Israelis For Obama: False Advertising (Update)

Shmuel Rosen writes:

The airwaves have been filled recently with video clips showing Israelis supporting of Barack Obama. I guess this is part of the ongoing campaign–spearheaded by comedian Sarah Silverman–to convince the pro-Israel Jewish voters (and maybe some non-Jewish voters, too) that Obama will be as good for Israel as the other candidate, maybe even better.

While I do believe that Obama is a genuine supporter of Israel (and if there’s any reason to question him on this, it’s because of policies, not bad intentions), the notion behind those clips is laughable.

Rosen goes through multiple examples of misleading in one video claiming that Israelis across the spectrum support Obama. Here is the video:

Rosen concludes:

Having said that, Israelis can be divided into three major groups as far as American politics is concerned: Most of them just don’t know enough, or don’t care enough, to have real opinion. If they say that they like McCain–as they did in a couple of polls–it is because Israelis are generally more hawkish than Obama. If they say they support Obama, it is because they believe he will win, or because he is good looking, or because they deem it more fashionable to support him. Among those with an educated opinion–especially in the Israeli establishment–many more are supportive of McCain (but these are also start getting used to the idea of President Obama–and hope for the best).

The smallest group is the one of knowledgeable Israelis genuinely supportive of Obama. People who would have voted for him, had they had a vote to cast. But truth must be told–even this smallest of groups is large enough for a four-minute clip.

But that was not enough for the producers of that clip.

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey addresses the same issue, noting that both General Uzi Dayan and former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy who appear in the clip both claim they were misled and their words taken out of context.

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