YDA Jewish Caucus

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2008
Contact:
Stephanie Hausner, (914)980-1747, secretary@yda.org, Executive Director, YDAJC

YDAJC Launches RJCWatch.org
Blog to Document the Inaccuracies and Hypocrisies of the Republican Jewish Coalition 

New York, NY – Every year, the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) shows time and time again that it puts partisan interests above Jewish concerns and that they relentlessly attack anyone with whom they disagree, sometimes using only half-truths and drastically misleading statements. As Jews, we have long since known the dangers of misinformation.
Republican Jewish Coalition Watch will play the critical role of documenting the inaccuracies and hypocrisies of the RJC throughout this election and into the future. For each advertising campaign and email the RJC puts out, we will catalog both accurate statements and misleading remarks. We attempt to document these statements by referring to non-partisan neutral sources.
There is perhaps no better example than the RJC’s often conflicted relationship with Joe Lieberman. When Joe Lieberman was running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000, the RJC took out a full-page ad in the New York Times attacking him and attempting to link him to Louis Farrakhan (New York Times. October 5, 2000). Yet when Lieberman was challenged in the Connecticut primary by Ned Lamont in 2006, the RJC quickly used the opportunity to attack the Democratic Party and claim that “America and Israel  worse off” for his loss (http://www.rjchq.org/media/pics/lieberman.ad.jpg).
Republican Jewish Coalition Watch is a project of the Young Democrats of America Jewish Caucus.

###

The Young Democrats of American Jewish Caucus is an organization dedicated to building the young Democratic Jewish political community. YDAJC seeks to engage young Democrats in issues of particular Jewish concern and to invigorate young Jews to engage in politics from a progressive Democratic perspective. YDAJC accomplishes this task through a combination of education, awareness, and social interaction as well as political advocacy on issues of Jewish concern. Please visit us athttp://www.jewishcaucus.org.

(Washington Post)

ONE OF Tom Lantos’s first initiatives in Congress was to reward human rights work. Back in 1981, the Hungarian-born congressman sponsored a bill to offer honorary citizenship to Raoul Wallenberg, the missing Swedish diplomat who saved more than 100,000 Jews — including Mr. Lantos himself — from Nazi extermination. Mr. Lantos’s intention was to thank and honor a human rights hero; by the time he passed away last Monday at age 80, the California Democrat had become one himself.

As chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and founder of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, Mr. Lantos worked tirelessly to promote human rights. He turned the world’s attention, and when successful its fury, to travesties across every region of Earth. His efforts to inspire — or, if necessary, shame — individuals, companies and governments into honorable behavior were exhaustive and creative; at the tender age of 78, Mr. Lantos himself was arresting for disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly while protesting the genocide in Darfur outside the Sudanese Embassy.

His genuine concern for human dignity earned the respect and admiration of leaders and human rights advocates around the world. Fellow Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, pop singer and AIDS activist Bono and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon were among the luminaries who attended Mr. Lantos’s memorial service on Thursday. Even the North Korean government — a frequent target of Lantos’s criticisms — sent its condolences.

Mr. Lantos pushed the U.S. government, and in particular congressional Democrats, on a path of leadership in human rights issues. We hope that his work will inspire further championship of the world’s downtrodden — just as Mr. Lantos took his cue from Raoul Wallenberg.

(Washington Jewish Week)

For Joanna Blotner, Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary was unusual. Instead of voting for the lesser of two evils, she was excited to be choosing between “the better of two greats.”

“They’re both such good candidates, I want to vote for both,” the 22-year-old District resident said on Thursday evening of last week at a happy hour sponsored by the Young Democrats of America Jewish Caucus in the District’s Woodley Park.

Blotner’s inability to choose between Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) just five days before the Potomac Primary was shared by a number of her friends and others in the 150 or so person crowd.

Continue reading Blue and energized…

(Forward)

Seven Jewish U.S. senators wrote an open letter to the Jewish community repudiating rumors about Sen. Barack Obama’s religion.

“We find it particularly abhorrent that these attacks are apparently being sent specifically to the Jewish community,” said the letter initiated by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and also signed by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Ben. Cardin (D-Md.), Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). “Jews, who have historically been the target of such attacks, should be the first to reject these tactics.”

The letter, made public over the weekend, echoed another by the leaders of nine Jewish groups last week addressing a spate of e-mails that falsely claim Obama, a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is a secret Muslim.

There are 13 Jews in the Senate – 10 Democrats, an Independent and two Republicans. All of the seven signing the letter have yet to endorse a presidential candidate.

(The Nation – Opinion piece by Eric Alterman)

Today’s topic is the paradox–or one of them, anyway–of American Jewish political behavior. No, it’s not that hoary old cliché that they “earn like Episcopalians but vote like Puerto Ricans.” Rather, it’s that they think like enlightened liberals yet allow belligerent right-wingers and neocons who frequently demonize, distort and denounce their values to speak for them in the US political arena.

Don’t take my word for it. According to the American Jewish Committee’s 2007 survey of American Jewry, released December 11, a majority of Jews in this country oppose virtually every aspect of the Bush Administration/neocon agenda. Not only do they disapprove of the Administration’s handling of its “campaign against terrorism” (59-31 percent), they believe by a 67-to-27 margin that we should never have invaded Iraq. They are unimpressed by the “surge”–68 percent say it has either made no difference or made things worse, and by a 57-to-35 percent majority they oppose an attack on Iran, even if it was undertaken “to prevent [Iran] from developing nuclear weapons.”

Continue reading ‘Bad For The Jews’…

(New York Jewish Week) On the eve of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses this week, strategists in both major political parties now believe Jewish voters could play a critical role in wide-open nomination battles this year — and possibly in a November general election that some experts say could be another squeaker.

“Usually the Jewish vote isn’t something Republican candidates compete for in the primaries,” said a key Jewish supporter of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, one of the candidates with the most to gain from a strong Jewish tally. “But this is a very different climate, with the front-loaded primaries.

Continue reading Jews Poised To Play Key Role In Primaries…

(JCPA Blog) So I was thinking this morning about what to write as my blog entry today…but Eric Alterman already wrote it.  So I decided to save myself some time and energy, and probably a hefty plagiarism lawsuit and merely suggest that you read his recent article in The Nation – not because it’s called “Bad for the Jews”, and not because it comments on the American Jewish Committee’s 2007 Survey of American Jewry, but because Alterman touches on an issue that institutional restraints – and fear — prevent those of us who work for Jewish non-profit organizations from addressing.  How in touch are our communal organizations with the people we claim to represent?  Alterman’s focus is the media – that the people the media turn to “speak for Jews and Jewish values,” such as Charles Krauthammer and David Horowitz, are not at all representative of the Jewish mainstream, based on what the AJC survey found.

Continue reading Who Speaks for the Jews?…

The United States has a strong bilateral alliance with the state of Israel, and also has played a historic role as a leader in the peace process. This dual role raises a series of questions. How would you characterize the U.S.-Israel alliance, and what role should that friendship play in U.S. Middle East policy? What role should the United States play in the peace process? What should be the role of other international leaders in the Middle East peace process? How could other states in the region help promote peace and fight terrorism? How should the U.S. balance Israeli security in an atmosphere of increasing pressure for concessions to the Palestinians? Should the United States continue its commitment to maintaining Israel’s ability to deter and defend against foreseeable combinations of threats, and maintain its qualitative military edge? What role should the United States play if Israel comes under attack and, in a worst-case-scenario, is unable to defend itself successfully?

The peace process today stands on the brink of either great promise or great peril. Israel and the Palestinian Authority could achieve more in the coming years than they ever have before, but they could also slide back to the past. Nobody can play a greater role in this process than the United States, and we must stand by Israel and prevent the backsliding by the Palestinian Authority that has prevented progress in the past. Progress will require a steady and firm hand in putting the region back on the roadmap to peace authored by the U.S., the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations. Time and time again, the Israelis have demonstrated their desire for peace and a future where two states can live side-by-side in peace. The U.S. must work with moderate Palestinians who renounce violence, recognize Israel, and are committed to past agreements like the Roadmap.

As president, I will see to it that the United States is engaged in the Middle East. The U.S. must do everything it can, through diplomatic, economic, and military aid, to maintain Israel’s qualitative edge and keep Israel strong and safe in a dangerous region so that there is no “worst case” scenario. America must stand by Israel—our ally and partner—to ensure its security, while doing everything in our power to achieve peace and stability in this vital part of the world.

Continue reading Edwards Responds to YDAJC Questions…

What conditions do you see as necessary for fostering peace between Israelis and Palestinians?

At its most basic level, the conditions necessary for fostering peace between the Israelis and Palestinians will require Israelis to feel safe, secure, and welcome in the region, and for the Palestinians to have a coherent homeland where they can build a strong economy.

Continue reading Richardson Responds to YDAJC Questions…