By
Joe Settler, www.JewishPress.com
I might have to "reassess" my position on President Obama if his "new positions and comments" on Israel don't match his pre-election statements.
Candidate Obama said so many interesting
things in 2008 when he was trying to get elected — when he wanted that Jewish
vote. Well, I mean, if it’s not racist to say that he wanted to get the Jews
out to vote for him. At AIPAC, Candidate Obama said, “Jerusalem will remain the
capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.”
I can only assume that since Candidate
Obama promised that before elections, then he wouldn’t have taken any steps
during his tenure (any evidence to the contrary) that would contradict that
promise, such as getting upset when Jews build homes in Jerusalem, or by
demanding building freezes in Jerusalem from the Israeli Prime Minister. Here
is his 2008 AIPAC statement on Jerusalem:
Let me be clear. Israel’s security is sacrosanct. It is non-negotiable. The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive, and that allows them to prosper — but any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.
I have no illusions that this will be easy.
It will require difficult decisions on both sides. But Israel is strong enough
to achieve peace, if it has partners who are committed to the goal. Most
Israelis and Palestinians want peace, and we must strengthen their hand. The
United States must be a strong and consistent partner in this process — not
to force concessions, but to help committed partners avoid stalemate and
the kind of vacuums that are filled by violence. That’s what I commit to do as
president of the United States.
Candidate
Obama also said, “But Israel is strong enough to achieve peace, if it
has partners who are committed to the goal.” Notice the qualifier that
Candidate Obama put in that statement - “if” - if Israel had a peace partner.
I can only assume that since it is absolutely
clear that Israel doesn’t have a partner on the other side, then what Candidate
Obama promised to the Jews before elections, would be respected by President
Obama.
Candidate Obama promised to “not to force
concessions” – such as settlement freezes, or threatening to not use the UN
Veto, just to name two things that pop to mind. After all, we should believe
what Candidate Obama told us. Otherwise, I would be seething, infuriated and
unimpressed.
Unfortunately the disparity between Candidate
Obama’s pre-election statements and President Obama actions, “new positions and
comments” have forced me to “reassess”…
You might want to check out Elder of Ziyon’s article on Obama’s
pre-election Iran statements:
“If
you abandon your dangerous nuclear program, support for terror, and threats to
Israel, there will be meaningful incentives — including the
lifting of sanctions, and political and economic integration with the international
community. If you refuse, we will ratchet up the pressure.”
I
wish we could hold him to that.
Belated Purim Services Held
in Goebbels Castle by American Jewish Troops
March 9, 1945, Miescern-Gladbach, Germany
Gladbach, Germany, (JTA) — Belated Purim
services were held here yesterday (3-8-1945) in a castle belonging to Dr. Joseph
Goebels by front-line troops who were too busy
fighting last week to pause for the traditional observances.
Capt, Manual Poliakeff of Baltimore, a
Jewish chaplain, carefully arranged the candles over a swastika-bedecked
bookcase in Goebbels’ main dining room. PFC Arnold Reich of Meadville, Pa. and
Corporal Martin Willen of Baltimore assisted the
chaplain.
The services were attended by a large crowd which filled the
vast room. Jewish civilians and Jewish and Christian soldiers were in the audience,
and the Jews explained to their Christian comrades about Haman and why it was
so fitting that Purim services should be held in a castle belonging to Goebbels.
The
Resolution passed by the
Arizona House of
Representatives:
Whereas,
Israel
has been granted her land under and through the oldest recorded deed, as
recorded in the Old Testament, scripture that is held
sacred and revered by Jews and Christians alike, the acts and words of God; and
Whereas,
the claim and presence of the Jewish people in Israel has remained constant
throughout the past 4,000 years of history; and
Whereas,
the legal basis for the
establishment of the modern State of Israel was a binding act of international
law established in the San Remo Resolution, which was unanimously
adopted by the League of Nations in 1922 and subsequently affirmed by both
houses of the United States Congress; and
Whereas,
this resolution affirmed
the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in the historical region
of the Land of Israel, including the areas of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem;
and
Whereas,
Article 80 of the United Nations Charter recognized the continued validity of
the rights granted to states or peoples that already existed under
international instruments, and, therefore, the 1922 League of Nations
resolution remains valid and the 650,000 Jews currently residing in the areas
of Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem reside there legitimately; and
Whereas,
Israel declared its independence and self-governance on May 14, 1948, with the goal of reestablishing its
God-given and legally recognized land as a homeland for the Jewish people;
and
Whereas,
the United States, as the first country to recognize Israel as an independent nation
and as Israel's principal ally, has enjoyed a close and mutually beneficial
relationship with Israel and her people; and
Whereas,
Israel is the greatest
friend and ally of the United States in the Middle East, and
the values of our two nations are so intertwined that it is impossible to separate
one from the other; and
Whereas,
there are those in the
Middle East who have continually sought to destroy Israel from the time of its
inception as a state, and those same enemies of Israel also
hate and seek to destroy the United States; and
Whereas,
the State of Arizona and
Israel have enjoyed cordial and mutually beneficial relations since 1948,
a friendship that continues to strengthen with each passing year; and
Whereas,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke before a joint session of Congress
on March 3, 2015 and urged the United States to stand with Israel to "stop
Iran's march of conquest, subjugation and terror" and warned the United
States that an emerging nuclear agreement with Iran "paves Iran's path to
the bomb."
Therefore.
Be it resolved by the Senate of the State of Arizona, the House of
Representatives concurring:
1.
That the Members of the
Legislature commend Israel for its cordial and mutually beneficial relationship
with the United States and with the State of Arizona and support Israel as a
Jewish state in its legal, historical, moral and God-given right
of self-governance and self-defense on the entirety of its own lands, recognizing
that Israel is not an occupier of the lands of others and that peace can be
afforded in the region only through a whole and united Israel.
2.
That the Secretary of
State transmit copies of this Resolution to the President of the United States,
each member of Congress from the State of Arizona and the Governor
of the State of Arizona.
This
historic resolution (above) was forwarded to us from Jonathan Bernis, Jewish Voice Ministries, PO Box
81439, Phoenix, AZ 85069-1439
Call: 1-800-299-9347 www.jewishvoice.org
In 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
wrote to Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath,
conveying to the Jewish leader an idea he had for a march. King was planning an
unprecedented demonstration, bringing hundreds, maybe thousands, on a walk from
Montgomery to Selma.
Dr.
King was fighting for voting rights for the black community, and he needed the
rabbi’s help. “The segregationists and racists,” King once said, “make no fine
distinction between the Negro and the Jew.”
What
resulted would go down in history as one of the greatest civil rights moments
of all time. Rabbi Eisendrath did indeed participate,
as did other spiritual leaders from all factions, political figures, and
everyday volunteers.
Rabbi
Eisendrath, executive director and president of the
Union of American Hebrew Congregations until 1973, was joined on the march by
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel,
a widely read Jewish theologian.
The
pair has been immortalized in an iconic photo from the Selma march, in which
Rabbi Eisendrath, clutching a Torah, can be seen
standing with Dr. King and Rabbi Heschel... As Rabbi Heschel said, “When I marched in Selma, it felt like my
legs were praying.”
Yossi
Aloni, 3/19/2015, www.IsraelToday.co.i
Annual subscriptions for this full-color monthly
by Messianic Jews living in Israel: $45
The
National Zionist Congress for Youth convened last week to discuss the phenomenon
of emigration from the Land of Israel. On what turned out to be a fascinating
panel were Mia Morano, widow of IDF special forces officer Emanuel Moreno who was killed in the
Second Lebanon War, Israeli priest Father Gabriel Naddaf
and IDF Major Elias Karam, the first Arab Christian
to join the naval officers’ school.
Naddaf opened the
panel by recalling that he was born in Nazareth when the population was predominantly
Christian with a Muslim minority. “Today it is the opposite,” he lamented,
noting that Christians should find in Israel a natural home. “Christianity
came from Judaism,” Naddaf stated. “Without
Judaism, Christianity doesn’t exist.”
But in the rest of the Middle East, the
situation is much different. “During the ‘Arab Spring’ we saw the collapse of
governments lead to the Muslim slaughter of Christians. And they still call
them ‘brothers,’” said Naddaf. “I can not dress like
this in my priestly garments in Iran or Saudi Arabia.”
Father Naddaf
went on to address his own son’s recent enlistment in the IDF, which he encouraged:
“I sent my son to serve in the Israeli army. The IDF is the most moral army in
the world. We don’t arbitrarily kill people.”
As spiritual leader of the Israeli
Christian Recruitment Forum that actively encourages all young Arabic-speaking
Christians to join the IDF, Father Naddaf explained
that he “understands that it is essential to connect Christian Arabs to Israel
and the Jews.”
But the Israeli Arab leadership, he said,
“has fooled us into living a lie. They call Israel an apartheid state, but when
anyone suggests an exchange of territories, [these leaders] protest because
they know life is better in Israel.”
Mia Moreno told the youth about her return
to Jewish faith and being raised in the Sinai when it was still under Israeli
control. “The Jewish faith does not require everyone to be the same,” she
noted. “I sit here beside Father Naddaf, he a Christian
priest and me a religious Jewish woman, and we can and must live in peace with
one another.”
Major Elias Karam
told the youth gathering that as an Arabic-speaking Christian he is proud to
wear the uniform of the IDF. “I volunteered for the army. I could have been a
doctor or a lawyer, but I chose a different path,” said Maj. Karam. “In doing so, I stayed true to my dream.”
Congress organizer Jacob Haguel of the World Zionist Organi-zation said the event, co-sponsored by the Zionist Council in Israel, sought to “bring together the leaders of the next generation. This congress repres-ents the beautiful mosaic that is Israel including… Druze and Jews, religious and secular, periphery and center.”