Tell the GOP: Stop playing politics with Israel!

Dear tamara,



This week, GOP leaders launched a malicious campaign against the Democratic Party, using Israel as a political football -- threatening almost six decades of bipartisan support for Israel. Republican ads on Capitol Hill and across the country feature `full-page` photographs of suicide bombers -- claiming that Democrats are undecided when it comes to such heinous perpetrators of terrorism.


This GOP effort is a shandah -- an embarrassment -- and it threatens the crucial American consensus of support for Israel. This is no time to play politics with the State of Israel -- Israel must never be used as a wedge issue. Such divisive politics are selfish, and this campaign threatens Israel, plain and simple.


Tell the GOP that enough is enough! Their campaign to use Israel to score cheap political points must stop now. NJDC has written top GOP officials demanding that they condemn this campaign, but we need your help.


Please take action right now:
http://ga4.org/campaign/mehlman_0205/gdsxgx20j8665w


1. Please sign a petition (below) demanding that GOP Chairman Ken Mehlman stop playing "wedge politics" with American support for Israel. Pressing the "sign now" button will add your name to the petition, and an `e-mail` with your name will be sent right away to Ken Mehlman.


2. Forward this note to family and friends who share your concern for Israel! Please follow the "`Tell-a`-friend" link at the right to pass along this petition.


3. Write a letter to your local newspaper and your local Jewish newspaper (click here to find contact information for your local Jewish newspaper) condemning the use of Israel to score political points. Please send copies of any letters you send to truthsquad@njdc.org .




Sign this petition and notify:
GOP Chairman Ken Mehlman


I call on you to condemn and do everything in your power to stop the current RJC ad campaign within the Jewish community; this campaign threatens the bipartisan `pro-Israel` consensus that has helped protect Israel. The ads undeniably and wrongly suggest that Democratic Party leaders are indifferent to terrorist suicide bombers who attack Israel. This cheap political hyperbole uses support for Israel as a wedge issue, and it diminishes the human cost of terrorism.

Israel's security is endangered when it is wrongly used as a crass political wedge issue; indeed, just this week Abraham Foxman, national director of the `Anti-Defamation` League, noted that "Israel, to the best of my knowledge, is not an issue between the two [political] parties...."

I urge you to unequivocally condemn this misleading attack campaign. Strong leadership from you can help our political leaders establish a level of discourse worthy of our great country and the seriousness of America's and Israel's war on terrorism.


Sign this Petition!
Instructions:
Sign this petition
http://ga4.org/campaign/mehlman_0205/gdsxgx20j8665w



`Tell-A`-Friend:
Encourage your friends & family to sign the NJDC's new petition, calling on the GOP to stop playing politics with Israel!
`Tell-a`-Friend!



What's At Stake:


1. This Republican Attack Campaign Threatens Bipartisan Support for Israel.

The causes of support for Israel and her war against terrorism are paramount; support for Israel must not become a political football. Support for Israel has always been bipartisan - in fact, ever since Democratic President Harry Truman's historic decision to be the first to recognize the State of Israel, the Democratic Party has supported Israel. Unified American support for Israel is more important than one political party's wish to score political points. Falsely accusing the Democratic Party and its top leadership of being indifferent to Israel's struggle against terrorism plays partisan politics with the necessity of strong, nonpartisan support for Israel.

2. This Republican Attack Campaign is Outrageous and an Embarrassment.

For Republican Jewish partisans to threaten the bipartisan consensus of support for Israel - all in an effort to gain political advantage - is nothing short of outrageous, and an embarrassment. The Jewish community must remain united in our support for Israel; the cause of a strong and secure Israel is more important than playing domestic politics. The rhetoric of this attack campaign is dangerous, and it minimizes the suffering of victims of terrorism.

3. DNC Chair Howard Dean - the Prime Target of This Campaign - is Highly Supportive of Israel.

Jewish leaders agree; Howard Dean and the Democratic Party are clearly supportive of Israel, and this attack campaign threatens support for Israel.

* The New York Jewish Week reports that `Anti-Defamation` League national director Abraham Foxman, reacting to the ad campaign, "worries that Israel is being dragged unnecessarily into the partisan battlefield." Mr. Foxman says that "Israel, to the best of my knowledge, is not an issue between the two [political] parties...."

* The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) recently noted, "We are confident that as Chair of the Democratic Party Governor Dean will carry on the party's deep and abiding commitment to a strong and unshakable relationship between the United States and Israel." (Click here for the complete AIPAC statement.)
http://www.forward.com/main/`log-in`.php

* Regarding the GOP ad campaign, The Forward opined: "With tempers in Israeli and American Jewish circles approaching the boiling point in advance of the planned Gaza withdrawal, that sort of inflammatory imagery should be off limits. The Republican coalition should withdraw the ad and apologize." (Click here for the Forward editorial.)

Governor Dean has a long history of strong support for Israel - including defending Israel's security needs before Arab American audiences, repeatedly asserting the U.S.-Israel partnership in the war against terrorism, and demanding again and again that the United States get tougher with Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and other funders of worldwide terrorism. To learn more about Governor Dean's record on Israel, please click here.
http://njdc.org/emet/detail.php?id=428


Campaign Expiration Date:
April 15, 2005

[quote]Governor Dean has a long history of strong support for Israel - including defending Israel's security needs before Arab American audiences, repeatedly asserting the U.S.-Israel partnership in the war against terrorism, and demanding again and again that the United States get tougher with Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and other funders of worldwide terrorism. To learn more about Governor Dean's record on Israel, please click here. [/quote]

I'm hoping Dean won't go along with the neocons. Sharon is a bad leader, IMO and more war is not for me. AIPAC wants to control Dean, I hope he doesn't allow them to drag him down that road.

[quote]I'm hoping Dean won't go along with the neocons. Sharon is a bad leader, IMO and more war is not for me. AIPAC wants to control Dean, I hope he doesn't allow them to drag him down that road.[/quote]

Dean did say himself that he was "closer to AIPAC" on his Israel position.

I respect Ariel Sharon and I admire him a great deal. I don't completely agree with his disengagement plan(I think there should be a requirement of democratization) but his position is not more war! Sharon is trying to pull out of the Gaza Strip, and he is uprooting settlements. He has also met with Machmoud Abbas and declared an end to the fighting. He is facing death threats from `right-wing` extremists.

I think Dean is `pro-Israel`, instinctually, if not as a result of deep thought. I don't know of many Deaniacs that shared his `position-I` heard criticism about that. I thought it was odd of Lieberman to try to make it an issue with Dean.

If Kerry were President, the `pro-Israel` people would have reason to be `concerned-he` and his campaign staff said quite a few worrying things.

I would only be concerned about Dean if he feels he has to listen to the vast throngs of lefties that propelled him to national prominence. Many on the left are not sympathetic to Israel. I have not seen this ad campaign, but it seems reasonable to have one. Maybe the Dems should have a `counter-ad` campaign instead of a petition.

I think Dean could actually be very good for those concerned about Israel....I believe this because Dean does have the backing of the mainstream Jewish communities in this country....remember, most do vote democratic...those supporting the "`neo-con`" view are the minority. With the majority support, the democrats might be able to do far more to assure a fair and equitable settlement of the Jewish/Palestinian questions. Most "`neo-con`" support does not come from the Jewish community....in fact, a good part of it comes from those who are promoting an agenda that has little to do with the reality of the whole situation....they have religious and idealogical agendas that are far more important to them than the welfare of the Israelis.

We can't give in to the Republican framing that one is either for or against Israel. Being for peace means being for both the Israeli and Palestinian people.

Well said Bootleg and welcome to JRE.

I say totally true, Bootleg~!

God bless Babs, but really it needs to be a TOTALLY WORLD WIDE effort to have and "DO" PEACE! "I" love you, EVERYONE~! GaP11