Billionaires Adelson and Saban, at odds in campaigns, unite on Israel and hit Obama

[Jefferson23]

Sheldon Adelson, left, and Haim Saban flank Israeli-America Council Chairman Shawn Evenhaim at the IAC conference in D.C. (Shahar Azran)

The billionaire political kingmakers planning to bankroll much of the 2016 presidential campaign spoke out together Sunday with blunt warnings on key issues for their respective parties.

Haim Saban, a media mogul and close Democratic ally of Hillary Rodham Clinton, criticized President Obama’s outreach to Iran, declaring that “we’ve shown too many carrots and a very small stick.”

Sheldon Adelson, a casino magnate who is likely to tap into his fortune in an effort to elect a Republican to the White House, upbraided many in the GOP for their opposition to legalizing millions of undocumented immigrants. Without a comprehensive overhaul, he said, the country would not be “the America that I’m proud to live in.”

Adelson, 81, and Saban, 70, have gained enormous political power in the new era of super PACs and unlimited contributions, and both made it clear during a rare joint appearance Sunday before an audience of several hundred Israeli Americans that they intend to assert that power during the next presidential campaign and beyond with policy demands for their candidates. In particular, they vowed to press both sides for a more hawkish approach to the Middle East.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/billionaires-adelson-and-saban-at-odds-in-campaigns-unite-on-israel-and-hit-obama/2014/11/09/92a40f68-6835-11e4-b053-65cea7903f2e_story.html

[shaayecanaan]

1. from Haaretz

At the conference, which also featured top Democratic funder Haim Saban, Adelson also said Israel would not be able to survive as a democracy: "So Israel won't be a democratic state, so what?" he asked Saban, adding that democracy, after all, is not mentioned in the Torah, and recommended that the country build a “big wall” to protect itself, saying, “I would put up a big wall around my property.”

Sounding surprisingly like a supporter of unilateral withdrawal, he said after the wall is built, Palestinians should be granted five years to prove that they have given up on any intent to destroy Israel.

Saban and Adelson should buy The New York Times together in an effort to bring more “balance” to the newspaper’s coverage of Israel and the Middle East, Adelson suggested to wild applause. Adelson already owns Israel Hayom, a free Israeli newspaper widely seen as reflecting the positions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is considered close to Adelson, and, more recently, news website NRG and religious newspaper Makor Rishon.

"I don't like journalism," Adelson said, highlighting what he said was the media’s insistence on focusing on the empty half of the glass.

Though Saban generally expressed more moderate views than Adelson on the Palestinian issue, when talk turned to Iran he said that if he were Israel’s prime minister and a nuclear deal between Iran and the West risked Israel’s existence, “I would bomb the living daylights out of those sons of bitches.” On this issue, Adelson was the more moderate, saying only that he would “take action.”

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.625542

[Jefferson23]

2. Lunatics with fat wallets..no comfort there. n/t

[Scootaloo]

3. And there's the difference between liberal zionism and non-liberal Zionism

I'd like to say which man represents which angle, but tell you the truth, I can't figure it out

[King_David]

4. Not sure I understand what your saying there

Elaborate please

[Scootaloo]

5. I can't make any sense out of what you just said

Could you explain?