Rabbi to give invocation on Obama’s big day (2008)

The Jewish Daily Forward
August 21, 2008

WASHINGTON — Presidential historians and convention observers believe this year’s Democratic convention will be the first time that a rabbi gives an invocation before the presidential nominee’s acceptance speech since the advent of modern American political conventions nearly a century ago.

Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, will be making history on August 28 as he opens the Democratic convention’s last day, in front of an expected crowd of 70,000 in the audience and millions more watching from afar.

The choice of a Jewish religious leader to give the prime-time invocation is only one part of a move by the Democratic Party to raise the profile of faith in its rhetoric and activities, a move from which Jewish religious activists and evangelical Christians seem to be benefiting more than other faiths. Both groups are seen as key constituencies for the Democrats in the November elections.

“This shows how critical the party and the campaign believe the Jewish community is in the upcoming elections,” said Matt Dorf, Jewish outreach coordinator for the Democratic National Committee.

Saperstein, who was approached by convention organizers only two weeks before the scheduled invocation, said he does not see his role as a show of support for Senator Barack Obama or the Democrats, but rather as common tradition “so ingrained in American life that it cannot be perceived as a political endorsement.”

Advisers for the Obama campaign, as well as convention organizers, chose Saperstein, who for the past 34 years has led the Reform movement’s Washington political arm, after joint consultations. An official involved in the process said that Saperstein was picked because he is widely respected by members of all faiths, thanks to years of activity in building advocacy coalitions on social issues as well as on foreign policy. Saperstein has been a leading force in the Save Darfur Coalition, which strives to raise public awareness of the genocide in Sudan. [One wonders how interested Saperstein is in raising public awareness about Israel’s ongoing genocide against the 1.5 million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip -- 800]

But Saperstein, according to the official, was also favored because of his firm support for the separation of church and state. “If anyone was concerned the Democrats are going too far toward faith, then all the rabbis featured in the convention are very strong on church-state separation,” the official said, referring to Saperstein and six other rabbis who will attend formal events at the convention.

Not all are convinced. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which advocates strict limits on the role of religion in the public arena, called the decision to feature religious leaders in political conventions a mistake. “It seems that this year, both parties will try to prove they are holier than the other,” he said, which in his view is no more than a form of pandering.

Naturally, faith leaders participating in the convention reject that argument. Among them is Rabbi Steve Gutow, head of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

“One of my principal goals is to help Jews engage in faith in the context of their activism,” said Gutow, a Reconstructionist who will participate in the convention’s panel on “Getting out the Faith Vote.”

Saperstein’s big moment will take place at Denver’s Invesco Field and, after Obama’s acceptance speech, will be followed by a benediction by Joel Hunter, an evangelical pastor from Northland, a church in Florida.

The creation of a “faith caucus” and a variety of planned events featuring religious leaders will bring to the Denver convention a record number of rabbis. In addition to Saperstein and Gutow, the convention will feature Orthodox rabbis Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, and Marc Schneier; Reform rabbis Amy Schwartzman from Virginia and Steve Foster of Denver, and Jack Moline, a Conservative rabbi.

In an attempt to respect sensitivities of Orthodox participants, who do not support mixed prayer, organizers made an effort to define the interfaith meetings as “gatherings” rather than services.

The Republicans have yet to announce their plans for including faith groups at their convention, which will open in St. Paul, Minn., a week after the Democrats’. An initial agenda released on August 20, however, reveals that at least three Jewish politicians will speak at the convention: Republican Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle and Independent Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman.

The above article can be found at: Rabbi To Give Invocation on Obama’s Big Day

Obama pledges to confront Holocaust deniers

AFP
April 23, 2009

WASHINGTON — At a ceremony Thursday remembering millions of Jews [allegedly] slaughtered in World War II, President Barack Obama reaffirmed the strong US bond with Israel and vowed to confront Holocaust deniers.

“There are those who insist the Holocaust never happened, who perpetrate every form of intolerance — racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, xenophobia, sexism and more,” Obama told a gathering in the Capitol Rotunda organized by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

“We have an opportunity and an obligation to confront these scourges,” Obama said.

[Thanks to DBS at The French Connection for this one]

“We have the opportunity … to commit ourselves to resisting injustice, intolerance and indifference in whatever forms they may take, whether confronting those who tell lies about history or doing everything we can to prevent and end atrocities like those that took place in Rwanda, those taking place in Darfur,” he said.

The US president’s speech came just days after a UN conference on racism where Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounced Israel as “the most cruel and repressive racist regime.”

Obama reaffirmed the “strong and enduring” bonds between the United States and Israel.

“The nation of Israel rising from the destruction of the Holocaust” was a source of hope to all those who commit to fighting intolerance, he said.

Among those at the gathering, which was part of the US Holocaust Museum’s Days of Remembrance, were five Poles who between them [allegedly] saved the lives of scores of Jews and have been awarded the title of Righteous among the Nations by the Holocaust remembrance organization, Yad Vashem.

“The Righteous remind us that no one is born a savior or a murderer. These are choices we each have the power to make,” Obama said of the Poles as well as the villagers of Le Chambon in France, which [allegedly] refused to turn away or turn in Jews during the war, and saved 5,000 lives.

Jozef Wolszczak, now 90, and the doyen of the group of Righteous, [allegedly] saved the lives of 53 Jews in occupied Poland during the war, [allegedly] buying 20 of them for a kilo of gold from the Germans after an [alleged] raid, [allegedly] giving 30 jobs in his small factory and harboring three more in his home.

Tadeusz Stankiewicz’s family [allegedly] built bunkers in the woods southeast of Warsaw, in which 60 Jews hid.

“We did it because it was the only thing to do. How can you watch so many people suffering and not lift a finger to help them?” Stankiewicz told AFP.

Ireneusz Rajchowski’s family [allegedly] sheltered dozens of Jews in their home, including a man they [allegedly] helped smuggle out of the Warsaw ghetto.

The rescued Jewish man and his family survived the war. His daughter, Barbara Gora, was in the Capitol Thursday, along with two more Righteous Poles, Alicja Schnepf and Anna Stupnicka-Bando, and Krystyna Budnicka, [allegedly] the only member of her Orthodox Jewish family to survive the war.

“The Righteous teach us… that if we have the courage to heed that ’still, small voice’ within us, we can form a minyan for righteousness that can span a village and even a nation,” said Obama.

A minyan is the quorum required for Jewish communal worship. More than 6,000 Poles have been awarded the title of Righteous among the Nations, the largest number of any country.

Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, who [allegedly] survived the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald, used his time at the podium in the Rotunda to take on Ahmadinejad.

The Iranian leader was “the number one Holocaust denier in the world,” said Wiesel, whose mother and sister [allegedly] died at Auschwitz, his father [allegedly] at Buchenwald.

“He used the solemn setting of a United Nations gathering again to insult the state of Israel in a way that no civilized person should ever do,” he said, thanking the United States for boycotting the UN meeting in Geneva.

The above article can be found at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090423/pl_afp/usiranwwiiholocaustjewshistorylead_20090423214851

Obama pledges to confront Holocaust deniers

The first lady of fashion’s quiet muse (the Israeli that dresses Michelle Obama)

The Jewish Daily Forward
February 18, 2009

CHICAGO — An Israeli-born boutique owner known for putting together edgy outfits in unexpected ways is quietly dressing one of the most famous women in the world, first lady Michelle Obama.

Ikram Goldman, 41, proprietor of the multi-vendor designer boutique Ikram (pronounced Ee-krom), on Chicago’s Gold Coast, is the eminence grise of the first lady’s fashion cred, soliciting sketches and special garments from an array of American-based designers.

Goldman is well known for a discerning eye and a sophisticated mix of edgy American, European and Japanese designers, along with a handpicked collection of vintage clothing and accessories. Though she is keeping a low profile and declines to be interviewed for any article that contains the name Michelle Obama, designers who have seen their clothes worn by President Obama’s wife in recent months are open about the link between Goldman and the “first wardrobe.”

They said Goldman has been requesting sketches for the first lady and having styles delivered to her store. Because designers routinely receive special orders from Goldman, they don’t always know which client she has in mind when she makes her requests.

“She has a real understanding of what women need to wear to get from point A to point B in their life, and she knows how to twist it to make it interesting,” said Sally Singer, the fashion news director of Vogue. Obama is pictured on the magazine’s March cover, joining Hillary Rodham Clinton as the only two first ladies so honored.

Goldman’s fashion-forward taste, her willingness to take risks on cutting-edge designers, and the fact that she buys the most innovative pieces in a collection rather than “safe” items have made her an international force in the fashion world. Her boutique is one of perhaps a dozen independent stores worldwide that play a key role in moving fashion forward, Singer said.

Goldman has always been tight-lipped about her clients, and she appears to be equally tight-lipped about herself. Friends and former colleagues interviewed for this article — even those who have known her for two decades — professed to know almost nothing about Goldman’s family or upbringing. This is not unheard of in the fashion world, where many of the greatest players are self-invented and nobody cares where you came from as long as you know fabulous when you see it.

What’s known is that she was born Ikram Saman in Israel, where she lived until she was 14. According to an interview published in Chicago magazine in 2006, she came to Chicago with her mother and brother for her mother’s cancer treatments. Goldman was still young when her mother died, and so she was largely raised by a sister, friends of the family say. She attended Catholic schools in Israel and Chicago. She is not Jewish, but she met Chicagoan Joshua Goldman, who is Jewish, while taking French classes at the Alliance Française in Chicago, and they married in 1995. Goldman’s husband grew up in Chicago and is an attorney who has also held senior roles at private equity real estate firms.

Josh Goldman’s parents, Jean and Steven Goldman, are well-known Chicago collectors of 16th- and 17th-century Italian drawings; his mother is a noted art historian. Last June, the Art Institute of Chicago dedicated prints and drawings galleries named after the Goldmans; the galleries join a study center for prints and drawings that was completed in 2002. The younger Goldmans are also art collectors, though they favor contemporary art.

In photos, Ikram Goldman’s perfectly shaped lips are what stands out. But on a recent visit to the store, the bold lips are nowhere to be seen. Goldman doesn’t have much time for lipstick these days, having given birth to twin boys last December.

The 4,000-square-foot Ikram boutique is located on Rush Street, notably a few blocks away from Oak Street, which is the home of independent designer boutiques.

Half of the store’s space is devoted to fitting rooms and alterations. “Most people go to a fitting room, and we bring them things,” explained Shane Petyko, a top salesperson at Ikram. This affords a certain amount of privacy for the boutique’s high-profile clients. A spacious, 10-sided, mirrored area near the dressing rooms is the showpiece of the store.

The vibe is exclusive — the door is kept locked, and a salesperson lets you in — but not precious. The décor reflects both Asian and Moorish influences and also features such contemporary elements as hand-blown glass shapes suspended from the ceiling in the main room, and poppy-red disks that cluster to form a chandelier in the mirrored fitting area.

The store, which opened in 2001, carries such designer lines as Azzedine Alaïa, Balmain, Lanvin, Givenchy, Hussein Chalayan, Narciso Rodriguez, Rick Owens, Alexander McQueen and Junya Watanabe, along with up-and-comers like Jason Wu, Thakoon and Zero + Maria Cornejo. Wu designed the white gown the first lady wore to the inaugural balls and the dress she is wearing on the cover of Vogue.

Isabel Toledo, a 25-year veteran of the fashion business who is adored by fashion insiders but has always been too edgy to hit the mainstream, designed the lemongrass Swiss wool lace dress and coat that Obama wore during the inauguration. “Michelle has been buying Isabel’s clothes at Ikram for years,” said Ruben Toledo, Isabel’s artist husband.

Goldman is partially known for the surprises thrown into the mix. Among the Jimmy Choo, Lanvin and Alaïa shoes are $140 patent leather Doc Martens in neon colors, keeping with a Stephen Sprouse revival that is beginning to sweep through the fashion world. “If Ikram likes something, she’ll buy it,” Petyko said. “We’ve been selling them with $10,000 jackets.”

Goldman is known for being hardworking, tough and outspoken. “For better or for worse, she’ll tell you exactly what she thinks,” said Kathy Taslitz, a customer, friend and sculptural furniture designer.

The new first lady has already set a fashion tone that shows she is confident, poised and a risk taker. Ikram’s fans also include other supporters in the Obama camp, including new White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers.

The women who shop at Ikram tend to be fearless and to have a flair for style. Jewelry designer Loree Rodkin describes the customers as “fashion forward. They’re risk takers. They have an edge. They like to not look like everyone else. They’re independent.”

The above article can be found at: http://www.forward.com/articles/103175/

The first lady of fashion’s quiet muse (the Israeli that dresses Michelle Obama)

Rothschild agents take key posts in Obama administration

American Free Press
February 23, 2009

Our greatest founding father and first president, George Washington, probably wouldn’t be ready to celebrate his birthday on Feb. 22 if he were alive today. Having led the 13 colonies to independence from the British Empire in 1783, following the course of a difficult eight-year struggle by those freedom-loving American colonists who followed him, Washington (who lived from 1732 to 1799) would most assuredly be appalled to see that the liberties achieved from the American Revolution are now being flagrantly defied by a number of figures who populate the upper ranks of the administration of Barack Obama.

Six former Rhodes Scholars (educated at Oxford University in Britain) and four others associated with the London School of Economics are serving in key posts in the Obama administration. That’s not good.

Here are ten of the key “British”– that is, [Jewish] Rothschild — operatives now ensconced in the Obama administration (more can be expected):

Susan Rice, ambassador to the UN; Michael McFaul, head of the Russian desk at the National Security Council; Elena Kagan, solicitor general of the United States; Anne-Marie Slaughter, State Department policy planning staff; Neal S.Wolin, deputy counsel to the president for economic policy; Ezekial Emanuel, senior counselor at the White House Office of Management and Budget on health care policy; Lawrence Summers, head of the National Economic Council; Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget; Peter Rouse, senior advisor to the president; Mona Sutphen, deputy chief of the White House staff.

The truth about the Rhodes Scholarships is not known to the average American who is constantly told by the mass media that Rhodes Scholars (such as former President Bill Clinton) are among “the best and the brightest.”

The Rhodes Scholarships — awarded to Americans and students from other former British colonies — are funded by a trust set up by 19th Century British imperial figure Cecil Rhodes, whose intent was to indoctrinate these scholars with the theme that the American colonies should be reunited with the British Empire and that they should work through “public service” to achieve that goal.

But Rhodes wasn’t just some rich madcap dreamer. His ventures were underwritten by the international Rothschild dynasty operating from the financial district in London known as “The City” — the banking center of the Rothschild-controlled British Empire that also includes the London School of Economics.

So now a clique of internationalists trained in the idea of extinguishing American independence are ensconced in the Obama administration.

And another Rhodes Scholar, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, is widely touted as the Grand Old Party candidate to “take back the White House” in 2012. Jindal doesn’t offer “change.” He — like the other globalists in the Obama administration –is part of the problem.

All of this is not a “conspiracy theory.” Rather, these facts are well known to those familiar with what the Rhodes scholarships are really about.

The above article can be found at: http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/rothschild_agents_168.html

Rothschild agents take key posts in Obama administration

President-Elect Obama flunks Gaza test

Inter Press Service (IPS)
January 6, 2009

CAIRO — With the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip now in its second week — and as the Palestinian death toll approaches 600 — U.S. president-elect Barack Obama has continued to remain silent. Obama’s reticence, say Egyptian commentators, indicates that he will be no more even-handed on the issue of Palestine than preceding U.S. administrations.

“Obama’s silence shows he is just as biased towards Israel as outgoing U.S. President George Bush,” Ibrahim Mansour, political analyst and managing editor-in-chief of independent daily Al-Dustour told IPS. “Like Bush, Obama’s only role in the region will be to implement Israeli directives.”

On Dec. 27, Israel began a series of devastating air strikes on targets throughout the Gaza Strip. On Saturday (Jan. 3), Israel launched a parallel ground offensive, which is currently meeting stiff resistance by Palestinian resistance fighters in strategic areas throughout the territory.

According to Israeli officials, the campaign — which has included thousands of air strikes and naval bombardment — comes in retaliation for rockets fired at Israel by Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian death toll has now reached 590, an estimated 40 percent of whom were women and children, while some 2,800 others have been injured. Four Israelis, meanwhile, have been killed by Palestinian rocket fire since the campaign began, while an undetermined number of Israeli soldiers have been killed — with conflicting reports from Israeli military and Palestinian resistance sources — since the launch of the ground offensive.

Despite growing international outrage over Israel’s massively disproportionate use of force against a largely civilian population, Obama has refrained from making public statements on the issue. Some Obama officials have suggested that the president-elect might not comment on events in Gaza until his official inauguration Jan. 20.

“The president-elect is closely monitoring global events, including the situation in Gaza,” Obama’s national security spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said in a statement Dec. 28. “There is one president at a time, and we intend to respect that.”

But Egyptian commentators say that Obama’s reluctance to comment on — let alone condemn — Israeli heavy-handedness should come as no surprise.

“The Palestinian cause was never high on Obama’s electoral agenda, which was topped by Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran, along with the global financial crisis,” said Mansour. “Besides, any issue that concerns Israel is decided by Israel, not by the U.S. president.”

Last July, during a visit to Israel, Obama disappointed many Arab observers when he expressed overwhelming support for Israel and its methods of dealing with Palestinian “terrorism”.

“I’m here…to reaffirm the special relationship between Israel and the U.S. and my abiding commitment to Israel’s security,” Obama told Israeli President Shimon Peres at the time. He went on to tell Israeli officials of his “unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security.”

He also visited the southern Israeli town of Sderot, the occasional target of short-range rockets from the Gaza Strip, where he reaffirmed Israel’s “right to defend itself.” Obama went on to express support for Israel’s refusal to negotiate with Hamas, despite the resistance group’s victory in democratically held Palestinian legislative elections in 2006.

Obama’s overt support for Israel has led many Arab observers to despair of the notion of unbiased arbitration of the conflict by the U.S.

“Like his predecessors in the White House, Obama will never stand against Israel,” Iglal Raafat, political science professor at Cairo University told IPS, echoing a common perception. “He might express his support for the so-called peace process, but only in so far as it benefits Israel.”

Egyptian observers have been further disappointed by a number of Obama’s initial cabinet appointments. Critics point in particular to Hillary Clinton as incoming U.S. secretary of state and Rahm Emanuel as incoming White House chief of staff.

Hillary Clinton made a name for herself as an ardent supporter of Israel during her tenure as New York senator. Last June, Clinton told the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the leading pro-Israel lobby in the U.S., that the next U.S. president “must be ready to say to the world that America’s position (on Israel) is unchanging, our resolve unyielding and our stance non-negotiable.”

Emanuel’s connections to Israel, meanwhile, could not be more direct. A long-time Democratic Party insider, Emanuel is the son of a former member of the Irgun, a militant — some would say terrorist — Zionist group that operated in Palestine in the 1930s and 1940s. Along with assassinating Palestinian adversaries, the Irgun also targeted British army personnel and civilians in the lead up to the establishment of Israel in 1948.

“All recent U.S. administrations, be they Democratic or Republican, have shown total support for Israel,” said Mansour. “This is reflected in their choice of cabinet appointments, be they passport-carrying duel citizens of Israel or American Jews loyal to the Jewish state.

“When it comes to the Middle East, Israel sets the U.S. political agenda — whether it be the level of antagonism between Washington and Iran, or the degree of closeness between Washington and its Arab allies,” added Mansour.

Raafat concurred that, in terms of Middle East policy at least, Obama will offer little in the way of real change.

“He might withdraw some troops from Iraq, or show more willingness to negotiate with Syria and Iran, but he won’t do anything that isn’t seen to be in the interests of the U.S.,” she said. “And U.S. and Israeli interests appear to be two sides of the same coin.”

Nor is the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition movement, pinning its hopes on the U.S. president-elect’s vaunted promise of change.

“The Muslim Brotherhood believes real change can only emanate from the people, and not from foreign powers,” Hamdi Hassan, prominent Muslim Brotherhood MP told IPS. “And it can only come when the people are prepared to pay a price for it.”
This article can be found at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45314

President-Elect Obama flunks Gaza test

Top Obama advisor has long ties to Neocons

Inter Press Service (IPS)
November 2, 2008With the 2008 presidential campaign at its end, pundits have begun to discuss in earnest what expected winner Barack Obama’s administration might look like. An important piece of evidence is Obama’s campaign team, which largely escaped the harsh scrutiny that his opponent’s lobbyist-laden team received.

Because of Obama’s relative inexperience on foreign policy, it is this part of his team that is getting much of the attention, and one adviser in particular — Dennis Ross, Bill Clinton’s Mideast envoy whose record includes supporting the pro-Iraq War advocacy campaigns of the Project for the New American Century and serving as a consultant to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a bastion of Israel-centric policy thinking in Washington.

Generally regarded as a political moderate who has the ear and respect of both Republicans and Democrats, Ross, a former Soviet specialist, reportedly has told friends and foreign officials that he hopes to nab a very senior post in an Obama administration, one that at least covers Iran policy, if not the entire Greater Middle East.

But Ross’s record as a Mideast peacemaker during the Clinton years, longtime association with hawkish political factions, and track record promoting a hard line vis-à-vis Israel’s Arab neighbours have spurred concern that he would be a less-than-ideal pick for a Middle East portfolio in an Obama administration, which many presume he will be offered.

As one Clinton official, asked about Ross’s role in the Obama campaign, told Time magazine earlier this year, “If Obama wants to embody something new that can actually succeed, it’s not just a break from [George W. Bush] Bush that he’s going to need, but a break from Clinton.”

Despite some successes as Clinton’s envoy crafting agreements between Israel and its neighbours, Ross’s efforts to negotiate an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were a failure. In his writings, Ross has emphasised Palestinian intransigence — in particular, Yasser Arafat’s — as being the cause for the failure, although he doesn’t exempt Israel from blame.

Other participants in those negotiations have pointed their finger at Ross. In their book “Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace”, Daniel Kurtzer, who is also an Obama adviser, and Scott Lasensky cite a number of anonymous officials who were critical of Ross.

Said one Arab negotiator, “The perception always was that Dennis [Ross] started from the Israeli bottom line, that he listened to what Israel wanted and then tried to sell it to the Arabs…He was never looked at…as a trusted world figure or as an honest broker.”

Likewise, a former Clinton administration representative told the authors, “By the end, the Palestinians didn’t fully trust Dennis…[T]hey thought he was tilted too much towards the Israelis.”

Ross got his start in high-level policy-making working under Paul Wolfowitz in the Pentagon during the Carter administration. Wolfowitz — who is better known for his role pushing the Iraq War after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and for his controversial tenure as World Bank head — tasked Ross with helping draft a study assessing threats to U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf. The 1979 study, titled the Limited Contingency Study, concluded that aside from the Soviet Union, a key threat to the region’s oil fields was Iraq.

In his 2004 book the Rise of the Vulcans, James Mann writes that this study, the Pentagon’s “first extensive examination of the need for the United States to defend the Persian Gulf,” would go on to “play a groundbreaking role in changing American military policy toward the Persian Gulf over the coming decades.”

When Wolfowitz was tapped to head the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff after the election of Ronald Reagan, he included Ross in his team of assistants, which, according to Mann, would go on to become, over the next two decades, “the heart of a new neoconservative network within the foreign policy bureaucracy.”

Other Wolfowitz team members from that time included I. Lewis Libby, a Washington lawyer who later became notorious as the disgraced former chief aide to Vice President Dick Cheney; James Roche, President George W. Bush’s Air Force Secretary who resigned after being implicated in the Boeing tanker leasing scandal; Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and post-invasion ambassador to Iraq; Alan Keyes, the perennial Republican presidential candidate; and Francis *censored*uyama, the “end of history” theorist and erstwhile neoconservative ally who turned against the faction after the Iraq invasion.

Ross’s close association with neoconservatives has deepened over the years, becoming especially pronounced in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He supported the invasion of Iraq and, during the run-up to the 2008 presidential elections, repeatedly teamed up with writers from groups like the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) to craft hard-line policies toward Iran.

Ross served as the co-convenor of WINEP’s Presidential Task Force on the Future of U.S.-Israel Relations, which issued the June 2008 report “Strengthening the Partnership: How to Deepen U.S.-Israel Cooperation on the Iranian Nuclear Challenge”. The report was signed by a number of former Democratic and Republican policy-makers, as well as by several neoconservatives, including former CIA director James Woolsey and Vin Weber, a former Republican congressman who co-founded the rightist pressure group Empower America.

Interestingly, several other advisers to the Obama campaign added their names to the document — Anthony Lake, Susan Rice, and Richard Clarke.

Ross also helped produce the 2008 report “Meeting the Challenge: U.S. Policy Toward Iranian Nuclear Development”, which was published by a study group convened by the Bipartisan Policy Centre, a group led by several former legislators.

The lead drafter of the report was AEI’s Michael Rubin, an outspoken proponent of U.S. military intervention in the Middle East. Other participants included hawkish arms control analyst Henry Sokolski; Michael Makovsky, a former aide to Douglas Feith; Stephen Rademaker, who worked under former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton in the State Department; and the neoconservative Hudson Institute director, Kenneth Weinstein.

The report argues that despite Iran’s assurances to the contrary, its nuclear programme aims to develop nuclear weapons and is thus a threat to “U.S. and global security, regional stability, and the international nonproliferation regime,” a conclusion that stands in contrast to the CIA’s November 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, which found that Iran had ceased its nuclear weapons programme.

Like the WINEP study, the report argues that “Cold War deterrence” is not persuasive in the context of Iran’s programme, due in large measure to the “Islamic Republic’s extremist ideology”. Even a peaceful indigenous uranium enrichment programme would place the entire Middle East region “under a cloud of ambiguity given uncertain Iranian capacities and intentions.”

Among the report’s proposals are undertaking a major military build-up in the Gulf; pressuring Russia to halt weapons assistance; and, if the U.S. agrees to hold direct talks with Tehran without insisting that the country first cease enrichment activities, setting a pre-determined compliance deadline and be prepared to apply increasingly harsh repercussions if these are not met, leading ultimately to U.S. military strikes.

Calling the report a “roadmap to war”, Inter Press Service’s Jim Lobe writes, “In other words, if Tehran is not eventually prepared to permanently abandon its enrichment of uranium on its own soil — a position that is certain to be rejected by Iran ab initio — war becomes inevitable, and all intermediate steps, even including direct talks if the new president chooses to pursue them, will amount to going through the motions… What is a top Obama adviser [Dennis Ross] doing signing on to it?“

This article can be found at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44546

Obama’s first pick: Israeli Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff

Haaretz (Israel)
November 6, 2008A day after his historic election to become the first black American president, Barack Obama stepped into the role of president-elect yesterday, inviting Rahm Emanuel to join his administration as White House chief of staff, Democratic officials said.

Emanuel, a former Bill Clinton adviser, is the son of a Jerusalem-born pediatrician who was a member of the Irgun (Etzel or IZL), a militant Zionist group that operated in Palestine between 1931 and 1948.

Obama intends to announce key cabinet and staff staff members in the next few days to ensure a swift transition to the White House in January, which would allow him to deal with the global economic crisis as quickly as possible.

If Emanuel accepts, he will return to the White House, where he served as a political and policy adviser to Clinton. Emanuel is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives as the Democratic Caucus chairman.

Emanuel knows Obama from his hometown Chicago and headed the special team that planned the midterm elections in 2006, in which the Democrats recaptured a Congressional majority.

Emanuel also served as inspiration for the fictional character Joshua “Josh” Lyman, the deputy White House chief of staff, played by Bradley Whitford on the television drama “The West Wing.”

Obama is expected to appoint loyal advisers and aides to central cabinet and staff positions, as well as experienced officials from the Clinton administration and a few prominent Republicans to enhance his intention to bridge political gaps.

Several Democrats said Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, the party’s 2004 presidential nominee, was actively seeking appointment as secretary of state in the new administration.

They said Obama would issue a written statement announcing that his transition team would be headed by John Podesta, who served as chief of staff under Clinton; Pete Rouse, who has been Obama’s chief of staff in the Senate; and Valerie Jarrett, a friend of the president-elect and campaign adviser.

One of the most talked-about appointments is the Treasury Department secretary. The names most mentioned for this post are former Clinton administration Treasury bosses Lawrence Summers and Robert Rubin. Or Obama might keep Secretary Henry Paulson.

Other candidates include a former Summers deputy, Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and billionaires Warren Buffett and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The president-elect had breakfast yesterday with his wife and daughters, then left his house for a workout at a nearby gym. Aides said he intended to visit his campaign headquarters later in the day to thank his staff.

Obama has 10 weeks to build a new administration. But his status as an incumbent member of Congress presents issues unseen since 1960, when Democrat John F. Kennedy moved from the Senate to the White House.

Rahm Emanuel’s father, Benjamin, yesterday refused to comment on the report that his son was appointed White House chief of staff. He told Haaretz that he would only comment after speaking to his son.

“Obama is a pro-Israeli leader and will be a friend to Israel,” he said, adding that he was pleased with Obama’s election. He also said his son is the namesake of Rahamim, a Lehi combatant who was killed.
This article can be found at: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1034855.html

Jesse Jackson: Obama will rid United States of ‘Zionist’ control

Haaretz
October 14, 2008

The Rev. Jesse Jackson has said the United States will rid itself of years of “Zionist” control under an administration headed by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The New York Post quoted the veteran civil rights leader on Tuesday as having said that although “Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades” remain strong, they will lose a much of their clout when Obama enters the White House.

Speaking at the first World Policy Forum event in Evian, France, Jackson promised “fundamental changes” in U.S. foreign policy. He said the most important change would occur in the Middle East, where “decades of putting Israel’s interests first” would end.

Jackson said that Obama “wants an aggressive and dynamic diplomacy.” He went on to criticize the Bush administration’s handling of Middle East diplomacy, telling the Post, “Bush was so afraid of a snafu and of upsetting Israel that he gave the whole thing a miss. Barack will change that,” because, as long as the Palestinians haven’t seen justice, the Middle East will “remain a source of danger to us all.”

Jackson has not always been such a strong Obama supporter. In July, he apologized to the Illinois senator for “crude and hurtful” remarks he had made about him after an interview with a Fox News correspondent.

Speaking to a fellow interviewee without realizing his microphone was on, Jackson said, “See, Barack’s been talking down to black people…. I want to cut his nuts off.”

“It was very private,” Jackson said, adding that if “any hurt or harm has been caused to [Obama's] campaign, I apologize.”

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1028665.html

Jesse Jackson: Obama will rid United States of ‘Zionist’ control

Michelle Obama has rabbi in her family

The Jewish Daily Forward
September 2, 2008
By Anthony WeissWhile Barack Obama has struggled to capture the Jewish vote, it turns out that one of his wife’s cousins is the country’s most prominent black rabbi — a fact that has gone largely unnoticed.
Michelle Obama, wife of the Democratic presidential nominee, and Rabbi Capers Funnye, spiritual leader of a mostly black synagogue on Chicago’s South Side, are first cousins once removed. Funnye’s mother, Verdelle Robinson Funnye (born Verdelle Robinson) and Michelle Obama’s paternal grandfather, Frasier Robinson Jr., were brother and sister.

Funnye (pronounced fuh-NAY) is chief rabbi at the Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in southwest Chicago. He is well-known in Jewish circles for acting as a bridge between mainstream Jewry and the much smaller, and largely separate, world of black Jewish congregations, sometimes known as black Hebrews or Israelites. He has often urged the larger Jewish community to be more accepting of Jews who are not white.

Funnye’s famous relative gives an unexpected twist to the much-analyzed relationship between Barack Obama and Jews in this presidential campaign. On the one hand, Jewish political organizers, voters and donors played an essential role in Obama’s rise to power in Chicago, including some of the city’s wealthiest and most prominent families. But the Illinois senator has struggled to overcome suspicions in some parts of the Jewish community, including skepticism about his stance on Israel and discredited but persistent rumors that he is secretly a Muslim.

Funnye, who described himself as an independent, said he has not been involved with the Obama campaign but that he has donated money and was cheering it on.

“I know that her grandfather and her father and my mom and all of our relatives that are now deceased would be so very, very proud of both of them,” Funnye told the Forward.

Michelle Obama and the Obama campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

Funnye told the Forward that he has known Michelle Obama (born Michelle Robinson) all her life. His mother and her father, Frasier Robinson III, enjoyed a close relationship, and Funnye said he saw Michelle several times a year when they were growing up, mostly at family functions and on occasional visits to her house.

“Her father was like the glue of our family,” Funnye said. “He always wanted to keep the family very connected and to stay in touch with each other.”

Funnye, 56, said he and Michelle, 44, were not especially close growing up, but he remembers her as “energetic and smart and very caring.”

The two fell out of touch when they grew older and went their separate ways but then reconnected years later when Michelle Obama was working for the University of Chicago and Funnye was leading a local social service organization called Blue Gargoyle. Funnye also worked with Barack Obama, then a state senator, who came and spoke at events for the organization. When Barack and Michelle Obama married, Funnye and his family attended the wedding.

Although Funnye’s congregation describes itself as Ethiopian Hebrew, it is not connected to the Ethiopian Jews, commonly called Beta Israel, who have immigrated to Israel en masse in recent decades. It is also separate from the Black Hebrews in Dimona, Israel, and the Hebrew Israelite black supremacist group whose incendiary street harangues have become familiar spectacles in a number of American cities.

Funnye converted to Judaism and was ordained as a rabbi under the supervision of black Israelite rabbis, then went through another conversion supervised by Orthodox and Conservative rabbis. He serves on the Chicago Board of Rabbis.

Funnye’s relationship with the Obama family was reported in the Chicago Jewish News in an article dated August 22. A Wall Street Journal article in April reported that the aspiring first lady had a cousin (whom the paper mistakenly referred to as a second cousin) who is a prominent black rabbi but did not mention Funnye by name.

The rabbi’s familial connection with the Democratic presidential nominee is also a matter of common knowledge in Funnye’s synagogue.

“He really jumped on everyone’s radar after the 2004 convention,” Funnye said. “That’s when some people said, ‘Isn’t he related to you or something?’ I said, ‘Yeah, he’s married to my cousin, and she’s making him everything that he is.’”

This article can be found at: http://www.forward.com/articles/14121/

Michelle Obama has rabbi in her family