Posted on 03/29/2010 4:26:46 PM PDT by onyx
The Obama administration’s celebration of Passover is taking place amid criticism of its Israel policies.
The Israel Project, an organization that backs Israel through direct engagement with the media, said the administration has not done enough to engage in rapprochement with Israel to ease tensions between the two nations.
The group has urged its supporters to write members of Congress in a fundraising e-mail and launched a television ad campaign in the Washington, D.C. area.
"There are still some substantive issues that need to be addressed and we still have some concerns," Jennifer Mizrahi, president of The Israel Project, said in a phone interview.
President Barack Obama was widely seen as snubbing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau during the latter’s visit to Washington last week.
Netanyahu’s visit to the White House included neither a press conference nor a photo opportunity, which usually occur when a foreign head of state visits America.
Obama also reportedly left his meeting with Netanyahu to eat dinner in private, something viewed as a major snub in Israel.
"The prime minister leaves America disgraced, isolated and altogether weaker than when he came,” the Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz, which leans to the left, wrote last week.
Obama was upset over Israel’s announcement earlier this month that it was constructing new settlements in East Jerusalem, which Israel claims as part of its capital but the Palestinians want as a capital city for a future state. The announcement was made during a visit to Israel by Vice President Joe Biden.
The timing reportedly angered Obama, who saw it as a slap against his administration. In order to restart stalled peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians, the U.S. has requested that Israel put a blanket freeze on settlement construction in Palestinian territories.
The historic diplomatic tiff has spilled over into the Passover holiday, which begins Monday night. President Barack Obama and some members of his staff will also participate in a traditional Passover meal, called a "Seder," at the White House Monday night.
On Passover, Jews commemorate the ancient Israelites’ exodus from slavery in Egypt to freedom in what is now Israel.
The Israel Project’s fundraising is a norm for Passover, when many Jewish and pro-Israel groups schedule public campaigns. But the timing was also notable because of the tiff between Obama and Netanyahu, who is scheduled to return to the United States on April 12.
MORE AT LINK
I know of several Catholic churches in my area who offer a seder service as part of the final week of Lent.
BWAHAHAHAHA!
From the report I heard on the radio a couple of days ago, the seder is tonight, there will be 20 guests, and their children will recite the questions.
Shocked the heck out of me!
This is typical homosexualoid blasphemy from Obama. He has all the islamo-fascist traits of it. When they say Islam accepts Christians and Jews, it basicaly means they are pimping their trash savage homosexuals to us by force, forcing us to pay for their sex services.
In religious term it is the utmost blasphemy, to force people into eating garbage while denying them truth and heaven and God.
He is not embracing the seder, he is sodomizing it of his own self pomp and stink.
Nailed it.
His Passover? Never knew Obama was Jewish.....learn something new everyday....=.=
Jesus was not a Christian; and some Christians do recreate Jesus' final Sedar every Sunday...at Mass.
Many churches do now offer a seder meal remembrance
“passover” may be commemorated by Jews but it is also a profound pre-Christian event
I think it would be a good pre-Christian event to celebrate, too. We constantly need to be reminded what it is to be a slave to imperial powers and the price of freedom and salvation. I love this time of the year, but it is also the time most filled with conflict remembrances of the “ultimate” sort. Barry Soetoro, stop pretending that you care!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.