… what’s next?

Tomorrow’s Forward newspaper reports:

In such cities as Cincinnati, Boston, Denver and Miami, armed security guards have been in front of the federation building since the shooting. … Miami has been tense, in part because two synagogues and two Jewish businesses were hit Sunday with graffiti that included swastikas and the message “U R Next.”

“We are now contending not just with the escalating tension amid the Mideast crisis, but also with well-founded reports that there are Islamic radicals mobilizing in this country who espouse Al-Qaeda’s terrorist ideology, but who are not formally linked to the group,” said William Daroff, vice president for public policy at the United Jewish Communities.

Following the fatal shooting at Seattle’s Jewish federation, we learn from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency:

Seattle was one of 18 cities that has received $14 million from the Department of Homeland Security’s 2005 budget to provide security for at-risk nonprofit groups. Virtually all the money is earmarked for enhanced security at Jewish organizations.

An additional $11 million from that budget, along with $25 million promised for 2006, has yet to be disbursed, and the 2007 budget is still being decided.

William Daroff, vice president for public policy at the United Jewish Communities and the group’s top Washington lobbyist, said that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff pledged three weeks ago to release the 2006 funds, but nothing has happened yet.

After CNN’s Glenn Beck last night gave a comical national platform to fringe Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of Jews Against Zionism, it was refreshing to read this in today’s New York Times about American Jews and the war:

Any criticism of Israel is “very marginal,” said William Daroff, vice president of public policy for United Jewish Communities, an umbrella organization of 155 Jewish federations in the United States. Mr. Daroff said he had also found an astounding degree of consensus among American politicians.

Last week he helped organize a Washington lobbying blitz by more than 40 Jewish leaders who, he said, spent the day essentially expressing their thanks to officials in the White House and the State Department and on Capitol Hill.

“From Nancy Pelosi on the liberal wing of the Democratic Party to Rick Santorum on the conservative wing of the Republican Party, I have literally heard unanimous approval and support for Israel’s right to defend itself,” Mr. Daroff said.

We’ve been following the major media — Washington Post, CNN — get increasingly perplexed by Americans expressing pro-Israel thoughts to Congress.

Today’s New York Jewish Week should lead to more puzzled looks:

Jewish leaders this week were heading to Israel to show solidarity with the Jewish state — and some to Washington, to weigh in on the current crisis with administration officials, members of Congress and foreign diplomats.

On Thursday, leaders of the United Jewish Communities (UJC) and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) were due here for meetings with administration and congressional officials.

“The goal is to communicate with our nation’s leaders our collective concerns for the state of Israel during this time of existential threat,” said William Daroff, the UJC vice president for public policy.

He said the Jewish leaders would also do some “brainstorming with administration officials about ways to encourage our allies to include Hezbollah on their official lists of terrorist organizations.”

Meanwhile, check out The Hill’s front-page story:

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) approached Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on the floor Tuesday evening to see if she would attach her name to the most recent version of a joint resolution supporting Israel in its battle with two militant Islamic groups.

After five days of wrangling between the two leaders, their aides and other members, Pelosi was still withholding her support for the measure, scheduled to be voted on today, because she wanted Republicans to include language asking the two sides to limit civilian casualties.

Finally, here’s a cartoon from aljazeerahinfo.  Anyone care to translate?

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) holds a Jewish Leadership Summit July 18.  The JTA poses this question:

When is it kosher for Jewish leaders to consort with lawmakers, and when does it become payback for political pork? … At issue are what the rules should be when dealing with incumbents up for election.

Santorum writes: “This is an official Senate function, and speakers will discuss the policy-related issues of the day.  Since 1997, my office has hosted various coalition days in Washington, D.C. to introduce my constituents to lawmakers and experts in the nation’s capital.”

Republican Jewish Coalition director Matt Brooks: “Santorum is absolutely correct in wanting these conversations with the Jewish community.”

Meanwhile, at the United Jewish Communities, William Daroff says this about the group’s newsletter interviewing politicians: “We’ve decided that we will only highlight public officials not seeking public office within 12 months of the publication of the e-newsletter.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this week named Gregg Rickman as the State Department’s first special envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism around the world, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA).

Two things caught Extreme Mortman’s eye about this story.

1)  Rickman and Mortman are both alumni of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, the agency that runs America’s international broadcasting operations.

2)  The  JTA story quotes William Daroff, vice president for public policy of the United Jewish Communities: “Gregg Rickman, working with Sen. D’Amato, is almost single-handedly the one who uncovered the corruption and the immorality of the Swiss banks.”  Thus allowing us to update our All Things Daroff feature.

JTA caption: Newly appointed anti-Semitism monitor, Gregg Rickman, second from left, speaks with Sen. George Voinovich, left, the UJC´s William Daroff, third from left, and the WJC´s Shai Franklin in 2002.

A fun side note to Josh Bolten becoming White House chief of staff.  The JTA’s Matthew Berger points out that Bolten is the second Jewish chief of staff — the first being Kenneth Duberstein, chief of staff to Ronald Reagan.  No Democratic president has had a Jewish chief of staff.

According to Berger’s story, “Colleagues and friends say Bolten has been vocal about his religion and willing to participate in Jewish events at the White House. He frequently has been seen at White House Chanukah candle lightings, and participated in a Megillah reading at the White House during Purim this year.”  And at the White House, “he would bring dreidels and chocolate gelt to senior staff meetings at Chanukah, and has a mezuzah on his White House door.”

William Daroff, vice president for public policy at United Jewish Communities, says in the story: “Since the beginning of this administration, he has been a senior-level force for making sure the Jewish community had a voice at the very highest levels of the administration.”

All of which makes us look forward to this year’s White House Winter Holiday seasonal greeting cards.  Perhaps they’ll call the holiday what it truly is — Chanukah.

As debate over congressional travel bans continues, Extreme Mortman has been entertained by what William Daroff, vice president for public policy of the United Jewish Communities, has to say. According to the Jewish Week, here’s what he told the House Rules Committee: