President Obama’s coolness towards Israel has busted a lot of myths about Jewish influence. Still it’s a curious phenomenon with possibly negative consequences.
Yet if we are seen as neutral, just watch the rest of the world get the message and start piling on. Anti-Jewish terrorism will gear up again. Frontline entities like Hezbollah, Syria and Iran will ready their missiles without worry of American anger. Iran will assume we are resigned to its acquisition of the bomb. And the UN will again begin providing cover by issuing its pro forma denunciations of Israel, counting on a newly diffident United States to vote “present.”
Perhaps the Obama administration genuinely believes that by pressuring Israel and reaching out to its enemies, it can at last achieve peace. Perhaps a few key figures in this administration simply do not like or trust the Jewish state — support for which now polls only 48 percent among Democratic voters (versus 85 percent among Republicans).
No matter. This administration should take a deep breath and review history. It would learn that when Israel is alone, its opportunistic enemies pile on. And then war becomes more, not less, likely.
Perhaps the news that the administration’s stance is alienating voters (via memeorandum)
A Quinnipiac University survey released Thursday morning indicates that 35 percent of the public gives the president a thumbs up on how he’s dealing with the situation between Israel and the Palestinians, with 44 percent saying they disapprove, and just over one in five unsure.
This stands in contrast with how Americans feel about Obama’s overall handling of foreign policy, with 48 percent approving and 42 percent saying they disapprove.
According to the poll, two-thirds of Jewish voters disapprove of how the president’s handling Israeli-Palestinian relations, with 28 percent saying they approve. Jewish voters were big backers of Obama in the 2008 presidential election, with exit polls indicating that nearly eight of ten backed the Democratic candidate.
Two-thirds of people questioned in the survey say that the president should be a strong supporter of Israel but, by a 42 percent to 34 percent margin, voters say Obama’s not a strong supporter of Israel.
and others thought to be unquestioningly loyal:
Today NY Senator Chuck Schumer broke that silence. Well…sort of. He did speak out against the Obama policy but he did it on a radio show with a very tiny audience of mostly Orthodox Jews. In other words he whispered his displeasure to the people most likely to accept his message. Not much, but it is a start, now lets see him say the same thing on CNN or Fox News.
No wonder President Obama is pushing back:
Obama’s letter came in response to concerns voiced by Jewish leaders over Washington’s policies towards Israel. Recent times have seen increased behind-the-scenes activity by Jewish organizations aimed at curbing the trend.
“Since we have known each other for a long time,” Obama wrote, “I am sure you can distinguish between the noise and distortion about my views that have appeared recently, and the actual approach of my administration toward the Middle East.”
But why does the media (in this case specifically the LA Times) continue to protect him? (via instapundit)
Given the extraordinary sudden turnabout in US policy toward Israel under the Obama Administration, I have become obsessed by the repressed 2003 videotape of Rashid Khalidi and Barack Obama. That tape — or so we are told — is ensconced in a safe at the Los Angeles Times building. In the current situation, its release by the paper is more important and newsworthy than ever.
The Khalidi tape could be of tremendous significance in revealing the provenance of Obama’s views on the Middle East and the degree to which the public was misled on those views during the presidential campaign.
Yes that might have shed some light. It’s too late to affect 2008.
Imagine if a Republican had blurted out “macaca” or displayed a disturbing nostalgia for segregation. Oh they did.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad
I really don’t think that so-called Jewish groups and Jewish leaders are objecting to Obama. They are just voicing displeasure to buy time and credibility until they go all out in the next election in support of Democrats. This is business as usual.
Suppose a Republican had told a “colored” joke while speaking at the NAACP conference, the way an Obama spokesman recently told a joke about a sharp “Jewish vendor” to introduce his remarks to a Jewish audience. And suppose the Republican, like the Obama spokesman, had prefaced the obviously fictional story by saying that he believed it to be true.