Gingrich’s faltering presidential campaign was completely
resuscitated by a 5 million donation from Las Vegas casino king and
super-Zionist Sheldon Adelson. (According to Wikipedia,
Adelson is currently the 8th wealthiest American and 16th wealthiest
person in the world, with a net worth of $23.3 billion.) Rising from
the ashes, Gingrich now has won the South Carolina primary and has
a decent chance of becoming the Republican presidential
nominee.
Adelson has been the major backer of Gingrich for some time. A
Washington Post article on the Adelson-Gingrich
connection (though kept out of the first section of the paper)
states: “Perhaps no other major presidential candidate in
recent times has had his fortunes based so squarely on the
contributions of a single donor, as Gingrich has on Adelson, who has
spent millions in support of Gingrich and his causes over the past
five years.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/sheldon-adelson-and-newt-gingrich-one-gained-clout-from-friendship-the-other-funding/2012/01/11/gIQACvSrBQ_story.html
http://wapo.st/wMIVoA
As the Washington Post article points out, Adelson and his
Israeli-born wife, Miriam, have spent time and money lobbying
for a bill to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to
Jerusalem. Gingrich has promised that his first executive order as
president would be the embassy move.
Adelson is an ardent Zionist. Since 2007 the Adelson Family
Foundation has made contributions totaling $100 million to
Birthright Israel, which finances Jewish youth trips to Israel,
Adelson is such a hard-line Zionist that he even stopped
supporting AIPAC when it appeared to support a 2007 peace
initiative championed by Olmert, President Bush, and Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/18/is-gingrich-s-hard-line-on-palestine-paid-for-by-sheldon-adelson.html
http://bit.ly/wirOwN
In 2009, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), which is a
hard-line Zionist group that wants Israel to retain the occupied
territories and expand the Jewish settlements, presented
Adelson its most distinguished and historic award, the Theodor Herzl
Gold Medallion for outstanding achievement in Zionism. His
wife received the Louis D. Brandeis Award. The couple now have
their names on one of ZOA’s major awards, the Dr. Miriam &
Sheldon Adelson Defender of Israel Award.
Adelson is intimately involved in Israeli politics. Since 2007,
Adelson has owned a daily newspaper in Israel called Israel
Hayom, which distributed free of charge, has the largest circulation
of any newspaper in the country. The newspaper is
ultra-supportive of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to whom
Adelson is a close ideological ally and personal friend. The
newspaper also has been doing much to promote Gingrich.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/11/sheldon-adelson-newt-gingrich-israel_n_1195867.html
http://huff.to/zmUtVr
It should be recalled that Gingrich was so extreme as to
recently say that the Palestinians are an “invented people.”
Shortly thereafter, Adelson said that Gingrich had been completely
correct. In an address at a Hanukkah celebration in Israel for
hundreds of youths visiting that country as part of the Taglit
Birthright (Birthright Israel) program (which Adelson funds),
Adelson stated: “Read the history of those who call themselves
Palestinians, and you will hear why [Newt] Gingrich said recently
that the Palestinians are an invented people. There are a number of
Palestinians who will recognize the truth of this statement.”
He appealed to the Jewish youths to “speak in support of
Israel” when they returned to their countries.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/sheldon-adelson-to-birthright-group-gingrich-is-right-to-call-palestinians-invented-people-1.403671
http://bit.ly/sorRAl
When on the NBC show Rock Center, Ted Koppel asked
Gingrich about the reason for Adelson’s support, Gingrich was quite
frank: “He knows I'm very pro Israel. That's the central value of
his life. I mean, he's very worried that Israel is going to not
survive.”
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/01/gingrich-says-his-backers-central-value-is-israel-and-nbc-has-no-more-to-say-on-the-subject.html
http://bit.ly/A0yzoe
If Israel is the “central value” of Adelson’s life (which
certainly appears to be true), he is one Jewish American who cannot
be accused of having a “dual loyalty.” His loyalty is truly
singular!
Like most American conservatives, Gingrich purports to
identify with the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, but catering to a
person with a view such as Adelson’s puts Gingrich in a position
completely opposite to that of George Washington, who, in his
Farewell Address of 1796, warned Americans of the grave danger of
those who had a “passionate attachment” to a foreign country.
While the mainstream media has focused on the negative effects
of big money super pacs, and shows no particular fondness for
Gingrich, it makes little reference to his major patron’s
identification with Israel. In fact, Rachel Maddow and Michael
Isikoff even managed to offer a critical presentation of Adelson’s
financing of Gingrich without any reference to Israel.
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/01/israel-is-the-elephant-in-the-studio-during-msnbc-discussion-of-adelsons-giving.html
http://bit.ly/w387Az
Even the Washington Post’s article on Adelson was not in the
major, news section of the paper. And there was no follow up on the
NBC program to Gringrich’s response about his major patron’s
fundamental concern being Israel—“the central value of his
life.” The fact of the matter is that the impact of the Israel
lobby on American politics is a taboo issue in the United States
mainstream.
When the Republicans presidential candidates (Ron Paul being
the exception) have talked about foreign policy, it often
seems that they are running for the top spot in the Israeli Likud
Party, rather than President of the United States of
America. Consequently, it is difficult for any candidate
to outdo his competitors. However, Sheldon Adelson’s financial
backing of Gingrich would seem to indicate that he is the best
candidate from the standpoint of the Israeli Right. And Gingrich
might go a little farther than his competitors since he even
suggests clemency for Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/u-s-elections-2012/newt-gingrich-u-s-should-consider-clemency-for-jonathan-pollard-1.400408
http://bit.ly/w1bHiw
Adelson’s money enabled Gingrich to win South Carolina, and Adelson
could put much more into Gingrich’s campaign. With such
financial support, Gingrich might be able to gain the Republican
presidential nomination, but it would seem that he has too much
baggage to actually defeat Obama, at least this is the conventional
wisdom--though stranger things have happened. Nonetheless,
having pro-Israel Republican candidates led by Gingrich
pushes Obama in a more pro-Israel direction, which entails a harder
US line toward Iran. No matter what happens in the US
presidential election, therefore, US Middle East policy will be
improved from the Likudnik perspective. And this is Sheldon
Adelson’s objective.
Best,
Stephen Sniegoski
http://home.comcast.net/~transparentcabal/ |
