Photo by Scott Audette/Reuters

As we and others noted previously, anti-Israel Representative Ron Paul’s (R-TX) presidential candidacy poses a unique dilemma for leading GOP presidential candidate former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. The conventional wisdom holds that Romney needs Paul’s support—and his highly energized supporters—in order to be a strong nominee. In an apparent effort to court Paul, Romney told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he would vote for Paul if he ended up the GOP’s nominee—while expressing hope that Paul would somehow change his views after decades of railing against the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Today, The Washington Post reported on its front page that Romney and Paul appear to have struck a “strategic partnership” in the GOP primary process. According to The Washington Post:

The Romney-Paul alliance is more than a curious connection. It is a strategic partnership: for Paul, an opportunity to gain a seat at the table if his long-shot bid for the presidency fails; for Romney, a chance to gain support from one of the most vibrant subgroups within the Republican Party.

‘It would be very foolish for anybody in the Republican Party to dismiss a very real constituency,’ said one senior GOP aide in Washington who is familiar with both camps. ‘Ron Paul plays a very valuable part in the process and brings a lot of voters toward the Republican Party and ultimately into the voting booth, and that’s something that can’t be ignored.’

To ensure that they are heard - not just now but after Election Day, too - Paul and his followers are working to gain a permanent foothold in the Republican Party nationwide. One state at a time, Paul’s supporters are seating themselves at county committee meetings, and standing for election as state officers and convention delegates, to make sure their candidate’s libertarian vision is taken into account. The goal is a lasting voice for an army of outsiders that has long felt ignored and sees the nation headed toward ruin if things don’t change.

That is just fine with the Romney campaign, which would be happy to bring Paul’s constituency - perhaps the most intense and loyal in the country - into the fold.

Romney’s aides are ‘quietly in touch with Ron Paul,’ according to a Republican adviser who is in contact with the Romney campaign and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss its internal thinking. The two campaigns have coordinated on minor things, the adviser said - even small details, such as staggering the timing of each candidate’s appearance on television the night of the New Hampshire primary for maximum effect.

One advantage for Romney is that Paul’s presence in the race helps keep the GOP electorate fractured. But there is also a growing recognition that the congressman plans to stay in the contest over the long term - and that accommodating him and his supporters could help unify Republican voters in the general election against President Obama.

‘Ron Paul wants a presence at the convention,’ the adviser said - and Romney, if he is the nominee, would grant it.

Click here to read the full article. 

Yesterday, PoltiFact confirmed that Obama has lived up to this promise.

Specifically, Congress approved $3.075 billion in security assistance for Israel as part of a larger spending package for fiscal year 2012, according to the American Israel Political Action Committee. That marks the fourth consecutive year the memorandum’s terms have been met, AIPAC said.

It’s premature to say that the succeeding six years of the memorandum’s terms will be met. But so far, Obama has followed the lead of President George W. Bush and stuck to the terms of the funding agreement. As the 2012 elections approach, there’s no evidence that this is anything but a Promise Kept.

The facts continue to speak for themselves: Obama places a high priority on the security and stability of the Jewish state.

While there had been mixed reporting previously surrounding the campaign’s reactions, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Carla Marinucci most recently reported that “officials in the campaigns of both former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Texas Representative Ron Paul are privately expressing concern about the decision” to hold the Saturday night caucus that will enfranchise a large number of observant Jewish Republicans.

Stay tuned for further developments and campaign reactions.

There has been some speculation that Democrats could struggle to hold the Jewish vote in 2012….

But there is no sign tonight of Jewish voters switching their registration over to the Republican side in Florida. According to early exit polls, just 1 percent of voters in tonight’s Republican primary identified as Jewish. That’s down from 3 percent in the Florida Republican primary in 2008, which also might mean that Jewish Republican voters in the state are not terribly enthusiastic about this group of candidates.

The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein wrote:

For all the campaign attention paid this past week to Israeli politics and—towards the end—Mitt Romney’s handling of kosher meal budgeting in Massachusetts, few if any Jews appeared to vote in the Florida GOP primary.

According to Fox News exit poll, just one percent of the state’s primary voters identified as Jewish. Thirty-one percent said they were Catholic and 59 percent said they were protestant or ‘other Christian.’ Four percent said ‘something else.’

The Jewish Journal’s Shmuel Rosner wrote:

A week ago I wrote that the most interesting question about the Florida Jewish vote is that ‘If the percentage of Republican Jews is higher this year than in 2008; if more than 4-5% of the Republican Florida voters are Jewish.’ The answer to this question is now clear: a resounding no. According to exit polls only 1% of Republican voters were Jewish - that’s not more but rather less Jewish voters than the number of 2008. 

... I don’t know how Tuesday’s results could be interpreted in ways favorable to Jewish Republicans. Clearly, the Jews of Florida aren’t moved by the candidates, they aren’t moved by the party, and they aren’t moved by Obama’s policies - not enough to switch party registration and vote for their candidate of choice.

The Forward’s Nathan Guttman also explained:

Exit polls could not provide data regarding the split in Jewish votes between Romney and Gingrich but it is largely believed that Romney had a stronger showing among Jewish Republicans. His supporters in Florida put together three events in recent weeks and all were well attended.

What exit polls do show, however, is that only 1% of Republican primary voters identified as being Jewish, down from 3% in 2008.

That means there was no shift of Jewish voters to the Republican side.

And Guttman’s Forward colleague Josh Nathan-Kazis—who reported directly from Florida prior to the primary—surmised:

... [F]ewer Jewish voters in the primary could correlate to a lack of enthusiasm among Jews for the Republican field.

Yesterday, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich joined a conference of evangelical pastors in Jacksonville, Florida. As they received some advice on proselytizing that most American Jews would find offensive—invoking Jewish stereotypes to boot—Gingrich sat silently, and offered no comment afterwards.

According to Yahoo! News:

...Inside, the topic of the evening discussion, led by Joel Rosenberg, a novelist who writes about Islamic terrorism, focused partially on how to convert Jews to the faith.

“As a Jewish person,” Rosenberg, who was raised by a Jewish father and a Gentile mother, “our people really didn’t get it the first time Jesus came.”

He urged the audience not to be bashful, and to act quickly in case the End Times were nigh. “I know you know Jewish people,” he told them. “You have an accountant, you have a lawyer…”

Gingrich, perched in the back, waited patiently to be introduced to the nationwide audience of pastors….

Read the full article here:

Gingrich spends Sunday at church, as awkward remarks are issued from pulpit

Mitt Romney is getting heat for a 2003 veto he cast as governor of Massachusetts to reject $600,000 in additional funds for poor Jewish nursing-home residents to get kosher meals.

At the time, Romney said he nixed the funding of about $5 per day because it ‘unnecessarily’ would lead to an ‘increased rate for nursing facilities’ - even as kosher nursing homes were complaining that state-funding-formula changes could force them to close their kitchens.

‘I was outraged,’ Jeffrey Goldshine, the retired CEO of a company that operated a kosher facility in Massachusetts, told The Post yesterday.

‘For the elderly Jewish residents of a nursing home that have always been kosher - they should be entitled to continue.’

The Massachusetts Legislature approved an amendment to restore the $600,000 to finance the kosher meals allowing a ‘most vulnerable segment of our population’ to ‘enjoy a special dignity,’ according to the Jewish Community Council.

Click here to read The Post’s story. 

JTA noted:

At the time of the veto, State Rep. Ruth Balser, a Democrat from Newton,  Mass. told the Jewish Advocate that while Romney was advocating for saving money, he was ‘depriving people of essential services.’...

Eventually, the Massachusetts State Legislature approved an amendment to restore the funding for the Jewish nursing home facilities.

Click here for JTA’s story. 

This International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Michelle and I join people in the United States, in Israel, and across the globe as we remember the six million Jews and millions of others who were murdered at the hands of the Nazis.

We commit ourselves to keeping their memories alive not only in our thoughts, but through our actions. As we remember all those who perished in camps from Auschwitz to Treblinka, Dachau to Sobibor, we pledge to speak truth to those who deny the Holocaust.

As we celebrate the strength and resilience of survivors, we pledge to stand strong against all those who would commit atrocities, against the resurgence of anti-Semitism, and against hatred in all its forms.

As we draw inspiration from the righteous gentiles who risked their lives to save friends, neighbors, and even strangers, we pledge to continue the hard work of repairing the world.

Together with the State of Israel, and all our friends around the world, we dedicate ourselves to giving meaning to those powerful words: ‘Never Forget. Never Again.’

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said:

Last week, the United States joined countries throughout the world in marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day. We paused to honor the memory of the six million Jews and millions of others who were murdered at the hands of the Nazis. As President Obama said, we recommitted ourselves to “keeping their memories alive not only in our thoughts, but through our actions.” This is a time to reflect on the meaning and lessons of “Never Forget, Never Again.”

This past year, we have seen Holocaust denial increasing throughout Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East. There has been an upsurge in anti-Semitic acts, including hateful graffiti, cemetery desecrations, verbal and physical assaults on Jews, incitement to anti-Semitic violence, and cartoons demonizing Jews.

Denying the truth of the Holocaust is an insult to history. We urge governments, civil society leaders, clerics, human rights groups and all people of conscience in all nations to speak out against this kind of hatred.  The United States will work with all of those who are committed to a world free of anti-Semitism and all other forms of ethnic or religious intolerance.

Obama’s Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice also said:

On the 67th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, I join people in the United States, in Israel, across the United Nations system and around the world in commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this day of limitless grief, we honor those who suffered and died and keep faith with all who are tormented by demagogues and killers.

The United Nations was established in the aftermath of the Shoah. Its founding documents called on member states to stand in defense of our common humanity and against the barbaric cruelty that led to Holocaust and war. Decades later, our grief over the murder of six million Jews and many millions of others has not diminished. There are those who continue to deny the plain facts of our history. There are those who continue to preach hatred and division. There are those, in plain sight of great evil, who continue to choose appalling silence.

As President Obama has said, ‘We must be ever vigilant about the spread of evil in our own time.’ The United States will never be silent when innocent life is menaced by tyranny. Today and every day, we will rededicate ourselves to the defense of human rights and human dignity. And we will never forget.

Governor Romney tonight showed again that he will lie if need be to advance his political agenda, and when it comes to the U.S.-Israel relationship, that’s shameful. The stakes are simply too high. We are not talking about subjective opinions, but facts. Governor Romney, for example, said that the President castigated Israel during his speech at the United Nations in September. He did no such thing. Mr. Romney said the President made no reference to the ‘thousands of rockets being rained in on Israel from the Gaza Strip;’ indeed, President Obama specifically cited how ‘Israel’s citizens have been killed by rockets fired at their houses and suicide bombs on their buses’ on the world stage of the United Nations in September.

Enough is enough. The outright lies, smears and distortions of President Obama’s stellar Israel record must stop.

Tonight Governor Romney said:

He [Obama] said nothing about thousands of rockets being rained in on Israel from the Gaza Strip.

President Obama said at the UN on September 21, 2011:

Let us be honest with ourselves: Israel is surrounded by neighbors that have waged repeated wars against it. Israel’s citizens have been killed by rockets fired at their houses and suicide bombs on their buses.

The New York Times fact checked Romney’s claims regarding Hamas’ rockets and pointed out how Romney’s statements contradict the facts. Their analysis is available here. 

Tonight Governor Romney said:

I think he disrespected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—Bibi Netanyahu.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said following the UN speech:

I think that standing your ground, taking this position of principle… I think this is a badge of honor and I want to thank you for wearing that badge of honor. [New York Daily News, September 22, 2011]

Governor Romney said tonight:

I think he has time and time again shown distance from Israel….

The facts speak for themselves, click here to view them.

It is absolutely unfathomable that Governor Rick Scott—who leads the state with the third largest population of Jews—would invoke the Holocaust to shield Mitt Romney from criticism over his record at Bain Capital. As we have said before, it is never acceptable to invoke the Holocaust to make a political point. This display of insensitivity towards the legacy of the Holocaust—and using Martin Neimoller’s powerful words—is just the latest example of a Republican official abusing the memory of the Holocaust and inappropriately inserting this rhetoric into civic discourse. All who understand and respect the sanctity of the memory of the Holocaust must condemn Scott’s tactless remark, and especially Mitt Romney, for whom Scott was stumping. Romney must make it clear that this sort of language will not be tolerated on the campaign trail. Failure to do so will make him the latest Republican to betray American Jews and the memory of those who perished by giving a free pass to this unacceptable use of this language.

The Associated Press reported this afternoon:

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Thursday that people should defend capitalism against anti-business overtones in the current political culture, quoting a theologian known for lamenting that he did not do enough as the Nazis attacked various groups in the 1930s and 1940s.

He used the quote in defense of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, though he didn’t actually name him. Scott, a Republican elected in 2010 with tea party support, has not endorsed anyone in the race….

The governor paraphrased a famous saying by Martin Niemoller, a German Protestant pastor….

‘We shouldn’t be allowing candidates to attack people in business,’ he said. ‘We should be saying, gosh, that’s us.’

Scott then paraphrased the Niemoller saying, which he has on a plaque in his office.

‘We’ve got to defend the freedom of the free market,’ he said after paraphrasing the quote. ‘If we don’t defend the free market, they’ll pick on somebody. Now they’re picking on Bain Capital, then they’ll pick on somebody else.’

Bain Capital is the private equity firm founded by Romney.

Scott later told reporters he used the Niemoller quote to say that capitalism should always be defended.

‘I have the quote in my office, and the reason is I have it is, we all have to think about watch(ing) what’s going on out there,’ Scott said.

‘Look at what’s happening in our society,’ he added. ‘I believe the free market is good for families. And I believe we should defend the free market. When you see somebody being attacked because they believe in the American Dream, we need to go out and say, gosh I would like to live the American Dream. All of us would like to live that American Dream.’

Press secretary Lane Wright further clarified the governor’s remarks.

‘He’s making a point, not an exact comparison,’ Wright said. ‘The quote illustrates a principle: Stand up for what’s right. If you don’t, no one else will. It would be reading too much into it to think he is comparing to the Holocaust.’

Or, in other words, ‘If you’re attacking capitalism, who’s next?’ Wright said. [AP, January 26, 2012]

Click here for the full story. 

Rice explained that she and her staff assert Israel’s legitimacy and counter anti-Israel bias in UN bodies on a daily basis:

This is an issue of utmost and daily concern for the United States. We spend an enormous amount of time defending Israel’s right to defend itself and defending Israel’s legitimacy throughout the United Nations system. It’s a shame that we have to do so. It reflects badly on many member states who continue to view the United Nations as a venue in which they can attack and harass Israel. ... And so whether it’s the Goldstone report or the flotilla or the Board of Inquiry report, whether it’s the Durban conference and its successors, we have been very clear in our opposition to all forms of unfair attacks on Israel, to any manifestation of anti-Semitism and to stand up for Israel’s right to be a full and equal member of the United Nations system.

Within the United Nations we have supported Israel as it’s taken on leadership positions within the organization… We have pushed for Israel’s inclusion in particular regional or sub-regional groupings… Here in New York we’ve succeeded in garnering their membership in the group that relates to the 5^th Committee. That’s the budgeting, financial part of the system. We have succeeded in pushing for their inclusion in Geneva, in the Human Rights committee structure in that like-minded body. And we continue to do the same here in New York for the human rights architecture. So, we are about this business every day, either in principle because its right and because we share critical values and interests with our partner and ally Israel.

She said regarding the UN’s sanctions against Iran:

Well, the sanctions that were imposed in June of 2010, in Resolution 1929, were by far the toughest that have ever been levied against Iran and the toughest sanctions on the books today against any member state. They were comprehensive, dealing with Iran’s ability to acquire the financing and materials and the other support necessary for this nuclear program. It indicated that oil was one of the factors fueling Iran’s nuclear program, and it was very powerful in its own right, those sanctions, which are of course binding on all member states. And it was very significant that we had the support of Russia and China and the entire P5-in addition to those sanctions, that now the entire world is obliged to implement. You just have seen recent examples of some of the neighbors in the region catching Iran in the act of trying to ship some materials to Syria and intercepting those. That was Turkey, by the way.

... [W]hether or not countries like the sanctions, they have been pretty uniform in fulfilling their obligations to implement them. And that’s important. That’s where we get the multilateral level with 1929. On top of that, as you well know, the United States Congress, with the Administration’s support, has adopted strong legislation that ups our national sanctions even more. And there are some very powerful measures that were passed soon after in July of 2010. And indeed, you’re well aware of the legislation that was passed in December, which implicates the central bank of Iran and Iran’s oil trade. The European Union followed our national action in 2010 with their own much toughened sanctions, as did Canada, Japan, South Korea, and some of the countries in the Arab world. And today, we’re seeing commensurate ratcheting up as we strengthen our national sanctions. We’re seeing our European partners, hopefully, as soon as today…

I think we’ll see similar actions to follow by other important partners. And, if not, coordinated action in the Security Council, which I do think is not likely in the immediate term. The sanctions that we are imposing nationally will, I think, quietly compel even some who might be reluctant to embrace further multilateral action to adjust their purchasing decisions.

Rice explained the President’s and her awareness of Israel’s struggles vis-à-vis the Hamas-run Gaza Strip:

President Obama has been very, very clear in our condemnation of rocket attacks out of Gaza into Israel. I was with him in Sderot when we toured houses that had been hit directly by rockets out of Gaza. I’ll never forget the image of the scores-I mean, tens-of-thousands of empty rocket casings piled up in a police station in Sderot. So the United States is acutely aware of the terror and the mortal danger that these rockets pose. And even though it may not be the topic that is most frequently raised in the Security Council, you can be certain that the United States is raising it. And just last week, in the discussion inside the Security Council, I raised again, as I do every time, that very real risk and threat to the people of Israel. And so this remains very much prominent on our radar screen on our agenda. And while others in the Security Council may choose to emphasize other issues, we continue to make that point very clearly in the first place.

Rice reiterated the Obama Administration’s opposition to the Palestinians’ unilateral attempt to declare statehood:

Let me begin by saying that from the United States’ point of view, the achievement of an independent Palestinian state can only come through direct negotiations and a negotiated two-state solution. We very much want to see that day come, and we very much want to see the outcome of that two-state solution realized. But it’s not going to happen through a shortcut at the United Nations and that’s what we have been arguing. When the Palestinians brought their application in September, the Security Council went through the traditional process of considering that application in the membership committee. We went through a sort of an exhaustive legal discussion, debate, analysis. And once that was completed and the committee’s report was forwarded to the Security Council ... it’s essentially stayed there for the time being. I presume that is because the Palestinians decided that given the voting-likely outcome in the Council, it wasn’t timely to push it to a vote. The fact is, nobody knows for sure what the Palestinians will choose to do, if anything, in the coming weeks or months. I think that predictions are dangerous. But let me just say that we are roughly in the same place now as we were last year. And potentially in a better position. So I don’t want to make any rock solid commitments on that, but I think that if the Palestinians are weighing their choices with respect to the Security Council, they’ll be doing so in a very similar landscape.

Click here to read the full transcript of her remarks.