As is being widely reported by the media, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has canceled an appearance at a New York rally protesting Iranian President Ahmadinejad on September 22, after organizers blindsided her by inviting Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Organizers announced yesterday that both Clinton and Palin are expected to attend.
That would have set up a closely scrutinized and potentially explosive pairing in the midst of a presidential campaign, one in which the New York senator is campaigning for Democratic nominee Barack Obama while Palin actively courts disappointed Clinton supporters.
Clinton aides were furious – and reportedly first learned of the plan to have both Clinton and Palin appear when informed by reporters.
After learning of the cancellation by Hillary Clinton, NYS assemblyman Dov Hikind told YWN:
“The Clinton camp is dead wrong on this. This petty partisan squabbling, which caused Senator Clinton to cancel her appearance is outrageous. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is a highly respected national organization whose mission has always been bipartisan. This is not billed as a Republican or Democratic event.”
“The critical message and tone that must to be broadcast to the Islamic world must not be hijacked: that the U.S. will not tolerate a sovereign entity with nuclear aspirations which supports terrorism and has committed itself to the destruction of Israel. There is no room for partisan jockeying where the leading Holocaust denier of our time is concerned. Ahmadinejad poses a real and imminent threat to Israel and the U.S. When a genocidal maniac threatens the survival of the state of Israel and contributes to regional instability, there should be no politicking. Senator Clinton must reconsider and share the stage with Governor Palin to condemn Ahmadinejad.”
(Yehuda Drudgestein – YWN NYC)
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32 Responses
Be realistic, Hikind. If Hillary and Palin were there at the same time, the focus on the substance of the event would have been zero. Everyone would just be watching for a replay of the SNL sketch. You should have left it the way it was, with only Hillary invited. Inviting Palin turned this into a political event, and with Hillary there, it would have been a circus.
DOV:
You’re all wrong on this. Have you lost your political instincts.
Don’t you realizethat Hillary and Obama are scared to death of Governor palin!
That’s the answer to all the yidden that have so blindly supported Hilary in her election to senate and run for president. Wasn’t that famous hug with Madame Arafat ENOUGH????? You can’t hide your true colors infinitely.
Anyone know details about the rally? Where and What time?
The rally is supposed to start at 12pm at Dag Hammarskjold plaza around 47th St. and 2nd Ave.
PLEASE JOIN KLAL YISROEL IN ITS RALLY CRY AGAINST GLOBAL TERRORISM AND STAND UP FOR ERETZ YISROEL!
Best would be to have representation from both tickets (Palin and Biden) and the senator from New York who is most heavily involved in foreign policy. A united front against Ahmadinejad is critical.
how can someone think that hillary is right on this one? u hav 2 know that sometimes sticking up for whats right comes b4 politics! she shouldn’t b concerned 4 her little political agenda, when there’s a much bigger picture here!
Dov Hikind is 100% correct, in my opinion. As far as Hillary is concerned, this is a matter that affects America and is not about her political strategy, whatever that may be at this time.
Had this been before the nomination process, I can assume, from her past behavior, that Hillary would be one of the first ones at this rally, try to take ownership, and take no prisoners in seeking media attention.
Good for you, Mr. Hikind, for telling it like it is!
I agree with #8 & #3. Hillary Rotten Clinton, you can’t fool us! That pro-Israel talk of yours as of late we know is just an act!!
i’m sure that Acmad InEjad is shaking in his boots at the prospect of being criticised by a group of New York Jews.
One thing this rally may acomplish is to further worsen the position of the Jews who live among Arabs in Europe, Iran and elsewhere in the world.
What a foolish and unproductive waste of time and money.
dear our assabbelyman. dont you think that this is pure hisgarus b’imes . lets lay low ,why are we demostating against a world figure .lets not forget who declared a botcott before the war aganst natzi germany . lets learn from our father yakov when his brother eisov came to fight with him .it was with hacnona , lets do the same.
please be involved in local issuues not world issue .
Hillary is wrong. Anybody and everybody should come to this event. She is making it a political event by not showing up.
Dov I am proud to support you.
Dov tried to make this a bipartisan effort against state sponsored terrorism. Camp Hillary dropped the ball on this strategic opportunity to show strength against a sworn enemy of the United States.
Dear Editor; I love Yeshiva World News! It is my favorite site! I don’t think I ever criticized the editors! I know not all of my comments are posted nor do I agree with your choice of which news item to post. But, this is the only website I blog onto.
nfgo, it is nice to see that you get nasty with other bloggers and not only with me. You sir need to get a life or crawl back into your underground dungeon where you came from!
While it was both wrong and also foolish of Hilary to back out, it makes one wonder what the organizers were thinking. Were they intentionally putting her on the spot to make her look bad??? They seem to have gone behind her back to put her in a lose/lose situation. Not that I mind, but just wondering.
OK, let’s back up just a bit. A foreign head of state is coming to this country to visit the United Nations. The Jewish community is (rightly in my mind) coming out to protest this visit. By definition, this is a political rally, regardless of who attends and who is invited.
The organizers of this event has attempted to make this a bipartisan gathering, where representatives of both major US political parties could demonstrate their united distaste at Ahmadinejad’s visit. This is generally a “no-brainer” in the US, since neither party cares for Iran. For reasons that are utterly mystifying, Sen. Clinton is allowing the partisan ramifications of appearing with Gov. Palin to override better judgement.
7, do you mean that Clinton shouldn’t go either, as a political figure? Because as senator of NY, HRC definitely belongs there. I would just think that the crowd, even the dais, would be big enought that they shouldn’t have to breathe the same air.
And I would think that any candidate for the White House would have a place there also, though not necessarily time at the podium. But their presence? Sure.
Two of the hardest things for people to cover up in this world are: being an anti-semite and being a coward. Thanks Dov – you have proven many times that ‘kol maasechoh lshem shomaiyim’ for exposing obvious realities about our ‘first lady’ turned ‘worst lady’.
to be totally fair we should invite Palin to Lakewood as we did Hillary and see how many people will throw $2,300 at her!
HRC is right. With Palin there, she becomes a sideshow. That hurts. Same thing would be if Obama would show up. I don’t believe this is political. Rather, she wants to get spotlight attention by going, and now she will not.
Now if we could only get her to go for the sake of going instead of for spotlight…. But that’s the nature of politicians.
Hillary’s mask is slipping!
when demonstrating against this animal we should all unite!
even nations that aren’t friends unite to fight a common enemy! why shouldn’t Hillary come-she knew to come & get our $$$.
we should remember this act when she runs for her next public office position
BS”D
Hillary could always demonstrate alongside the Ku Klux Karta. Though Herr Oberrabbiner Freeky Freedy shoit”e may be an anomaly even by KKKarta standards, he demonstrates in the front row alongside veiled Muslim women at rallies in Europe!
hillary is not attending because gov palin wont tell her who her shaitelmacher is!
seriously, though, someone should tell the mccain campaign she should change her shaitel occassionally — she looks like shes all dolled up for a wedding ALL the time!
Whether or not Hillary attends the event is not the critical issue. However, the Democrats owe it to the Jewish electorate, and to the people of Israel, to send a high level representative to the rally (e.g., Joe Biden), to show the world that there’s an absolute united front in this country against the Iranian dictator and his plans to nuke (Rachmana litzlan) Israel. What kind of message will we be showing the world if the rally is only attended by one political party?
Say what you will. By being a UN member nation, any rhetoric implying attacking another member nation is prohibited by the U.N. Charter. Israel has been a member nation for 60 years now.
Everyday it does work and lives peacefully with other member nations. That is a fact on this earth of ours that is very, very, very well known.
“One thing this rally may acomplish is to further worsen the position of the Jews who live among Arabs in Europe, Iran and elsewhere in the world.What a foolish and unproductive waste of time and money.
Comment by deepthinker ”
Would be curious to hear your opinion on the RABBIS’ RALLY to washington in 1943, probably in your mind the same waste of time, since Roosevelt turned his back on them and they were ignored by all. EXCEPT 100’s of thousands of Jews were saved because of it, you aint such a deepthinker in my eyes.. More myopic..
Hillary only does what’s good for Hillary….she is all that matters to her…a proven and true phony!!!
Stan the Man:
The rally in 1943 was organized by none other than Rabbi Eliezer Silver, a Talmid Chochom and a genius. There is no comparison to these secular Yo-Yo’s who are orgganizing this rally.
In 1943, the Rabbonim who went to washington carefully targeted the White House, under Franklin Roosevelt, who was stonewalling all efforts to save the Jews of Nazi Europe, with the full support of that evil “Rabbi” Stephen Wise.
It was a conspiracy of silence, which was broken by the sensational “Rabbis Rally,” which was a great novelty in those days.
Today, we have plenty of people pushing for action, and this rally just enrages Arabs worldwide, with no commensurate benefit.
Do you understand the difference now?
Back to Hillary..
She’s still the US Senator from NY, and on that basis, she should be there. I don’t believe Palin’s presence will make it a circus, I believe that the Jewish community will get an up close opportunity to see where she’s holding on issues that are crucial to us.
I sent an email to Hillary’s senate office stating that I felt she had a responsbility to her constituency. Which is Hikind’s message as well.
#32 “The rally in 1943 was organized by none other than Rabbi Eliezer Silver, a Talmid Chochom and a genius. There is no comparison to these secular Yo-Yo’s who are orgganizing this rally”.
WRONG, once again. The rally was initiated by the Peter Bergson (aka Hillel Kook), who began his activism in America under the auspices of Zev Jabotinsky in 1940. Bergson met with Rav Silver who was one of the leaders of Agudas Harabbonim, and together the idea of the vaad Ha’Hatzalah was started.
Major Differences: Rav Silver openly agreed with the actions of Peter Bergson and felt that working hand in hand with a ‘secular(?)’ Jew to save klal yisroel was of prime importance.
“secular Yo-Yo’s” – A large segment of rabbanim looked upon Peter Bergson as a ‘secular yo-yo’ and declined to attend or participate in the Rabbi’s March.
“conspiracy of silence”- Full page ads were printed monthly by the Bergson group in the largest newspapers telling the truth about ‘European Jewry’. There were believers and there were others.
The Rabbi’s Rally, the media behind it, the determination of the Bergson group and in particular the snub of Roosevelt ignited the Congress to change immigration policies.
NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE?
technicallty speaking, rav eliezer silver, and the agudas harabbonim, and the vaad hatzalah did not participate in the march, but that was due to the orthodox jewish politics of the time. but they ALL participated in the rally. (the reason for 400 — because when they told congressman bloom (chairman of the house fpreign affairs committee) and “rabbi” stephen wise what they were doimng, they laughed and said you couldnt get 100 rabbis; so the organnizers (hillel bergson also known as the nephew of rav kook, and rav robbins also known as the son of the brownsviller rebbe, and the cousin of the skolya rebbe, the first full time rebbe in america) answered they will bring 200. 400 showed up, in a tremendous kiddush hashem, that forced the “absent” fdr to form the “war refugee board”, that was instrumental in the wallenberg and other issues, that saved several hundred thousand hungarian jewish lives.