“President Barack Obama’s unprecedented pro-Israel credentials are unquestionable, and setting policy starts and stops with the president.”
HUH??
~~~~~~~~~~
Daniel Greenfield, writing in Frontpage Magazine, says that this NJDC statement reflects an unwillingness to endorse Hagel:
“The shorter version is, ‘Hagel may hate Jews, but put your faith in Barack Obama.'”
All fine and good, but… “Obama’s unprecedented pro-Israel credentials”?
Greenfield then asks the very same question that had occured to me:
“If Obama’s support for Israel is so unrivaled, why did he nominate a man that even the NJDC can’t bring itself to support?”
In any event, any Jewish group that chooses to allude to “Obama’s unprecedented pro-Israel credentials” is either seriously out of touch with reality, or seriously into being court Jews. I find this very worrisome.
~~~~~~~~~~
Much to my bewilderment, since he claimed to support Israel, Alan Dershowitz was an Obama supporter throughout the campaign. But now he says that Obama’s appointment is a mistake:
“I think it makes it more likely that Iran will persist in its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. This will send a message to the Iranian Mullahs of softness, to nominate a man who is opposed to sanctions and who is opposed to the military option…. (Emphasis added)
“The Iranians are celebrating this appointment in Tehran, this was a great appointment for Tehran…
“I makes it more likely that Iran will actually move towards developing a nuclear program and it makes it more likely that there will have to be a military response. This is a very bad nomination for peace.”
~~~~~~~~~~
In an interview with Breitbart today, Dershowitz said that he has been approached about possibly testifying against Hagel on the issue of Iran, and if asked is prepared to do so.
He believes this appointment was inspired by Obama’s personal relationship with Hagel and says that some within the White House itself were opposed. In fact, he says he’s been told that the head of the National Jewish Democratic Council was opposed to the nomination — which may be a clue that Greenfield was correct.
Part of the problem, said Dershowitz, is that JStreet was for the nomination and this gave Obama cover “as it often does.”
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/01/07/Dershowitz-Will-Testify-Against-Hagel
~~~~~~~~~~
The thrust of Deshowitz’s concern here, regarding Hagel and his softness on Iran, points to the fact that this nomination is of concern for reasons that transcend Jewish issues.
Not only is Hagel soft on Iran, he has been soft more generally on terrorist organizations. Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) told CNN that Hagel said “Israel should directly negotiate with the Hamas organization – a terrorist group that lobs thousands of rockets into Israel – he also was one of 12 senators who refused to sign a letter to the European Union that Hezbollah should be designated as a terrorist organization.” (Emphasis added)
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, In a statement on Hagel’s nomination Sunday, declared that this is the “worst possible message” the United States can send to its Middle East allies.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ed Koch, former NY mayor and long time political commentator, also gave an interview on the issue of Hagel’s nomination, which makes him decidedly unhappy. What this interview does, however, is make me feel just a tad better about Koch. He had been anti-Obama and then reversed himself and come out an Obama supporter before the election. My own question was, How could he? Well, here he tells us:
“Frankly, I thought that there would come a time when he would renege on what he conveyed on his support of Israel. It comes a little earlier than I thought it would. (Emphasis added)
“I did what I thought was warranted and intelligent. He was going to win! There was no question about it. I thought it would be helpful to have a Jewish voice there, being able to communicate.”
Well, he guessed wrong about Obama, but, apparently, was not supporting him out of strong conviction that the man would be consistently good for Israel and the Jews. And it’s clear that his voice has counted for less than nothing.
Now about the Hagel nomination he says:
“I’m sure that the Arabs are drinking orange juice and toasting Hagel’s good health.
“I believe it will encourage…the jihadists. They will say ‘ah, we are winning the battle. America is beginning to desert Israel.'”
~~~~~~~~~~
Eric Cantor (R-VA), House Majority Leader, put out a statement about the nomination, as well:
“I am profoundly concerned and disappointed by President Obama’s nomination of former senator Chuck Hagel, to be secretary of defense….Hagel’s views and inflammatory statements about Israel are well outside the mainstream and raise well-founded doubts that he can be trusted to manage the special relationship the United States shares with our greatest Middle East ally…” (Emphasis added)
Senator Cornyn, cited above, concurs in this view, having said that:
“Chuck Hagel, if confirmed…would be the most antagonistic secretary of defense toward the state of Israel in our nation’s history.” (Emphasis added)
~~~~~~~~~~
Note that Hagel has said that the US relationship with Israel “need not and cannot be at the expense of our Arab and Muslim relationships.”
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=6998
~~~~~~~~~~
To all of the above, add the following:
“In October 2000, Hagel was one of only four Senators who refused to sign a letter expressing support for Israel during the Palestinian intifada.”
“In November 2001, Hagel was one of 11 Senators who refused to sign a letter requesting President Bush not meet with Yasser Arafat until Arafat’s Fatah terrorists ceased attacks on Israel.”
“In November 2003, the Senate, by a vote of 89 to 4, passed the Syria Accountability Act authorizing sanctions on Syria for its support of terrorism and its occupation of Lebanon. Hagel didn’t vote.”
“In 2006, after Hezbollah attacks sparked a war with Israel, Hagel called on the Bush administration to open direct talks with Hezbollah’s sponsors, Iran and Syria.”
~~~~~~~~~~
So, Hagel has been nominated and Senate Armed Service Committee chair Carl Levin (D-MI) seems ready to clear him through his committee. But the Senate still has to confirm him.
That is where you come in, my friends. Please! Contact your Senators without delay. Ask that they vote against the Hagel confirmation.
You have here numerous sources to quote from, and numerous facts to present regarding his lack of qualifications for the position. But it is best to keep the message simple. And emphasize the fact that Hagel is bad for America.
You can find your Senators here:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
~~~~~~~~~~
Not, I will add here, that all of this means Kerry is a great choice for secretary of state, or John Brennan for CIA director. But I’ll return to this another day.
~~~~~~~~~~
In case you haven’t heard: about a week ago, former vice president Al Gore sold the cable news network — Current TV — he co-founded seven years ago. It was purchased for $100 million by Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arabic cable news network owned by Qatar, and overseen by Sheik Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, a member of Qatar’s royal family.
The purchase boosted Al-Jazeera’s English language reach in the US nine-fold to about 40 million (although Time-Warner has dropped it). There is no rule against foreign ownership of a cable network. Al-Jazeera says it plans to develop something called Al-Jazeera America. This channel will be headquartered in New York and half its broadcasts will focus on US news.
And the other half? Well Gore explained in a statement that confirmed the sale:
“In former, sane, times, doing something like this would have finished Gore’s credibility forever. Needless to say, sanity has long since jumped out the window.
“By the way, remember that al-Jazeera is controlled by an oil-producing state whose goals include maintaining the highest possible use of petroleum, a goal that is contrary to Gore’s obsession with what he says is the threat of man-made global warming to destroy the planet in the near future. “
http://rubinreports.blogspot.co.il/2013/01/al-gore-sells-out-to-al-jazira.html
~~~~~~~~~~
Frank Gaffney, Jr., President of the Center for Security Policy, says this about Gore’s sale to al-Jazeera:
“The effect will be to create vast new opportunities for our enemies to propagandize the American people, a key ingredient of their ‘civilization jihad’ against our country.
“It is hard to overstate the magnitude of this treachery.” (Emphasis added)
~~~~~~~~~
The kicker here is that Glenn Beck now says he tried last year to buy Gore’s network. The response he received from Gore’s negotiators was (paraphrased), “…our legacy is too important and there would quite frankly be too many people, too many friends that the vice president would have to explain why he’s selling to Glenn Beck.”
But sell to al-Jazeera, no explanations necessary.
In the past, al-Jazeera English’s managing director spoke of a “very aggressive hostility” from the Bush administration, which had discouraged cable and satellite companies from accepting al-Jazeera. And the Obama administration now? This is most certainly just fine and dandy with them.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The anxiety I feel for the American nation right now is huge. No, it’s more than this: the America I knew is gone.
~~~~~~~~~
You can find this on my website at: http://arlenefromisrael.squarespace.com/current-postings/2013/1/8/january-8-2013-over-the-top.html
@ dionissis mitropoulos:
You and I have no chance if Cowboy sees the pastries first. He attended a Greek Fair once,in boots etc… Greek women were fighting to feed him. He out partied your name sake.
@ Honey Bee:
“walactoboureko” tastes even better.
Latest news:
“The allied Greek confectionary forces have just delivered a huge blow to a cowboy. The conquest of Honey Bee is ante portas”!!!
@ dionissis mitropoulos:
You can always LURE me with baklava!!!!!!!!!!
@ Honey Bee:
I was not trying to lure you!!!
It’s an American Jewish blog, very anti-Israel – one word, Mondoweiss.
@ dionissis mitropoulos:
I’ll bite, who is Mondo weiss?
@ Honey Bee:
The worst of this tribe are those in Mondoweiss.
@ Alan:
Members of the” as a Jew” tibe,of which I have extensively.
Almog and Ayalon deserve one way tixs to Gaza if they can endorse a Hagel.
Maybe they’d like James “F*ck the Jews” Baker back – they’d make excuses for him too.
If Israelis are doing this retarded dance with the rattlers because they are afraid of Barry the Momzer – then they are toast. All Ahmedinejedad need do is measure ’em for a coffin and drop the bomb. Ovomit and Hagel will do the rest.
@ rongrand:
Hi Ron,
I heard even Dianne Feinstein is going to endorse him. Silly senile goat should have resigned a long time ago.
If Schumer does too, Hagel gets in and you can forget ALL JINO Dems. They’re a-holes who’d vote for Hitler were he alive and a Democrat.
And for Frayman and Cat – if Obama isn’t an anti-Semite, then neither was Adolf or Joe Stalin.
@ Alan:
These are two peas in a pod.
You can’t expect anything better from ovmit.
Tell them both not to visit Israel until the US puts our Embassy in Jerusalem, the capital of the sovereign Jewish Nation of Israel.
Hagel and Obama are about as pro-Israel as Hitler and Himmler were.
No much difference between them too.
@ yamit82:
You like this guy, how about Kerry? I like to read your opinion.
@ yamit82:
@ Canadian Otter:
I read otter’s link with your explanation yamit. I guess it excludes the second case i visualized (IDF official acting on purely patriotic reasons). Now, Yamit, this is a powerful counterargument to some arguments that the anti-Israel crowd bring forth (“it can’t be so and so, because the specific official of the IDF named so and so said that…”).
Can i use your statement (with attribution, or not) in blog fighting, or does it reflect bad on the IDF and i’d better refrain from it?
@ Canadian Otter:
Thanks otter
@ dionissis mitropoulos:
YAMIT’s original comment (#29) regarding US govt influence on IDF is here:
https://www.israpundit.org/archives/52144
@ Sam Goldblatt:
Sam Goldblatt Said:
Cool quote
@ yamit82:
yamit82 Said:
Yamit, i bet my life that it is talk to that effect that has turned Judith Butler so hateful. And she has turned her hate to Israel. Not a wise policy (the former, the latter is as unaccountable as the forces of nature).
@ yamit82:
yamit82 Said:
Yamit, what’s the explanation for that? Martin Kramer has alluded to “cookies” being offered to them, but made no more remarks.
Can it really be the case that personal ambitions might lead IDF officials to support publicly anti-Israel Americans (or American policies)?
Or, could it be that they think they are being pragmatic, and try to keep an open line with the US that might prove useful in times of real future hardship for Israel?
In the first case, they would be traitors. In the second, they are not blameworthy (which of course does not mean that their views are correct, but only that they are not egoistic).
Could it also be that (for some) it might be both? i.e. that they both see a need not to be alienated from the US, and, in addition, get (hypothetical) benefits too?
@ yamit82:
Yamit ,you should read Oscar Wilde’s account of his trip to Cripple Creek.Co during the cities mining “hey day”. I always like his “don’t back down.don’t back up” attitude. He had couraje!!!!!!!!
There is indeed an Israeli fifth column.
There are two sayings applicable to this situation:-
1)The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
2)Man proposes and G-d disposes.
@ yamit82:
Former IDF navy chief Ze’ev Almog : Chuck Hagel is a friend of Israel
The implications are quite chilling.
J Street endorsing anti-Israel US govt officials and their policies is one thing.
But current or former Israeli officials lending them public support is quite another.
Thank you for the information.
OTTER here is an example of what we were discussing re: American influence on our military.
Former IDF navy chief: Chuck Hagel is a friend of Israel
Contrary to accusations, says Ze’ev Almog, Hagel opposed closing center serving U.S. troops in Haifa and backed $50 million grant to upgrade facilities at Haifa Port.
By Amir Oren
CHEVRON BOARD:
Chuck T. Hagel
Distinguished Professor, Georgetown University
Director since 2010
Charles T. Hagel is a Distinguished Professor at Georgetown University, a position he has held since 2009. Also in 2009, he became Chairman of the Atlantic Council and Co-Chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
Prior Positions Held: From 1997 to 2009, Hagel served as a U.S. senator from Nebraska. During his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Hagel served on the Foreign Relations; the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; Intelligence, and the Energy and Natural Resources Committees. He served as Chairman of the Foreign Relations International Economic Policy, Export and Trade Promotion Subcommittee; the Banking Committee’s International Trade and Finance Subcommittee and Securities Subcommittee. He also served as chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and the Senate Climate Change Observer Group. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, Hagel was president of McCarthy & Company, an investment banking firm. In the mid-1980s, Hagel co-founded VANGUARD Cellular Systems, Inc., a publicly traded corporation.
Other Directorships, Trusteeships and Memberships: Secretary of Defense’s Policy Board; Chairman of the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration Advisory Committee; Public Broadcasting Service (PBS); and numerous other private advisory boards.
Updated: November 2012
Let’s get back to focussing.
…and Al Jolson’s far better than Al Gore.
Al Jolson’s so much better than Al Jazeera.
Feel the love.
IT8, for someone who blew his own dad, you’re a funny one to be talking about fags. On a more serious level, your typical homophobe is usually a closeted gay whom women have always found repulsive as well. Now I did see a guy who looked like you on all fours in The National Enquirer at John Travolta’s party. Well, at least you’re good for a laugh.
@ yamit82:
1. Agreed on all accounts
2. 3:28 AM ……are you awake 24/7?
🙂
@ the phoenix:
Personally I don’t care if he shtups his dog. This is going to be a very event-filled 4 years if he and we survive it. The American and world economy should implode by mid summer. There are at least 3 potential Bubbles coming down the pike and any one of them can sink the ship.
This is going to be a watershed year on more than one level. Let’s not focus on issues with no relevance to us.
Has anyone noticed that BB chose an election date a few days after the Obama inauguration?
yamit82 Said:
http://www.wnd.com/2012/09/claim-obama-hid-gay-life-to-become-president/
Chuck Hagel OUT !!!
I really hate to be on the same side as Dershowitz but Spielberg? Except for his parentage he is as Jewish as Obama and probably Sam Goldblatt at least they aren’t fags like Oscar Wilde. How about you Sama’le are you a fruitcake too? 😉
Dershowitz can stand on his head and spit seltzer at the Hagel nomination for all the good it will do. You don’t think The White House has an armada of pro-Hagel Jews, Jews who make a better appearance than Dershowitz ready to counter whatever Dershowitz has to say? If need be Stephen Spielberg will be there to make Dershowitz look like a putz. This battle is lost. That’s why Aipac is sitting it out. And then theres the matter of Hagel himself. He looks like an honorable man, a plain spoken war hero. As Oscar Wilde said: “There’s nothing more profound than the superficial.”
@ Andy Lewis:
No. but I was at Madison when the National Guard beat the crap out anti war demonstrators. I was doing a TV program at Bowling Green.
@ yamit82:
That’s exactly what our dispatcher always said when I drove a Milwaukee Yellow Cab back in the 70s. Vas you ever in Milvaukee?
@ Samuel Fistel:
Who cares? I don’t
Hagel: is he for or against Jewish Israel (answer: against)
When you look at Hagel’s statements and congressional votes, he is clearly against Jewish Israel.
So why do so many people say that is not so? Like everything, it’s all Orwellian doublespeak. All the people supporting Hagel share his same anti-Israel views. And they overwhelm the mass media with the same Orwellian message: Hagel is not anti-Israel, he equally supports both Israel and the “rights of the palestinians”; that all his criticisms of Jewish Israel are well meaning and “legitimate”, even if they will result in the destruction of Jewish Israel by the muslims, which he somehow doesn’t think will happen.
It is clear that Obama is cleverly using Hagel (and Kerry) to distance America from Jewish Israel (which will happen sooner or later anyways), without getting his own hands dirty. It also makes it ever more unlikely that America will ever attack Iran militarily.
So what does this mean for Jewish Israel? I don’t think it is as bad as it could be. Israel can still do well as America lessens its direct support. Moreover, the “arab spring” is actually turning out to be the formation of a fundamentalist sunni super-state, whose main enemy will be shiite Iran. In a paradoxical way, this emerging sunni super-state will provide a protective buffer between Iran and Jewish Israel, particularly if Assad falls in Syria, and the the sunnis then go on to neutralize shiite Hizbolla in Lebanon.