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but even if a peace treaty were signed
tomorrow, it would not end the civil
war in Iraq!'
Biden's longstanding relationship
with the Jewish community should
reassure Jews who still feel anxious
about Obama, the Illinois senator who
has deep ties to the Chicago Jewish
community but has been on the
national stage barely four years, said
Cameron Kerry.
"I've seen the enormous respect
[Biden] commands in the pro-Israel
community," said Kerry, a convert to
Judaism and a senior adviser to the
2004 presidential campaign of his
brother, U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
"He has a well-established record,
he knows the issues, and he can talk
the talk. He may be the best goyishe
surrogate I've seen in the Jewish com-
munity"
Biden's son married into a Jewish
family; but his keen interest in the
region dates back to his first visit as a
senator, not long before the 1973 Yom
Kippur. He met Israel's then-prime
minister, Golda Meir.
In an interview with Shalom TV
last year, Biden said he came away
from that meeting understanding that
"there is this inextricable tie between
culture, religion, ethnicity that most
people don't fully understand — that
is unique and so strong with Jews
worldwide'
Mark Gittenstein, who worked for
Biden from 1976 to 1989, said no one
matched his breadth of knowledge on
Israel — not even his Jewish staffers.

Biden has a keen understanding
of the Holocaust, partly because of
his relationship with Tom Lantos, the
late California Democratic congress-
man who was the only Holocaust
survivor elected to the U.S. House of
Representatives.
Biden hired Lantos as an adviser in
the late 1970s, a leap into politics that
led the Hungarian-born economist to
consider a political career.
More substantively, his tutoring by
Lantos led Biden to take the lead on
genocide issues. Biden now champi-
ons efforts to isolate Sudan over the
massacre of hundreds of thousands of
civilians in its restive Darfur province.
Obama, by picking Biden, also a war
critic, allows Republicans to describe
the Democratic ticket as leaning to the
left on Middle Eastern issues.
Among Republican Jews, that
means scoring both men for oppos-
ing some of the tougher anti-Iran
measures embraced by McCain, an
Arizona senator, and some Democrats,
including Obama's chief rival in the
primaries, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton, D-N.Y.
"With the selection of Senator Joe
Biden as Senator Obama's vice presi-
dent, the Democrats' ticket has now
become an even greater gamble for the
Jewish community:' the Republican
Jewish Coalition said in a statement
Saturday hours after Obama made his
announcement. "Biden has failed to
recognize the serious threat that Iran
poses to Israel and the U.S. and its
allies in the Middle East."

❑

Dan Raviv

CBS Foreign Correspondent

HOW TO KEEP YOUR BEST FRIEND:
CAN ISRAEL COUNT ON AMERICA?

Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
27375 Bell Road • Southfield, Michigan

Honorees
ANNETTE & RUSSELL MESKIN

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
10:00 3:30
.Boutiques
10:00 — 11:45
Registration
12:00
.Lunch
1:00
Speaker

—

$45 for Members, $55 for Non-members
Please call Hadassah 248-683-5030 for tickets

1425050

MARKETPLACE

The Jewish News apologizes for the error In the
HEARTLAND MARKETPLACE ad that ran on 8/21/08.

Debating Presidential Pick
The Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit's SAJE (Seminars
for Adult Jewish Enrichment) will host
a program of importance to the elec-
tions. On Monday, Sept. 8, at 7:30 p.m.
SAJE will present a debate "McCain
vs. Obama: What's at stake for our
community and our country" featur-
ing Washington insiders Dr. Ralph
Nurnberger and Dan Cohen.
Nurnberger is a professor of inter-
national relations at Georgetown

University and author of Lobbying in
America. Cohen is senior vice presi-
dent for government relations and
public policy with U.S. Oncology and
the previous managing director of
Empower America.
The program is co-sponsored by the
Jewish Community Relations Council
and the Election 2008 Coalition. The
event is free and open to the public.
Registration is requested by Sept. 5
by calling (248) 432-5692.

The correct dates for the
HEARTLAND'S 3-DAY SALE are
FRIDAY 8/22-SUNDAY 8/24.
All other prices are for MONDAY, 8/25-SUNDAY 8/31.

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August 28 • 2008

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