As if the Israeli settler movement couldn’t alienate themselves any further from US popular opinion, they are now kicking off a campaign against “the most anti-Semitic American president” Barack Obama. The Ha’aretz article reporting on the effort shares some pretty inspired campaign slogans such as “20 new ‘settlements’ by 2010 – Yes We Can!,” the more simple “No, You Can’t” and last, but not least, the campaign poster pictured right.
Of course US popular opinion isn’t the primary target of the campaign, and if anything it’s a sign of the pressure Benjamin Netanyahu is under from the right wing of his coalition. But if the Israeli right, and their supporters in the US, are going to try to appeal to Congress or the US public for sympathy in the face of increasing pressure on Israeli settlements, this campaign is a serious misstep.
The event was organized by none other than Nadia Matar, who when we last saw her was raising money in a New York synagogue and calling for Mahmoud Abbas to be assassinated. Ha’aretz reports that Matar made of point of referring to Obama using his middle name saying, “we have to remind ourselves that he received an Islamic education in Indonesia.” In addition, she had a message for the Israeli government, “We are connected to our land like a mother is connected to her children, and I want to warn you: Don’t mess with a Jewish mother who feels her children or her homeland are in danger. Every part and parcel and hilltop and stone in the Land of Israel is like one of our children. And we’e going to protect it like lionesses.”
