Ah, what they won't do to win the presidency.
Senator John Kohn -- I mean, Kerry -- recently told a group of Jews in Florida that he shouted from the top of Masada (one of the very last strongholds to hold out against the Romans during the first major Jewish revolt for freedom) the ultimate Jewish slogan of defiance of a largely hostile world: "Am Yisrael Chai!" - "The people of Israel live!" Kerry's grandpa, last name of Kohn, fleeing European anti-Semitism (what else is new?), decided it would be better for his descendants to be Kerrys.
No comment.
Now here's my problem - and I'm a registered Democrat: While it's true that Kerry has waffled on key aspects of his alleged support for Israel (i.e., it's not enough to say you're for Israel's right to exist [big deal] if you support policies and people contrary to this), this by itself -- while worrisome enough -- is still not the biggest headache. The problem goes much deeper.
Kerry has named people who are downright hostile to what it takes to ensure that Am Yisrael Chai remains more than just a hollow slogan as folks he'd choose to rely upon for formulating his Middle East policies.
Right at the Democratic Convention itself, former President Jimmy Carter was showcased, along with his relatively subdued-for-the-political-moment anti-Israel animus. Mr. Peanut has never met an Arab disemboweler of Jewish babes and grandmas who he didn't exonerate, blaming the victims themselves. Mr. Moral Equivalency himself.
Kerry also likes James "____ the Jews, they don't vote for us anyway" Baker, even though he's a virtual member of the Bush family. Interesting. Kerry says he'd hold the Saudis to account if elected, but then states he sees Baker -- whose law firm represents the Saudis -- as another potential point man for his Middle East policies. This is the same Baker who called Israel a "turkey" to be carefully stalked and controlled and who refers to "his Jew boys" currently working for Foggy Bottom in Israel. And it's the same Baker who promised Hafez Assad, the late butcher of Damascus, the same deal on the Golan that Anwar Sadat got in the Sinai -- without discussing this with the Jews. There's lots, lots more. And Kerry knows this.
At that same Democratic Convention, Hollywood's prime Jew basher, Michael Moore, was prancing around his many admirers, including Mr. Peanut. This is the same Moore who writes of Israel being one of the three main evils in the world today.
Add to this the Al Sharpton and Jessie "Hymietown" Jackson-type Black anti-Semites, the "New Left" (which has never forgiven the Jews for their abandonment of their perpetual scapegoat and victim status), and gazillions of Jews too afraid to stand up to all of this (after all, we're Jews; how can we oppose these other liberals when our people's traditions authored liberalism in the first place?).
You see, whatever Kerry will or won't do (your guess is as good as mine, his message changes with the audience), his prospective constituencies are what's really frightening. Many, if not most, are either covertly or overtly hostile to Israel or Jews.
How will President Kerry defend to such supporters Israel's right to an existence beyond the nine-mile wide rump state status that the United Nations imposed via the armistice lines in 1949? We already know what his potential advisors -- Carter, Baker, and others he has mentioned -- have to say about such things. President Clinton (another prospect) got Ehud Barak to abandon any meaningful territorial compromise when he pressured the latter to offer Yasser Arafat everything but the kitchen sink back in 2000. The only good thing about that was that Arafat revealed his true hand to anyone who was watching. Gone was the myth that occupation and settlements were the main issues. Martin Indyk, another Kerry potential, helped sire the Oslo fiasco, wherein the more Jews gave to the Arabs for the sake of peace, the more the Arabs butchered them. Mr. Kerry, ya' gotta' do better than this....
For Am Yisrael Chai to be more than just a slogan, specific policies and actions must come into play.
For starters, secure and recognized borders -- not armistice lines -- a la UN Resolution No. 242, and allowing Israel to deal with those who support and carry out terrorism and warfare against it the way America does (a la the Bush and Powell Doctrines) must be givens. The president must be able to stand up to hostile elements in the State Department, which have opposed Israel right from the get-go -- including opposition to its very existence. Kerry's waffles and picks so far don't seem too promising.
While Mr. Bush has also stepped back a bit from some of his earlier words of support (i.e., back in April he stated at a press conference with Ariel Sharon that Israel should not be expected to be overwhelmed by Arabs in a "right of return" and should not have to return to the suicidal armistice lines of '49), his actions have largely shown an understanding of Israel's true predicament. And this, despite the fact that his family and Big Oil are intimately tied together.
Shouting slogans from Masada to impress political supporters is not what's needed right now.
What is needed is a leader who will have the guts to resist the double standards and hypocrisy to which the Jew of the Nations -- Israel -- is constantly subjected to by the world, including the Foggy Folks.
Given all of the above, and the fact that Kerry wants to draw a heavily anti-Israel Europe into the Middle Eastern peacemaking process, it is highly unlikely that Kerry is such a leader.
Senator John Kohn -- I mean, Kerry -- recently told a group of Jews in Florida that he shouted from the top of Masada (one of the very last strongholds to hold out against the Romans during the first major Jewish revolt for freedom) the ultimate Jewish slogan of defiance of a largely hostile world: "Am Yisrael Chai!" - "The people of Israel live!" Kerry's grandpa, last name of Kohn, fleeing European anti-Semitism (what else is new?), decided it would be better for his descendants to be Kerrys.
No comment.
Now here's my problem - and I'm a registered Democrat: While it's true that Kerry has waffled on key aspects of his alleged support for Israel (i.e., it's not enough to say you're for Israel's right to exist [big deal] if you support policies and people contrary to this), this by itself -- while worrisome enough -- is still not the biggest headache. The problem goes much deeper.
Kerry has named people who are downright hostile to what it takes to ensure that Am Yisrael Chai remains more than just a hollow slogan as folks he'd choose to rely upon for formulating his Middle East policies.
Right at the Democratic Convention itself, former President Jimmy Carter was showcased, along with his relatively subdued-for-the-political-moment anti-Israel animus. Mr. Peanut has never met an Arab disemboweler of Jewish babes and grandmas who he didn't exonerate, blaming the victims themselves. Mr. Moral Equivalency himself.
Kerry also likes James "____ the Jews, they don't vote for us anyway" Baker, even though he's a virtual member of the Bush family. Interesting. Kerry says he'd hold the Saudis to account if elected, but then states he sees Baker -- whose law firm represents the Saudis -- as another potential point man for his Middle East policies. This is the same Baker who called Israel a "turkey" to be carefully stalked and controlled and who refers to "his Jew boys" currently working for Foggy Bottom in Israel. And it's the same Baker who promised Hafez Assad, the late butcher of Damascus, the same deal on the Golan that Anwar Sadat got in the Sinai -- without discussing this with the Jews. There's lots, lots more. And Kerry knows this.
At that same Democratic Convention, Hollywood's prime Jew basher, Michael Moore, was prancing around his many admirers, including Mr. Peanut. This is the same Moore who writes of Israel being one of the three main evils in the world today.
Add to this the Al Sharpton and Jessie "Hymietown" Jackson-type Black anti-Semites, the "New Left" (which has never forgiven the Jews for their abandonment of their perpetual scapegoat and victim status), and gazillions of Jews too afraid to stand up to all of this (after all, we're Jews; how can we oppose these other liberals when our people's traditions authored liberalism in the first place?).
You see, whatever Kerry will or won't do (your guess is as good as mine, his message changes with the audience), his prospective constituencies are what's really frightening. Many, if not most, are either covertly or overtly hostile to Israel or Jews.
How will President Kerry defend to such supporters Israel's right to an existence beyond the nine-mile wide rump state status that the United Nations imposed via the armistice lines in 1949? We already know what his potential advisors -- Carter, Baker, and others he has mentioned -- have to say about such things. President Clinton (another prospect) got Ehud Barak to abandon any meaningful territorial compromise when he pressured the latter to offer Yasser Arafat everything but the kitchen sink back in 2000. The only good thing about that was that Arafat revealed his true hand to anyone who was watching. Gone was the myth that occupation and settlements were the main issues. Martin Indyk, another Kerry potential, helped sire the Oslo fiasco, wherein the more Jews gave to the Arabs for the sake of peace, the more the Arabs butchered them. Mr. Kerry, ya' gotta' do better than this....
For Am Yisrael Chai to be more than just a slogan, specific policies and actions must come into play.
For starters, secure and recognized borders -- not armistice lines -- a la UN Resolution No. 242, and allowing Israel to deal with those who support and carry out terrorism and warfare against it the way America does (a la the Bush and Powell Doctrines) must be givens. The president must be able to stand up to hostile elements in the State Department, which have opposed Israel right from the get-go -- including opposition to its very existence. Kerry's waffles and picks so far don't seem too promising.
While Mr. Bush has also stepped back a bit from some of his earlier words of support (i.e., back in April he stated at a press conference with Ariel Sharon that Israel should not be expected to be overwhelmed by Arabs in a "right of return" and should not have to return to the suicidal armistice lines of '49), his actions have largely shown an understanding of Israel's true predicament. And this, despite the fact that his family and Big Oil are intimately tied together.
Shouting slogans from Masada to impress political supporters is not what's needed right now.
What is needed is a leader who will have the guts to resist the double standards and hypocrisy to which the Jew of the Nations -- Israel -- is constantly subjected to by the world, including the Foggy Folks.
Given all of the above, and the fact that Kerry wants to draw a heavily anti-Israel Europe into the Middle Eastern peacemaking process, it is highly unlikely that Kerry is such a leader.