July 31, 2008 | 7:01 pm

Steven Cohen and the Jews-hate-Jesus campaign

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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I received some fan mail two weeks ago that I’ve been meaning to indulge. It was from George Brooks, an African-American minister from Tennessee who has been leading a campaign against the re-election of U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, the only white congressman from a predominantly black district.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal says Cohen is the best candidate for Congress. But though he authored a resolution passed yesterday by the House that apologized for slavery, Cohen’s whiteness has been a major distraction.

To boot, Cohen is a Cohen, and Memphis is in the South and, well, black-Jewish relations just aren’t what they used to be. This winter, the self-righteous Rev. Brooks distributed the incredibly inflammatory flier at left (hi-res). Subtlety, we can be sure, is not Brooks’ forte.

In the envelope I received this month, Brooks had toned down his message. One flier, picturing the side-by-side mugs of Cohen and a black Jesus, carried this headline: “I LOUDLY repeat: Steve Cohen is ‘ANTI-JESUS’ And dere ain’t nuttin’ anti-Semitic ‘bout dat, it is the TRUTH!” The other blamed Jews, via Cohen’s proxy, for a few really vile social ills—the Tennessee Lottery and an initiative to legalize medical marijuana nationwide.

U.S. Rep. Cohen

And Barack Obama’s camp thinks they’ve had to deal with smear campaigns ...

The third sheet of paper was addressed to me, but my name had cleared by filled into a template Brooks sends to those identifies as his Jewish foes:

“Just a brief note, because I know my words fall on death [sic] ears when even suggesting or hinting at Jews, such as yourself, to be truthful about Jewish beliefs concerning Jesus. But prefer to just whine and cry that same old blues song, ‘Anti-Semitism.’”

So many things wrong with that paragraph, from spelling and syntax to arrogance and inaccuracy, I don’t even know where to start.

July 31, 2008 | 4:59 pm

Britney, Ivanka, Naomi—News Shticker hot celebrity edition

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Big news from JTA’s The News Shticker:

* Not only is Ivanka Trump back with her Jewish boyfriend, Jared Kushner, but now there’s talk that she’s planning to convert to Judaism.
* Britney Spears has become romantically involved with her Israeli bodyguard.
* Naomi Campbell compared Kabbalah to Alcoholics Anonymous.

Pithy snipes are flooding forward, but I’ll pass. More news tidbits, though not involving the world of entertainment, here.

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July 31, 2008 | 3:33 pm

Hamas scion converts to Christianity, respects Israel

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Yousef’s father, a Hamas leader

Haaretz Weekend Magazine has a fantastic profile coming up on Masab Yousef, whose father is the top Hamas leader in the West Bank. The younger Yousef, who once assisted his father politically, has moved to California and converted to Christianity. If that didn’t stop you dead in your tracks, this will: “Send regards to Israel, I miss it. I respect Israel and admire it as a country.”

A preview of the profile was published online today, and it’s clear Yousef is new wine in new wineskins. Thanks to Big Mike for sending this along. I can’t wait to read the rest of the article, but I’ll have to. Hopefully this excerpt will hold us over until then:

“I know that I’m endangering my life and am even liable to lose my father, but I hope that he’ll understand this and that God will give him and my family patience and willingness to open their eyes to Jesus and to Christianity. Maybe one day I’ll be able to return to Palestine and to Ramallah with Jesus, in the Kingdom of God.”

Nor does he attempt to hide his affection for Israel, or his abhorrence of everything representing the surroundings in which he grew up: the nation, the religion, the organization.

“Send regards to Israel, I miss it. I respect Israel and admire it as a country,” he says.

“You Jews should be aware: You will never, but never have peace with Hamas. Islam, as the ideology that guides them, will not allow them to achieve a peace agreement with the Jews. They believe that tradition says that the Prophet Mohammed fought against the Jews and that therefore they must continue to fight them to the death.”

Is that the justification for the suicide attacks?

“More than that. An entire society sanctifies death and the suicide terrorists. In Palestinian culture a suicide terrorist becomes a hero, a martyr. Sheikhs tell their students about the ‘heroism of the shaheeds.’”

And yet, in spite of the criticism of the place he left, California can’t make the longings disappear.

“I miss Ramallah,” he says. “People with an open mind. ... I mainly miss my mother, my brothers and sisters, but I know that it will be very difficult for me to return to Ramallah soon.”

It would be a mistake to see this as some sort of watershed moment. But it is a prime example of the power of religion, both for good and evil. We are so moved philosophically by He whom we place our faith in. And history offers testimony to how different visions of one God can produce a lot, a lot of bloodshed.

Yusef is Arabic for Joseph, but because of that guy who wore the technicolor dreamcoat it seems an even more fitting new name for this stranger in a stranger land.

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July 31, 2008 | 2:06 pm

Rabbi: Saudi king’s invitation for dialogue ‘must be seized’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Talk about a heady life choice: King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia brings Muslims and Christians and Jews together this month for the unimaginatively named World Conference on Dialogue, and for it he’s deemed an apostate who must die. What a guy, right? And you thought the king was just another despot who doesn’t allow synagogues or churches in his country ...

The heat King Abdullah received didn’t completely assuage concerns about ulterior motives behind the conference, which was held this month and concluded with the Madrid Declaration. But Rabbi David Rosen, the American Jewish Committee’s international director of interreligious affairs, writes in a column for JTA that importance of this moment should not be “underestimated”:

At the end of the opening, King Abdullah greeted the guests individually. When my turn came, I introduced myself to him saying in my limited Arabic, “I am Rabbi Rosen from Jerusalem, Israel,” and he replied “Ahalan w’asalan”—welcome—but I could see that those around him almost had heart attacks on the spot.

Members of the Jewish delegation were interviewed incessantly by the Arab media. Several Arab figures came up to us and said they had never met a Jew, let alone a rabbi, and would like to ask us questions.

Many of the questions reflected stunning prejudice, distortions and misconceptions, but the very fact that they could vent them to us—almost innocently—presented opportunities to address the misrepresentations and try to overcome them. ...

The highest authority in the very heartland of Islam has taken a lead in interfaith outreach, whatever his motives might be, with the declared intention of addressing contemporary challenges and resolving conflict. This offers Israel, the Jewish people and the West a significant opportunity that must be seized.

Now, if we could just do something about those Saudi textbooks.

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July 31, 2008 | 4:07 am

Joe Klein continues defending Jewish dual-loyalty claim

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

A month on, Joe Klein is still catching a ton of heat for his claim of Jewish dual-loyalties.

“Joe Klein is no Kappo, Just a Low-Life Scumbag,” is the headline from Yid With Lid.

“To say it is a badge of honor to stand in opposition to a person as manifestly intellectually unstable as Joe Klein has become is to understate the case,” writes John Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary, which Klein singled out. “As for his use of classic anti-Semitic canards, I am happy to report that the Jewish people will long survive Joe Klein. The question is, will Time Magazine?”

The “controversy” is all a bit overblown to me, which I stated back when this all began. His main point was that Jewish neoconservatives—there are non-Jewish neocons—led the United States into a needless war in Iraq. While it’s true advisers like Wolfowitz and Feith were prominent voices in President Bush’s head, they were not the only, and they definitely weren’t named Rumsfeld or Cheney.

“More importantly,” I wrote, “American foreign policy for the past almost four decades has held that Israel’s best interest is in the U.S.’s best interest. In other words, if the protection of the Jewish state from Saddam’s whims played a role in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq—an ill-advised act at that—it likely has as much to do with American policy as American Jewish interest or, as Joe Klein called it, dual loyalty.”

I’m sure this all would have blown over, but the Anti-Defamation League’s chief Abe Foxman decided to get involved—Bill Donahue, anyone?—and the folks at Commentary haven’t let it go. Klein, for his part, only seems to be adding fuel to the fire. Here he is singling out his “extremist” foes:

I don’t think a war with Iran is coming, thank God, but this time I am not going to pull any punches. My voice isn’t very important in the grand scheme of things, but I’m going to do my job—and that means letting you know exactly where I stand and what I believe. I believe there are a small group of Jewish neoconservatives who are pushing for war with Iran because they believe it is in America’s long-term interests and because they believe Israel’s existence is at stake. They are wrong and recent history tells us they are dangerous. They are also bullies and I’m not going to be intimidated by them.

For a fuller explanation of why Klein believes what he believes and stands by what he said, check out Jeffrey Goldberg’s Q&A, after the jump.

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July 30, 2008 | 7:54 pm

Fake L.A. Times: Polygamists pen TV deal

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

This is Not the Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times has already become a parody of itself, but in case you hadn’t gotten the joke, check out Roy Rivenburg’s new faux-news site, Fake L.A. Times.

The site reports that San Diego has been sold to ease the state budget woes, that the Times has fired the rest of the staff, though Steve Lopez remains amused with his own superior columnizing (he is good) and that Texas’ real-life Big Love Mormons have penned a deal with HBO, tentatively called “Sect and the City” Rivenburg also reports that social conservatives were right: Allowing gays to marry did indeed open the floodgates, and the courts since determined Paris Hilton and a dolphin could wed.

The site also includes a handful of blogs, including one from Crazy Lee Abrams, who looks strikingly like Borat. I don’t think the site is much of a money maker—that’s not really satire—but there are ads promoting “iCoffin” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Cathedral.” And, also like the real Times, there is an apology to P. Diddy:

Oops, they did it again. For the second time this year, the Los Angeles Times has retracted a story that connected hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs to a high-profile shooting.

In April, the newspaper apologized for hinting that Combs ordered an attack on rap artist Tupac Shakur in 1994. The mea culpa was issued after TheSmokingGun.com pointed out that a key document in the article should have been spotted as a hoax.

Now, the newspaper is backtracking again, this time on its claim that Combs met with Lee Harvey Oswald two hours before President John F. Kennedy was gunned down in 1963. The Times based its story on data retrieved from Oswald’s PalmPilot.

After The Smoking Gun pointed out that PalmPilots weren’t invented until the 1990s – and that, technically speaking, Combs wasn’t alive in 1963 – the Times launched an internal investigation. Two days later, the paper retracted the article.

Rivenburg, who spent 15 years at the Times and got out before things got really, really, really bad, either isn’t suffering from survivor guilt or does a good job appearing otherwise. He is, however, a very funny guy and remains the author of one very memorable and controversial profile disputing the incredible tales of speech-coach-to-the-stars Michel Thomas.

In other L.A. Times news, Sam Zell, the newish owner of the parent Tribune Co., isn’t denying that the LA Times is in hell. He tells BusinessWeek, which like the Times now piles up by my front door: “It will continue to be the deal from hell until we turn it around.”

To be clear, Zell’s idea of “turning it around” has thus far proven unpalatable to concerned Angelenos.

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July 30, 2008 | 6:51 pm

Latino pastors journey to Israel

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Latino pastors visit Israel

The Associated Press today followed the story I wrote in June about Latino pastors being taken to Israel by the American Jewish Committee, which was a follow-up to another story about them celebrating Sukkot in September. I wish I could point to something new in their piece, but there’s not. Their sources were mostly my sources; their story looks a lot like my story.

So instead I am forced to pettiness and the need to let you know I had it first. (Yes, I was better at sorting through my press release e-mail.) I never blogged about the Latino pastors’ trip, so I guess that’s my excuse for this post. Some of my June story is after the jump:

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July 30, 2008 | 4:08 pm

Ehud Olmert’s long goodbye

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s announcement today that he will not seek re-election and will resign in September has been a real long time coming. For those who don’t remember, Olmert’s in a lot of legal trouble.

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July 30, 2008 | 3:22 pm

The magic formula for seeing Jesus

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I’m not one for apparitions, but if you look really, really, really closely at this image, Jesus will jump out like the subject of a Magic Eye.

(Hat tip: Friendly Atheist)

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July 30, 2008 | 1:51 am

The folly of a McCain-Romney ticket

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Let me see if I get this:

Evangelical Christians were integral to George W. Bush’s presidential election and re-election, and can’t be lost if John McCain is to defeat Barack Obama this fall. But evangelicals remain cold on John McCain, and his solution might be to select real-life-Ken-doll Mitt Romney, whom evangelicals were downright frosty on, as his running mate?

That’s been the buzz for the past week, even though onlly in Israel do political moves make such little sense. Sure, Romney would gladly parrot whatever McCain told him to. And between McCain’s wealthy wife, Cindy, and former Bain business consultant and private-equity investor Romney, the two could personally almost keep pace with Obama’s breakneck fundraising. The problem is many people, evangelicals in particular, find Romney absolutely loathsome.

“I’m rich enough, I’m wingnut enough, but gosh darn it, people just don’t like me,” a commenter wrote on Matthew Yglesias blog.

Indeed, Romney is about as far from a swing-vote-grabbing running mate as McCain could pick. Even Mike Huckabee would make more sense. And so, again, evangelicals are complaining about McCain’s political wisdom:

“McCain and Romney would be like oil and water,” said evangelical novelist Tim LaHaye, who supported Mr. Huckabee. “We aren’t against Mormonism, but Romney is not a thoroughgoing evangelical and his flip-flopping on issues is understandable in a liberal state like Massachusetts, but our people won’t understand that.”

The Rev. Rob McCoy, pastor of Calvary Chapel in Thousand Oaks, Calif., who speaks at evangelical events across the country, told The Washington Times, “I will vote for McCain unless he does one thing. You know what that is? If he puts Romney on the ticket as veep.

“It will alienate the entire evangelical community - 62 million self-professing evangelicals in this country, half of them registered to vote, are going to be deeply saddened,” Mr. McCoy added.

What is James Dobson thinking now?

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July 29, 2008 | 7:27 pm

Islamic terrorism’s tipping point in India

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Victims of a recent bombing

It’s become increasingly apparent that India is not free from the terror of Islamic extremism. Even in the United States and Britain, an appalling proportion of college-age Muslims support, in some cases, violence for Islam’s sake (about 26 percent in the United States and 32 percent in Britain). In India, where an ugly history between Muslims and Hindus pervades and the country’s 1.1 million citizens includes 150 million Muslims, it wouldn’t, or maybe didn’t, take much of a spark to start a devastating fire.

Faithworld breaks down the numbers:

For years, India had been seen as country that had largely rejected the attractions of global militancy spurred on by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. U.S. President George W. Bush notably said there were no Indians in al Qaeda.

But mainly Hindu India is home to one of the world’s biggest Muslim populations, around 13 percent of its 1.1 billion people.

It only takes 0.0001 percent of India’s roughly 150 million Muslims to form a nucleus of 15,000 militants, as Uday Bhaskar, former director of New Delhi’s Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, told me. 

And the attacks on Ahmedabad may have involved dozens of people. 

“We have crossed the tipping point,” he said.

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July 29, 2008 | 5:48 pm

Join the 30-day Levicitus challenge

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

A.J. Jacobs living biblically

When I read A.J. Jacob’s “The Year of Living Biblically,” I wished I had thought of spending a year living like an ancient Israelite. But the book had already been written, and I didn’t know an adulterer to stone, so I moved on to other odd makeovers, like growing a mustache. What then does Daniel Harrell hope to gain from his 30-day Leviticus challenge?

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