The Obama White House has begun the push to put pressure on American Jews to support its peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority:
Secretary of State John Kerry and an elite US diplomatic team met with a small group of American Jewish leaders at the White House Thursday night to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that resumed last month.
An optimistic-sounding Kerry asked the Jewish leaders for their help in supporting the newly restarted talks, The Times of Israel learned, saying that he feared for Israel’s future if a peace deal is not reached.
Kerry told the fewer than two-dozen representatives of Jewish organizations that he really believes that both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas realize that there is a strategic imperative to act now. He noted that Israel faces the threat of diplomatic isolation and a demographic clock.
For the record, the Palestinian 'demographic bomb ' is an out and out myth (as if that in itself was any reason to pander to the Palestinian insistence on apartheid), and any diplomatic isolation Israel faces is a direct result of the animosity exhibited towards the Jewish State by President Obama and his administration.
Oh, and let's not forget to take a look at that elite team. Aside from Kerry, it included White House Special Envoy for Mideast Peace Martin Indyk, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, senior adviser Frank Lowenstein and deputy national security adviser for strategic communications Ben Rhodes.
All of them are noted for their commitment to forcing Israel back to its indefensible pre-67 borders. Rice and Rhodes are noted for their serial lies on Benghazi among other things, and some of you may remember Susan Rice's anti-Israel tantrum when she was forced as UN ambassador to veto a resolution that would have declared all Jewish communities outside the 1948 ceasefire lines including Jerusalem as 'illegal.'
They're elite all right.
But in exchange for pushing the Obama Administration's diktat among American Jews, what do you think the Jews invited to this meeting asked for? Check this out:
A number of the Jewish leaders pressed Kerry on Abbas’s upcoming address to the United Nations General Assembly. They expressed hope that Abbas would change the tone of his rhetoric during his speeches to the world body — a good-faith gesture to demonstrate outward Palestinian willingness to engage in peace talks. One observer noted that Kerry seemed receptive to the idea.
In other words, all they're asking is that unelected dictator Mahmoud Abbas moderate the tone of his racist and anti-semitic verbiage at the UN, just to show willing. The fact that he was Arafat's right hand man, is willing to ally with the genocidal Hamas, pays convicted murderers of Jews in prison a salary and is responsible for promoting Jew hated in the mosques, media and schools he controls..oh, well, that's secondary. That can be lived with if he makes a few polite noises at the UN!
And it gets better:
Other Jewish representatives pushed for Kerry to ask Abbas to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
Kerry told the leaders that one of the lynchpins of the current peace process is the separation of Israel’s security assurances from the general negotiations, assurances he said would be guaranteed in a separate agreement with the US.
The security track is being worked out under the auspices of retired Marine Corps general John Allen, who is currently Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s special adviser for the Middle East Peace.
Let's take a look at what this means. While the Obama Administration is insisting that Israel recognize Abbas' little Jew -free reichlet, Kerry has dodged the idea of actually telling Abbas that if he wants these farcical negotiations to continue, he has to recognize Israel - because he know Abbas won't do anything of the kind.
Instead, he let the the assembled Jews know that Abbas and the Palestinians aren't really going to be asked to commit to anything concrete, but that Israel can rely on separate security guarantees from the United States..crafted by none other than noted anti-Israel hardliner Chuck Hagels' hand picked adviser.
Did any of the attendees bring up how the Obama Administration handled the last security guarantees the U.S. gave Israel?
Or were they just so giddy to be at the White House that it never occurred to them to question that, or the Obama Administration's intentions? Are they really that clueless?
No doubt a number of them considered it an honor to be part of what what is beginning to smell more and more like an American Judenrat.
This meeting was described as a 'soft sell', a lead up to a more organized push by the Obama Administration to market selling out Israel to US Jews that is supposed to kick in closer to Rosh Hashanah and the High Holy Days.
Simply despicable.
Israel just needs to tell the United States and its leadership to get lost. No one else spends much time worrying about what the Americans think. I see no reason Israel should.
ReplyDeleteIt is a virtual certainty that the Jewish leaders at the WH are liberals. Jewish liberals are liberals first and secondarily Jewish. This meeting was to get these Jewish leaders on the same page with the WH and to get these liberal Jewish leaders to place public pressure upon Israel to concede to indefensible conditions.
ReplyDeleteThere are several levels of strategic manipulations being employed by the Obama administration. It is a given, that none of them are to Israel's benefit.
The separation of Israel’s security assurances from the general negotiations, reveals the fundamental strategy of the Obama administration. In plain English, what Kerry is saying is that Israel will be coerced into agreements that are highly disadvantageous to it and that objections based upon the national security of Israel will be addressed later and 'guaranteed' by the US.
By separating Israel's security concerns from the general negotiations, Kerry and the Palestinians remove the main objection Israel has to a two state 'solution'. With Israel's valid objections "off the table" Israel is put in the position of having to agree to impossible conditions OR be unable to defend itself against the accusation of being insincere in its expressed desire for peace.
That Kerry is publicly stating that he fears "for Israel’s future if a peace deal is not reached" is highly revealing of the pressure being put upon Israel. It's a veiled threat.
That allows the Obama administration the fall back position of placing failure of the negotiations upon Israel's shoulders. And that, it has now been 'established' that Israel does not actually want peace. From there, the logical next step is for Obama to call for reduced support for Israel in order to compel Israel toward acceptance of the "necessary conditions" for peace. Those 'necessary conditions' will among others, include a return to the indefensible pre-1967 borders, the 'Palestinian right of return' and Israel renouncing its claim to Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
In addition, the separate security agreement's 'guarantees' will be with the US, not the Palestinians.
Left unsaid will be the objection that as the Obama administration has consistently and repeatedly ignored aspects of US law with which it disagrees, why will it not do the same with any agreement with Israel?
All of this is happening because of two factors; the inherent animosity of the Obama administration toward Israel and Israel's belief that American support for Israel is an indispensable need, that Israel literally cannot survive without American support. That belief provides the leverage American administrations have repeatedly used to get Israel to repeatedly acquiesce to actions that are manifestly opposed to Israel's interests. As long as Israel holds to that view it will be prey to that manipulation.
Israel's best hope is for the negotiations to fail through Palestinian refusal to agree to Israel's right to exist. On Palestinian agreement that the Jewish people have an historic and religious claim to the land that supersedes Palestinian claims. On Palestinian agreement to renounce the use of violence. On Palestinian agreement to renounce the use of 'hate speech' against the Jewish people. The Palestinians will not agree to those stipulations. It is upon philosophical grounds that Israel can cause the Obama administration and duplicitous Palestinian efforts to collapse.
This crap is exactly why we don't give to Jewish organizations and have remained unaffiliated. And yes I know we could join an Orthodox Shul but we aren't observant, we just have common sense unlike the majority of Jewish Americans.
ReplyDeleteHello Elise,
ReplyDeleteI honestly find your comment somewhat short sighted.
I likewise do not give to certain organizations,i.e the local Jewish Federation, AJC or ADL,for example. But there are others.
Secondly, "I know we could join an Orthodox Shul but we aren't observant, we just have common sense unlike the majority of Jewish Americans."
A level of observance is your own business, of course. But in my experience, as a group it is Orthodox and observant Jews whom largely support Israel and Zionism..and whom have consistently voted against Obama. You might find that a swim in those waters is quite pleasant, refreshing and rejuvenating.
I am not a Lubavitcher, but I might suggest your local Chabad as a place to worship. They're Orthodox but mainly concerned with Jewish outreach and thus very non-judgmental and accepting of their congregant's level of observance, as long as you are willing to observe a few basic Orthodox customs like the use of a mehitza, the ritual barrier separating the sexes while services are conducted. That is generally where I and my family worship. They are also one group worthy of your charitable gifts.
It remains a fact that it is is empty, secular Jews who largely run the Jewish Federations, populate J Street, the AJC, Peace Now, A Jewish Voice For Peace and other self-hating groups of that ilk. And who lined up like lemmings to vote for and fund the first anti-Israel president in American history. That is no accident.
The reason, of course is that many of them are no longer Jews, but have embraced a new religion, Leftism.
It's the Sin of the Golden Calf all over again, and if you wish to picture our current president as the idol, you get no argument from me.
Regards,
Rob
Hi Rob,
ReplyDeleteYou and I have this on-going discussion about joining a shul :) since I left my old Temple and rejected the reform movement in-total. I do appreciate you trying to find a way to give me succor.
The problem that never gets addressed though is that my boys absolutely reject the idea of God or rather after studying the holocaust, the idea of honoring him in some way. As my oldest says, how come God freed the Jews in Egypt but let 6 million die during the Holocaust. He cannot reconcile the two and I am not sure I truly want him to. The more one questions, the more one grows in life.
But as my oldest says, he may be an atheist on his skin, but at his core he will always be a Jew. As far as the youngest, the first word to describe himself on his twitter profile is that he is Jewish. Sometimes we have to accept things as they are and not fight every fight. They are wholly and utterly secular Jewish Zionists. Which at this point is enough for me...Survival of Israel is what is important to them and they know who are the enemy and who are friends.
Now for Chabad. I do like what they do. I tell the boys if they are ever in a city and have problems, look for the closest chabad house and they will help you. Chabad also has a terrific special needs group called The Friendship Circle which has a myriad of programs for everyone, non-Jews as well as Jews.
I have mentioned to the boys ZOA at this point and will have to see where that goes.
Thanks for your concern.
Elise
Hello Elise,
ReplyDeleteOne thing I personally enjoy about Chabad aside from the general welcoming ambiance for all Jews is that one doesn't 'join' a synagogue. There are no membership fees, building funds, High Holiday tickets, etc. One simply worships, and helps defray the expenses according to one's ability and desire.
I would never try to get you or your sons to do anything. I merely mentioned it because Zionism without that spiritual component is missing something. Even Ben-Gurion, a secular Leftist and Zionist to the core realized that. Israel itself is a modern Miracle that defies human history, as a brief glance at its own history shows.
As for the question of G-d's actions during the Holocaust versus Egypt, I too struggled with that for some time. The answer, at least to me is this:
The first thing is the obvious one..the deliverance from Egypt was an act of G-d, while the Holocaust was an act of man. The Torah is very specific that G-d himself - 'and no angel' - delivered the Jews out of Egypt.
As for the Holocaust, that comes down to the age old question of why evil exists or of G-d's omniscience as opposed to things just happening.
To accept that Hashem exists is to trust in G-d's infinite goodness and mercy. To accept that He does not is to trust in the goodness and mercy of man. I personally find the first a much more satisfying, accurate, effective and logical POV.
I think it is futile to try to judge G-d's actions in human terms. Or as Ramakrishna said it so eloquently, a G-d that can be totally explained is no G-d.
Second, if you accept G-d's existence, then everything happens for a reason, often one that is not apparent at first. If G-d delivered the Jews from slavery in Egypt, rather any number of peoples He could have chosen, there was a reason.
I have my own ideas on why G-d might not have intervened openly in the Holocaust and why it might have happened from a theological standpoint and from the standpoint of what I believe is G-d's plan and its effect on our world, but I won't bore you. I will merely say that I believe it happened for a reason.
You're more than welcome to have your sons read this and e-mail me if they like. Again, I claim to have no ultimate answers, merely a perspective on these matters.
Regards,
Rob