STEVE PIECZENIK TALKS

MEMORANDUM TO AMERICAN JEWS: DON”T ATTACK OBAMA-LEARN! BEFORE YOU SPEW VENOM!

For the past several months, I have been exceedingly disturbed by the vitriolic words of hatred and racism I hear from American Jews who know little or nothing about Obama and his personal and professional relationship with the Jewish religion.  But first,  let me make it clear, that I am not religious nor partisan.  I have served four Republican Presidents-- Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush Sr and one very maligned Democratic President Jimmy Carter [who was the only one to ever personally create a treaty between Israel and Egypt and is not an anti-semite].  

At present,  I feel that both Romney and Obama are wanting in their qualifications for the leadership of the Free World.  However, I find it more disconcerting and irrelevant in these discussions of who is the candidate that is  ‘best for the jews’.   This  question belies the more important issue of who can serve this country best-- not Israel.  Believe it or not, Israel can handle its own state of affairs without American Jewish intervention.  It’s convenient for the Israelis to manipulate  American Jewish sentiments but that has little to do with the underlying strategic and tactical requirements of both countries with regard to their respective interests in the Middle East.

  As I have written before,  the Iranian Nuclear Bomb is not, and will not be, the central concern of either country.  The key issue will remain the ongoing contest between Saudi-sponsored hegemony through Sunni fighters versus Iranian domination utilizing Hezbollah , Hamas and the IRG.  Furthermore, the relationship between Israeli covert operations and the CIA /military cooperation are time-tested and well embedded into the fabric of both countries’ national security structures.  For those of you who might visit Tel Aviv,  Israel- take time out to visit the statue erected by the Israelis to the father of CIA counter-Intelligence---James “Jesus” Angleton [also view the film “The Good Shepherd”].

  As for Obama and Judaism,  perhaps the following points of fact might be of interest to American Jews and others who are rabid pro-Israel supporters:

[1] Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s former Chief of Staff and now the Mayor of Chicago, worked during the 1991 Gulf War as a civilian volunteer assisting the Israel Defense Forces repairing truck brakes in one of Israel’s most dangerous bases in the northern sector of the country. Furthermore, and far more importantly, his father, Dr Benjamin M. Emmanuel, a Jerusalem–born pediatrician, was once a member of the terrorist group the Irgun Zvai Leumi or ETZEL led by former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. 

This credential signifies to me a greater commitment to the state of Israel than the ‘empty verbiage’ and the ‘cowardly’ history of most of the Jewish Neocons whose parents were either ex-Trotskyites, conscientious objectors, or justly simply ‘ineffective’ during WWII as thousands of jewish refugees were refused entrance into the USA even after they were off the shores of Miami [see the movie “The Ship Of Fools”]. 

[2] American Jews will be most surprised by the fact that Capers Funnye,  first cousin once removed of First Lady Michelle Obama,  received a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Jewish Studies and Master of Science in Human Service Administration from the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago.  He is the Chief Rabbi for the mostly African –American Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation of Chicago.  He is also the first African-American member of the Chicago Board of Rabbis and serves on boards of the Jewish Council On Urban Affairs and the American Jewish Congress of the Midwest and is active in the Institute for Jewish and Community Research.  He was ordained a rabbi by the Israelite Rabbinical Academy of 1985. He presides over a congregation that is somewhere between Conservative and Modern Orthodoxy. 

Unlike most American Jews, who were born to their ancestral heritage, Rabbi Funnye was raised a Methodist and converted to Judaism- feeling a sense of intellectual and spiritual liberation in the constant examination that he saw Judaism encourages. 

  I think that most American Jews should listen to the following words that the Honorable Rabbi said before they  make any untoward comments.

Rabbi Funnye said, “ I am a Jew , and that breaks through all color and ethnic barriers.”

 AMEN!