May 26, 2011 | 5:44 am

This week in power: Netanyahu’s visit, DSK, Von Trier, Bear Jew

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Netanyahu vs. Obama
The prime minister’s U.S. visit was highlighted by an ongoing tension between him and President Obama as they repeatedly squared off on the ever-contentious subject of Middle East peace. “t was Netanyahu, not Obama, who electrified Washington,” said John Podhoretz in the New York Post. Maybe that’s true, said Robert Dreyfuss at The Nation, but “Netanyahu didn’t help his case by displaying a stunning set of bad manners. He was rude, boorish and recklessly arrogant.” Netanyahu left in good favor with his supporters for refusing to back down, while at the same time Obama showed he’d like to get the “peace process moving again,” said The Jewish Week’s James Besser. “But actually, it seems to me, everybody emerged as a loser.”

DSK and the Jewish factor
As the former director of the IMF has faced tremendous scrutiny in the wake of his arrest earlier this month, “there is one response that we have not seen: anti-Semitism,” reported The Jewish Daily Forward. Why’s it matter so much? Well, a majority of French citizens believe that Strauss-Kahn was brought down by a plot because he “was well on track not just to become France’s president but its first Jewish president,” said Patricia J. Williams at The Nation. That this religious angle hasn’t been played up more is to the great relief of Jews around the world. “We are connected by a mysterious bond called peoplehood, a psychic sense that we are part of an extended family with deep historical roots and a moral and spiritual vision,” said Erica Brown in the Jewish Journal. Even before this scandal arose, Strauss-Kahn’s Jewishness mattered. “Reporters and editors were talking about his very good chances to defeat President Nicolas Sarkozy in next year’s presidential election, when he said there were three hurdles in his way: women, money and Jewishness.,” said Richard Reeves at Truthdig.

San Francisco’s circumcision ban
“It wouldn’t be a San Francisco election without at least one wacky measure on the ballot. For this November, the threshold has already been met: Voters will be asked to ban male circumcision,” said a San Francisco Chronicle editorial. The measure has obviously upset Jews in the area. The American Jewish Committee has called it a “direct assault on Jewish religious practice in the United States…unprecedented in American Jewish life.’’ “Talk about blatant violations of the First Amendment,” said a Jewish Week editorial. Yet, some are calling it an inhumane practice that should be outlawed. “I’m flatly anti-circumcision — boys or girls,” said Lissa Rankin at Care2. “I don’t believe we should be imposing our own plastic surgery notions on young boys without their consent.” Now, opponents are rallying Californians to stop the bill from passing. “When San Franciscans vote this fall, the disgraceful anti-circumcision initiative deserves a decisive defeat,” said Jeff Jacoby in The Boston Globe.

Von Trier’s apology
Danish director Lars von Trier joked during the Cannes Film Festival about being a Nazi and understanding Hitler, which got him expelled from the festival. On Tuesday, he issued an apology saying he was “unintelligent, ambiguous and needlessly hurtful.” But some are slow to forgive the director. “It is often assumed that comments like those made by Von Trier are perfectly normal among many European intellectuals. Anti-Semitism, we are told, has made a strong comeback among them,” said Eric Herschthal at The Jewish Week. But let’s cut him some slack here - we don’t really believe he’s anti-Semitic, said Danielle Berrin in the Jewish Journal. “But unlike his anti-Semitic-spewing brethren, von Trier’s prattle was not hostile; he used no slang nor slurs, nor threatening language.” Yeah, let’s move on and forgive Von Trier for saying he understands Nazis, said Judy Berman at Flavorwire, “because he’s spent nearly a week proving to us that he isn’t and he doesn’t.”

The “Bear Jew”
Chicago Bears rookie tackle Gabe Carimi has locals excited about potentially “the best Jewish Bears player since quarterback Sid Luckman,” reported the Chicago Tribune. “My Judaism is important to me — I make it work. I fasted on Israeli time, so I could begin my fast earlier, from noon to noon the next day. That way, I was able to be true to my religion and play the best for my team,” Carimi told The Jewish Daily Forward. People are impressed by the man’s ability to balance religion and football. “We as Jews should celebrate this first round draft pick. Not just Bears fans, but Jews everywhere,” said Jeremy Fine at Jewish World News. “I respect a man who stands for something,” said Boomer at BeerGogglesOn.com. “While it’s true that Yom Kippur doesn’t fall on a Sunday for the next 5 seasons, let’s hope that Carimi is still a relevant cog in the Bears puzzle beyond that.”

May 19, 2011 | 6:00 am

This Week in power: Nakba Day, Glenn Beck, Strauss-Kahn, Dan Adler

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Nakba Day violence
Nakba Day protests left at least 15 demonstrators dead on Sunday, including four who were shot after they breached Syria’s border. President Obama is slotted to address the Mideast conflict later this week, beginning with a highly-anticipated speech on Thursday morning. Obama “should stress that, by killing protesters, Netanyahu’s government is taking Israel farther and farther from the security it needs,” said a Boston Globe editorial. No, the president should make it clear to the Palestnians and everyone else that they need to “stop demonizing others and learn to preserve their own national stories,” said Gil Troy in The Jerusalem Post.Violence and deaths don’t convey that, said Bradley Burston at Haaretz. Let’s look to the future instead of the past, said an editorial in The National. “2011 is not years past - the Arab Spring, the futility of recent negotiations with Israel and, most importantly, renewed resolve among Palestinians offer a chance to break with history.”

Glenn Beck’s Israel rally
Glenn Beck will once again host a rally this summer, but instead of Washington, D.C. this year he has chosen to hold the event in Jerusalem. Hew details are out about the August “Restoring Courage” rally, but many are already excited about it. Beck “has been a singular voice of late in the defense of Israel,” said Pamela Geller at American Thinker. “I am very happy to see someone with a huge voice taking a stand and speaking out for the good and for righteousness.” What makes this event “so important,” said Michael Freund at The Jerusalem Post, is that it “promises to be an expression of faith, a call to defy the prevailing notion that Good and Evil are purely subjective terms.” It has the power to unite. Still, not everyone is as excited. The Atlantic‘s Conor Friedersdorf said that the commentator is in this for himself and his brand, not for the promise of peace. “Beck shouldn’t be followed to Jerusalem. Or anywhere else.”

Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s arrest
“Just weeks ago, Dominique Strauss-Kahn worried aloud that his Jewish identity would be exploited during France’s upcoming presidential campaign,” reported The Jewish Daily Forward. Strauss-Kahn, who was arrested this week in New York on charges of rape, has strong ties to the Jewish community in France. “It is very painful for us,” said the vice president of the Sarcelles Jewish community, as quoted in The Jerusalem Post. “I know him well. I’ve even seen him seduce a woman, but it was always with gentleness.” As for the rest of us, “We feel something when one of us is elevated, or implicated. We can’t help it,” said Rob Eshman in the Jewish Journal. Some had more of a sense of humor about the entire thing. Scott at PowerLine joked, “Dominique Strauss-Kahn—not Jewish. Hey, his name is Dominique.”

Dan Adler’s campaign ad
Dan Adler, an entertainment executive who hired Sean Astin as his campaign manager, ran ads late last week saying “send a Mensch to Congress.” Well, he didn’t quite make it, bringing in just 285 votes, or 0.5 percent, in the primary election. “It might seem gimmicky, but Adler’s operation is pure Hollywood – an industry that flourishes by blending art and smart business,” said Tim Stanley in The Telegraph. Adler even got Charlie Sheen to tweet a last-minute endorsement.

Reform Jews are rich
Of all the major religions, Reform Judaism has the wealthiest members, according to The New York Times. Pew data reveals that 67 percent of Reform Jewish households made more than $75,000 a year. Conservative Jews finished third, behind Hindus. Not enough people were polled to find any real statistics, said Ira Stoll at The Future of Capitalism - “the margin of sampling error for the income questions (which usually get a higher number of non-responses anyway) is probably so high that the distinctions between ‘most affluent,’ ‘second,’ and ‘third’ are statistically meaningless.” What’s interesting, said Jason Diamond at Jewcy, is that “Orthodox Jews are nowhere to be found” on this list. But that, it turns out, is because the sample size was too small.

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May 12, 2011 | 6:16 am

This week in power: Hillary Clinton, Tony Kushner, 2012 race, bin Laden

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Hillary Clinton cropped
Hasidic newspaper Di Tzeitung removed Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason from an iconic photo of the Situation Room, prompting intense outrage that resulted in the paper’s editor apologizing for the editing. “It is disgraceful that they were cut out of this photo,” said Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld at FrumForum. Furthermore, “manipulation” like this, said Brad Hirschfield in The Washington Post, is against White House rules and “suggests some real problems with the paper and it’s readership which presumably supports such manipulation.” And it changes the way we record history, pointed out Rebecca Price at The Huffington Post. We should all “strive to present and teach an accurate depiction of historical moments, despite our personal beliefs.” The New Yorker’s Amy Davidson said it’s time for the paper to get real: “Di Tzeitung is based in Brooklyn. Women are pretty visible there, like it or not.”

Kushner gets his prize
City University of New York trustees on Monday reversed a decision and decided to grant an honorary degree for Tony Kushner. Kushner had previously had the honor taken away after concerns emerged over the playwright’s views on Israel. “It’s hard to argue the episode has been anything other than a public-relations defeat for the right-wing pro-Israel crowd,” said Justin Elliott at Salon. But some say this was the wrong decision. Would we “apply the same procedures to racists, homophobes, misogynists and all other bigots”? asked Isi Leibler in the Jerusalem Post. Let’s hope in the future, said a Jewish Week editorial, that Zionism’s advocates will “shed more light than heat in making their case.” But does Kushner really need another award anyway? joked Vanity Fair’s James Wolcott: “I mean, it’s not as if Tony Kushner has gone un-awarded in his career, a victim of cold neglect. The last thing we should be doing is giving him an opportunity to make another speech.”

Eying the 2012 election
Jewish Republicans are turning a cold shoulder to Donald Trump and Sarah Palin, according to the JTA. The topic of Israel remains a central campaigning issue, and it came up in last week’s first GOP debate. With Newt Gingrich’s entry into campaign waters on Wednesday, some expect the former Hosue Speaker to appeal to Jewish swing voters, reported The Jewish Week. Who will get the Jewish vote this season?

Discussing bin Laden
Religious leaders took to the pulpit last weekend to address their worshipers with peaceful prospects in the wake of bin Laden’s death. Jews around the world voiced these lessons. “The demise of no single man solves the problem of terrorism or of intolerant and radical Islamic fundamentalism,” said Shoshana Bryen at the Jewish Tribune. “In the final analysis, the greatest struggles humanity faces are not among nations, peoples or religions, but between the fanatic and the tolerant, said Rob Eshman in the Jewish Journal.  “Those two types cross all borders and religions.” Israel still has enemies of its own to deal with, said Gary Rosenblatt in The Jewish Week, and we have to re-evaluate our approach now. “Dialogue and diplomacy are in order when there is a basis for compromise. But as Hamas has made brutally clear, that is not possible in this case —unless the issue is Israel’s national suicide.”

JDate goes to the movies
The dating site is sponsoring a Jewish Film-of-the-Month Club that will offer a Jewish-themed feature film pick to subscribers. “A shidduch, however, is probably not guaranteed with a Jewish Film of the Month Club subscription,” joked Michael Kaminer at The Jewish Daily Forward. This is “great news” for those who “enjoy the convenience and ease of Netflix but are disappointed by its undefined religious affiliation! said Amos Barshad at New York.

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May 5, 2011 | 6:20 am

This week in power: Bin Laden, Hamas, Huckabee, Yaroslavsky

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Bin Laden’s death
The big news around the world this week has been the death of the al Qaeda mastermind, and Jewish and Israeli leaders welcomed the news, according to reports. “It seems reasonable to view Osama bin Laden as a manifestation of Amalek and I am among those relieved and glad his soul has been sent for cosmic cleansing and rerouting,” said Rabbi Goldie Milgram in The Philadelphia Jewish Voice. But our tradition warns that we shouldn’t celebrate others’ demise, warned Rabbi Michael Lerner at The Huffington Post. “Our cup of joy cannot be full if our own liberation requires the death of those who were part of the oppressor society.” I also struggle with the American reaction to this announcement, said Peter Gabel at AlterNet. Celebration like we witnessed on Sunday night shows disrespect for human life, and even “undermines the moral character and worthiness of those responsible for the death itself.”

Hamas deal
Some wonder about the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation struck last week and what that means for the potential for peace in the Middle East, reported JTA. This deal was “really stupid and damaging,” said Larry Derfner in The Jewish Journal. “It set back the cause of Palestinian independence, it made the occupation that much harder to dislodge, and the only people who’ll benefit from it are the rejectionists on both sides.” But this could actually work, too, said a New Zealand Herald editorial. If Hamas can temper its reputation, “a real chance exists for progress. Palestinian unity should be regarded an an opportunity, not an obstacle.”

Huckabee’s Holocaust gaffe
Both Mike Huckabee and Michele Bachmann recently used Nazi analogies to convey the severity of the mounting debt crisis, prompting an ADL response. This wasn’t Huckabee’s first run-in with the ADL’s criticism. Some of “the Republicans’ best and brightest continue to trivialize the Holocaust in the name of partisan politics,” said Avenging Angel at Daily Kos. While Huckabee does have Jewish support, said Michelle Goldberg in The Daily Beast, nobody should have “license to insinuate that higher marginal tax rates and tighter gun control are sort of like the Shoah.” And if he wants to maintain his good standing, he and others need to cut out these references, said M.J. Rosenberg at Talking Points Memo. “Will someone tell these right-wingers that professing their ‘love’ for Israel will not get them off the hook for trivializing the murder of 6,000,000 Jewish men, women and children in Europe?”

Pope beatified
Pope John Paul II, who has dedicated himself to Catholic-Jewish relations among other things, was beatified at the Vatican on Sunday. We should praise him for his “historic revision and self-criticism of the Catholic Church’s past” that has allowed for “reconciliation between Christians and Jews after two millennia of hostility,” said Daniel Shoer Roth in the Miami Herald. “To the Jews, he is a saint.” Rabbi Jack Bemporad, writing at The Huffington Post, was impressed when he had the chance to meet him. “What one was left with after meeting with Pope John Paul was his complete dedication to the next step in dialogue wherein one must be true to one’s own faith without being false to the faith of the other—and how serious and difficult this task is.”

Yaroslavsky: Next L.A. mayor?
When current Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vacates his position in 2013, it’s anyone’s guess who will take his seat. But now some experts are saying it will be L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, according to LA Weekly. For decades, he “has been mentioned as mayoral material, and for almost as long has been uninterested in the job,” but if he changes his mind Yaroslavsky “is clearly the man to beat.” So what’s holding him back? ““It’s largely a personal decision about what I want to do for the rest of my life,” Yaroslavsky said in February, quoted in The Jewish Daily Forward. For now, he’s focused on the work at hand.

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April 28, 2011 | 6:47 am

This week in power: Palestinians, Helen Thomas, Black Panthers, Kiryas Joel

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Is a Palestinian state coming?
“Will a Palestinian state be born this fall,” asked a headline on CNN.com on Wednesday. Whatever happens, Obama has to act, said The Jewish Daily Forward in an editorial, because, as it stands, the situation is “unsustainable, especially now when the region is engulfed with democratic fervor.” But it may not be fixable, warned A.B. Yehoshua in Haaretz. Not only don’t we know how large either of these sides are, this is “a fundamental conflict that constantly creates primal and profound mistrust between the two peoples, preventing a possible solution.”

Helen Thomas bows out
Thomas backed out of her appearance at a pro-Palestinian conference called “Move Over AIPAC” to take place from May 21 to 24, according to JTA. “I understand why pro-Israel groups wanted to lash out at Thomas when she was still a major figure in journalism. But isn’t there a point when it simply pays to say, ‘look, she’s an old lady, nobody’s paying attention to her, let it rest?’” asked James Besser at The Jewish Week. This is about something bigger, though, said James Abourezk at Counterpunch. It’s an effort “to make the Helen Thomases of the world disappear, along with their views opposing what Israel is doing to those under its occupation.”

Death at Joseph’s tomb
Palestinian Authority officials are investigating the fatal shooting of Ben Yosef Livnat, 24, who was killed on Sunday after Palestinian police opened fire on their vehicle after he and others snuck in to pray at Joseph’s Tomb, according to reports. “By repeatedly and blatantly violating this so-called peace agreement, Palestinians have shot themselves in the foot—big-time,” said Peggy Shapiro at American Thinker. This also might indicate that “we are not on the cusp of a new era of Middle East peace,” said Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post. “Could it be that building mother-in-law apartments in East Jerusalem isn’t the root of the problem?”

Black Panthers’ rally
The New Black Panthers’ held a “National Day of Action and Unity” last Saturday in over 60 cities worldwide, which turned out to be “a fantastic dud,” said James M. Simpson at BigGovernment. In the days leading up to the rally, the ADL denounced the group, which “feeds directly into the media-hungry hands of NBPP leaders that are organizing the events,” said Ryan Dube at TopSecretWriters.com. “As they say – any publicity is good publicity.” Still, there is a lesson here: Instead of focusing on the Tea Party’s language and message, said Raven Clabough at The New American, worry about the “prevalent among the New Black Panthers, an indisputably violent, racist, and anti-Semitic group.”

The poorest place
A higher proportion of people are living in poverty in Kiryas Joel, N.Y., than in any other community in the country, according to The New York Times. “Those in the community are, unsurprisingly, not very interested in talking about their finances,” said Garth Johnston at Gothamist. But there’s something fascinating about these people, said Matthew Continetti at The Washington Post. “As you read stories like these, you begin to wonder whether poverty is more a spiritual than economic condition. And if that’s the case, the residents of Kiryas Joel are as rich as Croesus.”

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April 21, 2011 | 6:59 am

This week in power: Palestinian statehood, Obama’s seder, Pollard, Burqas

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Is Palestinian statehood possible?
Pressure is mounting from prominent Israelis in support of a Palestinian plan to seek United Nations support for statehood, according to reports. They hope to seek the U.N.‘s endorsement in September for an independent Palestinian state, which prompted Hillary Clinton to propose a resuming of peace talks. Granting statehood “damages the sanctity of international legal foundations that give Israel the confidence to take risks for peace” and “also promises to radicalize Palestinian politics,” said Meyrav Wurmser in The Jewish Daily Forward.“Palestinian leaders cannot possibly believe such action will create the state they say is their top goal,” said a Jewish Week editorial. This is just an effort “to ratchet up the pressure on Israel.”

Obama’s Passover message
President Obama hosted his third consecutive seder at the White House, an event that was met with controversy after Glenn Beck and others took issue with Obama’s message that this year’s Mideast revolts echo those of the Biblical exodus from Egypt. “Well, way to go, President Obama. Or should I say ‘Pharaoh Obama?’” joked Jon Bershad at Mediaite. While I think Beck “is reading too much into the message Obama released,” said one blogger, “how can i criticize him when he is speaking up for Israel??!!”

Free Jonathan Pollard?
A top Israeli rabbi called on Barack Obama to free Jonathan Pollard if he wants Jews to back him in his re-election bid, reported the AFP. Others, including President Shimon Peres and Pollard’s wife, Esther, have asked Obama to let Pollard go in the spirit of the Passover holiday. Well, “the rabbi is wrong,” said Martin Peretz at The New Republic. “If five percent of American Jews vote against the president in 2012 because he fails to free Pollard, that would be a lot. Anyway, most of them (maybe all of them) already voted against Obama in 2008.” This isn’t really an issue that American Jews will vote on.

Burqa ban
Last week, France made its controversial burqa ban a full-fledged law in the country. “I’m not entirely sure that the ban is the way to go, and it’s looking like the ban is doomed to failure, buttressing Islamic fundamentalism, and placing Muslim women in some very difficult predicaments,” said Elana Maryles Sztokman at The Jewish Daily Forward. Years ago, the country banned all religious clothing in public schools, including Jewish skullcaps, “The law is rooted in the long-standing French policy of cultural integration and the pursuit of a uniform French identity,” pointed out Bonita Meyersfeld in the Mail and Guardian. Yet, some believe it was necessary: “France is brave and right to ban the burqa. There is no reason for a modern Western country to honor what is, essentially, a political statement and an ethnic and misogynistic custom,” said Phyllis Chesler at Fox News.

Get the Yid out
The Kick It Out organization wants to put a stop to the use of the offensive term “Yid” that some soccer fans have chanted at Tottenham Hotspur games. Players, appearing in a viral video, are joining the campaign against casual use of the slur. “I never really give a moment`s thought to this being anything racist or offensive coming from a Tottenham fans mouth, but the fact I have always sung the song with pride and affection, perhaps doesn`t make it right, wondered OxfordSpur at VitalFootball, “or are we again going too far in the political correctness bandwagon?” This “practice is unutterably vile and should be stamped on without delay,” said Natalie Wood at Technorati. Still, the term has been used this way for years without protest so “I must argue, if ‘the Yids’ themselves are not offended by the term, why should anyone else?”

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April 14, 2011 | 8:16 am

This week in power: Budget, WikiLeaks, Slaughter ban, Bieber

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Government shutdown averted: Now what?
President Obama was able to strike a deal with Republicans at the deadline last weekend that kept the federal government open and operating. “But there was something deeply disturbing about the process that led the nation to the brink of a shutdown,” said a Jewish Week editorial. “Deficit reduction is essential, and it will require sacrifices from all of us.” And, with so much still in flux, James Besser worried about Jewish groups that “don’t like to dip their toes in the treacherous partisan waters of budget and taxation debates.” Where does civility get you? wondered Leonard Fein in The Jewish Daily Forward. For instance, “How in the world can a serious person not experience indignation in the face of the clownish behavior of Israel’s Knesset or the U.S. House of Representatives?” Let you your passion and outrage show.

WikiLeaks: Israel edition
A batch of leaked U.S. diplomatic cables shared with Haaretz by WikiLeaks recently came to light, according to reports. The cables, among other things, revealed that Israeli officials expect Hezbollah to fire about 500 missiles a day at Israel from Lebanon, and it could mean war. They also show evidence that Israel weighed an attack on Iran back in 2005, but “these revelations by themselves are not particularly newsworthy,” said Christopher A. Preble at The National Interest. It’s been know that Israel “lacked the firepower to definitively demolish the Iranian nuclear program.”

Bombing suspect caught
The man charged in connection with an explosion last Thursday at a Chabad House in Santa Monica, California, is heading back to California to stand trial, according to reports. Hirsch had fled to Ohio, where he had been welcomed by the Jewish community with open arms, reported the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. But one rabbi grew suspicious and reported Hirsch to police. “In a small community, someone would be noticed because everybody knows everybody,” said one community member.

Dutch slaughter ban
The Netherlands may soon pass a law banning Jewish and Muslim traditions on the ritual slaughter of animals, reported the Associated Press. Animal rights activists and the xenophobic Freedom Party have joined together to push for the ban on “methods that critics say inflict unacceptable suffering on animals.” This is an effort to “suppress the ancient and essentially humane methods of slaughtering animals that Jews have used for millennia,” said Brice Walker at the New American. They want to “abolish religious practices of Christians and Jews by imposing, in place of God’s law, man’s law.” This is an “unjust” law, said Abraham H. Foxman in a JTA editorial. “Members of today’s Dutch parliament should be guided by their founding fathers’ championing of religious freedom.”

Bieber and Bibi
A meeting between the improbable pair was called off suddenly, and each side has a different story. Prime Minister Netanyahu said that Bieber backed out after refusing to meet with children affecting by terror, while the singer cited “logistical” problems for the cancellation. The Israeli leader tried “to turn a photo op with a teen idol into a propaganda stunt for the war on Gaza,” said an Economist blogger. Now it sounds like “he won’t agree to be the boyfriend of EITHER Israel or Palestine,” joked Jack Stuef at Wonkette. Let’s just hope the “Israeli media will back off, and that the country’s leadership gets a little savvier about how to greet high-profile visitors with millions of fans,” said Nathan Burstein at The Jewish Daily Forward.

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April 7, 2011 | 7:37 am

This week in power: Goldstone, Obama, Facebook, Gadhafi

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Goldstone’s regret
“We know a lot more today about what happened in the Gaza war of 2008-09 than we did when I chaired the fact-finding mission appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council that produced what has come to be known as the Goldstone Report. If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document,” said Richard Goldstone in a Washington Post op-ed last weekend. But Goldstone fell short of wishing the U.N. to nullify his report entirely. How’d the media react to this news? “A blood libel travels faster and can get even farther, and even a heartfelt mea culpa cannot call it back,” said Jeff Jacoby in The Boston Globe. The good news it that this revelation “restores some measure of moral equilibrium to Israel,” said David N. Myers in the Jewish Journal. And while it’s step in the right direction, “Goldstone’s belated change of heart does not absolve Israel of the need” to “be publicly transparent” and remain honorable in the eyes of the rest of the world, said a Jewish Daily Forward editorial.

Obama begins 2012 campaign - he’ll need the Jewish vote
As Republicans Mitt Romney and John Thune met with the Republican Jewish Coalition, Obama kicked off his re-election campaign on Monday with a video that featured, among others, someone with a mezuzah necklace. “While having little impact in terms of numerical votes, American Jews’ continued monetary support of Obama makes explaining the irrationality of that voting bloc extremely difficult,” said Lauri B. Regan at the American Thinker. Everyone is after the Jewish vote, though. “Israel is a powerful symbol among the white voters the Republicans must bring out to the polls if they want any chance of victory in ‘12,” said Ira Chernus at The Huffington Post. Let’s just keep the discussion civil, said The Jewish Week in an editorial. “Debate about Middle East policy is healthy, but maybe this would be a good year to dial down the rhetoric and to work especially hard to keep U.S. support for Israel from getting sucked into the maws of hyper-partisan political campaigns.”

Facebook sued over Palestinian intifada page
Last week, Facebook wiped the “Third Palestinian Intifada” page from its site because it made direct calls for violence, according to reports. But that didn’t apparently end the saga - Political activist Larry Klayman filed a billion-dollar, class-action lawsuit, claiming that the page put his life - and the lives of other Jews - in danger. Klayman’s made charges like this before, warned Amar Toor at Switched. “Accusing Mark Zuckerberg of profiting from an Intifada is very much within his strike zone.” Get used to these types of suits, said David Zax at Fast Company. This is “a madhouse glimpse into what might be a real future of legal and legislative wrangling.” Some, though, wonder if there’s something there: “Based on my non-professional legal opinion, I’d say the case has merit,” said Mike Pechar at The Jawa Report.

Wasserman Schultz, DNC chair
Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida was appointed the next chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Among other things, Wasserman Schultz, who is Jewish, gives the president some much-needed lift in the Jewish community thanks to her “strong ties with Jewish groups,” reported The New York Times. The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC)‘s chair and president said in a joint statement that “Few people are better positioned to understand the interests of the American Jewish community-and to continue ensuring that they are reflected in all of the work of the Democratic Party They added: “We wish her a hearty mazel tov on her selection.”

Is Gadhafi Jewish?
Some have wondered if the Libyan leader is secretly Jewish, according to reports. NBC reported last week that “one in five rebels was fighting Gadhafi because he believes the leader is Jewish.” The rumors stem from a belief that Gadhafi’s mother was Jewish. Yeah, but “the same ‘fact’ surfaces from time to time about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” said Roger Kaplan at The American Spectator, and it “is significant only if it is taken seriously.” Don’t believe everything you hear.

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