Romney to Jewish donors: ‘I get Israeli briefings’

<snip>

"Mitt Romney told donors attending his campaign's Utah retreat that he is briefed on the Middle East by Israeli government officials.

About 50 of the 700 donors who attended the retreat this weekend in Park City were Jewish, according to one in attendance.

Many of these attended a breakout session Friday afternoon on the U.S.-Israel relationship, although between half and three quarters of the 100 donors attending the session were not Jewish.

Romney dropped in on the session, and said he had just been briefed by the Israeli ambassador, Michael Oren, speaking about, among other issues, the situation in Syria, the elections in Egypt and the effort to isolate Iran."

<snip>

"Addressing the U.S.-Israel session were William Kristol, a founder of the Emergency Committee for Israel which recently ran ads accusing Obama of not doing enough to stop Iran; Michael Chertoff, the Bush administration Homeland Security Secretary, who is Jewish; and Norm Coleman, the former U.S. senator from Minnesota, who is also Jewish."

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/06/24/3099041/romney-to-jewish-donors-i-get-israeli-briefings


Emergency Committee for Israel calls for U.S. war on Iran now

<snip>

"It doesn’t get any more blatant than this: The Emergency Committee for Israel, founded by the aristocrats of the ”Commentary crowd,” the original Republican Likudniks, is now screaming for Obama to attack Iran. ECI put out a press release yesterday announcing that “in light of yet another failed round of nuclear talks with Iran this week,” its 30-second, scare-the-shit-out-of-’em ad, “It’s Time to Act,” which began airing last week in New York and Washington, is debuting this weekend in the November election’s battleground states. It’s running ”on broadcast and cable in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, with dozens of spots featured in major markets during Sunday shows, Major League Baseball games, and cable news.” These guys are not poor.

Visually, the ad is basic black lit up with missile fire and bomb explosions; aurally, it’s got the announcer’s grave voice against the beating of drums. The co-stars are Obama, looking gentle, and Ahmadinejad, looking sinister. The punch line:

Obama is still talking – and Iran has enough fuel for five nuclear bombs. Talking isn’t working. It’s time to act. Before it’s too late. (Bomb explodes, drum roll, out.)

ECI’s board is made up of the supremely smug neocon arbiter William Kristol, Christian Right pill Gary Bauer, and frothing-at-the-mouth genocide freak Rachel Abrams. Its executive director is hit man Noah Pollak. This is not a marginal right-wing group. It represents the cutting edge of GOP Middle East policy, and its guiding principle is maximum war against maximum Muslims.

Until now, Republican Likudniks have stopped short of calling for an immediate U.S. war with Iran. But the failure of the nuclear talks in Moscow last week gave them just the right opportunity to finally let it all hang out. I don’t know if other Republican (along with many Democratic) Likudniks are going to follow suit, or if instead the idea is to let ECI spell out what Mitt Romney and the others imply. Either way, the “drift to war” in America has just picked up speed and direction."

http://972mag.com/emergency-committee-for-israel-calls-for-u-s-war-on-iran-now/49160/