Tomorrow Benjamin Netanyahu will speak at the Center for American Progress, an allegedly progressive organization (whose director has embraced India’s Narendra Modi). And he will also give a speech to the Jewish Federations, a leading Zionist group, aimed at bringing the American Jewish community behind him in unity once again.
Yesterday David Gregory, the former moderator of Meet the Press, now an author of a book about faith, addressed the Jewish Federations.
Also yesterday, Dana Bash of CNN addressed a national women’s philanthropy session at the conference. There she is, with the logo of the conference, the GA, or General Assembly.
Maybe these Jewish media figures tell themselves they’re not addressing a fervently pro-Israel organization. Maybe they absolve themselves of being one-sided on a fiercely-contested matter, unwavering American Jewish support for Israel. Then they’re just fooling themselves. They should reflect that there’s an Israeli flag on stage; and that only fervent Zionists are on the program, including outspoken advocates for everything Israel undertakes, Dennis Ross, Eric Fingerhut, Matthew Brooks (of the Republican Jewish Coalition), and Irwin Cotler, as well as Jewish Agency officials responsible for acquiring land for Jews only in Israel.
I see several other journalists are also speaking– Nathan Guttman, Peter Beinart, Gil Hoffman, David Horovitz, Ron Kampeas, Chemi Shalev. I wonder what their excuses are. Beinart at least will lecture them; Shalev may tell them how rightwing Israeli society is.
Thanks to Max Blumenthal.
At this stage I’m just sitting with my mouth wide open, trying to comprehend what’s happening in front of me. These people are self-described liberals, for the most part.
They are warm-up acts for a man who, just a few months ago, warned that “Arabs are coming to vote in droves”. This is straight out of Jim Crow Alabama.
It’s funny how tribalism reveals people for who they truly are. And how money corrupts so-called “progressive” organisations like CAP.
What is the foremost Jewish organization in America? I believe it is the Jewish federations. Yet Phil Weiss wants everyone to boycott them. When it comes to letting antiZionists into Hillel, Phil is all in favor of participation. When it comes to talking to the largest Jewish organization in America, unless you agree with them 100% you are forbidden to talk to them. (The specific case of MSM media biggies like David Gregory in fact raises some questions, but the attitude of Weiss is boycott all the Zionist Jews, whether Lubavitch or the Jewish federations, we must treat them like pariahs. This might play to the choir, but it is not a strategy of communication, but one of antagonism, which betrays the bias against real dialogue.)
Phil,
Thanks for giving a shout out to 2 friends of mine Eric Fingerhut and Gil Hoffman!
re “I wonder what their excuses are.”
I don’t know these people, but I suspect that they don’t perceive a need for an excuse. If someone who isn’t Jewish suggested to them that an excuse was needed, I suspect that they would probably dismiss that person as a “Jew-hater.” If someone who is Jewish suggested that, they would probably dismiss that person as a “self-hater,” . . . or perhaps simply as “bizarre,” to use Dana Milbank’s word from his recent piece in WaPo. In it, he lists ways in which Netanyahoo is “trolling” Mr. Obama. This bothers Mr. Milbank because it jeopardizes support for Israel. In his list, he does not mention the 2,200 new residential units: they only affect Palestinians, who don’t matter and should be of no concern to anyone in Washington.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/benjamin-netanyahu-further-damages-us-israel-relations/2015/11/09/6f09bfb8-872d-11e5-be39-0034bb576eee_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
BTW, this past Sunday, outside the Jewish Federations meeting in DC, but NOT well covered in the MSM, was the Jewish People’s Assembly sponsored by Open Hillel and others. Their demand was “that the Federations stop holding Jewish communities hostage to the political views of their right-wing donors and support local Jewish institutions in creating vibrant, open Jewish communities.” They also asked the Jewish Federations “stop conditioning their support for Jewish institutions on these institutions’ adherence to political red lines around Israel/Palestine.” The leaders Caroline Morganti, Rachel Sandalow-Ash and others did a terrific job. It was most inspiring! (The Jewish Week did do a story on the assembly.