Word: jewish
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...Bush has never had it easy with Jewish voters: 80% of them voted against him in 2000, and some--mindful of the U.S.'s occasional clashes with the Israeli government during the older Bush's presidency--remain skeptical about the depth of W.'s commitment to Israel. Much of the pressure on Bush to throw his full support behind Sharon is coming from elsewhere. Today the most influential lobbying on behalf of Israel is being done by a group not usually seen as an ally of the largely Democratic Jewish community: Evangelical Christians...
Evangelicals have long supported the existence of the Jewish state. Fundamentalists believe that Israel is a covenant land promised to the Jews by God. "It doesn't belong to a group called the Palestinians," Pat Robertson said last month. To Evangelicals, the attacks on Israel by Palestinian suicide bombers are an important test in the global fight against Islamist terrorism, a campaign fiercely backed by the Christian right. So Israel is now the hottest political button for American Evangelicals. "You hear about it in the churches, on talk radio," says Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition...
Together with Jewish neoconservatives, the Christian right has attacked the Administration for making even tepid criticisms of Israel's military offensive, warning Bush against ceding the "moral clarity" of the war on terrorism. "We're concerned there's a duplicitous interpretation of the Bush doctrine--one for America and one for Israel," says Texas pastor John Hagee, who broadcasts his message on more than 230 TV and radio stations nationwide. Robertson told CNN that Bush's Evangelical support is "wavering a little bit" and that Bush made "a big mistake" by allowing Powell to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat...
That has always been a problem for Republicans seeking to woo Jewish voters and financial support. Opposition to many pet causes of the Christian right, such as school prayer, has kept most Jews firmly in the Democratic camp. But that may be changing. At the AIPAC convention last week, one of the most enthusiastically received speakers was DeLay, the born-again Christian who has lately positioned himself as the most ardent Zionist in Congress. At the grass roots, Jews say they feel a growing solidarity with Fundamentalist Christians about Israel. "I listen to Rush Limbaugh now," says Moira Klein...
...model for Arabs to follow is Peace Now, an organization founded by Israeli reserve officers in 1978. With branches in the U.S., Canada and Europe, it is the foremost Jewish peace organization. It organized massive protests throughout the 1980s and 1990s that influenced Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. Even Israel’s Labor party under former prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak eventually adopted many of its views. In response to the current conflict, Peace Now advocates a withdrawal from the occupied territories, a two-state solution and an end to violence...