Hush Hush, Voices Carry

Where are all those voices from the right wing, predominately modern Orthodox Jews condemning Palin, an evangelical Protestant, and her religion and church's views on Jewish Conversion, their support for Jews for Jesus and the other Messianic Ministries?

It's awful quiet out there for such a vocal group of constituents who will easily organize and jump on anything that at all seems to be Anti-Semitic, Anti-Israel, or Anti-Orthodox religious (because for the rest of us Jews who are Conservative, Reform, or Reconstructionist - we are really self-hating Jews whose only connection to Judaism is lox and bagels.)

But as you can read here, if the candidate falls within their party line and conservative philosophies, then, gee, everyone is getting all upset over nothing.

"Much attention has been focused on Palin's religious views since McCain made her his surprise pick as running mate, a selection the campaign hoped would shore up his standing among social conservatives. But while many religious Republicans have embraced Palin, some liberal commentators are suggesting that her hard-line position on abortion, her evangelical roots and lack of record on Israel may turn off Jewish voters who otherwise might be open to McCain's more moderate image and hawkish foreign policy stance.

The Anti-Defamation League, which has been deeply critical of Jews for Jesus and was among the organizations calling for Democratic nominee Barack Obama to distance himself from his controversial pastor during the primaries, said it had no problem with Palin's membership in a church that supported efforts to convert Jews.

The ADL’s national director, Abraham Foxman, told JTA that Protestant evangelizing to Jews was entirely different from Catholics praying for Jewish conversion, which the ADL has sharply criticized. “They did not have the Inquisition. They did not go on a Crusade. They did not kill Jews for 2,000 years,”

Foxman said. “They have a belief; they're entitled to their belief.”

Besides, he said, there is no evidence that Palin shares Brickner’s views.“If you could tell me that she approves of this guy, she invited him, I’m not aware of any of that,” Foxman said. “The fact that she belongs to a church that believes in it, I don’t have a problem.”

The ADL has accused Jews for Jesus of “aggressive proselytizing with a deceptive message.”

This is a very dangerous comment, especially for the ADL to be making. Has anyone stopped to think how much creditability has just been lost over this blatantly politically partisan rubbish that shot forth from Foxman's mouth? What type of message does this send?

At least the ADL condemned Anne Coutler during her 2007 interview on Donny Deutsch's CNBC show "The Big Idea".

During her interview, Danny asked her if she could have her way, what would the US look like?

She remarked, "It would look like New York City during the Republican National Convention. In fact, that's what I think heaven is going to look like. Happy, joyful Republicans in the greatest city in the world." She continued to say "Well, OK, take the Republican National Convention. People were happy. They're Christian. They're tolerant. They defend America, they -

DEUTSCH: Christian - so we should be Christian? It would be better if we were all Christian?

COULTER: Yes.

DEUTSCH: We should all be Christian?

COULTER: Yes. Would you like to come to church with me, Donny?

DEUTSCH: So I should not be a Jew, I should be a Christian, and this would be a better place?

COULTER: Well, you could be a practicing Jew, but you're not.

DEUTSCH: I actually am. That's not true. I really am. But – so we would be better if we were - if people – if there were no Jews, no Buddhists –

COULTER: Whenever I'm harangued by –

DEUTSCH: – in this country? You can't believe that.

COULTER: – you know, liberals on diversity –

COULTER: - we think - we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.

DEUTSCH: Wow, you didn't really say that, did you?

COULTER: Yes. That is what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament, but ours is more like Federal Express. You have to obey laws. We know we're all sinners -
...
DEUTSCH: Ann Coulter, author of "If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans," and if Ann Coulter had any brains, she would not say Jews need to be perfected. I'm offended by that personally. And we'll have more "Big Idea" when we come back.

DEUTSCH: Welcome back to "The Big Idea." During the break, Ann said she wanted to explain her last comment. So I'm going to give her a chance. So you don't think that was offensive?

COULTER: No. I'm sorry. It is not intended to be. I don't think you should take it that way, but that is what Christians consider themselves: perfected Jews.

We believe the Old Testament. As you know from the Old Testament, God was constantly getting fed up with humans for not being able to, you know, live up to all the laws.

What Christians believe - this is just a statement of what the New Testament is - is that that's why Christ came and died for our sins. Christians believe the Old Testament. You don't believe our testament.

The Anti-Defamation League:

"Ann Coulter may be a political pundit but she clearly knows very little about religious theology and interfaith issues," the ADL said in a statement. "Coulter's remarks are outrageous, offensive and a throwback to the centuries-old teaching of contempt for Jews and Judaism.

The notion that Jews are religiously inferior or imperfect because they do not accept Christian beliefs was the basis for 2,000 years of church-based anti-Semitism. While she is entitled to her beliefs, using mainstream media to espouse the idea that Judaism needs to be replaced with Christianity and that each individual Jew is somehow deficient and needs to be 'perfected,' is rank Christian supersessionism and has been rejected by the Catholic Church and the vast majority of mainstream Christian denominations."

Hey ADL - what is that about the Catholic Church? They don't believe what about Judaism?

Interestingly enough, Dennis Prager, a conservative talk show host, commented that although, as a practicing Jew, he obviously did not agree with Coulter's comments, they were not anti-semitic. He noted that: "There is nothing in what Ann Coulter said to a Jewish interviewer on CNBC that indicates she hates Jews or wishes them ill, or does damage to the Jewish people or the Jewish state. And if none of those criteria is present, how can someone be labeled anti-Semitic?"

Hmm, he may have a point. But what about those Jews for Jesus?

And just four years earlier in 2003, The Jewish World Review published her article, The Party Ideas about Democrats and their ways of trying to get a vote. Somehow, in her rant, she throws in about Democrats and Jews.

"In addition to having a number of family deaths among them, the Democrats' other big idea — too nuanced for a bumper sticker — is that many of them have Jewish ancestry. There's Joe Lieberman: Always Jewish. Wesley Clark: Found Out His Father Was Jewish in College. John Kerry: Jewish Since He Began Presidential Fund-Raising. Howard Dean: Married to a Jew. Al Sharpton: Circumcised. Even Hillary Clinton claimed to have unearthed some evidence that she was a Jew — along with the long lost evidence that she was a Yankees fan. And that, boys and girls, is how the Jews survived thousands of years of persecution: by being susceptible to pandering. "

Quite frankly, I don't understand the connection and why it was even brought up, other than her just rambling on. How is anything she is saying here related to the Jews, well, let me rephrase that ... Democratic Jews, i.e., LIBERAL Jews? I can definitely see why Jews (Democratic Jews) would be offended and call her anti-Semite.

However, not everyone agrees. In this article by Ben Shapiro , an orthodox Jew, he's defending her. Here is another example of defending an anti-semantic rant by turning it around and finding that what she says does indeed have merit. Why is this writer defending her and allowing this wolf to step inside sheep's clothing? Yes, one may be able to extract some opinionated truth from what anyone says, but does that change the persons core beliefs and character? No. Shapiro is a conservative and is choosing to ignore Coulter's anti-Semitic rant, simply because he dislikes liberals.

I actually don't disagree with some of his message but to go so far to limit it to just Democratic Jews is ignorant and arrogant. Can he, or any other person who holds his beliefs, truly claim that Republican and Right-Wing Jews, don't do the same thing, so do a lot of other ethnic groups, regardless of their party, regardless of their piety or cultural bonds? And if we are talking about voting base on ethnicity or religion, what about voting for Catholics, or Mormons or wait a minute, an Evangelical? Do they not do the same thing? Why stop at just the Jews?

Fast forward to recent events. Obviously, McCain and the Republican camp hold the opinion that women also do the same thing, thus McCain's gender choice for VP.

But boy are they underestimating women! Unlike ethnic groups, most women aren't going to vote base on the gender of the candidate. We are not stupid and most of us, don't vote for such a simple reason. We may vote for purely shallow qualifications such as how popular they are, but so do men. They may vote because of one or two issues that push their buttons or motivate them, but so do men. They are not voting for McCain because he choose a woman for his running mate. They are not choosing McCain because they think McCain supports women in higher office. For if he did, he would have chosen a female candidate that is an intelligent, well-established, well-respected, and rich in experience and policies such as Condoleezza Rice, Kay Bailey Hutchison and many more other qualified female Republicans.

But he didn't. And how sad it is that despite McCain's running mate's lack of experience, lack of political knowledge, the fact that she governs in an unprofessional, biased and corrupt manner (resembling more of a high school student government based on popularity and loyalty than an actual grown-up State government), and who allows her church and religious beliefs to dominate despite our founding fathers separation of Church and State - despite all of the is, Right-wing religious and non-religious Jews, will defend and support her 100%.





Just for the record, I am not anti-Israel, or anti-orthodox or religious, and definitely not a self-hating Jew. I am upset, well more like disgusted that so many will not step up and speak against a person who obviously is not qualified to serve as a VP, nevermind, the President AND is dangerous to Jews, Jewish Continuity, and Jewish Laws (her abortion stance - pro-life 100% without exceptions.) They are keeping their voices purposely quiet and to me, foregoing their strong Jewish convictions and common sense, for spite and for political allegience. Forget about Obama. Don't vote for him. But don't vote for the McCain Palin ticket because they are Republicans or Conservative. Choose one of the other candidates, if voting in the election is a must.