Ronald Lauder accuses Obama of abandoning Israeli security

http://www.debka.com/article/8716/

The latest American Jewish leader to address a letter of deep concern over the public US feud with Israel is Ronald Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress. He voices the concern of Jews around the world not only about the nuclear ambitions of an Iranian regime with genocidal intentions toward Israel, but the deterioration of US-Israeli relations and the Jewish state's deliberate isolation.The WJC president asks why this administration seems to blame Israel for the lack of movement on peace talks when it is the Palestinians, not Israel, who refuse to negotiate. Settlements were not the key issue when peace talks broke down before and they are not the key issue now.

Lauder then asks if it is true that America is no longer committed to a final status agreement that provides Israel with defensible borders. He goes on to ask if friction with Israel is part of the Administration's desire to improve relations with the Muslim world and warns that appeasement does not work.Israel is not only America's closest ally in the Middle East, Lauder stresses. It is the one most committed to this administration's declared aim of ensuring Iran does not get nuclear weapons. This is the single biggest threat that confronts the world today.Former New York Mayor Ed Koch condemned the Obama administration's attitude toward Israel in the strongest terms: "I weep today because my president, Barack Obama, in a few weeks has changed the relationship between the US and Israel from that of closest of allies to one in which there is an absence of trust." He goes on to say: "…our closest ally… has been demeaned and slandered, held responsible …for our problems in Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East."

Ed Koch says he suspects the plan is "to so weaken the resolve of the of the Jewish state and its leaders so that it will be much easier to impose on Israel an American plan to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict, leaving Israel's needs for security and defensible borders in the lurch."
He is most bothered by what he calls "the shameful silence and lack of action by community leaders - Jew and Christian" and asks: Where are the Jews who marched in defense of fellow American citizens in 1963 and heard Martin Luther King's memorable speech. "We have stood up for everyone else. When will we stand up for our brothers and sisters in the Jewish state of Israel?" Ed Koch asks.


Other articles of interest:

Tehran: If Iran is attacked, nuclear devices will go off in American cities
http://www.debka.com/article/8713/

http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=173302

http://www.debka.com/article/8717/

Hezbollah admits receiving Syrian Scud missiles ("what's the big deal").
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=173217
Hows that UN resolution ending the last conflict working out ? Not too well.


And anti-Israel collaborator Richard Goldstone will not attend his own grandson's bar mitzva due to the outrage over his role in legitimizing UN efforts to deligitimize Israel's rights to self defense:

Judge Richard Goldstone, who headed a war crimes probe that has infuriated Israel and Jewish communities around the world, will not be attending his grandson’s bar mitzva in Johannesburg next month, according to a South African newspaper.Goldstone will not be present when his grandson performs the religious rite, following an agreement between the family, the South African Zionist Organization (SAZF) and the Beith Hamedrash Hagadol synagogue in Sandton, where the event will take place, the South African Jewish Report said.Related: What South African Jews think of Richard GoldstoneThe South African jurist led the UN-sanctioned investigation into suspected war crimes committed during last year’s armed conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.SAZF chairman Avrom Krengel said his organization had “interacted” on the matter with the chief rabbi, the beit din (rabbinical court) and others, adding that the federation was “coming across most forcefully because we represent Israel,” the paper said.Rabbi Moshe Kurtstag, head of the local beit din, commented that the court had not been officially consulted, though there had been “private talks,” and that the synagogue had not asked it to give a ruling on the matter. “But I know that there was a very strong feeling in the shul, a lot of anger [around the issue of Justice Goldstone attending],” the newspaper quoted Kurtstag as saying.“I heard also that the SAZF wanted to organize a protest outside the shul – [there were] all kinds of plans. But I think reason prevailed,” Kurtstag added.Meanwhile, Goldstone was quoted in the newspaper as saying that “in the interests of my grandson, I’ve decided not to attend the ceremony at the synagogue.”