. These speakers are physically assaulted, verbally lambasted and threatened, and usually forced off stage. Saudi money had radicalized an entire generation of Americans against the basic tents of civilization and against such ideals as freedom of speech and dignity of assembly. It is a sickening sight.

Saudi money is too powerful in America. It greases politics, business, and deforms University curricula and general culture. One of the great challenges facing the US is to defang the Saudi threat and stop the importation of Saudi money and its negative effect on US domestic education and politics. But with so many politicians in the pockets of the Arabs this will never be done.

I would suggest that the media exposing the connection between Saudi money and a vibrant 5th column inside the US, is a more worthy topic than sham environmentalism and crying about climate patterns in the year 2100. If you don't defend your civilization the weather in 2100 won't matter – because your civilization won't be here.

Notes: 

Middle East Policy Council: http://www.mepc.org/forums_chcs/27.asp [forum on US - Saudi relations]

http://www.campus-watch.org/

http://www.conservativetruth.org/article.php?id=2696

College and University Students for Academic Freedom Website: http://www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org/

Parents and Students for Academic Freedom Website: http://www.psaf.org/

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/014511.php [article on Carter's bailout by the Arabs]

About The Author: Craig Read -- After working for a few large IT firms, Craig Read, born in 1966, is currently an entrepreneur and Venture Capital Advisor and Managing Consultant for Wireless and Mobile technologies [including the internet] and in particular, in software applications for the Wireless or Mobile Industry. http://www.craigread.com/ | Resource

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White House and Boston JCRC fall for MB's diabolical plans

Muslim Brotherhood plans for sedition are working well. this week it was disclosed that the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council has dialogue with Islamic society with deep MB links, as the song in MASH went  "Suicide is painless",  and worse, as Michelle Malkin wrote, earlier this week, the indefatigable Investigative Project on Terrorism blew the whistle on the Obama administration's latest flirtation with Muslim jihad. Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah bragged on his website that he had met with Team Obama on June 13. IPT reported that bin Bayyah was invited by National Security Council official Gayle Smith "to learn from you and we need to be looking for new mechanisms to communicate with you and the Association of Muslim Scholars."
Someone associated with bin Bayyah deleted his website reference to the meeting, but the Internet is forever. The White House has now 'fessed up to the confab. According to Fox News, a senior official spun the troubling event as a discussion about "poverty, global health efforts and bin Bayyah's own efforts to speak out against al-Qaida."
Bin Bayyah's moderate Muslim costume shouldn't fool anyone. This sharia thug, who has worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to boost his progressive-friendly cred, lobbied the United Nations to outlaw all mockery and criticism of Allah. He raised money to benefit the terror group Hamas. He is a top lieutenant of Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yusuf Qaradawi, who exhorts followers to kill every last Jew; sanctioned suicide bombings and the killing of our soldiers; expressed support for executing apostates and stoning gays; and declared that the "U.S. is an enemy of Islam that has already declared war on Islam under the disguise of war on terrorism and provides Israel with unlimited support."
As jihad watchdogs have reported, the administration has rolled out the red carpet for dozens of Muslim Brotherhood officers, flacks and sympathizers. "
Always remember that in the vast cache of Muslim Brotherhood material found in the hidden subbasement in 2004 which disclosed MB's sedition plans for the USA, their game plan was revealed which included 1. Interfaith dialogue to lull naive us into thinking they are good folks 2. There are two forms of lying to non-believers that are permitted by the Koran, taqiyya and kitman.  These circumstances are those that advance the cause Islam - in some cases by gaining the trust of non-believers in order to draw out their vulnerability and defeat them. 3, Worming your way into close relationships with people of influence.  MB's plan is working like a charm

McDonald's anti Semitism

Anti Semite award of the day goes to McDonald's corp.
No supporter of Israel should ever eat at Mcdonalds' again. 1. Its treif 
2. they are anti Jews living where Jews have always lived, in Judea and Samaria. Whether they call it that or not, it's clearly an anti-Semitic action. Ariel is an amazing city, and will always be in Israel proper. Shame on McDonalds. 

"McDonald’s, ‘bringing politics into business,’ boycotts Ariel
JNS.ORG McDonald’s Israel said it will not open a branch in the city of Ariel, citing its location beyond the Green Line as the reason."



Commentary Mag:

"Contrary to conventional wisdom, the obstacle to peace in the Middle East isn’t Netanyahu or Israeli settlements. It’s the hate and intransigence that drives the Palestinian political culture that makes it impossible for Abbas to ever sign a deal. Though I don’t expect most in the foreign policy establishment to acknowledge this fact, what will happen in the next couple of months is likely to reaffirm this basic fact."

Muslim Brotherhood plan to take over USA and Europe

Muslim Brotherhood plan to take over USA and Europe
Went to lecture by Frank Gaffney, expert on Islamic terror. In 2004, because of an  alert patrolman, 80 boxes material of the Muslim Brotherhood American arm were found in a hidden sub basement of a couple studying the supports of the Chesapeake Bay bridge. http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2013/05/25/an-explanatory-memorandum-from-the-archives-of-the-muslim-brotherhood-in-america/
They prove Muslim Brotherhood has the same Goal as Al Queda, but different strategy. Their strategy is slow takeover from the inside, including
1. infiltrating mainstream political ,civil,university, journalistic etc organs of the country. 2. Engaging in interfaith dialogue so that Jewish and Christian clergy will vouch for these terrorists 3. Muslims are commanded to lie to advance the cause
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Quran/011-taqiyya.htm Its the Koran principle of Taqiyya
Its working. Today news that Europe had massive spike in anti semitsm last year.
Hillary Clinton's top aid since early Senate days has huge Muslim Brotherhood ties. http://frontpagemag.com/2012/jamie-glazov/the-dark-muslim-brotherhood-world-of-huma-abedin-2/  Valarie Jarret, Obama;'s top aid, was born in Iran.
Obama has placed at least 6 prominent MB's in sensitive administration positions. http://www.investigativeproject.org/3869/egyptian-magazine-muslim-brotherhood-infiltrates
besides appointing anti Israel Chuck Hagel at Defense and Samantha Powers at UN. Who influenced him to make those choices?
They have been successful in having the 2 most outspoken Congressmen on this issue, Allen west and Michele Bachman, leave the congress and get a couple of Muslim congressmen nw elected.
Gaffney gave out books of evidence.
If you engage in Muslim dialogue, at least have your eyes open that Muslim Brotherhood are supposed to enageg in interfaith dialogue to fool you and are commanded to lie to advance their cause.

Here is a story from today about White House entanglement. Exclusive: Banned Cleric's Outspoken Deputy Visits White House
 by Steven Emerson and John Rossomando
IPT News
 June 26, 2013

Radical Egyptian cleric Yusuf Qaradawi is considered so radical that the United States bans him from entering the country.
Qaradawi, considered the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, has called for the killing of Jews and Americans.
That history makes the June 13 White House meeting with Sheik Abdullah Bin Bayyah all the more inexplicable. Bin Bayyah is vice president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), a group founded by and headed by Qaradawi. The IUMS has a long history of supporting Hamas –a top Hamas leader is an IUMS member – and of calling for Israel's destruction.
Bin Bayyah's website claims that he met June 13 with senior Obama administration officials at the White House.
Nonetheless, it was the Obama administration which sought the meeting with Bin Bayyah, his website's account said.
"We asked for this meeting to learn from you and we need to be looking for new mechanisms to communicate with you and the Association of Muslim Scholars (another name used for the IUMS)," Gayle Smith, senior director of the National Security Council, reportedly said.
Bin Bayyah's June 13 account placed other senior officials in the meeting, including: Rashad Hussain, the U.S. special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and White House spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri. But the account was later changed to delete the reference to Donilon's presence at the meeting.
Smith also thanked Bin Bayyah for "his efforts to bring more understanding amongst humanity" during the meeting, the Bin Bayyah account said.
The White House did not respond to repeated requests for comments between June 14 and Tuesday.

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah posted this photo of his June 13 White House meeting.


Bin Bayyah lobbied the White House to "take urgent action" to help Syrian rebels. "We demand Washington take a greater role in [Syria]," Bin Bayyah told Al-Jazeera. President Obama later announced plans to arm Syrian rebels.
In granting Bin Bayyah a visa, White House officials ignored his radical statements as well as his close connection to Qaradawi. The IUMS's hostility toward Israel, and its support of terrorists, is well documented. Bin Bayyah falls comfortably in line with that view.
For example, in a 2011 statement on his Arabic-language website, he criticized the West for placing Palestinian terrorist groups such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and others in the same category as al-Qaida:
"[P]lacing the Palestinian resistance, which defends internationally recognized rights, on an equal footing with intercontinental terrorist organizations (al-Qaida) is not based on any moral principle and would be detrimental to the cause of the fight against terrorism and mix the cards and raises questions to the world conscience and serves terrorists."
The IUMS welcomed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as a member in February 2012. The "Union will spare nothing in the service of the Palestinian people, praising the jihad of the Palestinian people with the leadership of the Hamas movement for resistance," Haniyeh's induction certificate said.
Jamal Badawi, a longtime ISNA board member, also is listed as a member of the IUMS Board of Trustees. Badawi has repeatedly defended Palestinian terrorism including suicide bombings. His name appears on the first page of a 1992 telephone directory of Muslim Brotherhood members in the United States, and he is listed as a fundraiser in records from the 2008 Holy Land Foundation Hamas financing trial.
Badawi's radical views fit in well with the IUMS, which has issued numerous statements against peace with Israel, calling for the "liberation of Palestine" from Jewish control. Each statement has been unyielding in calling on Muslims to destroy Israel and in forbidding them from making peace with the Jewish state.
After a board of trustees meeting in December, the IUMS issued a communique calling on Hamas and Fatah to reconcile in the name of "the core Palestinian values (including the right of return and resistance until the liberation of Palestine and its capital Jerusalem) … Meanwhile, the union calls on the scholars of the nation to continue their religious role in enlightening the local and international public concerning the dangers that this Judaization policy in Jerusalem poses for the historic unity of the Palestinian territories which is religiously impermissible to give up one inch of it."

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah, circled in red, is shown at the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) board meeting in Doha, Qatar in December. The trustees issued a concluding statement at the meeting calling for Israel's destruction and the return of Palestinians exiled after the Israeli War of Independence in 1948. (Photo:IUMS)


A photo on the group's website shows Bin Bayyah was present at the meeting.
In 2009, it issued a fatwa forbidding any normalization of relations with Israel. It came on the 42nd anniversary of the Six-Day War, and Israel's capturing of the Temple Mount.
"All political, economic, and cultural dealings and all forms of normalization with the Zionist entity are considered to be a form of supporting and sustaining the occupier in its occupation of land and holy places," the fatwa said. "Moreover, such actions are considered a form of loyalty to the enemy, which is religiously prohibited; as Allah (Exalted and Glorified be He) says: 'And if any amongst you takes them as Awliya' (friends, protectors, helpers, etc.), then surely he is one of them.'(Al-Ma'idah 5: 51). In conclusion, we call on all Muslims, rulers and citizens, to undertake their role, and embark on rescuing Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Blessed Land and freeing them from the clutches of the Zionist occupation."
Just last month, an IUMS-affiliated Egyptian cleric blamed the United States and Israel for driving Egyptian opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government. Khaled Kholif invoked the anti-Semitic forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as evidence of his argument, the Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch reported.
"America and Israel are pleased with [the Egyptian opposition] movements, which are led by the brainless," Kholif said during an appearance on Egypt's Al-Hafez television flagged by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). "They have said so in The Protocols. Let me tell you exactly what they said in The Protocols: 'We will strive to undermine security in the lands of the Gentiles, through reckless revolutions, led by the brainless.' It says so in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as translated by Khalifa Al-Tunisi.
"If you haven't read it," Kholif said of the Protocols, "you should."
Embraced by American Islamists
Bin Bayyah previously met with White House envoy Rashad Hussain when Bin Bayyah participated in a July 2012 Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) conference in his native Mauritania.
His website also indicates he spoke at the ADAMS Center, a large northern Virginia mosque, while he was in Washington June 12.
In addition to his role as IUMS vice president , Bin Bayyah also is a member of the similarly anti-Semitic Qaradawi-founded European Council for Fatwa and Research and the OIC's International Islamic Fiqh Academy, the latter of which issued a resolution in January 2003 sanctioning Palestinian suicide bombings.
Qaradawi and Bin Bayyah show a keen mutual admiration of each other in their writing. Bin Bayyah notably referred to Qaradawi as "a mountain upon whose peak there is light" and as "a great reformer" who "spreads knowledge and wisdom" in a 2008 article published by Boston cleric Suhaib Webb. Qaradawi returned the favor three days later: "The reality is that the more I have come closer to him and got to know him better, the more I have loved him…"
That article also was published on Webb's site.
And like Qaradawi, Bin Bayyah claims Palestinian violence is acceptable under international law. Islamic law's approval is a given.
"He who adheres to international covenants can resist. The Palestinians. There are international conventions and there are international resolutions which give them rights but do not provide them with the means to obtain these rights. It is their right to resist," Bin Bayyah said during a 2010 Al-Jazeera broadcast. "So, that which says resistance, says kinds of resistance, including the use of weapons. So, international conventions do not stray too far from the interests Islamic Sharia oversees."
Bin Bayyah endorsed a push by Muslim intellectuals to get the United Nations to criminalize blasphemy against the Muslim prophet Muhammad and Islam, saying that it causes violence.
"To people of reason and understanding: We ask everyone to ponder the ramifications of provoking the feelings of over one billion people by a small party of people who desires not to seek peace nor fraternity between members of humanity," Bin Bayyah wrote in a post last fall. "This poses a threat to world peace with no tangible benefit realized. Is it not necessary in today's world for the United Nations to issue a resolution criminalizing the impingement of religious symbols? We request all religious and political authorities, as well as people of reason to join us in putting a stop to this futility that benefit no one."
Considering that this information is readily available on the Internet, it would not have been too difficult for White House officials to uncover that both Bin Bayyah and the IUMS support Palestinian terrorism and Israel's destruction. The White House visit also raises questions relative to the degree the Obama administration is willing to go to court the Muslim Brotherhood both at home and abroad.

60 Minutes hatchet job

(Scott Johnson)

60 Minutes performed a classic hit job on Israel in a 14-minute segment on April 22, 2012. Titled “Christians of the Holy Land,” video of the segment is here; transcript is here. Bob Simon “reported” the story. I wrote about the segment in a series of posts titled “Who ya gonna call?” (and in a few others as well) for reasons that will become apparent below.

The gist of the story was that Israel is responsible for the exodus of Christians from the West Bank and Jerusalem. The story was short on facts and context, particularly the context of the assaults on Christians and Christian sites in the Muslim Middle East. Anyone who has ever been to Israel knows that the authorities treat all religious sites as a sacred trust. At the American Spectator, Aaron Goldstein asks: “How many Christian churches have been burned down by Israelis? How many Christians have been murdered inside Israel?” Simon failed to “report” the answer to that question, but I’m pretty sure Power Line readers have a good bead on it.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren figured prominently in the 60 Minutes story. Oren knew exactly what was coming down the pike when he heard that 60 Minutes was at work on the story. Oren’s March 9, 2012, Wall Street Journal column — “Israel and the plight of Middle East Christians” — must have been written in anticipation of the 60 Minutes story. One can learn more from spending a minute reading Oren’s 750-word column than from watching the 60 Minutes segment. The segment was sunk in both cowardice and stupidity.

My favorite part of the segment came when Simon’s attack on Oren for contacting Jeffrey Fager to raise concerns about the story in advance of the broadcast. Simon described Fager as “the president of — chairman of CBS News” and treated Oren’s call as something like a federal offense. Simon only mentioned in passing in his first reference to him that Fager is 60 Minutes’ executive producer. Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters?

Simon reported that Ambassador Oren called Fager because he had information the 60 Minutes segment would be “a hatchet job.” Ambassador Oren had a helluva source inside 60 Minutes.

The good folks of CAMERA have now produced a video noting a rather striking error committed in Simon’s “reporting.” Our man Fager figures prominently in the video. CAMERA has also set up a site dedicated to 60 Minutes’ refusal to correct the error. The video is only a minute-and-a-half long. Please check it out and pass it on.

IRS targets Israel

Obama appoints anti Israel Chuck Hagel as sec defense, anti Israel  Samantha Powers as UN ambassador, meets with IRS union chief day before all this began, had IRS director and chief of staff visit White house 300x while during Bush they visited once. Anyone see anything wrong here?

IRS Look at Progressive Groups  Complicates Controversy

By Richard Rubin & Julie Bykowicz - Jun 24, 2013 9:20 PM CT

The Internal Revenue Service used  evidence of advocacy on Israel to flag groups’ tax-exempt applications for extra attention,
The BOLO also has terms related to Israel, looking for applications that “deal with disputed territories in the Middle East” and “may be inflammatory.”...
Z Street, which describes itself as a Zionist education organization, sued the IRS in federal court over its treatment, which it called discriminatory.
“It’s great that they’re finally acknowledging what we’ve known all along,” co-founder Lori Lowenthal Marcus said in a telephone interview.

lies of BDS lobby

• Israel Furious at UN Report Charging Torture of Palestinian Children - Phoebe Greenwood
  The UN Committee on the Rights of Children stated in its periodic review of Israel's record, released on Thursday: "The Committee expresses its deepest concern about the reported practice of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian children arrested, prosecuted and detained by the military and the police."
      Israel countered that the findings are "not based on any direct investigation on the ground, only on documents gathered from secondary sources." Yigal Palmor, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, described the report's allegations that Israel did not comply with requests for information as a "bold, scandalous lie." "The [committee] were fully informed that instructions have indeed been issued and that the use of children as human shields is totally forbidden. Yet the authors pretend there never was any such communication by Israel," Palmor said. (Telegraph-UK)

Iran elects moderate?

Please don't be taken in by this "New Iran President is a moderate" bs. What else do you need to know about the new Iranian president

In his first interview, "The 64-year-old has said there will be "no surrender" to Western demands in talks on Iran's controversial nuclear program

Its a brilliant stalling technique, electing a so called Moderate. Does that mean he's in favor of cutting off just one hand of a thief instead of 2? Lull us into thinking we can, as our foolish president thinks, talk them out of nuks. While Rome burns, Obama fiddles. Jonathan Tobin and Fred Barnes were in Chicago this week and said that Obama still thinks he can talk them out of nuks.
With this nightmare President and a complicit world, Iran will get nuks, and that is a game changer for the world. Our Joint Chiefs of Staff chair said this week Iran is a national security threat to us. Obama is the only one who can really stop them, and despite his rhetoric, there is no way this guy has the guts to do it. But the hear no evil see no evil crowd will jump on this election in Iran as hopeful, while they add centrifuges each day and get closer and closer.

Don't think Iran won't use them

Iran's Apocalyptic Policy Makers - Saeed Ghasseminejad
Ayatollah Khamenei's closest advisors and followers are obsessed with the idea of Mahdi's reappearance. The Mahdi is the "hidden Imam" prophesied to dominate the world and cleanse it of sin and sinners. Khamenei's appointee at the Iranian Revolution Guard Corp, Ayatollah Ali Saeedi, regularly mentions this notion in his speeches to IRGC officers.
  While many experts tell us Iran is a rational, pragmatic regime like any other in the world, all the facts shout that it is not. A large number of Iranian officials and decision makers have deeply rooted apocalyptic beliefs. Underestimating this radical ideology even as the Iranian regime is on its way to building a nuclear bomb can lead to dangerously wrong conclusions. The suggestion taking hold of late that a nuclear armed Iran is not the end of the world may unfortunately be dead wrong. (Times of Israel)

Palestinians interfere in kotel controversy

Contentions

Why Palestinians Block Wall Changes

Jonathan S. Tobin | @tobincommentary 06.13.2013 - 1:55 PM

As I predicted two months ago, the prospects that Jewish Agency Chair Natan Sharansky’s fair-minded plan for changes at Jerusalem’s Western Wall will be implemented have run into an impassable obstacle. Sharansky’s plan was to create a third section of the Kotel that would create a space for egalitarian services that would remove a source of conflict between Orthodox and non-Orthodox worshipers. It has been met with generally good reviews among both Israelis and Diaspora Jews who don’t like the way this sacred place has become for all intents and purposes an open-air Orthodox synagogue rather than a place of pilgrimage for all Jews. But as nasty and as bitter as the infighting between Jewish factions may be, the real conflict in the city remains the one between Israelis and Palestinians.
The Jerusalem Post reports today that the Palestinian Authority’s religious affairs minister has said it will not permit Israel to change the entrance to the Temple Mount—which adjoins and looks down on the Wall Plaza—in order to expand the area where Jews may worship at the remnant of their ancient holy place. But the motivation of this veto isn’t pure spite. Just as they have used their power to set off violence and riots to protest even the most harmless alterations to the area in the last 20 years, Palestinian leaders are determined to stop Sharansky’s scheme in its tracks because they regard all of the Old City as not only theirs by right but a place that will be theirs in the event of any peace deal. Rather than this issue being a purely internecine conflict between women who wish to wear prayer shawls and read Torah and those Orthodox adherents who want to prevent them from doing so, the question of who is in charge at the Kotel still shrinks in significance when placed in the context of the Palestinian struggle to return to a period of history when Jews had no rights in Jerusalem.

The problem is that in order for Sharansky’s plan to be implemented, alterations must be made to the Mugrabi Bridge that provides access to the Temple Mount from the Wall Plaza. Israel has sought to renovate the bridge in recent years, a move that would only benefit Muslims and the foreign tourists who visit the mosques on the hill (Jews are forbidden to pray there), but it has been prevented from doing so by the demands of the Muslim Wakf which administers the Temple Mount.
The issue here isn’t just preservation of an ancient site in pristine condition since the Temple Mount has already been the scene of massive vandalism committed by the Wakf, which is determined to ignore or bury the evidence of the Jewish origins of the place. The Wakf claims the Kotel is theirs and rejects Jewish sovereignty over any part of it or the city that surrounds it as well as any association with Judaism or the history of the Jewish people. Palestinian Authority leaders and their media have repeatedly claimed that the ancient temples were not built on the Mount where Muslim conquerors subsequently built mosques, just as they deny the associations of the Jews with the rest of their ancient homeland. The rejection of the Sharansky plan is a function of the desire of the PA to exercise control over the entire Old City.
The PA and the Wakf don’t want to stop the expansion of the areas where people can pray at the Wall only because they wish to discomfit the Jews but because they envision administering it themselves in the future.
The dispute between the Women of the Wall and Orthodox authorities is a significant issue that can poison the relationship between Israel and the vast majority of American Jews who affiliate with non-Orthodox denominations. But the PA’s pronouncement is a reminder that the real fight in Jerusalem is not between Jews. So long as Palestinians are determined to reverse the verdict of history and return Jews to a subordinate status in their ancient capital, the spat between Jewish factions will have to wait.

Understanding Syria the Sunni Shiite battle

The Shi'ite crescent holds its ground

by Yaakov Lappin
Special to IPT News
June 13, 2013

http://www.investigativeproject.org/4045/the-shiite-crescent-holds-its-ground

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Developments in Syria are unfolding quickly, as the country's civil war takes new twists and turns every week, and the impact of the conflict on the Middle East (and beyond) is growing.

After two years of fighting and at least 80,000 casualties, it is possible to conclude that the Syrian civil war has degenerated into a long-term, regional, sectarian Sunni-Shi'ite conflict which has crossed into neighboring Lebanon and Iraq and threatens to spill over into Turkey, Jordan and Israel. No resolution to this feud is in sight.

Inside Syria, Syrian President Basher Assad's Allawite regime defied the predictions of many observers and held firm against the Sunni rebels seeking his overthrow.

In fact, Assad has begun to make gains against the rebels.

This is possible due to the growing presence of highly trained Shi'ite Hizballah battalions that, under Iranian orders, have mobilized from their bases in Lebanon and crossed into Syria to offer vital battlefield assistance to the Syrian regime's strained army.

This situation has sparked outrage across the Sunni world, and prompted Sunni religious and political figures to issue call for jihad against Hizballah, on behalf of the beleaguered Syrian rebels.

Assad hails from Syria's Allawite minority, and the Allawite sect is an offshoot of Shia Islam, the center of which is Iran.

For Iran, Assad remains its only state ally and strategic partner in the Middle East. Syria's strategic value for Iran is paramount, especially at a time when the region is awash with Sunni Islamist elements who view Iran and its Shi'ite satellites as threats and heretics.

Hizballah's deep involvement in Syria is stretching sectarian tensions in neighboring Lebanon to breaking point. Non-Shi'ite Lebanese leaders are openly describing Hizballah as a foreign Iranian entity. Such direct, public criticism was rare before the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, and indicates the collapse of Hizballah's credibility and image among Sunnis.

In retaliation, Syrian rebels have begun firing rockets from Syria at Shi'te areas in northern Lebanon that are Hizballah strongholds.

Additionally, Lebanese Sunni gunmen fired rockets at Hizballah's Dahiya district in south Beirut.
The northern Lebanese city of Tripoli is racked with gun battles between Sunni militias and armed Allawite elements loyal to Assad. The potential for a further spillover of Syria's civil war into Lebanon has risen.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar continue to fund and arm the rebels, while Turkey is providing them with territory to establish safe bases outside of the fighting zones in Syria.
Turkey and Qatar are keeping supply lines open to the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated rebels in Syria, while Saudi Arabia is providing support for the Salafi-jihadi fighters there.

Israel wants to avoid being dragged into the volatile events developing north of its borders.

From a strategic perspective, because of its role as a backbone in the Tehran-Damascus-Hizballah axis, the Syrian regime poses a far greater threat to Israel than the Sunni rebels.
The Sunni Islamist elements fighting against Assad are lightly armed and poorly organized. The more radical rebel elements could create limited security problems, which the Israel Defense Forces should be able to contain.
Assad's fall would weaken Iran, Israel's foremost foe, and damage Hizballah, the largest terror entity in the Middle East, which has 80,000 rockets and missiles pointed at Israeli civilians. Hence, from an Israeli perspective, the threats stemming from Assad's survival outweigh those posed by extremist groups among Sunni rebels, like Jabhat Al-Nusra.
Either way, the turmoil in Syria has made it more likely that pinpoint security incidents will end up setting off larger confrontations that could drag Israel into the picture.
One such threat is the transit of Iranian and Syrian weapons to Hizballah, a development Israel has made clear it would not accept.
Israel Observes as Sunnis Rage
Iran is supplying Syria with weapons and military advisers from its Revolutionary Guards Corps to help Assad gain victories over the rebels.
For the time being, Iran has successfully safeguarded its 'Shi'ite crescent,' a continuous chain of territories under its influence.
The crescent begins in Iran, stretches over Iraq (which has a majority Shi'ite population, an Iran-friendly government, and pro-Iranian militias), and passes through Syria. It ends on Israel's border, in southern Lebanon, where Hizballah maintains a heavily armed Iran-sponsored state-within-a-state among the Shi'ite population there.
According to Israeli intelligence estimates, Assad's regime controls roughly 40 percent of Syrian territory. That number is set to grow following the retaking of the strategic town of Qusayr, which occurred due to Hizballah's assistance.
Qusayr is a strategic location for both sides in the civil war. For the Syrian regime, it links Damascus to the Allawite heartland on Syria's Mediterranean coast. The Allawite population center is Assad's main base of support, and could one day form an Allawite enclave if Syria splits into mini-states. For the rebels, the Qusayr area, close to Lebanon, served as a transit point for arms and fighters.
Buoyed by the victory at Qusayr, the Syrian regime is now turning its sights to retaking the northern city of Aleppo. The reinvigorated regime also took the bold step of sending its tanks to the Syrian Golan, near the Israeli border, to retake the region from the rebels, and seizing the border town of Quneitra.
This is a dangerous move, as it violates the ceasefire agreement with Israel, and places heavy Syrian armor a stone's throw from the IDF. Israel reportedly warned Syria against this move, and Damascus replied by saying that the tanks were only there to fight rebels. Israel will be watching that development closely.
Iran's decision to send Hizballah into Syria was a key factor in turning the civil war back to Assad's favor.
With its forces now spreading out over Syria, Hizballah's influence – and potential confrontation zone with Israel – has grown.
"People have to understand that Hizballah is now a regional party," one of its fighters said in an interview with Lebanese news site NOW.
Israel has monitored these developments closely from the sidelines. Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon recently formulated the causes that would force Jerusalem to end its observer status and become involved in Syria.
"We are not getting involved in the civil war so long as our interests are not harmed, and so long as there is no attempt to transfer precise weapons, mainly by Hizballah, or an attempt to take control of chemical weapons or heating up the border and firing on our territory," Ya'alon said, in comments made public by the Defense Ministry.
Ya'alon noted that there were instances of attacks by the Syrian army on IDF positions on the Golan Heights, but added that the policy on returning fire was crystal clear: "As soon as our forces are fired on they are supposed to silence the source of fire." The IDF did this last month, and has since not been challenged by the Syrian army.
By contrast, the Sunni Muslim world has reacted largely with fury to the Shi'ite crescent's recent moves.
"How could 100 million Shiites (worldwide) defeat 1.7 billion (Sunnis)? Only because (Sunni) Muslims are weak," said leading Muslim Brotherhood cleric Sheikh Yussuf al-Qaradawi.
Describing Hizballah as "the party of Satan," Qaradawi called on able-bodied Sunnis to flood Syria and fight a jihad against it and the Syrian regime. "Every Muslim trained to fight and capable of doing that (must) make himself available," he said. .
"Iran is pushing forward arms and men (to back the Syrian regime), so why do we stand idle?"
An Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood member said his organization can send 12,000 men to fight Hizballah in Syria, according to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). The Institute also cited religious scholars attending a Doha conference as calling for the "gates of jihad" to be opened "to liberate Syria from the Assad regime."
Hamas is in a particularly uncomfortable bind. Originally an ally of Assad, and once the proud recipient of Iranian aid, Hamas has abandoned the Syrian regime and fallen in line with its Muslim Brotherhood colleagues in Egypt in supporting the Sunni rebels.
This has cost Hamas dearly in Iranian financial support, with Iran cutting its aid program for Hamas in Gaza by $23 million a month.
East of Syria, the sectarian conflict has spilled over into Iraq. Nearly 2,000 Iraqis were killed in April and May in sectarian bombings and shootings alone. The upsurge in violence in Iraq – the worst since the 2006-07 sectarian strife – is a result of fresh Iraqi wounds being reopened by events in Syria. Sunnis in Iraq are feeling discriminated against and resentful of the Shi'ite Al-Maliki government in Baghdad, and are emboldened by the uprising launched by their fellow Sunnis in Syria. Al-Qaida-affiliated Sunni groups in Iraq, most notably the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), has set up fighting cells in Syria too, and is carrying out active combat and jihad missions in both states.
The Sunni and Shi'ite nature of the Syrian conflict is likely to keep the main players and their backers engaged with one another for years to come.
Unpredictability
As the conflict draws on, its most defining features are volatility and unpredictability. The battle has turned in Assad's favor now, but the rebels could rebound later.
And Western intervention remains possible if localized use of chemical weapons by the regime reoccurs. Russia, an Assad supporter, virulently opposes such an escalation, meaning this regional conflict could turn into a global showdown between Washington and Moscow.
In addition, Syria has what is probably the world's largest arsenal of Sarin mustard gas compounds and VX nerve agents, making the situation even more volatile.
Some 1.6 million Syrian refugees have fled their homeland, resettling in neighboring countries which are unequipped to care for them, and upsetting the demographic balance in places such as Lebanon.
Just south of the chaos, Israel is preparing itself for all scenarios, based on the understanding that a flexible military is best suited for dealing with an environment which is changing faster than ever before.
The Shi'ite crescent has proven its willingness and ability to safeguard Assad's regime, and those who were quick to eulogize the Syrian leader now know that when it comes to the Syrian civil war, prophecies are worthless.

Yaakov Lappin is the Jerusalem Post's military and national security affairs correspondent, and author of The Virtual Caliphate (Potomac Books), which proposes that jihadis on the internet have established a virtual Islamist state.

Phones

Israel and phones

First an old joke. In 1948 AT&T offered Israel to set up phone system.  Socialist Hisdatrut and labor who ran the country did not like capitalistic company coming in and said no thanks we can do it ourselves. So of course no one could get a phone in Israel, it took a year. One business man Shlomo went into complain and said he desperately needed one. Avner the bureaucrat  said no way. Shlomo said you mean I have no hope? Avner replied "shame on you. of course you have hope. our national anthem hatikvah means hope. We were given no chance and we are here. there is always hope. You have no CHANCE, but hope, always.

Then capitalism took Israel over. Now.
Waze Sale to Google One of Israel's Largest
Jewish state confirms its 'start-up nation' status with $1.03 billion deal
and


In 2012, the market penetration of smartphones in Israel stood at 35 percent, while so far in 2013 it has already gone up to 57%, a significant 22% rise. In Germany, only 40% of the population have smartphones and in France 42%, while Spain is closer to Israel at 55%.

Egypt and anti Semitism

- Egypt's Summer of Jew-Hatred Sohrab Ahmari
One element of Egyptian culture has remained constant since a popular revolt swept away Hosni Mubarak's pharaonic dictatorship: its virulent anti-Semitism.
  "Khaybar," a serial drama set to air during Ramadan (starting on July 8), is Egyptian TV's latest piece of hate melodrama. It depicts the Prophet Muhammad's conquest, in A.D. 629, of a Jewish community on the Arabian Peninsula. Ahmed Maher, a popular actor playing one of the Jewish villains said "Khaybar" sets out to depict Jews as "the ugliest slice of humans." "The show will be on when most Egyptian families are staying at home for Ramadan doing nothing but watching TV," Mina Rezkalla, a U.S.-based Egyptian activist noted. "The goal is completely outward anti-Semitism." (Wall Street Journal

First he nominates hagel for state and now this

Obama nominates viciously anti Israel Samantha powers to UN, replacing the lying Susan Rice (famously went on every Sunday morning talk show to lie for Obama that Ben Ghazi was caused by the video and not al quida) who moves over to national security advisor. :
POSTED ON JANUARY 30, 2009 BY PAUL MIRENGOFF
Last year, I wrote a series of posts contending that Power is anti-Israel, and at times viciously so. Here is a summary of my evidence:

In a 2002 interview, Power advocated investing billions of dollars to impose a Palestinian state. That investment would include the insertion of “a mammoth” and explicitly “military” force into the disputed territory. Last year, Power desribed this approach as “weird.” But it’s not that weird if you desperately want to tilt U.S. policy decisively in favor of the Palestinians.

Power’s anti-Israel sentiment is further apparent in her support of slashing, if not eliminating, military aid to Israel (an ally surrounded by 300 million people who wish to destroy her) and giving it to the Palestinians, whose charters (whether the Hamas or Fatah version) advocate the destruction of Israel.

Along the same lines, Power has spoken sympathetically about the notion of “alienating a domestic constituency of tremendous political and financial import [American Jews] and sacrificing…billions of dollars, not in servicing Israel’s military, but actually investing in the state of Palestine.”

Power’s unhappiness with American Jews extends beyond their support for Israel in issues relating to the Palestinians. Outrageously, Power has blamed deference to Israel and the “special interests” that support Israel for the U.S. intervention in Iraq. She does so in the face of evidence that Israel had no particular desire that we overthrow Saddam Hussein, and actually viewed that enterprise as a distraction from the more serious threat posed by Iran.

Power showed the depth of her dislike (if not hatred) for Israel when she blamed Israel for the tactics the U.S. has used in Iraq. She stated that our alleged “deference” to Israel has caused us “to replicate Israeli tactics, which, as the war in Lebanon last summer demonstrated, can turn out to be counter-productive.” Power did not state what she thinks these tactics were, but she seems to have had in mind the bombing of civilians which caused an international outcry. In any case, Power provided no evidence that Israel is to blame for whatever U.S. tactics she finds objectionable.

Still on the subject of Lebanon, Power has expressed outrage at the way Israel has treated the U.N.’s faux peacekeepers in South Lebanon, the ones who stood by while Hezbollah gained a dominant position and used it to commit aggression against Israel. In this connection, Power quotes (with no disapproval) the statement of Sergio Vieira De Mello, the subject of her hagiography, that the Israelis are “bastards.” Power also attributes Israel’s incursion into South Lebanon not to the terrorism launched against it from that area, but to the existence of dispossessed Palestinians and Israeli “insecurity.”

Power criticized the New York Times, which had promoted the bogus Jenin “massacre” story, for attempting to set the record straight through a headline that said “Human Rights Reports Finds Massacre Did Not Occur in Jenin.? Power thought the headline should have been about alleged “Israeli war crimes.”

Fortunately, the portfolio Obama has given Power bears no apparent relationship to Israel. But Power’s obsession with Israel, a nation that, in her twisted world view, is the source of so much mischief, raises the possibility of “portfolio creep.” Perhaps “The Monster,” Hillary Clinton, will provide a safeguard against this prospect