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7-13 Tamuz, 5769                     June 29-July 5, 2009 -- THE JEWISH OBSERVER, LOS ANGELES -- 342nd Web Ed.

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DEMILITARIZED PALESTINIAN STATE?

By ARIEH ELDAD

Once upon a time, there was such a state.

"I don't think there's a Palestinian nation. There's an Arab nation. I don't think there's a Palestinian nation. That's a colonial invention. Since when were there Palestinians? I think there's only an Arab nation. Until the end of the 19th century, Palestine was the southern part of Greater Syria."

If I had said this, I would undoubtedly be called a Jewish nationalist, a racist, and worst of all - detached from reality. Yet, note well, these words were spoken by former MK Dr. Azmi Bishara in an interview with Yaron London several years ago. Bishara is a leader of Israeli Arab citizens who openly identify with the enemy, and who was forced to flee Israel under suspicion of aiding Hizbullah in wartime.
When Benjamin Netanyahu delivered his Bar-Ilan speech, he could have used these words. He could have ripped the mask of deception from the terrible historical lie that we have taken to our hearts as if it were written on the Tablets of the Law given at Sinai. "Two States for Two Nations" has become holy dogma and anyone who challenges its validity is suspected of blasphemy.

But even if we assume that Netanyahu wished to speak in terms acceptable to Europe and the United States, rather than to fight a battle which he considered lost, still it would have been better had he not deceived his listeners with the scam known as "a demilitarized state."

When I heard the speech, my initial reaction was: "There ain't no such animal." Of course, I don't mean nano-states such as Andorra or the Vatican, which have themselves chosen not to maintain an army. There is no real state in the world defined as a demilitarized state. And Netanyahu did not make do with a misleading general statement, he went into details: the state won't have missiles and rockets and planes, and will not be able to sign treaties. The more I listened to this and said to myself that there is no such thing, I was reminded of something quite bothersome. Was there once such a state? And then one of my friends reminded me there had been.

"It will be forbidden to Germany to maintain or build fortifications... in this territory (West of the Rhine).... It is forbidden for Germany to maintain an army.... the German army will not include more than seven infantry divisions.... It is forbidden for Germany to import or export tanks or any other military hardware.... The German naval forces will be limited and are not to include submarines. The armed forces of Germany will not include any air forces.... In the political realm, Germany is forbidden to enter into any treaty with Austria."

So it was written and sealed in the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was signed on June 28, 1919, as part of the Paris Peace Conference following the First World War. Essentially, Germany became a demilitarized state and was also limited from a political perspective. So what happened? Did the "demilitarized" status prevent the Second World War and, worst of all, the destruction of European Jewry?

By 1922, an agreement between Russia and Germany had been signed in the Italian city of Rapallo. The agreement was open and met the terms of the Versailles Treaty, but the conference that prepared it was secret; and there, Soviet Russia and Germany agreed on joint establishment of weapons factories, poison gas and ammunition. German army officers were sent to Russia to be trained in the use of weapons that were forbidden to be maintained in Germany. In Germany, civilian factories were refurbished into arms factories, funded, as it were, by private individuals, not the state.

When I heard about the widespread activity of Jews in the Obama court and about the extreme anti-Israeli stance they are taking, and about the anger of the extreme Left in Israel over Netanyahu's speech - in that he did not express a willingness to take in Arab refugees, give away Jerusalem and dismantle settlements, all as a prepayment for negotiating with the enemies of Israel - I again thought of the Rapallo Treaty. It was the Jewish foreign minister of Germany, Walther Rathenau, who stood behind the agreement that years later gave Nazi Germany its powerful war machine. And it was Erhard Milch, the son of a Jewish father, who subverted the Versailles Treaty and, in the guise of civilian aeronautic companies and flying clubs, established Lufthansa, which during the war became the Luftwaffe, the German air force that in weeks overcame Poland and France and bombed London in the Blitz. The Jewish people can be trusted to bring forth warped members who will arm the "demilitarized Palestinian state", if one should ever come to be.

The lesson being that there is no political power that can prevent a sovereign state from doing whatever it wants. Netanyahu knows that if ever a Palestinian state should, Heaven forbid, be established, Israel will not be able to declare war on it if it should choose, for instance, to sign an international tourism agreement with Cyprus or a transfer-of-technology agreement with Iran. If pipes are manufactured in Tulkarm, Israel will not be able to start a war that can be justified in the eyes of the world if steel cutters turn the pipes into Kassam rockets. Since nothing other than Israeli force could possibly preserve demilitarization, Netanyahu is deceiving the people of Israel and promising them something that cannot be delivered. But all of the above is not the main thing. The main thing is that Netanyahu has recognized the right of Arabs to establish a sovereign state in our homeland. None of his conditions and reservations can hide this abomination. Whoever recognizes the right of his enemy to establish a state in his homeland has abandoned all principle and all that is left to do is argue over the price. Whoever has left his religion and changed his faith cannot insist on observing the commandments of what is no longer his faith. Whoever has abandoned his patrimony has no basis on which to insist on continuing to build on its lands.

Knesset Member Arieh Eldad , Jerusalem, Israel

* * *

NCJW DEPLORES LATEST HATE VIOLENCE

By NANCY RATZAN

The shooting … at the US Holocaust Museum is a dreadful reminder of the poisonous connection between hate and gun violence. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of murdered security officer Stephen Johns.

Following so soon after the murder of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in his church during Sunday services, this latest attack cries out not only for condemnation by public officials, but a commitment to do everything in their power to prevent such incidents from multiplying including common-sense gun regulations. … Dr. Tiller’s clinic was closed for good, a result that pleased anti-choice extremists. … [P]eople visiting a museum that bears witness to the ultimate result of untrammeled hate have been targeted.

Violence of any kind is abhorrent. Hate violence seeks to not only wound or kill its target, but to intimidate and terrify the larger community. If the Dr. Tillers of this world are not safe, if the Holocaust Museum just blocks from the White House is not safe, then none of us is safe. We must proceed with vigilance and expediency to address all forms of hate, violence and intolerance in our country.

Nancy Ratzan, Washington DC

* * *

CREATE JOBS FOR AMERICANS

By DONALD A. MOSKOWITZ

A while ago I read that Bill Gates and Mayor Michael Bloomberg were planning on donating a total of $500 million to reduce the incidence of smoking in developing countries, especially China. I haven’t seen any recent information on this subject, but I believe they made a commitment to this ridiculous project.

Why are they concerned with the habits of the Chinese people? Do the Chinese worry about our health when they send all of those tainted products to the U.S.? Do the Chinese concern themselves with our economy when they flood our country with their products and eliminate U.S. jobs?

It is admirable for Bill and Mike to give back to society some of the many millions they have earned, but they should concern themselves with the plight of all the Americans who have lost their jobs because of the cheap goods manufactured in China and exported to the U.S. With U.S. unemployment projected to approach 10% in 2009, they should be investing the $500 million in the U.S. to create jobs for Americans, the same American workers who made them wealthy.

Donald A. Moskowitz, Londonderry, NH

* * *

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BLAMES ISRAEL FOR CHRISTIANITY'S TROUBLES IN MIDDLE EAST

By DEXTER VAN ZILE

National Geographic has long enjoyed unique influence and credibility on the American scene. The publication, which boasts a worldwide circulation of 6.7 million readers, sends journalists to the far parts of the globe and publishes their stories alongside vivid photographs. Regrettably, the publication abused the trust of its readers in a June 2009 article that veered into political terrain and scapegoated Israel for Christianity's decline in the Middle East.

In addition to targeting Israel, the article, "The Forgotten Faithful," written by Don Belt, the magazine's senior editor for foreign affairs, offers no honest description of the mistreatment of Christians at the hands of Muslim majority populations in the Middle East.

Belt reveals his bias when he reports that Christianity "began a long, steady retreat" into minority status during the Crusades which began in 1095. This is preposterous. As Bat Ye'or, a leading scholar on Christianity under Islam, has documented Muslim conquerors began a systematic campaign to eradicate Christianity from the Arabian Peninsula soon after Mohammed's death in 632. By the eighth century, Muslim rulers had instituted a system of taxation and slavery throughout the Middle East that clearly contributed to the decline of Christianity in the Middle East – hundreds of years before the first crusader ever set foot in Jerusalem.

The article also fails to provide any detail of the current mistreatment of Christians in the Middle East, particularly in Palestinian society. Numerous reports detail the intimidation of Christians at the hands of Muslim gangs in Palestinian society. For example, Khaled Abu Toameh, Arab affairs correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, recently reported that Christians in the West Bank "have repeatedly complained that Muslims have been seizing their lands either by force or through forged documents." Belt ignores this.

In an obvious effort to portray Israel as the culprit behind Christianity's decline in the Middle East, Belt obscures the growth of the Christian population in the Jewish state by reporting that the overall percentage of Christians in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip has declined from 13 percent of the population in 1894 to 2 percent of the population today. What Belt fails to report, however, is that in absolute terms, the Christian population in Israel has increased from 34,000 in 1949 to 120,600 in 1995 and 151,600 in 2007, yielding a 345 percent increased over the past six decades.

By way of comparison, Palestinian Christians, are leaving the West Bank and the Gaza Strip at twice the rate of their Muslim compatriots. Clearly the behavior of Muslim leaders in Palestinian society has caused this exodus – even if the leaders of Christian denominations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip report good relations between the two communities. In the words of one lay Christian who spoke to Israeli author Yossi Klein Halevi in the 1990s, "Our leaders are liars: They tell the newspapers everything is OK. But when Christians go to the market, they're afraid to wear their crosses."

Belt does report the accusations of a married Christian couple - whose real names are not used - who cannot legally live together in Jerusalem because under Israeli law, the husband, a Bethlehem native cannot get an Israeli ID card. Yes, it's sad that the couple cannot live together in Jerusalem, but it's also unreasonable to expect that he would be given citizenship based solely on his marriage to an Arab Christian who has an Israeli ID. Belt neglects to point out that America offers no automatic citizenship for non American spouses either.

Why doesn't the couple move to Bethlehem? Probably because as a Palestinian Christian the wife enjoys far more rights in Israel than she would in the Fatah-controlled West Bank. Still, according to Belt, the woman admits to hating Israelis.

The same hypocrisy is apparent when Belt describes the scene of the husband being unable to wash his car on Easter, ostensibly because water is being shipped to nearby Jewish settlements. This is a familiar canard used by propagandists. Israel is not diverting water from Palestinians to Jewish communities. On the contrary, Israel annually pipes over 40 million cubic meters (MCM) of its own water over the Green Line to Palestinian cities and towns. Ramallah, for example, receives over 5 MCM annually from Israel.

So, contrary to Belt, Palestinians are using Israeli water, not the other way around. Belt's cavalier parroting of false anti-Israel innuendo without, evidently, bothering to check the facts, is indicative of the story as a whole

Dexter Van Zile, Boston, MA

* * *

DESTROYING OUTPOSTS INCREASES IRANIAN THREAT

By ROB MUCHNICK

The Obama government has made known its commitment to go full steam ahead with pressuring Israel into a two state solution (an Arab terrorist entity on Jewish Land) which most Israeli's recognize to be the final solution. Although Bibi Netanyahu convinced many voters that he is against further expulsions in order to facilitate the continuance of the suicidal Bush road map, those who know Bibi well remember that he gave away Hevron and voted for the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif until it was politically expedient to change his mind. Bibi of yesterday appears to be the Bibi of today.

Bibi has never come out against the ill conceived Land for Peace formula and his appointment of Ehud Barak-the man who ordered the beating of women and children in Amona-defense minister speaks volumes as did sending Shimon Peres as his emissary to the recent AIPAC conference.

Obama is linking American cooperation dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat to Israel (cutting it's own throat) by evacuating outposts (settlements in the making) In reality, the destruction of new Jewish communities and the creation of an Arab State on Jewish soil poses a greater threat to Israel and the rest of the world than the Iranian threat.

Israel 's leaders have not learned the lesson of Judenrat according to a statement by Moshe Feiglin. According to Moshe Feiglin , the leader of the opposition inside the Likud party, " Israel's leadership is now attempting to buy quiet from the US and Iran by selling out the settlers. It has not learned from the lesson of the Judenrat. Sacrificing Yitzhar to the enemy will bring Bushehr to Tel Aviv." The Judenrat (Jewish government leaders) was required to carry out Nazi directives against other Jews, to supply forced labor, and eventually to cooperate in the Final Solution. The destruction of the Jewish communities will bring the Iranian nuclear reactor to Israel’s shores.

Rob Muchnick, Long Island, New York

* * *

CAN NETANYAHU RISE TO THE OCCASION?

By RON SKOLNIK

During the Oslo years of the 1990s, one of the more justified critiques of the Israeli right was that Yasser Arafat and his aides were doing far too little to prepare Palestinian public opinion for the gut-wrenching compromises that peace would entail.
So I was disappointed, though not exactly surprised, that before their plane back to Israel even hit the tarmac at Ben-Gurion Airport, members of Prime Minister Netanyahu's entourage were already trashing the Obama administration's emerging peace initiative. In doing so, of course, they were hurting the chance for peace, while weakening Israel's greatest strategic asset - American friendship.

One unidentified "senior figure" in the Prime Minister's company called the two-state solution, "stupid". Another termed it "juvenile" (or "infantile", depending on one's translation of the Hebrew "yalduti"). Lest we forget: The two-state solution is the cornerstone of the entire Middle East peace process and remains at the heart of the Obama administration's diplomatic approach. But as if this weren't enough, another senior member of the Netanyahu government, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, then offered up this rebuff to the American (and international) attitude on Israel's expansion into the West Bank via civilian settlement. Responding to the all-but-universally-held belief that settlements undermine the peace effort, Lieberman asked ("bewilderedly", as YNet put it).

Ron Skolnik, executive director of Meretz USA

* * *

IRANIAN NUCLEAR MISSILE THREAT

By DONALD A. MOSKOWITZ

Iran tested the launch of a Scud missile from a ship in the Caspian Sea, which was designed to provide the capability of launching intermediate range missiles from cargo ships sitting off coastlines. Also, within a few years Iran will have long[-]range missiles capable of striking North America.

Iran could have nuclear warheads available to mount on missiles in late 2009. The U[nited] S[tates] and other countries do not have missile defense systems to ward off an attack. Counter strikes could be launched against Iran, but this would not prevent Iran from launching an initial strike based on irrational thinking by Amadmanejad and his Iranian cohorts.

The Obama Administration is making conciliatory gestures towards Iran, but is not making any progress in curtailing Iran’s nuclear development program. According to Walid Phares, an expert on global terrorism and the Middle East, "the perception in Tehran is the Obama Administration will not use everything at its disposal to apply pressure on Iran".

Furthermore, Obama’s apparent bow to Saudi King Abdullah is perceived as an act of submission and weakness by the international community. I fear Obama’s naive blunders will embolden Iran to pursue and possibly use its nuclear missile capabilities.

Donald A. Moskowitz, Londonderry, NH

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THE LAND OF ISRAEL: IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE?

By MOSHE PHILIPS

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to wipe the state of Israel off the face of the planet. Sadly and strangely, two American born Jewish writers seem content to go along with the idea. One of the writers explains "…sometimes I think it might have been better had Herzl dreamed of a Jewish state in a place less embattled than the Middle East…" The defeatism from these writers and far too many others is blatant.

Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Chabon was the first Jewish writer to recently examine the modern history of plans to establish sovereign and semi-sovereign Jewish territories outside of the Land of Israel. Chabon’s 2007 novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union is set in an imaginary Jewish settlement in Alaska. In Chabon’s alternate universe Israel was destroyed in the 1948 war and a proposal by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes to develop parts of Alaska as a "haven for Jewish refugees from Germany and other areas in Europe where the Jews are subjected to oppressive restrictions" had been implemented. Now, Hollywood filmmaking mavens Joel Coen and Ethan Coen are reportedly planning to make The Yiddish Policemen's Union into a movie. So, tragically, these long forgotten ideas will be romanticized for still larger audiences throughout the world.

Adam Rovner is writing a non-fiction book that examines the proposals to create a Jewish refuge on the island of Madagascar off the coast of Africa and "various [other] proposals to establish Jewish "homelands" around the globe."

In an article in the May/June 2009 issue of Moment magazine titled "Madagascar: An Almost Jewish Homeland" Rovner writes that "Early Zionists debated a host of proposals to settle Jews in remote regions of the world, and one of them was Madagascar. I’m an American-born, naturalized Israeli citizen and sometimes I think it might have been better had Herzl dreamed of a Jewish state in a place less embattled than the Middle East. That’s why I am so curious about this would-be promised land that, at least until a recent military coup, was a relatively pacific republic in the Indian Ocean."

As if the dream of a Jewish state originated with Herzl. Hatikvah, the anthem of modern Zionism, was written in 1878, 18 years before Herzl published The Jewish State. The dream began in Biblical times with the Prophet Abraham, and survived Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Mamelukes and Ottomans.

There are three key points to consider when looking at this nonsense from Chabon and Rovner: 
First, at the core of Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric is a strategy of breaking down Israel’s will to survive. Chabon and Rovner play right into his hands. If Ahmadinejad really wanted to nuke Israel, G-d forbid, why would he declare it? What would be his advantage to warn Israel of his plans? Ahmadinejad wants to destroy Israel’s key security asset: its morale. He wants to force Jews to re-consider the value of a national Jewish homeland versus the threat of annihilation. Iran wants to drive Israel into making suicidal concessions.

Secondly, there is a disconnect of the Jewish commitment to the Land of Israel that Chabon and Rovner imply. The Land of Israel is called the "Promised Land" for a reason. It was not promised to the Muslims. The Holy Land was deeded to the Jewish People in the Holy Bible. Does any people anywhere in the world have a clearer deed than that? There was never an independent Muslim nation in the Land of Israel in all of history. Moreover, how would the U.S., Israel or the West benefit from the creation of yet another hostile Muslim state - wherever it would be?

Lastly, for President Obama as well as Chabon and Rovner, there is a misunderstanding of Zionist history as it stands apart from the Holocaust. Zionism was not born of a wish to escape Nazi persecution or any other modern forms of anti-Semitism.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his June 14, 2009 foreign policy speech at Bar Ilan University summarized it as follows: "The right of the Jewish People to a state in the Land of Israel does not arise from the series of disasters that befell the Jewish People over 2,000 years: persecutions, expulsions, pogroms, blood libels, murders, which reached its climax in the Holocaust, an unprecedented tragedy in the history of nations. There are those who say that without the Holocaust the State would not have been established, but I say that if the State of Israel had been established in time, the Holocaust would not have taken place. The tragedies that arose from the Jewish People’s helplessness show very sharply that we need a protective state. The right to establish our sovereign state here, in the Land of Israel, arises from one simple fact: the Land of Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish People."

Netanyahu, tragically missed the essential point, just as he does far too often. Yes: "the Land of Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish People" - but that is not all. G-d decided that the Jewish People be given the Land of Israel as their only homeland for all time, it was not a decision the Jewish People the Jewish People made of their own volition. The Jewish connection to the Land of Israel is unlike the attachment of any other people to their homeland. The relationship is unique.

Modern Zionist re-settlement in the Land of Israel began before Hitler was born. Tel Aviv was established in 1909. The desire of Jews to return to the Jewish homeland never left the Jewish People throughout our exile and Jews throughout history lived in Jewish communities in Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed and elsewhere for hundreds of years before Zionism was re-initiated. Jews from Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Afghanistan, Libya, Morocco and elsewhere in the Islamic world did not return to Israel because of European anti-Semitism. Jews from throughout the world made their way to Israel for the same reason as did Jews in the times of Moses and Joshua - it is the Divinely established homeland for Jews. There is no other.

Moshe Philips, Philadelphia, Penn

* * *

SHOOTING AT THE U.S. HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM IS SHOCKING AND DEEPLY DISTURBINGBy B’NAI B’RITH INTERNATIONAL

[The] shooting at the United States Holocaust Museum is shocking and deeply disturbing on several counts.

B’nai B’rith is appalled that the shooting took place in a building dedicated to remembering the worst genocide in history. The museum was founded in the hope that, by remembering the Shoah, it will never be repeated. For it to be the site of a shooting by a man identified as anti-Semitic and a white supremacist is testimony to the need for humanity to take actions to prevent hate incidents from ever happening again.

Authorities have identified the gunman as James W. von Brunn, a known white supremacist who runs a website with anti-Semitic writing.

B’nai B’rith is highly sensitive to the impact of hate-filled terror, as many staff members at B’nai B’rith headquarters were held hostage for 39 hours in 1977 by members of the Hanafi Muslim sect. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns, who was killed in the attack

B'nai B'rith Inernational

* * *

OBAMA AS TODAY’S CHAMBERLAIN

By HELEN FREEMAN

In Obama’s fawning speech to the Muslim Arab world, delivered in Cairo on June 4, 2009, he once again threw logic to the winds when he made "a tougher line on Israel a core tenet of his Mideast policy." Obama states that "no system of government can or should be imposed by one nation on any other," when he is semi-apologizing for the Bush policy to promote democracy in the Middle East. However, when it comes to imposing his will, and dictating policy to Israel, there is no hesitation on the President’s part. He does "not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements," as if these settlements in the tiny country of Israel are to blame for the huge variety of problems in the despotically controlled Arab world spanning over 100 nations with 1.5 billion people.

Obama is concerned about Israel’s "violation of previous agreements." What about the many agreements signed by the Arabs which were intended to be violated from the very outset, beginning with the Oslo Accords in 1993? What about the reign of terror begun by the PLO which continues to this day? Wasn’t the PLO charter supposed to be changed to accept Israel’s right to exist? And isn’t it true that the change never took place and the Arab world still refuses to recognize Israel’s very right to exist? Should Israel continue to put its neck in the noose to satisfy such flagrant enemies?

And with whom should Israel negotiate the "peace" which the curtailment of settlements is supposed to push forward? The President called Holocaust denial "baseless, ignorant, and hateful." Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah and Al Aqsa Brigades leader who is being supported by the U.S. with money, weapons, ammunition, and training, to prepare for its battle with Hamas – or Israel – wrote his doctorate on the denial of the Holocaust. Is such an ignorant leader supposed to be the one who will renounce terror and become the lion who will lie down side by side with the lamb in peace?

It is tragic that President Obama is walking the path of Neville Chamberlain. Will Israel become the new Sudetenland, sacrificed to the cause of "peace in our time," which will end up in another merciless, cruel, horrific war? Let’s hope the Israelis are strong enough to resist the demands of their ‘ally’, America.

Helen Freedman, New York

* * *

CARS COMING FROM CHINA

By DONALD A. MOSKOWITZ

General Motors (GM) received $20 billion in U.S. government loans and might need another $50 billion to survive. GM plans to close a number of U.S. plants and lay off thousands of workers. The UAW has agreed to eliminate or reduce employee benefits to drop the average wage, including benefits, from around $75 per hour to near $45 per hour, which is the average wage of U.S. auto workers at foreign plants in the United States. Hopefully, GM will cut management staff and reduce executive salaries.

These actions should make GM cost competitive and save thousands of American jobs. However, to my astonishment, GM plans to increase imports from Mexico, South Korea, Japan and China from 15% in 2009 to 23% by 2014. Approximately 50,000 cars will be imported from Communist China by 2014.

Evidently the U.S. taxpayers are loaning GM $20-$50 billion to stay alive so it can close U.S. plants, lay off U.S. workers, transfer some production to foreign countries like Communist China and import inferior cars to the U.S. so more U.S. workers can be laid off, and our insurance rates and health care costs will increase from accidents as the wheels falls off the Chinese made vehicles. We don’t need imported cars. We need fuel efficient, reasonably priced cars manufactured in the United States..

Donald A. Moskowitz, Londonderry, NH

* * *

SEN. FEINSTEIN COMMENTARY ON GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER’S PROPOSED BUDGET CUTS

By SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN

Let me say one other thing about what the governor said, because I think he said it accurately. I think these cuts are unavoidable. But what I would like to add is that there's about $85 billion coming as part of the stimulus to California; $35 billion of it is in the tax rebates. The remainder will be plugged into various programs; about $14 billion has been appropriated of that. So the federal government is trying to help.

But I think what the governor said is so important, that this particular way of budgeting is so dependent on the economy that, if the economy falls and those revenues don't come in, it creates this enormous structural budget deficit. And they're projected to be down next year as well.

So it's a very difficult situation. And you know, I have been around in 15 elections. I have never seen a time when the voters did what they did, in view of what they were told about cuts, in the enormous defeat of these propositions. I can't give you the reason for it, but I can tell you, to me it was astonishing. And what they said is, in so many words, take the cuts, because that's the alternative. And nobody wants them, but people have to understand.

You know, I'll tell you one last thing and then I'll go. When I was mayor of San Francisco I used to go out in the neighborhoods and I'd say, "Do you want more police?"

And the answer would come back, loudly, "Yes."

Do you want more firefighters?

The answer would come back loudly, "Yes."

Do you want to pay for them?

And instantly, it was, "No," in a booming way.

And that's part of the dilemma of all of this. And the hard part of it is where the cuts have to come from. People don't like it. But they didn't seem to know that when they voted no on these propositions, so it left the governor and the state legislature with really no alternative other than to make the cuts.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein

* * *

APPEASEMENT JEOPARDIZES NATIONAL SECURITY

By DONALD MOSKOWITZ

President Obama is making mistakes impacting our foreign policy. The Administration tried appeasement when it declared Chavez’s president-for-life referendum was "for the most part … a process that was fully consistent with a democratic process."

The Administration looked the other way when Russia pressured Kyrgyestan to shut down a valuable U.S. air base. In Turkey Obama said "The United States is not, and never will be, at war with Islam," which is true, but he should have stated the U.S. will pursue Islamic terrorists.

The president warned North Korea it would suffer "consequences" if it went ahead with the launch of a long-range missile, but North Korea snubbed the U.S. and launched the missile on a 2,000 mile run. Also, North Korea recently restarted its nuclear weapons development program.

President Obama attempted to charm Iran, but Iran’s parliament speaker rebuked our president and told him the U.S. has to acknowledge 60 years of crimes against Iran, change our policies, and abandon Israel. Obama is making reconciliation overtures to Cuba, but Cuba is negotiating to allow Russian warships and aircraft to refuel at Cuban bases; and Russia might be allowed to reopen an electronic intelligence gathering operation in Lourdes. Appeasing and apologizing (for nothing) to these totalitarian countries is interpreted as groveling weakness by the Administration, and it is jeopardizing our national security.

Donald A. Moskowitz. Londonderry, NH

* * *

OBAMA BREAKS NEW GROUND ADDRESSING HOLOCAUST DENIAL IN EGYPT

By B’NAI B’RITH INTERNATIONAL

In his first visit to a Muslim nation since taking office, the president noted the U.S.-- Israel relationship is "based upon cultural and historical ties." But the president also missed a chance to address the ongoing issue of incitement and hatred against Jews, which is taught in much of the Muslim world.

"In the heart of the Arab world, the president addressed the issue of Holocaust denial, noting specifically the six million Jews who were murdered," said B’nai B’rith President Moishe Smith. "In doing so, President Obama attempted to end an insidious ongoing campaign against Jews. Holocaust denial, by the Arab world in general and Iran specifically, will not be tolerated. It’s a vital message."

The president must also be commended for noting: "The Arab-Israeli conflict should no longer be used to distract the people of Arab nations from other problems. Instead, it must be a cause for action to help the Palestinian people develop the institutions that will sustain their state; to recognize Israel's legitimacy; and to choose progress over a self-defeating focus on the past."

But Obama also missed an opportunity to discuss incitement – in mosques, schools, and the media – against the Jewish population, and he did not fully address the long record of Palestinian noncompliance with peace initiatives.

"The Palestinians have not honored their commitments to the Oslo peace accord to dismantle terrorist organizations and end incitement," said B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin. "Many crucial, specific Palestinian obligations have not been met in the nearly 15 years since Oslo. At this time, the Israelis have no viable peace partner to fulfill the hopes of President Obama."

By calling upon the Arab world to not use the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as an excuse for all the region’s ills, the president laid the groundwork for the next steps in the peace process. B’nai B’rith will work to ensure the Untied States continues to honor the "unbreakable" bond it has with Israel.

B’nai B’rith International

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EDITORIAL MASTHEAD

Bard, Mitchell G. -- contributing columnist

Cravatts, Dr. Richard L. -- contributing columnist

Mann, Charles (Chuck)-- contributing columnist

Moskowitz, Donald -- contributing columnist

Phillips, Moshe - contributing columnist

Reuben, Liz -- editor

Smith, Moshe -- contributing columnist

Squires, Bonnie -- contributing columnist

Vinokur, Eli -- ccontributing columnist

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