Chutzpah: Rightwing Settler Rabbi Tells McCain to Focus on Rev. Wright
Man, this story encapsulates why the wonderful word chutzpah is Yiddish!
John McCain did a conference call with a bunch of so-called (i.e. Republican) Jewish leaders. On the call, McCain was urged by a far-right settler rabbi from the West Bank to go on the offensive and attack Obama over Rev. Wright. McCain said that he'd rather focus on Bill Ayers.
How bizarre! The rabbi, who dedicates his life to Israel's settlement enterprise, and who left America to do so, is urging the Republican nominee to use his African-American church against the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. Now I understand that people like Riskin never give up their American citizenship or passport (why would they? It's convenient to hold on to both) but don't they give up their right to be consulted by American Presidential candidates? After all, becoming an expat is not exactly the highest form of patriotism!
I missed this story in the Washington Post. I saw it here where Phil Weiss really goes off on Riskin and others of his ilk.
In happier news, the campaign against Obama within the Jewish community has utterly collapsed. One of the happy results is that Florida is getting bluer every say.
Riskin is an American citizen and since when does he have to shut up and not to express his opinion? I can't accuse you of anti-Semitism, you'd do the same for Joe the Plumber I'm sure.
The fact is that Israel is running at 2:1 in favor of McCain, some say higher, and in a poll of English-speakers the support reached 75 per cent. Riskin is not an aberration, he is speaking for the consensus. We are facing an existential threat, the nukes in Iran, and we know that McCain will have our backs when we take out those installations.
America doesn't always send the cavalry to rescue nations with a knife at their throat, in the cases of the Kuwaitis and Kosovans they did, and in the case of the Cambodians and the Tutsis they didn't. They can always find excuses not to act and if Biden has been in charge the Kuwaitis would have gone the way of the Tutsis. It may be our turn next and no one can say, because no one knows anything about this man Obama, that when push comes to shove if he'll cause trouble over air space, hold back intelligence, dither on resupply, and jerk us around at the UN. Or put this another way, Israelis don't trust Obama farther than they can spit.
http://www.root-1.co.il/cynical.htm
October 20, 2008 10:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
And we should care, why? Barack Obama and John McCain are running for president of the United States of America. Isreal is not the 51st state, an American protectorate, or even a territorial posession. The interests of the US and Isreal may coincide at times, but they are certainly not identical.
October 20, 2008 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Rightwing settler Israelis do not like Obama. Real Israelis (the ones who choose to live in Israel, not the settlements) do.
Obama could be elected mayor of Israel's largest metropolitan area, Tel Aviv, tomorrow.
October 20, 2008 11:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Tel-Aviv is, unfortunately, not really representative of Israel. Otherwise the Likkud would never have won an election. I would agree Obama is actually better for Israel, but that's an opinion---not a fact. The facts are that a majority of Israelis trust McCain better.
October 20, 2008 11:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
I do think though that if Obama is elected, he would be able to gain the trust of most Israelis. The current suspicion is driven by ignorance.
October 20, 2008 11:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Never Certain said:
"The facts are that a majority of Israelis trust McCain better."
I'm not a student of things Israel, so I have to ask; what do the "majority of Israelis trust McCain" to do....to be?
October 20, 2008 11:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Israelis, like most people, only care about themselves. The ones who support McCain are hawks and prefer NO negotiations, NO diplomacy, and NO US leadership on the issue.
The pro-Obama Israelis think that time is not on Israel's side and that they need American leadership to help them achieve security.
In any case, it is all very nice that every single country in the world (except Israel) unambiguously supports Obama by strong margins. That means Obama can restore America's standing in the world. The Israelis will decide to love him and proclaim him "the best friend Israel ever had" the minute he's inaugurated.
They ain't stupid!
October 20, 2008 11:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
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October 21, 2008 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink