THE JEWISH VOICE AND OPINION Promoting Classical Judaism
October 2010
Vol. 24 • No. 2
Cheshvan 5771
PA Wants an Israeli “Freeze,” but Not if the Price Is Recognition of a Jewish State; Bibi Says It’s That or Nothing
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear that he might agree to extend the freeze on building throughout Judea and Samaria for an additional 60 days, but only if the Palestinians were to agree to recognize Israel as the Jewish state, he articulated a sentiment that has resonated not only in Jewish communities throughout the world, but in the halls of the US government. The Palestinians, backed by the Arab League, have refused to return to the negotiating table unless Mr. Ne-
tanyahu’s 10-month freeze, which expired on September 26 to jubilation in the affected areas, is reinstated. Mr. Netanyahu has not insisted on recognition as a Jewish state as a precondition for talks, however, he said, a moratorium on building would depend on such recognition. The Palestinians, led by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, have categorically refused such recognition, arguing that a Jewish State, despite guarantees of rights to other minorities, would be “racist.”
PA Pres Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: No recognition, no freeze
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In Chicago, the Orthodox-Jewish Republican is Endorsed by Alan Dershowitz, the Secular-Jewish Democrat by Helen Thomas and J Street (Really!) Joel Pollak, an OrthodoxJewish 32-year-old attorney who is running as a Tea Partyendorsed Republican in one of the most reliably liberalDemocratic districts in Illinois, smiles when he recalls the event last summer when Harvard law professor and author, Alan Dershowitz, a lifelong Democrat, journeyed to Chicago to endorse him. A few weeks earlier, Mr. Pollak’s opponent, Democrat incumbent Jan Schakowsky,
Joel Pollak, who gained national fame after debating a Democratic Congressman and is now running for Congress in Illinois’s 9th District
Amy Neustein Wins Big................... 3 Kol Ami:Thanking Wallenberg........ 4 The Current Crisis.......................... 5 Helping Israel’s Neediest................ 22 The Log........................................ 24 Thinking About Chanukah........... 32
also had a fundraiser featuring a celebrity endorsement: Ms. Schakowsky was endorsed by former White House correspondent Helen Thomas. Barely two weeks after the event, Ms. Thomas, whose anti-Israel views were never a secret, publicly announced that Jews should “get out of Palestine” and go back to Poland. She was consequently forced to resign her position as a columnist for UPI. “My supporters received
Inside the Voice
RYNJ’s First Day......................... 32 Mazal Tov .................................. 33 New Classes................................. 33 Ess Gezint:For Teens and 20s...... 38 Index of Advertisers..................... 39 School Open Houses.................... 40
photos of themselves with Alan Dershowitz and my wife and me. My opponent’s supporters received photos of themselves with Helen Thomas. I wonder who is going to be prouder,” said Mr. Pollak. Jewish District Mr. Pollak and Ms. Schakowsky, who is also Jewish, are vying for the Congressional seat she has occupied since winning election in 1998. Illinois’s heavily (20 percent)
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Honor the Professional................. 41 Mourning Israel’s Defenders ...... 42 Florist Esther Katz ...................... 43 Letters to the Editor .................... 44 Mike Agosta ................................ 46 Walk to Shul . .............................. 47