Why did you ASSUME that the answer "I oppose the construction of additional settlements" or "I think they should be transferred to Palestinian sovereignty", or "I think when they have real title they can stay", would yeild NO MONEY?

My wife was recently looking for work. She looked at her resume and concluded, "not everyone will want to hire me".

I responded, "You only need one job."

That's not an example of the "Israel Lobby" Phil. That's a story about you and your friend.

Why did you assume that the purpose of elections was solely to win? RUNNING and speaking candidly but responsibly is one of the key ways that issues get brought up.

Also, what do you think John Hall's views on Israel are? Do you think he didn't have Jewish support, even the support of Jewish money?

This kind of thing is like manna from heaven for REAL anti-semites

Sneh: Iran could destroy Zionist dream
By: SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL on: 16.10.2007

Sneh: Iran could destroy Zionist dream
By SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL

A nuclear Iran could destroy the Zionist dream by deterring immigration to Israel, Labor MK Ephraim Sneh said Sunday.

Labor MK Ephraim Sneh.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski
Telling supporters at Labor headquarters in Tel Aviv of a recent meeting he held with members of American Jewish organizations, Sneh said aliya would slow down and eventually stop if Iran succeeded in developing nuclear weapons.

"I asked the Americans 'Would people from the States come if Iran had nuclear abilities?' They answered me with a resounding no," he said. "It is not necessary for Iran to actually destroy Israel with weapons, they can destroy it with the threat…. Iran could destroy the Zionist dream."

Speaking afterward in English, Sneh told The Jerusalem Post that Israel must also prepare an "indigenous" option for dealing with Iran, but he declined to elaborate. He said only that such an option should be employed as a last resort, saying Israel needed to have alternatives "on the table and ready to go."

"All I will say is that we need to create indigenous options," Sneh, a former deputy defense minister, said. "We need a strong shield on our periphery and an ability to act beyond the horizon."

In the speech, entitled "2008 – the year of decisions," Sneh laid out three issues – Iran, the Palestinians, and center-left Israeli politics – on which he felt strong decisions must be made in the year 2008.

"This is the year where issues will come to a head and we will be forced to make serious decisions," he said.

Sneh said Israel must learn to be self-reliant in dealing with Iran from a military perspective, and that although America would soon be led by a new president, Israel could rely on any American administration to support a military maneuver against Iran.

"Just as Iran is creating a new Persian Empire – stretching from Afghanistan to the south of Iraq, to Syria, and the Hizbullah network in Lebanon – we must create our own network," he said. "And we can't create our own network unless the Palestinian issue is seriously moving towards resolution."

Sneh, who met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Saturday, said both the Palestinian leadership and population were seriously interested in negotiating a final peace agreement with Israel.

"We need to be prepared to divide Israel, with 78 percent becoming a Jewish state and 22% going to the Palestinians," he said.

Most of the Knesset and the Israeli public currently back peace negotiations, Sneh said, adding that it was up to the leadership to step up and make "serious decisions."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380555108&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Maybe in Bizarro-Zionist land the Palestinians are actually in favor of the Jewish settlements on their land. I know that I for one find pre-fab subdivisions a beautiful addition to any landscape. And I just love racist neighbors.

Maybe, according to Bizarro-Zionist theory, all this going on in Israel is just an elborate ruse so that Philip Weiss and his campaign-minded friends can drive a wedge between American Jews of different stripes.

As Walt and Mearsheimer have described, the majority of Jews opposed the war in Iraq, and I would suspect also find the Israeli settlement policy to be BOTH immoral and impractical (as far as defending a very maze-like border).

So, among those majority of Jews, certainly MANY (many of them successful professionals) would contribute to the election of a progressive Zionist-supporting congressperson, rather than a likudnik one.

I think that the reason that AIPAC is conservative (its not as conservative as often presented anyway), is that the WORK of creating a moderate PAC has just not been done.

You know "Don't mourn, organize".

I suspect one of the reasons it is harder to fund a more moderate PAC is because it requires a more nuanced argument. And which of several hundred more nuanced arguments is that moderate PAC going to represent.

I suspect it's far easier to get real estate moguls and the heirs of department store fortunes to contribute to an organization seen as steadfast in support of Israel no matter what than one that argues that Israel must immediately change its settlements policy, for example. To some extent, it's just human nature to just support the cause rather than doing a complicated weighing of what part cause one does support and what one doesn't.

And with the Israel issue, there is also an additional appeal to guilt. For example, "You know your father always regretted that with his fortune he didn't do more to prevent the Holocaust. Now it is your time to step-up and save Israel from its horrific and murderous enemies."

I thought the recent confession of the sometimes radical and iconoclastic professor, Stanley Fish, that he still fears for the fate of Jews in America despite all the success, was extremely revealing about a generational mindset that exercises a very significant influence in the community.

In fact, Israel is the only place I have ever heard overtly antisemitic language used. I swear, outside of Israel or in the mouth of a goy, I have never, ever, heard anybody referred to as a "greasy Jew". In Tel Aviv I heard that and other hitlerian slurs all the time.

I'm sure it is true that a nuanced approach takes more skill and integrity to realize.

I don't think its rocket science.

In response to Phil's poster question, "what are your positions on the settlements"? I expect that intelligent potential contributors would PREFER some subtlety and judgement.

Repeating that there are forces keeping people powerless, is NOT the same as becoming powerful, liberated, liberal.

Dissenters do win elections. My congressman is a consistent opponent to the Iraq War. He gets local Jewish money. He doesn't need a lot of it, as he is so highly regarded that he never has serious competition.