This is one of those times
when it all seems a bit much. Bad enought that Obama has now nominated
Hagel for the position of Secretary of Defense. But then we have a
Democratic lobbying group, the National Jewish Democratic Council, which has
released a statement saying that it is confident that Hagel:
"will follow the
president’s lead of providing unrivaled support for Israel.
"President Barack Obama's
unprecedented pro-Israel credentials are unquestionable, and setting policy
starts and stops with the president.”
HUH??
~~~~~~~~~~
Daniel Greenfield, writing
in Frontpage Magazine, says that this NJDC statement reflects an unwillingness
to endorse Hagel:
"The shorter version is, 'Hagel may hate Jews, but put your faith in
Barack Obama.'"
All fine and good, but... "Obama's unprecedented pro-Israel
credentials"?
Greenfield then asks the very same question that had occured to
me:
"If Obama’s support for Israel is so unrivaled, why did he nominate a
man that even the NJDC can’t bring itself to support?"
In any event, any Jewish group that chooses to allude to "Obama's
unprecedented pro-Israel credentials" is
either seriously out of touch with reality, or seriously into being court
Jews. I find this very worrisome.
~~~~~~~~~~
Much to my bewilderment, since he claimed to support
Israel, Alan Dershowitz was an Obama supporter throughout the
campaign. But now he says that Obama's appointment is a mistake:
"I think it makes it more likely that Iran
will persist in its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. This
will send a message to the Iranian Mullahs of softness,
to nominate a man who is opposed to sanctions and who is opposed to the
military option.... (Emphasis added)
"The Iranians are celebrating this appointment in Tehran,
this was a great appointment for Tehran...
"I makes it more likely that Iran will actually move towards
developing a nuclear program and it makes it more likely that there
will have to be a military response. This is a very bad nomination for
peace."
~~~~~~~~~~
In an interview with Breitbart today, Dershowitz said that he has
been approached about possibly testifying against Hagel on the issue of Iran,
and if asked is prepared to do so.
He believes this appointment was inspired by Obama's personal
relationship with Hagel and says that some within the White House itself were
opposed. In fact, he says he's been told that the head of the National
Jewish Democratic Council was opposed to the nomination -- which may be a clue
that Greenfield was correct.
Part of the problem, said Dershowitz, is that JStreet was for
the nomination and this gave Obama cover "as it often does."
~~~~~~~~~~
The thrust of Deshowitz's concern here, regarding Hagel and his
softness on Iran, points to the fact that this nomination is of concern for
reasons that transcend Jewish issues.
Not only is Hagel soft on Iran, he has been soft more generally on
terrorist organizations. Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) told CNN that Hagel
said "Israel should directly negotiate with the Hamas organization – a terrorist
group that lobs thousands of rockets into Israel – he also was one of 12
senators who refused to sign a letter to the European Union that Hezbollah
should be designated as a terrorist organization." (Emphasis added)
Sen. John
Cornyn, R-Texas, In a statement on Hagel's nomination Sunday, declared
that this is the "worst possible message" the United States can send to its
Middle East allies.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ed Koch, former NY mayor and long time political commentator, also
gave an interview on the issue of Hagel's nomination, which makes him
decidedly unhappy. What this interview does, however, is make me feel
just a tad better about Koch. He had been anti-Obama and then reversed
himself and come out an Obama supporter before the election. My own
question was, How could he? Well, here he tells us:
"Frankly, I thought that there would come a time when he
would renege on what he conveyed on his support of Israel. It comes a
little earlier than I thought it would. (Emphasis added)
"I did what I thought was warranted and intelligent. He was going to
win! There was no question about it. I thought it would be helpful to have a
Jewish voice there, being able to communicate."
Well, he guessed wrong about Obama, but, apparently, was
not supporting him out of strong conviction that the man would be
consistently good for Israel and the Jews. And it's clear that his voice
has counted for less than nothing.
Now about the Hagel nomination he says:
"I’m sure that the Arabs are drinking orange juice and toasting
Hagel’s good health.
"I believe it will encourage...the jihadists. They will say ‘ah, we
are winning the battle. America is beginning to desert Israel.'"
~~~~~~~~~~
Eric Cantor (R-VA), House Majority Leader, put out a statement about
the nomination, as well:
"I am profoundly concerned and disappointed by President Obama's
nomination of former senator Chuck Hagel, to be secretary of
defense....Hagel's views and inflammatory statements about Israel are
well outside the mainstream and raise well-founded doubts that he can be trusted
to manage the special relationship the United States shares with our greatest
Middle East ally..." (Emphasis added)
Senator Cornyn, cited above, concurs in this view, having said
that:
"Chuck Hagel, if confirmed...would be the most antagonistic
secretary of defense toward the state of Israel in our nation’s
history." (Emphasis added)
~~~~~~~~~~
Note that Hagel has said that the US relationship with
Israel "need not and cannot be at the expense of our Arab and Muslim
relationships."
~~~~~~~~~~
To all of the above, add the following:
"In October 2000, Hagel was one of only four Senators who refused to
sign a letter expressing support for Israel during the
Palestinian intifada."
"In November 2001, Hagel was one of 11 Senators who refused to sign a
letter requesting President Bush not meet with Yasser Arafat until Arafat’s
Fatah terrorists ceased attacks on Israel."
"In November 2003, the Senate, by a vote of 89 to 4, passed the
Syria Accountability Act authorizing sanctions on Syria for its support of
terrorism and its occupation of Lebanon. Hagel didn’t vote."
"In 2006, after Hezbollah attacks sparked a war with Israel, Hagel
called on the Bush administration to open direct talks with Hezbollah’s
sponsors, Iran and Syria."
~~~~~~~~~~
So, Hagel has been nominated and Senate Armed Service Committee chair
Carl Levin (D-MI) seems ready to clear him through his committee. But the Senate
still has to confirm him.
That is where you come in, my friends. Please! Contact
your Senators without delay. Ask that they vote against the Hagel
confirmation.
You have here numerous sources to quote from, and numerous facts
to present regarding his lack of qualifications for the
position. But it is best to keep the message simple. And emphasize
the fact that Hagel is bad for America.
You can find your Senators here:
~~~~~~~~~~
Not,
I will add here, that all of this means Kerry is a great choice for secretary of
state, or John Brennan for CIA director. But I'll return to this another
day.
~~~~~~~~~~
In case you haven't heard: about a week ago, former vice president Al
Gore sold the cable news network -- Current TV -- he co-founded seven
years ago. It was purchased for $100 million by Al-Jazeera, the
pan-Arabic cable news network owned by Qatar, and overseen by Sheik Ahmed
bin Jassim Al Thani, a member of Qatar's royal family.
The purchase boosted Al-Jazeera's English language reach in the US nine-fold to about 40 million (although Time-Warner has dropped it). There is no rule against foreign ownership of a cable network. Al-Jazeera says it plans to develop something called Al-Jazeera America. This channel will be headquartered in New York and half its broadcasts will focus on US news.
The purchase boosted Al-Jazeera's English language reach in the US nine-fold to about 40 million (although Time-Warner has dropped it). There is no rule against foreign ownership of a cable network. Al-Jazeera says it plans to develop something called Al-Jazeera America. This channel will be headquartered in New York and half its broadcasts will focus on US news.
And the other half? Well Gore explained in a statement that
confirmed the sale:
Oh joy.
~~~~~~~~~~
This is what Barry Rubin has to say about the
sale (emphasis added):
"First, al-Jazeera was originally run by Arab
nationalists but these people were replaced by Islamists about four or so years
ago. It is thus a radical media outlet run by people who are
anti-American, anti-Christian, antisemitic, and anti-Western.
In other words, it is an instrument of extremist revolutionary
movements. On a number of occasions it has lent itself to promote and
be used by violent terrorist groups.
"Second,
while al-Jazeera is more open to dissenting views than previous state-controlled
media this is misleading. It is more open in English than in Arabic but former
staffers in the English-language section have spoken about how it is not a free
agent but the news is slanted to please the Qatari government which owns
it...So al-Jazeera is also an instrument of concealed
propaganda.
"Third,
when al-Jazeera does have on dissenting views it tends to follow a
formula....much of the nominal openness is used to create a frenzy of
hatred...
"But
there's more! Qatar, except for the (possibly soon to be overthrown) Syrian
regime, is the most pro-Iran Arab government...
Rubin
says al-Jazeera is not a station a former American vice president should want to
associate with, and that Gore had every reason to know what he was
doing.
Al-Jazeera is anti-Israel and anti-American, "and,
again, Gore should know this.... the former vice-president of the United States cannot tell the difference
between a free media and a state-controlled propaganda organ, or--which is
worse--doesn't care."
"In former, sane, times, doing
something like this would have finished Gore's credibility forever.
Needless to say, sanity has long since jumped out the
window.
"By the way, remember that al-Jazeera is controlled by an oil-producing state whose goals include maintaining the highest possible use of petroleum, a goal that is contrary to Gore's obsession with what he says is the threat of man-made global warming to destroy the planet in the near future. "
"By the way, remember that al-Jazeera is controlled by an oil-producing state whose goals include maintaining the highest possible use of petroleum, a goal that is contrary to Gore's obsession with what he says is the threat of man-made global warming to destroy the planet in the near future. "
~~~~~~~~~~
Frank Gaffney, Jr., President of the Center for Security
Policy, says this about Gore's sale to
al-Jazeera:
"The effect will be to create vast new opportunities for
our enemies to propagandize the American people, a key ingredient of their
'civilization jihad' against our country.
"It is hard to overstate the magnitude of this treachery." (Emphasis added)
"It is hard to overstate the magnitude of this treachery." (Emphasis added)
~~~~~~~~~
The kicker here is that Glenn Beck now says he tried last
year to buy Gore's network. The response he received from Gore's
negotiators was (paraphrased), "...our legacy is too important and there would
quite frankly be too many people, too many friends that the vice president would
have to explain why he's selling to Glenn Beck."
But sell to al-Jazeera, no explanations
necessary.
In the past, al-Jazeera English's managing director
spoke of a "very aggressive hostility" from the Bush administration, which
had discouraged cable and satellite companies from accepting
al-Jazeera. And the Obama administration now? This is most certainly
just fine and dandy with them.
~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~
The anxiety I feel for the American nation right
now is huge. No, it's more than this: the America I knew
is gone.
~~~~~~~~~
You can find this on my website at: http://arlenefromisrael.squarespace.com/current-postings/2013/1/8/january-8-2013-over-the-top.html
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Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner,
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