By Donald H. Harrison
NATIONAL/ INTERNATIONAL – The interview of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe by Scott Pelley of CBS’s 60 Minutes show has set off a controversy following McCabe’s comments that in the wake of the firing of FBI Director James Comey, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein volunteered to wear a wire to a meeting with President Trump (which he ultimately did not do) and wondered whether there were enough Cabinet members who would be willing to invoke the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to remove him from office. Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina said he would launch an investigation to determine whether this amounted to an effort to stage a coup. A story in The San Diego Union-Tribune, combining other news sources, noted that Rosenstein has disputed McCabe’s account. … A New York Times story reports that U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, is trying to build bridges to the African-American community which voted overwhelmingly in 2016 for his Democratic primary opponent Hillary Clinton.
ISRAEL MATTERS – In a major embarrassment to Benjamin Netanyahu, a conference in Jerusalem to be attended by the prime ministers of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia has been cancelled in the fallout over Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki taking offense over comments made by Netanyahu linking Poles with Nazi perpetrators of the Holocaust. Netanyahu’s efforts to repair the damage by saying his comments were misreported were unavailing. David Harris, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, commented, “As friends, we need to be able to manage our inevitable differences. That begins with choosing our words carefully — knowing when to speak, how to speak, and where to speak. It means not allowing individual incidents to escalate out of control. And it means not ceding all the progress achieved to date to those who might wish to destroy it. For our part, in other words, AJC seeks to help chart a brighter path forward for Poles and Jews alike.” … The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on Monday was welcomed to Jerusalem by Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin, who emphasized Jewish unity. He said an Israel-Diaspora dialogue should be based on the premise that “we are one,” and that Israeli and Diaspora Jews “must work together to fight anti-Semitism.” Netanyahu struck a similar theme saying, “The unity of our people is a source of our strength. That is why I am pushing for the pluralistic site at the Kotel to be developed.”
ANTI-SEMITISM – French Jewish philosopher Alain Finklekraut was the recipient of a torrent of hate speech from Yellow Vest protesters in France over the weekend, prompting judicial authorities in Paris to launch an investigation. According to a roundup in the San Diego Union-Tribune, protesters yelled at the philosopher, “Go Back to Tel Aviv,” “Zionist,” and “France is Our Land.” .. In a column trying to explain the resurgence of anti-Semitism, attorney Alan Dershowitz wrote, “If the French government had not deported to the death camps more Jews than their German occupiers asked for; if so many Dutch and Belgian citizens and government officials had not cooperated in the roundup of Jews; if so many Norwegians had not supported Quisling; if Swiss government officials and bankers had not exploited Jews; if Austria had not been more Nazi than the Nazis, the Holocaust would not have had so many Jewish victims. In light of the widespread European complicity in the destruction of European Jewry, the pervasive anti-Semitism and irrationally hateful anti-Zionism that has recently surfaced throughout western Europe toward Israel should surprise no one. “
U.S MEXICO BORDER – White House Senior Advisor Stephen Miller tried during an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace to reconcile President Trump’s claim that illegal immigration has reached crisis proportions with government statistics showing that attempted crossings are at the lowest level in decades. “You don’t know what you don’t know, and you don’t catch what you don’t catch,” Miller replied. “But as a matter of national security, you cannot have uncontrolled, unsecured areas of the border where people can pour in undetected.” The Washington Post, rounding up comments made on Sunday news shows, also reported that Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois told
SAN DIEGO COUNTY – U.S. Rep. Mike Levin, D-California, last year spent $4,742,614 in his successful pursuit of the House seat from which Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, retired, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Of San Diego County’s five members of Congress, Rep. Susan Davis, D-California, spent the least: $279,029. … Todd Gloria has released a list of supporters for his mayoral campaign. Among those who are members of the Jewish community are Laurie Black, Lawrence Cushman, Michael Gelfand, and Mel Katz.
BUSINESS – The Royal Wine Company, which produces Kedem Win of Israel, hosted a Kosher Food & Wine Experience in New York City, which 2,000 people attended. This prompted the company’s vice president Jay Buchsbaum to exult “Israeli wines are an unstoppable trend in the U.S. Reailers and restaurants recognize Israel as a region of world-class terroirs. They are fully on board, working with us to raise the profile of kosher wines that are on par with the greatest vintages from around the globe.
SIMCHAS –Eliot Engel, the New York Congressman who now heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is 72 today.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com