Glenn Beck’s Remarks About George Soros Criticized by A.D.L. - NYTimes.com

Glenn Beck’s Remarks About George Soros Criticized by A.D.L. - NYTimes.com

The Fox News host Glenn Beck was criticized Thursday by the Anti-Defamation League, a leading Jewish advocacy organization, in response to a televised segment about the financier George Soros and the Holocaust.

Throughout three programs this week, Mr. Beck has portrayed Mr. Soros, a billionaire investor and philanthropist, as a “puppet master” who is “notorious for collapsing economies and regimes all around the world” and whose “next target” is the United States. Citing Mr. Soros’s statements about the decline of the dollar, Mr. Beck said, “Not only does he want to bring America to her knees, financially, he wants to reap obscene profits off us as well.”

Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, took issue with Mr. Beck’s depiction of Mr. Soros as a “Jewish boy helping sending the Jews to the death camps,” calling it “offensive” and “horrific.”

On Tuesday on his Fox program, watched by about 2.8 million people, Mr. Beck said that during the Holocaust, the 14-year-old Mr. Soros “used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off.”

Mr. Beck continued: “I am certainly not saying that George Soros enjoyed that, even had a choice. I mean, he’s 14 years old. He was surviving. So I’m not making a judgment. That’s between him and God.” He also said that “many people” would call Mr. Soros “an anti-Semite,” though “I will not.”

Fox stood by Mr. Beck. Joel Cheatwood, a senior vice president at Fox News, said in a statement Thursday afternoon that the “information regarding Mr. Soros’s experiences growing up were taken directly from his writings and from interviews given by him to the media, and no negative opinion was offered as to his actions as a child.”

Still, Mr. Foxman asserted that Mr. Beck’s invoking of the childhood experience was “unacceptable,” adding, “To hold a young boy responsible for what was going on around him during the Holocaust as part of a larger effort to denigrate the man is repugnant.”

Writing on The Daily Beast, the author Michelle Goldberg said Mr. Beck’s Tuesday and Wednesday programs were a “symphony of anti-Semitic dog whistles.”

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Glen Beck is a despicable character, he is a liar and a demagogue.  He is a demagogue of the worse kind.

John H. Armwood  

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In Israel, When Is A Jew Not Jewish Enough? : NPR

In Israel, When Is A Jew Not Jewish Enough? : NPR

When is a Jew not Jewish enough? It's a question that's troubling the Israeli Defense Forces these

days — and it's affecting a number of American Jews.

Jonathan Leavitt is originally from California. He made aliyah — the migration to the Jewish state — this year. Stocky with blue eyes and a laidback manner, Leavitt says he came to Israel to serve in the IDF because he believes in the homeland of the Jewish people.

"Upon arriving to Israel, I was excited, a lot of motivation, feeling more Jewish, probably, than I'd ever felt in my whole life, and I didn't know what I was in for," he says.

It wasn't until Leavitt arrived that he was told that according to Jewish law in Israel, he isn't considered a Jew.

"I can recall the lady working behind the desk asking me what religion I practiced, and I thought that was an odd question, coming from them in Israel. And I said, 'I'm Jewish, obviously,' and she replied, 'I'm sorry, we can't put that into your ID.' And I said, 'Why? I have a letter from my rabbi, I've been bar mitzvahed.' And she said, 'According to the rabbinate, you are not Jewish enough,'" he recalls.

The problem was Leavitt's mother. She was not born a Jew; she converted.

That's not an issue to a family like the Leavitts. Like most Jews in the U.S., Leavitt's family belongs to the more liberal branches of Judaism, the Reform or Conservative movements.

In Israel, however, religious life is dominated by the Orthodox and increasingly the ultra-Orthodox.

Unless those seeking to join the Jewish faith undergo Orthodox conversion, they are simply not legally recognized as Jews in Israel, and that applies to their offspring as well.

Jewish Identity Questioned

The fight came to a head this summer when American Jewish leaders succeeded in shelving a bill in the Israeli Knesset, the parliament, because it would have given even more control over conversions to the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel.

But the issue is far from resolved.

Leavitt says having his Jewish identity questioned has left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"I thought to myself, what did I come here for if I'm not going to be allowed to be a part of this culture? I can fight for them, I can die for them, I can go to the army and give up my life, and give up my freedom, but I don't have the same rights?" he says.

"I'm not Jewish enough for them, and it was heartbreaking," he adds.

Another American immigrant in the IDF is facing the same situation. He's from the northeastern United States but doesn't want his name used for fear of repercussions.

"Even the Israeli Jews who are entirely secular, [who] don't observe anything and really have no connection to their Jewish religion, are considered more Jewish than I am," he says.

The army offers its own three-month conversion course for those serving. Those who pass will be considered Jewish by the Israeli government, with the right to get married and be buried in Israel.

The young man from the American northeast is going to take the course.

"For me, I made aliyah, I'm going to live here, so for me it's a bit more important to really be able to function entirely in every way in Israeli society. I can get married, I can do all of the things that Israeli Jews can do," he says.

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Opinion: Jewish vote veers right – at times - Tevi Troy - POLITICO.com

Opinion: Jewish vote veers right – at times - Tevi Troy - POLITICO.com

For decades, conservative Jews have been wondering when the traditionally Democratic Jewish voter would make the same migration as other ethnic groups and start voting Republican. At the same time, liberal Jews have been explaining the variety of historical and religious reasons why such a switch would never take place.

While this debate seems never-ending, it’s possible that both sides have been looking at the wrong metrics. The shift in the Jewish vote is already taking place — but at the state, not the national level.

Nationally, Jews are only about 2 percent of the U.S. population, but they are heavily represented in big cities and have disproportionately high voter turnout rates. They are major contributors to both parties, though Democrats get the lion’s share. Some groups within the Jewish community, like Orthodox Jews, have shifted to the GOP – 70 percent supported George W. Bush in 2004. In addition, Jewish neoconservatives have long been vocal Republicans — with voices louder than their numbers suggest. Overall, though, the Jewish vote remains strongly Democratic at the national level. The GOP share in the last two decades fluctuating between Bush’s 25 percent in 2004 and his father’s 11 percent in 1992. (See chart below.)

At the state level, however, Jews can and do vote less Democratic. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie attracted 38 percent of the Jewish vote in 2009, proving that Republicans who can be competitive in the Jewish community gain an edge against Democratic opponents, who then can’t take the Jewish vote for granted.

For this reason, it is worth paying close attention to the Jewish vote in close Senate races in states with significant Jewish populations. In the complicated Pennsylvania race, for example, a Republican-turned-Democrat Jewish senator, Arlen Specter, is involuntarily leaving, and the Jewish vote is likely to help determine his successor.

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Interview With Controversial 90 Year Old Former White House Correspondant Helen Thomas

Pioneering journalist Helen Thomas, the first woman to serve in the White House press corp, is heard here for the first time since she resigned from her White House post after stating; “Tell ‘em to get the hell out of Palestine…. They should go home… [to] Poland, Germany.”)referring to the European Israeli settlers who were part of the founding of the state of Israel.
Ms. Thomas parents were from a part of Syria which is now in Lebanon. She has expressed a resentment which is felt throughout the Arab world towards settlers from Europe who settled in Israel. Thomas's words contained an incredibly open degree of frankness for someone in public life. However she is 90 years old. Elderly people are not known to mince their words. The real question is whether the statements were in fact anti-Semitic? I think they were.
I agree that modern Israel is in large part a settler colony with many European immigrants. But many of these immigrants have ancient ties of both blood and religion to Palestine. On the other hand how would we feel if first nations people (Native Americans) demanded the land of America back? Of course wee would not like it. Many Americans would take up arms to defend what they believe is rightly theirs. This is the quandary. Palestinians feel their land has been stolen. Israel's feel they are in the homeland that was promised to them thousands of years ago by God. This presents what appears at first blush to be a zero sum game. If onw person wins the other loses. It does not have to be this way.
The better approach for Palestinians and the Arab world as a whole is the approach pioneered by Nelson Mandela and the African Nationalist Congress in South Africa. The white settlers stole the land from the people of South Africa, oppressed and murdered them in a most barbaric manner. In spite of this great evil perpetrated by the Boers, The British and the Apartheid regime, Mandela decided to forgive these people of their evil deeds and laid the groundwork for a new society that incorporated everyone. Israel is not South Africa but if the south African people can forgive the white population of South Africa for its crimes against humanity the Arab world and the Palestinians can make peace with Israel. Forgiveness is redemptive. Hate is self consuming. Yasser Arafat, the late head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization wasted a major opportunity to make peace with Israel at the end of the second Clinton administration. This was the best deal that the Palestinians will see in our lifetime. This failure to make peace is the biggest reason that there is continued Palestinian suffering today. The surrounding Arab nations, along with Iran have a vested interest in portraying Israel as the great evil. In this manner they can blame all of their individual countries problems on Israel and maintain their tyrannical, undemocratic regiemes.
Unfortunately Helen Thomas and many people in the Arab world do not accept that Israel exists and will continue to exist whether they like it or not. Peace is the only answer. Ms. Thomas should have taken the approach of a Mandela and used her influence to foster reconciliation not division. Regrettably she did not do this.
Israel has been the victim of horrific and barbaric terrorist attacks and four wars since its inception as a nation. All four wars were initiated by its neighbors, even the 1967 war where Israel attacked first after her neighbors began massing troops on Israel's borders.
The Jewish people suffered the holocaust immediately prior to the founding of modern Israel, the greatest mass murder of the 20th Century. Many legitimately argue that the Palestinian people should not pay for Germany's great evil. The point is it is way past time to argue about the circumstances surrounding the founding of Israel. The question now is how can everyone in the area live in peace. Israel has much to offer its neighbors in the areas of economic and technological development. A resolution of the Palestinian conflict would bring a tremendous peace dividend to the whole region. In addition it might lead to the democratization of the whole region.
Helen Thomas does not understand the big picture of how Israel and the rest of the world are interrelated. Peace is the only answer.
John H. Armwood

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In New York City Jewish And Moslem Leaders Join Forces In Support Of Mosque

This was the Jewish community that I grew up around and loved in New York City.  They stood up against ignorance and bigotry in an environment where much of it existed.  I thanks God for that wonderful community. So many others in America need to wake up, open their closed bigoted minds and learn from their example.

John H. Armwood

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