A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:
Obama, the “Jewish President”
A New York Magazine ” title=”http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/09/what_ny-9_portends_for_the_jewish_vote.html”>said Rabbi Aryeh Spero at American Thinker. Democrats tried to ” title=”http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/15/obama-and-the-jews/”>said a Washington Times editorial. But Obama’s problems could run ” title=”http://blog.chron.com/rickperry/2011/09/rick-perrys-speech-reaches-out-to-pro-israel-jews-christian-zionists/”>more vocal about his pro-Israel politics and met with influential Jewish leaders. “t may seem like an odd political coupling,” ” title=”http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63928.html”>reported Maggie Haberman at Politico. “He got a bit tripped up on the issue of settlement negotiations, suggesting they should be allowed without really explaining what that meant – which raised an issue that has come up a few times in the last few days about whether he understands the nuances of the Mideast debate.” And, ” title=”http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Time-for-political-courage-in-Mideast-2180405.php#page-2″>said Edward P. Djerejian in the Houston Chronicle. “What happens at the U.N. can be exploited in a positive way to get the parties engaged in sustained and conclusive peace negotiations.” What can President Obama really accomplish? “This must be said, and clearly: No leader has either the moral authority or the strategic possibility of endangering tens of thousands of citizens before doing everything possible to make Israel beloved of the West,” ” title=”http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/how-to-build-a-state-1.385694″>said Zvi Bar’el in Haaretz. “If the United States fails to recognize the Palestinian state, it will have difficulty sidelining its rivals in the new Middle East, where the public has more power than the rulers.”
“All Jews should be sterilized” debacle
Twenty-two-year-old York University student Sarah Grunfeld misunderstood her professor and thought he was making anti-Semitic remarks when he said that “all Jews should be sterilized” is an example of deplorable speech. Grunfeld reported him to the administration. Some Jewish groups came to her defense anyway. “B’nai Brith earns itself no respect when it insists on be-rating an innocent university professor over a mistake made by an excitable student,” ” title=”http://volokh.com/2011/09/14/irony/”>said David Bernstein at Volokh, reveals just how ridiculous this is. “Irony, rough justice, or something else?”
France’s anti-Semitic app
Apple was forced to ” title=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-brad-hirschfield/jew-not-jew-french-app-ban_b_968218.html”>said Brad Hirschfield at The Huffington Post. “This seems like a well-intentioned, but totally unsophisticated response to a very real problem. And in this case the old adage about the road to Hell and good intentions seems pretty apt.”
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