World
The Community is Invited-
to Attend the
80th Annual- Meeting
of
Jewish
Service
featuring
Rabbi Irwin Kula
Ranked #8 in Newsweek Magazine's
TT 50 Rabbis in America
Obama's Surrogate
Jewish ex-envoy advocates more balance,
pressure in U.S. Mideast peacemaking.
Ranting AI &ITV:
The Ptratice Cg
Where do rdittious
ritual and the actual
pracnce of caring
rneet? Do we define
ourselves a ews by
how much we give.:
or how much we (.16?
How does the. prac-
b•ce of caring affff:t
the way we treat our family and. others?
At our annual meeting, Rabbi Kula will
nary his thoughu on those people who
embrace their inner yearning to i:erve
those in need.
Rabbi 'Kula is president of UAL — The
Obama supporter Daniel Kurtzer
Ron Kampeas
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Nationa Jett
Hish Center f r Lean?* and
Le(de-rda leadenhip training,: it
think. tank and res.'out center. A
a. by member of the Wexner Heritage
.Foundation, Babbi Kula is a mg/Aar on
NBC-TV's Fie Tbday Show, In his 1atest
bo)k.. liamings: Frei ac the Sacred
Heainets VI* Rabbi *Lila explores and
celebrates seven of our deepest desir..
Tuesday, June 3
7:00y.m. Dessert Reception
7:30y.m. Program
Jewish Community Center
Marion S' David Handreman Auditorium
D. Dan & Betty Kahn Budding
Eugene a Marcia Ayykbaum
Jewish Community Camyus
6600 W Mayie Road, West Broomfield
(comylimentary valetyarking)
There is no charge to attend.
For reservations yfease call
Lori Drucker at IFS,
248-592-2339, or e-mail
Ldrucker@jfsdetroit.org
Diane Orley Judy Stern
Chairs, ,JFS 80th Annual Meeting
Sandy Muskovitz Danto
President, Jewish Family Service
11111j Jewish
Federation
)409AFF1,04-, ".
idfrefrcpc.40,41 tpc - ar,St
WE'RE pAirr Of THE TEAM
amIlY
1382220
A44
April 24 • 2008
Washington
I
n recent weeks, the Obama cam-
paign has sought to bolster its
outreach to Jewish voters with a big
name: Daniel Kurtzer, the first Jewish
U.S ambassador to Egypt and the first
Orthodox Jew to serve as envoy to Israel.
Kurtzer, whose role has sharply
increased ahead of the critical April 22
primary in Pennsylvania, would appear
to embody the bipartisan reach that U.S.
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has preached
in his bid to win the Democratic presi-
dential nod.
President Bill Clinton named him to
the Cairo post in 1997 and President
Bush sent him to Tel Aviv in 2001.
Such credentials are important for a
candidate whose Jewish campaign has
been dogged by questions about the
fierce criticism of Israel embraced by his
former pastor as well as some advisers
who counsel more balance in the U.S.
approach to Middle East peacemaking.
With U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton,
D-N.Y., already attracting high-profile
Jewish supporters — legal star Alan
Dershowitz, Hollywood supertalent
Steven Spielberg, the entire (and substan-
tial) New York Jewish congressional del-
egation and fundraisers Steve Grossman
and Lonnie Kaplan, both past presidents
of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee — Obama could use a boost
from an experienced voice with Middle
East bona fides.
Yet Kurtzer, 58, could prove to be more
problem than solution, at least among
the more established elements of the
pro-Israel community. If anything, he is
more pronounced in advising a balanced
approach to Middle East peacemaking
than any of the real and purported advis-
ers to Obama already singled out for
criticism by pro-Israel hawks.
In their recently released book
Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace, Kurtzer
and co-author Scott Lasensky argue that
the United States needs to pressure both
the Israelis and Palestinians into living
up to their commitments.
While the authors put much emphasis
on the Palestinian failure to stop terror-
ism, they also point to the Israeli failure
to dismantle unauthorized settlement
outposts in the West Bank.
The United States, Kurtzer and
Lasensky write, "must assure compliance
through monitoring, setting standards of
accountability, reporting violations fairly
to the parties and exacting consequences
when agreements or commitments are
not implemented:'
They also argue that it is important to
include more Arabist voices in U.S. poli-
cymaking.
Some of Kurtzer's views would seem
to represent a sharp departure from 16
years of Clinton and the second Bush,
two presidents who made Israel's con-
siderations paramount in approaching
peacemaking.
And unlike other figures with ties to
Obama or his campaign who have raised
eyebrows among pro-Israel activists,
Kurtzer is expected to play a key role in
advising the candidate on Middle East
issues.
Kurtzer and other senior advisers in
the campaign stress that the book — a
concise negotiating guide based on doz-
ens of interviews with Israeli, Arab and
American negotiators written for the gov-
ernment-run think tank the U.S. Institute
of Peace — was completed in February,
prior to his endorsement of Obama and
joining the campaign.
"At this stage, there is not a lot of
advice,' said Kurtzer, who described his
role more as a surrogate. "His primary
mission is to win an election campaign.
It's a lot of electoral politics right now
"The advice will come when he's a
candidate" facing U.S. Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz., the certain Republican nominee.
A senior Obama policy adviser said,
"The views that matter are the views of
the candidate
But at a suburban Philadelphia cam-
paign event, which drew more than 300
people, Kurtzer's role was emphasized as
Mideast adviser both during the cam-
paign and in any future Obama admin-
istration.
Kurtzer himself acknowledged the fine
line between advocating his own views
and representing the Obama campaign.
Still, Kurtzer is passionate in his sup-
port for Obama. "In the past few months
I have come to believe it is imperative
that we elect Barack Obama president',' he
told the crowd, citing the senator's com-
mitment to diplomacy as the preferred
method to address the world's problems.
When he looked at the field of candi-
dates, Kurtzer said, the "first question on
my mind was, `Where does the candidate
stand on Israel?'"
Kurtzer condemned the Bush adminis-
tration for not engaging more aggressive-
ly, called the Annapolis process a "sham"
and said that policies over the past eight
years have "compromised the security of
the State of Israel."
In the book, Kurtzer and Lasensky
fault both sides for noncompliance dur-
ing the Oslo process, especially naming
the Palestinian failure to stop terrorism.
In recent years, however, the book says
two of the "most striking" examples of
noncompliance were Israel's pledges in
2003 and 2004 to remove settlement out-
posts that had never been authorized by
the Israeli government.
It never happened, "and the Bush 43
administration did nothing in response,'
the book says, using shorthand for the
current President Bush.
As an example of "consequences"
that could be exacted for failing to live
up to commitments, the book cites the
first President Bush's withholding of
loan guarantees to the Shamir govern-
ment until it agreed to freeze settle-
ment building in 1991. It also notes the
political price such tensions create, often
undermining Israeli leaders who need to
prove to the electorate that they have the
confidence of the U.S. president and the
American Jewish community.
The book makes clear that defense
funding for Israel must be exempt from
such sanctions. 0