BeTodah Me-rosh, Rudy Giuliani

David Weigel | June 12, 2007

This is sort of weird. When you sign up for the Jerusalem Post's website you succumb to lots of e-mail offers for whatever their advertisers want. This morning, if you're a web reader, you got a donation plea from Rudy Giuliani.

From the plea:

Israel and the United States share common values. We cherish freedom, democracy, and human life. Our shared values have attracted common enemies. The terrorists Israel is fighting are the same terrorists America is fighting, and we must continue to fight them together.

Last week Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, announced that the world would soon witness the destruction of Israel. This 2008 presidential campaign will determine how we deal with statements like these and the madmen who make them.

I stand by Israel and I'll never embrace a terrorist like Arafat, a tyrant like Ahmadinejad, or a party like Hamas. Will you join me and support my campaign for President so we can continue to work together? Your contribution of $1,000, $500, $250, $100 or $50 will go a long way in helping us to ensure victory.

The J-Post has got to have a few online subscribers who don't actually hold U.S. citizenship, right? Obviously this is a targeted appeal to the mostly Jewish/hawkish American readers of the paper, but it's odd to see a candidate making a donor appeal through a foreign newspaper. Has anyone ever grabbed ad space in Le Monde to appeal to those crucial New Hampshire francophone swing voters?

UPDATE: In the comments, jip points out that the J-Post is bigger with English-speaking foreigners than it in is Israel - it's owned by CanWest and everything. So Giuliani is almost certainly hitting more American Israel supporters than Israeli news junkies with this e-mail.

Comments

|6.12.07 @ 10:19AM|#

J-Post is an English-only paper. Inside Israel, its popularity is much lower than Haaretz, Yediot Aharanot, etc., etc.

(In a Hebrew-speaking country, it helps to publish in...Hebrew.)

J-Post appeals very much to the more religious, more conservative American Jewish population; the ones that tend to visit Israel with some frequency.

Basically, it's the same newspaper as The New York Sun.

Rich|6.12.07 @ 10:29AM|#

The Jerusalem Post is an English-only Israeli Daily. I'm a regular reader. It may be slightly right of center, but definitely not hawkish. A large percentage of its readership from what I can tell are Americans (and Europeans and Israelis) who support or are simply interested in Israel and who might not otherwise read an(other) American paper focused on Israel. I read Israeli newspapers for my coverage of Israel current affairs. This seems like a legitimate pool of supporters to try to reach.

While I'm not a supporter of Guilliani, I give props to whoever wrote "I stand by Israel and I'll never embrace a terrorist like Arafat, a tyrant like Ahmadinejad, or a party like Hamas." Good read meat applause line.

|6.12.07 @ 10:41AM|#

I'm pretty sure it was a typo, but 'read meat' is a good turn of phrase for this kind of political message.

|6.12.07 @ 10:42AM|#

Rudy wil only embrace the terrorists and tyrants on our team.

|6.12.07 @ 10:44AM|#

I admit I was more than a little surprised to get this this morning, and after reading some of the descriptions of Giuliani here I'm absolutely not giving him any money. Certainly a change from the ads for assorted plush toys and such, however...

|6.12.07 @ 10:48AM|#

"Certainly a change from the ads for assorted plush toys and such"

The candidates, or the J-Post ads?

|6.12.07 @ 11:11AM|#

I get these Jerusalem Post ads in my e-mail, too, and I think I got a similar ad from them about Mitt Romney some weeks or months ago.

|6.12.07 @ 11:52AM|#

Well, if this post doesn't wake Rick Barton out of his commenting slumber, I don't know what will.

|6.12.07 @ 12:22PM|#

It's posible the J-post only sent the e-mail add to subscribbers from the US. The internet ads cross boarders easily and can target subgroups of views. That reduces the difference between domestic and foriegn advertizing markets.

eDWARD|6.12.07 @ 12:29PM|#

crimthink

You mean this Rick Barton?

http://www.jewishsightseeing.com/usa/california/san_diego_county/poway/temple_adat_shalom/19990101-vandals.htm

Poway (special) -- Anti-Semitic vandals spraypainted hate slogans and symbols on the southern and eastern walls of Temple Adat Shalom in Poway. The vandalism was discovered at 6:30 a.m. On Monday, Dec. 28, by maintenance worker Eddie Paguia when he arrived for work.

The vandals concentrated on external walls of the synagogue that could not be easily observed from nearby Pomerado Road.

Members of the Reform congregation and the Anti-Defamation League responded by offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators.

At a news conference announcing the reward, RICK BARTON, CHARIMAN OF THE LOCAL ADL REGION, said of the vandals: "These people have succeeded in occupying our time and energy in dealing with this today, but they have done nothing to dampen our spirit and our resolve. Our message back is very simply that we will not tolerate the desecration of synagogues or any other
house of worship here in the United States. To that end, we are working closely with law enforcement to attempt to apprehend individuals who are responsible for this."

Dave W.|6.12.07 @ 12:42PM|#

Since the paper is not tax exempt, I see no problem.

|6.12.07 @ 1:20PM|#

eDWARD,

Err, no, I mean the guy from Colorado who used to post here about how the US govt was in the pocket of Big Yarmolke.

Edward|6.12.07 @ 2:07PM|#

What's the Big Yamolke?

Dave W.|6.12.07 @ 2:12PM|#

What's the Big Yamolke?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Israel_Public_Affairs_Committee

|6.12.07 @ 6:42PM|#

The problem is, this isn't harmless ethnic pandering. The Israelis want America to start another war in the Middle East (why not, the last went so well). One doubts that Giuliani would be strong enough to say "hell, no", especially after taking all that Jewish money.

Edward|6.12.07 @ 7:32PM|#

Max,

I would think the last thing Israel wants is more instability in the Middle East. Doesn't most "Jewish" money go to the democrats anyway?

|6.12.07 @ 9:05PM|#

I would think the last thing Israel wants is more instability in the Middle East.

Then you haven't been paying attention. The Israelis desperately want the U.S. to attack Iran, for reasons tactical (to delay when Iran has the technical capability to make nukes) and strategic (to further entangle the U.S. in the Middle East). There's also an emotional element: the President of Iran has succeeded in inflaming Jewish opinion (quite deliberately, it seems) with his extremist rhetoric.

Sen. Lieberman made news the other day calling for war with Iran. He's not out on a limb by himself; that's the Israeli view.