Tom Trento: “What’s it going to take?”

14 Comments / 14 Comments

1. Ted, My comment disappeared pls find and post

2. I can’t believe that it takes a non Jewish person to see things clearly, yet many Jewish people, after the holocaust just shut their eyes. Obama is definitely not a friend of Israel and also not a friend of the jews, especially the wealthy ones. He is a danger to world peace. We all can see how dangerous Iran is to the world, yet he is not taking it really seriously. He is angry that Netanyahu is taking the matter very seriously. I wonder why?

   While I stil believe most of the American Jewish community is supportive of Israel most cannot be considered as Zionist. They are first , second and foremost American. What motivates them according to all polls I have seen are the same concerns as most mainstream Americans, the economy, education, pro choice etc. Israel on a ladder of importance rates a 9 or 10, one being the most important and 10 the least.

   When I see either Jews or gentiles tying their support to Israel based on which side of the internal American political side one supports I say that there is an underlying political agenda that transcends support for Israel.

   I don’t disagrees with the criticism of Obama by you and others but I maintain except for atmospherics there is little to differentiate between Obama G W Bush and any of the American presidents going back to Eisenhower and Truman.

   In 1948 when Truman showed signs of wavering on partition and advocating trusteeship. After the surrounding Arab states invaded Israel, the U.S. maintained an arms embargo that severely restricted the Jews’ ability to defend themselves.

   Ever since the 1948 war, the U.S. has been unwilling to insist on projects to resettle Arab refugees. The U.S. has also been reluctant to challenge Arab violations of the UN Charter and resolutions. Thus, for example, the Arabs were permitted to get away with blockading the Suez Canal, imposing a boycott on Israel and committing acts of terrorism. In fact, the U.S. has taken positions against Israel at the UN more often than not, and did not use its Security Council veto to block an anti-Israel resolution until 1972.

   Perhaps the most dramatic example of American policy diverging from that of Israel came during the Suez War when President Eisenhower took a strong stand against Britain, France and Israel. After the war, U.S. pressure forced Israel to withdraw from the territory it conquered. David Ben-Gurion relied on dubious American guarantees that sowed the seeds of the 1967 conflict.

   At various other times, American Presidents have taken action against Israel. In 1981, for example, Ronald Reagan suspended a strategic cooperation agreement after Israel annexed the Golan Heights. On another occasion, he held up delivery of fighter planes because of unhappiness over an Israeli raid in Lebanon.

   In 1991, President Bush held a press conference to ask for a delay in considering Israel’s request for loan guarantees to help absorb Soviet and Ethiopian Jews because of his disagreement with Israel’s settlement policy. In staking his prestige on the delay, Bush used intemperate language that inflamed passions and provoked concern in the Jewish community that anti-Semitism would be aroused.

   I lay much of the blame for the Oslo fiasco on Clinton who took the ball from Israel and tried to impose an Arafat/Hamas Government on Israel like the Whye plantation agreements his promise to reward BB for making concessions by pardoning Pollard then after he got the concessions from BB he reneged.

   G W Bush in retrospect may have been the very worst for Israel even exceeding Carter who would take pages to list his anti Israel one term presidency. Since Carter Israel has lost territorial and diplomatic ground with each successive presidency but despite at least till we have lost no territory under Obama. This may be a a condition of the Palis hardening their positions more than crediting Obama but the facts remain the facts.

   Till recently Israel enjoyed bipartisan support from both Democrats and Republicans and it mattered little from an Israeli-POV, it mattered little whether a democrat of Republican occupied the WH. Both were supportive at times and less supportive at other times as Ted has said “it’s been a mixed bag” I contend that mix has been largely negative but because of internal American politics most administrations put on a happy smiling face towards Israel while stabbing us in the back.

   Back to “agenda”, I have shown syn-optically that both sides of Isle in American politics have been both supportive and unsupportive of Israel and Obama is not supportive but he is little different than G W Bush, and I have never seen Torento or any so called American conservative blasting Bush his Pop or Reagan for policies essentially no different towards Israel than Obama. Therefore I maintain that while the position and points of Torento are credible and I don’t disagree. I submit his agenda is based on first and foremost on narrow American conservative politics and less a concern for Israel, otherwise we would have seen similar points and criticisms when Bush was president. For me credibility is bipartisan and leveled equally when criticism is due. Nobody hated the Clinton’s more than me, and I was as critical of American Jews for supporting Clinton as most of the commenters here are of Obama.

   From an Israeli pov I do not support a second term for any President Democrat or Republican, historically most of the anti Israel policies of all past American presidents came in the second term Carter, the exception.

3. I can’t believe that it takes a non Jewish person to see things clearly, yet many Jewish people, after the holocaust just shut their eyes. Obama is definitely not a friend of Israel and also not a friend of the jews, especially the wealthy ones. He is a danger to world peace. We all can see how dangerous Iran is to the world, yet he is not taking it really seriously. He is angry that Netanyahu is taking the matter very seriously. I wonder why?

4. I too

5. I’d say these fully assimilated – by the (American leftist) Borg. They think resistance is futile.

6. I support Trento and what he said here and what he doing.

7. I agree with Trento on this point. BiBi is the elected leader of Israel. He is held responsible for the decisions he makes as their leader. Obama has no right to impose his will on him. He had absolutly no right ordering Israel to give up their new natural gas wells to the Palestinians.
   I would think that every Jew everywhere would be very concerned about the life and death of their brethern in Israel, but alas not being Jewish myself I cannot do that for them; they have to make that decision themselves.
   Bibi is “not!” under obligation to make Obama look good politicaly.

8. Trento has no agenda. No one is trying to usher in The Apocalypse or the Rapture. I’m a gentile. I’m also a proud Zionist. I used to keep it to myself, but we can’t afford to be shy supporters. Not with so many lies about Israel being spoken. What galls me is that this vile hatred is most entrenched in our universities, and more slyly in the press. Smug and smarmy pundits, many of them Jewish are the worst offenders. If they don’t keep pushing the ‘narrative’ they claim to represent the larger base of Jewish people. No one appointed them, but they generously take on that mantle. Time to call them liars and make them defend their lies. This is a very good way to make them do just that: http://hayehudihaortodoksi.tumblr.com/post/13152528337/garbanzotoons-the-state-of-palestine-quiz

9. To ALL my skeptical Jewish friends… TOM TRENTO (right wing or whatever) has the ‘Testicular Fortitude’ that generally lacks in my fellow Jews…
   Jewel your message is clear and is akin to my own feelings towards my patrimony ‘ISRAEL’ just pass Trento’s visual declaration to as many as possible for the love of Israel when it needs you now more than ever.

10. I gave up trying to persuade Jew-haters, because there’s no changing them. I have changed my tactic. Now, instead of trying to reason with people, I just state my unabashed love for Israel as a Jewish state, and proudly declare my Zionism, without making apologies for offending the perpetually outraged, offended people of not zionistic tendencies.

11. Instead of only passing judgement wouldn’t it be better for our side to engage in a dialogue where we can help these Christians better understand our concerns?
    When the Six Day War broke out a gentile co-worker asked me; ‘who really started the war’? He was not aware of all the circumstances and suddenly he hears only that Israel is on the attack. Instead of starting an argument I disarmed the question by saying that I was not sure who started it but I sure hope it was Israel. A few days later he came back to me saying that he had listened to Abba Eban at the U.N. and that he now understood why Israel had to take action. We must all be emissaries to the gentiles to help them understand the Jewish predicament. Many who have negative positions may only be reflecting what they hear in the hostile media combined with lack of knowledge. They are not necessarily bad people and some can be won over with the right approach.

12. Yamit, I do agree with Laura, if you can reach even persuade one American Jewish liberal, who knows that person may engage another and another.

    I find it hard to understand how any Jewish American doesn’t fully support Israel while making it known to this president and government.

    I mentioned in the past as a student of our Catholic HS we were responsible for any repairs for replacing any windows we broke (I broke a few).
    Fortunately a kind Jewish glazier often provided us free of charge the glass, putty and instructions.
    We got in a discussion once and he told me how important it was for Jews to stick together as a family and not allow what happened during the Holocaust.

    Even I not being Jewish find it very disturbing the treatment of Israel not only by her Arab enemies but other governments led by anti-Semites.

    For one thing I cannot find one, not one reason not to support Israel.

    Therefore I find it difficult to understand why all American Jews cannot stand together in support of Israel

13. Tom Trento is a righteous gentile. He has no hidden agenda.

    If American Jews for whatever reason are not supportive or supportive enough of Israel, Guy’s like Torento and his organization are not the ones who will change their minds, they will if anything, if my instincts are correct, have the opposite effect. I doubt if any of those Jews he seeks to reach and influence would even watch his video clip or read his organizations blog.

    Unfortunately you are probably correct on this. But there is no harm in making an attempt to reach the average American Jewish liberal even if just one person can be persuaded.

14. Trento, the Speaker in the above clip is the Dir of “The United West Org. A very anti-Obama and anti-Islam right wing group. I am not here in disagreement with the message only the messenger and the organization he represents. I feel very uncomfortable to be preached at from gentiles who have an agenda and seek to co-opt or use Jews to their ends, noble or otherwise.

    These same people and organizations and the people who organized and run them either were silent in approval or just silent when GWB had policies and acted essentially no different than the current American leader and administration.

    If American Jews for whatever reason are not supportive or supportive enough of Israel, Guy’s like Torento and his organization are not the ones who will change their minds, they will if anything, if my instincts are correct, have the opposite effect. I doubt if any of those Jews he seeks to reach and influence would even watch his video clip or read his organizations blog. Then I realized he is not really directing the above clip to Jews but right wing conservative Christians who support Israel and are basically anti-Islam, and anti Shariah Law.
    
    Looks like he is looking for new members and financial donations here using Israel and Jews to prove he is on their page.
    WATCH THIS:…

    This I like and I can’t see any hidden agenda in the message or presentation.