Haifa, Israel — He swept to power with the support of 78% of American Jews. But has Barack Obama become the bane of Israeli Jews?
A gulf between American and Israeli Jews was evident even before Obama moved into the White House. Just a third of Israelis would have endorsed him had they been allowed to vote, polling indicated, while almost half would have chosen John McCain.
In recent weeks, several public opinion surveys have suggested that Obama’s popularity has dropped far below this already low point. A Jerusalem Post-commissioned poll released on June 19 reported that only 6% of Jewish Israelis consider his views pro-Israel.
To Rafi Smith, head of the polling firm that conducted the survey, it is clear what is happening. Israelis, he said, see Obama “as the opposite of George Bush, who was perceived as the biggest friend of Israel. Obama is seen as a 180-degree turn.”
In a separate poll his Smith Research Institute conducted in May, when asked to assess George W. Bush on the same criteria of whether he was “pro-Israel,” some 88% of respondents said he was.
That May poll also suggests that Israelis have cooled significantly toward Obama since his Washington meeting that same month with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Before that meeting, 31% of Israeli Jews viewed Obama as pro-Israel, according to the poll, which was conducted before the summit. The phrasing of the question on Obama in the May and June polls was identical.
Smith’s recent figures are stark, but there is evidence to suggest they are not freak results.
A Tel Aviv University poll conducted just before Obama’s high-profile June 4 address in Cairo to the Muslim world found that when it comes to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, only 5% said he favors the Israeli side. Both polls put the percentage viewing Obama as pro-Palestinian in the 50s and the percentage viewing him as neutral in the 30s.
There has been no polling on support for Obama among American Jews since he met with Netanyahu, but a Gallup tracking poll, released May 1, put the figure at 79%, and experts believe it has not changed significantly since.
According to some, the Israeli polling leaves no room for doubt: American and Israeli Jews never have been so at odds over a president. “Israelis are dismayed by what they perceive as the generally hostile approach he has adopted in dealing with the Jewish state,” wrote Caroline Glick, one of Israel’s best-known hawkish journalists, in the June 24 edition of The Jerusalem Post.
Steven Spiegel, professor of political science at University of California, Los Angeles, also detects an ideological clash. “American Jews are more to the left on issues, and Israeli Jews, especially after the election, are more to the right,” he told the Forward, referring to the February election that brought Netanyahu to power.
In both Spiegel’s and Glick’s analysis, settlements are a real point of departure between American and Israeli Jews. Glick wrote that Israeli Jews take exception to Obama’s pressuring on settlements. Unlike American Jews, they view that pressure as “inherently hostile.”
Glick suggested that Obama’s Cairo speech was a key moment affecting Israeli public opinion — a supposition that agreement between the Tel Aviv University and Smith Research Institute polls seems to contradict — and claimed that Israelis were deeply offended by the “inference that Israel owes its existence to the Holocaust,” which was given in the Cairo address.
As for the divergence between American and Israeli Jewry, each of the two analysts sees it as a symptom of the other’s community failure to comprehend the reality of the situation.
According to Spiegel, “Israeli Jews don’t know Obama that well” and also have their opinion tainted by the fact they are “on the rebound from a love affair with Bush, so any president would have difficulties.”
In Glick’s view, the gulf in attitudes is “simply a consequence of a lack of American Jewish awareness of the significance of Obama’s positions and policies for Israel.”
But there is a different reading of the polls that challenges the notion of a major ideological clash between American and Israeli Jews. Advocates of this alternative reading point to the lack of enthusiasm in mainstream Israel for building in the West Bank — the major bone of contention between Jerusalem and Washington. Despite Israel’s shift to the right in its recent election, many experts believe that sympathy for settlers and the settlements is currently at an all-time low.
“Opinion here on the settlements is perhaps even more dovish than American Jewish opinion,” said Bar-Ilan University political scientist Jonathan Rynhold, who has just written a paper on American Jews and the peace process. “The difference is that here, you can get a missile landing on your head.”
He said that, broadly speaking, Israelis are not disturbed by Obama’s tough stance on settlements. Rather, they harbor a fear that the president may be unreceptive to Netanyahu’s concerns in general, including on defense. “The thought goes: ‘It starts with pressure on this, where will it end? It may begin with this issue on which I don’t have a problem, but could it end up with some threat to Israel’”
Alon Pinkas, a former consul general of Israel in New York who now heads the U.S.-Israel Institute at the Yitzhak Rabin Center, voiced a similar view, saying it is wrong to interpret the polls as pointing to dislike for Obama. Rather, they point to “anxiety.”
Pinkas said: “People feel uneasy about where this relationship could be going. Although they may agree with what Obama is saying at the moment, they like to know that the occupant of the White House is a firm friend of Israel, and they are unsure.”
Meanwhile, Netanyahu seems to be riding high in the polls, a rebuke to the conventional Israeli political wisdom that when the leader in Washington clashes with the leader in Jerusalem, it’s the guy in Jerusalem whom Israelis hold responsible for failing to protect the country’s most important international relationship. A Haaretz poll published shortly after Netanyahu’s mid-June address, in which he gave his conditional support for a two-state solution to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians, found that 71% of citizens supported the speech.
Still, if the relationship is headed for more bumpy ground, many analysts suggest that it ultimately could affect Netanyahu negatively. The same Haaretz poll found that 52% expected the Netanyahu speech to improve the state’s diplomatic and international standing. Pinkas, among others, predicted that if it does not, and Netanyahu’s relationship with Obama worsens, the former’s popularity will plummet.
It remains to be seen which way the relationship will go. In a June 30 meeting between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and America’s special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, Barak proposed the idea of a temporary freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank in exchange for greater Arab support for the peace process and acceptance of Israel. The Americans offered no immediate reaction, but Mitchell is now committed to meeting in Netanyahu for further discussions on his next trip to the region.
In the meantime, some hope that American Jews will temper their enthusiasm for Obama based on doubts voiced about him in Israel. Glick said that an “awareness campaign” by Israel advocacy organizations could raise concerns about Obama “with Israel’s core American Jewish supporters” and “would no doubt go a long way in energizing them to challenge the administration on its positions vis-à-vis Israel.”
But according to Spiegel, any such effort would prove fruitless. “His popularity among Israelis does not matter to Americans, who simply think they know him better.’”
A similar [response is heard among activists and lobbyists who are putting their hopes in Obama to advance the peace process. M.J. Rosenberg, director of policy analysis for Israel Policy Forum, said: “American Jews care as little about what Israelis think of our leaders as Israeli Jews care about what American Jews think of their leaders.”
Contact Nathan Jeffay at jeffay@forward.com
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I did not vote for Obama along with my brother.The rest of my siblings 4 brothers 2 sisters along with my Parents did.They now say they will never vote for any democrat again be it a Congressman, Senator,Mayor or councilman even if they are Pro Israel.As far as M.J. Rosenberg goes after reading the ties IPS has ,it would be like giving credence to Rabbi Kahane if he was still alive on the right.
Now who is it that doesn't want peace again? hmmm.
This American Jew voted for McCain. Infact the only time in my life that I voted for a Democrat was when Liberman was running for VP. I vote for Israel. Bless you all!!!
This Orthodox American Jew voted for Chuck Baldwin for President. I vote for America, Bless you all.
~~80% of Jews voted for Obama. A few liars posting here pretending they voted for him but "never again" won't make a darn bit of difference.
What are these people pretending they have now "realized" about Obama that's different from anything he said before the election, or from all the hysterical lies spread by Republicans and the Israeli Far Right about him before the election? That his cabinet is full of Jews, that he would make an effort to push the peace process, that he was opposed to settlements? That he's a secret Muslim and an antisemite? What a load of hogwash and a bunch of lies!!
If anything, Obama's been going too easy on the current Israeli government and has held back Rahm Emanuel, who knows how to deal with the likes of Netanyahu. Israel sucks too much money out of our communities at home, and for what? To pay for social services the government of Israel can well afford itself, especially if it stopped building illegal settlements in the West Bank. And they take billions from the American taxpayer, who is supposed to be made to feel guilty that Obama isn't pro-Likud enough or might want to have a say in what Israel does, especially if it has a negative effect on US policy goals? What a chutzpah.
Thank God Israeli Jews have no vote in American elections! And how sad that any American Jew would consider it a virtue to have supported McCain, much less the previous, bad-for-the-Jews Republicans since the ganef Reagan was elected: please re-read "Jews without Mercy," and work with this promising new American leader and the progressive promise he represents!
If our enemies lay down their arms, there will be no more war. But if Israel lays down its arms, there will be no more Israel
If all Jews in Israel converted to Islam, there would be no more war. It is not about land.
"Terrorism isn't caused by poverty, poverty is caused by terrorism. Terror is a tool used by those seeking power to keep the masses in need of an answer."
All true progressives must recognize the creation of Israel as a massive injustice, and work towards correction of this error. Some righteous Jews, such as Naomi Klein, Norman Finkelstein, Tony Judt, Tony Kushner, ROger COhen, and Tony Karon recognize this injustice and are working to correct it. When American Jews adopt a truly progressive view, there will be a big clash with the zionists.
As a steadfast friend of the state of Israel and of its right to exist -- that Israel might not continue to exist I find unthinkable -- yet, like most Americans (and apparently most Israelis) I am opposed on principle to Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, whether building new settlements or expanding those that already exist. I therefore find it puzzling that so many Israeli's are alarmed at Obama's recent statements on the issue. That it should be taken as a sign that he is therefore not "pro-Israel" -- meaning what? that he is therefore "pro-Palestinian?" strikes me as bizarre. Certainly this is not a good public relations gambit from Israel's point of view. In fact I was under the impression that the only reason the current government is making such an issue of it was in order to keep its parliamentary coalition together.
The Bush administration so messed-up the economy and other areas that it was difficult to vote for the Reublican candidate. Still, most of the Jewish people that I know who care deeply for Israel, voted for McCain. We didn't like his association with Khalidi, Ayers, Wright, etc. It seems that from most of things that Obama is doing, we were right!
The support given our Community Organizer-In-Chief Obama by American Jews only proves the dead-on accuracy of that well-known saying, 'You can take the Jew out of the ghetto but you can't take the ghetto out of the Jew.' The widespread American Jewish support for BHO by a people so widely acknowledged for their intelligence proves once again that intelligence alone is not enough. Emotional maturity must also be present. Mark my words, before Obama is through, he's going to make Jimmy Carter look good.
I'm a Jew. I voted for McCain. As national security is concerned, the needs of America and of Israel are identical today; Islamism has to be destroyed.
So many of the moronic 78% now say that "never again" will they vote for a Democrat, etc.
The problem is that just as the slogan regards the Holocaust, "never again" is an expression or remorse and indignance AFTER THE DISASTER.
alas, personalizing events won't do. Thus, to me, it is not truman, johnson, clinton, bush, nor obama we need solely to study; we need to study history for its protreptic value.
so start studying history for what it teaches us starting with sumer/akkad and ending with US. and low and behold, we espy nothing basically has changed to this day.
US foreign and domestic policies in its basic traits is steadfastly the same: obtain as much land as US is able to acuire and with any means whatsover. bombing hironaga to obtain japan proves it. To obtain asia and the planet, expect use of wmd, if their use is necessary in the eyes george clooney- in his third term as president of US. or maybe president might be angelina jollie, madonna,leno?! tnx
Mark, Frank-Must you always be so hateful? Naomi Klein is a decent Jewish woman. Tony Judt wrote a fine history of postwar Europe. And Roger Cohen is a very thoughtful journalist. Really now, you Arutz 7ers don't have a monopoly on the truth.
The people of the U.S. received what they wanted, that is a present who does not care about Isrial or the Jewish people. God blessed this nation because we did not go against His people or His nation. We have turned are backs on them for this, this country is going down hill and will continue to until we as a nation ask God to forgive us for what we have done. And only then will this nation come out of this very big mess we are in. Yes I am a Born again Christian. I put God firs in my life before any country/ people. I stand with Isrial and always will. May are Lord help all of us. I and my family are very prosper in every way. God has blessed us and answers our prayers every day. I trust in God for every thing not man. Man has never don anything right on his own and never will.
I will be more than happy to hear from any one.
God bless you all. Larry Moore.
"Glick suggested that Obama’s Cairo speech was a key moment affecting Israeli public opinion... and claimed that Israelis were deeply offended by the 'inference that Israel owes its existence to the Holocaust,' which was given in the Cairo address."
If that is the case, then why is Holocaust Remembrance Day deliberately followed by Israeli Independence Day one week later? Instead, Holocaust Remembrance Day should be commemorated on Tisha B'Av, the day for mourning the destruction of the First and Second Temples.
This far-left propaganda story by the faux-"Jewish" Forward is meaningless, since it admits that there has been no polling of American Jews since Obama's Cairo speech, his meeting with Netanyahu, and the slew of recent outrageous attacks on Israel by Obama, Clinton, and Mitchell.
Despite the Forward's attempt to create a "gulf" between American Jews and Israel (it routinely attacks Israel in its "stories", "columns" and editorials), it will be interesting to see how many of those "79%" of Jews with a positive opinion of Obama, would now answer "yes" to whether Obama is "pro-Israel".
America has far too many active notorious anti-Semitic Jews (cloaked in far-left "progressive" anti-Israel garb, and even working with Obama), and the Jewish people have far too many anti-Israel "Jewish" propaganda publications like the Forward and Ha'aretz. But hopefully, American Jews are beginning to admit their terrible error and face the truth about the Obama.
Until we see such a new poll of American Jews, "stories" like this are just more anti-Israel propaganda.
For those who say the creation of Israel is a "massive injustice", shouldn't you say the same thing about America? Wasn't large portions of America taken from Mexico, Native Americans and even England? And yet, if Mexico was constantly launching missiles into the U.S. and Native Americans were constantly blowing up buses and malls, I am sure you "progressives" would feel like victims even though you try to make Israel sound like the ones who are wrong. The "progressive" (code word for "left wing") hypocrisy is really quite sad.
The word 'progressive' has become a synonym for the most illogical, naive and delusional ideas. There is nothing 'progressive' about stupidity. But twisting and turning the classical definition of words inside-out has become ordinary in the last decades. Witness the now universal application of the term 'gay' for homosexuals when, in fact, most homosexuals are among the most neurotic and obsessive souls walking this earth.
For centuries Jews have had to cope with a Kafkaesque reality. So what's new? After the Holocaust, and the establishment of the State of Israel, many of us thought that the vitality of that malformed hatred had been sapped. But as we see now, it was just lying low somewhere in the DNA of Europe. It has worked well for the Arabs as they adopted its essentials.
Arabs live in Israel with rights. Jews, however according to the and the Muslim world should not be allowed to live in Yehuda veShomron. Jews may not build a defensive wall, yet the Great Wall of China, built for the same purposes is one of the "Wonders of the World." Jordan has a majority "Palestinian" population
Once again Frank has one upprd me. Everything he writes is exactly how I feel. I believe Mark is correct when questioning the loyalty of the Roger Cohen, Finkelstein, et al. These people have never contributed to the preservation of this country, never having served in the Military ( I am a WW II Vet) but have gladly taken the largress that these true patriots made possible for them.
The "Progressives", low life lefties of the worst kind, have no interest in perserving this Countries essentials, just as they would hope for demise of the one sanctuary, Israel, that the Jews of the World have. Most of the idiots that post about Obamas support of the Jewish Nation will be the first into the Gas Chambers if their is no Israel to flee too. You are fools who will deserve what you get. God will have no mercy on you.
When I grew up in the great depression and Jews were second class citizens even in this great Nation, and signs at resorts said "No Dogs or Jews Aloud". When I returned from the War and vacationed in Cuba I returned to Miami Beach and asked for a room at I believe the Hotels name was the Kennelworth, when the clerk saw my name he told me there were rooms for people like me. I grabbed him by the throat and told him I will not take that kind of crap from the likes of you anymore. You Progressives, I say it with disdane, HAVE NEVER WITNESSED THAT KIND OF THING AND SO YOU THINK IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE. Wise up Obama has unleashed a great deal of Anti semitism by his cow towing to the Muslim World and his disrespect for Israel. You fools, who supported him, will reap what you have sewen. Does anybody doubt who I voted for?
It is not limited to President Obama! Five Jewish-American volunteers in Israel, were beaten up on the shores of Lake Kinneret this week - by two car loads of Israeli Jews - according to the Jerusalem Post. Not long ago, a neo-Nazi youth bund of a dozen non-Jewish Russian youth were arrested in Israel for attacks. It is Israeli Jews that are changing, more than Jewish-Americans. Israeli Jews have moved farther to the Right, Jewish-American are staying moderate to liberal Democrats. Bush and his neo-con Likudniks have been repudiated.
Many Jewish-Americans believe that Israel's future is in grave danger from Muslim A-bombs from Pakistan, Iran, etc. It is difficult to continue to give unconditional support to the current Israeli government and the majority Right-Wing population - who go out of their way to attack their closest allies - America, Christian-Americans and Jewish-Americans. Without America, Israel has no future and is doomed! The current crop of Israeli Zealots should keep in mind the fate of the Zealots in 70 AD. We are fortunate to have survived the past 2,000 years. Do not wreck the future of the Jewish people.
There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.--- Machiavelli 'The Prince'
On leaders---'It is better to be feared than loved'.
Does anyone fear Obama? We see already in the few short months since his election the mixture of disdain and expressions of hostility from both allies and foes. Say what you will about Bush, our enemies feared him. He will be remembered kindly and fairly by future historians for providing exactly the kind of force required after 9/11 against our enemies in the Islamic world.
On the subject of God and Creation,, both observable and non-observable, those who say, don't know. Those who know, don't say. Understood?
It NOT about the settlements stupid!
This article (and some of the comments to it) are typical of the problem here. Anyone who knows anything about the history of this knows that there were no settlements before 1967 - that was not the issue for the Arabs, it just became the excuse later. Since 2005 there has not been one settlement or settler in Gaza. So that was a road to peace right?
Neither the article nor most of the comments mentioned a thing about the Arab reaction to Israel, or what the other Palestinian demands are, or how many peace deals the Palestinians have walked away from without even a counteroffer. The settlements sit on lest than 2% of the land in the West Bank. Most of them are very close to the Green line. It is more than a bit delusional to think that if Israel halted "natural growth", then all of a sudden the Palestinians would just turn around, give up the "right of return", etc. There is nothing whatsoever to suggest that, with Abbass' current statements, he is going to negotiate about anything.
The settlements provide a convenient smokescreen. But even if one takes the view that they are a problem and ultimately must go, it would be fantasizing to think that there will then be peace.
Israelis don't have a problem with Obama because of the the settlements. They have a problem with Obama because he has has shown he doesn't understand a thing about this conflict, and because he has been willing to publicly push Israel in an unprecedented way, but has not publicly asked the Arabs for much of anything.
As for American Jews supporting Obama, they have many other issues besides Israel to think about, and when it comes to Israel, their opinions are merely that - i.e. they don't have to live with the consequences here on the ground in Israel.
As for the view that Israel comes out of the Holocaust, it is hard to hold this view in the face of any reasonable review of the history of Israel. The Holocaust certainly holds an important place; but to say it is the basis for Israel is to ignore an awful lot.
The delusional people here are not Naomi Klein or Tony Judt. They are the Bills, Leonards, and Franks who think there is one grand narrative when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict. There isn't, so lighten p and stop being so unpleasant and offensive! Happy 4th!
Many American Jews care more about their social believes and the economy than state of Israel. That’s why most of American Jews voted for BHO. It’s clear in my mind that BHO sees Israel as the main source of the problems in the Middle East. His pastor Wright used to teach this. Israel won West Bank. It used to be Jewish land for a few thousand years. Who is demanding China to return Tibet or USA to return California and Texas to Mexico or part of Western Poland to Germany? Israel should give up some of West Bank land because of the reality but it should be done on its conditions regardless of what other countries think. There are Jews like Naomi Klein who don’t like Israel and they are entitled to their views. However Forward’s readers have to be aware of them.
does anyone seriously believe that obama could sit in the pews of a rabid anti-semite such as wright for 20 years and not agree with (at least some of) his dangerous views on jews and israel? wise up, american jewry!
as for rahm emanuel, any gabbai that gives this man an aliyah in shul should be fired. emanuel is rabbi stephen wise, reincarnated.
chanya, israeli US aggression in '67 was about obtaining the rest of palestine but slowly and with constant israeli harrassment, jailings, expulsion, plowing under orchards, 'settling the land, etc. palestinians were also killing israelis; mostly via suicide bombings.
as you said, prior to '67 war, 'settling' on palestinian lands may have not been an issue but the right of return was and still is.
to me, the issue is whether to reward irgun, stern,and haganah crimes against innocent palestinians with a state for 'jews' only and probably in all of ex-palestine+. tnx
I see all i need to know about Isadora she posts on Dickie Silverstein's blog http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2008/10/25/jewish-republicans-liken-obama-to-nazis/comment-page-1/#comment-103607
If the Jewish People of Israel were as they are portrayed herein and in the MSM these days...wouldn't there be a Temple on the Mount?
There isn't...
(but there shoould be).
Thank you to ChaimEliyahu Thu. Jul 2, 2009. I hope every Forward reader reads his comment. There should be no conflict between American Jews and Israelis. Obama has a better grip on how to bring peace than Bush ever imagined.
Obama is the most anti-Israel president in history. He is engaged in a broad-based assault on the Jewish State of Israel and therefore the Jewish people, and American Jews are waking up to that awful truth.
The so-called "settlements" (in which Obama now preposterously includes Jerusalem - another outrageous flip-flop) are in no way preventing a true peace. The only thing preventing a peace with the so-called "palestinians" is the so-called "palestinians". They do not want peace. They want only the destruction of Israel. The unequivocal truth is that for decades those arabs could have easily had - and could tomorrow have - a final peace. Instead they have repeatedly refused to accept Israel's offer of virtually every realistic demand they have made, while continuing to insist on the destruction of Israel. Yet perversely, Obama makes no public demands not exerts pressure on the only enemies of peace - the "palestinians". Instead, he donates Billions to them and Hamas. Obama's attacks on Israel are obscene, as are those of the extreme far-left "progressive" anti-Semites. Within months of his election, Obama's immediate attacks and his abandonment of America's traditional close relationship with Israel have been shocking to American Jews, who believed his campaign deceptions, and voted for him.
Meanwhile, the overarching existential threat to Israel is Iran. Here again, Obama lied to American Jews. George Bush and Jesse Jackson were right. Obama is an appeaser and cares little for Israel. In his campaign he claimed that military action to prevent Iran's nuclear weapons, which would be a "game-changer", would remain "on the table". Well, "on the table" is exactly where they will remain, never to be used. He continues to make a big show of "engagement", but the bottom line is that he will allow Iran to obtain its nuclear weapons. If Jews have learned anything from Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, we know that we cannot allow our sworn enemies to obtain the means to destroy us. History is now repeating itself, as Obama sells the Jewish people down the river (with help from leftist anti-Israel faux-Jews who work for him). The leftist spinmeisters will shovel their propaganda about what a "disaster" it will be to bomb Iran, how hard they are working to "engage" Iran, and how phoney "agreements" and "understandings" and "assurances" will have been obtained from Iran that there will make no nuclear weapons. But the bottom line remains that he will run out the clock, and the "military option" will have been nothing but political rhetoric. Jews will watch in horror as Obama allows Iran to arm for a second Holocaust.
And if the anti-Israel "Jewish" leftist extremists at J Street, George Soros, Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, Israel Policy Forum (and its "director" M.J. Rosenberg, quoted above in this Forward article), the "Jews" working for Obama - and of course, the anti-Israel "Jewish" Forward - have their way, American Jews will sit silently as their government abandons Israel while they drink the "progressive" Kool-Aid being peddled by the anti-Semites.
Whatever the individual domestic politics of American Jews (most are life-long Democrats), the overwhelming majority agree that Israel's survival should be protected, and that America should remain its strong ally against its enemies. American Jews need to face the reality of having been lied to, and the ugly truth of the Obama administration's appalling betrayal of Israel, and let their voices be heard.
Educate your communities, know your enemies, let your representatives hear from you, and lets hope for a poll of American Jews.
Frank you are a lost cause and sadly the enemy I need to know.
hey folks, frank is the best friend of the palestinians. He's driving on a three-way street to a five-way street. tnx
Well this Jew didn't vote for Obama, I voted for the Arab (Nader).
However, I am tired of the lack of knowledge and rediculous claims made (and usually by the Right).
Statementes like: Obama doesn't care about the Jews or Israel.
First, the Jews: He is more obsessed with Jews and appeasing them then any president I can think of in recent memory. Has a Jewish chief-of-staff and a rediculously pro-Israel Veep. And for all the people k'vetching about his Arabic (for some reason people say Islamic) middle name, his first name is Hebrew (and what is with the people that say "Barak Hussein Obama" as if that is a political arguement. He is liberal (despite being called a socialist, fascist and/or communist/Marxist) and understands minority rights (separation of Church and State being one).
Second, Israel: So he is not the blind Israeli supporter that - I guess - a U.S. president should be. Interesting that Israelis hate Jimmy Carter, but love G.W. Bush, when many more Israelis died under him and thanks to his policies (while Carter led to actual deals with other nations). What is it with certain Israelis that think if you treat Palestinians/Arabs as humans you must hate Jews/Israels?!? He has never come even close to expressing any anti-Israeli feeling, but that hasn't stopped Heredim and other nutjobs from comeing up with a whole bunch of crude lies (not to mention the blatant and subliminal racism) about him.
The Israeli Right has become just as dumb and ignorant as the U.S. Right (which is not an anti-Right comment, just sad what passes for intellectual debates with conservatives nowadays).
Of course none of this matters, we're just going to continue the childish debats and trying to catch up with the strawman arguements.
Well said CZ!
Interesting that Israelis hate Jimmy Carter, but love G.W. Bush, when many more Israelis died under him and thanks to his policies (while Carter led to actual deals with other nations)....Carter can be accurately called the father of the Iranian revolution. If it wasnt for Carter, we wouldnt be facing an Iranian nuclear threat. Carter also played a pivotal role in the development of North Korean nukes
Frank, you are right. Very correct comment.
Czarkazem is a Pro-Hamas roach who got kicked off the J Post site for his pro-Obamist, anti-Jewish sentiments. Don't know about this clown Sephardiman, but methinks he's actually Hamas man - especially if he can be supportive of an Obama who hates Jews - except for the ones who would grovel to him as those in Russia 1938 would grovel to Joe Stalin. Balkas, well, he's probably scribbling from the lockdown he resides in.
There's always a few self-haters, the beauty and yes, the curse of Judaism. The beauty in that we do open up ourselves to contrary opinions even if it means the death of us - the curse is as stated. Of course these flies always attract those like Teodoro who do hate us ala Jerry Wright and David Duke.
Frank, pay no mind to these little boys. If Hitler were a Democratic they'd throw a banquet for him.
Obama is a nice man. He is a disaster as a president. Barry O has a wonderful script. I would like to watch him on his own TV show, or listen to a sermon at his church, or invite him for brunch to my place. B Hussein Obama is a danger as the president of the US. When the bases are loaded; N Korea on first exploding nuclear bombs in BHO's face, corrupt leaders in finance and politics bleeding the domestic population on second and playing with BHO's lack of experience, and Tehran's fascist theocracy posing as democracy on third, playing with BHO like a cat with a mouse while slicing the heads off of homosexuals in public, and while building an atomic bomb with the express purpose of annhilating the closest neighbor that embodies the free world, when the bases are loaded like this, it is not the time to send in the rookie who stares and the bat and ball and thinks about having read about them at Harvard and who dreams of his absent Moslem father and who speaks not of his present mother. We, the free world, are in BIG trouble.
To Larry Moore, God be with you. What you wrote is my veiw on this subject to. The Lord will bless you.
I am an Catholic Irish woman, and you never mess with the APPLE of Gods eye.God Bless you all, and keep you safe:
The apple of G-D'S eye, should Trust in G-D and pray for a nation Under G-D. For it is G-D who is making all the moves. Mankind can do nothing unless G-D Most High wills it....remember Job and the old boy satan that had to go to G-D and ask, if he could hurt Job? Leaders are all puffed, G-D is in action, look to G-D not man to lead us. Pray for a world that G-D is taking action against. Set you face towards, the territory that would be most affected by what you pray for. We have been specially favored by G-D, and like all the other nations have had our guilt and shame. We must come to the terms with the realization that we as an nation share in the sin and evil that is widessprad in the world around us. Pride has made us contemptuous of our neighbors. The will of G-D alowed Obama to be leader over our nation, it is for us to pray for him to our G-D. G-D recognizes and respects individual responsibility, for all of mankind is caught up in a larger world events. Rightous will suffer along with those who deserve punishment when a leader makes the wrong move.
When a disaster falls, it falls upon the people, that are both righteous and wicked. You said , your the apple of G-D'S eye, truly I pray you are. Did you know that the only thing that can come into the eye without hurtting it is light. G-D tells us pick the log out of your eye, first.
This nation is not about one man, It about a nation were people were gathered, One Nation Under G-D, Freedom For All. Obama, father, mother what ever....made him a person with his own mind and heart and he has his own free will, and may it be in the line with the will of The G-D of All That Is. Trust in G-D, and if disaster falls us, the righteous,...let us remember what is written....Psalm 140 ...O G-D, the LORD, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle. Jeremiah 10....who should not revere You, O King of the nations? This is Your due, Among all the wise men of the nations and in all the kingdoms, there is no one like You.