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Watch Israeli analyst, Yossi Klein Halevi, and David Suissa debate whether Obama is good for Zionism - with better audio - on Joo-Tube

The American-born, centrist Israeli thinker and writer, Yossi Klein Halevi, (who is published in The New Republic) returned to the U.S. to explain to Americans how Pres. Obama's behavior and policies towards Israel are intentionally undermining the friendship between the countries. Worse, he describes how detrimental, he feels, the Obama Administration's contemptuous treatment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bullies all Zionists. This transmits a signal to the world that "it's now open-season" against the Jewish State.

An obvious example of that, Mr. Halevi says, is Britain's expelling the head of the Mossad desk in the Israeli Embassy in London. The message to the jihadists, he believes, is to encourage Iran (through its proxies Hizbollah or Hamas) to open a limited front of attacks against Israel, with the expectation that Obama will step-in and prevent Israel from comprehensively eliminating the threat, while publicly diminishing Israel's public image by portraying him as having to restrain their aggression.



In our video of Mr. Halevi's speech in Los Angeles from April 22nd, Halevi explains many of his views on the relationship and the situation, including how Obama's ambition to force creating a Palestinian State with a hostile Palestinian population would be an existential threat to Israel. If Obama doesn't stop Iran from going nuclear, there will be no possibility of peace in the Middle East, as Jihad forces (Hamas) in the mid-east will be united around Iran against Israel.

"Obama will be judged by Israel by how he handles the nuclear issue with Iran. And from what we've seen so far, with one deadline after another, we in Israel frankly have zero confidence in the backbone of this Administration." "We are seeing potentially a tragedy of historic proportions."

Mr. Halevi deconstructs what he sees as Washington's misguided priorities of achieving stability in the Middle-East. Halevi spoke at Nessah Israel Synagogue in L.A. at an 22 April event organized by 30 Years After (and co-sponsored by the Jewish Journal, and OLAM Magazine). Here is Part II of the event - the interactive question and answer period.



Olam's editor, David Suissa, postulates on Obama's motives with Halevi during the question and answer session in this video - characterized in Mr. Suissa's Op/Ed in the Jewish Journal of L.A.:

"For about an hour, Halevi had us riveted with his anatomy of a deteriorating relationship. At the end, the big question lingered: Why would Obama act this way toward a great ally? If it’s not anti-Semitism or tough love, is there a larger narrative that speaks to the soul of the man — a narrative that might explain why he bows to America’s foes and mistreats America’s friends?
 

Here’s one possibility: Maybe Obama sees his calling as bigger than America, and he wants to be President of Humanity.

"His speeches and remarks are filled with references to himself in a ratio that surpasses anything yet seen in the history of the American presidency,” writes professor James Ceaser in a recent piece in The Weekly Standard titled “The Roots of Obama Worship.”

“He awakened at some point in the campaign to the realization that he was no longer running merely for president of the United States. He was being selected to the much grander ‘office’ of leader of a new world community.”
Most seriously, Ceaser worries that “the conflicting demands of the Religion of Humanity and the presidency of the United States have become most apparent in the administration’s approach to dealing with the threat of Islamic terrorism.
Supporters of the Religion of Humanity [therefore] believe they have good reasons to deny or minimize the danger of terrorism in order to save the world from the even greater danger of the triumph of the retrograde forces. This is the dogmatic basis of political correctness and Obama and his team have gone to considerable lengths by their policies and by their use of language to hide reality. But reality has a way of asserting itself, and it is becoming clearer by the day that being the leader of Humanity is incompatible with being the president of the United States.”
It’s hard to say how much truth there is in Ceaser’s analysis, but it does add to the debate of understanding Obama’s behavior toward Israel. At least it gives us something more noble than the hysterical “Obama’s an anti-Semite” accusations that I see in my inbox every day.

And let’s face it, there is something noble about having a heart for all of humanity.  The problem for Israel, of course, is that most of humanity already hates Israel, and if you’re Obama and you want to woo all of humanity, well, I can see how tiny Israel would be a major irritant."

Poll reveals US Jews' growing dissatisfaction with Obama Administration

Jews turn against Obama by Ronald Kessler

"In a stunning turnaround, President Obama has lost roughly half of his support among Jewish voters.

A poll by McLaughlin and Associates found that, while 78 percent of Jewish voters cast their ballots for Obama, only 42 percent of Jewish voters would vote to re-elect him. A plurality — 46 percent — would consider voting for anyone else. That compares with 21 percent who voted for John McCain.

Ever since he learned of Obama’s ties to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, has been warning fellow Jews that Obama would be antithetical to Jewish interests, not only as they relate to Israel but also to issues that affect all Americans.

Before Obama was elected, Klein, whose organization of 30,000 members is the oldest pro-Israel group in the country, felt like a pariah. Now, as he speaks to Jewish audiences on a weekly basis, he has found that the climate has changed dramatically.

“As I speak at synagogues now around the country, I haven’t had a single person during Q and A or after my talk ask how I could be so critical of Obama,” Klein tells Newsmax.

Klein tells his audiences they should not be surprised that Obama’s left-leaning policies appear to tilt more toward the Palestinians than to Israelis. He cites the fact that Obama and his wife, Michelle, spent 20 years listening to Wright, who routinely denounced Israel as a racist state and America for allegedly having created the AIDS virus to kill off blacks."
Read it all

Israeli satirist troupe, LatmaTV, creates a musical look into what drives Obama's priority to create a hostile Palestinian state adjacent to Israel.


Ben Shapiro in TownHall writes An Open Letter to American Jews

American Jews, I have one request of you: please pull your heads out of your posteriors.
I mean that in all sincerity. Your continued support for Democrats and an administration that is openly anti-Semitic is a disgrace. Your embrace of a party that seeks to hamstring Israel in the name of a wholly fictitious Middle East peace process is contemptible. Your loyalty to a president who consistently sides with Palestinian and Iranian mass murder-supporters is disgusting.
Your backing of a man who has spent his life surrounding himself with the worst anti-Semites America has to offer -- Jeremiah Wright, Rashid Khalidi (former Palestinian terrorist spokesman), Louis Farrakhan ("I don't like the way [Jews] leech on us"), Samantha Power, Robert Malley, to name a few -- is nothing short of reprehensible. Rahm Emanuel's presence in the Obama cabinet doesn't ameliorate Obama's anti-Semitism -- it just provides it convenient cover. Al Sharpton wrongly called Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell "house negroes";  Emanuel is a kapo.   Read it all.

George Gilder: Mankind has an interest in Israel's safety and productiveness

George Gilder declares humankind's interest in safeguarding Israel from resentful delegitimizers.

Author of, The Israel Test, Dr. Gilder elucidates how supporting Israel to be your ally benefits the human condition via medical research & cures, communications technology, security intelligence, and economic stability. 



Recorded at Los Angeles' Sinai Temple; interviewed by Rabbi Steven Wolpe, Q&A led by AIPAC's Elliot Brandt, concluded by Avi Davis. 

50 U.S. Generals & Admirals caution Obama about damaging relations with ally Israel

Generals Write Obama on Israel - Op-Eds - Israel National News

50 retired U.S. generals and admirals tell Obama in a no nonsense letter that Israel is a security asset for the U.S.

They decided to do something in response to the recent ridiculous treatment Israel has gotten from the Obama administration. This group of about 50 retired United States generals and admirals put together the following letter urging him as well as Congress and the general American public to recognize how truly intertwined Israel's success is with America's.

Recipients of JINSA's 2009 Henry M. Jackson Distinguished Service Award (left to right): Gen. George W. Casey Jr., U.S. Army Chief of Staff; Adm. Gary Roughead, U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations; Lt. Gen. George J. Trautman, USMC, representing Gen. James T. Conway, Marine Corps Commandant; Adm. Thad W. Allen, Coast Guard Commandant; Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, Air Force Chief of Staff; and U.S. Navy Adm. Eric T. Olson, Commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command.

Here is an excerpt from the letter from the officers:

"The security of the State of Israel is a matter of great importance to the United States and its policy in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean. A strong, secure Israel is an asset upon which American military planners and political leaders can rely. Israel is a democracy - a rare and precious commodity in the region - and Israel shares our commitment to freedom, personal liberty and rule of law.

Throughout our travels and our talks, the determination of Israelis to protect their country and to pursue a fair and workable peace with their neighbors was clearly articulated. Thus we view the current tension between the United States and Israel with dismay and grave concern that political differences may be allowed to outweigh our larger mutual interests."

Thousands brave rain to protest Obama's policies on Israel / Palestine / Iran

Phyllis Chesler in "A NYC Pro-Israel Rally"Manhattan. A driving rain and raw weather did not stop three thousand people from turning out today to stand for Israel’s right to exist and to determine its own fate. In these times, and on such a day, that is a significant number. These people did not come together to scream in hate, they did not vow to kill anyone as so many pro-Hamas, pro-Palestinian, pro-“peace” demonstrators routinely do. They came to express their love for Israel and their dismay and anger about America’s recent mistreatment of Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The rally, which was called for 1pm, lasted until 4pm. Thus, people stood, shoulder to shoulder, for more than three hours in weather that kept most of us indoors. Mostly tax-paying, middle aged people, some of whom traveled a great distance to be here today; they came from as far away as Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, as well as from the five boroughs and Long Island.

In many voices, they said: Israel is not a vassal state of the United States. Israel is America’s friend and ally. Our fate as Americans is tied to Israel’s fate and to Israel’s continued existence.
(Photos courtesy Atlas Shrugs.com)

They held signs which read: “God Bless Our Ally Israel. Tea Party for Israel;” “Obama Listen Up! The American People Stand with Israel;” “You May Bow to Mitzraim (Egypt) But Keep Off Yerushalayim;” “Conference of Presidents: World Jewish Congress, American Jewish Congress, UJA. Betrayal. You Failed Us In 1939 and You’ve Failed Us Again;” “President Obama: Your Recklessness is Endangering America, Israel, and World Freedom.”  I believe that the time for gathering Jews-only or Jews-mainly in support of Israel is long over. We must now have a new kind of ingathering, one in which Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, atheists—and of course, Muslim and ex-Muslim dissidents must also start standing for Israel. Doing so, is a way of standing for human rights, democracy, freedom, Enlightenment values and–against barbarism, against Apartheid which radical political Islam, not Israel, practices both globally and locally.

I hesitate to say it, I hate to say it, but I must agree with my colleague Roger Simon: There should have been 300,000 Jews and our supporters here, not only 3,000, not even if they were extraordinary people, and if only the large Jewish and Christian organizations can turn such numbers out, then that is who must do this work. That they are not doing so is to their eternal shame.

Every Jewish and Christian school and Yeshiva should send each and every student and their entire faculties. These rallies require huge outreach, many ads, all well in advance and continuously."



Israel National News' Hana Levi Julian: "'Break the Silence' Speaker: Obama's 'Alice-in-Wonderland' Gov't"
Jeff Weisenfeld Weisenfeld spent four years as chief of staff in the city administration of former Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat before becoming an aide to Governor George Pataki, another Republican.

Speaking late Friday afternoon in an interview with Israel National News, Weisenfeld called the current diplomatic crisis “the biggest accidental or deliberate miscalculation in American-Israeli relations made by any American president.” He added that the Obama administration's overtures to the Muslim world, and the contrast with its hostility to the State of Israel, had transformed the U.S. executive branch into a “complete Alice-in-Wonderland government. I don't want to make light of it here,” Weisenfeld said with some sarcasm, “but it's like Purim, when Mordechai becomes Haman, and Haman becomes Mordechai.”

Weisenfeld also noted that most “mainstream” Jewish community organizations did not – and could not – officially sign on to sponsor Sunday's rally for fear of retribution from the Obama administration. “The mainstream groups are about access and response to a direct threat from the White House.

“The [Jewish] Federations and their beneficiaries and subsidiaries have been warned by Rahm Emanuel to stay away from public criticism of the president on Israel. But unless the weather is horrendous,” he added, “there will be an abundance of “establishment-affiliated” people. Maybe we can wake up this president and pull him back from the abyss.”

Democrat Mayor Ed Koch fuels American Jewish indignation at Pres. Obama; blames establishment leaders' silence as malfeasance

Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch deprecates Pres. Obama's treatment of Israel, and disparages Jewish leaders for their failure to denounce Obama and this Administration for it. This speech will be played at a rally in NY today: "Israel, break the silence" rally at Manhattan's Israeli Consulate, Sun 25 April 1-4pm

Atlas Shrugs promotes:

Stand against the forces of anti-semitism and Islamic Jew hatred.

Come. Stand with those that on the front of the global jihad. Fight the anti-semitism in the White House. Obama's long time animus towards the Jewish people is well-documented in my forthcoming book with Robert Spencer: The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America.

STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH ISRAEL’S RIGHT TO BUILD AND LIVE IN ITS OWN COUNTRY.

A CLARION CALL FOR A UNITED JEWISH JERUSALEM, AND PROTEST AGAINST THE ADMINISTRATION’S SCAPEGOATING OF ISRAEL. DATE:

A Rally in Solidarity with Israel, Sun, April 25, 2010

TIME: 1 PM LOCATION: Israel Consulate, 2nd Ave between 42nd and 43rd St,

Endorsed by: AISH Center, Americans for a Safe Israel, Artists 4 Israel, Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, Christians and Jews United for Israel, Coalition for Israel, Crown Heights Women for the Security and Integrity of Israel; Dr. Joseph Frager, Jerusalem Reclamation Project;
Assemblyman Dov Hikind; Freedom Defense Initiative (FDI), IsraelAlive; Israel Day Concert in the Park; NYC Jewish Action Alliance, Jewish Political Education Foundation; Joo-Tube Magazine, Dr. Michael Ledeen of Center for Defense of Democracies; Unity Coalition for Israel; Dr. Herbert London of The Hudson Institute; AMCHA, Coalition for Jewish Concerns; Stand With Us; Stop Islamization of America (SIOA); Endowment for Middle East Truth; World Committee for the Land of Israel; Zionist Organization of America; Z Street, other Jewish, Christian and Hindu groups.

Europe ignores Iran’s deadly mix of anti-Semitism and nukes

Europe ignores Iran’s deadly mix of anti-Semitism and nukes

Europeans frequently view Iran’s genocidal threats against Israel as a way to make use of the annihilation of European Jewry as a catharsis to alleviate their guilt-ridden history.

Arab warns of PLO agenda; founds "P.Z.O."- Palestinian Zionist Organization

For the first time since pre-State days when Zion and Palestine were synonymous terms, a “Palestinian Zionist Organization” has been established – by Arabs.

The latest Arab to show his public support for Israel is Elias Issa, who describes himself as a “European West-Bank Palestinian.” He writes that he chose a unique approach by which to celebrate Israel’s 62nd birthday – namely, by launching the Palestinian Zionist Organization. He says his goal is “to show the world why it must support the Jewish people and to [distance itself] from the terrorist Palestinian government.”

Statements on the new website include warnings that a new PA state, if it were to arise, would “become the most terrorist state in the world… The Palestinians don't believe in a two-state solution; they only believe in a one-state solution - a land called Palestine [which] does not involve any Jewishness."

Issa, who now lives in the United States, explains that the international community is blind “to what's truly going on in this Middle East conflict. [I hope] to make a difference by shining a different kind of light on the Palestinian-Israeli situation.”

The website notes that “more and more Palestinians” are going public in their support for Israel. Just last month, Mosab Hassan Yousef – the son of a Hamas founder and leader – published his autobiography, detailing how he spied for Israel for a decade, preventing dozens of suicide attacks and exposing numerous terrorist groups. He later converted to Christianity and moved to the U.S.  (by Hillel Fendel in Israel National News).

Americans celebrate in honor of Israel's Independence Day

Sinai Temple of Los Angeles organized and presented "Unity- in Concert- an interfaith celebration of peace & unity" to coincide with Israel's Independence Day. Produced by Craig Taubman, the evening featured Pastor Rick Warren, Israeli-Spanish singer David Broza, singer Nicole Franklin, Pastor Ericson Alexander Molano, Arab percussionist Hani Naser, Arab singer Ahmed el-Asmer, Israeli religious Zionists- The Moshav Band, The Christ our Redeemer AME Choir, Vanessa "Hebrew Mamita" Hidary, Japanese drummers Taiko L.A., Rabbis Nicole Guzik & Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple, Rabbi Edward Feinstein of Valley Beth Shalom, and many others.

Israel Independence Day to be celebrated at Festival in Los Angeles, Sunday 25 April 10am-7pm


L.A.'s lovers of Zion from all walks gather for this annual Independence Day celebration at Van Nuys' Woodley Park on 25 April from 10am til 7pm. Featuring activities for young and old, including an amusement park for the kids, dancing for teenagers, and a sky-diving show, the Festival's Executive Director, Yoram Gutman explains to Joo-Tube what is is unique about this year's family festival. Admission: $8 for everyone over 3 yrs of age.

New rap song, "I"m proud to be a Zionist" for Israel Independence Day

by Anti-Thesis MC, Zionist Rapper

"Yo, it’s time to set the record straight, 
Fed up with all the man proclaimin all this hate
No room for debate, well hold up wait
Cos anti-thesis comin to step up and state
Yo the movement of my people been getting this stick
Equated with racism and other bullish
And if you can’t see it – that’s just foolish
So shut up and listen, to my hip hop schooling
We talking freedom, emancipation
A home, a land for a persecuted nation
Liberation, democratisation
A dream fulfilled, a Jewish safe haven
2000 years this desire had lied
Dormant but restive – it never died
In the 1800s, it was brought to life with this
Movement of my people, proud to be Zionists


   Chorus
I’m a Zionist – and yes I’m proud
I’m a Zionist – so shout it loud
I’m a Zionist – that’s my vocation
I’m a Zionist – self-determination for the Jewish nation
I’m a Zionist – and I’ll never cease
I’m a Zionist – who just wants peace
I’m a Zionist – and I say it with poise
I’m a Zionist – if you are too, then make some noise!

Antithesis gotta give my props, respect
To the man who got this all going and rocked the set
To be honest though, there’s no way this verse’ll
Come close to doing justice to Theodore Herzl
Ben-Yehuda, course rocked the language tip
And I already showed him love on Ivrit Daber Ivrit
Ahad Ha’am represented for the people
A cultural centre was his ideal
A man of steel was my boy Jabotinsky
I wish I had time to stand and list the
Endless achievements of AD Gordon
Love the land was his plan, and it was awesome
The Lord was put forward by the man Rav Kook
His intellect and stature never done shook
That’s the look, so take pride in it
Pay respect with me, cos I’m proud to be a Zionist
  Chorus
I’m a Zionist, so give me my word back
There’s too many man, trying to turn that
Into something negative, something bad
I’m a Zionist who ain’t ashamed, I’m glad
That I support universal suffrage, free press
Only place in the Middle East to pass that test
Nothing less, cos we strivin for perfection
It’s a work in progress, like all other Western
Nations, but to be Zionist don’t equal extreme
Don’t make you obscene, unkind or unclean
What it means, is that you believe that the Jewish state
Has a right to exist, secure and safe
People livin without fear, living in peace
That’s the essence of a Zionist belief
No more beef, I’m done defining it
Join with me and shout that we proud to be Zionists"

Yom ha Zikaron, Atzma'ut Special: Video history of those who gave their lives to secure the freedom of Judaism's homeland, Israel

Yom HaZikaron - This video was made as a tribute to the 22,750 Jews who have fought and died to re-establish our independence and safety in our homeland, Israel. 

(Produced by Steven Burg and Eliezer Jones of ARTzeinu - West Coast NCSY).