Category: Israel

Obama and Israel III

Few statements bother me more than the oft-repeated assertion that “Obama is anti-Israel.” As I’ve said many times, on this blog and elsewhere, feel free to disagree with specific policies, but to say that the president of the United States is “anti” one of our closest allies is absurd. Recognize that the prefix “anti” unambiguously signals that he knowingly and intentionally takes actions designed to damage the Jewish state.

Buried within this article from Bloomberg BusinessWeek is one sentence that obliterates the ridiculous anti-Israel argument:

When it comes to aid to Israel, and specifically the all-important military aid, “…Obama has done more than his predecessors, financing the development of Israel’s Iron Dome rocket defense system on top of the annual $3 billion U.S. subsidy to the country.” (Emphasis added)

Are we clear? “More than” every other U.S. president. Ever.

Case closed.

Obama is staunchly pro-Israel. He has said so many times, often in moving and deeply personal ways, and his actions back up his words. Importantly, he has been honored and acclaimed by many prominent Israelis (not all, obviously!) repeatedly over the years he has been in the White House.

If you disagree with a particular action, great, that’s democracy. But let’s please stop the nonsense about Obama being anti-Israel.

Thanks for caring about the truth.

Please pass this message on.

Ken

Who Are YOU Aligned With?

OK, one last shot.

Let me be blunt — If you vote for the GOP you are aligning yourself with some of the most radical, hateful, and ill-informed people in our country. Here is just one TINY example. Today I received an email from the Traditional Values Coalition (I have no idea how I got on their list, but I’m glad I am). And here are a few choice quotes from the frantic email…

I won’t bore you with the details of the last four years — you know them all too well: Obamacare, the HHS mandate, “religious toleration” replacing religious liberty, the bombshell discovery of how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds and fuels the radical left, four years where Islamists have been able to freely build radical mosques and entrench shariah in our neighborhoods and communities, the suspension of “don’t ask don’t tell” and the crackdown on our military chaplains.

A few paragraphs later…

Nowhere does the issue of friendly liberal judges have greater momentum within the homosexual and transgender left than with the Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

This pet bill would — at a stroke — put transgenders in the classroom, in our small businesses, and in our government as a legally protected class… taking the legal protections for disadvantaged minorities such as women or African-Americans and appropriating them for when Marvin decides he wants to become “Mary.”

Got that? Forget about fixing the economy, protecting women’s rights, ensuring clean air and water, ending wars and helping veterans.  Ignore our failing infrastructure, growing income inequality, protecting Israel and stopping Iran from getting the bomb.

You fools! Don’t you see that our really big problem is … transgenders in the classroom! Oh, how could I have been so blind?!

Dear readers, that ridiculous email is the smallest tip of a massive iceberg. The GOP depends on “low-information voters.”  Vote for the GOP and you reward their massive campaign deceptions, widespread and despicable efforts to suppress voter turnout (in Democratic strongholds), and you are voting, absolutely, to turn back the clock to the disasters of the Bush years.

And you align yourself with climate change deniers, virulent and violent anti-choice groups, gay bashers, covert and overt racists, and proponents of “creationism” and other hard-core anti-science belief systems.

Why in the world would you do that?

Please vote with your head, and please urge other to do the same.

Thanks for caring about the truth.

Ken

Obama and Israel II

Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, many continue to believe that Obama is “anti-Israel.”

Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer-prize winning author and columnist, spends big chunks of the year abroad, developing a keen sense of the inter-connectedness of nations. He frequently focuses on the Middle East.

He is not an unwavering Obama fan. In fact, he has been calling for the formation of a new third party movement because of his dissatisfaction with both Republicans and Democrats.

Nonetheless, his recent column gets right to the point with stunning clarity. It begins:

“The only question I have when it comes to President Obama and Israel is whether he is the most pro-Israel president in history or just one of the most.”

Friedman goes on to explain how Obama brilliantly re-framed the issue of Iran getting a nuke from being an Israeli problem to being a problem for America, the entire Middle East and indeed, the whole world.

Friedman closes the column with another powerful paragraph:

“If it comes to war, let it be because the ayatollahs were ready to sacrifice their whole economy to get a nuke and, therefore, America — the only country that can truly take down Iran’s nuclear program — had to act to protect the global system, not just Israel. I respect that this is a deadly serious issue for Israel — which has the right to act on its own — but President Obama has built a solid strategic and political case for letting America take the lead.”

As I’ve said previously, disagreeing with the President’s policies is fine; labeling him as anti-Israel is absurd.

 

Obama, Israel and Jews

Well, everyone knows Barack Obama hates Israel.  Ask any Republican. Ask any right-wing Israeli. Ask former NYC Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat who endorsed a Republican (who was running against an Orthodox Jew!) in that special election to fill Anthony Weiner’s Congressional seat.  Koch said it was his way to “send a message” to Obama on his policies toward Israel. And of course, you can ask that Murdoch-controlled rag, the NY Post, whose editorial board wrote of “Obama’s radically anti-Israel stance.”

Except for one thing – Obama is flat out pro-Israel.  He does not kowtow to the hardline conservatives who dominate the current Israel government, nor should he.  Within days after Obama’s May 20th speech on his vision for the area, a full-page ad ran in the NY Times in support of his plan. It was signed by dozens of Israel’s most highly honored citizens. Are they “radically anti-Israel” as well?

Is every American president supposed to rubber stamp whatever any Israeli government demands? What happens when the next Israeli government comes into power?

Obama’s proposals are an amalgam of proposals from previous Israeli governments. His (their) vision may be right or wrong. But labeling him as anti-Israel because he doesn’t agree with Netanyahu is as silly as claiming that an Israeli who supports, say, Rick Perry, is anti-American.

New York Magazine’s Sept. 26th cover shows a close-up of the back of Obama’s head, covered with a white yarmulke. The headline: “The First Jewish President.” The sub-head is, “The truth? Barack Obama is the best friend Israel has right now.” And when you go inside to the story, it begins,

“Barack Obama is the best thing Israel has going for it right now. Why is that so difficult for Netanyahu and his American Jewish allies to understand?”

The writer of the piece, John Heilman, goes into great detail to back up those claims. And if you need further details of Obama staunch pro-Israel actions (along with some fair criticism), check out this editorial from the NY Times.

Personally, I am saddened and slightly disgusted by American Jews who vote based on what they perceive is best for Israel. If that’s their major concern, they should make aliyah and move there. While you live here, you should vote based on what’s best for America! Every U.S. president will strongly support Israel – they just may not do it in a way that suits every Jew everywhere.

And finally, as a close friend reminded me, the Christian religious right supports Israel not because of any love of the country or Jews but because Israel’s statehood fits their Biblical prophesies for the coming “End of Days.”

So the next time you hear Rick Perry profess his love for Israel, please keep that in mind.

L’shona tova.