Jews

Daniel Halper has called attention to Nancy Pelosi's remarkable interview with Al Hunt on the topic of Barack Obama and Israel. I'd note one comment in particular: Pelosi's claim that President Obama "has been there [Israel] over and over again."

In an interview, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said that she believes Republican Jews are "being exploited," but she was sure to add, "And they're smart people."

Elliott Abrams is rightly and eloquently outraged about this morning's New York Times article, which features Obama administration officials discussing sensitive and classified national security matters, for the sake of making the president look tough. The leakers—none of whom "would allow their names to be used because the effort remains highly classified, and parts of it continue to this day"—did no favor to our national security, or to efforts to stop Iran's nuclear program.

The president is out of town tonight, spending the night alone at his home in Chicago after a day filled with six fundraisers. But his campaign in Washington, D.C. continues.

An events list found at BarackObama.com reveals that eight "Obama Shabbat" dinners will be held this evening, here in Washington, to observe the Jewish sabbath and to "organize our community to help reelect President Barack Obama." The Jewish sabbath is observed from sundown Friday evening to sundown Saturday night. 

Haaretz reported that in a private meeting with Jewish leaders earlier this week, President Obama said (in the Israeli paper's words) he "probably knows about Judaism more than any other president." Now, Ron Kampeas has more details of the meeting "

From Haaretz:

Earlier Tuesday afternoon, Obama and White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew met about 20 Conservative Jewish community leaders. ...

President Obama met yesterday with "about 20 Conservative Jewish community leaders, thanking them for the work they do to improve communities around the country and discussed their shared commitment to rebuilding the U.S. economy," Haaretz reports.

Michael Medved, writing in the May issue of Commentary: 

Former Palestinian intelligence official Muhammad Abu Shahala has reportedly been sentenced to death by the Palestinian Authority for selling a Hebron home to Jews. In response, Jewish officials from the community in Hebron are calling for international officials now to get involved—in order to save Abu Shahala’s life.

French officials have identified the gunman responsible for the deaths of seven people, including three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school in Toulouse, as a French-Algerian named Mohammad Merah. As with other terrorist attacks, there was early confusion in the press reporting about the identity and motives of the killer. Some suggested he was a neo-Nazi or another brand of right-wing extremist, which was certainly possible.

Lee Smith, writing at Tablet: 

In the last words of this book, the author quotes her brother Milton Himmelfarb in one of his last essays: “Hope is a Jewish virtue.” Nobody embodies that virtue more felicitously than Gertrude Himmelfarb, who over a long and fruitful life of scholarship has given hope to all who have encountered her, whether in person or in print.