Chicagoland Pro-Israel Political Update
A newsletter for people willing to think for themselves
August 12, 2018
Eighteen months into Trump’s presidency, there is no comparison between his record on Israel and President Obama’s.
Amos Yadlin has serious concerns about Israel’s Nation-State law, but reminds us that Israel’s democratic traditions remain strong and resolute.
Another anti-Israel Republican emerged in Illinois. Bill Fawell, running against Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL), claims that Israel was one of the “masterminds” of 9/11. Yet despite doing nothing to keep Fawell and Arthur Jones off the ballot, despite making no effort to run anyone against these bigots, neither Bruce Rauner nor any Republican member of Congress from Illinois has endorsed Bustos or Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL), the only candidates who can beat them. Is it that hard to put principle above party?
Batya Ungar-Sargon explains why Jews present the strongest case against defining racism as contingent upon powerlessness.
Dana Gordon, David Goldenberg and I are hosting Sean Casten in Highland Park on August 21. Details beneath the Video Clip of the Week. Defeating Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) is one of our top priorities.
You’re reading this. So are other influentials. If you want the right people to know about your candidate, cause, or event, reply to this email to discuss your ad.
Friends,
How does Trump compare to Obama on Israel?
Trump
ran a campaign
laced with anti-Semitic tropes
and
anti-Jewish stereotypes
. He moved the embassy to Jerusalem, a move that made Israel not one whit safer, but an administration that would erode Israel's Qualitative Military Edge by
selling arms to Saudi Arabia
and the
United Arab Emirates
, that also wants to
provide nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia
(a regime that still beheads people), that has several times
gone behind Israel's back
to negotiate with Russia about Syria, that
imposed steel and aluminum tariffs on Israel
, and that
compromised Israeli intelligence
by sharing information with Russia has a long way to go before it can match Obama's record of providing record amounts of aid to Israel (including the $38 billion MOU negotiated toward the end of his second term, which remains the largest aid package ever provided to Israel), securing funding for Iron Dome above and beyond what Congress originally appropriated (this after Iron Dome received a frosty reception from the Bush administration), taking military and intelligence cooperation between the U.S. and Israel to unprecedented levels, compiling a better record of voting with and defending Israel at the U.N. than previous administrations (even considering the abstention), and responding immediately and affirmatively when Bibi personally asked Obama for help with the Israelis trapped in the Egyptian embassy and with the Carmel forest fires.
Obama also assembled the international coalition without which sanctions against Iran would not have been nearly as effective, and he negotiated the Iran Deal, which took the single biggest threat to Israel's existence off the table. The fact that Jewish members of Congress supported the Iran deal by
more than a 2-1 margin
does not mean that they were right, but it ought to give anyone pause before calling the Iran Deal anti-Israel.
To get sanctions relief, Iran removed two-thirds of its centrifuges, including the disconnection of every single nuclear enrichment centrifuge at the Fordow facility. Iran reduced its vast stockpile of up to five percent enriched uranium from over 12,000 kilograms, enough for numerous nuclear bombs, down to under 300 kilograms, far less than the amount needed for even one nuclear bomb--a reduction of 98 percent. Iran also removed the core of the Arak reactor and filled it with cement. Iran was forced to redesign that facility to ensure it cannot be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium. All of Iran’s pathways to nuclear weapons were blocked, and to ensure that remained the case, we had 24/7 access to all known sites, including the right to inspect any site within 24 days under the most intrusive inspections regime any country has ever agreed to. Many important restrictions imposed on Iran by the Iran Deal
lasted beyond 15 years
and some, including a ban on nuclear weapons, were permanent. Trump threw all of that away with no Plan B. Our only hope is that our European allies somehow salvage as much of the deal as possible, but even if they do, Europe, not the U.S., will be leading the team. Does that make you feel safer?
Fixating on a lone U.N. vote to call Obama’s commitment to Israel into question is absurd
. By that standard, every previous administration’s commitment to Israel could be called into question. You can
read more about the abstention here
, but what made Obama different from previous administrations in this respect was not that he broke with Israel on a U.N. vote, which all administrations have done, but that he only did it once, and on a vote with little if any practical effect on Israel.
Confused about Israel’s new Nation-State law?
Amos Yadlin
, a former head of Israeli Military Intelligence, acknowledges the bill’s serious flaws and calls for the bill to “be amended in ways that align it fully with Israel’s Declaration of Independence.” But Yadlin also says that “the understandable consternation [about the bill] should not be exaggerated or misinterpreted as undermining Israel’s democratic traditions, which remain strong and resolute.
Another anti-Israel Republican congressional candidate emerged in Illinois.
We all know about
Arthur Jones
, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary in IL-3,
but now meet Bill Fawell
, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary in IL-17 and thinks that Israel was one of the “masterminds” of 9/11.
As I told
Politico
in June,
the Republicans did nothing to stop Jones from getting on the ballot, they didn’t run a candidate against him in the primary, and they are refusing to endorse the only candidate who can beat Jones, Democrat Dan Lipinski. Two months later, not only have Bruce Rauner and the Illinois Republican congressional delegation failed to step up to the plate, but they are doubling down on their insensitivity to anti-Semitism by refusing to endorse Democrat Cheri Bustos over Fawell, even after they did nothing to stop Fawell from getting on the ballot and failed to run a candidate against him in the primary.
Illinois is not unique--last week, in Missouri, a Republican who said "
Hitler was right
" won his state House primary. Yet 18 months into his presidency, Trump
has yet to appoint
a Special Envoy to Combat and Monitor Anti-Semitism.
Halie Sofier
, Executive Director of JDCA, noted last week that “Republicans have nominated no less than nine neo-Nazis and white supremacists to run for Congress” and that “combating hatred should not be a partisan issue.” Republicans should “put principle above party and endorse the Democrats running against Republican neo-Nazis in the midterm elections,” she said.
Can you be racist against white people?
Batya Ungar-Sargon
explains why “Jews present the strongest case against defining racism as contingent upon powerlessness.”
Twitter Thread of the Week
.
Listen to the parody
(by moving your cursor over the campaign sign image and clicking) and then read the comments.
Meet Sean Casten on August 21
. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) is anti-choice (even in cases of rape and incest), terrible on environmental issues, terrible on gun safety, and against same-sex marriage. This race is getting national attention because Sean Casten has such a good chance of winning.
Casten is good on Israel
, but unlike Roskam, he is also
good on the other issues
we care about. Roskam votes with Trump 94% of the time--we need an independent check on Trump.
Sean Casten
is a scientist, advocate, and clean energy entrepreneur who has devoted his career to fighting global warming. A biochemist by training, Sean spent twenty years running companies and creating jobs by profitably reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He lives in Downers Grove with his wife Kara and two daughters, Gwen and Audrey. He has completed ten marathons, coached youth soccer in Downers Grove, and plays in several cover bands of varying degrees of quality.
Dana Gordon, David Goldenberg and I are hosting Sean on Tuesday evening, August 21, in Highland Park.
Please RSVP here
(contributions are not required but will not be declined) or reply to this newsletter with your RSVP.
The Fine Print (in regular type)
: This newsletter usually runs on Sunday mornings. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, my views do not necessarily reflect the views of any candidates or organizations that I support or am associated with. My views might not even be my views tomorrow; I reserve the right to change my mind as I learn more, and sometimes I make myself mad too. Intelligent, well-informed people may disagree with me; seek out opposing views and decide for yourself. When I link to an article, it doesn't mean I agree with everything the author of that article has ever said or even that I agree with everything in that article; it means that the article supports or elaborates on the point I was making. Advertisements reflect the views of the advertisers, not necessarily of me, and advertisers are solely responsible for the content of their advertisements. I read, value, and encourage replies to my newsletters, but I don't always have time to acknowledge replies or to engage in one-on-one discussion.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|