A captivating conversation about the 19th Amendment and the renewed push to pass the Equal Rights Amendment with historian Pamela Nadell, author of America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today and journalist Elaine Weiss, author of The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote.
Aaron David Miller is a veteran Middle East peace negotiator, analyst and author, now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Miller spoke with Moment editor-in-chief Nadine Epstein about the recent Israel-UAE peace deal.
“In this age of pandemics and polarization, it may be hard to envision. But it’s not a mystery. Someone who prizes decency and embodies dignity. Someone who exercises empathy and exhibits patience and understanding. Someone who lives, breathes and acts on the basic beliefs which are unique to Jewish tradition and universal in application—to pursue justice, welcome the stranger, open your hand and your heart to the needy and love your neighbor.”
“The bottom line is that Iran will remain a thorny issue for the next president, regardless of who wins the elections. Trump’s promise of an Iranian capitulation waiting around the corner is hard to believe, and Biden’s hope for a quick fix on the previous deal is also way more difficult to achieve than it seems, in part due to changes already happening on the ground. Iran and its nuclear ambitions are not a “first day in office” project for the next president but rather an issue for years of talks, sanctions and—perhaps—even negotiations.”
There’s a foolproof way of knowing election season is here—just wait for someone to make a Jewish money reference. The tighter the race, the more likely you are to hear something along the lines of “outside donors” or “Wall Street money,” or just the casual listing of top donors, all of whom happen to be Jewish.
Since the pandemic began, DeSantis has aped Trump’s responses–and non-responses–to the crisis. He has refused to take significant state action to stem the now-record rising tide of COVID-19. This has included intransigent resistance to mandating the use of masks, closing the beaches and ordering a stay-at-home lockdown. Echoing Trump, he deferred to local authorities to take such action.
For Donald Trump, the road to reelection—his only viable path, experts say—runs through Florida, with its crucial 29 electoral votes. That’s why, between Labor Day and Election Day, the Republican campaign plans to spend $32 million of the $95 million TV campaign budget in Florida. As the GOP ad buy acknowledges, without the Sunshine State, Trump is a one-term president.
The outcome of the platform debate over Israel will give Biden a good sense of how the party views the issue and where he may want to stand in order to avoid conflict with the base.
“This doesn’t mean that the Jewish pro-Israel left is about to win its fight against annexation. But it does show that their voice is strong enough to sway staunch AIPAC supporters to speak out against the Israeli government’s line, and that, perhaps in a marginal way, they will make Netanyahu listen, if not to American Jews, than to pro-Israel American lawmakers.”
Israel, regardless of whether Engel gets to spend another term in Congress or not, is running out of hawkish Dems to build the bridge it needs to a bipartisan recognition of Israel’s importance as an ally to America. The party is shifting leftwards, while Israel is going right.
