Yesterday, several major news outlets, including The New York Times, published shocking stories on Marc Cenedella, the guy who’s willing to spend $15 million of his own money to do it.

As CEO of his company, Cenedella had a personal blog where he posted obscene, offensive and sexist material that has to be seen to be believed:

A main newspaper reports that Cenedella said he’s “starting to cotton to” the idea of polygamy, and describes “Sexy vs. Skanky” girls.

Another article refers to one post entitled “Dating Advice for Girly Girls.”

And Another yet describes Cenedella’s advice to women on how to please their man. (Warning: This is one of the more explicit posts.)

All this coming from a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate?

This kind of garbage isn’t suitable for any office, let alone one of the highest offices in the land. This lack of judgment from a CEO that wants to go from NSFW (not safe for work) blogging to the U.S. Senate is shocking.

Many have expressed their concern about Cenedella’s misogynistic rhetoric. Once you take a look for yourself, I’m sure you’ll agree that there’s no place for his sexist attitudes in America today, let alone in a race for the U.S. Senate.

Second Temple Era Seal Unveiled
by Gavriel Queenann

The Israel Antiquities Authority held a special press conference in Jerusalem’s City of David on Sunday to unveil a rare coin from the Second Temple era.

The cartouche – or seal – never seen by the public before, is the size of the modern New Israeli Shekel coin and bears the Aramaic inscriptions “it is pure” and a two-letter abbreviation for the name of God.

It was discovered near the Robinson’s Arch at the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount. Archeologists say the soil layer above the Herodian road where the seal was found was dated to the first century BCE.

Archaeologist Eli Shukron of the Antiquities Authority, and Professor Ronny Reich of Haifa University, who oversaw the excavation, explained to reporters the significance of the coin.

“This is the first time an object of this kind has been found. It is direct archaeological evidence of Jewish activity on the Temple Mount during the Second Temple era,” they said.

“Products being brought to the temple had to be stamped pure – which is what this seal was used for,” they added.

Such seals are mentioned in the Mishna and discussed in the Talmud – but the cartouche unveiled today does not match any of the four inscriptions included in extant texts.

“What we know is brought down from the surviving literature,” the archeologists said. “Here archeology has brought us something new.”

Minister of Culture Limor Livnat and Minister of Education Gideon Saar joined dozens of students for the unveiling.

Saar said, “The seal shows the deep connection of Israel to the City of David. It is important excavations like these that demonstrate our bond to Jerusalem. Everything uncovered here strengthens us.”

In addition to the seal other artifacts were discovered dating to Second Temple period, and some to the days of the Hasmoneans – such as oil lamps, cooking pots made of clay, a jug containing oils and perfumes, as well as coins of the Hasmonean kings such as Alexander Jannaeus and John Hyrcanus.

AND TODAY MARKING CHANUKAH IN THE HILLS SURROUNDING JERUSALEM.

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Egyptian Salafist Abd Al-Mun’im Al-Shahhat Extols Bin Laden and Says: The U.S. Practices Piracy and Chicago-Gang-Like Killings, While Demanding that We Remove the Word ‘Jihad’ from Our Dictionaries
Egyptian Journalist Diaa Rashwan: 9/11 ‘Could Not Possibly Have Been Carried Out by Al-Qaeda Alone’
Egyptian Salafist Abd Al-Mun’im Al-Shahhat: The Literature of Naguib Mahfouz Deals with Drug Dens and Whorehouses and Spreads Depravity
Egyptian Presidential Candidate Tawfiq Okasha: I Do Not Recognize Sudan, It Should Be Annexed to Egypt

Special Dispatch No. 4358–Egypt/Jihad and Terrorism Studies Project/U.S. & the Arab and Muslim World

Egyptian Salafist Abd Al-Mun’im Al-Shahhat Extols Bin Laden and Says: The U.S. Practices Piracy and Chicago-Gang-Like Killings, While Demanding that We Remove the Word ‘Jihad’ from Our Dictionaries

Following are excerpts from a sermon delivered by Egyptian Salafist Abd Al-Mun’im Al-Shahhat, which was posted on the Internet on May 6, 2011. Al-Shahhat, who ran for parliament on the Al-Nour Party ticket – the political party affiliated with the Al-Dawa Al-Salafiyya movement – gained a majority in the initial round of elections, but lost his seat to the Muslim Brotherhood candidate in the run-offs.

To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3232.htm.

Abd Al-Mun’im Al-Shahhat: “There is no doubt that Osama bin Laden will remain a permanent figure in modern history. History will continue to remember that the man was born into the lap of luxury – perhaps even more luxurious than the White house itself – but despite this, he responded to the call of Jihad.”

To read the full report, visit http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5911.htm.

Special Dispatch No. 4357–Egypt/9-11 Documentation Project/Conspiracy Theories/Al-Qaeda

Egyptian Journalist Diaa Rashwan: 9/11 ‘Could Not Possibly Have Been Carried Out by Al-Qaeda Alone’

Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian journalist Diaa Rashwan, which aired on Al-Hayat TV on May 8, 2011.

To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3220.htm.

To view reports from the MEMRI 9/11 Documentation Project, visit http://www.memri.org/subject/en/96.htm.

Interviewer: “I have a difficult question for you.”

Diaa Rashwan: “Go ahead.”

Interviewer: “Do you believe that what Osama bin Laden did served the interests of the Arabs, or harmed them? Did he serve Islam, or did he serve the Americans – their ideology, their expansion, and their exploitation of many things…

“Incidentally, I doubt that [Al-Qaeda] carried out the Twin Tower operation. Bin Laden did not appear in a single tape admitting that they carried it out. He said: ‘We praise this operation, but we did not carry it out.’ That was his first statement, right?”

To read the full report, visit http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5910.htm.

MEMRI TV Clip No. 3224

Egyptian Salafist Abd Al-Mun’im Al-Shahhat: The Literature of Naguib Mahfouz Deals with Drug Dens and Whorehouses and Spreads Depravity

To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3224.htm.

MEMRI TV Clip No. 3228

Egyptian Presidential Candidate Tawfiq Okasha: I Do Not Recognize Sudan, It Should Be Annexed to Egypt

To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3228.htm.

THE JORDANIAN FREEDOM PARTY ON THEIR TV CHANNEL DECLARES THEIR RAISON D’ETRE:

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WELL, IT IS CURTAIN TIME FOR THE HASHEMITE CROWN IN TRANSJORDAN (JORDAN) 90 YEARS AFTER THE BRITISH CROWNED THEM TO RULE THE PROTECTORATE THEY CREATED FOR THE ARABS OF THE REGION LATER CALLING THEMSELVES PALESTINIANS AS NEWT DARED TO CORRECTLY CALL THIS SPADE A SPADE!

It was a delightful evening full of surprises and discoveries thanks to Rabbi Steve and the active Participants and this is just the tip of the Iceberg.

Thanks to all.

MEMRI COLLECTED THESE WORDS OF WISDOM AND GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE PREVALENCE, CURE AND ORIGINS OF AIDS, THERE ARE REFERENCES FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION!

This blog is not about spreading hatred or fear but about sharing facts and providing background information, these are voices reflecting populist understanding!

today is World AIDS Day, aimed at increasing awareness of the disease, remembering those who have died of it, and marking the progress made in the fight against it.

The following are reports from the MEMRI Special Dispatch Series and TV Project related to AIDS and conspiracy theories involving AIDS in the Middle East.

Syria

MEMRI TV Clip No. 846 – Syrian Deputy Minister of Religious Endowments Muhammad Abd Al-Sattar Al-Sayyid: AIDS Patients Should Be Stoned Before They Spread Their Disease

To view this clip visit, http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/846.htm.

Special Dispatch No. 1094 – Syrian Gov’t Daily Suggests Israel Created, Spread Avian Flu Virus
On January 31, 2006, the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra published a column by Abd Al-Rahman Ghunaym suggesting that Israel created the avian flu virus in order to damage “genes carried only by Arabs.” The writer further speculates that Israel may have planted the virus in East Asia in order to mislead the world, and that this is why the disease first appeared in that remote region. Another possibility given is that the virus was created to attack “the yellow race – especially in China and Vietnam” which are “rising powers” threatening “American hegemony over the world.”
To view the full report, visit http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1611.htm.

Iran

MEMRI TV Clip No. 1251 – Iranian Nuclear Chief Mohammad Sa’idi Explains Why Iran Produces Heavy Water: Drinking It Helps Fight Cancer and AIDS

To view this clip visit, http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1251.htm.

MEMRI TV Clip No. 993 – Iranian Council for National Security Spokesman Hosein Entezami: We Have Found a Cure for AIDS

To view this clip visit, http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/993.htm.

Palestinians

MEMRI TV Clip No. 1889 – Hamas TV Scientist Dr. Ahmad Al-Muzain: Bayer Invented Its Cure for AIDS on the Basis of a Hadith by Prophet Muhammad About the Wings of Flies

To view this clip visit, http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1889.htm.

MEMRI TV Clip No. 2750 – Hizbullah MP Ismail Sukariyya Accuses Israel of Sending Egypt “Agricultural Carcinogenic Medicine” and “AIDS Girls”

To view this clip visit, http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2750.htm.

MEMRI TV Clip No. 669 – Palestinian Friday Sermon by Sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiris: Muslims Will Rule America and Britain; Jews Are a Virus Resembling AIDS

To view this clip visit, http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/669.htm.

Egypt

Special Dispatch No. 322 – Egyptian Government-Sponsored Scientific Journal On American and Israeli Bio-Warfare and Jews Spreading AIDS to Asia and Africa
Following the post-9/11 anthrax scare in the U.S., the November 2001 issue of the Egyptian science magazine Al-’Ilm featured an article reviewing the history of biological and chemical warfare throughout the world. Al-’Ilm, put out by the publishers of the government-sponsored daily Al-Gumhuriya, shares the daily’s editor-in-chief as well – Samir Ragab. Al-’Ilm’s executive board is chaired by Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education and the State for Scientific Research, Mufid Shihab.
To view the full report, visit http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/578.htm.

MEMRI TV Clip No. 1865 – Egyptian Cleric Hazem Abu Ismail in Favor of Chopping Off Hands of Thieves; In Countries Where Promiscuity Prevails… You’ve Seen How AIDS Has Spread

To view this clip visit, http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1865.htm.

Yemen

MEMRI TV Clip No. 1357 – Yemenite Sheik Abd Al-Majid Al-Zindani Talks about His “Cure” for AIDS and Says He Demands Money, Not Removal from U.S. Terror List, in Return for the Cure

To view this clip visit, http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1357.htm.

Libya

Special Dispatch No. 214 – Qadhafi: The CIA and the Israeli Mossad Injected AIDS Into Libyan Children
The Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram, echoed accusations that Libyan leader Mu’ammar Al-Qadhafi made against the U.S. and Israel: “Our brother, the Colonel Mu’ammar Al-Qadhafi, the leader of the Libyan revolution, revealed that two years ago Libyan children in the city of Benghazi suffered from the most abominable crime in the history of mankind, when foreign nurses injected them with the AIDS virus, while pretending to immunize them.”
To view the full report, visit http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/450.htm.

Lebanon

MEMRI TV Clip No. 1165 – ‘New TV’ Host Maria Ma’louf and Executive Intelligence Review’s Uwe Friesecke Discuss AIDS, SARS, Mad Cow Disease, and Avian Flu in the Context of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt

To view this clip visit, http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1165.htm.

Pakistan

Special Dispatch No. 2768 – Article in Urdu-Language Women’s Magazine of Pakistan-Based Jihadist Group, Titled ‘Polio: Disease or Dangerous Jewish Conspiracy?’ States: ‘The Jews, Who Dream of Ruling the World, Have Invented… Vaccines, Drugs, and Injections… to Weaken Muslims’
An article published by an Urdu-language magazine for women in Pakistan has called the international polio eradication campaign a Jewish conspiracy being furthered by various international organizations.

The article, by Mohammad Kamran Talib, is titled “Polio: Disease or Dangerous Jewish Conspiracy?” It was published in the Urdu-language monthly magazine Mahnama Banat-e-’Aisha (“Daughters of ‘Aisha” – ‘Aisha was one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad). Mahnama Banat-e-’Aisha is a sister publication of Haftroza Al-Qalam, an Urdu-language weekly loyal to Jaish-e-Muhammad, an Al-Qaeda-linked militant organization based in the Pakistani province of Punjab.

The article first appeared in June 2006 an Urdu-language magazine called Mahnama Rahnuma-e-Sihat, and was reproduced in the October 2009 issue of Mahnama Banat-e-’Aisha.
To view the full report, visit http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3928.htm.

Bahrain

MEMRI TV Clip No. 580 – Bahraini Expert Widad Lutah: AIDS in Africa Is the Result of Too Much Anal Sex

To view this clip visit, http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/580.htm.

Spread the word that spending $1 billion to cut Social Security is PURE EVIL

Take Action

Spread the word that spending $1 billion to cut Social Security is PURE EVIL

Our friends at the Brave New Foundation are producing a series of videos highlighting the worst of the 1%–those who are using their wealth to exploit the 99%.

We’d like your help in trying to nominate Pete Peterson, who is spending more than $1 billion on his decades-long campaign against Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.

William Greider, the noted journalist and author, wrote the seminal Peterson expose in the Nation in February 2009:

Peter Peterson, a Republican financier who made a fortune doing corporate takeover deals at Wall Street’s Blackstone Group, is the Daddy Warbucks of the “fiscal responsibility” crusade. He has campaigned for decades against the dangers that old folks pose to the Republic. Now 82 and retired, Peterson claims he will spend nearly one-third of his $2.8 billion in wealth–he ranks 147 on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans–alerting the public to this threat (leave aside the fact that old people have already paid for their retirement or that Social Security’s modest benefits are equivalent to minimum-wage income). The major media treat him adoringly. Most reporters are too lazy (or dim) to check out the facts for themselves, so they simply repeat what Peterson tells them about Social Security.

NOTE THE EXTENT OF LIES BEING SPREAD –

It is a frightful message. Peterson describes a “$53 trillion hole” in America’s fiscal condition–but the claim assumes numerous artful fallacies. His most blatant distortion is lumping Social Security, which is self-funded and sound, with other entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid. Those programs do face financial crisis–not because the elderly and poor are greedily gaming the system but because the medical-industrial complex has the profit incentive to drive healthcare costs higher and higher. Healthcare reform can solve the financing problem only if it imposes cost controls on private players like the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.>
Peterson is financing a media blitz. His tendentious documentary–I.O.U.S.A.–opened in 400 theaters and was broadcast on CNN with appropriate solemnity. Last September Peterson bought two full pages in the New York Times to urge the next president to create a “bipartisan fiscal responsibility commission” once he was in office (Peterson was for John McCain). This group of so-called experts would be authorized to design the reforms for Congress to enact. But Peterson does not want Congress to have a full, freewheeling debate on the particulars. The reform package, he suggests, should be submitted to a single “up-or-down vote by Congress, as is done with military base closings.” That’s one of the gimmicks intended to give politicians cover and protect them from their constituents. It is profoundly antidemocratic. But that’s the idea–save the government from the unruly passions of citizens. Peterson’s proposal also resembles the notorious fast-track provision, which for years enabled presidents to steamroll Congress on trade agreements, no amendments allowed. Peterson’s proposal would essentially dismantle the Social Security entitlement enacted in the New Deal.
Peterson’s fast track commission became the Bowles-Simpson fiscal commission in 2010, whose recommendations served as a starting point for the Supercommittee.
It is not a stretch to say that Pete Peterson and his billions are behind every attempt to gut Social Security that we have stood against. That is why we need to expose Peterson and his ambitions to pervert government into stealing from the 99%, by gutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
The Brave New Foundation will produce videos for the individuals voted “Pure Evil” most often.
Vote Pete Peterson “Pure evil” to ensure that Peterson will be a part of the film, and we can spread the word.
Thanks for all you do,

Today, Con­gress­man Ted Deutch (D-FL) of­fered the strongest con­sti­tu­tional amend­ment in­tro­duced in ei­ther House of Con­gress so far to rec­tify the im­bal­ance of power be­tween the cor­po­ra­tions and the peo­ple in our democ­racy.

As the strug­gle in the streets in­ten­si­fies, and Oc­cupy Wall Street re­fuses to re­main silent, it’s good to know there are cham­pi­ons in Con­gress who have stepped up to the chal­lenge of amend­ing the US Con­sti­tu­tion. It’s called OC­CU­PIED: Out­law­ing Cor­po­rate Cash Un­der­min­ing the Pub­lic In­ter­est in our Elec­tions and Democ­racy, here.

The Supreme Court, in the 5-4 Cit­i­zens United de­ci­sion of Jan­u­ary 2010, de­clared that cor­po­ra­tions have free speech rights like human be­ings and in­val­i­dated the ban on cor­po­rate elec­tion spend­ing that Con­gress had en­acted. Since then, a grass­roots move­ment has emerged to gen­er­ate pop­u­lar sup­port for a con­sti­tu­tional amend­ment to re­verse that de­ci­sion, in­clud­ing months of work by Move to Amend, Free Speech For Peo­ple, Pub­lic Cit­i­zen, Peo­ple For The Amer­i­can Way, Com­mon Cause, and the Cen­ter for Media and Democ­racy.

Rep. Deutch’s amend­ment is a blend of the best ideas.

1. The rights pro­tected by the Con­sti­tu­tion be­long to human be­ings (nat­ural per­sons).2. Con­sti­tu­tional rights do not ex­tend to for-profit cor­po­ra­tions or other busi­ness en­ti­ties, nor do they ex­tend to cham­bers of com­merce that pro­mote busi­ness in­ter­ests.3. The con­sti­tu­tional rights of other non-profit cor­po­ra­tions, such as char­i­ties, churches, schools, hos­pi­tals, clubs, unions, and en­vi­ron­men­tal groups re­main in place.4. Im­me­di­ately upon adop­tion, this amend­ment would pro­hibit busi­ness cor­po­ra­tions and their as­so­ci­a­tions from using money or other re­sources to in­flu­ence vot­ing on can­di­dates or bal­lot mea­sures any­where in Amer­ica—at the fed­eral, state, and local lev­els.5. Coun­ter­act­ing the 2010 Cit­i­zens United case and the 1976 Buck­ley v. Valeo case, Con­gress and the states would once again have the au­thor­ity to reg­u­late and set lim­its on all elec­tion con­tri­bu­tions and ex­pen­di­tures, by any group or per­son.6. This would em­power Con­gress and the states to con­trol elec­tion spend­ing by CEOs and other wealthy in­di­vid­u­als, in­clud­ing those rich enough to pay for their own cam­paigns.

Com­par­ing the OC­CU­PIED amend­ment to some of the oth­ers pro­posed:

Un­like the amend­ment of­fered by Rep. Jim Mc­Gov­ern (D-MA), the Deutch amend­ment does more than re­move con­sti­tu­tional rights from cor­po­ra­tions, LLCs, and other cor­po­rate en­ti­ties. It reaches all forms of busi­ness en­ter­prise, but with­out the un­in­tended con­se­quence of strip­ping con­sti­tu­tional rights from unions and non­profit pub­lic in­ter­est cor­po­ra­tions, such as the Sierra Club, NAACP, Planned Par­ent­hood, and your local com­mu­nity cen­ter. The Mc­Gov­ern amend­ment would not au­to­mat­i­cally pro­hibit cor­po­rate elec­tion spend­ing and would not en­able Con­gress and the states to set lim­its on elec­tion spend­ing by the wealthy. The Deutch amend­ment does both.

Un­like the com­pan­ion amend­ments in­tro­duced by Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) in the Sen­ate and Rep. Betty Sut­ton (D-OH) in the House, the Deutch amend­ment goes be­yond sim­ply au­tho­riz­ing Con­gress and the states to reg­u­late cam­paign fi­nanc­ing. It re­moves the shield of con­sti­tu­tional rights from busi­ness cor­po­ra­tions and their as­so­ci­a­tions, and im­poses an im­me­di­ate, na­tion­wide ban on cor­po­rate elec­tion spend­ing.

Un­like the ideas floated by TV com­men­ta­tor Dylan Rati­gan and Pro­fes­sor Larry Lessig, the Deutch amend­ment would not use the Con­sti­tu­tion to pre­vent cit­i­zens from do­nat­ing to the can­di­dates of their choice, or to chisel a dol­lar limit on in­di­vid­ual do­na­tions into con­sti­tu­tional stone. Wisely, the Deutch amend­ment pro­tects and does not di­min­ish in­di­vid­ual rights, and leaves the mat­ter of set­ting con­tri­bu­tion and ex­pen­di­ture lim­its to the peo­ple through the fed­eral, state, and local leg­isla­tive processes.

Rep. Donna Ed­wards (D-MD) and a num­ber of co-spon­sors in the House bravely in­tro­duced the first at­tempt at draft­ing an amend­ment in Con­gress some months back. Hope­fully, she and her col­leagues will rec­og­nize that the spirit in the streets and around kitchen ta­bles and the level of legal crafts­man­ship have pro­gressed to the point where a stronger amend­ment like Rep. Deutch’s de­serves their sup­port.

Per­son­ally, I pro­posed a sim­ple amend­ment in Jan­u­ary 2011, that would limit cam­paign fi­nanc­ing to the do­na­tions of in­di­vid­ual cit­i­zens only. I still think that’s a good idea, but I have to rec­og­nize the value of com­bin­ing every­one’s best think­ing into a com­pre­hen­sive re­form amend­ment. Rep. Deutch has done that with OC­CU­PIED. Let’s join him.

Sarah dies at age 127 and is buried in the Machpeilah Cave in Hebron, which Abraham purchases from Ephron the Hittite for 400 shekels of silver.

FROM THE PALESTINIAN MEDIA STUDIES PROJECT – FOR MORE, VISIT http://www.memri.org/palestinianmediastudies.

Following are excerpts from a Friday sermon from Dura, Hebron, which aired on Palestinian Authority TV on November 11, 2011.

To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3198.htm.

Preacher: “The rule of racist South Africa came to an end because it contradicted the natural disposition of Man, as created by Allah.

“It contradicted human dignity. This racist entity [Israel] will also come to an end, because it too contradicts the natural disposition of the prophets, the righteous, the martyrs, and humanity as a whole. […]

“Oh Allah, destroy our enemies. They are no match for you.

“Oh Allah, count them one by one, and disperse them all.

“Don’t leave a single one. Oh Allah, drive them out of Palestine in humiliation and disgrace.

“Oh Allah, drive them out of Jerusalem and its environs, just as you drove them out of Mecca and Medina.

“Oh Allah, drive them out of the Levant, just as you drove them out of the Arabian Peninsula.” […]

At the G20 Summit last week in Cannes, Nicolas Sarkozy held only four private meetings. One was with Barack Obama and a second was with Manmohan Singh, prime minister of India. (It’s not clear whether Felipe Calderon, the president of Mexico, met alone with the French president or whether his country was a fully deserved separate topic on the agenda, perhaps as a “disaster in the process.”) The other two privileged to have Sarkozy alone face-to-face were Hu Jintao, president of the People’s Republic of China, and William Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, literally the only people in attendance representing enterprises that are financially solvent. Take a look at these primarily optimistic documents and try to assess the honesty of the reports. Actually, this is the measure of our politics: deception, self-deception, duplicity, hypocrisy, pretense.

It was at this jamboree of whoppers that Sarkozy chose to confide to President Obama that he “can’t stand Netanyahu anymore. He is a liar.” And the president responded, sort of in kind: “You’re fed up with him. But I have to deal with him every day.” Of course, this was one of those moments that journalists dream about. The microphone was on when it was supposed to be off. Now, Sarkozy is not exactly known for his verisimilitude and neither is Obama, whose foreign policy, in particular, is based on the silliest improvisations of history. He has certainly made up his narratives on Muslim culture, in general, and on American-Arab relations, in particular. This accumulated flim-flam has made U.S. policy in the orbit of the crescent a laughing-stock for, well, everyone.

But Sarkozy’s prevarications are closer to fibs, although they arise from deep within his character. Just a few days ago the London Daily Mail detailed his pathetic attempts to make himself appear taller than his 5’5”, four inches less than the first lady, Carla Bruni. The official entourage of the president of the Fifth Republic carries around a variety of height falsifiers, platforms for every situation and every need. He cannot speak without a riser that buoys him almost aloft. Even Napoleon, actually two inches shorter, was not that vain. So Sarkozy has risen, so to speak, to new heights in his deceptions.

He is also full of portent in other aspects of his public life. You can find lurid reports all over the media on how Sarkozy had the French exchequer refurbish an $82 million Airbus 330 at a cost of $410 million. Which allowed $110,000 (!) for a double oven (to bake baguettes just like le president gets at the Élysée Palace). Presumably, the craft also has a crib for Carla and Nicolas’s newborn baby. But it is definitely equipped with two separate showers, one for the man and the other for his spouse. When you read about the rich tastes of this presidential couple you realize that Michelle Obama is actually a skinflint with our dollars.

I am actually happy that Sarkozy let slip his dislike for Bibi Netanyahu. It will put a crimp in his cynical jumping from one side to another on “the question of Palestine.” France voted for the admission of Palestine to membership in UNESCO. So what! UNESCO is composed of nearly 200 member-states, gives out dozens and dozens of prizes, has dozens and dozens of offices, certifies dozens and dozens of “world heritage sites,” and spends hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, minus the $60-odd million that the U.S. withdrew last month and the further cash that Canada will not donate. Other states will try to get out of their commitments, too, and this will harm the world not at all. If you don’t believe me read the document labeled on the web as Programme & Budget (C5). The truth is that the Palestinian “government” (aren’t there actually two Palestinian governments?) belongs in UNESCO because the organization is composed of paper programs. The aforementioned document includes a detailed roughly three quarters of a billion dollar budget. Here’s an instance of how they use the language: “Biennial Sectorial Priority 2: Advocating the inclusion of culture and intercultural dialogue in development policies to foster a culture of peace and non-violence.” Then there’s a 50-page addendum dealing with the “expected results at the end of the biennium.” So the Palestinian fantasy and the UNESCO fantasy mesh.

The Security Council will not behave as it was expected to on Palestinian membership in the U.N. itself. And Israel and my Zionist comrades should give credit where credit is due, that is, credit to President Obama who may finally have grasped—I’m not really sure of this—that the Palestinian Authority is not ready to govern because the political culture of the Palestinians is not yet governable. All the hosannas to Salam Fayyad notwithstanding. If Obama has in some way internalized this it is great progress.

Still, the president remains fixed on the matter of housing in Jerusalem. Let me try to explain this to my readers. The Arabs have held up history for at least 65 years. Bobby Kennedy (who was assassinated by a Palestinian terrorist, if you recall) recognized this on his visit to British Mandate Palestine a month before Jewish independence was proclaimed. Arab statesdeclared war on the nascent commonwealth and lost. However, the army of Jordan captured and annexed what was supposed to be Arab Palestine and also old Jerusalem including the ancient Jewish Quarter which, according to the Partition Plan, was to be a part of an internationalized city. With great remorse, the Jewish Agency for Palestine, the interim Zionist government, had accepted this heart-rending provision. But from 1948 to 1967 Israel was actually separated from the very heart of Zion. When Jordan joined Egypt and Syria in what became known as the Six Day War but lost, it surrendered the West Bank, including the Arab sections of Jerusalem and also the places, sacred and quotidian, of Jewish history.

Since big power pressure had never been mustered to fulfill the Jerusalem internationalization provisions of the Partition Plan, Israel immediately began to repopulate the Jewish quarter and to build Jewish communities here and there in the new city. And the Arabs continued their war. Gilo is one of those communities, started in 1973, not incidentally in east Jerusalem but in the southern part of the city and on Jewish-owned land. Stupidly, the administration has stridently objected to new housing even in this area.

What the administration and the Quartet are doing is to permit the recalcitrant Palestinians to impede the natural development of Jerusalem. Similarly, Obama goes apoplectic every time a few hundred apartments are built in areas of the West Bank adjacent or very close to the Partition Plan lines. Everybody knows deep down that Israel will never give over to Palestinians the choke points around city.

I have my own intuitions about the resignation of Dennis Ross as the president’s chief adviser on the conflict. He could not have been happy during the time when Obama was fantasizing about the intentions of the Arabs, in general, and of the Palestinians, in particular. Of course, it’s not as if his dealings with Israel were always smooth sailing either. He also had to tolerate the insistent stupidity of George Mitchell who couldn’t rid himself of the notion that Palestine was Ireland. Ross has been on this Palestine case for decades. It will not be solved now. Ross is rejoining the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank that has few illusions.

Netanyahu is not the problem. The problem is that the Palestinians want to reverse history. And they can’t. More than that, their Arab brothers and sisters are otherwise engaged. My guess is that Arab Winter is fast approaching.

Martin Peretz is editor-in-chief emeritus of The New Republic.

My take-

Now comes the big schism in the Jewish world! The Federation is distancing itself from being the Major Zionist supporter of the Jewish Agency the mainstay of absorption of Jews from all over the world into Israel and for all Jewish zionist causes. This is the begining of the end for a United Jewish front in face of adversity. It is the first sign that American Jews want to divest themselves from Zionism!

At GA, new federation plan for overseas seen as blow to Jewish Agency

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At GA, new federation plan for overseas seen as blow to Jewish Agency
By Uriel Heilman · November 8, 2011
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Opening day of the General Assembly of The Jewish Federations of North America in Denver, Nov. 6, 2011. (Eric Stephenson for JFNA)
DENVER (JTA) — After a decades-long partnership that saw the Jewish Agency for Israel serve as the official, exclusive Zionist arm of North America’s Jewish community federations, the federation system is getting ready to date other partners.

But Jewish Agency officials say it feels more like the beginning of a divorce.

On Tuesday afternoon, at the conclusion of its General Assembly in Denver, the Jewish Federations of North America board overwhelmingly approved a plan that will dramatically transform the historic commitment of the federations to fund the agency.

JFNA maintains that the change is part of a grand strategy to re-establish the collective power of the federations at a time when collective action by Diaspora Jewry is harder and harder to muster. Under the new model, representatives of North America’s 157 federations on a so-called Global Planning Table will make spending decisions for overseas allocations, deciding together how the money they raise will be doled out to various organizations and programs.

For decades, the federations’ overseas allocations had gone automatically to the Jewish Agency and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in a 75-25 percent split. Under the new arrangement, the Jewish Agency and JDC still will get a share, but they will have to compete for it with other groups. They also will have less discretion than they do now about how to spend their allocations; the federations will be dictating more of the spending program to them.

“We will set the meta priorities,” said Jerry Silverman, JFNA’s CEO. “The people who raise the money get to be part of the discussion of allocating the money.”

In recent years, federations increasingly have been opting out of the historic overseas funding arrangement, cutting funding to the Jewish Agency or giving directly to causes in Israel and elsewhere around the world. Backers of the plan hope that the new arrangement will keep federations doing things together by offering collective decision-making and more options for overseas spending.

“Our goal is to keep our federations a collective to continue to change Jewish history,” Silverman said. “We’re thinking about the community as a whole.”

From the perspective of the Jewish Agency, however, which gets approximately 50 percent of its $270 million annual budget from the federations and has no real fundraising apparatus of its own, the change is seen as the beginning of a shift that could deal a significant blow to the agency.

Some federation executives suggest that’s not such a bad thing.

“Have you ever heard an Israeli say, ‘Give more money to the Jewish Agency?’ ” asked Barry Shrage, president of the Boston federation, Combined Jewish Philanthropies. “They’re stuck in bureaucracies. We’re on the ground working with our local Israeli partners directly. If the Jewish Agency had something compelling, we’d invest in them, too.”

Officials at the Jewish Agency, whose mission is to settle immigrants in Israel and promote Zionism around the world, declined to comment for this story except to express concern about jeopardizing the collective commitment of Diaspora Jewry to the Zionist enterprise.

“There is maybe a problem of divorce from the collective, and you can’t guarantee the future of the Jewish people without a collective,” Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency, told JTA. “There is a danger people will choose to opt out of the collective, and then to restore it will be impossible.”

Federation officials say the reality is that’s already happening; federations like the one in Boston already are doing overseas allocations on their own. The Global Planning Table represents an effort to revive collective action, they say. By empowering the federations to make spending decisions without the encumbrances of exclusive partnerships with the JDC and the Jewish Agency, JFNA officials say they believe overseas giving ultimately will rise.

“It’s really about engaging more Jews, creating a new, dynamic venue to elevate the profile of and get new support for global Jewish needs,” said Joe Berkofsky, a spokesman for JFNA.

For its part, the JDC welcomes the change. Unlike the Jewish Agency, whose governing board is controlled in large part by the federations, the JDC has an independent board, a robust fundraising apparatus and a strong reputation in the federation world. The JDC, which has a $300 million annual budget, has not been happy with its 25 percent share of the federation system’s overseas dollars, and JDC officials think they can do better with the open field that the Global Planning Table represents.

“Competition isn’t evil; it’s healthy,” said Steve Schwager, CEO of the JDC. “The JDC doesn’t mind competing for designated dollars. The JDC delivers high-quality, important programs that benefit the Jewish people. I believe that when I get to make that case, we will at least maintain if not increase the level of funding.”

A few separate factors are converging to drive this major change in the federations’ philanthropy.

One is the economic downturn, which has hurt federation campaigns and overseas giving.

Another is dismay with operations at the Jewish Agency. In recent years, the agency has reshuffled its priorities away from immigration to Israel, which it still handles, and toward Zionist education in the Diaspora. Some critics question why the federations should send money to Israel just so the Jewish Agency can use it to ship Zionist emissaries back to Diaspora Jewish communities.

Jewish Agency officials counter that they have not abandoned aliyah at all and are merely more focused on making Israel central to the vast majority of Diaspora Jews who do not plan on making aliyah.

Another factor is the growing influence of foundations in the Jewish philanthropic landscape. Birthright Israel, the big Jewish idea of the last decade, came from the foundation world, not from the federations. Under the new Global Planning Table, there could be closer collaborations between federation and philanthropic foundations, and by absolving itself of its exclusive commitments to the Jewish Agency and the JDC, the federation system will have more discretion to funnel money to the right ideas.

“It’s an opportunity for us to partner with foundations in ways we haven’t previously,” said Joanne Moore, senior vice president of global planning at JFNA.

“Any effort to try to make individual federations more empowered and more engaged to follow needs is good in principle,” said Andres Spokoiny, president of the Jewish Funders Network. “Whether the Global Planning Table does that or not I don’t know.”

The process by which the Global Planning Table will go about making allocation decisions involves new commissions and committees — lots of them.

First, committees comprised of representatives of the federations, the Jewish Agency, the JDC and others will discuss priorities for the federation system. Then the Global Planning Table’s executive steering committee, which will include federations but not the Jewish Agency or JDC, will decide on those priorities.

Commissions then will research how best to achieve those priorities, including consultations with outside experts, and goals for overseas spending will be set by the executive steering committee. Once that committee makes its allocations recommendations, JFNA’s board of trustees will make the final determinations about allocations; the JDC and Jewish Agency will not have a vote.

It remains to be seen whether this process will result in smarter allocations and collective action, or whether the Global Planning Table’s giving will reflect the personal and institutional relationships and predilections of federation leaders.

“It will be those who sit closest to the trough who eat first,” said one opponent of the plan who spoke on condition of anonymity.

What is almost certain is that the Global Planning Table will add a layer of complexity, work and deliberation to federations’ overseas giving. Moore acknowledges the process probably will require the hiring of new staff to help manage it. But ultimately, according to JFNA, it will be worth it.

“Imagine a world where the greatest challenges and most exciting opportunities to strengthen and build the Jewish people are discussed, studied, and understood,” says a white paper by the organization outlining the Global Planning Table. “The mission of the GPT is to inspire the Jewish Federations’ collective global work and drive collective solutions to important issues within the global Jewish community.”

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