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Clinton Releases Study on Anti-Israeli Bias in Palestinian Textbooks

The office of NY Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton has released a new report, along with t Palestinian Media Watch, detailing anti-Israel bias in Palestinian textbooks.  According to the Senator's office:

The new Palestinian Authority (PA) textbooks for Grade 12 encourage students to see Israel, the US and the West as enemies, and portray the PA's territorial disputes with Israel as an existential religious conflict for Islam

The full report can be downloaded here.

JCPA Votes For Darfur Divestment Campaign

NJDC strongly supports the Jewish Council for Public Affairs' decision to launch a targeted investment initiative aimed at halting the Sudan genocide.

NJDC is a member for the Save Darfur Coaltion.  Please visit http://www.savedarfur.org/section/take_action to learn more about how you can help organize to end the genocide.

S. Korean Author To Remove Anti-Jewish Comic

The Associated Press is reporting ...

"The author of a best-selling comic book series intended to teach children about other countries says he will change a chapter on Jews that has been called anti-Semitic and similar to Nazi propaganda."

[AP 2/27/07]

Duncan Hunter Names Pol with History of Biggotry as Co-Chair

Don't Republicans vet their Co-Chairs and Candidates anymore?

The Carpetbag Report has a story up detailing the disturbing past of former state Rep. Henry Jordan, new co-chair for GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter's longshot presidential bid. 

According to the blog, Jordan made hateful, inexcusable comments about Muslims and Buddhists while serving on South Carolina's Board of Education. “Screw the Buddhists and kill the Muslims. And put that in the minutes" was Jordan's exact quote.

When he's not preaching hatred, Jordan is preaching ignorance.   “I mean you’ve got to be stupid to believe in evolution, I mean really,” the former Rep. is quoted as saying in the AP.

Duncan Hunter has a lot of explaining to do.  How can we trust him to appoint a Secretary of State or a Supreme Court justice if he can't even get his campaign co-chair right?

 
 

** BREAKING NEWS ** INDIANA GOP YIELDS ON PARKER

From the Indy Star:

Bob Parker, a businessman who ran for mayor in 1999 and 2003, did not file to run for mayor a day after controversial comments became public that he made a few weeks ago about Jewish influence on the Democratic party. Those remarks drew criticism from several Jewish groups for reinforcing negative stereotypes.

This news comes one day after NJDC applied pressure on the Indiana Republican Party to drop Parker from the ticket. 

Parker made the following anti-Jewish comments, as reported in the Star:

"I personally see Israel going into Iran and Syria in the next couple of months," he said. "I'm sure you realize -- well, most people don't -- millionaire Democrats outnumber millionaire Republicans four to one. It's mainly because of the Jewish faction inside the Democratic Party. Most Jewish people are Democrats and they bring that wealth. My opinion is, if Israel would go into Iran, Democrats will follow that cause. I really do believe that."

In an earlier report, the Star said that the GOP had been reconsidering their backing of Parker, after these comments came to light and were criticized by NJDC and other groups in the Jewish community:

As a consequence of Parker's remarks, the Marion County Republican Central Committee would review the "appropriateness" of slating him as the party's choice in the 2008 mayor's race.

Radical Right Tries to Smear Edwards

This week, the right wing noise machine has been turning up the volume. Their latest target: John Edwards.

Despite his strong support for Israel and his eloquent call for tough action against Iran's nuclear threat, the radical right has embarked on a campaign of deception to convince voters otherwise.  The online version of the National Review and right wing mouthpiece Matt Drudge are now falsely claiming that Edwards called Israel the greatest threat to world peace.

Here's what the Edwards campaign had to say about these scurrilous charges:

"Senator Edwards did not say nor does he believe that the greatest short-term threat to world peace is the possibility that Israel would bombIran's nuclear facilities. Senator Edwards said, as he has in the past, that Iranacquiring a nuclear weapon is one of the greatest short-term threats to world peace."

In January, John Edwards addressed the Herzliya security conference in Israel.

Here's what the Charlotte News and Observer had to say about his speech:

Edwards said the U.S. had not done enough to stop Iran. And he pledged continued strong ties with Israel if he is elected.

It is a bond that can never be broken," Edwards said.

Yesterday, NJDC Executive Director Ira Forman took to the airwaves to defend John Edwards against these false attacks on WJR radio in Detroit.

The radical right's latest round of scurrilous charges is part of a larger Republican campaign to undermine the bipartisan consensus surrounding Israel and Middle East policy. Their goal is to create a wedge issue to chip away at traditional Jewish support for the Democratic party. This ploy does not serve the pro-Israel community nor our democratic process. NJDC continues to monitor and respond to Republican attempts to undermine bipartisan support for Israel. 

McCain's UN-intelligent design

ABCNews.com is reporting that today, John McCain will be speaking in front of "the Discovery Institute — the controversial organization that promotes intelligent design theory and combats Darwinism." 

Clearing, Senator McCain is continuing to sell his soul to the right wing, just to get nominated.  For anyone who admired McCain's past leadership on campaign finance reform, McCain's choice to repeatedly put his blind political ambitions before the sound policy is truly sad.

McCain & Creationism -- His Position Evolves Into Flip-Flopping!

Monday, from ThinkProgress:

Today is Darwin Day, commemorating the anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and of the publishing of On the Origin of Species. The National Academy of Sciences, “the nation’s most prestigious scientific organization,” declares evolution “one of the strongest and most useful scientific theories we have.” President Bush’s science adviser John Marburger calls it “the cornerstone of modern biology.”

Yet, on February 23, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will be the keynote speaker for the most prominent creationism advocacy group in the country. The Discovery Institute, a religious right think-tank, is well-known for its strong opposition to evolutionary biology and its advocacy for “intelligent design.” The institute’s main financial backer, savings and loan heir Howard Ahmanson, spent 20 years on the board of the Chalcedon Foundation, “a theocratic outfit that advocates the replacement of American civil law with biblical law.”

McCain has an ambiguous record on whether he supports intelligent design in the science curriculum. In 2005, he said it should be taught:

Daily Star: Should intelligent design be taught in schools?

McCain: I think that there has to be all points of view presented. But they’ve got to be thoroughly presented. So to say that you can only teach one line of thinking I don’t think is - or one belief on how people and the world was created - I think there’s nothing wrong with teaching different schools of thought.

Daily Star: Does it belong in science?

McCain: There’s enough scientists that believe it does. I’m not a scientist. This is something that I think all points of view should be presented.

But last year, he said the intelligent design theory should not be taught in the science classroom:

“I think Americans should be exposed to every point of view,” he said. “I happen to believe in evolution…I respect those who think the world was created in seven days. Should it be taught as a science class? Probably not.“

As McCain continues his lurch to the right, where will he come down on intelligent design in the science classroom? We’ll be watching.

Why so Few Jews Vote Republican

Jennifer Rubin, a freelancer for ABCNEWS.com, has a piece out about why so few Jews vote Republican.

Rubin highlights Mitt Romney's choice of a museum named after Henry Ford - the premier anti-Semite in American history - as the location for Romeny's presidential annoucement as one example of how Republicans fail to understand the Jewish community.  NJDC was the first in the country to raise these concerns.

One political consultant quoted in the piece put it this way:

I don't think Romney is guilty of anything other than obliviousness.  But you could argue that obliviousness is indicative of a broader problem with the social conservatives Romney is trying to court, which is a lack of sensitivity to the concerns many Jews have about their place in American society.

Rubin's assessment on Jewish voting trends:

The GOP has become a rural, overwhelmingly Christian and Southern party. It is not populated by urban ethnics who, even if they aren't Jewish, understand Jews' cultural references and sensibilities...

In short, the Republicans are not just our kind of people, many Jews say. They don't sound like us, they don't talk like us and they don't understand us. Unless and until that changes, Jews likely will likely be voting overwhelmingly Democratic for years to come.