I'm amazed that NPR did a story on the "Great Schlep," Sarah Silverman's campaign to get Jewish kids to go to Florida to push their grandparents to vote for Obama and didn't talk about the Israel issue. I heard some old lady talking about Rev. Wright, but nothing about dividing Jerusalem, or giving up the West Bank. It's amazing this goes undiscussed, because this was clearly the agenda of George Bush's neocon trojan horse in 2000–Doug Feith and Sheldon Adelson were against the peace process, against dividing Jerusalem–and as this is also McCain's agenda, you'd think journalists would play up the divide over this question.
The south Florida Sun-Sentinel is more straightforward:
"How are we going to save
Israel? How are we going to save America?" asked Bob Kunst, a longtime
activist from Miami Beach who was wearing one campaign button with the word "OBAMINATION" and another that said "Keep Israel United."
"Where is the Jewish community on the division of Jerusalem?" Kunst asked.
A longtime Democrat, Kunst said he is disenchanted with the Democratic Party. "I like McCain's slogan 'country first,'" he said.
Kunst's "country-first" is obviously to Israel, but his point is well taken. Where are Jews on the division of Jerusalem? Well, they're 58 percent against it, according to the AJC, which makes it its business to know that kind of thing. This explains Obama's famous faux-pas at AIPAC, which was no faux-pas, the guy has made no faux-pas in 46 years. And I think it also explains the reluctance of the media to bring the issue up in any specificity. Jewish reporters and producers know in their guts that their own grandparents or uncles are conservative on this issue, and that it will only hurt Obama to talk about it. And the media are overwhelmingly for Obama. I'm with Bob Kunst here; let's talk about this, let's have true debate and division. Though I ask, Where is America on the division of Jerusalem? The politicians are afraid to ask.
(Thanks to Jeff Blankfort for the tip.)
