Obama goes to AIPAC as Bibi goes to Washington
Area activists react to Netanyahu’s speeches
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PrintArea residents at the AIPAC Policy Conference greeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech Monday night at the Washington Convention Center with heartfelt applause. Many also expressed a sense of pride and appreciation for Netanyahu following his speech before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
“I was relieved to hear him talk about Jerusalem remaining intact, safe for all people,” said Dori Frumin Kirshner of Closter. “If peace could be achieved without compromising that, it would be amazing.”
Kirshner, who is executive director of Matan, an organization that promotes Jewish education for children with special needs, is also the wife of Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner, who joined the Rev. Oscar King III, a Baptist minister from Detroit, in delivering the convocation prior to the prime minister’s speech.
Interviewed immediately after the speech, Rabbi Kirshner praised Netanyahu’s oratory and also noted his agreement with the prime minister that no genuine peace can be forced on unwilling parties by outside forces, even a U.S. president.
“The Torah and the Constitution are so similar in what they believe,” Kirshner said. “Netanyahu spoke about it in a beautiful, brilliant, articulate way tonight.” Of the speech’s take on policy, Kirshner said, “It’s unfair of us to tell Israel it has to return [to the pre-1967 borders]. It is up to Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate what the preconditions are, not up to others, not even the president. The only precondition [should be] coming to the table.”
Others attending the conference praised the speech for its realistic assessment.
Rabbi Joshua B. Cohen of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey in Franklin Lakes, reached by phone Tuesday, told this newspaper, “Bibi reminded us [that] at its core Israel is about trying to forge peace, but finding legitimate partners on other side of the table is a challenge.”
After Netanyahu spoke before Congress on Tuesday, AIPAC attendees from New Jersey voiced pride and relief to hear their feelings as supporters of Israel expressed with such eloquence and authority.
“It was really a masterful speech,” said Linda Scherzer of Closter. “He very successfully made the argument about how the challenges Israel faces are same ones the U.S. faces. He expressed our collective sense of outrage over the double standard the world applies to Israel, [the way] the world tries to tie Israel’s hands when it comes to defending itself and responding to unprovoked acts of terror.”
Terry Linefsky of Mahwah said, “He spoke from the heart and told the truth about Israel’s hard situation — a small country surrounded by enemies. He told the story extremely well, what issues Israel faces in the Middle East and how the rest of the world views Israel.”
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of Englewood, a columnist for this newspaper who attended the conference, also heard Netanyahu’s speech before Congress, where he was seated two seats away from a heckler. Reached by phone Tuesday evening, Boteach said, “The conference was inspiring and moving and showed the deep commitment of U.S. Jewry to Israel and of America to Israel. The repeated standing ovations in Congress for the prime minister were beautiful to watch.”
Boteach noted that, in their speeches to AIPAC, both Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) seemed to repudiate Obama’s statement of last week — later amended — that Israel would have to return to the pre-1967 lines as part of a peace deal. He also said that, during Netanyahu’s speech in front of Congress “the vice president clapped when Netanyahu said the ’67 borders are indefensible.”
Boteach added he believes the most powerful speech of the conference was delivered by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
“Netanyahu’s speech at the joint session of Congress was very effective at explaining the U.S. and Israel are united by common values,” Boteach said. “What I would have hoped for is an articulation of what those values are — democracy and freedom. Cantor’s speech was the most effective at explaining that the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is not about borders, it’s about values.”
More on: Obama goes to AIPAC as Bibi goes to Washington
Reaction to Obama’s speech mixed on part of New Jersey’s AIPAC delegates
Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner of Temple Emanu-El delivers convocation
Reaction to President Obama’s speech on the part of delegates from Northern New Jersey to the annual AIPAC Policy Conference this week was mixed — but North Jerseyans were united in their approval of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks Monday evening.
About 30 New Jerseyans gathered for drinks in the lobby of the Capital Hilton hotel two blocks north of the White House Sunday evening in what has become a yearly tradition. Many area residents came to the conference as part of a delegation led by Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner, religious leader of Temple Emanu-El in Closter, who led the convocation preceding Netanyahu’s remarks Monday night alongside the Rev. Oscar King III, a Baptist minister from Detroit.
At AIPAC, effort to shift focus back to agenda: Iran, foreign aid, Capitol Hill relationships
WASHINGTON – Let’s get past this U.S.-Israel relationship thing, so we can get on with important stuff, like the U.S.-Israel relationship.
That seemed to be the message this week at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
With a record 10,000 people and both the U.S. and Israeli leaders in attendance — plus 67 U.S. senators and 286 members of the U.S. House of Representatives at the gala dinner on Monday night — this AIPAC parley was the biggest and in many ways the most impressive ever.
Local pols boost Bibi
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speeches, the first before AIPAC on Monday and the second before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, drew praise from New Jersey officials.
Reps. Steve Rothman (D-9), Bill Pascrell (D-8), and Scott Garrett (R-5) stressed their agreement with Netanyahu that the onus is now on the Palestinian Authority to reject the annihilationist agenda of Hamas. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) and Robert Menendez (D) also issued statements following the speeches about the necessity, on the part of the Palestinians, to accept Israel’s right to exist.
For Obama, Bibi tensions subside, political problems begin
WASHINGTON – That Israel problem President Obama had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? Old news.
That Israel problem Obama has with Congress? And with his party?
That’s just beginning.
In two successive speeches — one to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Monday and another to a joint meeting of Congress the following day, Netanyahu had nothing but praise for the U.S. president.
