March 14, 2010

Broadcast Date: 
Mar 14 2010

A benefit for Friends of the IDF draws hundreds of protesters; a new web video, Size Doesn't Matter, is the latest salvo in Israel's campaign to change the subject to anything but the Occupation; the Stupak Amendment curbs abortion access even before becoming law; plus, a frightening new report on the resurgence of Patriot and militia groups.

Episode segments
  • Protest at Friends of the IDF Dinner March 9
    American Politics, Israel/Palestine, Occupation
    Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    On Tuesday March 9, hundreds of protestors walked solemnly around the perimeter of New York City's Waldorf Astoria hotel.  They were protesting the Friends of the IDF's $1000 a plate dinner; the dinner raised $20,000,000.  The protest, organized by New York's Just Say No! was co-sponsored by 25 Jewish, Israeli and Palestinian groups.

  • Size Doesn't Matter
    Israel/Palestine, Film, Occupation
    David Biale is Professor of History at the University of California, Davis.  He is the author of many books including Eros and the Jews:From Biblical Israel to Contemporary America, and most recently Blood and Belief: The Circulation of a Symbol Between Jews and Christians.  His new book,  Not in the Heavens: The Tradition of Jewish Secular Thought will be released in Fall 2010.
    Esther Kaplan and Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    In its continuing efforts to attract young people to Israel--and to change the conversation to anything but the Occupation--the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy, created a new video.   Professor David Biale places the video within both Zionism's historic efforts to create a new, hyper-masculine Jew and North American Jewry's current anxieties.

  • Stupak-Pitts Won't Be Going Away
    National Politics, Domestic Policy
    Jodi Jacobson is currently Senior Political Editor of RHRealityCheck.org, "an online community and publication serving individuals and organizations committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights."  Previously, she was the Director of Advocacy at American Jewish World Service and was founder and Executive Director for 13 years of the Center for Health and Gender Equity an organization that monitors and seeks to promote accountability of US international policy to women’s reproductive and sexual health and rights.
    Esther Kaplan and Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    Even though health care reform is far from a done deal, a movement to remove abortion from health insurance is gaining momentum across the country.  We talk with Jodi Jacobson about this ominous development for women's reproductive health and right to choose.  The only good news,  Stupak now faces a primary challenge from a pro-choice Democrat.

  • Right-Wing Militias Are Back
    National Politics
    Chip Berlet is Senior Analyst at Political Research Associates and the co-author of  Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort. He blogs at TheHuffington Post.
    Esther Kaplan and Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    In Rage on the Right, the Southern Poverty Law Center, recently reported that so-called "Patriot" groups — militias and other organizations that see the federal government as part of a plot to impose “one-world government” on liberty-loving Americans — came roaring back after years out of the limelight." And this time, many of the Patriot movement's core ideas are being propagated by members of Congress (such as Rep. Michel Bachmann) and the mass media (such as by Fox News and Glenn Beck).

    This comes at a moment when, according to Chip Berlet, "We are in the midst of one of the most significant right-wing populist rebellions in United States history."