Controlled Press Hides Chertoff's Israeli Roots
March 4, 2005
Michael Chertoff, the new head of the
Department of Homeland Security, was approved in a 98-0 vote in the U.S. Senate
without the question of his Israeli roots - and nationality - even being raised.
On February 15, 2005, Michael Chertoff,
a dual-national with Israeli roots, was sworn in as the second Secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The new "homeland security czar," who
oversees the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, seems to be
hiding his own dual-national status - with the cooperation of the controlled
press.
Although the media scrutinized Bernard
Kerik, President George W. Bush's first choice to head DHS, and uncovered
embarrassing details about his mother, there was no discussion of Chertoff's
mother, who played a noteworthy role in the creation of the Zionist state in
Under Israeli law, a child born to an
Israeli citizen, including children born outside of
Chertoff was born on November 28, 1953
in
SON OF A RABBI
"The son of a rabbi," the Star-Ledger
of Newark, New Jersey, reported on February 16, "Chertoff was born in Elizabeth,
graduated from Harvard University in 1975, and received his law degree from
Harvard Law School in 1978." The Star-Ledger, Chertoff's hometown
newspaper, however, seems to have omitted mentioning his mother to avoid
discussing that Livia [Eisen] Chertoff lived and worked in Israel and was an
Israeli national.
The Star-Ledger is well aware of
Livia's Israeli roots. Six years ago, in her obituary of December 21, 1998, the
paper reported her role in the founding of
Even in 1998, however, the
Star-Ledger was vague about Livia's nationality. "Born in
EVASIVE ANSWERS
Secretary Chertoff was evasive when I
asked about his mother's nationality, which if Israeli, would make him an
Israeli national.
"While his mother did reside in
Livia reportedly participated in
Operation Magic Carpet, the top-secret airlift of some 45,000 Yemenite Jews to
Chertoff's children have attended Jewish
private schools, and his wife, Meryl Justin, was a co-chair of the regional
Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) civil rights committee.
Chertoff is secretive about his
childhood, perhaps to avoid discussing the intense Talmudic and Zionist
upbringing he received in a family in which all the men were rabbis and scholars
of the Talmud. "My childhood was...average...Nothing stands out. It all kind of
blends into the murky past," he told the Star Ledger in March 2001.
Pressed for more details, Chertoff "reclined in his chair" and said, "I'll take
the Fifth."
Michael's father, Gershon, was the first
child of Paul Chertoff from
Chertoff's father, Gershon, was a rabbi
and teacher of the Talmud, as was his uncle Mordecai. Their father, Paul, was a
"teacher" of the Talmud at the Jewish Institute (yeshiva) in
Naomi also studied the Talmud and was
serving her fourth term as national president of the Young Women's Zionist
Organization of America when she married in 1946. Naomi had attended
While there are published reports of
Chertoff family weddings in
"My religious and spiritual beliefs are
pretty much what I want them to be," he said. Given his background, this
suggests he is a Talmudic Jew. The Talmud is the body of rabbinical law that
most American and Israeli Jews follow. The Talmud, however, re-interprets and
negates much of the Torah and contains some anti-Christian sentiments. [For a
better understanding of the anti-Christian aspects of the Talmud, read Israel
Shahak's book, Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of 3,000 Years.]
NO OPPOSITION
Unlike other Bush nominees, there was no
opposition in the Senate to Chertoff heading DHS. The Senate voted 98-0 to
approve Chertoff on February 15. Chertoff, 51, took the oath of office that
night in "a private ceremony at the White House."
DHS has a $32 billion budget, 180,000
employees, and jurisdiction over immigration, customs and transportation
security, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency. The question of Chertoff's dual-nationality doesn't seem to
have concerned a single
"I applaud President Bush for this
outstanding choice," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). "We are
proud to have a man of his caliber and talent serving and protecting the
American people."
"Our country is very fortunate to have
someone with the background, experience, the intellect, the qualifications and
the integrity of Judge Chertoff," Senator Susan Collins (R - Maine), chair of
the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said. After six hours of debate,
Collins urged the Senate to act quickly on Chertoff's nomination.
During the period before and after the
terror attacks of September 11, 2001, Chertoff headed the criminal division at
the Department of Justice where he "helped trace the 9-11 terrorist attacks to
the al-Qaida network." Chertoff became Assistant Attorney General for the
Criminal Division, by a vote of 95-1 on May 24, 2001. The dissenting vote came
from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D - N.Y.).
In this position Chertoff was architect
of some of the most controversial elements of the Bush administration's domestic
war on terrorism and played a central role in formulating the Bush
administration's "anti-terrorism policy." He defended the administration's
decisions to hold military tribunals for non-U.S. suspect terrorists and to
monitor phone conversations between attorneys and their clients.
Chertoff oversaw the detention of 762
foreign nationals for minor immigration violations, although none was charged
with a terrorism-related crime. The detention of hundreds of people was
necessary to detect "sleeper cells" of terrorists, he said. "Chertoff headed
the Justice Department's criminal division when hundreds of foreigners were
swept up on minor charges and held for an average of 80 days," the Washington
Post reported. "Some detainees were denied their right to see a lawyer, were
not told of the charges against them, or were physically abused."
At the same time, Chertoff allowed
scores of suspected Israeli terrorists and spies to quietly return to
One group of 5 Israelis was seen on the
roof of Urban Moving Systems videotaping and celebrating the destruction of the