To “warn” is to threaten and to intimidate. If Republicans support Israel more it is only right that Israel support them more. To ask Israel to be blind to the difference is to ask for a licence to keep beating up on Israel. Positions should have consequences. The Democrats don’t own Israel or American Jews. Given the fact that the Democratic Party and their leaders wanted to remove Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel from their platform, Israel is fully justified in turning to the Republicans. Ted Belman
By Julian Pecquet, THE HILL – 09/24/12 05:00 AM ET
Top Jewish Democrats are squarely standing by President Obama’s decision not to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and warning Israel to butt out of the U.S. presidential race.
The White House has been on the defensive ever since Israeli officials publicly complained last week after Obama refused to adjust his schedule to meet with Netanyahu at the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week. Republicans quickly pounced, urging Obama to reconsider and inviting Netanyahu to meet with them at his convenience.
”I don’t think it’s necessary for the president to rearrange his schedule,” Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, told The Hill. ”I didn’t think it was appropriate for the prime minister to publicly get into a dispute with the president of the United States, since we’re both very closely working together to impose sanctions and to force Iran to stop its development of a nuclear weapon.”
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee, blamed ”internal Israeli politics” for the spat.
”Maybe Netanyahu’s for (Republican candidate Mitt) Romney. And he’s making a mistake if he is,” Frank told The Hill when asked why he thought Israel had leaked the news of a perceived ”snub” to the Reuters wire service.
”I think it was unwise for him to do as much,” he said. ”I think they’ve pulled back a little bit.”
”I think Obama played it right,” Frank added. ”The Israelis have to consider American public opinion; America’s not ready to go to war until it’s absolutely necessary.
”I think it’s a mistake from Israel’s standpoint if they give the impression they’re trying to push us into going to war. I don’t think any pressure’s going to work.”
And Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), a top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said both sides need to mend fences.
”There are always things that are done on both sides – with us, with the Israelis – for domestic political consumption, for party building,” Engel told The Hill. ”I think there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we are not privy to, and I would hope that in any kind of public rift – or the appearance of any kind of public rift – between the president and the prime minister would be heeled and taken care of behind the scenes. I have confidence that both countries would like to see that.”
The snub accusation comes as Netanyahu has been increasingly vocal about the threat posed by Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program. He told CNN and NBC last weekend that the United States should identify ”red lines” Iran won’t be allowed to cross, something the administration has declined to do publicly.
Netanyahu also argued vehemently that he’s not trying to inject himself into the election, thereby acknowledging that that perception is widespread.
“What’s guiding me, contrary to what I have read in the United States, is not the American political calendar,” Netanyahu told CNN. “It’s the Iranian nuclear calendar.”
Republicans have sought to exploit the public rift to undermine Jewish support for Democrats and paint Obama as weak on national security.
Romney called Obama’s decision not to meet with Netanyahu ”confusing and troubling” during a fundraiser in New York. And 128 House Republicans wrote to the president to urge him to reconsider.
”We are astounded by your refusal to grant this request to one of our closest allies at such a critical time for that region,” they wrote in a Sept. 13 letter. ”The rejection of this request represents disturbing treatment of a vital partner and illustrates a lack of regard for the indispensable relationship between the United States and Israel and the current dynamics in the region which are essential to our national security.”
Jewish Democrats said that won’t work.
”I think the American Jewish community and the AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs] committee will be very reluctant to appear to be … trying to undercut Obama,” Frank said.
And Waxman said the only voters likely to be swayed by the Republican attacks already support Romney.
”I think there are some Jewish voters that are voting Republican,” Waxman told The Hill. ”They’ve been moving in that direction. And those that would be most influenced to vote for Romney because of this are probably already voting for Romney.”
Doesn’t the American Jewish Community realize from the voices denying that Jerusalem is the capitol of Israel that the Democratic party is loaded with Anti-Semites? Maybe the Democrats don’t want us anymore but the Republicans do. We Jews should go where we’re wanted and appreciated.
@ Laura:
In Koch’s prioritization of issues, SAME-SEX ‘MARRIAGE’
— as well as, doubtless, other elements on the homosexual agenda
trumps ISRAEL.
@ NYgal:
NYgal you got that right.
Shame on them.
Those are the same kind of Democrats who didn’t want to pressure Roosevelt to allow Jews into the US or to help them in any other way. They voted fo Rooseveltt regardless what he did or didn’t do.
Ed Koch, Waxler, Boxer, Debby Wasserman Shultz and people like them are Democrats first, human beings and Jews last.
They only remember their Jewishness when they need Jewish votes to get elected.
Israel didn’t ask the US to go to war, the US asked Israel to refrain from war based on “having Israels back”(whatever that means).
ArnoldHarris Said:
I believe the problem is Israel needs resupply of arms in any war and Obama, like previous US govts, is likely to obstruct that.
Franks, Engel and Waxman – all German names.
Waxman means a gatherer of beeswax. Must stuff the stuff up his nose, Gd Knows where he puts that thing.
But you have to blame the mentality of the typical American voter for voting these leeches back into office.
Waxman has serving the lucky people since 1974!!!!
@ Leon:That video has been making the rounds for a few weeks now. I might post it.
Churchill stayed out of the US 1940 election, even though his country was in desperate straits.
My suggestion: If Israel is scared, attack before the election.
Yes, he couldn’t very well disrupt his important meetings with Letterman, Beyonce and Jay Z.
Waxman is a total shill. Doesn’t he resemble a rat?
Ted,
Hope you’ll find this interesting enough to put on your blog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU7Ctg7ddPo&
I’m not acquainted with many Jewish Democrats, probably because I never bothered to look for any of them. Most of the few other Jews I know of around southern Wisconsin are the kind who make up minyanim at the local Lubavitcher shtiebl located near the big campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I’m sure none of them voted for an African Muslim fir US president in 2008; and if they made the mistake of doing so then, they are unlikely to repeat their error this year.
I never have cared very much about what others think. Which makes me relatively easy to get along with. Mainly I focus on what topics I think about, what I specifically think about them, and about my specific reasons for thinking the way I do.
And unlike just about any other Jews any of you ever have met, I never have wasted a minute of my long life worrying about what other people think about Jews in general or about Israel in particular. The fact is, I couldn’t care less. Because Israel doesn’t need friends. Israel needs power. And that can come about only by carefully pursuing it.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
.
The demorats are clearly running scared of losing Jewish voters. They will still get the majority, but in a key state like Florida, even a small percentage of Jewish voters switching to Romney can have an impact. Dov Hikind is going down to Florida campaigning for Romney. Foolish Koch is still supporting Obama and says he believes the White House when it said that Israel did not ask the president to meet with Bibi. So Ed Koch takes the word of an administration which lies with frequency.