A major pro-Israel Democratic Party campaign donor says he is unsettled by the Obama administration's Middle East policy.Iran is a situation that should not be taken lightly.
"The situation is catastrophic, if you want me to put it simply," Haim Saban, an entertainment magnate, told Israel's Channel 10 news on May 13. "Look, I don’t think Obama is anti-Israel, like people think he is. His goal is to achieve peace, just like our goal is to achieve peace. The way he intends to do it may not be the way some people in Israel would like it, and especially on the right."
Saban did not go into particulars, but in another recent interview with the New Yorker magazine, he said he was not satisfied that Obama would confront Iran should it become a nuclear power.
Saban, who was interviewed at a conference of the Israel Leadership Council in Los Angeles, has been a major Democratic Party donor.[...]
Saban, who holds dual Israeli-American citizenship, has said that he exercises his political influence in support of Israel and a lasting peace in the region.
Saban is considering the purchase of Newsweek magazine, which is up for sale, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Peter Beinart has an interesting article, The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment, that was recently published.
In far more serious news, I thank Captain Brewster for serving America in the armed forces.
My father is a fourth-generation Episcopal minister from a blue-blooded New England family who fell in love with a Jewish girl. Rather than prescribing a religion to any of their children, my parents raised my brother, sister and me in both religions and allowed us to decide for ourselves. While not rejecting my Christian heritage, I have considered myself Jewish since shortly after my bar mitzvah.
For safety’s sake, I ordered two sets of dog tags before my deployment, one that identified me as Jewish, the other as Episcopalian. In my first three months in Iraq, while I worked in intelligence — mostly relegated to a windowless office — I wore the dog tags that said Jewish. My switch to platoon leader meant leaving the base daily and facing increased danger. The night before my new duties, I sat for close to an hour staring at each set of dog tags. I thought of the Maccabees — choosing death at the hand of the Assyrians rather than renouncing their faith. I also recalled Daniel Pearl — the Wall Street Journal reporter who had been beheaded in Pakistan, in part for being Jewish. I knew the chance of my capture was relatively low and that my dog tags would probably remain hidden under my uniform. But the idea of hiding my religious identity weighed on me heavily.
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