James Edward Johnson

Senator Charles Grassley addresses Christians United For Israel on August 19 in Clive, Iowa.

On Thursday, I had the privilege of meeting with a lot of Christian supporters of Israel affiliated with CUFI, Christians United for Israel.  The degree of love and support I felt from these people presents a challenge to the center-left.

I am a Democrat and a liberal on a large number of social policies.  But, even when I acknowledged this fact, I was answered by the recognition that it makes our mutual interest in supporting Israel all the more awesome.

Christians for Israel support Israel and the Jewish people because of their Christian faith.  The believe they honor God by honoring Jews and Israel.  Unlike some Christians, they do not merely see Jews as part of some end-times story or desire dragging Jews into a war in order to provoke Armageddon.  They pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the security of Israel and the Jewish people.

Senator Charles Grassley addressed the group of at least a few hundred people in Clive, Iowa.  His expression of support for Israel and the Jewish people is a challenge.  It is a challenge because, as a Democrat, I do not experience such expressions of support in my own party.  I hear support, but it is often explicitly narrow support.  In offering his unyielding support (not necessarily uncritical – but certainly unyielding), Grassley challenges Democrats like me to do better.

And, indeed, we must do better.  Current polling shows that Jews are increasingly Republican.  Indeed, one third of Jews report being Republican today compared to 20% in 2008 and 26% in 2006.  Weakness on Israel among Democrats must be a factor in this shift.

How many of my fellow Democrats, for example would say, as Grassley did, that, “God commands me that I must pray for Jerusalem’s peace”?  How many would say that, “Judaism can stand alone without Christianity but Christianity cannot stand alone without Judaism”?  Among Democrats, would that line about Christian dependence on Judaism get the tremendous applause that these overwhelmingly Republican Christians gave?  How many Democrats would join the echoes of Isaiah 62 that, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet”?

Now, I know people who work with Grassley’s general election opponent in November, Democrat Roxanne Conlin.  They have assured me that she stands with Israel.  But, when Grassley expresses his support with such passion, it makes voting with my party a little more difficult.  For less active Democratic Jews, it might make standing with the Democratic Party much more difficult.

We Democrats must meet this challenge.  It is a strategic necessity that we not allow Republicans to capture voters on this issue.

Although most fear an Israeli attack on Iran, Smith lays out the case for much broader support for an attack.

Note: This piece is cross-posted at View From Damavand.

Lee Smith, a rising star in the Middle East analysis world, has an excellent exploration over at Newsweek of the alliance against an Iranian bomb in the region.

Although most fear an Israeli attack on Iran, Smith lays out the case for much broader support for an attack.  Indeed, he presents an Israeli attack as a backup to a far more compelling case for an American-led attack on behalf of Arab states.  In the final paragraph he notes:

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal explained to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that sanctions against Iran did not offer the immediate solution required to stop the revolutionary regime’s push for a nuclear weapon. This sentiment was echoed a few weeks back by the United Arab Emirates’ ambassdor to Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba, who calculated that bombing Iran was preferable to an Iranian bomb. Even as the ambassador later backtracked, the Middle East’s worst-kept secret was now in the public record: the Arabs are even more concerned than the Israelis about an Iranian bomb.

via Our Proxy War in the Middle East – Newsweek

The Persians have a history of being closer to the West than do the Arabs.  The alignment of so many disparate interests against Iran is a sad reflection of the disastrous course that the Ayatollahs and Ahmadinejad have taken.  They have converted the Persian nation into a uniter of some of the world’s most bitter enemies … and against Iran.

Read the rest of Lee Smith’s Our Proxy War in the Middle East.   If you want to read more of his insights, he writes a regular column for Tablet Magazine.

View From Damavand is a new website on a variety of Iran-oriented issues.  My good friend Yashar is the person behind it.  He has asked me to contribute on issues related to the cold, and sometimes hot, conflict between Iran and Israel.  Here is my introductory entry:

Israeli intelligence … and the chance of a strike. | View From Damavand.

Anti-Israel boycotts would be humorous if they were not a leading indicator of rising antisemitism in certain quarters.  The reason, of course, is that no one is seriously interested in boycotting the most productive and dynamic sectors of Israel’s economy.  Dead Sea products might be a visible symbol of Israel, but they represent very few jobs and a small export.

Israel’s major commerce is high tech – ranging from medical devices to pharmaceuticals to cell phone technologies to cutting edge software to …

Here is the latest:

Tel Aviv University researchers claim to have developed an experimental drug used in a polymer delivery system that may make it possible someday to prevent cancer or turn malignant tumors into a chronic disease with which one could live for years.

via TAU: cancer drug ‘breakthrough’ at JPost.

The reason Israel boycotts are doomed to fail is that no one wants to turn away from such incredible progress.  Who, after all, would refuse a cancer treatment because it was developed in Israel?

Read the nerdy stuff on this breakthrough at The FASEB Journal, ‘Applications of the human p53 knock-in (Hupki) mouse model for human carcinogen testing’.

Anyone who has been through Ben Gurion Airport in Israel knows what real security looks like.  On one hand it is inconvenient, but on the other security personnel are doing their jobs well.  It is a far cry from the security theater we have here in the US.

Even so, the news of search and detention there is not always good.  Recent days brings us one such case:

[Donna] Shalala, the health and human services department secretary in the Clinton administration, said she was detained at the Tel Aviv-area airport in July for three hours for interrogation and a luggage check.

via Shalala says she was interrogated in Israel | JTA – Jewish & Israel News.

I know first-hand what Shalala experienced.  I experienced a very similar three-hour detention that included a thorough search of all my belongings and a series of interviews.  It was tiresome, but necessary.  Israel has faced “tourist” based terror threats from as far away as Britain and Japan in the past.

People who understand this do not take Israeli security procedures personally.  Shalala is a case in point:

“While I was inconvenienced, Israel’s security and the security of travelers is far more important,” Shalala said in a statement issued after returning to the United States. “I have been going in and out of Israel for many years and expect to visit again.”

And, I would agree.  Moreover, I was impressed at how well Israeli security operated.  It is not the pro forma security typical of the US.  It is real and investigative.  And, the officers tend to be particularly courteous and considerate.  Once they determine you are not a threat, they take you past all the usual security and baggage check lines and ensure you make your flight in spite of the delay.

Point of No Return is an excellent blog that covers stories about Jews in the Middle East and North Africa.  It culls the news from an impressive array of sources and provides original pieces in what is a must-read source for all things Jewish in Arab countries.  Here is an excerpt of an interview of a Mossad agent, Jayzi-Ghazi, who helped the Kurds:

Aliayzar: In Mossad, we didn’t have ability to choose to where we could go. Sometimes, we would go to countries which we were against and we would go to their homes and they didn’t like to see us. You read their letters and listen to their talks without their consent. Sometimes you would face dictatorships. Anyway, you have no choice and you must obey. However, we were all happy to work in Kurdistan, because we knew that they were an oppressed nation.

via Point of no return: Mossadnik wants to become first Kurdish consul.

Israeli-Kurdish cooperation is an important start for what should be much broader Jewish support for our Kurdish friends.

Z-Word over at the AJC comes through in reminding us of the AMIA massacre of Jews in Buenos Aires by Hezbollah 16 years ago today, and giving us an update on the current situation:

Though the AMIA massacre occurred on July 18th, 1994 the official commemoration of its sixteenth anniversary took place on the 16th. In these two stories covering the events that took place you’ll find Guillermo Borger, head of the AMIA community organization. the one directly affected by the attack, praising the “good performance” of the present administration with regard to the investigation into the attack and lauding Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s “bravery” in calling for the extradition of the Iranian fugitives in her speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations.

via Two Theses On The AMIA Massacre at Z-Word Blog.

Here in Iowa City, I have heard several people refer to Hezbollah as “brave”, “freedom fighters”, and other such nonsense.  Such people need to read about the AMIA bombing (that killed 85 and wounded hundreds) and learn that groups like Hezbollah are not simply enemies of Israel.  They are enemies of the Jews and all tolerant people everywhere.

Read the full post at Z-Word.

From VisionCare: "A telephoto ocular prosthesis. The central optical portion is a micro-lens system that renders a magnified image on the retina."

Although my blog rarely touches on it, my current career is in health care.  One thing you learn when you pay attention to health care and emerging technologies is that Israel is a dominant player.  Many new medical devices and techniques are developed in Israel (boycotters take note – stop using health care if you want to be consistent).

In recent days, one new technology has been getting a lot of press.  Age related macular degeneration (“AMD”) causes a person’s center vision to degrade – your peripheral vision works, but your area of focus does not.  An implantable telescopic device was just approved by the FDA that causes the center image to be shifted to the healthy part of a person’s retina.  It allows people with AMD to see much more normally again.

Many recent news reports talked about a California company named VisionCare that developed the technology.  To me, it just sounded too Israeli to have been developed in the US.  And, when I searched my feed reader, I saw that I had probably first heard of this technology five years ago … when it was first developed by an Israeli firm.  As the company matured, it adopted an American address.  But even today, much of the company’s operations and management remain in Petah Tikva, Israel.

This is just one of literally hundreds of amazing – almost magical – technologies developed in Israel every year.  Some of them are widely publicized as Israeli technologies.  Many, like this one, receive almost no publicity about its origins in Israel.

There is a good chance that every time you are a patient in a hospital, many Israeli products and innovations will be used in your care.  Consider that fact the next time you or a loved one needs treatment for a health condition.

Yemini Ben-Dror brings us some impressive observations over at Maariv (Hebrew).  The Gaza Strip has a higher life expectancy and a lower infant mortality than Iran, Turkey, and many Arab countries.  Moreover, in part because of high fertility and a young population, it has one of the lowest death rates in the world.  Indeed, the Gaza Strip has a booming population growth that outpaces almost every other country.

These facts would not be possible if Israel were cutting off needed food and medicine.  The simple reality is that Gazans are better off than most of their Arab and Muslim neighbors.  There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.  Israel’s blockade is in place for security reasons and these facts conclusively prove that allegations to the contrary are completely unsupported by data.

Some excellent observations by Eamonn McDonagh.  Here is an excerpt describing the points he addresses:

Three aspects common to many recent critiques of Israel are present here: Israel is seen as having once been very good and much loved and now to be very bad and widely hated, the person making the critique is Jewish (in this particular case, there’s the added bonus of the fact that Stéphane Hessel, the cited drafter of the Declaration of Human Rights is a Holocaust survivor) and Israel is seen to be heading for catastrophe if it doesn’t change its ways.

via Three Aspects of Criticism of Israel at Z-Word Blog.