On Stalled Aid to Israel and also Dennis Kucinich should be the next president!

Good, Bad News In Budget Bill
Measure offers symbolic support of Israel, but not extra
monetary aid.
James D. Besser - Washington Correspondent

Pro-Israel lobbyists are crowing about the much-delayed budget bill for
the fiscal year that’s already half over because it contains symbolic
provisions that strongly support Israel in its battle against terrorism.

This week the huge spending measure went to the White House for
President Bush’s signature.

But there’s a big omission that could ultimately have more concrete
results: the measure does not include $200 million in extra aid that has
been gummed up in Congress for several years.

And that’s a bad omen in a year when Israel wants a lot more — up to
$12 billion in extra aid and loan guarantees.

The $398 billion spending bill was put off after lawmakers last year
managed to pass only two military appropriations bills, leaving the
non-military side of the government unfunded.

The overall measure is about $14 billion higher than the Bush
administration requested. Critics in both parties say Congress and the
administration did everything they could — including the elaborate
bookkeeping tricks that have been a hallmark of recent Congresses —
to avoid making the hard budget choices that the sagging economy
and soaring military costs demand.

The measure includes $2.8 billion in military and economic aid for Israel,
$1.9 billion for Egypt and $75 million for the Palestinians, but not the
extra $200 million, promised by both the Bush and Clinton
administrations.

Administration officials continue to say extra money will be forthcoming
in a post-Iraq supplemental appropriation. But pro-Israel lobbyists
have been hearing a similar tune for several years.

Israeli officials continue to insist that there are few obstacles to
winning the bigger aid and loan guarantee package; Washington
sources say the imploding federal budget and administration concerns
about its faltering anti-Iraq coalition mean that moving the aid is likely
to be a slow process.

This week an Israeli delegation was due in town for working meetings
on the aid request. Those sessions were rescheduled after last week’s
meetings were abruptly postponed by the American side.

This week Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-L.I.) discussed the new aid with
Israeli officials during a visit to the region.

“The talks are ongoing, but both sides are coming away with the
feeling that it will pass,” he said. “I will certainly be doing everything I
can to make that happen.”

But even if it does move in Congress, other observers say, Israel is
unlikely to get anywhere near $4 billion in outright aid, and the $8
billion in loan guarantees could be cut back.

What the just-passed spending bill did include was language pushed
by pro-Israel lobbyists codifying President Bush’s conditions for
Palestinian statehood and demanding a Government Accounting Office
report on the United Nations Works and Refugee Agency (UNWRA) and
its alleged role in fomenting terror.

The measure also includes language that demands greater
accountability for U.S. aid to the Palestinians and affirming the status
of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

New Christian-Zionist Effort Generates Controversy

This week delegates to the Jewish Council for Public Affairs plenum in
Baltimore will debate — among other issues — the new alliance
between Evangelical Christians and pro-Israel Jews.

Whatever JCPA decides, that alliance is accelerating, and so is the
controversy.

Last week a group of Christian ministers, with a word of blessing from
Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and outgoing Jerusalem Mayor
Ehud Olmert, created the Evangelical Israel Broadcasting Network
(EIBN) to bring pro-Israel news and public service announcements to
hundreds of Christian television stations around the country.

The network is the brainchild of Mike Evans, a Texas-based evangelist
who some Jewish officials say has supported aggressive
proselytization efforts among the Jews.

The new network will begin with one-minute public service
announcements, which stations are running for free, “expressing
solidarity with the Jewish people in Israel,” Evans said in an interview.
“That will reach millions of Bible-believing Christians.” Eventually, he
said, the network will feed news directly from Israel to Christian
stations to counter “the distortions by the liberal media that have
ravished Israel.”

He denied that the growing Christian Zionist movement has ulterior
motives — like proselytization or the fulfillment of Christian Bible
prophecy.

“For the past 20 years I have been doing this because I believe as a
Christian I cannot love Jesus without loving the Jewish people,” he
said.

But a statement of principles proclaims that “EIBN believes the entire
Bible is true, including the Great Commission that calls for all who name
the name of the Lord to be a witness unto Him in Jerusalem, Judea and
Samaria.”

Evans said the Great Commission just refers to the need to “witness”
through good deeds and through support for Israel. But others say it
has a specific religious meaning: to bring the Gospel of Christ to all
mankind.

He also downplayed arguments that the Christian Zionist movement is
based heavily on “end-time” prophecies that predict intensifying
violence against Jews until Christ’s coming.

“We do have a strong belief that the rebirth of Israel in 1948, the
restoration of Jerusalem in 1967 and the return of the Soviet Jews are
a fulfillment of prophecy — most of which comes from the Old
Testament,” he said. “So we believe what we are doing could usher in
the return of the Messiah. Is that an ulterior motive? Indeed it is; we
would love the messiah to come back.”

But that doesn’t bother his Israeli friends, he said.

“Our Jewish friends say: ‘we believe in a messiah, you believe in a
messiah, and you want to support our land. And when He comes, only
He will know His name.’ ”

But some Jewish anti-missionary leaders say the new network is just
one more step toward legitimizing active conversion efforts among
Jews here and in Israel and an apocalyptic theology that predicts
endless violence for the region.

“He isn’t a major leader of the Messianic movement, but that’s
definitely his background,” said Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz, Los Angeles
director of Jews for Judaism. “They’ve been trying to gain legitimacy as
Jews — and people like Olmert are giving it to them.”

Kravitz said he opposed Olmert’s appearance last year at a California
fundraiser that raised money for terror victims — and for “advancing
the word of God in Israel.”

“The Israelis don’t care about this issue of Jews being converted to
Christianity,” he said. “To them, to lose a few to Christianity means
nothing compared to the issue of security, and getting more political
support. I appreciate where they’re coming from, but they don’t know
where to draw the line.”

Evans denied that he is a Messianic Jew, but declined to discuss his
religious background, except to say that his mother was Jewish.

“I am not part of the Messianic Jewish movement — zero, zippo,” he
said. “I am proud to be a Christian.”

Kucinich Candidacy:

One More Headache For Jewish Dems

The race for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination is turning
into a mob scene.

This week two more candidates moved to join the throng: Rep. Dennis
Kucinich (D-Ohio) and former Sen. Carol Mosley-Braun (D-Ill.) Both are
causing jitters among Jewish Democrats — already uneasy about the
presence of civil rights activist Al Sharpton in the race.

Kucinich, a four-term veteran of the House and a former mayor of
Cleveland, will stake out a strong anti-Iraq war position. He voted
against last year’s resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq, unlike
two Democratic frontrunners: Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. Joe
Lieberman (D-Conn.), who actively promoted the measure on the
Democratic side.

Kucinich has what one pro-Israel lobbyist described as a “very mixed
record” on Israel. When Congress overwhelmingly passed a resolution
expressing solidarity with an embattled Israel last May, Kucinich voted
“present.”

In a statement at the time, he said the resolution was one-sided.

“If we seek to require the Palestinians, who do not have their own
state, to adhere to a higher standard of conduct, should we not also
ask Israel, with over a half century experience with statehood, to
adhere to the basic standard of conduct, including meeting the
requirements of international law? “ he asked.

That’s likely to create new jitters among Jewish Democrats, who have
been suffering anxiety attacks ever since Sharpton entered the race.

“Sharpton will turn off many white voters and many Jewish voters,”
said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato, who said the
controversial activist “will sharpen the conflicts within the Democratic
party.”

Kucinich is unlikely to provoke the same reaction — but “if he does well
in the primaries, it could be one more factor convincing some Jews who
vote primarily on the basis of Israel to switch to the Republicans,” said
an official with a pro-Israel group here.

Mosley-Braun, the first African-American woman in the Senate, is
expected to file papers for an exploratory committee this week. She
lost her seat in 1998 to Sen. Peter Fitzgerald in the face of ethics
allegations; now, she’s ready for what she hopes will be the political
comeback of all times.

Kucinich and Mosley-Braun have not, as yet, revealed any Jewish roots
in their family trees — which almost makes them oddballs in the
Democratic race.

Recently Kerry found out his grandparents were Jewish; several years
ago, Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark, who is said to be considering a run for the
nomination, revealed that he has rabbis in his past.

And former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, while not Jewish, has a Jewish
wife, and is actively wooing Jewish campaign contributors around the
country.

Of course, there is only one shul-attending Jew in the race: Sen. Joe
Lieberman (D-Conn.). n