Friday, November 9, 2012

Jonathan Kay Completely Misses the Mark With His "Myth" Shtick

Yesterday Jonathan Kay regaled us with his trenchant analysis of Jewish voting patterns in the American election. He concluded that part of the reason why Jews were so gung-ho for Obama is because
the idea that Obama is somehow “anti-Israel” is a complete myth. As I’ve noted elsewhere, Obama stood against a Palestinian unilateral declaration of independence at the UN, sold bunker-buster bombs to Israel, and has presided over a flourishing of military co-operation between the two countries. A former director of the Mossad has stated publicly that if you’re looking to identify someone who “threw Israel under the bus,” it was George W. Bush, not Obama
The minority of Jews I’ve met (both in Canada and the United States) who do express hatred for Obama on the Israel file generally fall into a very specific culture-warrior subset. They often are older Jews who have become radicalized, in the aftermath of 9/11, by mass-circulated emails and YouTube videos that purport to portray Obama as a closet Muslim who is out to annihilate the Jewish state. (As an example, consider a Israel National News article entitled “Obama’s Plan to Destroy Israel.” People email me this kind of nonsense every day.) Because these Jews’ primary political interaction, on the Internet at least, tends to be with other like-minded anti-Obama culture warriors, they find it astonishing when, on election day, a majority of co-0religionists vote Democrat.
Apparently Caroline Glick--I suppose Mr. Kay would place her in the "anti-Obama cultural warrior" category--didn't get the memo about Obama's anti-Israel stance being "a complete myth." She writes, contra Kay, that
Obama has cultivated the anti-American, genocidally anti-Jewish Muslim Brotherhood and facilitated the Brotherhood’s takeover of Egypt and Tunisia and its gains in strength throughout the Middle East. In addition, Obama has appeased Iran’s Islamist regime and has enabled it to reach the cusp of nuclear capability.
Obama’s policy of relying on the United Nations has placed Israel’s diplomatic viability at risk as the Palestinians and the international Left that supports and feeds on their cause use the U.N. to delegitimize Israel’s right to exist. Finally, Obama’s animosity toward Israel has strengthened the hand of anti-Israel forces within the Democratic party. In the coming years, Israel will become an increasingly partisan issue in American politics.
While Obama’s reelection clearly places Israel in jeopardy, the plain truth is that the inevitable continuation of his foreign policies places the United States at risk as well. The jihadist assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi must be viewed as a sign of things to come, just as al-Qaeda’s 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole were precursors of the 9/11 attack on the U.S. mainland. Obama is empowering the United States’ worst enemies in the Sunni and Shiite Muslim worlds alike. Thereby emboldened, they place America at increased risk.
Dear Jon, this one's for you:

1 comment:

rick mcginnis said...

Jonathan Kay: Wrong again, or just breathing?