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May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review March 10, 2004 / 17 Adar, 5764

Tap dancing to Washington

By Jonathan Tobin


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Instead of partisan spin, supporters of both candidates should hold their men accountable


http://www.jewishworldreview.com | In the run up to the 1996 presidential election, former Sen. Bob Dole, then the Senate's Republican majority leader, discovered Israel on his way to the GOP's presidential nomination.


Though he had not been known as an ardent advocate for the Jewish state, Dole went all out to make new friends before his eventual defeat at the hands of Bill Clinton. The monument to this effort is the legislation he sponsored that mandated that the United States move its embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Still on the books — though routinely flouted by both Clinton and his successor, George W. Bush — Dole's Jerusalem bill bears witness to the lengths to which presidential wannabes will go to get Jewish money and votes. Cynics can point to this transparent attempt to pander to pro-Israel sentiment as proof of how pointless the process can be. And yet who can deny that the ritual of appealing to the pro-Israel sentiments of voters (both Jewish and non-Jewish) has a profound affect on America's Middle East policy? The mere act of making such a promise, even one as meaningless as Dole's, makes it less likely that Israel's foes will miscalculate and think they can drive a wedge between Israel and America.


All of which brings us to an examination of the latest round of pandering: this time the efforts of Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who has sewn up his party's presidential nomination.

CHANGING HIS MIND
Kerry is more familiar with Jewish voters than Dole. He also has a coterie of influential Jewish supporters and financial backers, in addition to a lengthy record of support for Israel. Yet even Kerry found himself tap dancing for a group of Jewish leaders last week in the days before the New York primary, trying to explain away a couple of damaging statements that opponents have been circulating to undermine his candidacy.


One revolved around a Kerry speech to an Arab-American group last fall, in which he said he opposed the security fence that Israel is building to protect its citizens against Palestinian terrorists, calling it a "barrier to peace."


Kerry stepped in it again in December when during the course of a foreign-policy address, he blasted the Bush administration's unwillingness to intervene more forcefully in the Middle East peace process, and said that, if elected, he would send a special envoy to the region. He went on to mention former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker as people he might consider for the role, nominees that most Jews would consider a bipartisan short list of those most hostile to the interests of the Jewish nation.


But when confronted on these points in New York, Kerry backpedaled furiously. Demonstrating his well-known ability to come down on both sides of all issues (what some call his "flexibility"), the candidate claimed to be a big supporter of the fence. He also promised that his Mideast envoy would certainly be someone far more acceptable to Israel than either Carter or Baker. Previous statements were, Kerry's spinmasters said, just a misunderstanding.


Maybe so, but Kerry can expect that both flip-flops will be thrown in his face by Bush supporters all the way to November. Others will cite a passage in Kerry's 1997 book on foreign policy, The New War, in which he wrote that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was a "role model" for other terrorists because of his "transformation from outlaw to statesman." Of course, Kerry says he doesn't believe that any more either.

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All the same, it isn't likely this issue will have much of an impact on the Jewish vote this year. Most Jews remain partisan Democrats, and Israel notw ithstanding, share their fellow party members' deep antipathy to the president. But even a small gain in the percentage of Jewish votes for Bush over the 18 percent he received in 2000 would make a crucial difference in battleground states such as Florida.


So you can expect Republicans to emphasize Bush's support for Israel and the war on terrorism for Jewish voters. In reply, Democrats will assert that Kerry has a longer history of support for Jewish causes than Bush. They will also keep wavering voters in line by linking Bush to conservative Christians, who scare liberal Jews to death on domestic issues, even if most Evangelicals are stronger supporters of Israel than some Jews.

SOME REAL DIFFERENCES
But the problem with the gotcha game that both sides play is that it leaves little time to discuss the real differences between a possible Kerry presidency and that of the Bush administration.


In the last four years, Bush's strong support of Israel and implacable criticism of Arafat have resonated with backers of Israel. So, too, has his insistence that democracy in the Arab world be a precondition for peace — a position that appalled Europeans and the American foreign-policy establishment. In contrast, Kerry is a true believer in multilateral diplomacy. And while Bush has shown himself to be more comfortable with Ariel Sharon and his right-of-center Israeli government than any previous American president, Kerry enjoys the company of Israelis like Geneva accord mastermind Yossi Beilin. On the Middle East, a Kerry presidency is almost certain to feel like a continuation of the Clinton administration.


On the other hand, Kerry would come in to office as a strong critic of the Saudis, the funders of Islamic terror consistently appeased by Bush. And, despite all the applause Bush has gotten for his snubs of Arafat and for the ouster of Saddam Hussein, some right-wing Jews, such as Zionist Organization of America head Morton Klein, damn him all the same for his support for a Palestinian state.


But instead of spending the next eight months bashing their opponents, Jewish Democrats and Republicans would do us all a favor if they spent some of this time pushing their own standard-bearers to clarify their positions.


Democrats should keep Kerry's feet to the fire on Israel, and push him to draw appropriate conclusions from the failure of Oslo and Clinton's policies in the region.


Republicans need to make it clear to the president that he, too, doesn't have a blank check. For one thing, Bush needs to stop backing away from his demand that Palestinians oust Arafat.


What we need during this campaign is more accountability from both candidates on Middle East policy. What we're likely to get is just more spin and the same old partisanship.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. Let him know what you think by clicking here. In June, Mr. Tobin won first places honors in the American Jewish Press Association's Louis Rapaport Award for Excellence in Commentary as well as the Philadelphia Press Association's Media Award for top weekly columnist. Both competitions were for articles written in the year 2002.

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© 2004, Jonathan Tobin