Obama to visit Israel
U.S. Ambassador to Israel James Cunningham announced that President Barack Obama is planning a visit to Israel
. No date has been announced as of yet, but the president is intent on visiting the Jewish state in the near future.
Israelis overwhelmingly view Obama in a negative light. And while a large number of American Jews have consistently voted Democrat, many are now voicing criticism of Obama’s handling of Israel and the Middle East.
When Obama toured the Middle East shortly after being elected president, he skipped Israel. Many Israelis viewed that as an insult, especially considering that the Holy Land is the only true democracy in the Middle East and is a longstanding ally of the U.S.
Obama will likely not receive the same warm reception in Israel that other U.S. presidents have enjoyed. And the fact that he is planning his visit as the U.S. presidential elections are heating up adds strength to the belief that his trip may be meant only to help him win reelection.
Comments (10) »Tuesday, July 5th, 2011 at 4:02 PM | Amichai Farkas
Explosion at Chabad House in Santa Monica
Officers were evacuating a 1-square-block area around the site of an explosion on the property of a Jewish religious facility in Santa Monica. No one was injured in the blast, which was reported about 6:45 a.m. Thursday and occurred in the 1400 block of 17th Street, said Sgt. Darrick Jacob, a watch commander with the Santa Monica Police Department.
Besides the evacuation zone, officers were diverting traffic in a larger area and bomb-sniffing dogs were on the scene to gather evidence and as a precaution in the event there were explosive devices in the vicinity, Jacob said.
Santa Monica police had at least 30 personnel on scene. The bomb squad of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was also taking part in the investigation and the local fire department was standing by.
At this time police do not consider the explosion to be a bomb. The local Chabad website wrote that the blast was caused by construction combustibles in a dumpster:
Comments (6) »“In response to news reports of a pipe bomb in our facility,” the website says. “During morning services today the police department came to Chabad House in response to a report of an explosion. The men that were praying did not hear or feel anything. Rabbi Levitansky grabbed one of the new Torah scrolls so they [could] finish services. Which they did at the corner of 17th and S. Monica.”
“The explosion was from a dumpster where someone trashed some construction combustibles,” the website explained. ”It exploded and landed on our neighbor’s roof. We do not know who placed the construction trash there.”
A police spokesperson has since attributed the blast to “mechanical failure.”
Thursday, April 7th, 2011 at 12:26 PM | David Kuner
US envoy threatens Israel with sanctions
US Envoy George Mitchell's official portrait from the U.S. Senate
Echoing threats last unfurled during the administration of George Bush, Sr.–generally considered recent history’s low-point in U.S.-Israel relations–U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell warned that Israel could face sanctions if the Jewish State doesn’t push forward peace talks toward establishing a Palestinian state, Yediot Aharonot reports.
Ahead of his visit to the region, the former senator told PBS that American law allows the U.S. to stop aid to Israel by freezing loan guarantees, leverage used by U.S. officials during the term of George Bush Sr. Israeli-American relations were strained during the period, during which former Secretary of State James Baker, when told that advisors worried that American Jews would be troubled by the administration’s pressure on Israel, famously responded, “[Expletive] the Jews. They don’t vote for us anyway.”
Mitchell leaves for an international trip this week, addressing the Quartet nations in Brussels before heading to Israel, Lebanon and Syria later in the month.
Comments (2) »Saturday, January 9th, 2010 at 4:16 PM | Stand For Israel
Jimmy Carter issues apology to American Jews, brows furrow across America
It’s no secret that there’s not a whole lot of love lost between former President Jimmy Carter and the Jewish state (and those who care about her). There has, however, a been whole lot of lovin’ between Carter and Israel’s enemies. Also Carter and tyrants around the world – but that’s a whole ‘nother blog post.
So, earlier this week, tongues were wagging when Carter recently offered a public apology to the American Jewish community—he even used the term “al het” from the Yom Kippur liturgy, which in modern Hebrew means any sort of request for forgiveness (though he used a weird transliteration for it)—for all the nasty things he’s said about Israel over the years. Here’s what he said:
“We must recognize Israel’s achievements under difficult circumstances, even as we strive in a positive way to help Israel continue to improve its relations with its Arab populations, but we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel. As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so.”
Uh huh.
As National Review’s sagacious (and terrrrrribly funny) Jay Nordlinger has put it, “No one quite realizes just how passionately anti-Israel Carter is.”
Long before the rest of the West would even acknowledge them, Carter was cozying up to terrorist despots, including Yasser Arafat, the “father of modern terrorism.”
(Try to hold down your lunch if you look at this photo of Carter and his wife laying a wreath at Arafat’s grave. Or read the accompanying article in which Carter praises Arafat as one who “fought for just causes.” In addition to his murderous record, once he had legimitate power, Arafat built a kleptocracy that enriched his cronies(and his wife) while depriving the Palestinians of even the most basic civil rights. For one of the best exploration of Carter’s bizarro-world love for Arafat, along with other troubling quirks, read Nordlinger’s excellent…
Read More » Comments (0) »Thursday, December 24th, 2009 at 8:27 AM | Stand For Israel
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Outrageous: New partnership would require Delta to ban Jews on Saudi Arabia-bound flights
In an interview, Delta’s coordinator of Customer Care, Kathy M. Johnston, explained that Delta does not condone discrimination for any reason but said that the airline must abide by the laws of the countries they serve. In fact, Delta could be fined if they bring Jews into Saudi Arabia, since the government denies them from entering the country.
FIne … but most people are asking why an organization that claims not to condone discrimination would partner with a company that openly and unapologetically practices it:
In a Huffington Post op-ed, Rabbi Jason Miller says what many in the Jewish community must be thinking right now:
Regular Delta fliers, take note.
Comments (31) »