The Audacity of Reality

Lori Lowenthal Marcus
American Thinker
29 May '11

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/the_audacity_of_reality.html

Despite the avalanche of articles analyzing U.S. President Barack Obama's May 19, 2011 Middle East speech, one irony has not been mentioned. The president laid out a magnificent blueprint for the countries in the region to follow in order to ensure dignity, freedom, and hope for their citizens. But all the president had to do was look reality in the face, and find his vision reflected in Israel. Yet Israel was the only country which the president wants both to shrink, and away from which he told Arabs to turn.

Obama's refusal to credit Israel's freedom as a value for Arabs as well as Jews is symptomatic of an epic error: the insistence on acting on political ideology rather than asking what's really best for the people on the ground. Even just focusing on what's really going to help the Arabs in the Disputed Territories has been submerged in place of the fixation on establishing a Palestinian Arab State. Let's call those afflicted with this mindset the Palestinian Statists.

Earlier this month the grassroots organization Z STREET held a one-day summit in Washington, D.C. where speakers rewound this tape and tried to address the real issue of how to do the most good for all of the people who live in the Middle East. At that conference -- RETHINKING THE END GAME: Improving Lives in the Middle East -- the focus was on whether a Palestinian State would be a positive step not for Israeli Jews, but for Arab Palestinians.

The seven Z STREET speakers -- people who for decades have studied or lived in the Arab and Jewish quarters of that region of the world -- argued, as did President Obama, that peace in the region will be built upon the pillars upon which all of Western Civilization is built: freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, economic dignity, entrepreneurship and independence, and respect for and the assurance of the equality of women and minorities.

But in his speech President Obama took Israel -- which should have been his Exhibit A because it is the sole country in the region that embraces and ensures these freedoms and opportunities for all its citizens -- and demanded that it:

- give over territory that it has governed, with all of these freedoms, for both Arab and Jew, and hand that territory to regimes under which none of these freedoms will be respected for either Jew or Arab;


- attempt to make peace, and share "security arrangements," with regimes that are sworn and publicly committed to immolating their own children (never mind the Jews' children) in a bonfire of war against the Jewish State and to undermining security arrangements with their neighbor Israel.

In his impatience to "press the reset button" on the Middle East "peace process," as if it were a malfunctioning Sony PlayStation, President Obama and all those other Palestinian Statists ignore the real impact of this proposal even on the people they claim they most want to help: the Arab Palestinians.

You see, the Palestinian Statists have the causation reversed. They think that the Arab Palestinians should start a state, which will then create freedom and personal security. What these people ignore is the fact that a Palestinian State will be run, right out of the block, by men who oppose those very freedoms, think their country should be ruled by Sharia -- not as a democracy that guarantees human rights -- and who daily sacrifice their peoples' security in a never-ending war with the Jews.

The hard-headed reality is that the causation works the other way round: start with the freedoms and personal and economic security for the average Tom, Dick, and Muhammad on the street, and let government grow organically out of peaceful communities, composed of free men and women and safe children, oriented towards education and prosperity instead of martyrdom and murder. Another dose of reality: there is only one government anywhere in the Middle East that has ever provided freedom and security to the Arab on the street: that country is called Israel.

The Z STREET speakers provided a raft of cold, clear statistics and examples of the sharp contrast in quality of life for the Arabs.

Jay Walking with the Jelly Bellied

Daphne Anson
15 March '11

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2011/03/jay-walking-with-jelly-bellied.html

‘While waiting on line at the Starbucks at the J Street convention, I overheard a conversation among several Colorado J Street members. These were nicely dressed thirty-something women who were discussing why they weren't wearing the J Street buttons in their packets, which bear the phrase "pro-Israel pro-peace." The entire Boulder delegation, they said, was very uncomfortable with the emphasis, because "pro-Israel" was first, and "pro-Palestinian" wasn't a part of it. These women agreed that J Street had a messaging problem. If the buttons read "pro-Israel and Pro-Palestinian, or just "pro-peace" and NOT "pro-Israel," then they'd be willing to wear them.’

No, it’s not me who wrote that but Lori Lowenthal Marcus is president of Z STREET, http://www.zstreet.org/

Read more of her article, which is a real eye-opener into the equivocally “Zionist” nature of J Street, http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/03/j_street_maybe_israel_really_a.html

Hat tip for the cartoon to http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2011/03/hillel-loves-j-street.html

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IRS digs itself deeper in Z Street case

Fresnozionism.org
15 December '10

A few weeks ago I wrote about the incredible behavior of the IRS in seeking to deny tax-exempt status to the pro-Israel organization Z Street (see “Obama and Nixon would agree on this“).

Z Street sued the IRS, claiming in part that

21. Agent [Diane] Gentry also informed Z STREET’s counsel that the IRS is carefully scrutinizing organizations that are in any way connected with Israel.

22. Agent Gentry further stated to counsel for Z STREET: “these cases are being sent to a special unit in the D.C. office to determine whether the organization’s activities contradict the Administration’s public policies.”

Now the IRS has responded, and their response is even more incredible. Here’s an excerpt:

(Read full "IRS digs itself deeper in Z Street case")

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'Terrorism Special Policy' Prevents Pro-Israel Group from Gaining IRS Tax Exempt Status

Daniel Halper
The Weekly Standard
13 December '10

Z Street, the pro-Israel group that alleges the IRS has prevented it from gaining tax exempt status because its policy toward Israel is antithetical to the administration's, now says that the IRS is changing its tune. Instead, Z Street is being excluded because of a "a Terrorism Special Policy, and that Israel is included." Lori Lowenthal Marcus, in a short press release, briefly explains what's going on:

We now have the mind-numbing IRS defense for delaying (almost a year now!) Z STREET's application for tax exempt status. In a signed affidavit, an IRS official explains that there is no "Israel Special Policy," instead it is a Terrorism Special Policy, and that Israel is included.

(Read full "'Terrorism Special Policy' Prevents Pro-Israel Group from Gaining IRS Tax Exempt Status")

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Z Street's Legal Battle Continues Against the IRS

Daniel Halper
The Weekly Standard
22 November '10

As THE WEEKLY STANDARD reported in August, pro-Israel group Z Street believes it was discriminated against after "Z Street was told by an IRS agent that it might not be granted 501(c)(3) status, which would allow the group to be tax exempt, because its position toward Israel differs from the Obama administration's official policies." Today, Z Street continues its legal battle to obtain tax-exempt status from the IRS.

Here's the press release the group is about to release, outlining the latest developments:

Z STREET: IRS continues Constitutional violations concerning Israel

Z STREET, an organization devoted to pro-Israel public education, today filed in federal court its Opposition to the government’s effort to continue violating the US Constitution by discriminating against the organization because its views on Israel and the Middle East differ from those of this government. On August 25, 2010 Z STREET filed a Complaint in federal court charging the Internal Revenue Service with constitutional violations by subjecting Z STREET’s application for tax exemption to a discriminatory process.

In its response to Z STREET’s Complaint, the government did not deny that it engaged in this First Amendment violation. Instead, the government’s position is that (1) it can violate the Constitution whenever it wants and the only way to stop it is if the government agrees to be stopped, and (2) Z STREET should go to a different court to get something it should already have - tax exempt status - were it not for the constitutional violation the government has inflicted upon it.

(Read full story)

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First Amendment, anyone?

Fresnozionism.org
26 August '10

The rules for 501 (c)(3) tax status — which allows the donations of US citizens to a non-profit organization to be tax-deductible — are remarkably lax. According to the IRS,

To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3), and none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual. In addition, it may not be an action organization, i.e., it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.

There is no requirement that a charity not take political stands, only that it is not ‘substantially’ a lobbying organization and that it does not support or attack specific candidates.

So, for example, the Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim Students Association, the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Council on American-Islamic Relations all can accept tax-deductible contributions. So can the left-wing Americans for Peace Now, Meretz USA, and even the relatively extreme Jewish Voice for Peace.

(Read full post)

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From Tax-Exemption We Go To Illegal Government Domination

Yisrael Medad
My Right Word
25 August '10


For years I have been on to the efforts of anti-YESHA groups to hack away on the issue of tax-exemption.

It started when I joined Dassie Marcus and her fight against the major Jewish charities that refused to transfer funds ear-marked for YESHA in the mid-1980s and even twenty-years later. Even the JNF refused. They claimed the State Department prohibited that and we responded that that was illegal. We eventually won and even Federation funds came across the Green Line

More recently, Gush Shalom, Peace Now, Arab (here too) and even far-out right-wing groups have been complaining and combating in various ways. See here and here and also here. Here, too.

And now, there's a new development, bad (Obama administration thinks it is Nixonian) and good: Jews, Z Street in particular, are fighting back) even though it is not specifically a YESHA issue:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 25, 2010
CONTACT: contact@zstreet.org

IRS SUED FOR DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ORGANIZATIONS
THAT DON’T SHARE ADMINISTRATION’S POSITIONS ON ISRAEL

Z STREET, a pro-Israel non-profit corporation, filed a lawsuit in federal court today charging that the IRS violated the organization’s First Amendment rights. The suit was filed after Z STREET was told by an IRS official that its application for tax-exempt status has been delayed because an IRS policy requires consideration of whether a group’s views on Israel differ from those of the current Administration.

“Not only is it patently un-American but it is also a clear violation of the First Amendment for a government agency to penalize an organization because of its political position on Israel or anything else,” said Z STREET president Lori Lowenthal Marcus, a former First Amendment lawyer. “This situation is the same as if the government denied a driver’s license to people because they were Republicans or Democrats. It goes against everything for which our country stands.”

Z STREET filed for tax-exempt status in January of this year and, despite having met all of the requirements for grant of this status, the application has been stalled. An IRS agent told Z STREET’s lawyers that the application was delayed because of a Special Israel Policy that requires greater scrutiny of organizations which have to do with Israel, in part to determine whether they espouse positions on Israel contrary to those of the current Administration.

(Read full post)

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