Palin and the Jewish Agency
Sarah Palin does Israel policy:
Palin, Republican John McCain’s running mate, also tried to burnish her foreign policy credentials by meeting here with Israel’s ambassador to the United States, apologizing for the session’s delay.
“We look forward to … working with your Jewish agency,” she told Ambassador Sallai Meridor just before her speech outside Washington.
This is a reference to The Jewish Agency for Israel which helps Jews leave their current countries and move to Israel. Which is nice. But I think that most American Jews like the United States of America just fine. What we’d like to see is a commitment to policies here in the USA that help secure the interests and security of religious and ethnic minorities rather than, say, demagogic rhetoric about which kinds of people and which kinds of places are authentically American.
UPDATE: Corrected quote makes much more sense:
“I look forward to hearing about your work with the Jewish Agency and all the plans that we have. We’ll be working together.”
Dunno what that reporter was thinking; the alternations completely changed the meaning of what he was attributing to Palin.
38 Responses to “Palin and the Jewish Agency”
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October 27th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Could she have meant working with the Jewish Agency to help Jews leave other countries (i.e. not the United States) and move to Israel?
October 27th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Obviously she didn’t grasp that the Ambassador was from an actual country, as opposed to some other more generic kind of organization.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I’m fairly sure Sarah Palin hadn’t heard of the Jewish Agency until 30 minutes prior to the meeting when she read Sallai Meridor’s 1-page bio and found out he had been head of the Jewish Agency until just before he was appointed Ambassador. The Sochnut, as it’s known, used to function as the de facto government in the years before and just after the establishment of the State, but is now a shadow of its former self, having had most of its functions taken over by the Foreign, Interior, and Absorption Ministries. The Jewish Agency now has essentially just a fundraising operation in effect in North America, having ceded immigration-related functions to Nefesh b’Nefesh, a private non-profit agency. The US Government would have little, if anything, to do with the Sochnut.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
She meant the Jewish talent agency that helped a moderately talented beauty pageant contestant evolve into a moderately talented sports anchor.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
The article got corrected, and her quote’s not as bad now.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I’m sure she just got confused with her fundie belief that once the Jews return to Israel, Jesus will come back.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Preferred Response: “What’s not to look forward to about the Jewish agency?”
October 27th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Maybe she’s talking about David Falk.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Would love to hear your comments on Elaine Lafferty’s defense of Sarah Palin!
She wrote an article today in the Daily Beast explaining why she supports her and why she’s serving as a consultant to Palin and McCain after her role in the Hillary campaign.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
She wanted to say ‘the Jewish conspiracy,’ but her words got tangled up.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
JohnH beat me to it–I thought she meant “agency” in the epistemological sense of intentioned protagonism….in other words, as a euphemism for conspiracy. “The Jews sure showed a lot of agency in taking over the media, don’t ya know.”
October 27th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
She probably thinks “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” is a true story – so wants to encourage all the yiddish speakers to move to Israel and leave Alaska for real Americans.
October 27th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Is it too much to ask MattY to even consider getting quotes right? Yes, it is too much. It’s also too much to expect him to update the post accordingly.
So, here’s what might be the correct quote (link):
“I look forward to hearing about your work with the Jewish Agency and all the plans that we have. We’ll be working together.”
October 27th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I always look forward to some alternations on MY’s site.
October 27th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Maybe she’s planning on working to get all the Jews out of the U.S. and in Israel so that the End Times may be at hand?
October 27th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Re: But I think that most American Jews like the United States of America just fine
Well, perhaps. I would think that a religious Jew might argue that Jews have thrived in America through becoming assimilated, which might be ‘good’ for them as individuals, in some sense, but hardly good for the Jewish culture, religion, or national identity. The claim that the formation of Israel was good for the Jewish people as a whole seems to me to be unarguably true.
October 27th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Matt: “But I think that most American Jews like the United States of America just fine.”
Can’t prove it by SLC.
OTOH he hates Israelis, or so he claims.
I don’t even hate Israelis – certainly not Natalie Portman – just the ones who run the country and the right wing ones who want to kill or chase off all the Palestinians.
October 27th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Still sounds like she is hoping that they move all the Jews to Israel.
October 27th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
“Governor Palin, Mr. Jabotinsky on line two.”
October 27th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
And she can see Israel from Alaska.
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