Tag Archives: Orthodox Judaism

Our State Department Is Focused On The Wrong People

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Boston.com posted a story today about some recent remarks about Israel by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Clinton stated that she was worried about the future of Israel’s democracy and the rights of women in that country.

These are amazing statements. Israel is one of two functioning democracies in the Middle East–the other one is Turkey, which is in danger of becoming an Islamic state where women will have very few rights. The ‘Arab Spring’ supposedly brought democracy to a number of countries in the Middle East, but we are now watching those countries turn into Islamic states with Sharia law, which gives very few rights to women.

Israel does practice segregation of the sexes on buses that serve the Ultra Orthodox Jewish community on routes to religious neighborhoods in Israel.That is not limiting women’s rights–it is respecting Orthodox Jewish tradition. However, I have never heard Mrs. Clinton address the fact that women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive.

I just don’t think Israel is the problem in the Middle East with regard to women’s rights.

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What Happened In New York’s Ninth District

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Michael Barone at CPAC in February 2010.

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Michael Barone reported today at the Washington Examiner on the stunning upset in the special election held yesterday in New York’s ninth Congressional district. At approximately quarter after one this morning, Michael Barone reported:

With 82% of precincts reporting, the latest returns show Turner with 53% of the vote and Democrat David Weprin with 46%. Weprin leads narrowly, 51%-48%, in Queens, where 90% of the precincts have reported; Turner leads 69%-31% in Brooklyn, where 66% of the precincts have reported. Thus if the remaining precincts in each borough match existing percentages there, Turner will win by a slightly larger margin than in current returns. This is a big reversal from the 2008 general election, when the 9th district voted 55%-44% for Barack Obama over John McCain.

The ninth district has a growing number of Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods particularly in Brooklyn. Democrat David Weprin is an Orthodox Jew, but the Jewish vote went for Republican Bob Turner. This is seen as a reaction to President Obama’s policies toward and treatment of Israel. Remember the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to the White House in March 2010. The U. K. Times reported:

After failing to extract a written promise of concessions on settlements, Mr Obama walked out of his meeting with Mr Netanyahu but invited him to stay at the White House, consult with advisers and “let me know if there is anything new”, a US congressman, who spoke to the Prime Minister, said.

“It was awful,” the congressman said. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting “a hazing in stages”, poisoned by such mistrust that the Israeli delegation eventually left rather than risk being eavesdropped on a White House telephone line. Another said that the Prime Minister had received “the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea”. 

President Obama refused to take a picture with Prime Minister Netanyahu, there was no press conference, there was no state dinner, and there were no warm handshakes. This is no way to treat a friend. President Obama also criticized Israel for building housing in Jerusalem. When did America get the right to tell another country where they can building housing?

Anyway, there are some good reasons an Orthodox Jew might want to rethink his support of the Obama Administration.

 

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