Well now, it appears that even those who have a fawning love affair with “Bibi” and who fully support marauding settlers (who are simply misunderstood), ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and the Zionist vision of an ever expanding Israel, even this is not enough to keep Israel happy when it comes to “foreign” owners of media outlets. The foreigner in question is one Sheldon Gary Adelson, an American Zionist Casino owner Billionaire who funds some nasty wee groups in America. He also owns a newspaper, one of Israel’s most popular ones in fact. The paper is a propaganda rag and mouth piece for Netanyahu, whom Sheldon adores. Trouble is that a bill is about to be passed that excludes anyone outside of Israel owning any newspapers in Israel. I wish America would take a page from the Zionists in Israel on this one, then we’d not have
Rupert Murdock and
FOX blathering on , among others, and his recent move into
MySpace. I digress, here’s today on the Israeli paper, followed by a glimpse into the man behind the paper.
If ever there was a guy for Americans to boycott, this is him. First this:
link A popular free daily newspaper handed out in train stations and on the streets may be banned by the Israeli government. Israel HaYom (Israel Today), which has the second largest daily circulation of any Israeli paper, is the subject of a Knesset bill that would essentially ban publication. Israel HaYom is owned by Sheldon Adelson, an American casino magnate.
Israel HaYom, it publishes 250,000 copies of their weekday edition and also has a newly launched weekend edition. In Israel, it is popularly known as “Bibi Today” for its fawning coverage of right-wing prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party. The writing usually adopts a faux-populistic pose similar to that of the New York Post and The Sun. Foreign countries are routinely depicted as perfidious and anti-Semitic in their very bones and the Jewish settlers on the West Bank are just misunderstood Zionist pioneers. Allusions are regularly made to Barack Obama having Muslim ancestry and the op-eds play the anti-Semitic card every five seconds when they aren’t killing brain cells.
The problem? A bill working its way through the Knesset would ban foreigners from owning a newspaper in Israel.
Here's the run down on "Sheldon":
Wiki:
Sheldon Gary Adelson (born August 1, 1933)[1] is an American billionaire businessman. He is a property developer and public company CEO based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Adelson is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., the parent company of Venetian Macao Limited which operates The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Center.
Adelson's parents were Jewish. Adelson was born into a traditionally Democratic family but became a staunch Republican as his wealth grew. He began making major contributions to the Republican National Committee following clashes with labor unions at his Las Vegas properties.[6]
Adelson currently has funded over $25 million to the M.I.S. Hebrew Academy in Las Vegas
In 2005, Adelson and his wife were both among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 (thus the total contribution from the couple was $500,000) to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.[12][13][14]
In 2006 Adelson contributed $25 million to the organization Birthright Israel, The gift is anticipated to be given annually for the foreseeable future [15]
In 2007 Adelson founded the 527 lobbying group Freedom's Watch, a group that advocates America's continued involvement in the war in Iraq, and is run and supported, in part, by former officials of the Bush administration.[17] It has unsuccessfully financed several Republican congressional candidates and originally had intended to raise as much as $250 million to attack Barack Obama's presidential campaign. A Freedom's Watch spokesperson said it now will focus on congressional campaigns.[18]
Also in 2007, Adelson pledged another $25 million to the Taglit-Birthright Israel program, allowing for approximately 20,000 people to take part in the program.[17]
Adelson is "fiercely opposed to a two-state solution" for Israel and Palestine, which former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert supports, as a "betrayal of principle." Adelson opposed the 2007 Annapolis Peace Conference.[6] Adelson has been a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has since retaken that office and proposed a demilitarized Palestinian state with limited sovereignty.[23]
The New Yorker article also described how Shelley Berkley, a Nevada Democratic Party congresswoman who had worked for Adelson in the nineties as vice-president of legal and governmental affairs, quoted Adelson as saying that “old Democrats were with the union and he wanted to break the back of the union, consequently he had to break the back of the Democrats.” The Boston Globe also noted that Adelson has "waged some bitter anti-union battles in Las Vegas".[6][8] Congresswoman Berkley also claimed in the New Yorker article that Adelson "seeks to dominate politics and public policy through the raw power of money."
And in America Sheldon gets an
Award.On Sunday at a dinner in New York, Adelson was awarded the Theodor Herzl Gold Medallion from the Zionist Organization of America for his lifelong contributions to the cause of Israel.
