Oh my: 300 Jewish leaders converged on Washington today for "National Jewish Leadership Advocacy Day on Iran." The communal leaders heard from Eric Cantor, the joyless Republican congressman from VA, and Howard Berman, chairman of House Foreign Affairs. Two men opposed on health care, but joined at the hip on Israel.
Berman said he was ready to ratchet up the pressure on Iran:
And, regarding Iran , we’re not talking about a regime that has the same calculus — that same sense of restraint — as we do about the use of such a weapon. This is a regime that sent tens of thousands of children to certain death – its own children — as human mine-sweepers during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. This is a regime whose ex-president, as Nita (Lowey) mentioned — the so-called moderate Ali Rafsanjani — has boasted openly that Iran would win a nuclear exchange with Israel . This is a regime, as we have witnessed once again in recent weeks, whose brutality against its opponents knows no limits. And, at last, the world has begun to acknowledge the extent of its repressiveness.
Jeff Blankfort writes, "I do not remember organized Jewry ever being so outfront on any issue as it is on Iran and it is not just AIPAC or the majors." If there is an attack on Iran, he fears that it will be blamed on "the Jews." Note that Americans for Peace Now is taking a brave stand against tightening sanctions on Iran.
