Lasky recalls Obama's problematic advisers and associates vis-a-vis Israel (and their comments), such as:
- Pastor Jeremiah Wright
- Louis Farrakhan
- Father Pfleger
- Reverend James Meeks
- Bill Ayers
- Rashid Khalidi
- George Soros
- Zbigniew Brzezinski
- Robert Malley
- Samantha Power
- Daniel Kurtzer
- Merrill “Tony” McPeak
How has Barack Obama responded to these relationships being revealed? He has claimed, “nobody has spoken out more fiercely on the issue of anti-Semitism than I have” — which seems to give short shrift to Simon Wiesenthal, Elie Wiesel, Abe Foxman, Alan Dershowitz, and many others who have not remained silent in the face of anti-Semitism, let alone admit close ties to those who honor anti-Semites. He has also said that he has been in the “foxholes” in Chicago with his Jewish friends trying to heal the rifts between the African-American and Jewish populations. There is absolutely no proof of any of these claims. Aside from one ambiguous comment regarding anti-Semitism not being an effective tactic for ambitious African-Americans who hope to rise, there is no evidence that he has ever acted to prevent anti-Semitism in the African-American community, which has the highest anti-Semitism of any group in America. Did he ever discuss the anti-Israel beliefs of his pastor and church, which by far was the largest beneficiary of his charitable donations?Yet, even what Obama has said is also cause for concern--beyond his backtracking on the speech he gave at AIPAC:
He has singled out two figures demonized by anti-Semites, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle, as being responsible for the Iraq War. This despite the fact that Perle was not in the government and George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld were the key figures and decision-makers.Perhaps the biggest warning sign is that those who present Obama as a qualified for president and as a friend of Jews and of Israel fail to address these concerns.His use of the term “separation barrier” or “wall” rather than the far more commonly used “security barrier” has apartheid-like connotations, echoing the slurs of Jimmy Carter. And he expressed his feelings that “nobody has suffered more than the Palestinians” — a remark which he and his campaign have tried to “make over,” though their attempts to “redo” it were caught by the highly regarded and non-partisan FactCheck.Org.
Other warning signs include his feelings that Hezbollah and Hamas have legitimate grievances; that he has refused in the past to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terror group; that he has stated that an Obama administration would have problems dealing with an Israeli government headed by a member of Israel’s Likud Party, thus interfering with the domestic politics of another nation (oddly, he seems to have no problems dealing with Iranian mullahs); that he would eviscerate American defense programs that are vital to maintain the qualitative edge that our allies, including Israel, enjoy over their adversaries; that, as president, he would convene a Muslim summit to listen to their grievances (the major ones would be the existence of Israel and American support for the same); and that the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians was an “open sore” that corrupted our foreign policy. Senator Obama seems to find the root of this conflict in the settlements — ignoring the ethno-religious nationalism and anti-Semitism that corrupt much of the Arab/Iranian world and that is the crux of the conflict. (Israeli removal of all settlements from Gaza has not resulted in peace.) Perhaps he has become inured to criticism of Israel — he has voluntarily chosen to expose himself and his wife and young daughters to it for years.
Read the whole thing.
Read Daniel Koffler on why Jews should vote for Obama.
Technorati Tag: Israel and Obama.
No comments:
Post a Comment