Haaretz is teasing an exclusive interview with Obama in which he says that his opponents are trying to undermine his support in the Jewish community. I’m for a Jewish state, he says, and not for the right of return "in any literal way."
That hasn’t stopped the Israel lobby from going after Obama’s team as crypto-anti-Israel. Here is a rightwinger singling out Rob Malley (a true leader) as anti-Israel. And American Prospect reports that the Commentary crowd is going after author/adviser Samantha Powers for once uttering the words Israel and Iraq and "special interest" in the same breath. The quote from SamPo:
Another longstanding foreign policy flaw is the degree to which special
interests dictate the way in which the “national interest” as a whole
is defined and pursued . . . America’s important historic relationship
with Israel has often led foreign policy decision-makers to defer
reflexively to Israeli security assessments, and to replicate Israeli
tactics, which, as the war in Lebanon last summer demonstrated, can
turn out to be counter-productive…. So greater regard for international institutions along with less
automatic deference to special interests–especially when it comes to
matters of life and death and war and peace–seem to be two take-aways
from the war in Iraq. [Emphasis mine]
The American Prospect argues that Commentary is distorting Powers’s meaning. She wasn’t really talking about the Israel lobby. I hope she was. Aren’t you sick of all the code here? Let the issue come out. Let Obama take a meaningful stand on the settlements. Let Walt and Mearsheimer advertise on Obama’s website. Let the American people discuss the issue openly. Let the neocons show us their star-of-David underwear.
And stop claiming that the Jewish community is for a more evenhanded policy in Israel/Palestine. If it is, great, let us see that. If it’s not, let’s talk about it, and see what young Jews can teach their elders. And if Obama is not allowed to say what he really thinks because he needs Jewish money, shouldn’t we be talking about that too? I thought this campaign was about change, and goodbye to special interests…
