How many readers of The New York Times know about the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995?  This law, calling for the relocation of the United States Embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, asserted that Jerusalem was to remain an undivided city and official capital of the state of Israel.  It was adopted by the Senate 93-5 and by the House 374-37.  Although it has never been implemented by our country, whose executive branch considers it an infringement by Congress on its authority to conduct foreign policy, it has also never been repealed and remains in place representing the overwhelming majority of members of both Houses and their constituents.  This is significant in light of the recent brouhaha concerning the so called “settlements” in Jerusalem.  Israel has no confusion over the status of its indivisible capital and therefore, doesn’t need to ask American permission to build housing for its citizens there.  America should have no confusion either given the wording of the 1995 Law and the fact that though dormant, it still remains intact.  This piece of old news has been omitted in accounts of American expectations of Israel’s ten-month moratorium on building in west bank settlements.

     Much has already been written about President Obama’s attempts to mollify our perceived enemies while antagonizing our unquestionable allies, and though Netanyahu has already apologized for the timing of the manufactured “insult” to Vice President Biden, the residue of press hostility towards Israel continues.  Today’s Gray Lady features a boldly arresting cover picture of a Chasidic Jew looking at a poster of Obama bowing his head before a Muslim potentate who is hanging a medal around his neck;  the poster is captioned “Warning! PLO Agent in the White House.”  Is this really front page news a week after the fact?  Why not a photo of our secretary of state being greeted by thousands of polite American Jews as she addressed them yesterday at the AIPAC conference in Washington?  Or of Netanyahu shaking hands with Clinton and Biden, both of whom  he met with yesterday, at which time there were certainly photo-ops galore.  Highlighting an Israeli poster while every other Moslem country calls for death to the Great Satan and terrorists around the world clamor for jihad while doing their best to attack us seems a lopsided view of what’s important in current events.  But fanning the flames of anti-Israel sentiment has always been easy and seems to come more naturally to our paper of record.  Perhaps tomorrow’s Food Section will offer a timely recipe for that perennial spring favorite of Jews everywhere - the iron fortified bloody Passover matzoh………

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