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Conference of Presidents Shreis Gevalt!
The Conference of Presidents leader, Malcolm Hoenlein got a little more than he bargained for when, after securing Hillary Clinton for his anti-Iran rally, timed to coincide with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech to the UN General Assembly, he also invited Sarah Palin. He began the day with New York’s senior senator as a star of his event. He ended the day Clintonless:
“Her attendance was news to us, and this was never billed to us as a partisan political event,” a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, Philippe Reines, said on Wednesday. “Senator Clinton will therefore not be attending.”
Clinton’s “replacement” opposes almost every domestic priority of the American Jewish community. Hoenlein went from a rally that had no partisan political tension, to one that showcased Hoenlein’s allegiance to the Republican Party.
[Irony Alert] I do understand there may be one small glitch in Palin’s acceptance of the invitation to speak. She’s requested that she be introduced by David Brickner, the director of Jews for Jesus, who spoke before her at her Alaska church less than a month ago. I don’t think this will cause Abe Foxman any trouble though, since he claims he has no problem with Palin lapping up a Jews for Jesus exhortation to convert us.
And since Hoenlein came to the U.S. as a young Soviet Jewish émigré (which explains a good deal of his political hawkishness), he should be able to give Sarah a quick tutorial on Russia to fill in any weak spots in her knowledge.
This rally debacle also illustrates how politically out of touch the Israel lobby’s leadership is with the views of mainstream Jews. At best, 30% of them will vote for McCain-Palin in November. 70% will vote for the other guy. But Hoenlein is content to showcase his fealty to the 30% at an event that should showcase a united Jewish community.
Let there be no doubt, the Jewish leadership has hitched itself to the Bush-McCain bandwagon. It is in lockstep with the most bellicose approach to the Iranian nuclear impasse. Sarah Palin says there would be nothing wrong with Israel attacking Iran. That’s what Malcolm Hoenlein wants to hear. He wants to say: “Jump” and hear a candidate say: “How high.” The Republicans are willing to give Israel a blank check. The Israel lobby knows that Barack Obama, while a friend to Israel and the Jewish people, is no fool and will not give Israel a blank check.
Keep in mind that yesterday, five past secretaries of state INCLUDING Henry Kissinger and James Baker called for unconditional negotiations between Iran and the U.S. “at the highest level.” That’s the two deans of the Republican foreign policy establishment rejecting the McCain-Palin approach to Iran out of hand. Yet, Malcolm Hoenlein knows something Kissinger doesn’t about those mad mullahs.
The Conference of President’s anti-Iran event has become a pep rally for “Jews for McCain-Palin.” It’s a shande. If you want to voice your displeasure, join J Street’s protest by demanding that Hoenlein and the Conference disinvite Palin.
One thing does reassure me though. After the rally, Sarah will get some quality time with all those foreign leaders gathering at the UN, who she’s never met before in her life. She’ll even get an autographed map of the Bering Straits from Ban Ki Moon showing the border between Russia and Alaska. If she’s very good, Secretary General Ban might shake her hand and tell her he comes from South Korea and show her it on a world map.
Then Sarah can tell him that the only map that matters for her is the map of heaven. All the rest is sin and deviltry.
Tags: clinton, conference-of-presidents-of-major-jewish-organizations, iran
The Israel Lobby failed. Covergirl Palin is “uninvited”. What will “Jewish Leadership” do now? What a dark day. The Elders of Zion have been defeated by the Sons of Light (J-Street and the good Yids). No more evil Jewish stranglehold on all that is Holy. Happy days are here again!
I agree with Amir completely, but I think we are wasting our time on this site where the agenda is to put partisan points ahead of Israel’s interests. Israel has too many friends in the world anyway, so we should continue to spit in the face of elected government officials who are trying to be helpful (because, as we know, supporting unrestricted abortion rights is important than the risk of a nuked Israel). Besides, we WANT to push the Republicans back into the arms of James Baker, Brent Scowcroft and Zbig. They know what’s best! But, I’m sure I’ll be lectured to by the people here who, of course, know what’s in Israel’s interest better than people who actually live there. BTW, did anyone else catch Bernard Henri-Levy on WNYC earlier this week come right out and accuse W&M of pushing Nazi ideology, akin to Celine? He said their book would never have been published in France b/c people there would have immediately understood the anti-semitic innuendo.
@amir: You’ve been away from the U.S. for too long & have forgotten a distinction that every American understands (even Republicans usually) bet. a pol running for election & one who isn’t. It’s a huge distinction apparently lost on you.
Hillary Clinton is raising money for Barack Obama. She’s not out on the stump making partisan public pitches every day like Obama is. She knows the diff. bet. delivering a non partisan speech at a Jewish rally & making a stump speech during a campaign. Again apparently you don’t.
She would never see such a rally as an opportunity to score partisan political pts.
Sarah Palin, on the other hand, is in the middle of a hard fought national election & ANYTHING she says will be seen as partisan. It has to be. If Hillary were running for Pres. instead of Obama then she’d be in the same position & likely wouldn’t address such a rally just as neither Obama nor McCain are.
As if you were ever considering voting for the Democrats! Shame on you for being so disingenuous as to have us think you would support Obama over McCain.
@Martin H. Leaf: Some right wingers are so obtuse they can’t tell the diff. bet. Tikkun Magazine and this blog, Tikun Olam. Can’t teach an old right-winger new tricks I guess.
Sarah Palin a true friend of the Jews???!!! If you admire Jews for Jesus & their attempts to turn us all into Christians, then I guess she’s a swell friend of our kind.
I do so love being called a “traitor” and “diseased” by faux Jews like this one.
@rundmc: That pretty much sums up my feelings though w/o the snarkiness.
@DRW:
Quel surprise! A former French Jewish liberal (now verging on neocon) detests Mearsheimer’s book! I’m shocked, I say, shocked.
Go ahead & charge Mearsheimer with “pushing Nazi ideology.” It only shows you for the propagandist wingnut you are.
I’ve voted for Democrats before, and I like and respect Barack Obama. Why would you assume otherwise?
@amir: A. because you threatened to vote for the Republicans for what I thought was a petty reason. B. because your politics regarding the I-P conflict are clearly much diff. than Obama’s
Those are pretty good reasons to believe that you are either a Republican or an independent with right-leaning tendencies & highly unlikely to vote Democratic. But I’d love for you to prove me wrong.
I like & respect Obama. It’s hard for me to see how both of us could vote for him given the wild differences in our politics. But maybe that’s a good sign for Obama.
There are other issues other than I-P conflict. Frankly, I don’t think American Jews should decide who to vote for based on that one issue.