Sheldon Adelson sues Jewish Democratic group
Sheldon Adelson is suing the National Jewish Democratic Council for defamation.
Lawyers for Adelson, the casino magnate and major Republican donor, had sent a warning letter to the NJDC and to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee last week after each body publicly stated that Adelson had approved of prostitution at his properties in Macau, China. That allegation appeared in a lawsuit file by a former Adelson employee, Steven Jacobs, who had managed Adelson’s Macua business until being fired in 2010.
The DCCC apologized last week for referencing the allegation in press releases sent June 22 and July 2 that called on Republicans not to take Adelson’s money. But NJDC has refused to excise the allegation from an online petition calling on Republicans to stop accepting money from Adelson.
Adelson filed the defamation lawsuit this week; the NJDC shared news of the lawsuit in a statement sent to reporters.
“Referencing mainstream press accounts examining the conduct of a public figure and his business ventures—as we did—is wholly appropriate,” NJDC said in a statement. “Indeed, it is both an American and a Jewish obligation to ask hard questions of powerful individuals like Mr. Adelson, just as it is incumbent upon us to praise his wonderful philanthropic endeavors.”
The statement called Adelson’s lawsuit a “strategic lawsuit against public participation,” or SLAPP, a term used for legal maneuvers aimed not at obtaining justice but silence.
“We know that we were well within our rights, and we will defend ourselves against this SLAPP suit as far and as long as necessary,” NJDC said. “We simply will not be bullied, and we will not be silenced.”
Adelson’s publicist, Ron Reese, had no immediate comment.
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Six comments following yet another attack on the Israeli-Egyptian border
1. The Israelis knew in advance of a looming attack. Hence, the travel warnings, whence the military preparedness, resulting in zero casualties on the Israeli side of the border; zero damage done, zero achievement for the attackers.
But the Egyptians also had warning of the looming attack. They did nothing. Publicly, they rejected Israel’s travel advisory as an uncalled for attempt to serve the interests of Israel’s tourism industry, and as for military preparedness — the slaughter of Egyptian soldiers speaks louder than anything I’m able to write.
Israel is hoping that this latest incident will serve as a wake-up call to the Egyptian government. There’s good reason to suspect, though, that this will turn out to be false hope. Sinai is far away, and Egyptians don’t much care what happens there (as long as it isn’t Israeli intervention).
Read more at jewishjournal.com/rosnersdomain.
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Climbing mount Talmud
It is a commitment like few others. Seven and a half years of daily study — every day, no time off, no vacations, no holiday breaks, in sickness and health, at home and while traveling. Started almost 80 years ago, by a rabbi named Meir Shapiro, the study of the Daf Yomi — literally, a page a day — this week ends its 12th cycle of learning and immediately begins its 13th. As I write this post I’m still undecided: Should I, can I, will I?
Some basic facts: The Babylonian Talmud is a compilation of rabbinical discussions, sayings, rulings and stories drawn together between the third and fifth centuries CE, and studied ever since. Except for the Bible, it is the most important Jewish book, and even more than the Bible, it is the book Jews relied on as they were developing their practices and customs over the last 1,500 years. It is not an easy read: 2,711 pages, many of them written in Aramaic, and challengingly encoded in ways that make it almost impossible for the untrained eye to understand. I’ve studied Talmud here and there, more intensively at a younger age, more sporadically in recent years. I can read it and understand what I’m reading, if I get help from the many available commentaries and guides.
If one takes it one page at a time, every day, for approximately seven and a half years, one is able to say: I’ve read it all, including those parts of the long 36 tractates that are rarely visited by students, some of them dealing with issues that can seem quite bizarre to the untrained reader.
Read more at jewishjournal.com/rosnersdomain.
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