Posted on 07/09/2009 5:22:41 AM PDT by SJackson
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Melanie Phillips has written a critique of me because I remain a Democrat and continue to support President Barack Obama, despite his recent statements regarding expansion of Israeli settlements and other matters relating to the Middle East conflict. Other conservative supporters of Israel have joined her in attacking me as well. See e.g., Jonathan Tobin. This is how she put it:
“But just like the majority of American Jews, getting on for 80 per cent of whom voted for Obama, he is a Democrat supporter who is incapable of acknowledging the truth about this President. For most American Jews, the horror of even entertaining the hypothetical possibility that they might ever in a million years have to vote for a Republican is so great they simply cannot see what is staring them in the face -- that this Democratic President is lethal for both Israel and the free world.”
She accuses me of being “blind” and says “he doesn’t get it.”
Oh I get it alright. I just fundamentally disagree with her approach, especially when it comes to the United States.
Phillips, for all her good work in Great Britain on behalf of Israel, has absolutely no understanding of American politics. She would turn Israel into a wedge issue, in which Republicans were seen as the supporters of Israel and Democrats as its enemy. This is precisely what has happened, with disastrous results, throughout much of Europe. In most European countries, the left wing political parties are anti-Israel, often virulently so. The right wing political parties are generally more supportive of Israel, though not nearly as supportive as they should be in many instances. Because young people tend to be more liberal than their elders, support for Israel throughout Europe, has also become a generational wedge issue, with younger people opposing Israel far more than older people.
This is precisely the situation American supporters of Israel want to avoid. We do not want to replicate the horrible situation that currently exists in Phillips’ Great Britain. We want Israel to remain a bipartisan issue and an issue that does not divide generations. During the Bush administration, Republican support for Israel—which they linked to their failed Iraq policy—alienated many younger and more liberal voters who despised Bush, Cheney and their policies.
Among the reasons that I supported Obama, having first supported Hillary Clinton, is because I believed, and continue to believe, that a young, extremely popular African American President who supports Israel, even if he disagrees with its policies regarding settlement expansion, would be far more influential with mainstream Americans and with people throughout the world than an old conservative republican, who also supported Israel. That is why I gave, and continued to give, President Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt in his dealings with Israel. I take him at his word that he seeks to bring about peace, by means of a two state solution pursuant to which all the Arab states recognize Israel’s right to thrive as a Jewish democracy, while agreeing that any Palestinian state must be demilitarized and incapable of waging war or terrorist attacks against Israel.
I also take him at his word when he says that the United States will not accept a nuclear armed Iran, and I believe that he has a better chance of achieving that goal through diplomacy—including sanctions if necessary—than would a tough talking and non-negotiating Republican administration.
I believe that although a military attack on Iran could have disastrous and far reaching consequences, a nuclear armed Iran would have far graver consequences. I do not know whether the Obama administration would, as a last resort, use military force to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Nor do I know whether a Republican administration would have engaged in military action against Iran, especially in light of its failed war in Iraq. Neither do I know whether the Obama administration would try to prevent Israel from defending its civilians against an Iranian nuclear bomb by preventively attacking its nuclear facilities, as Israel did to Iraq in 1981. In a recent statement Vice President Biden strongly suggested that he believes that Israel should have the right to take military action to protect its citizens, if all other options fail. I believe that Dennis Ross holds similar views. The Bush administration, on the other hand, refused to supply Israel with weapons necessary to implement a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, and according to press reports, it was reluctant to give Israel the green light to attack on its own.
No one knows precisely what any administration would do under varying and unpredictable scenarios. As I have previously written, I would strongly oppose a United States policy of learning to live with an Iranian nuclear bomb, regardless of which administration supported such a dangerous approach.
Recall that it was the Bush administration that for the first time announced its support for a Palestinian state—a position with which I agree, so long as it is completely demilitarized and incapable of aggression against Israel. Recall as well that it was the Bush administration that insisted on a freeze on Israel settlements in the West Bank—a position with which I also agree, subject to humanitarian and pragmatic considerations. (This should come as no surprise to anyone who has read my writings, since I have opposed Israel’s civilian settlement policy since 1973. You can strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself without supporting its settlement policy.)
Let me say as well that there were parts of President Obama’s Cairo speech with which I disagreed, but there have also been parts of Republican speeches with which I have disagreed. I judge administrations by their actions more than by their words, though I wish President Obama had chosen some of his words more carefully.
The major difference between Melanie Phillips and me is that I want Jews to remain Democrats—if they support, as I do, liberal principles such as a women’s right to choose abortion, the rights of gays and lesbians to equal justice, and other progressive policies. I also strongly support the separation of church and state, a constitutional principle that has allowed American Jews to be first class citizens and to reach greater heights in this wonderful country than they ever have achieved in Europe or anywhere else in the world except for Israel. Republicans, in general, seek to lower the wall of separation which would endanger the status of Jews in this country.
I also want Jews who disagree with my liberal politics to remain Republicans, if they choose, and to exercise influence within the Republican Party. I want all supporters of Israel, whether they are Democrats or Republicans to pressure their party and their government to protect Israel’s security and defend its right to continue to thrive as a Jewish democracy.
It was clear to all perceptive Americans that Obama was going to win this past election in a landslide victory. The vast majority of Jews were on the winning side, and that is good for Israel. Recall the Republican Secretary of State James Baker’s infamous remark: “F…the Jews. They don’t vote for us anyway.” Recall as well that among Israel’s most virulent opponents are right wingers such as Pat Buchanan and Robert Novak.
Let me conclude by saying that because American Jews voted Democrat by and large and because the Democrats won, we have far more influence with this administration than we would if the majority of American Jews followed Melanie Phillips advice and voted Republican. When it comes to American politics, it is she who truly “doesn’t get it.” She should not be trying to influence the voting patterns of American Jews. We have done quite well, thank you, in maintaining widespread American support for Israel, because we understand the dynamics of the American political system. Instead, she should be trying to change the terrible situation in Great Britain, where support for Israel has never been lower—in part because support for Israel has become a liberal versus conservative wedge issue. I wish there were more liberal supporters of Israel in Great Britain as there are among liberal political figures in the United States. So please stop lecturing us from your perch in Great Britain on who to vote for in the United States. We apparently “get it” over here a lot better than you do over there! The reality is we each have our problems and they must be addressed somewhat differently in different places.
So I will continue to give President Obama the benefit of the doubt, but if he does anything to weaken Israel’s security, I will do everything in my power to change his attitude and to use whatever influence we have in Congress and among the public to make sure that American never weakens its commitment to Israel’s security. That is my line in the sand—not the settlements.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Alan's right that support is bi-partisan, and that is best for Israel. Once upon a time support for things like national defense was bi-partisan, would be nice if it were again.
But when Alan notes That is why I gave, and continued to give, President Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt in his dealings with Israel., he proves his critics point, acknowledging his own doubt about Obama's sincerity.
The Dersh doesn’t get it yet. He’s turning, though. He might be smart enough to figure it out eventually.
Yes, Alan, how's that working out for you?
Hello Professor Dershowitz:
A whole article about why you trust some guy whose past is obscured in mystery and you cannot bring yourself to use the word Jerusalem even once. Shame on you.
ML/NJ
The fool just does’nt get it.
1.The democrat communists are aligned with both the communist nations who have murdered over 45 million Christians and Jews during the 20th century alone.
2.The American jews are so ignorant of this fact that they vote for the democrat communists who will destroy Israel hand in hand with the communist nations overseas.
3.The American jews don’t beleive that Jesus Christ is Lord and therefore are puppets of the evil one who plans to destroy Israel using the damable communist nations worldwide and so they vote for those that hate Israel, obama is but one of them being used, the old useful idiots works with the democrats who are just plain fools thinking that giving land to the enemy for peace is wise. They remind me of those who drug the Trojan Horse into the center of Troy not realizing or thinking that it may be just a ploy. Hitler and Lenin used the jewish people the same way Obama does to meet his agenda, the destruction of Israel.
4. God teaches in the Scriptures that He alone will defeat all the enemies and nations of God’s only begotten Son Jesus Christ on the hills of Zion at the end of the 7 year ordained tribulation when the anti Christ will deceive Israel with a peace agreement that he will abandon half way into the 7 year tribulation when he enters the temple in Jerusalem and shows himself that he is God and demands the people worship him, marking the beginning of the Great Tribulation period, that is the last 3 1/2 years of the 7 year tribulation. The Lord Jesus Christ will appear at the end of the 7 year period and destroy the armies of all the nations that come against Israel with His holy angel and His saints, the body of Christ, the Church which is His body a.k.a., bible beleiving Christians saved by grace through faith alone in the finished work of Jesus Christ our Lord, our Saviour and our God at the cross He endured and suffered the wrath of God on His body for OUR sins, and He arose to everlasting life and sits at the right hand of the God of Israel, our Father, who are, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (This is the beginning of the 1000 year rule of Jesus Christ,the messiah of Israel who will rule over the whole earth after He destroys the anti Christ and the false prophet and all the nations that come to destroy Israel.)
4. Most do not beleive this and are enemies of God in being enemies of God’s Israel, nevertheless, God said it, that settles it, I believe it. You who do not beleive how that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again the third day to save those who beleive Him will be left behind to suffer the wrath of God during the seven year tribulation as the Scriptures plainly teach. Forsake religion and save yourself from the wrath of God, believe the Scriptures and accept Jesus Christ as God and Saviour and you will be hid from the wrath to come.
If you choose not to believe the Word of God which is the testimony of Jesus Christ to the whole world, you will suffer almighty God’s wrath for your unbelief.
The wicked forsake their own mercy.
Dersh will be screaming and trying to call his BFF BHO as he is led to the gallows by the Jew Hater BHO brownshirts.
Another fool and tool of the left!
A telling omission, particularly since he's been marginally supportive of retaining the Jerusalem suburbs in the past.
He is a Democrat for one reason and one reason only: domestic liberalism. It has nothing to do with "maintaining bi-partisan support of Israel."
Until quite recently the majority of American (liberal) Jews were not the least bit interested in support of Israel being bi-partisan. Since 1948 they (with the help of anti-Israel conservatives) have done their best to make the pro-Israel position a liberal Democrat monopoly. That this is no longer so is no thanks to them, and in fact despite them.
I will never forget hearing Mr. Dershowitz during the Clinton impeachment referring to people like me as "absolute evil." Oh yes, he's always been dedicated to keeping Israel popular with conservatives!
ML/NJ
Dershowitz sounded pretty knowledgeable and reasonable, up to the point that he referred to McCain as an “old conservative Republican.”
Old, yes.
He talks of bipartisan but can’t see accurately through those liberal-coated lenses of his.
This guy is confused. Obama is sympathetic to the Palestinians and doesn’t care about Israel. Also, he speaks of the failed policies in Iraq but Iraqis are better off now than they were under Sadam. Bush took a hard line with Iran and they wouldn’t have tried half this stuff while he was in office. Then he speaks of hypothetical situations but the reason those things didn’t happen while Bush was in office is because Iran knew they wouldn’t have gotten away with it.
He's not attempting to be bipartisan, he's defending the Obama position on the issue. And I suspect fearing another Carter.
Among the reasons that I supported Obama, having first supported Hillary Clinton, is because I believed, and continue to believe, that a young, extremely popular African American President who supports Israel, even if he disagrees with its policies regarding settlement expansion, would be far more influential with mainstream Americans and with people throughout the world than an old conservative republican, who also supported Israel.The one and only reason Dersh' supported Hillary, and then Obama, is because he's a straight-ticket Demwit.
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