Archive for the ‘Israel’ Category

The legal war over Georgia’s new illegal immigration law begins today.

The lawsuit by the ACLU and other civil rights groups will be released this afternoon, but a few details are already leaking out:

– Much of the draft is the work of Keegan Federal, the former DeKalb County Superior Court judge;

– One of the main components is the allegation that the law will result in racial profiling, which should surprise no one. The filing will include this line: “All Georgians, and particularly those of color, will be compelled to carry additional paperwork on them prescribed by the State of Georgia at all times.”

– The lawsuit alleges that, even though the new law doesn’t go into effect until July 1, individuals are already being stopped by law enforcement officials, based on their appearance and ability to speak English.

– The suit will also focus on the new law’s ban on transporting or harboring illegal immigrants, arguing that the statute will expose legal residents of Georgia …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Lawsuit to argue that new immigration law will criminalize acts of kindness »

Last month, while much of the world was distracted by the holidays, former President Jimmy Carter issued what he called “an open letter to the Jewish community.”

In four paragraphs, Carter expressed his hopes for the state of Israel. He ended the letter with a fifth paragraph that the world quickly came to call an apology.

“We must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel,” the former president said. “I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so.”

The statement might be better termed a confession. Al Het refers to the Yom Kippur prayer recited by a supplicant who begs God to forgive a sin.

In the weeks since, the abrupt nature of the Carter statement has led many to speculate about its purpose and the former president’s motives.

What very few know is that this first step toward reconciliation was the private initiative of several influential members of Atlanta’s Jewish community, whose ties to Carter date three decades and more. …

Continue reading The people behind Jimmy Carter’s letter on Israel »

A television station in Capetown, South Africa is reporting that former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has found another country that doesn’t want her around:

A controversial former member of the American congress and a 2008 presidential candidate, Cynthia McKinney, was abruptly removed from a South African Airways flight on Tuesday.

McKinney, who stood against President Barack Obama at an early stage in the race for the US presidency, was barred from boarding an SAA flight to Johannesburg in Washington DC.

She would have travelled to South Africa to act as international guest speaker on the Channel 4 network’s first Palestinian Struggle and Human Spirit film festival, which will be held in Athlone from Friday to Sunday.

McKinney spent a week in an Israeli jail earlier this year, after being swept up by that country’s navy while trying to pass through a blockade into Gaza.

Walter Jones with Morris News Service has this disturbing bit of news this morning:

An illegal …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: South Africa refuses Cynthia McKinney »

Ignoring the gorgeous weather, both Democrats and Republicans continued shaping the 2010 field over the weekend.

Republicans held congressional district conventions intended to select another round of delegates to the state convention In Savannah on May 15 and 16.

Candidates for governor where highly active, as were two of the three current candidates for lieutenant governor: Eric Johnson of Savannah and David Shafer of Duluth.

Both are contemplating how to proceed, now that Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has announced he’s running for re-election as governor.

Numerous straw polls were held — too many to mention. But one in the 11th District, for lieutenant governor, is worth mentioning. Johnson won 61 percent, to Cagle’s 21 percent. Shafer drew 13 percent.

So Jason Shepherd reports on PeachPundit.

Note that this is prime territory for House Speaker Glenn Richardson, and that might have had a bearing. (Johnson was also the only lite gov candidate there. Shafer supporters also told …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: A straw poll in the race for lieutenant governor, other manuevering »

U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss phoned home from Rome on Monday.

After a multi-nation, Middle East-oriented tour of Egypt, Israel, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Afghanistan, the Georgia senator is ready to get down to some real turmoil.

When he arrives in D.C. on Wednesday, Chambliss wants a word with Michael Donley, secretary of the U.S. Air Force. Before Chambliss left town last week, the senior senator from Georgia was under the impression that Donley wanted more — not fewer Marietta-produced F-22s.

But in Chambliss’ absence, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who like Donley is a Bush holdover, announced that Donley had changed his mind. This morning, as co-author of a Washington Post op-ed piece, the secretary of the Air Force agreed.

Wrote Donley:

Based on different war-fighting assumptions, the Air Force previously drew a different conclusion: that 381 aircraft would be required for a low-risk force of F-22s. We revisited this conclusion after arriving in …

Continue reading Saxby Chambliss: On his coming bout with an Air Force secretary, and ‘campaign rhetoric’ from Benjamin Netanyahu »

Two magazine articles on the Middle East are making news today.

First, the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg has this:

In an interview conducted shortly before he was sworn in today as prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu laid down a challenge for Barack Obama. The American president, he said, must stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons—and quickly—or an imperiled Israel may be forced to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities itself.

“The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu told me. He said the Iranian nuclear challenge represents a “hinge of history” and added that “Western civilization” will have failed if Iran is allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

The New Yorker’s Seymour Hersh has taken a look at thawing relations between the U.S. and Syria, and the role that former President Jimmy Carter has played with a late 2008 trip to the Middle Eastern country:

A senior White …

Continue reading Middle East moments: If U.S. doesn’t stop Iran, Israel might; and Jimmy Carter’s Syrian connection »