American Elections | The American Task Force on Palestine

Newt, the Jews, and an “Invented” People
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New Yorker
by David Remnick - (Blog) December 11, 2011 - 1:00am

Late last week, as part of a Republican pander-fest for the Jewish vote—what Jon Stewart aptly called a “tuchus kiss-off”—Newt Gingrich, the frontrunner in Iowa and South Carolina, turned on the spigot of his pedantry and called the Palestinians an “invented” people.

Why Israelis may not be thrilled by sweet nothings from Gingrich, GOP
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - December 11, 2011 - 1:00am

Israelis have grown accustomed to being the object of affection by US politicians and a stop on the campaigns of aspiring candidates over the past decade. But the recent one-upmanship in the Republican primary on Israel has taken the debate into new territory. Newt Gingrich’s declaration that the Palestinians are an "invented" people potentially put him further to the right of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, whom Mitt Romney then name dropped in promising to stay on the same page with the government. An embarrassment of diplomatic riches for Israel? Not necessarily.

Statement of Senator Carl Levin Regarding Newt Gingrich’s Comments about the Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
by Carl Levin - December 10, 2011 - 1:00am

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., issued the following statement today in regards to Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s comments on the Jewish Channel television network regarding the Palestinian people: "Newt Gingrich is wrong to think his attempt to turn the Palestinians into a non-people with no claim to a state will appeal to his audience on the Jewish Channel on which they are apparently to be aired on Monday.

Gingrich calls Palestinians an ‘invented’ people
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Amy Gardner, Philip Rucker - December 9, 2011 - 1:00am

Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich said in a cable TV interview that Palestinians are an “invented” people with no apparent right to their own state, a rejection of a decade of bipartisan U.S. foreign policy. In the interview, which was taped Wednesday in Washington and will be broadcast Monday on The Jewish Channel, Gingrich spoke about his mistrust of Palestinian leaders, his admiration for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his view that the Obama administration is “favoring the terrorists” with its foreign policy.

Jewish groups: Don't slam Obama over Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - October 25, 2011 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON – The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC), two of the most prominent Jewish-American organizations in the United States, on Sunday issued a joint “pledge” calling on Jewish and Israel groups not to criticize President Obama’s record on Israel. The "National Pledge for Unity on Israel," aims to promote bipartisan support for Israel while preventing the Jewish State from becoming a wedge issue in the upcoming campaign season.

As 2012 Polls Loom, Caution's the Word for Obama Foreign Policy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Barbara Slavin - (Analysis) October 20, 2011 - 12:00am

Ronald Reagan quickly withdrew U.S. troops from Lebanon in 1983, a year before he sought re-election, after the U.S. forces there became the target of bombings by Shiite militants. George W. Bush launched the war in Iraq in 2003 in part because he didn't want to start a new conflict a year later. And Bill Clinton waited until almost the end of his second term to make a concerted push for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Obama’s Israel problem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Ian Buruma - October 10, 2011 - 12:00am

On a rare foray outside his native Texas, Governor Rick Perry accused US President Barack Obama of “appeasement” towards the Palestinians. Former New York City Mayor Edward Koch supported a Catholic Republican congressional candidate against a Jewish Democrat in New York, because the Republican supports Israel through thick and thin - and because Obama had voiced reservations about Israel’s expansion of settlements on the West Bank. In Koch’s words, Obama “threw Israel under the bus”. The Republican won.

Obama's Jewish Team Lays Out Path Back to White House
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - (Analysis) October 5, 2011 - 12:00am

For the past three months, a group of President Obama’s Jewish supporters has been getting together for a weekly conference call to discuss strategy. The group, includes, among others, former White House adviser David Axelrod, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former Congress members Robert Wexler and Mel Levine, Chicago Jewish activist and attorney Alan Solow, and mega-donors Penny Pritzker and Lester Crown.

Rick Perry Wins Support Among Right-Wing Jews
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forward
by Nathan Guttman - October 3, 2011 - 12:00am

It could have been an awkward moment even for a seasoned politician like Texas Governor Rick Perry. Surrounded by a group of Orthodox rabbis in black hats and black suits during a Hanukkah ceremony at the Texas State Capitol, Perry, now a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, was swept into a hora dance, holding hands with the Jewish leaders as they surrounded the lighted menorah. But Perry did not seem to mind. “That was a real ‘Dancing With the Stars,’” he said jokingly.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict too volatile to wait for U.S. election
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Globe and Mail
by Shira Herzog - (Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

Supported by the United States, Israel has always feared “internationalization” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over direct negotiations and rightly sees the majority of United Nations members as biased against it. Palestinians recognize their relative advantage in international forums but, until now, have been content with the familiar ritual of General Assembly resolutions critical of Israel. Now that Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas has upped the ante and applied for admission through the Security Council, no one really knows what happens next.

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