Last Sunday, Lizzy Ratner–friend of Mondoweiss, colleague and an excellent journalist–and I co-hosted WBAI radio’s Beyond the Pale, a weekly show on Jewish culture and politics. (WBAI is a New York City-based lefty radio station, part of the larger Pacifica radio network.)
There was a lot discussed, but Mondoweiss readers will be interested particularly in our interview with MJ Rosenberg on Sheldon Adelson and our discussion with The Palestine Center’s Yousef Munayyer, who spoke on Romney’s trip to Israel and his offensive comments about Palestinian culture.
We also spoke with +972 Magazine’s Haggai Matar on the current state of the Israeli social justice movement.
Here’s the write-up of the show:
In the first segment, we talk to journalist MJ Rosenberg about Sheldon Adelson, the ultra-right-wing casino magnate and Israel hawk who has threatened to spend $100 million to buy the election for the Republicans; from there we move on to a discussion with political analyst Yousef Munayyer and Rosenberg about Mitt Romney’s infamous Israel junket, courtesy of Adelson; and finally, we conclude with a conversation with journalist Haggai Matar about the state of the J14 protests one year out.
You can listen to the whole show here.
I listened:
Does Sheldon Adleson love Israel uber alles more or union busting more? Hard to tell. He pours millions into both agendas. US elections are more about $ than voters per se these days. Adelson is a major funder of Islamohobia in the USA.
He’s Mister Big in the agenda for Likud Israe, with the likes of Pam Gellar. The agenda is to get Americans to hate American Muslims and love Bibi Netanyahu’s racist Israel.
Mitt took a 2 day trek to Israel and said the Palestinian natives are culturally lacking. Although Mitt is educated and knows what’s going on in the oppressive Israeli occupation, he chose to ignore this realty to foster a racial myth of Jewish superior culture.
MJR: Mitt and his advisor, Senor, this sort of folks in US government will not eye US interests, but what Israel says is its interests.
Obama has presided over a very pro-Israel agenda, and yet the GOP says that’s weak. So the shift is even more to the right by both parties, and this is troubling.
Mitt originally said he’d move the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem on his first day in the WH , and when he got flack , he said he would defer to Israel on the issue.
Israel wants a war on Iran, as they feel they have the Palestinians where they eant them. Mitt says he will allow Israel to do whatever it wants. He’s more so for this than even Bush Jr was.
What does the AIPAC/Israel move to take attention off the I/P conflict and focus on Iran mean? Bibi and Barack are going along with this. Bibi wants whichever POTUS is next to rubber-stamP Bibi–this is the whole ball game, while Dick and Jane are sleeping.
http://beyondthepale.org/episode/2012/08/19
Alex and Lizzy, Omigod. MJ, too.
Don’t ever ever ever pronounce his name Aye-del-son.
Ever.
It’s Addle-son. He goes big-time ballistic, and so do his eight ex-Mossad bodyguards. He kicks people out of his office for getting it wrong.
He did not get his dough from casinos initially. He made it from COMDEX, held in the Sands Convention Center.
wow! super cool! go alex, you are a star. now i have to go listen to the interview.
;)
Good job Alex – everyone.
And a big thank you to Yoder for the skinny dipping that brought the Israel trips to the fore.
”Israel trip turns congressional travel into campaign issue in North Carolina race
By Emily Heil”
Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., is being targeted for travel. (Harry Hamburg – AP)
The “Congressmen Gone Wild” antics in the Sea of Galilee have spawned a few things: some unfortunate mental images (a skinny-dipping congressman–eek!), plenty of cable-news chatter — and the emergence of congressional travel as a salient campaign issue.
Usually not deemed sexy enough for electoral mud-slinging, the topic was elevated to soundbite-ready status by that now-infamous trip to Israel.
To wit: Steve Wilkins, the Democratic nominee challenging Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.), used the hook of the Israel trip (which Ellmers was on) to chastise her for fancy travel habits.
“While the rest of the country was watching the ugly debt ceiling debate and the embarrassing downgrading of our credit rating, Rep. Ellmers was planning a vacation paid for by “special interests.” Wilkins said in a press release. “People in this district and across the nation are struggling, and they need a representative that’s focused on their needs instead of lavish foreign junkets.”
The Israel trip was paid for by the American Israel Educational Foundation, which is allowed by House rules that permit Members of Congress to go on trips funded by outside groups, as long as the organizations don’t hire lobbyists.”
Alex, Lizzy, MJ., Yousef and Haggai!
Bravo!