Disinviting Palin 'cowardly and shameful'

By Richard Baehr

In one of the most shameful, cowardly and foolish displays by the organized Jewish community in America since its weak response to the Holocaust, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, and its Executive Director Malcolm Hoenlein, caved in to pressure from left wing Democratic groups, and disinvited Sarah Palin from speaking at the rally by the UN today to protest Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his genocidal agenda for Israel.

Incredibly, the NJDC and its leader Ira Forman and the J-Street lobby, both crowed of their role in the decision . Having spent a day on an NJDC panel in Denver, I can attest to the fact that Iran (and for that matter, Israel) were not even on the agenda of the Jewish Democrats- the sole topic that seemed to excite folks was abortion (more, more more!).

Obviously there are too many Jews being born for NJDC and its members.

Several member groups of the Conference have protested the decision, and were angered by their exclusion from the decision making process. They include CAMERA, ZOA, JINSA and the National Council of Young Israel. Hats off to them. I contacted leaders of other groups that should have protested and didn't, and they begged off that they did not participate in the decision, and their role is more private.

Sorry, but I disagree. When the community turns itself into an object of ridicule because of the behavior of a collection of thugs who care more about appearances and how they might impact an election than the survival of Israel, then you need to speak up. Let us review a few items in this sordid history.

There was a similar rally outside in 2007 during the UN session Among those invited to appear were: Congressman Anthony Weiner (D), Senator Bob Mendendez (D), Congressman Jerry Nadler (D), Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D), New York City Council speaker Carolyn Quinn (D) and Congressman Scott Garrett (R). If you are counting, the elected officials who were invited and participated, they were basically all Democrats, with one exception. I guess that is the only balance acceptable to Democrats. Somehow, such a partisan wave did not threaten the tax exempt status of the Conference of Presidents - an idle threat made by the Democrats and their lawyers this week if Ms Palin were to appear.

Hillary Clinton , who has conducted herself with some dignity the last few months, showed no such class by withdrawing rather than having to appear with Palin. When the McCain camp heard of the pressure to get Palin disinvited, they contacted the Obama campaign, and asked them to send a spokesperson. The Obama campaign showed its own lack of class by offering Florida Congressman Robert Wexler, who had already slandered Miss Palin with a lie about her alleged ties to Patrick Buchanan - a lie continually repeated by the NJDC though it was clearly false. That fits the legal definition of slander, by the way.

Governor Palin released the statement she would have made at the rally. I guess such a statement is a real problem for the Democrats.

It is clear that having no elected officials to protest Ahmadinejad is a victory for the Democrats and their elected leaders. One would certainly not want to give Iran a message that the American political community was united in its opposition to him. As Roger Simon concludes from this ugly series of events, the mindset of left wing Jews is pretty clear: politics is their only real religion.

Richard Baehr is chief political correspondent of American Thinker.