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February 21, 2012

Raheb will get German prize despite growing opposition, organizers say

Leave a Comment / News, Worldwide /

Jewish groups are ramping up pressure to have a prestigious German prize withdrawn from a Palestinian pastor who is accused of making anti-Semitic statements.

The Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem is one of four recipients of the German Media Prize to be presented Friday. He has said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, among others, has no rightful claim to a Jewish heritage.

“It is outrageous to consider Raheb a partner for peace as long as he engages in anti-Israel invective,” Deidre Berger, head of the Berlin office of the American Jewish Committee, told JTA.

A German Media Prize spokesperson told JTA on Tuesday that the event will take place as planned. Former German President Roman Herzog will make the presentations.

Jewish groups including the AJC, the German-Israel Society and B’nai B’rith International have called for the prize to be withdrawn. At the very least Herzog should make his criticism clear, Berger said in a letter to the ex-president.

Raheb is “known for his radical theology that has both racist and to some extent anti-Semitic traits,” Berger wrote. “By contesting Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish state he negates one of the most important pillars of German foreign policy.”

In a speech to the 2010 Christ at the Checkpoint conference in Bethlehem, Raheb discounted Jewish roots in Israel and said that Palestinian Arabs share DNA with King David and Jesus, but that Netanyahu does not. The speech was removed Tuesday from the conference’s website.

In late January, B’nai B’rith Executive Vice President Daniel Mariaschin wrote to Media Control, the firm based in Baden-Baden that sponsors the prize, underscoring that Raheb “is distinguished by an extensive record of highly offensive statements that, any positive work notwithstanding, make him ill-suited to receive the endorsement implied by a prestigious German honor that has been bestowed on the likes of Helmut Kohl, Hillary Clinton, Rudolph Giuliani, Angela Merkel and the Dalai Lama.”

Other recipients of this year’s prize are Sakena Yacoobi of Afghanistan, Stanislaw Petrow of Moscow and Denis Mukwege of Congo.

Raheb will get German prize despite growing opposition, organizers say Read More »

Lambert and Queen teaming

Leave a Comment / Entertainment, Hollywood, Is Featured?, Mobile Sections, News /

It seems like the show will go on for Adam Lambert and Queen.

After a series of rumors about a possible extension of their collaboration, the “American Idol” runner-up finally announced via Twitter that he will be joining guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor this summer at the Sonisphere Festival at Knebworth Park in England. Bassist John Deacon chose not to participate.

Lambert and Queen performed together late last year during the MTV European Music Awards. The performance was highly complimented, which sparked a wave of rumors that Lambert first denied.

Lambert, one of the most eccentric and flamboyant performers in the rock world, also has been active in the Jewish world with versions of Kol Nidre and Shir LaShalom.

Lambert and Queen teaming Read More »

Surging Santorum has Jewish GOPers shrugging, shvitzing and kvelling

Leave a Comment / Is Featured?, News, United States /

If Rick Santorum secures the Republican nomination, expect to hear this mantra from his Jewish supporters: In times of crisis, social issues don’t matter.

The former Pennsylvania senator, who is leading in national polls in the race for the GOP presidential nod, is fiercely anti-abortion and believes that states have the right to ban birth control—stances that are at odds with the views of most American Jews.

Not a problem, says Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

“Jobs and the economy and international affairs, these macro issues are front and center,” he said. “If the micro issues, abortion and contraceptives, become predominant, then you’ve got a problem. But this is a big picture, big issue, high-stakes election.”

But the prospect of Santorum winning the Republican nomination excites Jewish Democrats, as they believe he will be an easier opponent for President Obama in November.

Among Jewish Republicans, the bulk of the party’s Jewish donors and advisers have signed with Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor’s relative moderation was seen as a natural fit for a GOP Jewish constituency that is hawkish on Israel and often fiscally conservative but averse to extremes on social issues.

“We know he’s a great friend of Israel,” Fred Zeidman, a Houston lawyer who is one of Romney’s leading fundraisers, said of Santorum. “I do fear his social views will be anathema to a great deal of our Jewish community.”

Romney Republicans like Zeidman have counted on Romney’s moderation to carry swing states where substantial Jewish populations could make a difference—for instance, in Florida, Pennsylvania and Nevada.

In recent interviews, several top Jewish Democratic activists have launched conversations, unsolicited, with a reporter with “What about Rick Santorum?” followed by hearty, relieved laughter.

“He will clearly be a nonstarter with the Jewish community,” said David Harris, president of the National Jewish Democratic Council. “I wish him the best of luck in the primaries.”

Such blasts are bound to increase now that Santorum is leading in polls for the Feb. 28 Michigan primary. Winning in Michigan would likely cripple the campaign of Romney, who until now (although with some difficulty) had claimed front-runner status: It is the state in which Romney grew up and where his father had been a popular governor. Arizona also votes the same day; polls show Romney in the lead there.

Liberal websites have compiled “greatest of” lists of Santorum’s hard-line stances on social issues.

“During his 99-county tour of Iowa, Santorum frequently compared same-sex relationships to inanimate objects like trees, basketballs, beer, and paper towels,” Think Progress said Jan. 4 after Santorum’s first surprise showing—a virtual tie with Romney in the state’s caucuses.

Lonny Kaplan, a New Jersey businessman who is leading Santorum’s fundraising in the Jewish community, says his candidate can overcome his Jewish problem by making his election about the economy and backing Israel as its tensions with Iran increase.

“My sense is that those issues, while they’re important to him, are not what his campaign is about,” Kaplan said. “Obviously it’s a challenge. It doesn’t hurt him during primaries. In the general [election] they’ll raise it again and again, so he counters it by saying what his rationale is for running.”

There is a precedent: Ronald Reagan campaigned well to the right of his GOP rivals and predecessors, yet won nearly 40 percent of the Jewish vote in 1980. It was a year, like this one, when the U.S. was tangling with a recalcitrant, unpredictable Iran and a sagging economy. That’s a bigger chunk of the Jewish vote than any Republican had won in decades. No Republican presidential candidate since has matched that level of Jewish support.

Kaplan says 2012 is similar, given the jobs crisis and the tensions with Iran. Santorum has been the most hawkish of the candidates on Iran, going beyond years of “no options are off the table” language to explicitly say that he would order a U.S. strike if necessary to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon.

“Israel is severely challenged today, and all of us are very comfortable with Rick’s stand on Israel,” said Kaplan, a former president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “And while the economy is showing signs of improvement, it’s been bad for four years.”

Harris of the NJDC said that was wishful thinking, dismissing any efforts to compare Santorum to Reagan or to George W. Bush. While those candidates embraced socially conservative stances, Santorum has been defined by them, he said.

“It’s not that he takes a principled stand re: abortion,” he said. “It’s that he’s long prided himself on being the most far-right social issues candidate.”

Alan Steinberg, a New Jersey political commentator who has been advocating for a more conservative alternative to Romney, suggested that whatever support Santorum would lose among more moderate Jews he would make up in support among Jewish conservatives.

“His stance on social issues will be a plus, particularly in the Orthodox community,” he said. “He will have the Orthodox,  Jewish conservatives and the pro-Israel community that is pro-Netanyahu and pro-Likud.”

Surging Santorum has Jewish GOPers shrugging, shvitzing and kvelling Read More »

Santorum spokeswoman: Obama’s ‘radical Islamic policies’

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized /

This about-face didn’t take long: Shortly after Rick Santorum’s national campaign spokeswoman ” title=”retracted her statement” target=”_blank”>retracted her statement.

The newly hired Alice Stewart let out the little verbal slip during an appearance on MSNBC. When asked by Andrea Mitchell to clarify a comment that Santorum made over the weekend about Obama’s theology being unbiblical, Stewart said the following:

“He was not questioning the president’s character, he wasn’t questioning the president’s religion,” Stewart said. “As he’s said, he has clarified the statement. He was talking about radical environmentalists. There is a type of theological secularism when it comes to the global warmists in this country. He was referring to the president’s policies, in terms of the radical Islamic policies the president has, particular in terms of the energy exploration.”

Was it just a gaffe. Or was Stewart playing to the deeply held ” title=”closet Muslim” target=”_blank”>closet Muslim, and a Santorum spokeswoman: Obama’s ‘radical Islamic policies’ Read More »

Iranian soccer club won’t play Serbian team with Israeli coach

Leave a Comment / Culture, Mobile Sections, News, Sports /

An Iranian soccer team canceled a game against a Serbian club because its coach is Israeli.

Avram Grant, who last month was named manager of the Partizan Belgrade soccer club, said in a statement on the team’s website that he had been told “unofficially” that Friday’s match against Sepahan Isfahan in Turkey had been canceled because he was Israeli, ESPN reported. Grant called the decision “shameful.”

The team reportedly had to switch its winter training camp from Dubai to Antalya, Turkey, because Grant is Israeli.

Grant was formerly the manager for British soccer clubs Chelsea, Portsmouth and West Ham United.

Iranian soccer club won’t play Serbian team with Israeli coach Read More »

New boycott called over Israeli chocolate bars

Leave a Comment / Food, Is Featured?, News /

The leaders of Israel’s cottage cheese boycott are calling for a new boycott over the high price of chocolate bars.

The calls came earlier this week after an Israeli living in the United States posted a photo on Facebook of a receipt from a New Jersey supermarket showing that the popular Israeli chocolate bar Pesek Zman is being sold for one-third of its cost in Israel. Other chocolate bars manufactured by the Elite company also are being sold at similarly low prices abroad, according to reports.

Elite is owned by the Israeli conglomerate the Strauss Group, which was hit hard by the boycott of cottage cheese and other dairy products this summer as part of the social justice protests and eventually dropped its prices.

Boycott organizers have called for a month-long boycott of Strauss-Elite chocolate bars to begin on March 1, just before the chocolate-intensive Purim holiday begins on the evening of March 7.

Strauss said in a statement that it cannot control the price that retailers place on their products, and said it believed that the prices were lower in Jewish communities in the United States in advance of Purim. It also named supermarkets in Israel that sell its chocolate at cut-rate prices.

New boycott called over Israeli chocolate bars Read More »

Live Broadcast: Berman v. Sherman Debate (With Mark Reed) [LIVE RECORDING]

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[UPDATE: This is a recording of a live broadcast from Tuesday, Feb. 21.] 

On Tuesday night, Feb. 21, JewishJournal.com will live stream a congressional debate from Temple Judea in Tarzana.  The debate will feature 30th district candidates Brad Sherman, Howard Berman and Mark Reed.