We recently attended a lecture in Jerusalem as a guest of Honest Reporting. This was arranged by our friend Harris Berman, who was participating in one of their bi-annual missions. The idea behind honestreporting.com originated in 2000, when a group of young Zionists came up with the idea of encouraging thousands of emails to publications and websites which were distorting the facts concerning Israel. In order to make those complaints heard, a hard-hitting website was a necessity. They built it. Today, Honest Reporting has 155,000 supporters and sister organizations in Canada and the UK.

Honest Reporting missions are expensive, but they are tailored to committed individuals who love Israel, have already visited the country, and are looking for inspiration. The missions consist of briefings from the Foreign Ministry, newsmakers and military experts; Israel advocacy training; tours of sites that are often misrepresented by the media, such as the security fence; deluxe accommodations and meals; special events like delivering cakes to soldiers at checkpoints; and most important, the opportunity to grapple with issues which often show up in newspaper headlines that are unfair to Israel. Some speakers who regularly address the missions are Mark Regev, the spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office, Danny Seaman, the director of the Government Press Office, the Israeli-Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh, and the former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Moshe "Bogie" Ya'alon.

My wife, Michal, and I met Harris on the last day of the week-long mission to hear the dynamic Caroline Glick. After growing up in Obama's current neighborhood, Hyde Park, Chicago, Caroline attended Columbia University before serving more than five years in the Israel Defense Forces, where as an officer, she was Coordinator of Negotiations with the PLO. After that, Caroline was the assistant foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. She returned to America to get her MA in Public Policy at Harvard. Caroline is currently Deputy Managing Editor of the Jerusalem Post, a syndicated columnist, a commentator on various media outlets, and the senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC., among other endeavors.

Hard-hitting as usual, Caroline began by expressing her fears of the consequences to Israel of Barack Obama's election. Iran has tripled its stock of Shihab ballistic missiles to about 100 in the last few years, which are aimed at Israel and European countries. In response, Obama promises tough negotiations consisting of carrots and sticks, to change Iran's policy of enriching uranium for nuclear weapons manufacture. Caroline emphasized that this "new" negotiating stance is the same failed strategy that neither the Bush administration, the UN, nor the EU have followed for a number of years, during which time Iran managed to greatly increase its influence and reach around the world. (Iran announced its rejection of Obama's planned initiative as soon as it was reported.)

Next, Caroline skewered Obama's acceptance of the perceived truism that the key to solving the problems of the Middle East is to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She described how the Palestinian Fatah and Hamas movements are both jihadist entities which have no intention of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state and no desire to exist side by side with Israel in peace. Without a doubt, insists Caroline, the policy of strengthening jihadists is counterproductive and only empowers our enemies. How this fact can be ignored by the West is a mystery to her.

Describing the cohort of advisors Obama is surrounding himself with, Caroline classified them as running the gamut from the "Cossack" (actually Polish) Zbigniew Brzezinski, a foreign policy analyst who first served President Jimmy Carter, to the "Neo-Buberian" former U.S. ambassadors to Israel, Martin Indyck and Daniel Kurtzer. (Martin Buber was an Austrian-Israeli- Jewish philosopher, translator, and educator. A cultural Zionist, Buber was a staunch supporter of a bi-national, onestate solution in Palestine, instead of a two-state solution. After the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel, Buber favored a regional federation of Israel and Arab states.)

While Caroline believes that George W. Bush's policy to pursue a two-state solution is unsuitable in the present situation, she praises him for being willing to use force when necessary as part of his foreign policy. She fears that Obama's foreign policy towards Israel will be equally flawed and that he will resist using deterrence. Expecting Binyamin Netanyahu to be Israel's next Prime Minister, Caroline also fears that Obama's team will follow the same tactics as during President Clinton's administration, when Binyamin Netanyahu found himself under unbearable pressure from Clinton, who went so far as to send his own team of election advisors to Israel to help the Labor opposition defeat Netanyahu. Caroline fears that Obama will replicate some of Clinton's worst initiatives, like failing to act against terror attacks (US Embassy in Kenya, USS Cole) and lauding and enhancing terrorist leaders (Arafat).

Caroline pointed out that the world has changed for the worse since the start of the new millennium, including the fact that the Palestine Authority is divided and unable to govern; that Hamas has gained potency as Israel fears to engage it; that the U.S., E.U., and U.N. have failed to meet the challenge of jihadism; and most important, that Israel has had weak and ineffectual leadership. She cites the present Israeli government's plan to strengthen the roofs of Israeli dwellings near Gaza as an example. Instead of confronting the enemy, which shoots missiles into Israel with impunity, the government offers to give all Israeli children "helmets" to protect them from the missiles. Make no mistake, she says - when Israel shows weakness, the Palestinians are strengthened.

In conclusion, Caroline insisted that Israel needs a strong, resolute government and strong, resolute supporters, inside and outside of Israel. She gave a "to do" list for Israel's next leader: end negotiations with Fatah, end Hamas' control in Gaza, defang Hezbollah, and cripple the Iranian nuclear threat. If this list isn't daunting enough, Caroline pointed out that all this must be accomplished while Americans will want quiet from its allies and will have to take the time necessary to heal its economy.

During the question and answer period following her talk, Caroline pointed out that Israel's plans to stymie Iran are damaged by Russia's recent takeover of Georgian air bases, which Israel could have used if America withholds its cooperation with an Israeli attack. She also pointed out that, even if Israel is successful in impeding Iran's race to attain nuclear-tipped missiles, it will receive no plaudits from the international community - just criticism or worse. As an example of this, Caroline noted that it took years and a war against Iraq until America credited Israel with denying Saddam Hussein the nuclear option. Finally, Caroline quoted Jesse Jackson, who predicted during the presidential election campaign, the end of "decades of putting Israel's interests first" if Obama were elected. She fears that Jackson might be right, but not only that, Caroline was incensed that the American Jewish leaders quickly denied even the possibility that Jackson was correct, in their haste to paper over any possible problems with the Democratic nominee.

The website www.honestreporting.com is a must for anyone interested in Israel's image in the media. To be kept abreast of important media issues, join their mailing list. Honest Reporting has had a positive impact on CNN, BBC, Reuters, AP and other media outlets, based on a torrent of emails from its audience to perpetrators of media bias and/or outright fraud. See the website for concrete examples of what honestreporting.com has accomplished. As for the mission itself, Harris attested to the wonderful program, the interesting group, and the opportunity to experience Israel in a different and

fascinating way.

Stephen Kramer resided and worked in the Atlantic City area until 1991, when he moved to Israel with his wife, Michal Langweiler, and two sons. He can be reached at Sjk1@jhu.edu.