The niceties of America’s often straight-laced political discourse generally preclude the use of a phrase as provocative as this: Jewish revenge. One of the virtues of the Israeli press, however, is that it can be refreshingly blunt.
“Officials in the Democratic Party are afraid that the Jews will take revenge in the midterm elections, which is the reason for the vigorous courting of Israel,” reports Yedioth Ahronoth today. Some of the courting the paper refers to just came from White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, whose recent trip to Israel was ostensibly a family affair — he was there to attend his son’s Bar Mitzvah — but it turned out that he also had important and very public business to take care of: a kiss-and-make-up session with Benjamin Netanyahu.
Didi Remez provides an English translation of the Hebrew report:
According to reports that reached Jerusalem, it is no coincidence that Obama and his staff have suddenly begun to speak warmly about Israel, to compliment it for the good will gestures it extended to the Palestinians and mainly to admit that they had erred by treating Israel unfairly in Obama’s first year. It appears that the Obama administration’s attack on Netanyahu after the publication of the tender to build 1,6000 new housing units in Ramat Shlomo backfired.
Information that was received by Israeli sources would seem to indicate that the principal reason for the change in approach to Israel is pressure from Democrat lawmakers who are running for election and are finding themselves hard put to enlist Jewish donors to their campaigns. There is a great deal of anger at Obama within the Jewish community and disappointment over his policy toward Israel. Officials in the Democratic Party are afraid that the Jews will take revenge in the midterm elections, which is the reason for the vigorous courting of Israel. In other words, the fear is that the Jewish vote will gravitate away from Democratic candidates to Republicans.
The report concludes by saying that the Obama administration is afraid of another clash with Netanyahu when the settlement “freeze” expires in September. “The hope is that Obama will be able to persuade Netanyahu to extend the construction freeze by means of a friendly request and thereby avoid a damaging confrontation.” Right!
The brief lull in West Bank colonization construction operations was surely timed to expire exactly when Obama could effectively be bound and gagged by the Israel lobby, right before the elections.
When ministers in the Israeli government triumphantly break ground on new settlement projects this fall, we shouldn’t expect to hear even a squeak of disapproval come out of Washington.
If this comment about Democrats courting Jews is completely true, then we have a problem in the United States. If it is merely a perception, we have a problem with the Dems. But perhaps we have an anti-Semite problem with the author. More investigation is needed. It is not right to have domestic politics so affected by a foreign influence.
There is clearly a perception, in USA politics, that “Jewish money” (held and distributed by a very, very few very, very wealthy “Jews”) is predominantly tied to pro-hard-line-Israeli policies. No question.
As to “Jewish voters,” there may be much question.
I think there SHOULD BE a Jewish backlash against the politicians of both parties who knuckle under to the Israel Lobby, but I only have one vote and no money.
Most of our legislators are concerned, as they have been bought for their allegience to Israel over the interests of their constituents and the US:
http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2009/09/02/the-best-congress-aipac-can-buy/
http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/04/01/petraeus_wasnt_the_first
This article made me want to throw up. No wonder nobody has little respect for our country any more and certainly not for our president.
“It is not right to have domestic politics so affected by a foreign influence.”
Ian Clark, if you’re wondering whether U.S. policy is affected by Israeli influence (it is), you haven’t been paying attention for the past 60 years. Now that we have an active Internet there is no reason to be ignorant of what’s going on. Many U.S. Jews have a problem seeing Israel as a foreign country, and they conflate Israel’s interests with their own interests and with the interests of the United States. This perception is not only wrong, it’s incredibly destructive to the well-being of the United States. (I’m a U.S. Jew, and I suppose that I’ll be attacked for being a self-hater, which I am not. What I am is realistic about U.S. domestic and foreign policy as they relate to Israel.)