RSS
Biden, the Debate and Israel
JNS.org – Many of the president’s most vigorous cheerleaders on CNN, MSNBC and The New York Times, among others, have called for President Joe Biden to step aside after his disastrous performance in the debate. The overwhelming majority of the public, which seems to want neither man as commander-in-chief, thinks that Biden is unfit. As Thomas Friedman put it (and I’m loathed to cite him on anything), Biden can be a modern-day George Washington by prioritizing the nation’s interests over personal ambition.
You must have a massive ego to become president of the United States, so it should not be surprising that someone who achieves their lifelong dream of reaching the highest office in the land—enjoying its perks and the power that comes with it—would not want to give it up.
Imagine if Donald Trump were in the same position. What do you think he would do? Comedian Jimmy Fallon caught the irony when he said, “Yeah, the media has spent almost two weeks calling on a candidate to drop out of the race, and somehow it’s not the convicted felon.”
If dyed-in-the-wool Jewish Democrats like Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, believe “this election is not just a binary choice between Biden and Trump,” it is “a binary choice between American ideals and our future as a democracy,” then it is even more reason that Biden should release his delegates. If Biden loses the presidency, he could jeopardize the party’s control of the Senate and chance to win the House, leaving his rival in power with no guardrails.
Biden’s sycophants (and every president has them) have strained credibility with flimsy excuses. First, we heard he had a cold. OK, that explains a raspy voice but not his incoherence. Then, we were told he suffered from jet lag—two weeks after returning from abroad. Does that mean he was befogged during those two weeks while making decisions about the nation’s fate? Shouldn’t that scare everyone since he will be expected to travel in a second term? Does the public trust his aides to run the country with Biden as a figurehead?
Even crazier was the argument that we shouldn’t worry because the election is still four months away. Do Biden’s supporters think he will stop aging during that time, and become more physically and mentally fit?
Biden and his supporters also argue that he won all the primaries and has the public’s support to be the nominee. Of course, most of the people talked about now as replacements didn’t run against him, unaware of his physical and mental deficiencies.
No matter how much they wish the issue would disappear, Biden’s age will remain a constant focus of the media and the public, making it nearly impossible to promote his presidency’s successes.
The election has been miscast as Biden versus Trump. It is Kamala Harris versus Trump, as few people believe Biden can govern until he is 86, given his deteriorating condition. Harris flamed out as a presidential candidate and has yet to distinguish herself as vice president, so the case for Biden staying in the race is much weaker, as is the argument that Harris should automatically be the nominee if he pulls out.
Harris, as expected, has toed the administration line on Israel. Some may recall that she raised hackles when she failed to challenge a student who accused Israel of “ethnic genocide.” She has little foreign-policy credibility or experience. Harris supported the two-state solution as a candidate while acknowledging that outside parties could not impose a solution. She was also no fan of then-newly re-elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is unlikely to have become more enamored with him after his fights with Biden. She is also an advocate of a nuclear deal with Iran, which raises serious questions of national security as Iran’s resources to build a bomb have grown under Biden-Harris. Some supporters may argue that her Jewish husband, who has taken a visible role in the administration’s effort to combat antisemitism, could be a positive influence vis-à-vis Israel.
With Biden’s decline and Harris’s limited foreign-policy inexperience, the influence of Obama-era diplomats at the State Department will grow and imperil US-Israel relations.
There are too many other possible candidates to assess their credentials unless and until one becomes the nominee. The record of those who ran in 2020 is available. Despite viable alternatives, shunting a woman of color will alienate swaths of the party needed to defeat Trump. It would be even more difficult to bypass her if Biden were to resign and she became president. Either way, Democrats will pay a price for sacrificing principle for identity politics.
Whether the party will come together in the face of Soifer and other Democrats’ stark choice is an open question. Just enough people may stay home or vote for a third-party candidate to sink any nominee.
Can Biden count on the Jewish vote if he stays in the race?
A case can be made to Jews for voting for Biden based on his domestic policies and support for Israel. However, recent polling shows that Jews are abandoning Biden in numbers beyond those who rejected Barack Obama in his second term.
Even before his mental acuity came into question, Biden’s support among Jews was eroding because he failed to stem the antisemitic tide in America; is publicly feuding with the Israeli prime minister; withholding and slowing down the delivery of arms to Israel; impeding the IDF’s ability to fight Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran; and refusing to take measures to stop Iran’s march to a nuclear weapon, and ongoing sponsorship of terror against Israel and the United States.
In a previous column, I advocated that Jews follow the example of Arab Americans and Muslims who were voting uncommitted to send a message of their dissatisfaction with Biden’s policy towards Israel. We don’t know how many Jews took that advice in the primaries, but the Biden team is taking the Jewish vote for granted because Jews are reliable Democratic voters. They believe Jews should appreciate Biden’s “ironclad” commitment to Israel during the war.
The American Jewish Committee poll taken before the debate found that only 61% of Jews plan to vote for Biden. That would be eight points below Obama’s 2012 total and seven less than Biden received in 2020. It would be the lowest percentage since Walter Mondale’s 57% in 1984 (a Jewish Electoral Institute poll has Biden doing better, receiving 67%, which would be worse than any Democrat since Dukakis in 1988).
It’s hard to imagine Biden attracting more Jewish votes after his debate performance. Their defection alone could sink his candidacy. Whether any other candidate would have more support is debatable, but they will likely do better.
Biden’s interview with George Stephanopoulos was supposed to reassure voters, but it was unlikely to do so as he again sputtered. When he said, “If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race,” I was reminded of actor and Republican political activist Charlton Heston at a National Rifle Association (he served as a five-term president) convention when he said, “I’ll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.”
I hope a journalist follows up with Biden and asks if he thinks God is talking to him, and that he is making decisions for the country based on what he hears or if Biden meant he’ll only drop out if the Almighty strikes him down.
Maybe Jill should whisper in his ear while he’s sleeping, “Joe, this is God. I’d like you to withdraw from the race.”
The post Biden, the Debate and Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Change in the Middle East? Don’t Hold Your Breath
One year after Hamas’ October 7 massacre, I noticed a cluster of articles in various sources referring to strategic realignments among some of the players in the Middle East.
For example, Zvika Klein interprets the muted responses from Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia to Israel’s latest bombing of military sites in Iran as indicating that, while each country continues to give lip service to the Palestinian cause, their primary attention has shifted to restraining Iran.
Maria Abi-Habib and Ismaeel Naar come to the opposite conclusion. Noting what appears to be a possible rapprochement between Iran and rival Saudi Arabia, they see a Middle East shift in which Saudi Arabia’s interest in a normalization deal has passed, and Israel’s profile as a regional player is diminished.
An article by Aida Chávez reports that after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, US Congressional leaders such as Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) discussed wide-ranging Middle East scenarios, including US guarantees of Saudi security along with Saudi and Gulf State help in reconstruction and governance of Gaza.
Meanwhile, Neville Berman reminds us of the success of the Marshall Plan in rebuilding Europe after World War II, suggesting something similar for Gaza — but only after the release of the Israeli hostages and after the people of Gaza reject Hamas and the “pyromaniacal aims of Iran.”
Finally, Fahad Almasri, President of the National Salvation Front in Syria, a group opposed to the Assad government, believes that Israel’s battles with Hezbollah and Iran have won the hearts of a majority of the Lebanese and Syrian people. Almasri argues that an Arab version of NATO, led by Saudi Arabia, would reduce foreign involvement in the area (especially Iran’s) and support peaceful relations with Israel.
While these proposals may be well intentioned, I am skeptical. We have seen this movie before. Previous starring roles, for example, involved Egypt under Nasser and Syria. Who remembers the late United Arab Republic?
In 1958, when John F. Kennedy was a senator, the world was dealing with the aftermath of the Suez Crisis. America was not Israel’s close ally. In fact, the US continued to enforce an embargo on arms sales to Israel. That year Kennedy wrote the following:
Even by the coldest calculations, the removal of Israel would not alter the basic crisis in the area. For, if there is any lesson which the melancholy events of the last two years and more taught us, it is that, though Arab states are generally united in opposition to Israel, their political unities do not rise above this negative position. The basic rivalries within the Arab world, the quarrels over boundaries, the tensions involved in lifting their economies from stagnation, the cross pressures of nationalism — all of these factors would still be there, even if there were no Israel.
What was true 66 years ago is still true today.
The prominent actors in the region are the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia, all authoritarian regimes that rank far down on The Economist’s democracy index. Their influence is due to oil and gas revenues. Only 12 percent of the three million people living in Qatar, for example, are Qataris. (The same percentage applies to the UAE.) The vast majority are support workers from abroad. Qatar has been compared to a good airport terminal: pleasantly air-conditioned, lots of shopping, a wide selection of food, and people from around the world.
The Abraham Accords may yet lead to peace between Israel and all her neighbors, and adding Saudi Arabia to the Accords is laudable, but don’t get your hopes up.
Jacob Sivak, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, is a retired professor, University of Waterloo.
The post Change in the Middle East? Don’t Hold Your Breath first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
NYT’s ‘65 Doctors’ Essay Crumbles as Evidence of Embellished Testimony Mounts
The New York Times recently defended its guest essay, in which 65 medical professionals recounted their experiences working in Gaza.
The essay included graphic accounts suggesting that the IDF deliberately targets civilians, including women and children. It also featured X-ray images that were later scrutinized by medical experts for inconsistencies, casting doubt on their authenticity.
Six days after publication, amid growing questions about the credibility of these accounts and the evidence provided, The New York Times issued a statement asserting that the essay had been “rigorously edited” and standing by the contributors’ credentials. The statement further insisted, “Any implication that its images are fabricated is simply false.”
Despite this defense, more evidence soon surfaced, challenging the essay’s claims.
In The Jurist, two physicians and medical ethicists described allegations that Israeli forces intentionally targeted children’s heads in Gaza as “highly implausible,” citing ballistic evidence, medical imaging analysis, and the realities of combat. They emphasized the ethical imperative for healthcare workers to provide impartial, fact-based accounts in conflict zones.
In addition to concerns about the X-rays, HonestReporting can now reveal inconsistencies in at least one of the accounts given by a doctor featured in the essay.
Dr. Khawaja Ikram, an orthopedic surgeon from Dallas, Texas, describes treating two children, aged three and five, who he alleges were shot in the head by an Israeli sniper as they returned with their father to survey their home in Khan Younis:
However, this is not the first time Ikram has spoken to a media outlet about his experience in Gaza.
In a February interview with NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, more than six months before the New York Times essay, Ikram recounted a strikingly similar story — though with several key differences.
He described treating a man who arrived at the hospital carrying his five-year-old daughter, claiming she had sustained a “single bullet wound to the head.” According to Ikram, the father said, “We thought the troops were pulling back, so we went to check on our home. There were snipers waiting. My five-year-old daughter was shot. She’s my only daughter, please save her.”
The narrative is nearly identical to the one Ikram later gave to The New York Times, but in his earlier account, no mention was made of the additional three-year-old child who was allegedly shot. If his later testimony is accurate, we must ask why this significant detail was omitted in the earlier interview.
Despite The New York Times’ vigorous defense of the essay, mounting evidence continues to discredit both the accounts and the purported evidence within the piece.
It raises serious questions about how thoroughly the Times vetted the doctors involved. Did they even check if these individuals had shared their stories before, and whether there were discrepancies in the details?
As the credibility of the 65 doctors’ essay unravels, The New York Times cannot continue to ignore the cracks.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post NYT’s ‘65 Doctors’ Essay Crumbles as Evidence of Embellished Testimony Mounts first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Actress Ellen Barkin Calls for Nazi Persecution of MSG Owners, Death of Trump Supporters After New York Rally
Actress Ellen Barkin said on Sunday she wants the owners of Madison Square Garden (MSG) to face the same persecution Jews experienced from the Nazis during the Holocaust because the famous New York City venue held a rally for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during which several racist insults were made.
The “Ocean’s Thirteen” actress, whose parents are Russian Jews, also called Trump a “Nazi” and called for the death of those who attended what she called the “Nazi rally” in several posts on X, formerly know as Twitter.
“Madison Square Garden is owned by James Dolan,” Barkin, 70, wrote. “A major supporter of Nazi trump. His accomplice is one Irving Azoff. A Jew. A shonda for the goyim if ever one lived. May they suffer the pain of all who suffered at the hands of the Nazi regime.” Shonda means disgrace in Yiddish while goyim means non-Jews.
In separate posts on X, the former “Animal Kingdom” star advocated for a boycott of MSG. “Justice would be served if athletes and artists refused to play the Garden,” she wrote.
The actress compared Trump’s Sunday night event to a Nazi rally held in MSG in 1939 and also wrote, “I don’t wish death on anyone … except pedophiles and Nazis. The gangs all here at MSG.”
“I’m thinking biblical,” she added. “May the good earth beneath MSG open its fiery jaws and hurl them all straight into the burning cauldron of the 9 circles. Going down maggots?”
Dolan is the executive chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. (MSG Entertainment). In 2018, MSG and Azoff, a music industry tycoon, signed a joint agreement that led to the formation of The Azoff Company, which helps run the media and music venue in New York City. MSG has previously hosted both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention. US President Joe Biden held an event in March at Radio City Music Hall, which is owned by the Dolan family.
Dolan, who is reportedly a registered Democrat, is a longtime friend of Trump’s and got married at the latter’s Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida. During his speech at the rally on Sunday, Trump thanked Dolan, saying: “He’s been incredible. He’s been just incredible. The job they’ve done. The job they’ve done. Thank you.”
During the Trump rally in MSG on Sunday, stand-up comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made racist and offensive comments about Latinos, Jews, and Black people, just a little over a week away from the US presidential election. Hinchcliffe, who hosts the podcast Kill Tony, joked about a Black person in the audience, saying he had “carved watermelons” with the audience member instead of pumpkins for Halloween.
He additionally said during the rally: “I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.” That comment sparked backlash from several Puerto Ricans in the entertainment industry, including singers Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Ricky Martin and Bad Bunny, and “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin.
Also while on stage, he said of Latinos: “[They] love making babies. They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country.”
Trump campaign adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement reported by The Hill that Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico “does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.” An MSG Entertainment spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday: “As a business we are neutral in political matters. We rent to either side. We don’t censor artists, performers, or speakers.”
Hinchcliffe took to social media to defend his joke about Puerto Rico. He responded to a clip on X of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) criticizing his remark, and wrote that his joke was “taken out of context to make it seem racist.”
“These people have no sense of humor,” he said. “I love Puerto Rico and vacation there. I made fun of everyone … watch the whole set. I’m a comedian Tim … might be time to change your tampon.”
The post Actress Ellen Barkin Calls for Nazi Persecution of MSG Owners, Death of Trump Supporters After New York Rally first appeared on Algemeiner.com.