Jewish Liberty and the Striking of Roe v. Wade – Violations of Jewish Liberty that Were Foreseeable

Note to reader:

This post is the entire text of a Forward article, being reprinted in its entirety without permission of the Forward. I believe it to be of utter urgency; and if the Forward tells me to take it down, I will oblige.

The great irony here is that ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders have endorsed the elections of the very officials, including Donald Trump, who made the destruction of 50 years of US legal precedent regarding a woman’s right to an abortion possible. Many liberal and secular Jews saw this coming. That the ultra-Orthodox religious community and its leaders, including Agudath Israel, among many did not have the foresight to understand that their support of conservative leaders would eventually come to bite us all, is dumbfounding.

Striking down Roe v. Wade will violate Jewish religious liberty

Orthodox Jewish organizations are running out of time to organize our political power and communal voice in defense of abortion laws that allow us to keep our faith.

By Ephraim ShermanMay 03, 2022

“A woman who had desperately wanted to get pregnant ended up having to have an abortion.

This woman, who I know well, told me her story through tears but without hyperbole or exaggeration. 

She and her husband had tried to conceive for three years before she finally became pregnant. Everything was going smoothly until 18 weeks into the pregnancy, when the woman’s water broke and contractions started, stopping the development of the baby’s lungs in the absence of amniotic fluid. 

An ultrasound additionally showed that the woman’s uterus had become infected, and that she could die if the nonviable fetus was not removed. Thankfully, once they did so, the infection cleared and this woman was able to have a son a few years later.

The woman told me this story the morning after a draft ruling was leaked from the Supreme Court. If adopted as law, it would have sentenced this woman and countless others to death.

When this woman’s fetus was removed to save her life, the fetus still had a heartbeat. Such an abortion would become illegal in several states if Roe is overturned.

Abortions happen regularly in Jewish communities, even Orthodox ones, but often go undiscussed. Jewish law allows for abortion in many cases, and requires it if the mother’s life is in danger.

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This ruling is the culmination of a decadeslong political organizing campaign by Christian conservatives, many of whom believe that abortion is murder, even if the procedure is done to save the life of the mother or in the very early stages of pregnancy. 

Republican politicians since 1973 have used the promise of banning abortion to get Christian voters out to the polls, and this has been key to many of the GOP’s electoral successes. A 2015 poll found that 23% of anti-abortion voters would only vote for a candidate that was also anti-abortion, and Donald Trump’s 2016 victory can be largely attributed to his promises that he would only appoint Supreme Court nominees who would overturn Roe v. Wade. 

The fundamentalist Christian position is the exact opposite of the halachic approach to abortions. The success of this Republican-Christian strategy should strike terror in the hearts of frum communities across America. It should also motivate us to action.

This ruling is the culmination of a decadeslong political organizing campaign by Christian conservatives, many of whom believe that abortion is murder, even if the procedure is done to save the life of the mother or in the very early stages of pregnancy. 

Republican politicians since 1973 have used the promise of banning abortion to get Christian voters out to the polls, and this has been key to many of the GOP’s electoral successes. A 2015 poll found that 23% of anti-abortion voters would only vote for a candidate that was also anti-abortion, and Donald Trump’s 2016 victory can be largely attributed to his promises that he would only appoint Supreme Court nominees who would overturn Roe v. Wade. 

The fundamentalist Christian position is the exact opposite of the halachic approach to abortions. The success of this Republican-Christian strategy should strike terror in the hearts of frum communities across America. It should also motivate us to action.

The Orthodox Vote

The Orthodox Jewish community, in recent years, has become overwhelmingly aligned with conservative politics and politicians. Large communal organizations make efforts to remain officially nonpartisan, but it is plainly clear where the political sentiments of the majority of community members rest.

For some, U.S. policy on Israel is the deciding factor above and beyond all others, and increasingly, that has meant that Republican politicians win Orthodox communities in a landslide.

While some Orthodox views of the world are conservative ones, a stance that is against abortion in all cases would prevent many women from fulfilling Jewish law. 

Jews who live in Florida, Ohio, Texas, Georgia and other states with Republican controlled governments will soon lose access to legal abortion, even when their rabbi has told them that Jewish law requires them to receive one, thus violating their religious liberty.

Worse, Georgia and other states have already attempted to pass laws that would criminalize traveling to another state for the abortion, and even criminalize helping a woman travel to another state for one.

The law in Texas, which bans all abortions after about 4 weeks, explicitly says that religious leaders can be prosecuted for supporting and helping a woman get an abortion. 

There has been no significant national outcry from Orthodox Jewish communal organizations. We are running out of time to organize our political power and communal voice in defense of abortion laws that allow us to keep our faith. 

New York and several states have recently passed laws protecting safe and legal abortions no matter what the federal law is, but the looming threat is significant. 

Are we prepared to see parents from Brooklyn arrested by Florida State Police because they helped their daughter in Miami get the abortion her rabbi and doctor agreed she needed? Are we prepared to see rabbis arrested for making halachic rulings? Are we prepared to see Jewish doctors convicted of crimes for performing abortions?

When a woman is told the crushing news by her infertility doctor that one of her twin fetuses is thriving but one is not, and neither fetus will be born alive if the second fetus is not aborted, do we want a politician telling her rabbi and medical team that they must not intervene to save her viable fetus?

We cannot accept any of that. The time to organize and prevent this disaster was a decade ago, but the next best time to organize is now. 

When laws are proposed that could hinder circumcision, or Shabbat observance, or even public menorah lightings, every Orthodox communal organization has lobbied with passion and fire. Are the literal lives of women less important to protect?

The story I related at the beginning is a straightforward one, as far as Jewish law is concerned. The woman had a significant chance of dying if her fetus was not removed, and the fetus had zero chance of survival: abortion was the only ethical option, and also the only halachically acceptable one. 

But soon in many states, this woman’s medical team would have had to wait and let the infection worsen. Their choice would have been between risking the woman’s life or facing jail time.

That is not a world American Jews should tolerate.”

Trump’s Highest Bidder, Gertler? Sanctions Reprieve Lifted – Gertler, Magnitsky, DRC

Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler (Screen capture YouTube)

Dan Gertler and the Magnitsky Sanctions, Loopholes, State Sanctioned Violations, Trump, Guiliani and Billions

We have written and opined at great lengths about Dan Gertler, the mining tycoon sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act sanctions and the final gift from President Trump to Gertler, a lifting of those sanctions. Make no mistake, that lifting was unsurprising when coupled with the Guliani Ukraine affair. To those of us who followed the ever-changing political landscape in the DRC, the US’s unbridled support of an otherwise undemocratic election in the DRC, the securities’ firms that played a role in the movement of information, and the tail numbers of Gertler’s planes coupled with the travels of Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph Guiliani, this political-financial network was foreseeable. It was our opinion then and now, that Guiliani was paid for his liaison services, which were blessed through a web of quasi-legitimate securities’ firms. Beyond that, in what capacity Guiliani was traveling to the Ukraine fairly regularly, and his labyrinthine ties to Ukraine at that time remain the subject of debate.

We have opined about the various loopholes and veritable crawl spaces that have allowed Gertler access to millions, if not billions of dollars, otherwise unavailable under the Magnitsky Sanctions Regime. Some of this money was allegedly owed to Gertler by Glencore. The “praise” bestowed upon Gertler by foreign diplomats is almost embarrassing, but may have been required to get cooperating countries on board with the payment scheme. The workaround was craftily organized by funneling money through a payment system of mazes to Gertler via a series of Euro-based workarounds which required the assistance of the Swiss banking network and US Government intervention. It is unlikely the Swiss would have been involved absent a very public statement by the US. It is our opinion that the loopholes were identified and manipulated by President Trump and, in our opinion, Rudolph Guiliani, Paul Manaford and others within the Trump orbit.

Whether or not we have it all perfectly figured out remains a job for those with far higher pay grades.

While Gertler claims all of his actions in the DRC have been above-board, we think that depends upon whose morality and ethics one is using as the exemplar upon which all else is measured. As we see the world, Gertler’s almost unforgivable use of underpaid members of the DRC to afford him unquantifiable wealth is not a paragon of the divine intervention of his religious system of beliefs. Moreover, Gertler’s willingness to manipulate financial systems such that banks, investment companies and frankly heads of states and countries made his acquisition of wealth all possible, is all the more unsettling.

Apples and Trees, Kings County, Q-Anon FBI Arrests, DC Coup, Radical Fundamentalism…

Orthodox Jews waving Trump flags in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, October 7, 2020.Credit: YUKI IWAMURA/ REUTERS

How Far Will We Go In Our Support of…

Dear Readers:

This is being written in direct response to calls to publish more about the arrests in Washington, DC, particularly as they relate to the Jewish community and the arrest of a resident of Kings County. For a host of reasons I decided to stay away from the topic; but its absence on these pages has raised as many questions as it has avoided. I will begin by stating that I have shied away from this topic because, on the one hand, if there is one thing I have come to adopt in the last few years it is a firm belief that the system of electing judges and politicians in Kings County, NY is entirely corrupt. The law firms who are on the committees to elect judges, who control the slate, and who are in positions within the power structure in Kings County are in direct conflict of interest with the public’s right to judicial integrity. As such, both the attorneys and their hand-picked elected judges and politicians are ripe for manipulation and all is lost for a fair playing field for anyone on the other side of the kingmakers. I posit that only a judge who is independent can possibly be impartial. And it is my belief that absolute power corrupts absolutely. On the other hand, and taking a consistent view on fairness, reporting the subject of those arrested should also be fair. And, I do not believe it has been.

If I am honest, my feelings about Kings County politics, both judicial and governmental have tempered my approach to anything related to that subject. However, my position as a parent, an idealist and someone who believes that we should be more charitable and kind and that sites like mine should have integrity provides guidance on how I will treat the arrest of a Kings County native, something that will be clear as you continue reading.

Before you read further, be warned. I was not a fan of Trumpism. But, that was more about his brash, childish, vindictive, narcissistic and self-serving traits as a human being. Old-school Republicanism is something I go back and forth on. The office of President in all of its old school formalities are requirements to which I ascribe whomever holds that position. We spent years building up our government; and the office of President should be dignified regardless of the affiliation of the politician who sits there. Even Nixon respected the office and wanted to leave with dignity. Trump, not so much. And Trumpism, the embodiment of the man and his politics, is a frightening window into extremism American style. The following editorial will reflect this view. If you are a forever Trumper, my comments after the first few paragraphs will not be for you. Let’s agree to disagree.

I will start with this: HOW THE DC ARRESTS ARE BEING REPORTED AND SIGNIFICANT BIASES

The arrests of the people in Washington, DC for the role they played in the coup d’etat has highlighted famous figures, likely because it seems so shocking. I premise later some thoughts on that. For now, all of the arrests should be about the individuals, not their families. Some of those arrested are police officers, some governmental figures, GOP lawmakers, some military figures, some violent, some less so, and some Olympic athletes. They were each, in my view, a victim of ideological, neo-Fascist indoctrination with few exceptions. They were following what I firmly believe to have been a false narrative: “Stop the Steal.” That narrative has been a recurring theme through Trump’s entire Presidency, one that attributes his failures to things “stolen from him.” Each person that attended that rally but crossed the line of violence and organized coup is individually accountable for his or her actions. But collectively their leaders, whether governmental, social or religious are no less culpable.

The media coverage of each arrest has focused on the name of the person, not who that person’s parents are, with extremely rare exception. In New York the high profile arrest of a 34-year-old son of a Kings County Practicing Orthodox Jewish judge is one such exception and an unfair stain on the father for the actions of the son. The subject’s father is a registered Democrat and his brother is the executive director of Chovevei Zion, a politically conservative Orthodox advocacy organization as well as a Brooklyn district leader and vice president of the South Brooklyn Conservative club. Clearly there is a difference of opinion on politics within that family. Sitting at the Passover Seder must be an interesting, if not potentially volatile experience. Both of the sons are adults. They both can think for themselves. What happens next is up to the family; but unless the arrested man’s father convinced him to take an active stand in DC, a potentially violent stand, his father should be given his privacy and not made the focus of news articles or media attention.

Trump Super PAC Scandal, Lev Parnas Partner Correia Pleads Guilty to Lying

Lev Parnas partner David Correia pleads guilty to lying about donation to Trump super PAC

David Correia, a business partner of Rudy Giuliani’s former associate Lev Parnas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to making false statements to election officials about a donation made to a group that supported President Donald Trump.

Correia admitted in Manhattan federal court Thursday that he conspired with Parnas to defraud investors in their would-be fraud protection business, which was called Fraud Guarantee.

Giuliani, who is Trump’s personal lawyer, reportedly received $500,000 to work on behalf of Fraud Guarantee.

KEY POINTS CNBC click here.

[EXCERPTED]

Correia, 45, admitted in Manhattan federal court that he conspired with Parnas to defraud investors in their would-be fraud protection business, which was called Fraud Guarantee. The plea hearing was conducted virtually over videoconference and phone lines because of the coronavirus pandemic.

CNBC, click here.

Correia and Parnas previously were charged in 2019, along with two other men, with conspiring to violate the law banning political donations by foreigners.

Last month, when a superseding indictment was filed against all four men, FBI Assistant Director Bill Sweeney said of the charges against Correia and Parnas, “We couldn’t say it better ourselves – the behavior alleged today is indeed fraudulent – guaranteed.”

Parnas, Fruman and the fourth co-defendant, Andrey Kukushkin, have all pleaded not guilty in the broader criminal case.

CNBC, click here.

Giuliani received $500,000 in 2018 for work for Fraud Guarantee, which he has described as “a combination of business advice and consulting, consistent with what my company does, and legal advice.”

Parnas and Fruman had worked with Giuliani on an effort to collect damaging information about the Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and about his son Hunter Biden, in connection with the younger Biden’s board position at a Ukrainian natural gas company.

CNBC, click here.

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Jared Kushner, Taking Back Covid-19 from the Doctors and the Overconfident Idiots

“Like All Sugar Highs, Euphoria Wears Off” No Jew Should Vote for Trump: [Opinion]

The following opinion piece was posted to The Times of Israel, Marc Shulman blog. We have reposted some of this opinion. To read it in its entirety, click here.

Why No Jew Should Vote For President Donald Trump: Take Two

Exactly four years ago, I reluctantly wrote take one of this article. As a historian who maintains a website that includes a section chronicling the history of American Presidential elections, and a book with the same title, and as someone with a regular column in Newsweek, called “Tel Aviv  Diary,” I had attempted to remain non-partisan. Over the years, I have largely succeeded in maintaining objectivity regarding American politics. But, at that moment, when it had become clear that the election of President Donald J. Trump was a real possibility, I felt I had no choice but to speak out against what I saw the genuine danger to Jews and the State of Israel, not to mention to the United States, and the world-at-large.

Now, four years later, unfortunately, much of what I predicted has happened. Again, like last time, I will not touch on all of the areas that have made Trump the worst President in United States history, or all of the harm he has done to the world in this article. I’ll leave that for my history website. Instead, I will focus on the ways in which Trump has been bad for Israel, and why he has been bad for Jews, through my lens as an American-Israeli.

Let’s start with the Jews in America. In 2016, I wrote that I did not believe Trump himself to be an overt antisemite — still true. Although I asserted: “However, as a result of the nativist, racist, xenophobic rhetorical approach of his campaign, Trump has unearthed a level of overt antisemitism in America that I thought would never return.” 

Sadly, the nativist, xenophobic rhetoric never ended. Trump stayed in campaign mode throughout his Presidency. The Anti-Defamation League’s most recent Audit of Antisemitic Incidents in the United States recorded more than 2,100 acts of assault, vandalism, and harassment; representing a 12% increase over the previous year. This constitutes the highest level of antisemitic incidents since ADL’s tracking began in 1979. 

The antisemitism that re-emerged incited both the Tree of Life – Or L’Simcha Congregation shooting in Pittsburgh, as well as the attack in the Poway, California synagogue. Trump’s rhetoric never changes. He has failed to condemn QAnon (a clearly antisemitic ideology), which has become nearly mainstream in the Republican Party under Trump. Another four years of Trump will see more oil thrown on the extremist fire; fomenting even more antisemitism in the US. Will antisemitism disappear if Trump is defeated? That is not likely. But without the President of the United States stoking the fires, perhaps surging antisemitism can be brought back under control.

Now let’s turn to Israel. There is no question that Trump has been the most pro-Israel President in US history, in the short term. And Israel, like someone on a sugar high, has adored Trump’s love. However, like all sugar highs, the euphoria slowly wears off. Four years ago, I wrote: “A person who does not comprehend that US alliances have been the key to world peace for the last 70 years, and refuses to understand there is a price for that affinity, weakens the United States”.

The Times of Israel, Marc Schulman blog, click here.

Jared Kushner – [video] Covid -19 Jewish Community from Top Down