Republicans are fond of accusing the President of “throwing Israel under the bus.” This argument has drawn a few percent of the most hard-line Zionists toward the Republican Party, but according to a Gallup poll, 68% of American Jews still love Obama — and 80% of us vote.
Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby wrote in Commentary magazine: “Time and again, Obama has made clear both his lack of sympathy for the Jewish state and his keen desire to ingratiate himself with Arab and Muslim autocrats. The disparities in the administration’s tone and attitude have been striking. For the prime minister of Israel, there have been humiliating snubs and telephoned harangues. […] Yet many American Jews chose to give Obama the benefit of the doubt, telling themselves that he could be numbered […] among Israel’s strongest supporters. Only the wilfully blind could believe that now. And many American Jews are wilfully blind. […] Obama is unlikely to duplicate the 78 percent of Jewish votes he drew in 2008. But will American Jews turn away from him en masse? Don’t bet on it. F– the Jews, Obama’s advisers can tell him. They’ll vote for us anyway.”
Despite Jacoby’s delusional belief that American Jews are “wilfully blind,” what Jewish “leaders” have nevertheless been seeing is Obama delivering for Israel.
David Harris, of the American Jewish Committee, has endorsed Obama. In an editorial in June lauding the President, Harris notes that Romney’s “pro-Israel” strategy is to position himself as the opposite of Obama. But Harris asks: “What in Obama’s record on Israel does Romney Oppose?”
Edgar M. Bronfman, former president of the World Jewish Congress, endorsed Obama in an August 6th piece in Haaretz. Says Bronfman: “The reality is that when confronted with rhetorical attacks and efforts to sow doubts about his support for Israel, President Obama could have simply adopted the swagger and bravado of his predecessor. It would have been easy for President Obama to go on a speaking tour pandering to the Jewish community and those in America who love Israel. But that is not his style. President Obama is a thoughtful, decisive and pragmatic leader. He values substantive solutions over political gamesmanship. Forgoing the bluster and bravado of others, President Obama continues his practical and deliberate support for the State of Israel.”
Even though the President is accused of being “weak” on Iran, the Jerusalem Post carried an article a few days ago entitled “Obama has Israel’s Back on Iran,” quoting Israel hawks Dennis Ross and Alan Dershowitz, who speculated that the United States could be brought into a war against Iran. Former ambassador Martin Indyk went so far as to predict that the US will join an attack on Iran next Spring — just in time for the _Purimspil, _the Purim play in which the evil Hamaan and his 10,000 sons are hanged.
Republicans sigh that Obama hasn’t made a state visit to Israel, and they were especially miffed last week when Obama did not meet with Benjamin Netanyahu, instead appearing on David Letterman to campaign. Where are the man’s priorities? But in an August article in Foreign Policy entitled “Obama has been Great for Israel,” Colin Kahl observes that 7 of the last 11 presidents — including Truman, who recognized Israel, and Ronald Reagan, the Republican saint — never visited Israel, and Republicans Bush and Nixon only did so in their last years of office.
In fact, Obama visited Israel as a US Senator in 2008, even before becoming President, stopping at outposts like Sderot, two miles from Gaza, expressing his support and solidarity in the strongest of terms for Israelis, when he could have simply posed for photo ops at the Kotel or Yad Vashem. More to his credit, Obama refrained from displaying embarrassingly poor knowledge of history, law, and geography — like most of the Republicans who have slapped on a yarmulke and drawled “Shalom.”
Aside from big endorsements, Obama has not been just good for Israel. He’s been great — even while he’s been a disaster for the Two State Solution or failing to stop illegal settlements. Some of his first term accomplishments for Israel that have won him such friends in the Israel Lobby:
- Asked Ambassador Charles Freeman to withdraw his bid for the National Intelligence Council after the Israel Lobby objected to him
- Kept AIPAC/WINEP lobbyist Dennis Ross on from the Bush administration as a Middle East advisor — which meant that Obama…
- Did nothing to apply leverage to Israel to stop illegal settlements
- Did little to apply leverage to Israel to pursue a Two State solution
- Didn’t give Special Middle East envoy George Mitchell much to work with, and didn’t bother replacing him after he resigned
- Intercepted arms shipments to Hamas
- Provided an additional $1 billion in funds for Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow missile defense systems (separate from the $3 billion a year in military aid and $9 billion a year in economic aid)
- Made bunker busters available to Israel
- Imposed a series of crippling sanctions against Iran
- Vetoed any and all criticisms of Israel at the UN
- Attacked the Goldstone report on the siege of Gaza
- Defended Israel on the attack on the Mavi Marmara, even though an American citizen was killed
- Opposed a joint PA-Hamas effort to negotiate with Israel – so that the two entities which represent Palestinians can’t even come to the table with Israel
- Opposed the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to obtain observer status at the UN
- Continued and initiated some very expensive wars in the Middle East which ultimately benefited Israel, in some ways even more than the United States.
- Collaborated with Israel on Stuxnet and other computer virus attacks on Iran
- Decriminalized the Iranian terrorist group MEK which has been working with Israel to kill Iranian scientists and carry out sabotage in Iran
- Granted the most meetings with a foreign head of state (this according to Netanyahu himself)
- Increased military aid to Israel every year since taking office, assuring approximately 20% of its military budget
- Forged a close relationship with the Israeli defense and intelligence establishment (Ehud Barak said in a July CNN interview with Wolf Blitzer “I’ve seen many different administrations on both sides of the political aisle and I honestly feel that this administration has done more in regards to Israel’s security than anything I can remember in the past.”)
- Improved Israel’s QME – qualitative military edge – by providing Israel with advanced technology unavailable to any other country, such as the Fifth-generation stealth Joint Strike Fighter
About the only thing Obama has not yet committed to Israel to-date is a green light to bomb Iran. Yet.
Many are surprised at how liberally American Jews vote, even on Israel, and how liberally we answer opinion polls. Two States? Justice for the Palestinians? Wow, that’s very liberal of you. But American Jews are not seriously challenged by two real states or real justice for Palestinians or real cessation of Israeli settlement building or real concessions in returning stolen land. Obama simply gives his Jewish constituency the lip service he gives to all Democrats, and we all get to feel good about how liberal we are.
So, with a stellar “for Israel” performance record like the one above, what’s really so surprising after all? There’s still no Hope for Two States, and still no Change to bring justice to an occupied people.
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