U.S. Vetoes U.N.'s Israel Condemnation,
Earthlink (from Associated Press), December 20, 2002
"The United States vetoed an Arab-backed resolution Friday that would have condemned Israel for the recent killings of three U.N. workers. The U.S. ambassador called the resolution one-sided and not conducive to Mideast peace efforts. Twelve other council members - including close U.S. ally Britain - voted in favor of the resolution. Bulgaria and Cameroon abstained. The resolution expressed 'grave concern' at the killings by Israeli troops and demanded that Israel 'refrain from the excessive and disproportionate use of force in the Occupied Palestinian territories.' It also demanded that Israel comply fully with its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention, which deals with the protection of civilians during war. But the veto by the United States - one of five permanent council members with veto power - means that the resolution was not adopted. The last U.S. veto, in December 2001, was also cast against a Mideast resolution. Syria's U.N. Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe, the only Arab member of the council, rejected U.S. attempts to amend the resolution to eliminate the reference to Israel's disproportionate use of force. The United States also wanted to drop the demand for Israel to comply with the Fourth Geneva Convention ... Three workers for the U.N. agency that provides relief for Palestinian refugees, known as UNWRA, were killed in recent weeks. Israeli soldiers shot and killed Iain Hook, of Britain, on Nov. 22 during a gunbattle with armed Palestinians in the West Bank. The army said its soldiers mistook a cell phone Hook was using for a weapon and that gunmen had entered the walled U.N. compound. The U.N. relief agency denies that gunmen had entered the compound. Two Palestinian school employees working for UNRWA were among 10 Palestinians killed when Israeli troops conducted a raid into a crowded Gaza refugee camp on Dec. 6 hunting for militants."

Illinois invests in Israel Bonds,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 20, 2002
[This item is in the pop-up box at the JTA home page, "Breaking News" column]
"The state of Illinois invested $10 million in Israel Bonds. State officials attended a ceremony in Jerusalem at which a symbolic check was turned over. Also present were Israeli Finance Minister Silvan Shalom and Israel Bonds President Joshua Matza. Matza called the investment a vote of confidence in Israel’s future economic development."

Lieberman, Moving Fast, Eyes a Staff, Political Team Honing Message,
[Jewish] Forward, December 20, 2002
"Despite his public ambiguity, Senator Joseph Lieberman seems to be moving full steam ahead in his candidacy for president, assembling the core of a campaign staff and trying to answer the concerns of those who feel his centrist politics are too far to the right to excite the usually liberal Democratic primary electorate. Democratic hands say he's doing well in what they call 'the invisible primary' — the scramble to gather the small number of experienced troops who know how to wage a national campaign ... Smith said he does not think that Lieberman's Orthodox Judaism will be an issue for voters. 'As I've traveled the country, the only people who raise the issue are members of the Jewish community,' said Smith, a native of Arkansas. 'Nobody else brings that up. Voters vote for the man, not the religion' ... Lieberman's spokesman, Daniel Gerstein, told the Forward that it's too early to say what kind of platform Lieberman might run on ... Jewish donors, who supply a major share of the contributions financing any Democratic presidential bid, had mixed things to say about the Lieberman candidacy. Chemicals magnate Jack Bendheim, an Orthodox Jew who shares a pew with Lieberman when the senator visits his mother-in-law in the Bronx, said he found it exciting that Lieberman had met with so little prejudice during his vice presidential run and predicted that Lieberman's religiosity would redound to his benefit as 'the country looks to become more faith-based.'"

Former Judge Says Congressman Maintains Anti-Israel Stances,
Metropolitan News Enterprise, December 20, 2002 Page 6
"Former Los Angeles County Bar Assn. president Sheldon D. Sloan — who was reputedly influential with Republican Governors George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson and is said to maintain strong GOP ties — is engaged in efforts to dump Dana Rohrbacher, a seven-term Republican congressman from Orange County. Sloan, a retired Los Angeles Municipal Court judge, accuses Rohrbacher of maintaining an anti-Israeli and pro-Arab policy, which the legislator denies. In a recent letter addressed 'Dear Friends,' Sloan wrote: I seldom get as exorcised about a public official as I am about Dana Rohrbacher, the long term Member of the House of Representatives from Orange County. Congressman Rohrbacher is an embarrassment to the Congress of the United States, to the President of the United States, to the Republican Party, and to his constituents ...
Rohrabacher wrote to Sloan: I was saddened by your accusatory letter sent to our fellow Republicans. It was both factually inaccurate and unnecessarily derogatory in its tone. Perhaps you are unaware of my record or you would not have suggested in your letter that I have voted against the President and against Israel in all matters. Whoever told you that is a liar of the first order and in the future you should not be passing on information from that source without verification. On the vast majority of votes concerning Israel I have been on the side of that country, including votes condemning terrorist acts against Israel and supporting efforts to prevent Israel or Israeli citizens from being targeted by hostile forces. The outrage that has been pointed in my direction derives from my votes in opposition to legislation concerning Israel when that legislation is not also in the interest of the United States. But yes, sometimes what is in Israel’s interest is not in the interest of the United States, although that is difficult for some people to grasp. Unlike many other Members of Congress, I do not feel compelled by political pressure to vote for every bill supporting Israel, especially when that legislation may be harmful to our country, the long term cause of peace in the Middle East and damaging to the prestige of our President. Contrary to your letter it was my vote supporting the position of the President of the United States that has created such a stir. Even though my overall voting record concerning issues regarding Israel remains at a high level. Your suggestion that I coddle up to Arab interests certainly does not take into account my strenuous efforts and leadership to defeat Islamic extremism and the Arab enemies of the United States ...
Sloan retorted: I received your email of 12/6/02 with some mild surprise.… [I]n your letter to me I find no expression of support for Israel nor repudiation of what is generally referred to as the 'moral equivalency' line, used mostly by the liberal press in supporting the Palestinian position of terrorism against the State of Israel. Perhaps it was just an oversight; if so, I invite you to correct it ... Privately, you are alleged to: Equate [Israeli prime minister Ariel] Sharon with Arafat, and view Sharon as a terrorist; Be unwilling to meet with Sharon; Display an uncooperative attitude towards those who seek to arrange for you to go to Israel, in order to attempt to educate you on the living conditions ... Stop coddling up to the Arabs and look at the situation from the point of view of Israel. Israel is the best friend the United States has in the world, and there are very few issues wherein the interests of the United States and those of the State of Israel differ. The choice is yours; if a five term Democratic Congresswoman from Georgia can be defeated in a primary election, so can an eight term Republican Congressman from California."

Frist Likely to Lead Senate GOP; Lott Out,
Earthlink (from Associated Press), December 21, 2002
"It took Republicans little time to anoint Bill Frist as Senate majority leader after Trent Lott's historic resignation over his apparent nostalgia for segregation, and not long for critics to launch a scrutiny of Frist's own history with race." [WHAT DOES FRIST THINK ABOUT ISRAEL?]: Remarks by U.S. Senator Bill Frist, M.D. to the Desert Caucus, U.S. Senate, November 14, 1999, Speech Of Senator Bill Frist, M.D. US-Israeli Relationship: "And there are few relationships more important to America than the one we share with Israel. Friendship The United States has shared a special bond with Israel almost from the moment of its founding. America was the first country to recognize the new state of Israel – only 11 minutes after it was created. And over the last 50 years, that relationship has blossomed into a strategic, economic, and political partnership that is unique and precious. And there are good reasons for this: No people in the world have more in common with Americans than the people of Israel ... And I believe every member of Congress should do all that he or she can to ensure that nothing ever happens to change that relationship. These things were never clearer to me than they were when I visited Israel in 1997. It was, in fact, my first foreign visit as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. What I learned and saw there will remain with me for the rest of my life. Together with my wife, Karyn, I visited Jericho, Haifa and Tel Aviv. I traveled to the Golan Heights, spent a night on a kibbutz, and stood on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. I met with diplomats and military leaders, visited industries and hospitals, and throughout it all I was excited by Israel’s economy and impressed with its commitment to technological excellence ... Israel is much more than its collected history, as the last five decades have decidedly proven. It is a demonstration of what can be accomplished when a people are determined to overcome every obstacle to freedom and self-determination ... And I think its important to note, that while America maintains about 135,000 troops in Europe and spends about $80 billion every year on its defense, no US troops have ever been required to defend Israel. In fact, when compared to our relationships with many other countries, the US-Israeli partnership has been very cost-effective. We benefit from joint military exercises, intelligence-sharing, and the pre-positioning of materiel that will enable us to respond to any future conflict in the region. In other words, when we support Israel's vital national interests, we also support our own."

Many Tools of Big Brother Are Up and Running,
New York Times, December 23, 2002
"In the Pentagon research effort to detect terrorism by electronically monitoring the civilian population, the most remarkable detail may be this: Most of the pieces of the system are already in place. Because of the inroads the Internet and other digital network technologies have made into everyday life over the last decade, it is increasingly possible to amass Big Brother-like surveillance powers through Little Brother means. The basic components include everyday digital technologies like e-mail, online shopping and travel booking, A.T.M. systems, cellphone networks, electronic toll-collection systems and credit-card payment terminals. In essence, the Pentagon's main job would be to spin strands of software technology that would weave these sources of data into a vast electronic dragnet. Technologists say the types of computerized data sifting and pattern matching that might flag suspicious activities to government agencies and coordinate their surveillance are not much different from programs already in use by private companies. Such programs spot unusual credit card activity, for example, or let people at multiple locations collaborate on a project. The civilian population, in other words, has willingly embraced the technical prerequisites for a national surveillance system that Pentagon planners are calling Total Information Awareness."

Move against Arab party could spark crisis in Jewish-Arab ties,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 23, 2002
"Nearly two years ago, in Israel’s last elections, members of Azmi Beshara’s Balad Party spearheaded the public campaign among Israel’s Arab citizens to boycott the elections. Now Balad has taken a U-turn: It is launching an international campaign against Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein’s demand to ban the party from running in the upcoming general elections. Rubinstein’s request to the Central Elections Committee to disqualify Balad relies on a recent amendment to the Basic Law: The Knesset banning parties that negate 'Israel’s existence as a Jewish state and express support for the armed struggle against Israel.' At stake not is only the status of one Arab party: The attempt could impact the already-fragile relations between the Jewish state and its Arab citizens. The Central Elections Committee will have to define the thin line between the political rights of the Arab population and the possible challenge to the very existence of the state. In other words, it will have to decide how Arab an Arab party can be. Rubinstein came to the elections committee with a thick portfolio of documents — many of them from the Shin Bet security Service’s secret archives — designed to prove that 'Balad is putting on a mask.' In other words, the party, which claims to be a legitimate political organ of Israel’s Arabs, actually is a tool in the effort to destroy Israel as a Jewish state, Rubinstein claims."

Passionate attachment to Israel,
by James J. David, Media Monitors, December 24, 2002
"Is there any criminal act that Israel can do without being protected from criticism from the United States? If there is I haven't seen it. And I haven't seen it from the Bush Administration or from the Clinton Administration or from any administration before them. But when you consider the influence of Israel's lobby and its political action committees and the more than $41 million they've given to Congress and the White House, is it any wonder Israel is shielded from any shame? For more than 54 years the Israelis have committed acts that no other nation would dare get away with. But even here in America, where it is not yet illegal to publicly ask the wrong questions, any public figure that does so is subjected to smears, intimidation, and the attempted destruction of his career and reputation by Jewish organizations and by the very cooperative news media ... Although September 11th brought the fight on terrorism to the front burner, it seems that the United States protects Israel from any criticism here too. An Israeli instant-messaging firm Odigo confirmed that two employees received text messages warning of an attack on the World Trade Center two hours before terrorists crashed planes into the New York landmarks. (Ha'aretz, December 20, 2002.) Is it possible that Israel had foreknowledge of the attack? Could this be the answer why the 4000 Israeli employees at the World Trade Center never showed up for work that tragic September morning? If this is the case then the fact that Israel's government had prior knowledge of the pending attack and not warned the Americans makes them as guilty as our enemy. Whatever the case, our government must make a complete and thorough investigation without any threats from Jewish and Israeli interest groups. Shielding Israel from criticism and supporting the Jewish state no matter what crimes she commits has caused the United States the loss of respect around the world. In addition, Israel has cost American taxpayers more than $120 billion in the past 40 years. Our one-sided unbalanced Middle East policy has created the hatred of millions and the primary cause of terrorism that has landed on our own soil. Criticizing our government's dangerous policies and its submissions to the Jewish lobby doesn't make anyone less patriotic or any less of an American. George Washington said it best when he stated that 'passionate attachment to another nation produces a variety of evils...the illusion of common interests where no real common interests exist; adopting the enmities of the other; and participation in the quarrels and wars of the other without any justification. Still another evil is that such a passionate attachment gives to ambitious, corrupted or deluded citizens the facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country.'" James J. David is a retired Brigadier General and a graduate of the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College, and the National Security Course, National Defense University, Washington DC. He served as a Company Commander with the 101st Airborne Division in the Republic of Vietnam in 1969 and 1970. 1967-1969

VIEWS: US silent about Israeli nukes,
By Hassan Tahsin, Daily Times (Pakistan), December 25, 2002
"International politics has a number of contradictions. At present, we see the United States leading the world against Iran, Iraq and North Korea because they allegedly possess weapons of mass destruction. We see the United States at the same time approving the idea of Israel building a new nuclear reactor. The new reactor will chemically process uranium and will obviously increase the size of the Israeli arsenal. The world is in general agreement with the United States about the necessity of eliminating weapons of mass destruction. The existence of these weapons which includes nuclear warhead threatens the entire world. It is not enough to disarm the so-called “axis of evil.” All weapons of mass destruction must be eliminated, including those of the superpower permanent members of the UN Security Council ... If we look at Israel and its weapons of mass destruction, we join many countries and governments which have wondered why Israel is always an exception to rules that are scrupulously applied to other countries. It is certain today that Israel possesses between 100 and 200 nuclear and hydrogen warheads of all sizes. This is confirmed by published American satellite pictures and scientific reports. These same reports also indicate that Israel is about to produce a neutron bomb. Israel also has nuclear bombs which are designed for use from airplanes. They can be used in battle without fears of side effects. Israel also has spy satellites which can identify targets on the ground very easily. In cooperation with the former racist government in South Africa, Israel conducted nuclear tests in 1979 in the South Pacific. Further information about Israeli weapons is not available though it is known that some were used for the attempted assassination in Jordan of Khalid Meshaal, the Hamas member. Closing the world’s eyes to Israel’s nuclear arsenal and weapons of mass destruction can only lead to suspicion and rejection. Since Israel was the first country in the region to possess these weapons, it should be the first to get rid of them."

Overview of the Shank anonymous hate speech case,
American Civil Liberties Union of Florida,
"Lloyd Shank is a 73-year-old man who lives in Broward County. He has a long history of arrests for distributing racist literature at the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. For years he has been sending officials rambling letters decrying Jews and the federal government. He served two years in federal prison for threatening President Ronald Reagan. He served time in a mental institution. On August 23, 1999, Shank sent an unsigned letter to six of seven Broward County commissioners – all of whom are Jewish, except for one whose spouse is Jewish – in which he made anti-Semitic comments and allegations. In his letter, Shank attacked the Clinton administration and Christianity, and he claimed that Jews promote hatred and murder. He blamed major terrorist attacks on Jews, closing his letter: 'You Jews and puppets murdered 10,000 innocent people in those bombings. Federal, state, local judges are Jewish gangsters and controlled by evil Jews. They are warmongers, terrorists, hate-filled liars and perverts.' Recognizing Shank as the likely author of the diatribe, detectives confronted Shank. He admitted writing the letter, explaining that he left it anonymous because he thought he would be prosecuted if he signed it. On September 8, 1999, Shank was arrested and charged with a third-degree felony under Fla. Statute 836.11, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, for sending an anonymous publication 'exposing persons to hatred, contempt or prejudicial ridicule' ... On September 10, two days after Shank's arrest, the ACLU of Florida sent a letter to Broward State Attorney Michael J. Satz and Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne, calling the statute "plainly unconstitutional" and urging them to release Shank from custody. The State Attorney's office reduced the charge against Shank to a first-degree misdemeanor on September 17. The decision to charge Shank has opened a debate on whether the 1945 Florida law is unconstitutional."

The Role of Politics in Contemporary Anti-Semitism.
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. September 15, 1999
"That Jews control a disproportionately large share of the Russian economy and Russian media certainly has some basis in fact. Between 50 and 80 percent of the Russian economy is said to be in Jewish hands, with the influence of the five Jews among the eight individuals commonly referred to as 'oligarchs' particularly conspicuous. (An oligarch is understood to be a member of a small group that exercises control in a government. The five oligarchs of Jewish descent are Boris Berezovsky, Mikhail Friedman, Vladimir Gusinsky, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and Alexander Smolensky. The other oligarchs are Vagit Alekperov, Vladimir Potanin, and Rem Vyakhirev.) Perhaps the most famous (and simultaneously the most infamous) of the oligarchs is Boris Berezovsky. In common with most of the other Jewish oligarchs, Berezovsky controls industries in three critical areas: the extraction and sale of a major natural resource, such as oil, as a source of great wealth; a large bank (useful in influencing industry and transferring assets abroad); and several major media outlets (useful for exerting influence and attacking rivals). He also controls a significant share of the Aeroflot airline and the Moscow automobile industry."

Fallen Lott Urged Christians To 'Take Back' U.S.,
[Jewish] Forward, December 27, 2002
"Senator Trent Lott told reporters this week that he had fallen into the 'trap' of his political enemies who were happy to take aim at a conservative Christian from Mississippi. But, according to a 1987 report in the Washington Post, Lott eagerly compared his initial senate campaign to a religious crusade. 'Conservative, God-fearing, hard-working Christian people make a mistake by not being more aggressive,' Lott reportedly declared during a Mississippi Right to Life convention in 1987. 'This is our country and it's time we take it back.' The remark was brought to light last week by the National Jewish Democratic Council, a day before Lott's resignation as Senate Republican leader. 'Trent Lott's chronic problem of giving voice to his exclusivist worldview is not just Trent Lott's problem — it's the problem of many in the G.O.P., and especially its leadership,' said the Democratic council's executive director, Ira Forman, in a December 19 statement on Lott's 1987 remarks. Forman also criticized incoming House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican, for urging a crowd of Christian Coalition activists during a pro-Israel rally in October to 'put people in office who stand unashamedly with Jesus Christ.' 'The real problem with these Republican leaders is not the occasional slip of the tongue; it's that they speak honestly about their beliefs,' Forman said. 'And until their exclusionist views change, it's going to be increasingly hard for large numbers of Americans to vote with the Republican Party.' The same day that the Jewish Democrats issued their press release, B'nai Brith International became the only major American Jewish organization to issue a statement calling on Lott to resign from his GOP leadership post."

'Misuse of Canada's identity' questioned Israeli spy operation,
by Stewart Bell, National Post, December 24, 2002
"A senior Cabinet official questioned the head of Israel's security service about allegations Israeli undercover agents posed as Canadians during an operation to assassinate a Palestinian terrorist leader, newly released documents show. Although Ottawa has said publicly it was convinced all along the spy claims were false, internal documents obtained yesterday show the matter has continued to concern the government and has been the subject of behind-the-scenes diplomacy. In a confidential report, officials said they were concerned about 'other countries' intelligence services misusing Canada's identity' and that 'such misuse endangers Canadians travelling around the world and undermines the integrity of Canadian passports.' Ronald Bilodeau, the Privy Council Office security and intelligence co-ordinator and Cabinet assistant secretary, met on Oct. 1 with the head of the Israeli Security Agency, whose spies allegedly used false Canadian identities during the operation in Gaza ... Israel has denied the claims. But the papers show Ottawa was worried about being linked to a spy operation and a botched assassination that killed 14 bystanders, nine of them children. The allegations surfaced in August, when Mr. Zatmeh publicly detailed how he was lured into becoming an Israeli informant by agents who told him they were Canadians and could help him immigrate. Mr. Zatmeh said he was recruited by three 'Canadian' agents who brought him to the Canadian embassy in Tel Aviv before coercing him into helping them, with doctored photos that showed him with naked women ... Sept. 4 they were satisfied the claims were false. However, hours after the Post report on Sept. 5, John McNee, assistant deputy minister for Africa and the Mideast, discussed the matter with Haim Divon, Israel's ambassador to Canada."

Report: Rendell Still Has Knack For Recruiting Big Donors. Former Mayor Of Philly Sets Up Club For High Donors, NBC (Channel 10), December 29, 2002
"As chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 2000, Ed Rendell set up a club for people who donated at least $100,000 to the cause. That club was called the Jefferson Trust. Rendell, the former mayor of Philadelphia, is now the governor-elect of Pennsylvania. And it appears he hasn't lost his knack for fund raising. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today that Rendell appears to have had more $100,000 contributors than all but two others who ran for office in the United States this year. The Inquirer reported that at least 53 individuals and organizations gave at least $100,000 to Rendell. Only California Democrat Gray Davis and Texas Republican Rick Perry eclipsed that number. Both were elected governor in their respective states."

[Enough kneeling to the Jewish Lobby. So where's the "hate crime" legislation against the institutionalized oppression of the Palestinians?]
VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE REMARKS AT ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE, Welcome to the White House ( http://clinton3.nara.gov ) May 9, 2000 (As delivered)
"I thank you, Howard, for the warm introduction and also for the tireless work that you do on behalf of the ADL. And to let me also be quick to add, that I know that I speak for all of us here today when I say that my hearts are with Abe Foxman (ph) and his wife, Golda. I wish Abe -- now I don't know if I'm pronouncing this right. You help me. Refua shalama (ph). Is that right? (APPLAUSE) A full and speedy recovery. It's great to hear these inspiring stories and indeed we have been allies and partners. One of the ways you can find that out is by cataloguing the mutual enemies that we have. Some of the same groups and people have condemned the ADL and me in the same breath and the same sentence, which is one of the greatest honors I can possibly thank God. (LAUGHTER) (APPLAUSE) And I am really grateful for it ... But we started our family in Nashville, and, as many of you know, Nashville is the world capital of country music and the capital of songwriting of all kinds. And it's not just the music of the South, it is the music of America. And to prove it to you, let me just share with you the latest hit list from one of the many proliferating subgenres in country music, the latest top songs on the Jewish country and western song title list. Number four this week is: `I Was One Of The Chosen People Until She Chose Somebody Else.' (LAUGHTER) Number three this week is: `The Second Time She Said Shalom, I Knew She Meant Goodbye.' (LAUGHTER) And number two on the list this week is: `I've Got My Foot On The Glass, Now Where Are You?' (LAUGHTER) (LAUGHTER) ... I really am happy to be back with the ADL. I feel right at home here. Since your founding in 1913, you have been an angel on America's shoulder, summing us to our highest ideas. From your work to unmask klansmen in the 1940s to your fight against McCarthyism in the 1950s -- and incidentally, when my father went to the United States Senate, he had one request, Do not assign me to any committee that has Joe McCarthy on it -- to your efforts to monitor hate on the Internet today, in all these activities and over all these years, you have kept a watchful eye on extremism in every form ... Hate crimes are acts of violence, not just against the person, not just against individuals, but against our ideals. It is long past time for a national law to punish hate crimes and prevent them, once and for all. I call for the passage of national hate crimes legislation... (APPLAUSE) ... in this session of Congress. It is time. (APPLAUSE) There is still time for Congress to take action this year and the lobbying that you do on this issue can make the critical difference. We have to send an unmistakable message: If you commit a hate-crime, we will find you, we will punish you, that punishment will be swift, certain and severe. So let us stand together and work together and tell Congress to make the Hate Crimes Prevention Act the law of our land."

The Neocons and Nixon's southern strategy,
by Pat Buchanon, World Net Daily, December 30, 2002
"Lear's reflection upon ingratitude comes to mind as one reads of the squabble among neoconservatives over who among them was first to stick his nail file in the back of Trent Lott. Charles Krauthammer enters a claim for the Kristol-Bennett crowd, while Jonah Goldberg of National Review and cashiered Bush speech-writer David Frum insist they, too, played supporting roles. Whether Lott may have been innocent of any hate crime, or whether they might have had a moral duty to step in to stop a lynching of one of their own – even had Lott blundered – seem to be thoughts that never once intruded upon these tiny minds. Yet their collusion in ruining Lott, their relish in the pats on the head they are receiving from the left, confirm the suspicion: Neoconservatives are the useful idiots of the liberal establishment. With Lott gone, Bill Kristol is now collaborating with the New York Times in its rewrite of the history of the 1960s, a decade of liberal debacles, to credit racism for the Republicans' success. 'Lott is really virtually the last of the products of Richard Nixon's 'Southern Strategy' to be in major positions of power in the Congress,' Kristol assures the Times. 'With his leaving, you will have cleared out people who ... have a somewhat compromised image to the country as a whole.'"

Breaking the Silence on the Israel Lobby,
by Jeffrey Blankfort
itszone, December 31, 2002 (originally from Anderson Valley Advertiser, February 2002)
"On a Saturday in mid-February a little less than a year ago, I had two experiences, one very positive and encouraging --the other negative and disturbing. The first was at the Marin Community Center in Mill Valley, across the Bay from San Francisco, where more than 200 ( 210 signed in) people, and not what we refer to as "the choir" or "the usual suspects," turned up to hear Palestinian legal scholar Raja Shehadeh, Palestinian professor Jess Ghannam, Stanford-based Israeli scholar Yael Ben-Zvi and myself speak on the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict ... All of the presentations were well received but the enthusiastic reception for mine, in particular, was significant because my subject was the pro- Israel lobby and its negative influence on the American body politic. I placed much of the blame for the escalation of violence in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict on the actions of the organized American Jewish community and by individual Jews working independently who over the years have successfully stifled, intimidated, and marginalized critics of Israeli policies. I expected an uproar from the audience because, from my experience, Marin had always been another 'occupied territory,' but even among the many Jews there, none challenged by premise or my evidence. What they heard and saw was factual and visual evidence of the power of Israel's supporters over Congress and politicians at every political level and. equally damning, their effectiveness in preventing the various anti-war and anti-intervention coalitions over the years from taking any position that might touch on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even one as mild as, 'US Out of the Middle East." After I spoke and after the applause, a number of people, Jews and non-Jews, and several students came up to me wanting more information . Then I went over to Berkeley to the second day of a three-day conference organized by Students for Justice in Palestine where the issue of the Israel Lobby was nowhere on the agenda. I arrived during Phyllis Bennis's presentation. Bennis, a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington-based liberal think tank, is one of the left's more well known talking heads on the Israel-Palestine conflict and can frequently be heard on KPFA and other Pacifica stations. Over the years, like most of the other 'experts, from the 'left,' with the notable exceptions of Columnist Alexander Cockburn and Prof. Ed Herman, she has never recognized, let alone been willing to discuss, the power of the Israel Lobby over US policy in the Middle East, despite overwhelming and indisputable evidence of its existence and of its influence. What happened when I arrived in the auditorium was astonishing. Seeing me in the back of the auditorium where I was sitting with a friend, totally out of the blue and raising her voice, she interrupted her talk to blurt out, 'Congress is not Israeli Occupied Territory!' ... Then I took the anti-war movement to task. Like every other political sector of US society, I said that pro-Israel Jews within its ranks and others who are fearful that raising the issue of the pro-Israel lobby would provoke 'anti-Semitism, have not only kept the lid on that issue, but have kepy the Palestinian cause isolated from the movement's overall agenda. Whatever the reason, I emphasized, there are no excuses for the silence of the movement on the issue of the lobby nor for it's genuflecting to 'Jewish sensibilities' regarding the overall struggle. Neither Bennis nor her co-panelist, a Jewish professor, said a word when I finished. After the program, I went down to say hello to her, and jokingly mentioned that she still had not yet understood the role of the Israel Lobby. She was neither friendly or amused. 'The issue is dead and has been dead.' End of conversation. What is disturbing is that her position regarding the Israel lobby is that long held by Noam Chomsky, as well, as by professors Joel Beinin of Stanford and Stephen Zunes of USF. Bennis's position is puzzling since she is based in Washington, where, for the politically aware, "the lobby's" power is a given.. To their credit, all of them, and Chomsky in particular, have, through their writing and speaking, have exposed American audiences to the history of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle, but their refusal to acknowledge the critical domestic aspects of the struggle are indefensible and can no longer be left unchallenged. (In 1989, Zunes wrote an excellent piece on the power of the pro-Israel lobby for The Progressive, but he soon changed his position, perhaps when he realized that 'blaming the Jews' is the fastest way to get marginalized in US academia. The facts and the quotes in his article, however, did not change. In his recent book, Tinderbox, he writes that Arabs have mistakenly blamed Israel for its problems and that Israel is actually a victim of US policies. He would have us believe that Israel is forced to play the same role for the United States that Jews played under feudalism when they were the middlepersons between the lords and the serfs. This analysis would have us believe that Israel and its Jewish supporters today are somehow in the precarious position that European Jews found themselves in several hundred years ago This is absurd. The first situation represented Jewish weakness. Today, Jews have more than at any time in their history. Zunes ignores the fact that Jewish supporters of Israel are far and away the leading contributors to the Democratic Party and dominate every sector of the media: movies, TV., radio, and the press. Since 1978, the amount of money contributed by pro-Israel PACs alone is over $34 million, as compared to Enron whose $6 million over 10 years given to many of the same politicians is held up as an example of an abuse of the system ... On the Mother Jones magazine website one finds the leading individual contributors to both political parties in the 1999-2000 cycle. Eight of the top ten are Jews who contributed, with one exception, exclusively to the Democratic Party ... Why is the Israel Lobby a taboo subject among the left and the anti-war movements?"


Totalitarianism nears. Without protest, Americans are giving up freedom,
by Glen T. Martin, roanoke.com, Thursday, January 02, 2003
"Today, people of the United States have given up their rights through the 'Patriot Act,' the 'Homeland Security Act' and the Pentagon's new system of 'Total Information Awareness.' The astonishing thing about this 'land of the free' is that most Americans now have no effective rights and do not care. As long as they are free to shop in department stores and have traffic in the streets (with automobiles burning oil stolen from dying Iraqi children), they do not care. And to a greater degree every day, those few who do care about our liberties and rights are too terrified of our government to speak out. The so-called 'Patriot Act' expanded our government's secret search and wiretapping powers enormously. It empowered racial profiling as a recognized police practice and allowed broad sweeps of people of Middle Eastern or Asian origin. It effectively abolished immigrants' rights, allowing noncitizens to be held in secret locations on secret 'evidence,' without right to an attorney, for as long as the government wishes. The government now has the power to enter your home or your computer and secretly record whatever they find without ever having to notify you. They do not even have to obtain a warrant from a publicly accountable judge showing reasonable suspicion that a crime is being committed ... The government will soon be amassing a file on every American that includes every magazine subscription, credit card purchase, Web site visit, medical record, library record, bank deposit or withdrawals, every airline purchase, as well as judicial, divorce records, and so on. This will be recorded in a central data base, not by a publicly accountable authority, but by the Pentagon, which already operates in total secrecy from the American public. Government intimidation for political reasons is real and it has begun. Our government already is using its secret data bases to harass American ... The government has begun harassing people maintaining Web sites they consider politically objectionable. The Justice Department announced a plan to use its newfound power to designate U.S. citizens as 'enemy combatants' to place such people in concentration camps. Declaring them 'enemy combatants' would strip them of their constitutional rights, their access to the courts and allow the government to indefinitely hold them without trial. This is identical in purpose to some of the Nazi concentration camps. Do we citizens care at all about the future of our children or the plight of the millions of citizens in this country of Arab descent, or those who nonviolently oppose government policy? We have repeated for so long the slogan 'it can't happen here.' But the darkness and terror of totalitarianism is coming rapidly. Do we have the courage and integrity to speak out now, before it is too late?"

Senator Lieberman: Your Peace is Our Demise,
arabia.com, January 02, 2003
"US Senator and likely Presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman is touring the Middle East. His visit will most likely be described as a success. And why not? Lieberman conversed with Ariel Sharon and top Israeli leaders. He vowed time and again to stand by Israel in its war on terrorism, and its right to self-defense. He managed to completely ignore the elected Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, meeting instead with Saeb Erekat, the former head of the Palestinian negotiation team. When asked about who was to blame for a bloody two years of occupation and bloodshed, he uttered, the blame goes on the terrorists, the Palestinians of course. With that said, Lieberman managed to squeeze in a few statements about the need for peace, and Palestinian reforms, and a Palestinian crackdown on terrorism, and Palestinian willingness to negotiation and a new Palestinian leadership, etc. To be fair, Lieberman did briefly address the humanitarian needs of the Palestinians. But of course, it was not Israel who received the blame for the growing humanitarian catastrophe, but the terrorists. But once again, the trip was a complete success if one considers official American policy in the Middle East; scolding and blaming the Palestinians, pretending that there is no such thing as a deadly Israeli occupation, illegal settlements or even occupied territories (For now, according to Donald Rumsfeld, they are known as so-called occupied territories). I followed the news of Lieberman's visit to the Middle East, although I expected nothing out of the ordinary, no surprises, until he visited Saudi Arabia, another leg on his tour, one mainly aimed at building war alliances against Iraq. In an interview with Saudi Arabias English daily, Arab News, on Dec 26 ... Lieberman's statement appeared to subscribe more to the official Israeli viewpoint, and that of pro-Israeli lobby groups in the US, than that of the US administration itself ... But again, why should I even raise such an issue as if I indeed held any expectations of the pro-Israeli Senator? On May 2, 2002, as the bodies of scores of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army in the West Bank were decomposing in the streets of Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah and elsewhere, Lieberman rushed to the Senate, co-authoring a resolution (S. Res. 247). The urgent resolution didn't call on Israel to allow the Red Cross to collect the Palestinian corpses or to allow water supplies to reach Jenin or Nablus. Instead, it equated the US fight against terrorism with Israels ruthless attacks on heavily populated Palestinian centers. The resolution passed quickly, yet Lieberman's fight for Israel is yet to fade. He continues to blame the victim, to fight for security for the occupier, he wants to attack Iraq and he blames the UN for being too harsh on Israel. True, Lieberman's actions are no surprise. They are very much in tune with his political philosophy. After all, it was no coincidence that he was the top recipient of pro-Israeli PAC contributions during the 2000 election cycle. I only wish, however, that Lieberman didn't tell journalists in Israel that his visit was aimed at fostering peace and reviving the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinian leadership. Lieberman defended Israel, blamed Palestinians and called for war on Iraq. Such an agenda can hardly be argued to be that of a peacemaker, although one can hardly deny that according to todays standards of American foreign policy, the Senators Middle East tour was a great success."

Speaker Cantor? Eric Cantor, the quick-rising Virginia Republican, may be angling to become the first Jewish House speaker,
Jewish Week, January 3, 2002
"When Rep. Eric Cantor was appointed chief deputy majority whip for the 108th Congress, which opens next week, the hopes of Jewish Republicans across the country fell on his shoulders. It’s a burden Cantor — now the only Jewish Republican in the House — acknowledges and welcomes. He says he is a bridge builder who can help his party cross the chasm of distrust that has kept Jewish voters out of the Republican ranks. That won’t be easy, he concedes, but Cantor insists that logic — and surging support for Israel among conservative Christians — will eventually change Jewish voting behavior. 'What I see all round the country are ongoing efforts to forge relations between religious conservatives and the Jewish community,' he said in a recent interview. 'There’s so much common ground, especially on the Israel issue' ... Cantor is still in the early stages of his career, but friends and acquaintances wouldn’t be surprised to see him become the first Jewish speaker of the House ... Cantor said his new job will add to the punch of his pro-Israel activism in Congress. In his first term, Cantor sponsored several bills threatening sanctions on the Palestinian Authority, including the Temple Mount Preservation Act, which would cut U.S. aid if Palestinian authorities don’t stop 'unauthorized excavations' from the Temple Mount. Cantor has also emerged as a leading congressional critic of the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), the agency that provides humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees — and which Cantor said has allowed refugee camps to become prime breeding grounds for Palestinian terrorists. Cantor agreed that Mideast-related legislation would remain a priority even though his new leadership position will focus more on domestic matters. 'Obviously the Israel issue has always been front and center of what I do politically,' he said. “But this job is much broader than any single issue.'"

Israel compared to Nazi Germany,
icwales, Wales, January 3, 2003
"A politician caused outrage today by comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. Labour councillor Ray Davies condemned Israel's 'apartheid regime' and likened it to Hitler's occupation of Europe. The councillor, from Caerphilly, said: 'Hitler's Nazi regime occupied Europe for four years only. Palestine and the West Bank have been occupied for 40 years.' Speaking on BBC Radio Wales, Mr Davies, who is vice chair of CND in Wales, refused to withdraw his controversial comments, adding: 'I do draw that comparison because (this is) one group of people who should understand what oppression is and what it is like living under occupation.' Mr Davies urged Welsh business minister Carwyn Jones and Tory AM Alun Cairns to boycott a trip to Israel next week. The pair have been invited as part of a visit organised by the Israeli government. Mr Davies accused the Israeli government of treating the Holocaust 'like an industry' to justify its actions against Palestinians. The councillor has himself been on a fact-finding trip to the occupied territories but he said he had 'utterly resisted' an invitation by the Israeli government. 'When they go out there they will be treated like Lords and taken to the Holocaust museum to try to engineer as much sympathy as they can and shown the bright side and the pleasant side and the sort of life the Israelis are enjoying,' he said."

Ariel Sharon's Shakedown,
by Patrick Buchanan, American Conservative, January 2003
"May we now expect the [Wall Street] Journal to call on Mr. Bush to reject the $10 billion in loan guarantees demanded by Ariel Sharon? Don't bet on it. Yet, Sharon's demand is astonishing in its audacity. California and New York face huge budget shortfalls. The U.S. Treasury is running a deficit nearing $200 billion. Yet, Sharon, who ignored Bush when the president publicly called on him to pull his army out of West Bank cities, is demanding that U.S. taxpayers fork over $4 billion in new military aid and agree to pay off $10 billion Israel intends to borrow should Israel decide to default. Why should we do this? What does America get out of this? What has all the $100 billion in aid we have shoveled out to Israel bought us, other than ingratitude and the enmity of the Arab world? While Israel has a first-rate military, it is of no use to us. In Desert Storm, Bush I had to bribe Yitzhak Shamir with $5 billion in aid, $400 million in loan guarantees, and Patriot missiles to stay out of the fighting, lest Israeli intervention dynamite our coalition. Journalists and diplomats alike, returning from the Mideast, attest that our almost-blind support of Israel is a major cause of the anti-Americanism that is sweeping the Islamic world. When the price of Israel could be paid in dollars alone, $3 billion a year, most members of Congress chose to pony up rather than face the retribution of an Israeli Lobby that has in its trophy case the scalps of two chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, J. William Fulbright and Chuck Percy. But now the price of the Israeli connection has begun to rise. U.S. weapons technology given to Israel has been sold to China. Only direct U.S. intervention prevented Israel from selling Beijing AWACS technology. The Patriot missile, the Phoenix air-to-air missile, the Lavi fighter, based on the F-16, have all been sold to Beijing. In the Reagan era, Israel had the loathsome Jonathan Pollard, whom it suborned into treason, loot our innermost national security secrets, some of which are believed to have been traded to Moscow. Israel refuses to return the roomful of documents it stole and has pressured presidents for Pollard's release so he can be brought to Israel where he is a hero. Now Mr. Sharon has handed us Israel's bill for abstaining from war with Iraq while President Bush is at maximum political risk. Not since 1957, when Dwight Eisenhower ordered Ben-Gurion to get his army out of Sinai, has a U.S. president faced down an Israeli Prime Minister. To his credit, the president's father tried. In 1991, having driven Iraq out of Kuwait, with his approval at 70 percent, Bush I was asked by Shamir for $10 billion in loan guarantees to bring a million Russian Jews to Israel. Bush assented, on one condition: Shamir must not settle them on the West Bank and must stop expanding settlements. Shamir rejected the condition, and the Lobby went to work. Bush warned he would veto the guarantees. An Israeli minister called him an anti-Semite. While Shamir was defeated in June of 1992, Bush, his own election in trouble, eventually gave in and gave Israel the loan guarantees. Who was the Housing Minister who announced new settlements even as Bush I was denouncing them? Ariel Sharon. Sharon now wants to repeat Israel's victory over Bush's father by making the son give Israel $4 billion in hardware and $10 billion in new loan guarantees as Sharon's price for permitting us to crush Iraq while he holds America's coat. It is a shakedown: Ariel Sharon's big sting ... If members of the Knesset can refuse to follow the suicidal path of Sharon & Netanyahu, why is Congress so cowardly?"

An Invisible Aide Leaves Fingerprints,
By Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times, January 6, 2003
"Josh Bolten is the White House aide you've never heard of who has his fingerprints all over President Bush's new $600 billion economic plan, the legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security and just about every other domestic policy concocted in his powerful little corner deep in the West Wing. Mr. Bolten, 48, once made a lot of money working for Goldman Sachs and grew up in northwest Washington as the son of a Central Intelligence Agency officer who worked in the directorate of operations, the agency's covert espionage arm. Perhaps taking a lesson from his father, he declined to be interviewed for this article, saying he liked his life undercover. Still, Mr. Bolten can't hide his revealing title — White House deputy chief of staff for policy — and a growing reputation as the hub of the administration's domestic agenda, which is increasingly set by a small handful of West Wing aides under the command of Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, and Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff ... Mr. Bolten is the one who oversees the 45 minutes that Mr. Bush has scheduled for 'policy time' on most days the president is in Washington. Mr. Bolten is in charge of parceling out those precious minutes, usually in the afternoons. He decides what is discussed, when it is to be discussed and who is invited ... Mr. Bolten, who was the issues director of Mr. Bush's presidential campaign, graduated from St. Albans, the exclusive private boys' school in Washington, and Princeton and Stanford Law School. On Hanukkah, he brought in dreidels and gold chocolate coins for the entire senior staff. 'He's the explainer of all things Jewish to the White House,' Mr. Rove said ... When Mr. Bolten was growing up, he was instructed to tell his friends that his father worked at the Defense Department, not the C.I.A."

Letters [to the Editor],
Re: The Left and Israel, letter to the editor, Pat Martin, Jan. 3,
National Post (Canada), January 07, 2003
"I too am a socialist, a trade unionist and an NDP Member of Parliament, but Mr. Martin does not speak for me. The starting point for any consideration of the situation in the Middle East should be based on the principles of international law. In this light, while the world's attention is focused on Iraq's compliance with United Nations resolutions, the true double standard is the fact that the Israeli government can repudiate and violate United Nations resolutions on a continuous basis with impunity. The tragic plight of the Palestinian people continues under the heavy weight of Israeli military occupation. The imprisonment of a whole population denied food, health care, employment and education is compounded by the daily killing of civilians by Israel's military forces. And yes, it is plain to all that oppression and occupation breed resistance and terrorism: Indiscriminate killing of civilians on both sides must be resolutely condemned by all of us looking for a peaceful resolution. Nor is the resistance only Palestinian. The year 2002, according to Israel's former minister of education Shulamit Aloni, 'was a year of moral degeneration during which we became an apartheid state ... we transformed ourselves into barbarians, we turned 3.5 million human beings into hostages, we turned every town and village into a detention camp' ... We are at a historical moment of crisis. Iraq may be the focus but Palestine is the heart of the matter. The drums of war are beating, and as usual, whole peoples are being vilified and targeted. It is time for those of us who call ourselves democrats and defenders of peace, justice and equality to act. Canada's entire reputation as 'the peaceable kingdom' is at stake. Will history record that we were with the warmongers or the peacemakers? Joe Comartin, MP, Windsor St. Clair."

Specter Junket Fit for a Rock Star Tuesday,
Fox News, January 7, 2003
"Sen. Arlen Specter spared no expense on a junket last week to Europe and the Middle East — ordering cases of Evian water, a driver, a personal assistant, Boca Burgers and daily squash matches. During last week's holiday tour, Specter's staff scrambled to rustle up people for him to meet — even as they focused on plans for Specter (R-Pa.) and his wife, Joan, to enjoy the finest dining, opera, theater and social gatherings. Specter's team demanded that he get one meeting in Berlin on Dec. 31 — but only one meeting so he could enjoy himself that day. Joan Specter was to be shown parts of 'local cultural products' and 'unique marketplaces & bazaars' wherever the couple went. Specter's demanding travel needs surfaced this week after e-mails detailing his Dec. 23 to Jan. 6 junket plans were obtained by the Washington Post. One e-mail that said that when in Israel, Specter 'will want a driver and escort — even for visit with his sister.' During the junket, diplomatic types were warned never to schedule events in the evening, since Specter and his wife 'like to do their own thing' at night, an e-mail said. Specter also was to have a squash court reserved for him every evening at 5 p.m. on the dot. 'This guy is a prima donna,' fumed David Williams, vice president of Citizens Against Government Waste. 'This guy is no friend of taxpayers.' After starting his trip in London, Specter's office scheduled him meetings with Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, Syria's Bashar Assad and others. Mrs. Specter 'will want an escort at each country and will likely be interested in sightseeing or shopping,' according to one e-mail." [Note: former President Bill Clinton named Specter's wife Joan to the National Council of the Arts].

New Congress Has More Hispanics,
Washington Post, January 7, 2002
"[Mario Diaz-Balart] is one of a record 22 Hispanics who will be sworn into the House, a gain of three from last year. Sixty women will serve in the House – the same as last year – and an unprecedented 14 women will be in the Senate ... There are no blacks or Hispanics in the 100-member Senate. The House will have 37 blacks, one more than last year but fewer than the record 39 who served from 1993-1995. There are no black Republicans in Congress since Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts retired last year. Only 8.5 percent of the House is black and only 5 percent is Hispanic, even though Hispanics and blacks each make up 12 percent of the U.S. population." [Hmmm. If it's complaint time, and ethnic numbers are getting tossed around, where is the article that notes that Jews are only 2.5% of the American population and yet 11 of our 100 senators are Jewish -- an overrepresentation of about 450%? And if fair representation of ethnic groups is what's at root in this article, and we need to get the percentages all straightened out, how come THAT's not news?] (There are also 26 Jewish members of the House of Representatives)

Schumer vows filibuster to fight renomination of Miss. judge,
Newsday, January 8, 2003
"Sen. Charles Schumer on Wednesday vowed a filibuster if necessary to block the White House's renomination of a Mississippi judge accused by Democrats and civil rights groups of being racially insensitive. Charles Pickering, a U.S. District Court judge in Hattiesburg, Miss., has been renominated for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals after being rejected 10-9 in the Democrat-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee last March. Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Wednesday he was willing to resort to a filibuster to reject Pickering. 'To me, this is a moral issue,' said Schumer."

Israel wants more than total US foreign aid budget,
Financial Review, January 8, 2002
"A delegation from Israel, the largest recipient of US foreign aid, has sought $US12 billion ($21 billion) in assistance at a meeting with State Department and White House officials, Israeli officials said. The request, covering the next three to five years, exceeds the total $US11.6 billion budgeted last year by the US for all countries. The request is to help Israel weather the Palestinian uprising and a possible US war with Iraq ... Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said Israel was asking for $US4 billion in direct assistance and $US8 billion in loan guarantees. A US official indicated before the meeting that the US was open to the request. 'We always try to do what we can to help our friend and ally,' the official told reporters. The meeting was intended to focus on "Israel's current economic situation and Israel's expected request for supplemental assistance", he said."

Bush Decides Against New Aid Grants for States,
Reuters, January 7, 2003
"President Bush has decided against offering grants to cash-strapped states as part of a $674 billion economic stimulus package he is to unveil on Tuesday, the White House said. The White House had been considering providing $10 billion to states to reduce budget woes but White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters that Bush had decided against it. 'The goal of the package is to stimulate the economy, not transfer money from one taxpayer-funded source in the government to another taxpayer-funded source in a different government,' Fleischer said."

Israel: America's Shame and Humanity's Stain,
by Mohamed Khodr, Media Monitors, January 9, 2003
"While the American people are fiercely proud, independent, and will not submit to any nation or any person who dares stomp on the world's sole superpower, they do submit willingly and unwillingly to the dictates of a foreign nation, Israel, whose economy and political support is the prime priority of Washington D.C., even at the expense of the needs and lives of the American people themselves. Inquiring Minds Around the World Want to Know: Why are the American people so loved and respected around the world for so long (prior to Israel's founding in 1948) for their freedoms, educational and technological superiority, their friendliness, generosity, and respect for other people's beliefs and needs, are so naive to the destructive influence of Israel's 'Jewish Power' upon their domestic and foreign policies? Why are they so blind and uninformed despite having the world's largest and most advanced educational system, the world's largest media outlets, the ability to travel around the world freely, the world's largest interdependent economy that sells to every nation on earth, except to Israel where it loses on trade; a nation with more military bases around the world than any other, a nation of immigrants from around the world, a nation in possession of the wondrous law unavailable to most of the world--the 'Freedom of Information Act--whereby a citizen can seek governmental answers on policies, but doesn't when it comes to foreign policy? WHY, WHY, WHY? Why has the world been engulfed in continuous wars and conflicts in the Middle East ever since Israel was founded in 1948? Why did Islam suddenly become America's enemy immediately after the collapse of Communism in 1991? Why 9/11? ... There is a reason that Bush appointed Henry Kissinger, a powerful Pro-Israeli Jew to head the Independent Commission but who later resigned rather than reveal his "conflict of interest" nations. The reason is Israel and the answer as to WHY there is new found HATE between the U.S. and the Muslim world is simple: Why do THEY hate US? ISRAEL, ISRAEL, ISRAEL, ISRAEL, ISRAEL, ISRAEL Why do WE Hate Them? ISRAEL, ISRAEL, ISRAEL, ISRAEL, ISRAEL, ISRAEL Despite the fact that most Americans, including our Government understand this truth, America is too fearful to admit that Israel is the barrier between the West and Islam, between perpetual war and peace, and between the interests of the American people and the Pro-Israel politics of our Government too greedy for Jewish money and votes and too cowardly to face the Pro-Israeli Media backlash should they ever so slightly oppose the 'Israel First' policy. There is ZERO TOLERANCE in America’s Media for any criticism of Israel. The Political Unemployment line is filled with politicians who fought for America's cause and independence from Israel and who sought peace in the Holy Land. Among them are former Senators William Fulbright, Charles Percy, Reps. Paul Findley and Cynthia McKinney. The American Government, Media, Wall Street, Hollywood, and 'experts' on television are ensuring through daily bombardment of intimidating sound bytes that the American TAXPAYER, who is the ultimate VICTIM in this charade of 55 years of Israel's democracy and 'special relationship' with the United States, will never know the truth about Israel's grip on this nation or if he/she does, that they will never have the courage to ever speak out publicly. THE ANSWER MY FRIEND AS TO WHY MUSLIMS ARE DYING EVERYDAY AND WHY AMERICANS HAVE BEEN KILLED BY ISRAEL (USS Liberty in 1967, Marines in Beirut) and will continue to die around the world for Israel’s interests, not America’s, especially in Israel's push for America to attack Iraq, and not North Korea, IS BLOWING IN THE WINDS OF 'JEWISH POWER'."

Israeli at US loan talks is implicated in massacre,
by Robert Fisk, Independent (UK), January 12, 2003
"Israel is asking the United States for $8bn (£5bn) in loan guarantees – and has sent to Washington one of the former army officers implicated in the 1982 Sabra and Chatila massacre of Palestinian civilians to persuade the Bush administration to grant the money. Amos Yaron, who is now director general of the Israeli Ministry of Defence, was the Israeli military commander in Beirut when Lebanese Phalangist militiamen entered the refugee camps and slaughtered up to 1,700 Palestinian refugees. He ordered flares to be dropped over the camps, at the request of the Phalange, and Israeli soldiers blocked the exits to prevent civilians from leaving the area. Israel is pleading for the money – along with an additional $4bn in military aid – on the grounds that a US invasion of Iraq will provoke further attacks against Israel. It argues that some of the aid should be given to anti-missile defence systems for El Al airliners. Al-Qa'ida members tried to destroy an Israeli civilian aircraft with missiles at Mombasa last year, but narrowly missed it. The Israeli delegation to Washington is led by Dov Weissglass, from the private office of the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, who was found 'personally responsible' for the Sabra and Chatila massacre by the Israeli Kahan commission of inquiry in 1983. Mr Yaron was appointed to the post of Defence Ministry director by the former prime minister, Ehud Barak. The two men are accompanied to Washington by the Israeli Ministry of Finance accountant general, Nir Gilad. The Israeli team is negotiating the new loan with Condoleezza Rice's National Security Council but little has emerged about their visit in the American press. The US response is likely to be made public within a month – before the expected invasion of Iraq. The State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, has refused to talk about the negotiations, save for a passing remark that 'we always try to help our friends and allies to the best of our ability'."


[Since the following article is obviously perceived as outrageous in Boston and the U.S., how about a deal? The end to medievalism: a Jewish Argentine governor for an Arab, Muslim, or Christian prime minister of Israel. Or even mayor of Tel Aviv. Or even head of an Israeli phone company. OK, OK. How about an Arab policeman in the Jewish side of Jerusalem?]
Argentine politician tests a provision,
Boston Globe (from Los Angeles Times), January 12, 2003
"Jose Alperovich has the credentials to become the next governor of the province of Tucuman. He is a federal senator, rising star in the ruling Peronist party, and protege to the current governor. He also is Jewish. And that, a number of prominent voices here say, disqualifies him from becoming Tucuman's chief executive under Article 80 of the provincial constitution, which requires the governor to take a Christian oath. 'I never thought, in the 21st century, we'd see something like this,' said Alperovich, who leads most polls here ahead of elections expected in March or April. He is challenging Article 80 in the provincial Supreme Court ... Article 80 says the governor must swear fealty to 'God, the Fatherland and the Christian saints.' Monsignor Luis Villalba, Tucuman's Roman Catholic archbishop, launched the controversy just before Christmas when he said the constitutional provision means the governor must be Catholic. 'We have to start respecting the law,' Villalba said on a local television program. 'We must follow the constitution to the last detail. Our country is falling apart because no one follows or respects the law' ... For many in Argentina's 200,000-member Jewish community, the controversy is just another in a long line of incidents with anti-Semitic overtones in a traditionally Catholic country, where many people are not yet comfortable with a cosmopolitan society. challenge to Article 80 ... Alperovich, 47, is the grandson of Lithuanian immigrants who fled the violence of World War II. A successful businessman, he drifted to politics in the mid-1990s and was economy minister in the provincial government before becoming a senator."

The Beltway Revue. Some Actors Are Behind the Curtain,
by Jim Moore, The Etherzone, January 13, 2002
"I was particularly disturbed by Elisabeth Bumiller's article 'An Invisible Aide Leaves Fingerprints.' It's a revealing piece about Josh Bolton, a White House aide who 'has his fingerprints all over President Bush's new $600 billion economic plan, (legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security)---and just about every other domestic policy concocted in his powerful little corner deep in the West Wing'. That's a big fingerprint-and getting bigger. Bolton, an alumnus of Goldman Sachs, has a growing reputation as the hub of Bush's domestic agenda, which is primarily set by a small handful of his West Wing aides. That, my friends, is power. Now, there are three things that trouble me about Bolton with his hands on that much power. First, his secrecy. According to Bumiller's report, Bolton's views about America's economy and domestic policies are a mystery, as is the kind of advice he gives the president. Second, his authority. He is in charge of parceling out time for meetings of the president's Domestic and Economic Councils. He decides what's to be discussed, and who gets invited. He, himself, attends all meetings, regardless of the topics. Third, his loyalty. By that I am not referring to his patriotism. For all I know, Bolton may be as loyal to America as was Patrick Henry. But according to his boss, Karl Rove, 'He's the explainer of all things Jewish to the White House.' I'm not sure why, but that sounded a bit ominous to me, so I began to wonder just how many Jews were in Bush's administration, and why the Man in the White House has to have 'all things Jewish' explained to him, and what he did with that information when he got it. Being a nosey sort, I immediately contacted my friend Google and asked it to give me the names of the Jews in the Bush administration. I must say, the roster I received looked like the contents of an Israeli businessman's Rolodex. There are least 17 Jews in the Bush Administration. And I'm not talking about people who sit in the back row at meetings and take notes. These are all people at the highest levels of government. People in such powerful positions that they literally influence the foreign and domestic policies of the president, and thus of the United States of America.itself. I list them here, and where they work, so that you'll see that these are not people on the way up, but people who are already on top. Paul Wolfowitz - Deputy Sec'y., Department of Defense Richard Perle - Ass't Sec'y of Defense for International Security Policy; Ari Fleischer, - White House Press Sec'y; Ken Melman - White House Political Director; Josh Bolton - Deputy Chief of Staff; Jay Lefkowiz - Ass't to the President & Director of Domestic Policy Council; David Frum - Speechwriter; Brad Blakeman - White House Director of Scheduling; Dov Zakheim - Under Secretary of Defense (Controller); Lewis Libby - Chief of Staff to the Vice President; Adam Goldman - White House Liaison to the Jewish Community; Chris Gersten - Administrator for children & families at HHS; Elliot Abrams - Ass't Sec'y, Human Rights, International Operations; Mark Weinberg - Housing & Urban Development for Public Affairs; Douglas Feith - Under Sec'y of Defense for Policy Michaek Chertoff - Head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division; Daniel Kurtzer - Ambassador to Israel. As I listed these names, it prompted me to connect some dots I had never before felt the need to do. And the picture that emerged produced more questions of a troubling nature. One question is, how and why did so many Jews manage to get themselves into top-level positions in the Administration? Another question, what if anything, does the Jewish influence on American policy have to do with our lock-step relationship, and over-generous support of, Israel? Last question, if the Jewish influence on our government is beneficial, productive, and promotive of America's principles, why did our founding fathers make the following statements---more than 200 years ago?"

[Israeli green light to kill Americans].
Israel to kill in U.S., allied nations,
by Richard Sale, UPI, January 15, 2003
"Israel is embarking upon a more aggressive approach to the war on terror that will include staging targeted killings in the United States and other friendly countries, former Israeli intelligence officials told United Press International. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has forbidden the practice until now, these sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Israeli statements were confirmed by more than a half dozen U.S. foreign policy and intelligence officials in interviews with UPI. With the appointment of Meir Dagan, the new director Israel's Mossad secret intelligence service, Sharon is also preparing 'a huge budget' increase for the spy agency as part of 'a tougher stance in fighting global jihad (or holy war),' one Israeli official said. Since Sharon became Israeli prime minister, Tel Aviv has mainly limited its practice of targeted killings to the West Bank and Gaza because 'no one wanted such operations on their territory,' a former Israeli intelligence official said. Another former Israeli government official said that under Sharon, 'diplomatic constraints have prevented the Mossad from carrying out 'preventive operations' (targeted killings) on the soil of friendly countries until now.' He said Sharon is 'reversing that policy, even if it risks complications to Israel's bilateral relations' ... A congressional staff member with deep knowledge of intelligence matters said, 'I don't know on what basis we would be able to protest Israel's actions.'"



Defender of the Jews, wherever they may be,
By Yossi Shain and Ze'ev Segal, Semit Times
"In the current tense discussions both in Israel and in the Jewish Diaspora concerning the new wave of anti-Semitism, politicians and commentators alike have overlooked the legal dimension of kinship responsibility (in the sense of kol Yisrael arevim ze laze) that exists in the Israeli penal code. Section 13 of this code, enacted in 1994, enshrines in law an express Israeli commitment to the Diaspora-homeland security nexus. Section 13, part of a wider reform of the code, granted Israeli courts jurisdiction over what is termed 'extra-territorial crimes,' that is, crimes committed outside Israel. Section 13 is unique in the way it relates to what is defined in its title as 'crimes against the state or against the Jewish People.' Section 13 states that: 'Israeli criminal law will also apply to offenses committed outside Israeli territory against: 1. The life of an Israeli citizen, Israeli resident or public servant, his body, his health, his freedom, or his property, because he is one of the above. 2. The life of a Jew, his body, his health, or his property, because he is a Jew, or the property of a Jewish institution, because it is Jewish.' In this section, Israel defined in explicit terms the connection between the Diaspora and the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people ... By enacting the section on the 'Security of the Jews,' the State of Israel expressed its commitment to protect all Jews regardless of their citizenship and their countries of domicile, as if they were citizens of the state and as if the crimes committed against them were committed within Israel's state borders ... According to this (weaker) principle, a state may apply its criminal laws to those who harm its citizens or residents when they are outside its territorial bounds. This principle rests on the state's obligation to protect its citizens, even when they are outside its sovereign domain. It is also based on the personal (kin) connection to the state ... In 1994, when the Knesset added the 'Security of the Jews' clause, it established a new extraterritorial principle, an additional connection that makes possible the application of Israeli criminal norms outside the borders of the state. The significance of the clause is that the State of Israel sees the protection of all Jews as one of its supreme responsibilities and considers every Jew, wherever he/she may reside, to be covered by its legal protection ... The explanatory remarks said: 'Likewise it should be emphasized that special protection is granted in Section 13(b)(2) to the life, health, freedom or property of a Jew, because he is a Jew, and that this is without any other connection to the State of Israel ... This is an expression of the State of Israel's existence as the State of the Jewish people' ... The practical significance of the 'Security of the Jews' clause is that Israeli courts have jurisdiction over acts committed by foreigners against Jews because of their Jewishness. This means that from the point of view of the State of Israel, there is no substantive difference whether anti-Semitic offenses are committed inside or outside of Israel. In other words, in contrast to every other offense committed against Israeli citizens or Jews outside of Israel, and for which the court is not ordinarily empowered to judge, when an offense is motivated by anti-Semitism, the court has full jurisdiction. In addition, the conferment of judicial jurisdiction on an Israeli court, and the treatment of the offense as if it was committed within the borders of Israel, provides the State of Israel the authority to demand the extradition of the offender ... To the best of our knowledge, the 'Security of the Jews' clause has yet to be activated. This in no way diminishes the declarative and ideological importance of this law. It cannot be seen as beyond the realm of possibility that in the future, in certain circumstances, the law will cease to be merely words and will become a living and breathing reality. At this time when a foul wave of attacks is raging against Jews, their property, their symbols and their institutions, attacks that have reached such worrisome dimensions, it seems to us proper to create awareness of this unique clause in the Israeli penal code and to encourage public debate, both in Israel and in the Diaspora, regarding it." Prof. Shain and Prof. Segal are on the faculty of Tel Aviv University. Prof. Segal is Ha'aretz's legal affairs editor. Prof. Shain is also a professor of government at Georgetown University.

[This article is a natural for the one after it]
Two YULA Students Picked as Scholars,
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, January 17, 2003
"Having a conversation with Yeshiva University of Los Angeles (YULA) students Debra Glasberg and Tzvi Smith is like chatting with two political experts being interviewed on CNN. These two high school students are among the five Jewish teens chosen for the exclusive Sen. Joseph Lieberman Scholars Program. Now in its third year, the program is a joint project of the Orthodox Union’s Institute for Public Affairs (IPA) and the National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY). The goal of the Lieberman Scholars Program is to educate and cultivate future leaders of the Jewish community ... [Glasberg] will learn at a yeshiva in Israel for a year after high school and then go to college to study political science. Her goal is to become a political activist. 'I’m concerned about issues that affect the Jewish community and how we can help American Jews and world Jewry in the political process,' the Beverly Hills resident said. 'I think it’s extremely important that Jews have a say in American politics' Like Glasberg, [Smith] plans to study at a yeshiva in Israel before attending college. In late November, Glasberg and Smith attended the United Jewish Communities (UJC) General Assembly in Philadelphia. The conference provided an opportunity for Jewish community leaders from across North America and from Israel to meet and exchange ideas. The purpose of the event, which is one of three major seminars the scholars will attend this year, was to foster leadership in the Jewish community and promote Jewish awareness. 'Coming from an Orthodox perspective, I was fascinated how the whole community could come together,' Glasberg said. 'We all had this uniting factor in supporting Israel and learning how to bring community together to help Israel.'”

[Jews are obsessed with monitoring their neighbors. And it is a measure of Jewish Lobbying expertise, Jewish influence in the mass media, and Jewish censorial control of public discourse that all of the American electorate is not concerned about Joe Lieberman's loyalty to Israel. Despite all the Jewish propaganda and censorship, apparently 33% of Americans still know what's going on. Expect an avalanche of Jewish spin doctors and propaganda fraudsters to publicly distance Lieberman from his Israeli root. ]
Lieberman pooh-poohs poll saying voters worrying about split loyalties,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, January 16, 2003
"Nearly one-third of Americans are concerned that a Jewish president may have split loyalties vis-a-vis Israel, according to a new poll. But the results may not necessarily be bad news for Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), an observant Jew who announced his bid this week for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. 'What it suggests is, the question about whether or not Jews are totally accepted as complete loyal Americans is still up for grabs in some American minds,' said Gary Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish & Community Research, which commissioned the poll. Asked about the findings, Lieberman said Wednesday that polls he has seen say voters would not be dissuaded from backing him because of the dual loyalty issue ... Polls taken by the Anti-Defamation League also have shown that about one-third of Americans believe American Jews have conflicting loyalties. Tobin’s poll also showed that 37 percent of Americans believe Jews are responsible for killing Jesus — and that Democrats are more likely to have anti-Semitic attitudes than Republicans. Tobin attributed some of the anti-Semitism to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 'Traditional anti-Semitic stereotypes have been incorporated into the language of anti-Israelis,' Tobin said. Tobin’s solution is more education and outreach. The poll results suggest that Jewish groups should work with leaders of other religions to improve education about Judaism and Israel, he said. Other findings in the survey may be more debatable. The poll asked respondents to answer such questions as whether Jews have too much influence on Wall Street, whether Jews threaten the morality of the United States and whether Jews control the media. On many questions, the survey found that Americans aged 18-34 are more likely to hold anti-Semitic attitudes than are older groups, reversing a trend since World War II, Tobin said. For example, roughly 24 percent of respondents under 35 believe Jews control the U.S. news media. 'In the wake of the Holocaust, social norms in the United States and elsewhere in the world were more prohibitive of most overt expressions of anti-Semitism,' Tobin said. “The constraints against anti-Semitism are weakening, and the rise in anti-Semitic beliefs is part of that trend.'"

Crafting a legacy in Morocco: Jews, officials share same goal,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 24
"Morocco's Jewish community, which stood at a robust 250,000 in 1948, has dwindled to approximately 5,000 today; most of its members are older than 50 ... Moroccan officials, once unwilling to mention the State of Israel, now speak of their readiness to establish a direct Tel Aviv-Casablanca flight if peace is achieved. `What is important is to share business, joint ventures, large cooperation together,' said Andre Azoulay, a former banker and the chief economic adviser to [King] Hassan. Azoulay is believed to be the only Jewish minister in the Arab world."

Democracy, not terror, must win, Giuliani says as he stumps for Israel,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, January 22, 2003
"The former mayor of New York is drawing on his experience with terrorism to help raise funds for Israel. Rudy Giuliani appeared Monday at two United Israel Appeal fund-raising events aimed at the non-Jewish German public. Israel’s is an 'outpost of freedom and democracy and the rule of law,' Giuliani said Monday in a speech at Hamburg’s ornate town hall, and its preservation is 'a key to world peace' ... Monday’s fund-raising events in Hamburg and Berlin were organized by Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal as part of a new campaign for the hearts — and pockets — of evangelical Christians. Andreas Wankum, director of Keren Hayesod in Germany, told the Hamburg audience that he had invited Giuliani 'because we wanted you to meet someone who was directly affected by terrorism, who felt it in his own body' ... Jewish leaders increasingly are willing to accept support for Israel from Christian fundamentalist groups, said Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder of the Chicago- and Jerusalem-based International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. The fellowship recently signed an agreement under which Eckstein will assist Keren Hayesod’s efforts to reach out to Christians in Europe. His first campaign in Germany is scheduled for February. 'It has never been done before,' Eckstein told JTA, but it makes perfect sense, since Christian groups gave $21 million to Israel in 2002. During the past year, thousands of evangelical Christians demonstrated for Israel in Berlin and in The Hague in the Netherlands. 'Jews have to get it where they can,' said Israel Singer, president of the World Jewish Congress and chairman of the Claims Conference. 'People don’t have a choice when they are isolated. We need support from like-minded, Judeo-Christian types.'”

An Orthodox Powerhouse in D.C. Suburb,
[Jewish] Forward, January 10, 2003
"Neil and Fran Kritz are poster children for Modern Orthodoxy. Fran, a reporter for the Washington Post, won't take a call from any source on the Sabbath. Neil, who is the director of the Rule of Law Program for the U.S. Institute of Peace, travels to war-torn countries to help rebuild their legal systems, yet he won't so much as drink a cup of coffee from a non-kosher restaurant. Combining fast-track Washington careers with religious piety, the Kritzes are models for a kind of Orthodox life that some observers have considered to be on the wane. But the Kritzes are hardly anomalies in the capital; they are part of a vanguard that includes the singles, young marrieds and politicos at Georgetown's Kesher Israel Congregation and the families, like the Kritzes, who are members of the suburban Kemp Mill Synagogue. So successful have the two synagogues become in fostering Modern Orthodox movers and shakers that some have even begun to talk about the Washington area eclipsing New York as the incubator of Modern Orthodoxy's national leadership. As proof, they point to the selection last month of Richard Joel, international director of Hillel and an active member of the Kemp Mill Synagogue, as the next president of Yeshiva University ... 'The people here are both Jewishly committed and really engaged in the secular world — and not just as a place to make money," said member Eliot Cohen, director of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Last fall, President Bush let it be known that he and his top aides were reading Cohen's latest book, 'Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime.' Indeed, the synagogue's membership list reads like a roster of boldface names, including Dov Zackheim, the Undersecretary of Defense who was also considered for the Y.U. position; Tevi Troy, special adviser to the domestic policy council at the White House, and David Makovsky, a contributing editor to U.S. News and World Report. Members work at the State, Labor and Justice departments, high-end lobbying firms and Greenpeace, the National Archives, Comptroller of the Currency and National Gallery of Art. The synagogue, which was founded in 1990, functions according to a mission statement whose cornerstone is an astonishingly quiet and efficient — read: short — prayer service. Other features included a passionate dedication to Zionism and an environment that is unusually inclusive of children. A women's prayer group meets regularly, classes are open to all and the rabbi only gives one sermon a month — the other three sermons are given by lay members, both men and women. One of the most significant parts of the mission statement, however, is the mandate for active engagement with the non-Jewish world... In 1999, a number of Modern Orthodox rabbis, including Rabbi Saul Berman of New York and Kesher Israel Congregation's Rabbi Barry Freundel, founded Edah, an organization intended to reinvigorate Modern Orthodoxy's blend of religiosity and secular pursuits, deep-felt Zionism and willingness to dialogue with non-Orthodox Jewish groups."

The Half-Billion Dollar Shakedown. Record Amounts of Soft Money during the 1999-2000 Cycle,
Common Cause
"Special Interests Hand Over Record Amounts Of Soft Money To The National Parties During 1999-2000 Election Cycle."
[REAL ESTATE: of the top five funders to Democratic and Republican Parties, four were Jewish: Milstein Properties $1,084,389; Stephen Bing, Real Estate Investor 685,000; Walter Shorenstein, Shorenstein Co 675,698; Simon DeBartolo Group Inc 554,200; David Steiner, Steiner Equities Group]

[It appears that the top seven Entertainment/Media political philanthropists are Jewish, i.e., the Disney company, from Michael Eisner on down, has become a significantly Jewish enterprise]]
Entertainment and Media,
Common Cause
"Haim Saban, Saban Entertainment $1,551,363; Walt Disney Co 1,205,033; DreamWorks SKG 873,000 News Corp 680,900; Vance Opperman, West Publishing 596,712; Philip Levine, Onboard Media 567,665; Jeffrey & Jeanne Levy-Hinte, Post 391; 548,000 Michael King, King World

The Cheerful Giver. A businessman with a corner on publishing court documents was also a master of political donations,
CNN, April 21, 1997
"Happy is the man who rules his market, especially one as lucrative as Vance Opperman's. As president of West Publishing, the quasi-official publisher of court decisions, he has earned a fortune. And so when his empire was threatened in 1994 by potential competition from, of all places, the Justice Department, he called in a little help from his friends in Washington. Fortunately for him, he had a lot of those. A major Democratic Party fund raiser, who with his father gave $195,000 in 1992-94, Opperman enjoyed a decades-old friendship with Al Gore and served as campaign-finance co-chairman for California Senator Dianne Feinstein in 1994. At a Democratic fund raiser that fall, Opperman took the opportunity to collar Bill Clinton and, as Democratic officials told TIME, asked him point-blank, 'Can you get the Justice Department off my back?' Opperman recalls seeing Clinton but denies asking for a favor. He remembers how agitated he was at the time over an announcement by the Justice Department that it was exploring ways to help consumers gain cheaper online access to court opinions--a form of legal research that posed a threat to West's $800 million-a-year business. Clinton didn't know the details but told Opperman he would have his counselor Mack McLarty look into it. McLarty, who had had business dealings with Opperman, met with him and White House lawyer Steve Neuwirth in his West Wing office. The object, says White House special counsel Lanny Davis, was to 'determine what if any response the White House might have' to Opperman's concern. At McLarty's direction, Neuwirth made inquiries at Justice, and learned of a complicating issue. The department's Antitrust Division was investigating the online service industry West dominated for alleged monopolistic practices. The White House quickly bowed out. After years of cultivating politicians and federal judges -- West regularly flew members of the judiciary to posh retreats -- Opperman had other chits to call in. Judges, Congressmen and thousands of West employees sent letters and made calls to Justice to plead Opperman's case. In February the department formally abandoned any online plans that would have undercut his company. Justice officials said cost and complexity, not political influence, determined the outcome. West soon thereafter won a $14.2 million contract to provide Justice with online legal research. Not only that, but the department's antitrust investigation never seemed to get off the ground. That wasn't West's only Washington coup. Clinton had named Opperman in 1993 to an advisory panel that, among its many tasks, would review the first government report to recommend broad copyright protection for West's kind of reproduction of publically available information. The idea was potentially a saving grace for Opperman, whose franchise was considered to be threatened by a 1991 Supreme Court decision stripping copyright claims from publishers who assemble nonoriginal work, such as the phone book. By early 1996 the author of the report--Patents commissioner Bruce Lehman--was promoting the Opperman-friendly copyright measure and seeking to incorporate it in an international treaty. The timing was terrific for Opperman, who was in the process of making a deal to sell his Minnesota-based company for $3.4 billion to Thomson Corp. of Canada. With its copyright protection more secure, West would be able to preserve its bargaining position. The merger, like others of its size, needed approval by the Justice Department. That decision came amid an extraordinary convergence of events for West. In May of last year, even as Lehman was presenting the U.S. treaty proposal in Geneva, Opperman was co-chairing a $250,000 campaign event for Gore in Minneapolis. The next month, Opperman attended a fund-raising coffee at the White House with Clinton. Several weeks later he dined with the Gores in Nashville, Tennessee. By that time, he had something to celebrate: the Justice Department had conditionally approved the merger."

[What makes the difference for the Jewish vote? Democrat? Republican? No. Jewish.]
Survey Sees Historic Shift to the Right Younger Set Spurns Dems,
[Jewish] Forward, January 17, 2003
"American Jews may be poised on the edge of a historic shift to the right in their political views, according to a new survey of Jewish opinion released to the Forward this week. As they have for most of the past century, Jews identify themselves overwhelmingly as Democrats, and liberals outnumber conservatives two to one, according to the survey, which I conducted in November and December. However, younger Jews are far more willing than their elders to identify as Republicans and to approve of President Bush, suggesting that the Democrats' advantage among Jews will shrink during the coming decades. Republican identification also increases markedly among the growing number of Jews who are in the highest income brackets, something that has not been shown in previous surveys, including my own. Most striking, almost half the Jews who voted in 2000 for Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore over Republican George W. Bush are uncertain they would make the same choice today. Jews in this sample supported Gore over Bush in 2000 by a margin of 71% to 21%. The survey, conducted when Gore was still considered the Democratic front-runner for 2004, showed just 37% saying they would now vote for Gore, 22% backing Bush and 41% uncertain. A Joseph Lieberman candidacy, however, would bring Jewish support sharply back into the Democratic column. In a hypothetical Lieberman-Bush match-up, 57% said they would vote for Lieberman and 14% for Bush, with 29% uncertain ... The survey, conducted by a mail-back questionnaire, included a statistically representative sample of 1,386 Jewish adults nationwide, drawn from a consumer opinion panel of the research firm Synovate. It was funded by the Jewish education department of the Jewish Agency for Israel in cooperation with the Florence G. Heller/JCCA Research Center. ... There are indications, too, that much of the shift may be closely associated with Bush's performance as a wartime president and ally of Israel. Indeed, support for 'the way George W. Bush has been dealing with Israel and the Middle East' was strong across the board, with 43% approving and just 29% disapproving ... Indeed, this study showed almost no variation in political measures as income rose from the poorest households to those earning up to $150,000. However, at $150,000 a major break in political preferences emerges. This most affluent group — amounting to almost one-fourth of American Jews — expressed markedly more support for Republicans, conservatives and President Bush."

[Power shift?: Jewish Democrat out, Jewish Republican in.]
Coleman to lead subcommittee that's rich in Senate history,
Star Tribune, January 18, 2003
"Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., was named chairman of the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on Friday, taking control of a panel that has launched many political careers and provided some of the most dramatic moments in Senate history. 'This is the premier investigative subcommittee in all of Congress,' said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the Senate's Governmental Relations Committee, who appointed Coleman ... 'It's a wonderful venue, because it really is a license to investigate just about anything,' said Donald Ritchie, associate historian with the Senate Historical Office. Collins said it was 'a tribute to his talent' that Coleman was given the job in his first year. She noted that it has often been headed by members of Congress with decades of experience: Coleman's predecessor, Democrat Carl Levin of Michigan, was elected to the Senate in 1978. Collins, the last Republican to head the panel, said that Coleman will have 'the strongest subpoena power in the entire Senate' ... Coleman, 53, the 10th senator to lead the subcommittee, will replace Levin, the panel's chairman since 2001. Levin lost the position because Republicans took control of the Senate in the November elections. That change in part resulted from Coleman's victory over Democrat Walter Mondale, the former vice president."

[In America, the Jewish Lobby has covered all its bases -- it is illegal in the U.S. to boycott Israeli goods]
Swedes call for boycott of Israeli goods,
Ha'aretz (Israel) (from Associated Press), January 19, 2003
"An archbishop, an ambassador and the leader of an ex-communist party were among 73 Swedes calling for a boycott on Israeli goods from occupied Palestinian territories Saturday. 'To buy and trade with Israeli goods from occupied territories is to actively support the illegal Israeli occupation,' said the authors of an opinion article in newspaper Dagens Nyheter. The article was signed by Karl Gustav Hammar, archbishop of the Lutheran Church of Sweden; Carl Tham, Sweden's ambassador to Berlin; Left Party leader Gudrun Schyman and dozens of journalists, writers, economists and politicians"

[Two-faced and loaded with Jewish "PAC" money, Lieberman seeks to buy the Black vote]
The Lieberman Coalition Guess who's coming to the support of his campaign? by Stephen F. Hayes, Weekly Standard, 1/27/2003, Volume 008, Issue 19
"It's odd to say the least --Joe Lieberman, first ever Jewish-American presidential candidate, leading the Democratic field in support from black voters. But according to a recent USA Today/Gallup poll asking black Democrats who they liked best from a list that included Al Sharpton, that's exactly what is happening today. The first explanation most political observers give for this popularity is also the most obvious: name identification. A former vice presidential candidate gets a head start from having his name on the leftover blue and red bumper stickers that still decorate the rear ends of cars across the country ... And since the 2000 campaign ended, even before he knew for sure he would run in 2004, Lieberman spent time cultivating support among African-American leaders in Washington and around the country ... Last spring, as he waited for Al Gore to decide whether to make another bid for the White House, Lieberman telephoned Eddie Bernice Johnson, then head of the Congressional Black Caucus, to ask which caucus members he might support with his PAC. She gave him a list of the CBC members thought to be most vulnerable, and Lieberman contributed to almost 20 of them. Among his contributions was a $1,000 check to the reelection effort of Rep. Earl Hilliard of Alabama. Hilliard had a long record of hostility to Israel. He refused to sign a resolution in support of Israel's war on terrorism, and sponsored a bill, after September 11, that would have lifted sanctions on states that sponsor terrorism. Columnist Cynthia Tucker called Hilliard 'a loose cannon, a dimwit, and perhaps a crook' who 'gained a reputation for trying to persuade his colleagues to vote against pro-Israeli initiatives.' Hilliard lost in a nasty June primary in which his opponent solicited and received large sums from Jewish Democrats. After the race, he warned of a 'future with a great deal of conflict between African Americans and Jews in this country' and suggested African Americans would seek 'retribution' for his loss. Lieberman's advisers point out that the money was given in late March, several weeks before the primary turned into a bitter referendum on the Middle East. But the senator's critics say the Hilliard contribution is one example of just how far Lieberman is willing to go to win support among black politicians and voters. Another, they say, came last week, when Lieberman blasted the Bush administration for filing a brief with the Supreme Court opposing the University of Michigan's affirmative action program. 'I am deeply disappointed by the president's decision today,' Lieberman said. 'This was an opportunity for the president to demonstrate his commitment to achieving real equality in education. Instead, he sided with the right wing of his party, and sent a signal that equal opportunity in higher education is a low priority for his administration.' It's a shot that might be expected from any of the other Democrats running for president. But Lieberman's own views on racial preferences in the mid-1990s put him arguably to the right of where President Bush is today ... Lieberman went further. He infuriated many in his own party when he said he would support California's Proposition 209--a 1996 statewide ballot initiative that banned racial preferences--taking a step then Governor George W. Bush would not ... [African-American] Representative Maxine Waters said Lieberman must be 'vigorously opposed' because 'what he's doing is dangerous.' A local Connecticut Democratic party chapter circulated a petition to oppose Lieberman's efforts, and Jesse Jackson teamed with the National Organization for Women to sponsor an anti-Lieberman rally at Yale University, Lieberman's alma mater. Jackson also fired off a four-page letter to Lieberman calling the senator's remarks 'particularly irresponsible,' later adding that on affirmative action 'Lieberman and Jesse Helms are indistinguishable.'"

[Same theme: Jewish money and Blacks at its mercy. Jews own the Democratic Party; march to the Israeli drum or you're history.]
Sharpton Will Seek Jewish Dollars, Says an Aide,
[Jewish] Forward, January 17, 2003
"Reverend Al Sharpton is seeking campaign contributions from the Jewish community like any other presidential candidate, according to his political adviser. Former Bronx Democratic Party chairman Roberto Ramirez told the Forward that Sharpton's 'progressive, populist and clear message' would attract Jewish campaign dollars despite his often dicey relations with the community. The civil rights firebrand is anathema to many New York Jews because of conduct many Jews viewed as inflammatory during two local racial incidents: the 1991 Crown Heights riots and the demonstrations that preceded the 1995 torching of a Jewish-owned clothing store in Harlem. Eight people died in those incidents ... 'I would hope and argue that in there lies a wealth of support,' Ramirez said in an interview in his New York office Monday. Jewish donors supply a vastly disproportionate share of the millions raised by Democratic presidential candidates; the amount has never been measured, but political operatives say that it is more than half. Ramirez said that Sharpton, who plans on creating a presidential exploratory committee later this month, did not need as much money as some others would ... Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and a Sharpton confidant, said the minister would have 'limited' support in the Jew