News

Resume requirement for counter-terrorism job appears to include: Jewish

On Monday, President Obama appealed to the Congress to approve his nominee for the counter-terrorism czar in Treasury: Adam Szubin. “This is a vital position for our anti-terrorism efforts,” Obama said, and Szubin is “highly qualified.”

Is one of those qualifications that Szubin is Jewish? It sure looks that way. As the Jewish Telegraphic Agency pointed out when Szubin was nominated in April, he would be the third Jew to hold this job: “In 2002, he helped found DC Minyan, an Orthodox congregation based on egalitarian principles.”

The two other men to hold this job before Szubin were Stuart Levey– who studied under Marty Peretz at Harvard and wrote his college dissertation about saving the Zionist “dream” from Meir Kahane’s extremism– and Levey’s deputy David Cohen, who had the blessing of Alan Dershowitz.  “He is very consciously Jewish,” DC attorney Nathan Lewin told the JTA. It’s a good bet that Szubin also has pro-Israel cred.

The reality is that the position of counter-terrorism czar is an Israel lobby job. He (they’re all men) is tasked with keeping up sanctions pressure on Iran through the international banking system, but also supporting the president’s efforts to negotiate a new relationship with Iran. David Cohen talked very tough about Iran when I heard him at NYU 3 years ago; and Obama could certainly point to Cohen and Levey as living proof that he was not being soft on Iran, and is trying to shut down Hezbollah and Hamas even as he seeks change. Covering his bases.

Levey was a George Bush appointee; but Obama kept him on in his administration, and got cheers from the Jewish community for doing so. That organized pro-Israel community wanted a signal that Jews who care about Israel are involved in making policy on Iran. And Obama cared what Jews thought. He has to. Who else opposes the Iran deal besides the organized pro-Israel Jewish community? As Eli Clifton reports, it’s megadonors Thomas Kaplan and Sheldon Adelson, both giant supporters of Israel, who are backing one of the leading attack dog groups trying to stop the Iran deal. This big rally against the deal is being organized at a synagogue in Long Island.

The Iran deal could be a huge win for the president. But he needs organized Jewish community support to bring it off. So yes, that’s why Under-secretary of Treasury for counter terrorism and financial intelligence is in essence a Jewish position.

Speaking of the pressure on the Obama administration over Iran from the organized Jewish community, look at the unseemly piece at Huffo about UN Ambassador Samantha Power from rightwing rabbi Shmuley Boteach. Boteach is Power’s former character reference, which on its face is ludicrous, but a reflection of the political power dynamics. He notes that the “Jewish community” never really trusted Power till he stood up for her, but it will turn against “Samantha” — addressing her in a familiar manner– if she doesn’t oppose a Palestinian state…

Ambassador Power wasn’t implicitly trusted by members of the Jewish community when she took her role in the National Security Council. After writing an op-ed where I encouraged her to clarify her statements, she did just that.

We met in the White House… I became intent on transforming the Jewish community’s opinion of her, working side-by-side to persuade others that she was someone whose judgment and understanding of the conflict could be trusted when it came to issues related to Israel. Ultimately, when the time came for her nomination to serve as US Ambassador to the United Nations, the Jewish American community registered strong, widespread support.

Yet in recent months, the Ambassador Power currently representing America before the United Nations has been a far cry from Samantha I knew. It has pained me to see her embrace the disastrous Iran deal, even as its leadership repeatedly and unapologetically threatened Israel with genocide.

You’d think Boteach is a rightwing loose cannon, but he’s not. He writes an op-ed and gets invited to the White House. He’s got power because the lobby transcends party alliances. Just as Stuart Levey served two presidents, it didn’t matter what party they were. Just as Hillary Clinton promised that she’d reach across party lines to oppose the international boycott campaign against Israel.

Israel supporter David Makovsky interprets Clinton’s message as a signal to the Obama administration not to OK a French resolution in favor of a Palestinian state because it could hurt her too much in the upcoming presidential race. As Martin Indyk once explained, “the Jewish factor” caused Obama to fold on settlements back in 2011. 

 [Jews] tend to vote for Democratic candidates and they provide a good deal of funding for political campaigns. So the Jewish factor is always a critical factor for Democratic candidates. I don’t think it’s telling any secrets that there are a lot of people who have been upset with President Obama. And I think that the White House came to the understanding that they have a real problem there and they are going out of their way trying to show they are friendly to Israel and committed to peace.

Please Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Mondoweiss Today

25 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

3,2,1… til Hopfmi is here with “Jew Counting!”.

Capsule biography of Adam Szubin on White House Web site:

Adam J. Szubin, Nominee for Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, Department of the Treasury

Adam J. Szubin serves as the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the Department of the Treasury, a position he has held since 2006. Concurrently, he serves as the Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes at Treasury, a position to which he was designated in February 2015. Prior to his time at OFAC, he served as the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes from 2004 to 2006. From 2003 to 2004, he was Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice. Previously, from 2000 to 2003, he was a Trial Attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division at the Department of Justice. Mr. Szubin was a Judicial Clerk for Hon. Ronald L. Gilman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1999 to 2000. Mr. Szubin received a A.B. from Harvard College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Here’s an earlier Treasury biography of him. And here’s another from a Harvard Law School alumni blog.

Note that Szubin got the OFAC job at Treasury in 2006, under Bush. He’s another holdover.

“… they are going out of their way trying to show they are friendly to Israel and committed to peace…”

kind of like trying to show they are friendly to Saudi Arabia and committed to inclusive democracy

no wonder they are having a hard time.

As more and more facts leak through the Zionist fact dam, and the cracks open into fissures, it becomes more and more obvious who is denying the obvious. It then becomes also obvious that these people have ulterior motives. Usually it’s money, but it can also be sexual secrets, or both. The more righteous the facade, the more tenacious the denial.

RE: “Just as Hillary Clinton promised that she’d reach across party lines to oppose the international boycott campaign against Israel. “ ~ Weiss

TAKE ACTION ! ! ! TAKE ACTION ! ! ! TAKE ACTION ! ! ! TAKE ACTION ! ! ! TAKE ACTION ! ! !

Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2015 18:04:37 -0400
From: Just Foreign Policy
To: DICKERSON
Subject: Bernie, Tell Hillary: West Bank Settlements Are Not Israel

Just Foreign Policy

Dear John,

On July 2, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sent a letter to Haim Saban, a major Clinton donor and fundraiser, expressing her “alarm” over the “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction movement,” which she called “a global effort to isolate the state of Israel by ending commercial and academic exchanges.” Clinton asserted that “we need to make countering BDS a priority.” Clinton’s letter failed to make any distinction between Israel and Israeli settlements in the West Bank. [1]

• Urge Bernie Sanders to challenge Hillary to clarify her position on Israeli settlements in the West Bank by signing our petition at MoveOn. – http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/bernie-tell-hillary-west?source=c.em&r_by=1135580