Just a nosh......

U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler Crist meets with Israeli official

Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon met Oct. 16 with Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. At the meeting they discussed a number of subjects of mutual interest, including Israel - Florida commercial relations. Vice Prime Minister Ya’alon also briefed Crist about current developments in the Middle East, particularly the Iranian threat to regional stability and Israeli - Palestinian relations. Reflecting the very strong relationship between Israel and Florida, both sides expressed a desire to maintain and strengthen ties, according to the Israeli consulate in Miami.

The meeting came during a four-day official visit to Florida during which the Vice Prime Minister also met with senior business and community leaders.

Defending senator, SC GOPers slur Jews

WASHINGTON — Two South Carolina Republican officials defended U.S. Sen. Jim De- Mint by likening him to Jews who “take care of the pennies.” Writing in the Orangeburg Times and Democrat, Bamberg County GOP Chairman Edwin Merwin and Orangeburg County GOP Chairman James Ulmer defended DeMint against a charge he didn’t help direct enough funds to local projects by saying, “There is a saying that the Jews who are wealthy got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking care of the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves.”

In a written apology, Ulmer noted it was a statement which he had heard many times “truly in admiration for a method of bettering one’s lot in life.” For his part, Merwin apologized for using any language that could be considered anti-semitic. “I have always abhorred in the past, and shall continue to do so in the future, antisemitism in any form whatsoever,” he said.

Wexler to leave Congress

WASHINGTON– U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Boca Raton), who dubbed himself a “firebreathing liberal,” is resigning from Congress in January to lead the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation. The center is a think-tank co-founded by S. Daniel Abraham, the Slim-Fast diet food magnate whom Wexler named has called a “close friend” and the funder of Wexler’s Middle East travel in the past. The group has existed since 1993 and was prominent during the heyday of the Oslo peace process launched that year, but it has been moribund since the death in 2002 of its co-founder, former Utah congressman Wayne Owens.

“Taking over as president of the Center for Middle East Peace offers me an unparalleled opportunity to work on behalf of Middle East peace,” Wexler said in a statement.

Wexler has been an influential voice on Capitol Hill on Middle East policy as chairman of the Europe subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He has commanded respect from Jewish liberals and centrists by combining support for robust U.S. diplomacy in pursuit of a two-state solution with a strong defense of Israel’s response to Hamas rocket attacks.

He is perhaps one of the most unabashed Jews in Congress; Wexler’s wife, Laurie, has worked for the American Jewish Committee and he and his family attend Beth Sholom, an Orthodox synagogue in Potomoc, MD.