No charges filed against Phinney,
Daily News Transcript, October 2, 2002
"No charges will be filed against Laurie Phinney, an Avery School teacher's aide, following a clerk's hearing in Dedham District Court yesterday. Phinney was accused of making anti-Semitic remarks to her neighbor, Patricia Schneider, according to police reports from June 8 and 11. Officers Richard Huyler and Mark Black filed a report of malicious damage and a broken window. Phinney denied making the remarks. Norfolk Assistant District Attorney Max Levy sought to charge Phinney with criminal civil rights violations. The court clerk found insufficient evidence to support the charge, said John Gibbons, Phinney's attorney."

Citizen Annenberg So Long, You Rotten Bastard,
by Jack Shafer, Slate, October 2, 2002
"Obituaries for Walter H. Annenberg in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Washington Post barely scrape the festering keratosis that was his career in crime, journalism, and politics. 'Media Tycoon Gave Fortunes to Others,' soft-pedals the Los Angeles Times. 'Walter Annenberg, Philanthropist and Publisher, Dies at 94,' intones the New York Times. 'Publisher, Philanthropist Walter Annenberg Dies,' echoes the Post. I'd prefer the headline, 'Billionaire Son of Mobster, Enemy of Journalism, and Nixon Toady Exits for Hell—Forced To Leave Picassos and van Goghs at Metropolitan Museum1 ... [Annenberg's father] Moe's bribery, blackmail, and mobstering career ended when he was indicted for tax evasion in 1939. Walter, a company VP, was indicted on charges of 'aiding and abetting.' Moe pleaded guilty, agreeing to pay the $9.5 million in back taxes and fines. Prosecutors offered to dismiss Walter's charges if Moe went directly to jail, which he did. Moe served two years and died 39 days after his release. Assuming control of his father's shattered company, Annenberg launched the phenomenally successful Seventeen magazine in the '40s and TV Guide in the '50s and acquired several radio and TV stations. Annenberg habitually turned his head to the right to obscure the disfigured ear he had been born with. His politics usually followed his ear after his second marriage, to Leonore Cohn Rosenstiel. Like his father, he used the Inquirer and his media empire as his bully pulpit, punishing enemies real and imagined."

Jews Are Deserving of An Additional Apology From All Christians,
The Jewish Star Times, October 2, 2002
"Now that the Pope has apologized for the sins committed against Jews in the name of the Catholic Church, and the German Lutheran Church has followed suit, it's expected that other Christian denominations will also seek forgiveness for their sins of anti-Semitism. A blanket apology for past wrongs is about all that any group can hope for, since no church, or government for that matter, can be expected to itemize every act of injustice committed by their predecessors over the centuries. The Jews, however, are one group that deserves a special apology from all of Christendom for the pain and suffering inflicted on them by Christians ever since some long-forgotten Gentile first called them Christ-killers two millennia ago."

Web warfare: Academics Who Criticise Israeli Actions Against the Palestinians Are Being Targeted By Computer Hackers,
Guardian (UK), October 1, 2002
"A new front in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been opened in the US and the UK. It has not been opened by Islamic fundamentalists, or radical Palestinians, but by American and Israeli computer hackers. Action on this new front has taken the form of identity theft, harassment, incitement to harassment, defamation of character and malicious misrepresentation through the misuse and misappropriation of computer email facilities and lists. In the process, the reliability of the web-based system of communication has been undercut, the integrity of some very prestigious universities have been called into question, and the judgment of law enforcement authorities made to look tainted with bias. Let me give a number of examples. In early July, a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Marc Dworkin, using a university email account, sent a message to recipients of his email lists directing them to harass Professor Mona Baker at University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. His exact words, after giving Professor Baker's email address and telephone number, were 'harrass (sic) the motherfucker.' This was his way of expressing his disagreement with Professor Baker over her support of the boycott of Israel. Soon Professor Baker was receiving hundreds of obscene and threatening communications."

Bringing Dance to Prayer: Activist Wins ‘Genius’ Grant,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Oct. 1, 2002
"'Liz Lerman is the only true genius I know,” declares Rabbi Daniel Zemel of Washington’s Temple Micah, 'and I know some very, very intelligent people.' It’s taken the rest of the world a little longer to accept what the Reform rabbi believed in his heart from the moment he met the activist choreographer more than a decade ago. Choreographer, dancer, community organizer, teacher and now public persona, Lerman last week received a five-year MacArthur Fellowship for $500,000, a prize that carries with it the public recognition of genius status. The fellowship, which comes with no strings attached, is given to 20 to 30 individuals annually. Those selected in the highly secretive process demonstrate outstanding creative and intellectual achievement in a diversity of fields ... Much of her work has been deeply rooted in exploring Jewish themes and issues, like her 1991 piece 'The Good Jew?' which pressed the issue of being Jewish enough in a contemporary society ... Growing up in a Reform Jewish household in Milwaukee, Lerman found that passion for social activism in her father, who worked with the Anti-Defamation League ... When Lerman joined the board of Synagogue 2000, the national collective of Jewish organizations and rabbis that is re-envisioning the synagogue for the 21st century, she had worked her way into establishment Judaism without forgoing her roots or her cutting-edge philosophy that dance can — and must — make a difference."

Looking Behind Ha'aretz's Liberal Image,
by Ran HaCohen, antiwar.com, September 30, 2002
"A new Israeli web-site, supported by two major settlers' sites from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, is dedicated to the holy cause of 'encouraging and supporting the employment of Jews only.' It is already listing dozens of Israeli firms that do not employ 'Gentiles.' In the first months of the Intifada, Israeli racists initiated a boycott of Arab shops and restaurants; now, employment of Arabs is targeted. Let's keep the inevitable historical analogies for another time; the point I want to make now is, that most of you haven't heard of this web-site. Right? The site is neither confidential nor is it my discovery: I simply read about it in the Hebrew Ha'aretz a few days ago (24.9.02). But most of you could not. Why? Because this item was left out of Haaretzdaily.com, the English version of Ha'aretz. Is this a mistake? An exception? No it is not. Ha'aretzdaily.com is not a full translation of the Hebrew paper; it's a selection. It often omits certain items, certain columns, that Ha'aretz does not find 'suitable' for foreign eyes, like the report I just mentioned. Another way to achieve the same hidden bias is by 'nationalistically correct' translations. For example, when Hebrew Ha'aretz read (2.7.02): 'Recent reports about Egyptian intentions to develop nuclear weaponry WERE APPARENTLY THE RESULT OF ISRAELI PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE AND do not match intelligence information in Jerusalem, according to a senior Israeli official', the English translation simply omitted the words I've capitalised. Or, quoting an Israeli officer on the use of Palestinians as 'human shields', the English version read (16.8.02): 'Before the search [in a Palestinian house] we go to a neighbour, take him out of his house and tell him to call the people we want out of the next door house. [...] The neighbour does not have the option to refuse to do it. He shouts, knocks on the door and says the army's here. If nobody answers, he comes back and we go to work.' Sounds pretty harmless? – Just because the last sentence is a 'nationalistically correct' translation of the following Hebrew sentence: 'If nobody answers, we have to tell the neighbour that he will be killed if no one comes out.'"

Chief Rabbi Recants on Religious Tolerance,
Guardian (UK), September 27, 2002
"The chief rabbi [of Great Britian], Jonathan Sacks, has agreed to recant views suggesting religions can learn from each other following a meeting with conservative rabbis who threatened him with a charge of heresy. Dr Sacks, whose latest book The Dignity of Difference, represents a plea for religious tolerance, will have to revise its central message if it is ever republished. The book - extracts of which were published in the Guardian - was praised for its tolerance and open-mindedness by reviewers, but condemned by orthodox and conservative rabbis for the implication that their religion might fall short of complete perfection. In a statement released to the Jewish Chronicle, following a three hour private meeting with 20 rabbis from Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester, Dr Sacks conceded that 'one or two sentences might be misunderstood.' He promised to make 'appropriate amendments' in the next possible edition. The move will anger more liberal Jews already exasperated at previous back-trackings by the chief rabbi in the face of orthodox intransigence. It represents a humiliating climbdown, negating the book's thesis, at the behest of deeply conservative synagogue leaders."

Hawking for Israel. South Florida reps push for war. But who are they pushing for?,
New Times (Florida), September 26, 2002
"Bashing Bush With a manner strongly reminiscent of fellow Brooklyn native John McEnroe arguing a line call, Robert Wexler has made himself one of the nation's loudest critics of President Bush. The liberal congressman from Boca Raton has made more than 100 appearances on cable television shows during the past two years, debating with Bill O'Reilly, Bob Novak, Pat Buchanan, and other conservative carnival barkers. He's attacked Bush on the environment, prescription drugs, corporate scandals, tax cuts for the rich, and the issue that first put him on the TV map: the president's 2000 election tactics ... So when Wexler appeared on CNN's TalkBack Live September 4 to discuss the president's bull rush to invade Iraq, we might have expected to finally hear a South Florida Democrat vociferously attack the ill-conceived plan ... But Wexler instead told host Arthel Neville that war on Iraq is a swell idea. "Well, I support the president's stated goal, which is a regime change in Iraq," the congressman proclaimed. "And I agree with the president that Saddam Hussein has to go' ... Wexler isn't a new convert to Bush -- he's just an old loyalist to Israel, a country that, along with a powerful Washington, D.C., lobbying group called the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), is pushing the war on Iraq with a vengeance. In essence, the Israeli lobby is urging big brother America to come out, flex its military muscles, and make the Israel-American alliance the dominant power in the Middle East. An orthodox Jew, Wexler has always been a Zionist hard-liner and has received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from pro-Israel interests during the past six years. And he's picked up a big stick for the fight against Iraq. A member of the House committee on international relations, lately he's been spending an inordinate amount of time traveling around the country and the world promoting Israel and the war on Hussein ... Broward County's own Jewish Democrat in Congress, Rep. Peter Deutsch, is another near-fanatical, pro-Israel politician who expects to vote for military action in Iraq and has publicly backed it ... The Washington, D.C.-based Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel has put both Deutsch and Wexler in its 'Hall of Shame' for their pro-Israel voting records. Powerful lobbying groups like the American Jewish Congress and AIPAC have 'hijacked the agenda' with millions of dollars in campaign contributions and powerful backers, alleges JPPI founder Josh Ruebner, adding that politicians like Wexler are 'representing the government of Israel, absolutely. Most American Jewish members of Congress are guilty of that.'"

Blacks and Jews: The end of an alliance,
Final Call, September 24, 2002
"The recent defeat of Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of the 4th District of Georgia by Judge Denise Majette has caused vast soul searching among Black Americans. We may quibble over the causes of McKinney’s defeat. Yes, there was a low Black voter turnout. Yes, White Republicans crossed over and voted against McKinney in the Democratic primary. Yes, certain prominent Black Americans withdrew their support for McKinney at a critical stage before the election. While all of the above were contributing factors to McKinney’s defeat, the most significant cause was an outside force that mobilized strong support for her opposition. When asked to identify this force, Georgia state legislator and father of McKinney, Billy McKinney, stated to the media: "J-E-W-S." Indeed, it was the Jewish lobby that not only orchestrated, headed, mobilized and funded Congresswoman McKinney’s defeat, these same organized Jews—particularly the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)—also defeated Alabama’s five-term Black incumbent, Representative Earl Hilliard, earlier this year ... While I share the outrage of many Black Americans over this, the latest successful move by prominent Jews to silence outspoken Black leaders and to set the Black agenda, I also sense that there is greater indignation now than ever before over this ongoing affront. So much so that for many Blacks, THIS IS INDEED THE LAST STRAW!!! Consequently, it is high time—no, long past time—that Black Americans everywhere re-evaluate the so-called Black/Jewish alliance ... This tendency of prominent Blacks to placate Jews by ignoring their excesses or deflecting criticism from them is precisely why so many Jewish leaders and organizations have consistently criticized, defamed, degraded and defeated certain Black leaders with impunity—AND WILL DO SO AGAIN. Jewish leaders have clearly decided that, no matter how widespread the outrage among Black people, if Black leaders—fearing Jewish reprisals—continue to cower before them, to rationalize their racism and to apologize for their flagrant disrespect for Blacks, Jews will suffer no consequences for their actions ... In light of the crisis before us, Black leaders must close ranks and act on one accord. The defeat of McKinney and Hilliard is not the work of a disaffected ally, but of cold-blooded racists who are willing to block Black progress—no matter what the cost to Black Americans in a loss of power and influence—if it conflicts with the overall Jewish agenda. It is high time, at this historical juncture, for Black Americans—the long-suffering, ever-obliging buffer between Whites and Jews—to step aside and let Jews fend for themselves so that White people will, at long last, stop focusing on Black people and get a good look at American Jews, whose McCarthyistic tactics and stranglehold on Congress threaten to make this country the United States of Israel."

Seven Pillars of Jewish Denial,
Tikkun, September/October 2002
"The path from this troubled awareness to my later ability to be critical of Israel has been long and complex. Over the years I have spoken with other Jews who have traveled this same path, and to many more who haven't. In each of us I have detected mental obstacles that make it hard, sometimes impossible, for us to see what is there before our eyes. Our inability to engage in critical thought about our troubled homeland is entangled by crucial questions about Jewish identity. Why do American Jews find it difficult to be critical of Israel? Here, set out in linear form, are seven obstacles to a Jew's ability to be critical of Israel. Seven Obstacles: 1. A conviction that Jews are always in danger, always have been, and therefore are in danger now. Which leads to: 2. The insistence that a criticism is an attack and will lead to our destruction. Which is rooted in: 3. The supposition that any negativity towards Jews (or Israel) is a sign of anti-Semitism and will (again, inevitably) lead to our destruction. Which is enhanced by: 4. Survivor's guilt. Which contains within itself: 5. A hidden belief that we can change the past. Which holds: 6. An even more hidden belief that a sufficient amount of suffering confers the right to violence. Which finally brings us to: 7. The conviction that our beliefs, our ideology (or theology), matter more than the lives of other human beings."

Blacks, Jews meet to mend relations,
Washington Times, September 11, 2002
"The defeat last month of Rep. Cynthia A. McKinney has further widened the split between blacks and Jews, despite Democratic efforts to heal the rift dividing two key parts of an important coalition. Mrs. McKinney's loss in the Georgia primary was the second primary loss suffered by an incumbent black Democrat. Rep. Earl F. Hilliard of neighboring Alabama lost in June. In both elections, the incumbents blamed Jewish money flowing to their opponents ... Mrs. McKinney's father, state Rep. Billy McKinney, said before the Georgia primary that the effort against his daughter was a Jewish plot. 'Jews bought everybody. That's J-E-W-S,' he said."

Opie and Anthony and the First Amendment,
Radio World Newspaper, August 27, 2002
"(This commentary is by William O'Shaughnessy, president of Whitney Radio and editorial director of WVOX and WRTN in Westchester, N.Y. He is a former chairman of public affairs for the NAB [National Association of Broadcasters]) ... I've been asked by several members of the press about the 'Opie and Anthony' contretemps [in which a couple copulated in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and was recorded for the Opie and Anthony radio show]. And is it a First Amendment matter? ... You've really got to ask these constitutional scholars how the vulgarity and attempted defilement which occurred at Saint Patrick's Cathedral should be viewed ... by the public ... by the government ... and by our profession (or as many of those who used to serve on the NAB Board call it: our "in-dust-ry") ... I am a poor, stumbling, staggering, faltering Catholic and son of the Roman Church. But this is clearly an outrageous insult ... copulating in the best-known cathedral in America. It is an insult not only to Catholics, but also to any God-fearing religion-practicing citizen of the republic. If this had happened in a Jewish temple ... an Israeli swat team would have appeared and then we would really have a story: 'Mel Karmazin [Jewish, and the number two executive of the company that owns the radio station in question] disappeared on the way home. His car has never been found!' You would also have The New York Times declare a Holy War on Sumner Redstone [Jewish, and the number one executive of the radio station company] and Mel Karmazin. If this happened in a mosque ... then you'd better post sentries at the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building! I'm exaggerating and kidding ... and I hope we make a point only that this is not alone an offense against Catholics. And who could deny these good people - our Jewish and Muslim brothers - their sense of outrage over the defilement of a sacred place of worship? You're going to hear a big 'however' from me in just a minute. But, first I have to tell you what I think should happen, and if I had a trade publication I would 'suggest' this: I think Melvin Karmazin and Sumner Redstone should jump in their car and go right over to the Cardinal's Residence on Madison Avenue (they can fight over who gets the best seat!) with the most profound, graceful, heartfelt, sincere apology they can summon up. And I think they also should have a check; 250 thousand dollars is a nice, round number. 'Your Eminence, we can't find the words to apologize for this vulgar insult. However we know of the good work you and Catholic Charities do ... here is $250,00. You have every right to be outraged ... etc.' Clearly this was an insult directly against the Archbishop of New York. This is his ecclesiastical seat ... Saint Patrick's Cathedral. So it is not only an insult to every worshiper who was there that day, but to every Catholic! And it's an insult to every broadcaster. People are saying, 'What trash! What low-class vulgarity is our profession capable of?'"

Time to expose Israeli propaganda network,
by Linda S. Heard, Gulf News, August 20, 2002
"The Israeli government knows the importance of propaganda, but rather than use the equivalent of Lord Haw-Haw or Hanoi Jane, it encourages more subtle ways of indoctrinating an unsuspecting world in its favour, attempting to turn public opinion against the Palestinians and their supporters. Brian Whitaker of the Guardian recently exposed an innocent–appearing translation website – ostensibly a non–profit, non affiliated organisation – altruistically set–up to translate articles appearing in the Arabic and Israeli press – the Middle East Media Research Institute (Memri). Memri's stated aim on its website is to bridge the gap between East and West. Whitaker, however, realised over time that the free Memri translations of articles in the Arab press, which arrived on his desk, invariably cast the Arab world in a bad light. Aware that these selective translations were being sent not only to the Western media but also to parliamentarians in the West, including those in the U.S., he decided to do his own investigation into the people behind Memri. After some digging, Whitaker discovered that the founder, president and owner of Memri's website turned out to be none other than one Yigal Carmon, an ex–colonel in the Israeli military intelligence services. Colonel Carmon also served as an advisor to two Israeli prime ministers. Whitaker quoted Carmon as having said to an American audience: 'The controlled media of the Arab governments conveys hatred of the West and, in particular, the United States.' Carmon has also claimed that most of the guests on the Qatari–based broadcaster Al–Jazeera are anti–Semitic. Hardly the type of statements that a person who genuinely wanted to bridge the gap between East and West would make! One of the tools in the Zionist propaganda armoury is the loaded term 'anti–Semitic', which is being thrown around with wild abandon these days, used to label anyone who doesn't agree with their political agenda."

Looting by Israeli troops widespread, report says,
Globe and Mail (UK), August 26, 2002
"The Israeli army came under fire yesterday after Israel Radio broadcast an investigative report finding that the looting of Palestinian property by Israeli troops earlier this year was more widespread than previously thought. Lieutenant-Colonel Ilan Katz, deputy chief military prosecutor, told Israel Radio after its report was broadcast that seven soldiers had been convicted for looting offences and five others had been indicted and were awaiting trial. The army spokesman's office said its military police were investigating 35 reports of looting. 'Danny,' a recently discharged soldier interviewed under an assumed name, told the station that troops stole widely from Palestinian homes during the six-week-long sweep for militants launched after suicide bombings killed scores of Israelis. 'During each search, the head of the family was meant to accompany the soldiers to every room. What we would do is take the man to one room as the soldiers searched other rooms, and they would pocket things while out of his sight,' he said."

Doctor Accused of Targeting Mosques,
by Rachel La Corte, Yahoo! News (Associated Press), August 23, 2002,
"A podiatrist arrested after authorities found guns and explosives in his home planned to destroy an Islamic education center and dozens of mosques, court documents alleged Friday. Deputies searching Dr. Robert J. Goldstein's home near St. Petersburg found up to 40 weapons, 30 explosive devices, a list of about 50 Islamic worship centers in Florida and detailed plans to bomb an Islamic education center, according to a complaint filed Friday. 'Set timers for approximately 15-20 minutes to allow for enough time to get out of area, but to confirm explosions has (sic) been successful,' reads an outline of the attack, according to court documents. 'The amount of explosives should be ample to take down the building(s).' Police believe Goldstein planned to use VCR tapes and walkie-talkies to hide explosive devices or detonators, sheriff's Detective Cal Dennie said. 'He was just a smart guy,' Dennie said. 'He knew his stuff. It was like a James Bond thing.'"

Return to Sender -- 55,000 Times,
Wired, Aug. 23, 2002
"Law professor and pro-Palestinian agitator Francis Boyle expected to have a lot of e-mail waiting for him after his two-and-a-half-week vacation. But he never imagined that there would be 55,000 messages packing his inbox -- many of them hurt, even belligerent, notes from friends and fellow activists. Why, they wondered, had Boyle -- who appeared on national television last Sept. 13 to campaign against U.S. involvement in Afghanistan -- written 'when I see in the newspapers that civilians in Afghanistan or the West Bank were killed by American or Israeli troops, I don't really care'? The answer was simple. The message that supposedly came from Boyle was a forgery -- one of thousands sent out in the names and from e-mail addresses of prominent advocates for the Palestinians -- designed to sow dissension, create confusion and waste time in the activist community."

Turkey, Israel and the US,
The Nation, August 23, 2002
"In a 1996 Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies paper prepared for [Israeli prime minister] Binyamin Netanyahu, the authors---including [Jews] Richard Perle and Douglas Feith, now, respectively, chair of the Defense Policy Board and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy---advised Israel to 'shape its strategic environment by weakening, containing and even rolling back Syria,' and to 'focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq--an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right.' It's all heady stuff, but perhaps the most interesting parts are references to realizing the 'new strategy for securing the realm' by 'working closely with' or working 'in cooperation' with Turkey. Not only have the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) and the Center for Security Policy (CSP) been enthusiastic boosters in the service of assuring a constant flow of US military aid to Turkey, but JINSA/CSP advisers Perle and Feith have spent the past fifteen years--in governmental and private capacities--working quietly and deftly to keep the US arms sluice to Turkey open, as well as drawing both Turkey and Israel and their respective American lobbies closer together."

Prosecutor Probes Jewish Web Site's Hate Call,
Reuters, August 22, 2002
"The Paris public prosecutor has launched a probe of an extremist Jewish Internet site which published a list of French personalities it deemed 'anti-Israeli' and urged readers to attack some of them. The Web site alleged the celebrities on the list, which included Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche and best-selling writer Regine Deforges, backed a French boycott of Israeli products to protest Israeli government policies ... Daily newspaper Le Monde said on Thursday the Web site ... was run by young French-speaking Israelis living in Israel who were ideologically close to French far-right movements and frequently published racist and anti-Palestinian remarks. Some of the prominent people on the list told Le Monde they had started to receive hate mail."

Impact of McKinney Loss Worries Some Democrats Tension Between Blacks, Jews a Concern ,
Washington Post, August 22, 2002
"Black and Jewish political leaders voiced concerns yesterday that the defeat of Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), a critic of pro-Israel policies, by a challenger receiving extensive Jewish support might intensify ill feelings between two important Democratic constituencies. Any increase in tensions between Jewish and African American voters, political activists said, could damage Democratic hopes of taking back the House and keeping control of the Senate. Aided by hefty contributions from Jewish donors and big vote totals in predominantly white precincts, former state judge Denise Majette soundly defeated McKinney -- 58 percent to 42 percent -- in Tuesday's primary in Georgia. Majette is strongly favored to win the Nov. 5 general election in the solidly Democratic district near Atlanta. Although both Majette and McKinney are African American, the unusual interest in their primary by pro-Israel groups backing Majette and by pro-Muslim groups backing McKinney triggered talk yesterday of a potential for sharpened conflicts between blacks and Jews -- in Georgia and elsewhere. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said that 'at the grass roots' among African American voters, there is a growing perception that "Jewish people are attempting to pick our leaders. . . . There is some concern about that. It's concern about any candidate being targeted by a special-interest group for voting on any one issue.'"

Wither Congress, Wither America? Crushing Congressional Dissent: The Fall of Hilliard, Barr and McKinney,
Counterpunch, August 22, 2002
"Hilliard and McKinney join a long list of politicians who were defeated after advocating an independent U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East: Senators Charles Percy, James Abourezk, James Abdnor, and J. William Fulbright, and Representatives Paul Findley and Paul McCloskey. The careers of Adlai Stevenson and William Scranton were similarly ended after they supported a Middle East policy less tied to the interests of Israel. Only Michigan's veteran Representative John Dingell was able to stave off a recent assault from the powerful American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) in a match off with fellow Representative Lynn Rivers in a redrawn congressional district."

Splenetic Thoughts for Dog Days From Cynthia McKinney to Katha Pollitt, to the ILWU to Paul Krugman,
Counterpunch, August 21, 2002
"One less radical black voice in Congress. One less champion of labor. One less brave soul unafraid to jump the traces of political orthodoxy. Cynthia McKinney, five-term US rep from Georgia's Fourth District, was beaten in Tuesday's Democratic primary by Denise Majette, also black, a former judge, put in with the help of lots of money from American Jewish groups and by a hefty Republican cross-over in Georgia's open primary. Don't you think that if Arab-American groups or African-American groups targeted an incumbent white liberal, maybe Jewish, congressperson, and shipped in money by the truckload to oust the incumbent, the rafters would shake with bellows of outrage. Yet when a torrent of money from out of state American Jewish organizations smashed Earl Hilliard, first elected black congressperson in Alabama since Reconstruction, you could have heard a mouse cough. Hilliard had made the fatal error of calling for some measure of even-handedness in the Middle East. So he was targeted by AIPAC and the others. Down he went, defeated in the Democratic primary by Artur Davis, a black lawyer who obediently sang for his supper of the topic of Israel. Then it was McKinney's turn. A terrific liberal black congresswoman. Like Hilliard she wasn't cowed by the Israel right-or-wrong lobby and called for real debate on the Middle East. And she called for a real examination of the lead-up to 9/11. So the sky fell in on her. Torrents of American Jewish money showered her opponent, a black woman judge called Majette. Buckets of sewage were poured over McKinney's head in the Washington Post and the Atlanta Constitution."

US thinktanks give lessons in foreign policy,
Guardian (UK), August 19, 2002
"A little-known fact about Richard Perle, the leading advocate of hardline policies at the Pentagon, is that he once wrote a political thriller ... When he is not too busy at the Pentagon, or too busy running Hollinger Digital - part of the group that publishes the Daily Telegraph in Britain - or at board meetings of the Jerusalem Post, Mr Perle is 'resident fellow' at one of the thinktanks - the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Mr Perle's close friend and political ally at AEI is David Wurmser, head of its Middle East studies department. Mr Perle helpfully wrote the introduction to Mr Wurmser's book, Tyranny's Ally: America's Failure to Defeat Saddam Hussein. Mr Wurmser's wife, Meyrav, is co-founder, along with Colonel Yigal Carmon, formerly of Israeli military intelligence - of the Middle East Media Research Institute (Memri), which specialises in translating and distributing articles that show Arabs in a bad light. She also holds strong views on leftwing Israeli intellectuals, whom she regards as a threat to Israel (see "Selective Memri", Guardian Unlimited, August 12, 2002). Ms Wurmser currently runs the Middle East section at another thinktank - the Hudson Institute, where Mr Perle recently joined the board of trustees. In addition, Ms Wurmser belongs to an organisation called the Middle East Forum. Michael Rubin, a specialist on Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, who recently arrived from yet another thinktank, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, assists Mr Perle and Mr Wurmser at AEI. Mr Rubin also belongs to the Middle East Forum ... Those who work for US thinktanks are often given university-style titles such as 'senior fellow', or 'adjunct scholar', but their research is very different from that of universities - it is entirely directed towards shaping government policy. What nobody outside the thinktanks knows, however, is who pays for this policy-shaping research. Under US law, large donations given to non-profit, 'non-partisan' organisations such as thinktanks must be itemised in their annual 'form 990' returns to the tax authorities. But the identity of donors does not need to be made public. The AEI, which deals with many other issues besides the Middle East, had assets of $35.8m (£23.2m) and an income of $24.5m in 2000, according to its most recent tax return."

L.A. Museums: Saved by the Jews,
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, August 16, 2002
"The art scene in Los Angeles, like its popular culture counterpart of film and television, is known by insiders as having a very significant Jewish presence. Drift through the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and it is difficult to avoid noticing the prevalence of Jewish names. It is well-known that the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art, a smaller modern art museum that opened its doors in 1983, owes its existence largely to the efforts of the late Marcia Weisman — she had been the guiding force behind the idea, the fundraising, and the support of local artists — and its recent renovation to a $5 million contribution from David Geffen of Dreamworks. When we add the Armand Hammer Museum, (opened in 1990 and now run by UCLA,) and the Norton Simon Museum (1974), and the Getty Center’s Jewish Presidents (past and present) we might conclude that without the involvement of L.A.’s Jewish population, art in the city would be greatly diminished if not invisible. On one level, of course, none of this is new. Jews have historically been collectors, producers and consumers of art. Culture matters. But there is a fork in the road here. The cultural life of the city, not just its Jewish community, is being shaped by this new — Jewish — cultural elite ... By playing a central role today in the shaping of our national culture, Jews have moved inside the society, and in the process, have helped America become partly Jewish. It is a dramatic step towards inclusion."

The Men From JINSA and CSP,
The Nation, August 15, 2002
"Almost thirty years ago, a prominent group of neoconservative hawks found an effective vehicle for advocating their views via the Committee on the Present Danger, a group that fervently believed the United States was a hair away from being militarily surpassed by the Soviet Union, and whose raison d'être was strident advocacy of bigger military budgets, near-fanatical opposition to any form of arms control and zealous championing of a Likudnik Israel. Considered a marginal group in its nascent days during the Carter Administration, with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 CPD went from the margins to the center of power. Just as the right-wing defense intellectuals made CPD a cornerstone of a shadow defense establishment during the Carter Administration, so, too, did the right during the Clinton years, in part through two organizations: the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) and the Center for Security Policy (CSP). And just as was the case two decades ago, dozens of their members have ascended to powerful government posts, where their advocacy in support of the same agenda continues, abetted by the out-of-government adjuncts from which they came. Industrious and persistent, they've managed to weave a number of issues--support for national missile defense, opposition to arms control treaties, championing of wasteful weapons systems, arms aid to Turkey and American unilateralism in general--into a hard line, with support for the Israeli right at its core. On no issue is the JINSA/CSP hard line more evident than in its relentless campaign for war--not just with Iraq, but 'total war,' as Michael Ledeen, one of the most influential JINSAns in Washington, put it last year. For this crew, 'regime change' by any means necessary in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority is an urgent imperative. Anyone who dissents--be it Colin Powell's State Department, the CIA or career military officers--is committing heresy against articles of faith that effectively hold there is no difference between US and Israeli national security interests, and that the only way to assure continued safety and prosperity for both countries is through hegemony in the Middle East--a hegemony achieved with the traditional cold war recipe of feints, force, clientism and covert action."

What Would Happen If Armenians Were Expelled From Krasnodar,
by Rouben Hayrapetian, Azg Armenian Daily (Armenia), May 31, 2002
"Russian nationalists admit their complete helplessness to fight against Jews. They know that out of 7 billionaires in Russia 5 are Jews. The wife of the sixth, Azeri Vagit Alekperov is said to be a Jew and all of them made their fortunes not by producing something, but taking hold of the Russian national wealth-crud[e] oil and non-ferrous metals and selling it to the West. Nothing is changed when they are called Jew mug, nothing. The point is that according to some sources the mother of governor Tkachov is also Jew, though I do not have enough grounds to insist on it, but many steps of the governor could be explained by this fact. Let us recall that the leaders of the October Revolution in 1917 were all Jews, who built a new Russia by ruthlessly destroying Russian nobility, professional military and Orthodox Christians. Now there are wonderful conditions in Russia to plunder the country making Armenians, Azeris, Kurds and other minorities the scapegoat. By the way, chief of migration department in the administration of governor Tkachov is a pureblooded Jew."

UWC President Responds to Anti-Ukrainian Article,
August 7, 2002, The New Pathway (Ukrainian newspaper; Toronto) p. 7
"On Sunday July 14, 2002 the well known 'The New York Times' magazine carried an article by Daniel Mendelson, a Jewish writer, in which he portrays his attempts to discover what happened to his uncle in Ukraine during World War II. Although several times he refers to the people he met in Ukraine as being plesant, what resonates throughout the articles are words fixed in his memory, 'the Ukrainians were the worst'. At one point he writes that '...after the Soviets took over that part of Galicia in 1939 -- there Jews there had two years of relative security thanks to the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact...' Askold Lozynsky, President of the Ukrainian World Congress responded to this article in a letter to the magazine dated July 16, 2002 briefly describing Jewish-Ukrainian relations during that time. 'The Soviet occupation of Western Ukraine in 1939 brought the arrests and internments of tens of thousands of Ukrainians accused of patriotic activity. When the Soviets were forced to retreat from the Nazis in June 1941, they slaughtered their prisoners. This was accomplished with the assistance of local Communists, primarily of Jewish ethnicity. Unfortunately, this slaughter was not an aberration of Soviet activity in Ukraine or Jewish complicity. Earlier in 1932-33 the Soviets murdered some 7 million Ukrainian men, women and children through a strategically planned forced famine-genocide. The man entrusted by Joseph Stalin to carry out this crime was a Jew, Lazar Kaganovich.' Norman Davies, the renowned British historian has concluded that no nation lost more people in the 20th century than the Ukrainians. To a large degree this was a result of both Communist and Nazi activity in Ukraine. The Russians and the Germans were savage. But the Jews were the worst. They betrayed their neighbors and did it with such zeal!"

B'nai Brith to confront U of T over petition University faculty members accuse Israel of committing 'crimes against humanity': Jewish atrocities alleged,
National Post (Canada), August 2, 2002
"Officials from B'nai Brith will meet today with representatives of the University of Toronto to discuss the university's response to faculty members who have used their university titles and university facilities to circulate a petition denouncing Israel for 'atrocities' and 'crimes against humanity' ... B'nai Brith Canada, a Jewish advocacy group, has complained to the University of Toronto ... So far, 37 professors have signed the petition; 15 are affiliated with the U of T. The rest come from universities across Canada."

1994: Rappaport: Not your everyday slumlord. Many of his real estate holdings have been sold in the years since his death,
Philadelphia Business Journal, August 2, 2002
"The legacy left by infamous Center City real estate speculator Samuel A. Rappaport, the city's most notorious building-code violator, is gradually being transformed. When Rappaport died at 64 in 1994, he left an estate valued at $56.5 million and owned some 50 or so buildings in Center City, many of which were in various stages of disrepair. He built his real estate empire on a simple business strategy: Buy low, sink as few dollars as possible for upgrades or maintenance, and sell high. Rappaport at one point owned more properties in Center City than anyone else did. It also was common for him to rack up building code violations year after year, property after property ... He liberally gave to Jewish charities, including the Federal Allied Jewish Appeal and, at one point, owned State of Israel bonds that were valued at more than $25 million, according to published reports. Politically he gave to former mayor Ed Rendell, and Sen. Arlen Specter, [both Jewish politicians] among others. While his generosity was notable, Rappaport's massive real estate portfolio made him notorious. Rappaport had a knack for seizing upon strategically located properties. For example, he owned land where the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Liberty Place and Market Street East, the Center City Commuter Tunnel and the Marriott Hotel now stand. When he bought a property, he would make minor improvements, such as to a building's lighting and insulation, and then raise the rents. Tenants often complained that he seldom made any upgrades but still insisted on increasing rents. In 1976, Rappaport won a 15-year lease to manage the Reading Terminal Market. He pledged to invest in the market but never did. Instead, he increased rents by 400 percent, and made tenants put up other onerous funds to secure space at the market. By 1978, 30 of Reading Terminal's 56 tenants had left. That prompted Reading Co. officials to buy Rappaport out of the lease and take over operations at the market. In another notorious episode, Rappaport was found guilty in 1959 of mail fraud. He served 10 months of a year-long sentence and was made to pay a $19,000 fine. Rappaport was found to have used fake businesses and dummy stores for credit references to swindle $130,000 in merchandise. While Rappaport didn't like to talk to reporters or like getting attention, a man who wore diamond rings and a studded belt buckle shaped like a Rolls Royce logo found that hard to avoid at times. Even after his death, Rappaport continued to make headlines. In 1997, a portion of a wall at a South Broad Street garage that was owned by the estate collapsed. The accident fatally injured Common Pleas Court Senior Judge Berel Caesar. That incident spurred the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections to re-inspect more than 50 properties still owned by the Rappaport estate."

Goldhagen V. Pius XII,
First Things, June/July 2002
"Tendentious attacks on Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli) are nothing new. Indeed, they have become commonplace. Yet Daniel Goldhagen’s recent 27,000–word essay for the New Republic, 'What Would Jesus Have Done? Pope Pius XII, the Catholic Church, and the Holocaust' (January 21, 2002), calls for special attention. Based upon his forthcoming book, A Moral Reckoning (Knopf), Goldhagen’s essay is noteworthy both for the breathtaking scope of its claims and the air of righteous indignation that infuses it. Not content to argue that Pope Pius did less to save the Jews than he should have, as many other scholars have done, Goldhagen goes much further—to attack Pacelli as an anti–Semite and the Church as a whole as an institution thoroughly, and perhaps inextricably, permeated by anti–Semitism. In fact, he even argues that 'the main responsibility for producing this all–time leading Western hatred lies with Christianity. More specifically, with the Catholic Church' ... Goldhagen seems to want nothing less than a renunciation of Christianity. He accuses Pope Pius XII of collaborating with the Nazis and treats the Cross as a symbol of oppression. He lectures about how portions of the New Testament were fabricated and asserts that the very term 'New Testament' is offensive. His agenda–driven approach, coupled with sloppy fact–checking and poor analysis, results in one of the most unjust broadside attacks launched against Catholics in a mainstream publication in several generations. The New Republic [long-owned by Jewish/Zionist Martin Peretz] owed its readers, and more importantly the Catholic people against whom Goldhagen made his reckless charges, the duty of investigating his claims at least minimally before publishing them. While some difference in analysis is certainly to be expected on this topic, Goldhagen’s factual errors and his evident malice go beyond all bounds of reason. Eugene Fisher of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a leader in the promotion of good will between Jews and Christians, called this article 'a travesty. And a hate crime.' He was right."

A Special Treat An Interview with Henry Makow, Ph.D. Author, Inventor, Intellectual, Bankindex, June 20, 2002
"I am a 52 year-old Canadian. I was born in Switzerland, of Polish Jewish holocaust survivors who immigrated to Canada when I was a baby ... I discovered the elite conspiracy just six months ago when I asked the question: Why would the establishment promote a philosophy (feminism) that renounces femininity and alienates women from men? That's when I discovered that the world is run by a relatively small network of very rich people that views the rest of us as a threat and encumbrance ... This cartel realized that this state of affairs was unsustainable so it took over the governments of most countries. Our politicians are puppets. When they get out of line, as John Kennedy did, they are shot. The cartel plans to secure its domination on a global scale through the New World Order, the UN, IMF and all the institutions of 'world governance ... It appears that the Rothschilds are at the heart of it. Their dominance of world finance and enterprise was well known in the Nineteenth Century. It has not disappeared."

Sam's Club,
Time, June 17, 2002
"What did Martha Stewart know? And when did she know it? These are hardly the most pressing These are hardly the most pressing questions to emerge from the collapse of yet another stock and the disgrace of one more CEO, this time at the once high-flying biotech firm ImClone. But after the scandals and meltdowns at Enron and Tyco and the self-serving stock recommendations at Merrill Lynch, the shamed corporate hero has become positively pedestrian. It takes a celebrity touch to hold our interest, and with ImClone we're getting the full weight of high society. At the center of the latest greedfest is Sam Waksal, an immunologist who turned into a dazzling biotechnology entrepreneur. In 1984 he founded ImClone, a little-known company until it made headlines for an apparent success with a cancer treatment called Erbitux in 1999. Waksal, 54, was always as much salesman as scientist and employed his reputation and charm as a ladder into elite circles that included home-decor guru Stewart, Mick Jagger, actress Mariel Hemingway, financier Carl Icahn and Dr. John Mendelsohn, the cancer-drug pioneer and former Enron board member. Waksal's eclectic posse combined science and celebrity with stock-market speculation. It was an intoxicating lifestyle that the ImClone chief apparently savored. But Waksal's world was rocked last week when authorities arrived at his elegant loft in lower Manhattan at 6 a.m. and, after allowing the pajama-clad Waksal to change into street clothes, hauled him off to court in handcuffs. The central charge was that Waksal had tried to sell $5 million in ImClone shares and tipped two family members to dump their stock too, after he learned — before the news was made public — that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) refused to review Erbitux's application."

Israel and the U.S.: A Unique Relationship,
by James Petras, rebelion, January 23, 2002
"U.S.-Israel relations have been described in a variety of ways. Politicians refer to Israel as the U.S.'s most reliable ally in the Middle East, if not the world. Others speak of Israel as a strategic ally. Some speak of Israel and the U.S. sharing common democratic values in the war against terrorism. On the Left, critics speak of Israel as a tool of U.S. imperialism for undermining Arab nationalism, and a bulwark against fundamentalist Islamic terrorism. A few writers point to the 'excess influence' which the Israeli governments exercise on U.S. government policy via powerful Jewish lobbies and individuals in media, financial and governmental circles. While there is a grain of truth in much of the above there is a unique aspect in this relationship between an imperial power like the U.S. and regional power such as Israel. Unlike Washington's relation with the EU, Japan and Oceana, it is Israel which pressures and secures vast transfer of financial resources ($2.8 billion per year, $84 billion over 30 years). Israel secures the latest arms and technology transfers, unrestrictive entry into U.S. markets, free entry of immigrants, unconditional commitment of U.S. support in case of war and repression of colonized people and guaranteed U.S. vetoes against any UN resolutions. From the angle of inter-state relations, it is the lesser regional power which exacts a tribute from the Empire, a seeming unique or paradoxical outcome. The explanation for this paradox is found in the powerful and influential role of pro-Israeli Jews in strategic sectors of the U.S. economy, political parties, Congress and Executive Branch. The closest equivalent to past empires is that of influential white settlers in the colonies, who through their overseas linkages were able to secure subsidies and special trading relations. The Israeli 'colons' in the U.S. have invested and donated billions of dollars to Israel, in some cases diverting funds from union dues of low paid workers to purchase Israel bonds used to finance new colonial settlements in the occupied territories. In other cases Jewish fugitives from the U.S. justice system have been protected by the Israeli state, especially super rich financial swindlers like Mark Rich and even gangsters and murderers. Occasional official demands of extradition from the U.S. Justice Department have been pointedly ignored. The colonized Empire has gone out of its way to cover up its subservience to its supposed ally, but in fact hegemonic power."

Pakistani newspaper shut down, burned after publishing letter,
Freedom Forum (Associated Press), January 30, 2001
"The Pakistani government shut down the English-language daily Frontier Post in Peshawar yesterday, arresting five staffers. Today hundreds of angry protesters destroyed the Post's printing equipment, accusing the newspaper of publishing a blasphemous letter, according to the Associated Press. The Frontier Post had carried a letter, received via e-mail, about the Muslim community's alleged hatred of the Jews. Dawn, the largest English-language daily in Pakistan, quoted a magistrate as terming the letter's assertions "derogatory and sacrilegious ... Dawn reported that Home and Tribal Affairs Secretary Mazhar Ali Shah said the newspaper had carried a sacrilegious piece, and that the district administration would deal with the matter. Dawn also quoted a press release from the district magistrate, noting that 'a letter under the title of 'Why Muslims hate Jews,' by Ben DZac, was printed in the 'Your Views'" section of the daily. 'The contents of the letter were highly sacrilegious and derogatory to the Islamic faith and Koran. It appears that the letter has been authored by a Jew,' the magistrate said. 'The highly objectionable and derogatory material published by the newspaper has grossly hurt the feelings of the Muslim community and have caused immense resentment amongst them.'"

Sex and Science,
Christianity Today, Nov/Dec 2001
"[Andrea] Tone [in her book Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America] provides several memorable vignettes of contraceptive entrepreneurs, but none more memorable than Julius Schmid. A poor Jewish immigrant in New York City in the late 1800s, Schmid found work at a sausage factory, cleaning animal intestines to be used as casings. To make some money on the side, he brought the extra intestines home and fashioned them into condoms—'skins,' as they were called in the days before 'rubbers.' When his basement operation was raided, Schmid paid his fines and returned to his lucrative business. Schmid eventually expanded into rubber and latex; today, his 'Ramses' and 'Sheiks' brands are sold on drugstore and supermarket shelves worldwide."

Googley-eyed over success,
USA Today, August 27, 2001
"Walk into Google's headquarters, and the first thing you see on the wall is a constantly changing real-time projection of some of the 100 million daily searches taking place on its site — everything from the song-swap service Kazaa to condoms to Martha Stewart. On the Web Google At Google, with 1,800 queries a second, searching is what it's all about. "Our decision early on, and it turned out to be the right one, is that just being the best search engine was enough," says Sergey Brin, 27, who co-founded Google in 1998 with fellow Stanford University Ph.D. candidate Larry Page ... Brin [is the] son of a Jewish refugee from the former Soviet Union who has lived in the USA since age 6."

How David Asimov, the Biggest Child Porn Processor in California Skated Away from Federal Prison with a Little Help from His Friends,
News Making News, March 29, 2001
"David Asimov, of Living Oak Court, Bennett Ridge, Santa Rosa, the son of the late science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, was sentenced on March 28, 2001 to six months' home detention with electronic monitoring and three years federal probation for possessing child pornography. U.S. District Court Judge Maxine M. Chesney sentenced Asimov after reviewing a series of sealed psychiatric reports, one of which was ordered by the court. Asimov who was charged with four federal counts of possession of child pornography with each count carrying a five year sentence, pled guilty to two counts in a plea bargain deal. There was no forfeiture of any of Asimov's assets in this case, despite his owning a home in Santa Rosa purchased in 1996 for $375,000, and despite his receiving $3,000 per month from his father's estate. How did Asimov, who possessed one of the largest stashes of pornography in California, skate away from federal prison? A look at the players yields the answer. Asimov's child porn stash was so big many child victims and perpetrators would have taken a fall, had Asimov been zealously prosecuted at trial."

The Vengeance of the Jews Was Stronger Than Their Avarice. Modern Historians and the Persian Conquest of Jerusalem in 614, by Elliott Horowitz, - from Jewish Social Studies, Volume 4, Number 2, (Indiana University Press)
"'The Jews are the mildest of men, passionately hostile to violence. That obstinate sweetness which they conserve in the midst of the most atrocious persecution, that sense of justice and of reason which they put up as their sole defense against a hostile, brutal, and unjust society, is perhaps the best part of the message they bring to us and the true mark of their greatness.' Thus wrote Jean-Paul Sartre in his 1946 Reflexions sur la question juive, published two years later in English under the title Anti-Semite and Jew, a work he later admitted to have written 'without reading one Jewish book.' Sartre's reflections on the 'Jewish question' and, in particular, his essentialist (and some might say racist) remarks on the Jewish character have elicited various responses in the half-century since they were published, some implicit and some overt, some mild and some passionate. Harold Rosenberg, for example, noted upon the book's appearance in English that 'Sartre has cut the Jews off from their past,' and he alleged that 'Sartre has consciously permitted himself to accept the anti-Semite's stereotype of the Jew. His disagreement with anti-Semitism reduces itself to arguing that these Jewish traits...are not so bad.' More recently, Elaine Marks has argued that 'Sartre is transformed in the third part of his essay into the antisemite against whom he rails in the first part.'"

[Jewish influence in circumcision; doctor's speculation],
yarchive.net, (Newsgroup: sci.med), 1995/1999
"However, all that being said (and perhaps it needed to be) I do not believe that the fact of nearly universal male circumcision in the United States did not come about in this century, and nowhere else on Earth but Israel, as a matter of chance. Or because some strange glowing meteorite fell in this country and caused people to get out the scalpels and turn on their children. I've given you my best explanation for the reason why it did happen: a strong Jewish influence on prevailing American medical attitudes about proper pediatric care, from Benjamin Spock [Note: Spock isn't Jewish] on down, which in turn basically influenced the entire society. If you have a better explanation for the oddly American universality of male circumcision, unique in the world save for the one place I mentioned, I'm listening. Spin me a better story, and I'll buy it. We have more hip and knee replacement here because they cure pain in adults, restore function, and adults want them, and can afford them. Ditto for hysterectomies, like it or not. But this doesn't wash for circumcision of babies. -- Steve Harris, M.D. ... Okay, if you want names, you would probably start with Abraham Wolbarst, a prominent urologist of the 1930's who decidedly confirmed in the pages of JAMA that not only did circumcision cure masturbation but also many other childhood illness. And prevented cancer, too. And there were other guys like Ravich and Wynder doing much the same. There's a review of Jewish medical doctors' role in the acceptance of routine circumcision in the US on the web at: http://www.fathermag.com/health/circ/jews-circ
It's not scientifically up to par, but it has the names and the cites. Nor is it particularly an antisemitic article, and points out quite rightly that the circumcision hysteria in the US was a rather Victorian thing launched circa 1870 mostly by hung-up Christians as a way to cure masturbation, to which Jews were said to be immune, and therefore morally superior. Jews naturally got caught up in this argument. The role of Jewish physicians in defending routine circumcision has not been sole, or even (in the beginning) important. It has been mainly in the last 70 years, corresponding with Jewish influence on American Medical politics. However, the opinion has become professionally untenable at least since the American Academy of Pediatrics came out against routine circumcision in the 1971 (following which Benjamin Spock changed his mind and his book, regarding the subject). A view reaffirmed by the American Academy just as strongly in their house mag _Pediatrics_, as late as last month. But don't take my word for it. Go to medline and see who's still arguing what among the professionals who lead the opinions to which doctors adhere, and recommend to their patients. You'll find stuff like Aaron J. Fink's "In defense of circumcision" (Pediatrics 1986 Feb;77(2):265-7) and little editorials like E.J. Schoen's 'Ode to the circumcised male' (Am J Dis Child 1987 Feb;141(2): 128). Indeed, my own initial search on the history of circumcision in the US turned up just four reviews-- I didn't weed them out of other stuff, but reproduce all four of them in full below. Note the opinions expressed: "The medical benefits of circumcision appear to exceed the risks of the procedure," and in another: "It is our conclusion that, as the safest and most commonly performed surgical procedure in this country, the benefits of posthetomy, which include a reduction in some kinds of cancer and sexually transmitted diseases, well outweigh the risks cited by those who oppose it." And: "The authors of this article wrote a review article on circumcision in 1981 and Dr. Grossman has recently published a book designed to teach proper circumcision technique, and to familiarize the operator with the common congenital anomalies as well as the prevention and treatment of the complications of circumcision." These are articles written for scientific publications by doctors who supposedly are scientists. Alas, if you look at the names, one can guess that they aren't exactly Japanese or Eskimo or native American scientists. But these ARE the physicians now leading the minority argument. If you want the other side-- the view now accepted by most of the world's medical profession, you can see articles by guys whose names are Gordon A (Br J Obstet Gynaecol 1995 Dec;102(12):939-40) "Why do we still circumcise male babies?" or McHugh M (Ir Med J 1981 Feb;74(2): 55-6) "Circumcision -- is it ever necessary?" or even Fitzgerald WD (Northwest Med 1971 Oct;70(10):681-2) "Circumcision is barbarous." There's a difference between doctors arguing a point that their religion teaches, and those arguing against a procedure on which their religion is at least neutral or even favorable. Anyway, you're welcome to read this stuff. Study it and then tell me I'm out to lunch. Steve Harris, M.D."

Alabama ousts governor, a Christian right advocate,
by Larry Brook, The Jewish Bulletin of Northern California, November 6, 1998
"The Christian right was dealt a setback as Alabama voters ousted Gov. Fob James during Tuesday's election. James was defeated by Lt Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat, 58 percent to 42 percent. The race was closely watched by conservative Christian groups because of James' outspoken views on church-state issues. Those views received little debate during the campaign, because Siegelman quickly and relentlessly latched onto one popular issue -- a state lottery for education -- quashing discussion of other issues. During James' term, he vocally defended a county judge who had Christian clergy open court sessions with prayers, and who displayed the Ten Commandments in the courtroom as a sign of his personal commitment to God ... Siegelman's victory gives Alabama a Jewish First Lady. Siegelman, who is Catholic, is married to the former Lori Allen, who grew up in Birmingham. The Siegelmans have two children, and attend Montgomery's Agudath Israel, a Conservative congregation. Dana Siegelman celebrated her bat mitzvah in February. Lori Siegelman shies away from the public spotlight, but was the inspiration for strong drunk-driving laws after she was seriously injured 14 years ago by a drunk driver while her husband was secretary of state. As for James, he and his wife, Bobbie, also were known as passionate Christian Zionists. At the 1995 inauguration, a rabbi from Jerusalem blew the shofar and recited the Ten Commandments, another personal friend from Israel gave an invocation entirely in Hebrew, and the governor's cousin sang 'Hatikvah' the Israeli national anthem] accompanied by the Montgomery Symphony."
ALSO: Governor Siegelman Signs Bill Supporting Israel, Deep South Jewish Voice, January-August 2002, "Israel has received a unanimous vote of support from the state government of Alabama. On April 4, Governor Don Siegelman signed a resolution that unanimously passed the Alabama Legislature last month. Lenora Pate, who drafted the resolution, patterned it after a 1943 resolution in which Alabama called for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. It is believed this was the first public support by any state legislature for a Jewish homeland."

Benjamin Steinbruch. The Iron King How a Brazilian entrepreneur has become one of the most important businessmen in Latin America in just four years,
Steel Profiles, 1997
"It is just over a year since Benjamin Steinbruch was crowned the new king of Brazilian industry. The 44-year-old entrepreneur had just put together the consortium that bought a controlling stake in Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD), the world's biggest iron ore company, in what was Latin America's largest privatisation. In a dramatic auction at the Rio de Janeiro stock exchange, he snatched the company from the clutches of the strong favourite, a consortium led by Antonio Ermirio de Moraes of the Votorantim group, the grand old man of Brazilian capitalism. It was the most audacious in a series of acquisitions of companies being privatised, that have catapulted Mr Steinbruch from being the unknown heir of a family textiles group to one of the most important businessmen in Latin America in the space of just four years ... In 1993 he persuaded Vicunha, the family business, to take a 9.3 per cent stake in CSN, Brazil's largest steel company. He later got Bamerindus, the retail bank, to sell him its 5 per cent stake and he became chairman ... In 1996 he talked the CSN board into taking a 7.25 per cent stake in Light, the Rio de Janeiro electricity distributor, with Mr Steinbruch collecting the chairmanship. His formidable powers of quiet persuasion were at work again last year when he pulled together an unlikely group of investors, including NationsBank of the US, to buy the controlling stake in CVRD for R$3.34bn ($2.9bn). The deal gave Mr Steinbruch control of a company that is the cornerstone of the Brazilian economy. His ambitions did not stop there. This year, through Vicunha, he has been in the winning consortium for two of the nine new cellular phone licences the government has sold ... The huge concentration of power in his hands is another habit he shares with more traditional Brazilian business leaders. He has so far resisted the appointment of a chief executive at CVRD, describing the idea as 'premature'". ALSO: Bigotry, Estadao (Brazil), June 6, 1997. "Eliane Alves da Silva, Geography teacher at the Federal University in Rio, has been accused of prejudice against jews and praising the holocaust. After having her class tape-recorded by one of her pupil and being denounced in a 200-student-signature petition, the teacher is on the verge of being sued for anti-semitism and ethnic defamation. Not only did she attack the jews as a whole, but even named some people. According to SBT TV news, one of the offended was Benjamin Steinbruch, the tycoon who has just bought the recently privatized Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD), one of the biggest mining companies in the world, few years after buying CSN, another former state company, the biggest in the iron and steel industry. President of Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistic (IBGE), Simao Schwartzman, was mentioned as 'scoundrel and rascal jew'. After the collective commotion, politicians, jewish associations and individual persons are considering legal actions against Eliane Alves. The university has already dismissed the teacher while set to an investigation. Since the teacher happens to be black, some black people institutions and minorities associations publicly apologized."