Emergency Committee for Israel:
Letter from ECI Chairman William Kristol to President Obama
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Today ECI released a letter to President Obama on the inclusion of numerous anti-Israel figures in his campaign’s “Rabbis for Obama” group.
Dear Mr. President:
This week, your campaign launched a group called “Rabbis for Obama.” The “Rabbis for Obama,” your campaign says, are “committed to re-electing” you due to your “policy agenda that represents the values of the overwhelming majority of the American Jewish community” and your “deep commitment to the security of the state of Israel.”
Though we have differed with you on many policy matters, we at the Emergency Committee for Israel have taken you at your word as to your basic commitment to Israel’s security. Thus it was particularly shocking to see that your campaign had recruited, and was touting the support of, rabbis who have no commitment to Israel’s security, and whose values are representative of a small and extreme group of anti-Israel activists – and certainly not of the pro-Israel community.
“Rabbis for Obama” includes many leaders of the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) Movement, a movement inimical to Israel’s well-being. It includes founders of the pro-Hamas “Fast for Gaza” initiative. It even includes one person who was pleased to dine with Iranian President Ahmadinejad in 2008 and another who says the United States and Israel bring terrorism on themselves. Several members of “Rabbis for Obama” are officials of Jewish Voice for Peace, a radical group that the Anti-Defamation League featured in its list of the “Top 10 Anti-Israel Groups in America.”
Far from demonstrating a “deep commitment to the security of the state of Israel,” these figures have demonstrated a deep hostility to the state of Israel and a deep commitment to demonizing the Jewish state and undermining the U.S.-Israel alliance. We are sure that you will be distressed to discover that your own campaign has included so many of them on the list of “Rabbis for Obama.” We cannot imagine their endorsements are ones you welcome.
This is, as you have pointed out, a particularly perilous time for the people of Israel. We trust you do not want, however inadvertently, to signal in any way a lack of commitment to Israel’s security or a lack of concern for Israel’s well-being. So we look forward to your repudiation of the anti-Israel figures among the “Rabbis for Obama.” And we respectfully suggest that you have an urgent and serious conversation with whoever in your campaign thought it appropriate to trumpet their support as a way of making your case to the pro-Israel community.
Sincerely,
William Kristol [link]
With the announcement that there is now a “Rabbis for Obama”list and organization, it is safe to assume there will soon be as making it seem as though all Jews support this President who has refused to visit Israel while in office, blatantly insulted the Israel and her elected leaders, and publicly demanded that the Jewish state retreat to the 1948 “Auschwitz”borders. He even made a tremendous fuss when Israel dared to announce a building plan in her own capital. The announcement came just as Vice-President Biden was visiting, and Obama reacted as if Israel had announced that Arabs would no longer be allowed at their holy sites. Indeed, it is the Arabs, presumably with Obama’s approval (because he has never said a word against it), who do not allow Jews or Christians to so much as think a prayer on the Temple Mount. Closing one’s eyes and standing still (never mind carrying a prayer book) is an offense that can lead to arrest.
I appeal to all rabbis, of all denominations, whether working in the pulpit, as I do, or not, to band with me to form “Rabbis for Romney.” It is imperative that all Americans understand that there are passionate Jewish spiritual leaders who care very much about the wrongs done to the Jewish state under this administration.
Every time Obama sounded as if he finally understood the problems, he almost immediately issued a retraction. I refer specifically to his address at AIPAC when he said Jerusalem was the undivided capital of Israel. The next day, he said he meant only that there shouldn’t be “barbed wire” running through the city.
When he said Israel did not need to worry because “America has your back,” everyone at AIPAC thought he was ready to defend Israel against Iran in every way, not just diplomatically. The next day, he corrected himself, explaining he had not meant there was “a military doctrine we were laying out for any particular action.”
Some of the rabbis who signed onto “Rabbis for Obama” have told me they do not object to Israel’s existence per se, but rather to Israel’s“occupation of Palestinian land.” “Rabbis for Romney” could show our misguided colleagues that every time Israel has ceded territory to the Arabs, they have turned that land into a base from which to launch terror attacks: Gaza, Judea and Samaria, South Lebanon, and now Sinai. Forcing Israel to surrender will never bring about peace. It will only facilitate her enemies’ destructive promises.
But Israel would not be our only issue. Americans must see that “Rabbis for Romney” understand why the principles of ObamaCare are in opposition to Jewish traditions. Who better than rabbis to explain what this economy is doing to so many of our people, and why it is being made worse by this administration’s policies, not better.
Many of us also know that vouchers and school-choice programs are the only way to make sure all children—including our own—receive a proper, appropriate education. We will never get anywhere with this idea as long as Obama is in office.
I know, as President, he will, as he should, do what he believes is in America’s best national interest. But his and his running mate’s backgrounds and statements make it clear that their response to Israel, especially when the chips are down, will be far more favorable than anything we can expect from Obama.
If you’d like to join me in this effort, please contact me by email at chaimdov@aol.com
Rabbi Bernhard Rosenberg
Edison
Posted by: NeverFrgetRabbi | September 01, 2012 at 08:55 PM