Something not kosher about DNC Jerusalem fiasco

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

JERUSALEM — Let me begin with the good news first. The Democratic Party platform reinstated the importance of Jerusalem to our country’s values and principles—along with God too!

Now comes the bad news. Although the section of Jerusalem was reinstated, the sections pertaining to the Palestinian refugees and the terrorist organization Hamas remain conspicuously absent from the DNC platform.

One thing bothers me about the DNC: What were they thinking in the first place? Obviously, somebody had a problem with Jerusalem being the capital of Israel. I suspect that the DNC was attempting to appeal to the growing Arab-American population.

Was it all due to a typo? Or was there something more to this story …

My inner critic senses something unkosher. I do not think the DNC omissions of the three problems were accidental—not by a long shot.

The Obama administration differs in many respects from that of previous U.S. presidents.

The DNC statement concerning Jerusalem should not come as much of a surprise, in July 2010, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod all heaped criticism upon Israel for adding 1300 housing units to the Jewish section of East Jerusalem. This represented a watershed change in Washington’s thinking about Jerusalem, which is recognized by Congress as the undivided capital of Israel.

In contrast, both the 2008 and 2004 Democratic Party platforms unabashedly declared that “Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel…It should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths.” One can only infer that Obama agrees with Mahmoud Abbas’s promise that “Jerusalem will never be a Jewish city.”

Jews everywhere ought to find this change outrageous. The original document was not a fluke. When Rahm Emanuel joined in the 2010 condemnation of the addition of new apartments in East Jewish Jerusalem, he made it a point to celebrate his son’s Bar Mitzvah at the Western Wall. What is wrong with this picture?

In fairness to the Democratic platform, the Republicans also made a similar change in their platform at the RNC. It might be argued that in both parties’ platforms, the revisions may not necessarily reflect a dramatic policy shift, but rather attempts by party leadership to avoid foreign policy commitments in the non-binding political document.

Second term presidents often act with a sense of impunity.

It is obvious the changes to the platform occurred only because Jewish leaders publicly protested. If Obama is reelected, he will owe the Jewish supporters who renewed his tenure absolutely nothing. What is to stop him from insisting that Jews vacate all of East Jerusalem? Is this a risk we –as Jews—are willing to take?

If the President is sincerely interested in bringing peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, dividing the sovereignty of Jerusalem is not going to solve the problem, but it will exacerbate it. Palestinians need to respect the symbolic and historical attachments the Jewish people have felt toward Jerusalem—and nothing less will do. Israel has done an amazing job ensuring the access to all faiths to East Jerusalem. Palestinian leaders shamelessly make their plans to destroy the Western Wall and build condos in their place—they are totally disconnected with reality, and so are we—if we indulge the Palestinian zero-sum philosophy of delegitimizing the Jews.

Before the change occurred regarding Jerusalem, Alan Dershowitz admitted that the new 2012 DNC platform’s position regarding Jerusalem, Hamas and Palestinian refugees were issues that are “deeply troubling.” He added, “My goal is always to keep support for Israel a bi-partisan issue and never make a national election any kind of referendum on Israel; I don’t think it is a good thing that the Republican platform seems to be more pro-Israel than the Democratic platform.”

Then again, President Obama went on record this past year and called for a contiguous Palestinian State, which would make it impossible for Israel to protect its borders from the Jihadist attacks.

In the final analysis, I wish I could say, “All is well that ends well,” but the entire way the DNC handled this problem still remains unresolved. The Jewish community must insist upon an explanation for all the chaos. I find it hard to imagine how the  Obama Administration failed to take into consideration the details of their DNC platform and its political and symbolic implications. Like Dershowitz, Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director said, “But we are still troubled that it was removed, and it should never have happened in the first place.  This has been a longstanding policy statement on the DNC platform going back decades.”

Exactly.

Given the pressures that Israel is facing in the world, this procedural problem could  not come at a more serious time. While Jews and Christians tend to make the DNC omission of Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital into the main issue, let’s not forget: No recognition must ever be given to Hamas as a “peace” partner, and the Palestinian refugees will just have to learn to accept their own Diaspora, much like the Jews have for the past 2000 years.

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Rabbi Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple beth Shalom in Chula Vista.  He may be contacted at michael.samuel@sdewishworld.com