Following with breathtaking speed on the heels of President Obama’s partial rejection of the Israeli agenda this week, neoconservatives and Republicans posted dramatic ads yesterday portraying Obama as a betrayer of Israel, who goes back on his word to the Jewish state.
As I watched these ads, I couldn’t help thinking, Why do you think Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush were one-term presidents?
Above is the new Emergency Committee for Israel ad. It quotes Obama saying at AIPAC, “When the chips are down, I have Israel’s back.” Then it quotes very selectively from the following interchange at Obama’s press conference this week. The quotes the ECI uses are in boldface:
Q You might not be beating the drums of war, but you did very publicly say, we’ve got Israel’s back. What does that mean?
THE PRESIDENT: What it means is, is that, historically, we have always cooperated with Israel with respect to the defense of Israel, just like we do with a whole range of other allies — just like we do with Great Britain, just like we do with Japan. And that broad statement I think is confirmed when you look at what we’ve done over the last three years on things like Iron Dome that prevents missiles from raining down on their small towns along border regions of Israel, that potentially land on schools or children or families. And we’re going to continue that unprecedented security — security commitment.
It was not a military doctrine that we were laying out for any particular military action. It was a restatement of our consistent position that the security of Israel is something I deeply care about, and that the deeds of my administration over the last three years confirms how deeply we care about it. That’s a commitment we’ve made.
ECI concludes, “When the chips are down, the only back he’s got is his own.”
As Alex Kane noted yesterday, the Republican Jewish Coalition released a similar ad hitting Obama on his Israel policy (via BuzzFeed), in which Democrats slag the president’s policy. The ad paints Obama as an Israel-hater and features the famous overheard crack at Netanyahu Obama made to Sarkozy.
Notice at 1:21 Chuck Schumer attacking Hillary Clinton for having called up Netanyahu and “talked very tough to him” and then publicizing her differences with Netanyahu. “That is terrible.” When does a Democratic senator do such a thing?
The ad concludes, “Your deed worry us and your words worry us. [with a tremulous voice] The Jewish community will remember in November.”
So, how many American Jews have Obama’s back vs Netanyahu? Come on so where are the latest polls? Where will the 38% of American Jewish ‘Independents’ cast their vote > Republican, or Democrat?
September 2011 [AJC Poll] — 5. Do you approve or disapprove of the Netanyahu government’s handling of Israel-U.S. relations?
54% approve of Netanyahu, 32% disapprove and 14 % not sure
http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=846741&ct=11229303
The Economist: Israel, Iran and America
Auschwitz complex
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2012/03/israel-iran-and-america
A MUST READ – Imho. h/t alanhart.net
They must think, that the Jewish community has a lot of power. Wait, that’s antisemitic, no?
They need to be as outrageously obnoxious as possible and then go beyond the point of acceptability. Let their bluff be called.
i fully expect the jewish vote for Obama to nearly match what it was in 2008 – at worst, he’ll only get 65% of it
i hope that last video gets widely circulated. the big brother voice and warning is very telling. notice how they use dem politicians to drive home their message. very similiar to the emergency committee on israel using ackerman’s words.
go ahead and make it all about israel RJC and ‘the jewish community’, let’s see how that floats for the american public. gloves coming off and the closet door opening. bring it on.