After Clinton, Obama Gets Himself Involved

Hillary Clinton saw fit to comment on "modesty" issues here in Israel* and President Obama had followed her lead.

From his speech at the Reform Convention:

Now, since my daughter Malia has reached the age where it seems like there’s always a Bar or Bat Mitzvah -- {laughter) -- every weekend, and there is quite a bit of negotiations around the skirts that she wears at these Bat
Mitzvahs -- (laughter) -- do you guys have these conversations as well? (Laughter.) All right. I just wanted to be clear it wasn’t just me.

Well, is there a Jewish chatan in her future?

__________

*

Clinton said gender segregation on some Israeli buses reminded her of Rosa Parks; that proposed legislation in Israel to control the funding of left-leaning groups worries her; and that the attitudes of a growing and increasingly powerful ultra-Orthodox community, particularly its attitudes toward women, are reminiscent of Iran.

and

Clinton caused a furor in some circles over remarks she reportedly made in a closed-door session over the weekend expressing concerns over Israel’s democracy. According to Israeli media, Clinton was also appalled by the segregation of women by some elements in the ultra-Orthodox community.

P.S.

statement from William Kristol, chairman of the Emergency Committee for Israel, in response to President Obama's speech today at the convention of the Union for Reform Judaism:

"President Obama protests too much. It is not a fact that his administration has been strong in support of Israel. It is a fact that in the past month alone, Obama administration officials have blamed Israel for the failure of the peace process, blamed Israel for fraying relations with the increasingly Islamist governments in Egypt and Turkey, compared Israel to Iran, and blamed Israel for Muslim anti-Semitism in Europe. The president hasn't clarified or repudiated any of these remarks. Israel's security doesn’t come from campaign-season platitudes delivered to Jewish audiences. Israel’s security depends on an American president who stands with Israel all the time, in public and private, before audiences foreign and domestic -- and whose administration's first instinct isn't to blame Israel first. The president's wishes to the contrary notwithstanding, the Emergency Committee for Israel will continue to tell it like it is."

-- William Kristol

"I am proud to say that no U.S. administration has done more in support of Israel's security than ours. None. Don't let anybody else tell you otherwise. It is a fact."

-- President Obama, Friday, Dec. 16
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