Jane Harman, official portrait, 111th Congress

Most recently, I noted a headline in the JTA that a Pro Israel Congresswoman, Jane Harman, will soon retire.

It is very easy to use the term “pro Israel”

After 40 years of living in Israel, that adage is easy to come by.

Indeed, it sells.

Just look at J street.

With all of their Israel bashing, they ad the term “Pro Israel” and attract a whole coterie of support.

Yet Jane Harman stands in a category by herself from the one contact that I had with her.

Harman came to the Knesset summer 2003 as part of a US congressional delegation on the day that our agency was presenting the new Palestinian school curriculum that was funded, in part by US AID, then run by Larry Garber, before he took his position with the NIF.

Harman asked to see the PA school books, and looked at the books which specifically called upon Palestinian children to praise and adore those who murder Jews. Her reaction was visceral, not political.

Harman broke down in tears, and said that she was ashamed that the US government would sponsor such books.

The impression that Harman left was that she cared.

Translations of recent PA books
http://israelbehindthenews.com/library/pdfs/PA-schoolbooks.pdf

2 COMMENTS

  1. Jane Harman expressed her emotions, yes, but what has she done to overcome the problem of US support thru AID of antisemitic school texts in the hands of the PLO school teachers? There is no oversight or supervision of UNRWA-run schools and even if there were, the Hamas seem in control of the curriculum and that is that.
    Nice of her to show support for Israel by her visit, but let’s see some concrete Congressional work on this issue.

  2. I used to jog alongside Jane Harman, my Congresswoman, in Marina del Rey when I lived there…often haranguing her about Bush and Rice demainding the wrong things, like giving up land with not even a promise of recognition or of peace, later like insisting Hamas particpate in an election in Gaza., When she addressed the Venice Marina del Rey Democratic Club at my house and started by saying, "Islam is a religion of peace", I jumped up and said, "Come on, Jane, as Head of the Congressional Intelligence Committee, you know better than that." I have emailed her constantly about not just United states foreign policy, but demanded she start impeachment proceedings against Obama for violating United States LAWS forbidding the funding of terrorist organizations, any project named for or honoring a terrorist (Maghrebi), and lies like "Islam has been an important part of America since its founding". On one hand, with friends like Jane Harman, who needs enemies. On the other hand, I and my wife, Dorraine, helped Jane Harman fight off a campaign by Marci Winograd on Jane’s last re-election. I asked Marci when she protested the plight of Palestinians subjected to the loss of THEIR LANDS, and many indignities by Israel, "Marci, would you like to live under Sharia?" Marci asked back, "What is Sharia?" The problem in America as it is in Israel,
    is PARTY LOYALTY placed ahead of intelligent reactions to the realities of the Middle East. Everyone, except me and others who do not share the limelight, is afraid of screaming out what the Koran says, demainds, its values and its imperatives. Prime Minister Netanyahu should ask Pres. Obama to come learn Torah with him, then they will study the Koran, compare the values and imperatives, and perhaps find a path to peace. But Bibi also ignores my entreaties by email sent often. He is too busy keeping Barak in his coaliitiion….party politics!

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David Bedein
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

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