137 Comments

1. dmgold:

The American Liberal secular and progressive Jew will be a vague memory in little more than a generation. The Grandchildren of observant Jews who came to Ellis Island a hundred years ago, are Jewish by name and affiliation to Reform, reconstructionist and progressive communities, where the liberal political ideologies/narratives born of the 1960s regularly replace the tatters of Jewish culture and Halacha. The only Jews who will remain in the US in another generation will be those of the orthodox community.
While these so called “progressive Jews” claim to represent the US Jewish community and to have some connection to Israel, here in Israel we only see and hear of them when they are holding hands with Israels enemies, they dont visit here unless they are doing that leftist “bearing witness gig”, they dont make aliyah, they do however promote the Arab narrative of the Arab Israel conflict and view Jewish claims here in the holyland as unsavoury, embarrassing and possibly dangerous to their peaceful and continued existence within the power structure of the leftist/liberal and pro palistinian neo democratic party now festering under the leadership of Prince Obama.
Israel and its Jewish citizens owe nothing to the self serving and Jew betraying progressive Jewish community that is now the face of “US Judaism”.

Jul 11, 2009 - 2:23 am 2. David Thomson:

Liberal Jews like Alan Dershowitz are similar to their nominal Catholic and Protestant counterparts. They all place a higher value on abortion than anything else. This is the issue that primarily defines them existentially. Dershowitz may have written a number of pro-Israeli books and made countless speeches on its behalf—but he is first, last, and foremost a secular humanist. He remains a fervent defender of the Barack Obama administration in spite of its palpable anti-Israeli positions. It must also be noted that these are the same people who invariably can’t stand Sarah Palin. The fact that she refused to abort her handicapped child enrages them.

Jul 11, 2009 - 3:18 am 3. Joel:

Outstanding article! Slightly exaggerated re. Israelis; as usual the further-Left minority of Israelis differs peculiarly from the rest and backs Obama. But it’s only a small percentage, most understand that he’s singling out Israel in the whole word to be treated as garbage.

Jul 11, 2009 - 4:10 am 4. AL:

Your whipping of US Jewish community is well deserved, and hopefully will serve as morning call for liberal Jews.

Thought, one correction. American citizens of Russian-Jewish origin (and they are the core of US high-tech industry) are almost 100% politically conservative, pro-Israel, and anti-Obama.

Jul 11, 2009 - 4:16 am 5. genghis kohn:

Painfully true. As Mel brooks would point out, this is why ’schmuck’ is a vital part of the Jewish idiom. I would argure that putz is more appropos. Go figure.

Jul 11, 2009 - 4:20 am 6. Realist:

American Jews voting for Obambi are like Turkeys longing for Thanksgiving.

Jul 11, 2009 - 4:25 am 7. Kondratieff:

Professor Miller, you exclude the fact of the large number of both elected Jewish Congressman and Senators, as well as members of the local committees. Not to mention the Big domestic contributors. Once again the Democratic Party has put together a coalition of Jews and anti-semites. How the party managed that, starting slowly in the Carter administration, would make an interesting study to put along side all the pro Obama and anti-Bush books that are crowding the public libraries.

Jul 11, 2009 - 5:12 am 8. jerryofva:

Please Mr. Miller, lets call it correctly. The American Jewish political culture isn’t liberal. It is dominated by the socialist culture of eastern European ghetto Jewery. The abandonment of Israel by American Jews started as soon a Likhud replace the ruling labor party and becaume a “right wing” nation. Israel now compromises their position with the socialist world and they just want Israel to disapear. Deep down inside Americans of Jewish heritage know that their allies are anti-Semites and hope to placate them by adopting the most radical positions possible. It won’t work of course but that won’t stop them from trying.

In the early days of the Nazi regime Germany organized rallies of prominent Jews who carried signs reading “raus mit us.” We should start calling the 80% “raus mit us Jews.”

Jul 11, 2009 - 5:22 am 9. Grantman:

Unfortunately, Mr. Miller is preaching to the choir, I’m sad to say. I don’t know what will cause the blindness to disappear from my brethren. I see it in my own family and I just shake my head in dismay.

Didn’t it all supposedly start from Roosevelt? This is the same guy who couldn’t spare one or two bombing runs to blow up the tracks to Auschwitz or other camps? The guy who turned away the St Louis? The guy who wouldn’t let in any Jews escaping from the Nazi’s?

*sigh*

Jul 11, 2009 - 5:24 am 10. Ghost Chasers:

You cannot mix politics and religion in a logical manner that explains people whose entire lives are about individual profit (America) versus those whose entire lives are about survival and national preservation (Israel).

American Jews are no different than the 50+ million other people who voted for Obama that proclaim Christianity, other religions and / or no religion.

Give up the ghost and take it to the bank. They could care less about Israel.

Jul 11, 2009 - 5:25 am 11. fear Obama:

I am gasping for air.

And enjoyed the comments of a true supporter of Israel.
They don’t take any prisoners in their patriotic devotion to the state of Israel.

If only we Americans could be so bold.

But we have become a 5th or 6th generation piece of clay-or worse-
and have been molded by the filth that comes out of Washington.

Our ancestors would have already hung most of these clowns from lampposts.

Israel is first generation and remembers what happens when governments no longer care if Jews live or die. Six million body bags- sorry- didn’t even have the decency to put them in body bags- fiery ovens, can sear someones memory.

Your Jewish brethren here in America no longer care if you live or die.
So forget them and do what is good for Israel.

They have joined us in the good life and fat stupidity off the land.

Take for instance major democrat contributor Bernie Madoff, he helped pay for all the loose democrat and republican laws of the land- reminded of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd?

Then the door opened and he was able to steal billions- with a B- from his sucked up friends that were promised millions in rain or shine economy.

Now we have democrats and republicans that think they can steal trillions- with a T- from their sucked up friends.

Now is the time we begin to march on Washington and not just with a key pad.

And at least when I die I can tell my forefathers that I did my best to leave the same government for my grand kids that they died for.

Jul 11, 2009 - 5:41 am 12. tc:

Abe: the title of this piece was stunning. As a Christian, but one who has known very few Jews, I am perpetually confused by how Jews reconcile Obama’s treatment of Israel with their support of his candidacy. Although you’ve somewhat outlined the fact that liberal Jews appear to support Obama, this article doesn’t delve into the why except by stating that they’ve found their Messiah. I find that far-fetched and unsupported by your arguments. Could an interview or statement by someone representing these liberal Jews help illuminate the Obama-as-Messiah statement? Is it simply that they seek support for their position as victims, and who better than Obama to provide that. Do both Jews and Obama benefit from this alliance–maybe in the short term–but long term???

Jul 11, 2009 - 5:55 am 13. Richard Butrick:

This has been a headscratcher for me for some time.

“To support Obama, liberal Jews had to engage in a set of incredible mental gymnastics. They had to ignore his twenty-year relationship with the anti-Semitic minister Reverend Jeremiah Wright. They had to ignore his strong personal relationship with the virulent anti-Zionist Rashid Khalidi. They had to ignore his statement to the Iowa caucuses that no one has suffered more than the Palestinian people. They had to ignore his support of his Kenyan cousin and genocidal strongman Raila Odinga, an advocate of Sharia. …

Thanks for unraveling the convoluted, contorted logic (pathology?) behind the liberal Jewish political mind set. But that the majority of US Jews buy into the mind set is still beyond me. Maybe revealing the “logic” of the Jewish left will cause some of them to take a hard look in the mirror you hold up for them? I’m not holding my breath. Great article.

Jul 11, 2009 - 5:59 am 14. "progressive"watch:

Miller has the right facts,wrong motives. These liberal Jews are almost all leftists,not liberals,and they don’t want to be victims. They are leftist ideologues with leftist answers. They are more leftists than they are Jews. They don’t see fellow leftist Obama as harmful,but as a powerful force for good.

Jul 11, 2009 - 6:15 am 15. james:

With Leftists, ideology always trumps everything else, and American Jews, if not uniformly left, are certainly very close to it. Go to the top of Obamaworld and you can see this plainly. To men like Axelrod and Emmanuel, stifling capitalism, pilfering other people’s wealth, establishing totalitarian rule, are the things that are important. If they could support Israel within this framework they would, but the very idea of Israel is proof against their view of themselves and the world. People like this used to say, seventy-five years ago as they were escorted to the slaughterhouse beneath the Lubyanka, “The Party can’t be wrong.” They are saying it still.

Jul 11, 2009 - 6:22 am 16. david levavi:

The willful ignorance and corresponding embrace of plainly announced enemies by the overwhelming majority of American Jews is rotted in craven cowardice.

The strange parallax that turns enemies into love objects is an observed and well established phenomenon in the fight game. A losing and psychologically broken fighter will begin pulling his punches in the middle of a fight in the absurd hope that his opponent will do the same. Never mind title, never mind purse, kindness will be answered with kindness.

The reluctance of college-bound American Jewish boys and girls (and their parents) to even consider ROTC speaks volumes. If young Jews weren’t drafted to fight Hitler in WWII, they would have happily left the fate of their European brethren to their Christian neighbors.

American Jews are by and large a craven lot, absent moral and physical courage, integrity or honor. As for American rabbis, most are morally and intellectually unworthy of the title. An ordinary “orthodox” Jewish layman (10% of the American Jewish population appx.) is more Hebrew and Bible literate and learned than an ordinary Reformed “rabbi”. Such so-called “rabbis” are wannabe social workers, Jeruboams leading their conveniently ignorant congregations astray.

Jewish honor is found only in Israel.

Jul 11, 2009 - 6:22 am 17. Siegmund Wagner:

“Liberal Jews are generally a secular people” is a foolish statement. The word “religious” being the opposite of “secular,” this article is without linguistic or logical sense, unless one posits a “messiah” without a God.

The only quasi-religion which I know of which holds to this tenet is a kind of international statism with its the cult of personality, as we have seen in the various forms of totalitarianism, each one some form of socialism from National Socialism to Soviet Socialism and more.

The few self-identifying “liberal Jews” of my acquaintance who are anything like this article’s notion of a “liberal Jew” identify only culturally with whatever they think it means to be Jewish, never attend synagogue and celebrate none of the holidays and festivals. Therefore these so-called “liberal” Jews are so estranged from Judaism that they share more in common with another estranged Jew — Karl Marx — than with any practicing Jew of my acquaintance.

For all the practicing and even barely practicing Jews I know — including myself — it is the height of human arrogance and offense to Judaism to speak of any man as a “moshiach.”

Therefore this article is nonsense, polling “liberal Jews” equally nonsense, and making any categorical statement about such a group also nonsense. These so-called “secualar” Jews are no more Jewish than “secular” Christians are Christians.

Jul 11, 2009 - 7:02 am 18. Adina Kutnicki,Israel:

I have close relatives, as well as some friends who voted for Obama on the basis of his hope and change rhetoric.

Trust me, they are not ignorant people, simply brainwashed. Despite ALL the evidence pointing to his radical leftist agenda, coupled with his anti-Israel associations etc, they simply refused to believe what they were hearing and reading.

People find it hard to believe, that otherwise intelligent citizens would deny all proof presented, yet still support such a dangerous man.

Jews in particular are incapable of grasping reality when evidence points to anti-semitism/anti-zionism. Their besieged mentalities are incapable of thinking rationally on this monumentally important issue.

Dr Kenneth Levin, a noted psychiatrist and historian penned the ultimate book on this subject. ‘The Oslo Syndrome:Delusions of a People Under Siege’ aptly explains their psychosis.

Jul 11, 2009 - 7:07 am 19. fred lapides:

Not so! I am a very liberal Jews. I voted for Obama. He will not betray Israel. Yopu simply decide that if someone does not support…McCain? Palin? Sanford? then he is, if Jewish, a lefty and worthless. Wake up, pals.
I served in the American army twice. I am nearly 80 years old. I have a son now visiting in Israel. I fully support Israel and all it stands for.

Now if you stand back a bit, look at what the other party has done, accomplished, put together for its base.

Perhaps it is time to start putting forth idea, platforms instead of the badmouthing that is all that seems to remain from what was once a viable and worthy political party…a party with ideas.

all that seems left comes from Nancy R.: Just Say No.

Jul 11, 2009 - 7:34 am 20. Wynne:

Strange affinities of liberal denial. Not unlike those of black Americans with Islam. Voegelin vindicated.

Jul 11, 2009 - 7:55 am 21. trapper:

Liberal Jews would rather vote democrat and have dead Israelis than vote republican and empower those obnoxious Evangelicals.

Jul 11, 2009 - 8:03 am 22. Strawman:

The Jews have been here before. 100+ years ago, the Jews of Germany thought they could strike a Faustian bargain whereby they would keep their heads down and go along with the German socio-political current (including many conversions) in exchange for access to society. Worked out really well, didn’t it?

Jul 11, 2009 - 8:26 am 23. Aureliano:

I am a very liberal Jew. I voted for Obama.

Interesting.

Tell me what you know about Black Liberation Theology, and Barack Obama’s relationship with Jeremiah Wright.

Just trying to establish whether you’re well-informed or just another CNN watcher.

Also, can you tell us which of your household expenses you want somebody else to pay for ….

Jul 11, 2009 - 8:30 am 24. Strawman:

They are not ignorant people, simply brainwashed.

What was that that Reagan said?

It isn’t that Liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.

The disturbing thing is that if they can be manipulated and controlled en masse like this, democracy isn’t safe. And of course, neither is Israel.

Jul 11, 2009 - 8:36 am 25. Anonymous:

The Obama voting so called liberal post Zionist American Jews will be among the first of the useful idiots to be marched into the gas chambers when the time comes.

Jul 11, 2009 - 8:37 am 26. garyj:

The intelligence of Jews is overrated. Granted there are some bright and perceptive Jews, Krautmammer and George Jonas come to mind but the majority have the mentality of an Oprah Winfrey audience (ie clueless). There are also a lot of dummies posing as intellectuals and scholars in academia.

Jul 11, 2009 - 8:37 am 27. Morry Rotenberg:

The Obama voting so called liberal post Zionist American Jews will be among the first of the useful idiots to be marched into the gas chambers.

Jul 11, 2009 - 8:40 am 28. scott:

The Jews are an especially troubling case in point however the support for Commander Zero can wholly be understood given two facts.

1. Many ‘democrats’ are communists.

2. Many many Americans are stupid, mentally lazy and uninformed.

Jul 11, 2009 - 8:48 am 29. Eopithecus:

Israel shouldn’t be thrown under the bus, but the United States doesn’t have to act like it is a 51st state either. Israel can either defend itself or it can’t the USA simply can’t be tied down financially or militarily to every small country that feels threatened. The fact of the matter is this country is broke and the only reason why we seem to float above it is China buying our debt. The USA is a crippled giant no longer a super-power that can’t afford to make multi-million dollar missles to take out 30,000 dollar targets. Israel sad to say, you are on your own Good Luck

Jul 11, 2009 - 8:59 am 30. blotto:

Mr. Lapides: “Now if you stand back a bit, look at what the other party has done, accomplished, put together for its base.”

I presume you are speaking of the Dem party? If so what have then done? Nothing from FDR to LBJ’s Great Society has helped America. Sure for a few Ameicans and a few programs have helped but overall these same programs have enslaved far too many people to the government trough. And recently, what has the Dem party done for America? Carter-an embarassment; Clinton-a liar, Obama-a fraud. You tell us of the great accomplishments the Dem party has done for America and I guess for Jews?

“Perhaps it is time to start putting forth idea, platforms instead of the badmouthing that is all that seems to remain from what was once a viable and worthy political party…a party with ideas.”

The conversative party is the party of ideas: freedom, free markets, personal liberty, merit, and what was enshrined in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. It is your party that has a negative view of the very documents that govern this nation. The Dem party wants a oneparty system (acorn, seiu, unions, fraudulent voting, felon voting rights, etc), restricting free speech, government ownership of private industry, housing for those not financially able to afford, etc.

It is your and all the American Jews’ blindness and unquestioning loyalty to leftist dogma and the tenants of marxism put forth by the Dem party that will destroy both the United States and the Jewish nation.

Jul 11, 2009 - 9:12 am 31. Jim:

During the Bush administration, the U.S. was the only outspoken supporter of Israel(as far as I could tell). An abandoned Israel may mean no Israel at all.

Jul 11, 2009 - 9:24 am 32. Annie L./n.y.:

I do not understand how any Jews can defend Obama.

I do not understand their rational according to this article. Do they not remember what a “jack boot”,or a “gas chamber” is…and his words for Israel…the whole thing is a mystery. they are an intelligent people using poor judgment.

You cannot be a true Jew at heart, understand the history and support this man.

#19 grow up. You say you are 80, you sound juvenile and untried in the world. Perhaps you’re a “wanna be”..

Jul 11, 2009 - 9:35 am 33. Oldguy:

Now we see how six million Jews ended up in the ovens.

Jul 11, 2009 - 9:46 am 34. Sue:

Awesome article! As an American jew who feared what Obama would mean for our people, and now cringes to see lal those fears come true, I shake my head in amazement at the lack of willingness of my own people to see the reality that is right in their face. Things get worse and worse, and still they do not budge. This is the first article I’ve seen that addresses it well, and if it doesn’t provide reasons for the phenomenon…maybe it’s because the reasons are utterly incomprehensible to a rational being. But please don’t mistake it for a secular/orthodox issue. The Jews I know who are most vehemently opposed to Obama, and voted against him in the election, are all Reform, and many are non-practicing…you don’t have to pray three times aday to see the light clearly, just take the blinders off your eyes.

The problem with supporting Obama’s opposition is that there is so much they stand for that is abhorrent to our mindset. Yes, abortion is a major issue, not just because of pregnancy issues, because it speaks to the control of a woman over her own body and fate. Any party that will inset the government into the private relationship between doctor and patient is worthy of second thoughts. I myself had to go into the voting booth and put my social conscience on hold to vote for McCaine, on many counts. Some weren’t able to do that. IMHO, Jews cling to their delusions of Obama as “good for Israel” because if they don’t, they have to face up to their responsibility for what is happening, and accept the guilt that comes with it.

And a last note to Fred Lapides — you don’t think Obama has betrayed Israel already? What do you call reneging on agreements to provide weapons, while providing weapons to the totalitarian regimes next door (shouldn’t they “stand on their own” too?), thus directly facilitating Israel’s destruction when the next war comes…denying before all the world that Jews have a historic connection to Israel…presuring Israeli leadership to make gestures of submission that will accomplish nothing save to weaken them in the eyes of their enemies, just to make Obama look like the Big Man…instructing the world to regard every Middle Eastern problem as the fault of Israel, so that all the world blames them (and thus the Jews) for every excess and failure of the brutal, racist regimes that dominate the region…BOWING to the Arab kings of Judenrein countries while demanding Israel accept a “peace plan” that anyone with a brain understands will result in the political destruction of the state…the list goes on and on and on. What hole in the sand is your head in,that you don’t see the betrayals that go on day after day after day?

We support Israel because if we don’t they will go down, and the blood of millions of people who will be slaughtered by invading Arabs will be on our hands. Way more than Hitler killed. Or do you think that bloodthirsty Palestinians will take over, quiet down, and play nice? The streets will run red with blood, and it will be our fault, for being cowards, for letting it happen. Yes, we should be helping Darfur too, as Americans, with equal passion. Israel isn’t only about Judaism. It’s about free people sticking together, and holding barbarism at bay. We have the power, so it’s our job to help. That is what Judaism teaches us.

Denying Obama’s true nature now accomplishes nothing save to spare his supporters guilt when Israel goes down in blood. It isn’t their fault. They couldn’t possibly have known. He stuck flowers in Arab guns, didn’t he? Who could predict the guns would go off anyway, and blow the flowers to bits?

Yes, some of us in America care. We care very much. And many of us are Reform, and damned proud of that too. The problem is not with secular/orthodox issues, but with a 2000 year history of Jews being taught, over and over again, that the only path to social acceptance is by denying the special value of their own heritage. The more you turn against your people, the more the gentiles will accept you. Only problem is, it’s an illusion, nothing more. WWII taught us that. German Jews who derided their own heritage went to the ovens along with the Orthodox.

WE are bred to be victims, because that was the only acceptable path for most of two millenia, if Jews wanted to stay alive. People don’t protect those who fight back, they beat them down.. Which is really what Israel is all about.

Jul 11, 2009 - 9:56 am 35. blotto:

Mr. Lapides: You have got to be kidding? You tell us what the Dem party has done for America and in particular American Jews?

Like has already been said, American Jews put ideology above everything even their own survival. It was millions of Christian Americans that freed European Jews and the continent,but by the way American Jews treat this nation and Christians you’d think we were worse than Hitler.. That is how psychologically imbalanced American Jews are.

Our party is the party of ideas: freedom, personal liberty, free markets, self defense, and all that is enshrined in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Can you say the same about the Dem party: taking over private industry, firing IGs without reason, abridging free speech (HR 1966), control disguised as taxation, welfare, etc..

Your last comment was so immature.

Jul 11, 2009 - 9:58 am 36. blotto:

Sorry about the repeat.

Jul 11, 2009 - 9:59 am 37. Sally/n.o.:

#6..right on..and #1 good statement.

The messiah?…how ’bout the Anti-christ (okay, no christ for jews, you get the jest )…words, just words….

American Jews do not appear to be with “israel”. The grandparents would cry in shame. Hoever, it does not appear that what the Jewish people have gone through over time matters anymore..

#23 very good questions.

I find it interesting that people can hear the words, see the actions, yet keep the mind closed. Like the three monkeys..see no evil etc…

So, perhaps American Jews are simply Jewish in name or weak..

Jul 11, 2009 - 10:19 am 38. sid weiner:

This is the climax of an old story that has it’s beginnings with the destruction of Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago & the Jewish Diaspora that followed.For theological reasons the Rabbinical leaders of that time blamed the Jews,not the Romans,for this first Holocaust.Guilt entered the Jewish culture as a major theme.While the the Christian world labored under the weight of Original Sin,the Jews were afflicted with Original Guilt!I have often thought that today’s Jewish/Moslem situation has,to some degree,it’s roots in the deep psychological dysfunctions of both cultures.While many Arabs are violent sadists,many guilt ridden Jews are debased masochists!An inferiority complex on a national level became widespread for the exiled Jews.Exiled Jews were cursed for their sins & could only be redeemed by the Messiah & only if they adhered to strict piety & religiosity.In effect the Jews became an inferior nation of rootless,guilt ridden & fatalistic victims who had their only hope for salvation in constant prayer & a great longing for the advent of the Messiah.Many of those Jews,over the centuries,who could not abide by these conditions became what we today call self hating Jews!
We can fast forward to Europe in the 19th century.These beat up,oppressed Jews were in effect in a giant European prison.Their great hope was America,land of freedom & justice;they fled by the millions to this new Jerusalem.They fled the Church,they fled the czars & kings,& they also fled their jail wardens…the ghetto rabbis.In America they wanted to assimilate,to be one of the guys,not to be outsiders but to be the same as everyone else.They wanted to eat ham sandwiches,go to ball games on Saturday & be accepted by outside society.After all,nobody,Jews included,wanted to be inferior & disrespected by their fellows.
These assimilated Jews still had problems to overcome in America,they had weddings,funerals & other minimal religious needs to fill.They were in a quandary as to what to do,they did not want to go back to the ways of the old world.For the most part they did not want to become Christians(except for many of the self hating Jews),they chose a 3rd way,Reformed Judaism;Judaism very,very lite!
The liberal,Reformed Jews of today,have concocted a Touchy/Feely neo-religion of sorts that would cater to the needs of those neurotic,guilt ridden descendants of the neurotic European Jews(throw in a big dose of narcissism)who came to America in the past.The liberal American Jews are a deadend group,they are a failed detour away from mainline Judaism & their fate,as was the fate of the Hellenized Jews of biblical times,is to wither away into history’s dustbin.They will not survive as Jews because they have no particular reason to,they live only for themselves & have nothing to pass on to future generations;they will not last past their own mortality!The liberal Jews look to Obama as their Messiah,their savior,in their secular religion.
These liberal Jews will crash with Obama & this will happen soon.They will be pulled down by a rapidly deteriorating economy that the ObamaMessiah cannot fix.The liberal Jews will go down this time for 2 reasons I can think of.
1-This Keynesian/Statist economic conspiracy has lasted about 100 years & is just about ready to roll over & die.It must be noted that this financial system is the economic underpinning that would pay the way for the socialist/statist regime of the future;without it the leftist programs cannot be funded & will fail.To the degree that the liberals are mushyheaded Socialist lite,their beliefs will also tank!
2- These liberal Jews are also financially at risk due to the implosion of the economy.As members of the educated,professional upper middle class they tend to be highly leveraged holders of rapidly depreciating paper assets as well as deflating real estate.These NOUVEAU RICHE liberals are on a fast track to becoming NOUVEAU POOR;when this occurs these fools will have other things to think about other than their stupid liberalism.
This economic depression that is descending on the world may very well be a non-violent(so far)revolution of the greatist magnitude which will redefine the course of future world events.Many ideologies/philosophies will not survive this turbulence just around the corner,American Jewish liberalism will be one of them!

Jul 11, 2009 - 10:44 am 39. Carolyn:

“Liberal American Jews embrace victimhood.”

That is the most succinct explanation of why on earth a group of people would grin at their own destruction. Thank you.

Jul 11, 2009 - 10:46 am 40. johnb:

I had always thought Jews were astute, now I see them as merely clever and cunning, not smart. Why else would they so willingly put their necks on the chopping block?

Jul 11, 2009 - 10:56 am 41. david levavi:

I’m sorry to say that most commenting here miss the true nature of the American Jew. Reflexive liberalism/socialism by the majority of American Jews is not rooted in ethics or political philosophy. It stems from moral and physical cowardice. Lack of kishkes and cojones.

It is often said that Jews live like WASPs and vote like Puerto Ricans. But Puerto Ricans gave more blood in Vietnam than any other ethnic group in America. A Puerto Rican has earned his right to vote liberal and anti-military. Spoiled and unblooded Jews have not.

Among the most revolting of American Jews are those advertised as courageous for noisily opposing Israel and Zionism. The straw-man fiction is that such a view is unpopular and carries risk. Were it that it that this was so.

Lower still are the careerist Jewish anti-Zionists in academia, government and the media who further their standing and fortune through loudly pronounced hatred of Israel. In the African American community such sleazy types are plainly identified as Uncle Toms and Oreo cookies. Among liberal Jews such scum are exemplars of intellectual honesty and courage.

In American society, Jewish crap not Jewish cream rises to the surface.

Jul 11, 2009 - 10:56 am 42. FoxNewsSucks:

The hypocrisy of conservatives never end. THey whine and cry and moan that “Democrats expect black people to vote for them because they’re black” while they apply the exact same standard towards Jews.

You lost the Jewish vote. Get over it. Where is it written that Israeli and American Jews should have the same views?

Identity politics at its worst.

Jul 11, 2009 - 11:00 am 43. FoxNewsSucks:

The anti-semitism from this column and the comments section is simply astounding.

“HURR JEWS ARE STUPID” “JEWS WANT TO KILL THEMSELVES” “JEWS ARE LIARS AND MANIPULATORS” “JEWS HAD HITLER COMING, THE IDIOTS”.

Sick idiots.

Jul 11, 2009 - 11:01 am 44. FoxNewsSucks:

“#19 grow up. You say you are 80, you sound juvenile and untried in the world. Perhaps you’re a “wanna be”..”

LoL, what a god damn moron. You’re complaining that no “real Jew” could support Obama and telling other people to “Grow up”?

Give it a try yourself, kid.

Jul 11, 2009 - 11:03 am 45. FoxNewsSucks:

“Didn’t it all supposedly start from Roosevelt?”

#9–If CONSERVATIVES and Republicans had had their way, we would have remained isolated from WWII and all of the Jews would have been exterminated.

The stupidity of your political movement kept Roosevelt from entering WWII earlier. The blood of millions of Holocaust victims is in your hands, not ours, you conservative tool.

Jul 11, 2009 - 11:05 am 46. odessa:

42-45

bullcrap.

Jul 11, 2009 - 11:22 am 47. Oscar the Grump:

What is really sad is that Obama’s bullying of Israel is really working. Building in the settlements came to a halt. Road blocks have been removed. Nothing has been done by the Arab side to show any good faith. The volume of their complaints has gone up and their demands have increased. They know they have Obama’s ear and he is listening.
Forgotten are the legitimate titles to land purchased as far back as when the Ottomans ruled the West Bank. That land was turned over to Arabs by King Abdullah in 1949. What’s next, a forced retreat to the 1948 borders?

Jul 11, 2009 - 11:29 am 48. Strawman:

Any party that will inset the government into the private relationship between doctor and patient is worthy of second thoughts.

For crying out loud, are you really so ignorant that you believe that 1) the executive and legislative branches have any control over that, and 2) that if Roe were overturned, that that would outlaw abortion?

I don’t understand what it is about this issue that causes people to check their brains at the door.

Jul 11, 2009 - 11:34 am 49. idov:

These kinds of stories always start with a false assumption, that Israel is a factor in how American Jews vote. I think it is for about 3 per cent of the population. They are a traditional Democratic voting group by about 80 per cent and it’s not even sure if Ahmadinejad ran at the top of the ticket, it would make any difference.

McCain got at up to 80 per cent support among Israelis in pre-election polls and got 84 per cent from Israeli Americans who actually voted in exit polls. Staring Iranian nukes in the face they would have preferred someone they could trust rather than a pig in a poke no one knew anything about. Obama has proven himself so far as the most hostile president in history although Bush I wasn’t very friendly either but not right off the bat. Obama seems to think he’s dealing with Puerto Rico and can dictate to the Israeli government. It won’t work especially with this government which was elected after he took office, many chosing Netanyahu, Begin, and Lieberman, for the simple reason that they wouldn’t hesitate to tell him to go to hell, if it came to that.

Jul 11, 2009 - 11:35 am 50. odessa:

you allow someone to curse and call people names and yet you take off a simple comment that we posted??>>>>>

Jul 11, 2009 - 11:36 am 51. Strawman:

In American society, Jewish crap not Jewish cream rises to the surface.

Actually, if you want to consider contributions to the commonweal from technology and so on, both float to the top. The real problem is that a mixture of crap and cream isn’t good for much except feeding microorganisms.

Jul 11, 2009 - 11:40 am 52. Strawman:

Abe, I assume that you specifically don’t want to deal with the larger question of why American Jews are such slavish yellowdogs? Because that’s a subject that books have been written about, and I don’t think PJM has enough bandwidth to give a proper treatment to that. Whatever that mysterious force is, it’s certainly powerful enough to overcome any humanitarian concern for their Israeli cousins, which you don’t need to be Jewish to have.

Jul 11, 2009 - 11:45 am 53. odessa:

thank you…

Jul 11, 2009 - 11:47 am 54. Judy, NYC:

german jews were more german than jewish and proud of it. that is, until, well you know. same sh*t different decade. indeed, looking back, same sh*t, different century. these morons won’t figure it out until its way late. that’s the bright side.

Jul 11, 2009 - 11:50 am 55. david levavi:

38. sid weiner:

“For theological reasons the Rabbinical leaders of that time blamed the Jews,not the Romans,for this first Holocaust.Guilt entered the Jewish culture as a major theme.”

Wrong on two counts, sid. You need to brush up on your Biblical as well as secular Jewish history.

a) That Jews suffer and lose battles and wars to their enemies due to their own sins is a recurring theme in the Bible long before Rome existed.

b) The Jewish-Roman encounter begins under Julius Caesar, first dictator of Rome. Caesar respected Judaism and liked Prince John Hyrcanus personally and until Caesar’s assassination Jews were the most favored non-Roman ethnicity in the Roman Empire. Caesar inspired the first messianic cult among Jews some seventy years before the birth of the Galilean. All Israel was in mourning over Caesar’s assassination. In any event, the Rabbis didn’t blame the Jews for the Roman Destruction for “purely theological reasons.”
Politics and abysmally poor judgment on the part of Jewish zealots (who didn’t hesitate to murderously target prominent rabbis) didn’t escape the Rabbis’ notice.

42. FoxNewsSucks:

I agree that Fox News sucks but Fox still beats the hell out of the rest. That aside, you’re all wet. Dry up.

Jul 11, 2009 - 11:55 am 56. pst314:

“German jews were more german than jewish and proud of it. that is, until, well you know. same sh*t different decade.”

They blamed anti-Semitism on Jewish separation from German culture, and thought that they would be fully accepted by Germans if only they abandoned their own ancient cultural traditions and publicly and wholeheartedly embraced German culture. That sure worked out well.

Jul 11, 2009 - 1:09 pm 57. blackie/cincinnati:

Priceless article…for the most part, intelligent and informative comments – with the exception of
“FoxNewsSucks”. How is it that an obviously unbalanced hater is permitted to contaminate this site with random rants and attacks (four in a row!)? Do away with this “rotten apple”! Do it for the integrity and class of this site!

Jul 11, 2009 - 1:35 pm 58. Marc Malone:

Ugly subject. Ugly thread.

To me, the question is simply, can a practicing Jew not support Israel? I can’t see how they honestly cannot.

The answer is that “Liberalism” (properly known as Statism) IS a religion. If man has no religion, he will create one. Try to explain the wrongness of their views, and they become enraged at your heresy. They should be called Fundamentalist Liberals.

This mentality is how they can suffer their own illogic and hypocrisy. It also explains how Liberals can be so immoral. In their religion, morality isn’t about good and evil. It is about toe-ing the Party line. As long as you do, you’re a good person, especially if you’re engaged in purging the vile heretics (aka Conservatives). It is also why some Conservatives cave and become Moderates: Dhimmitude.

Jul 11, 2009 - 1:43 pm 59. s pratt:

Everyone is speaking of not being able to fathom why liberal Jews are in lock-step with leftists and the current administration. Isn’t it apparent that they don’t see themselves as Jews anymore? Historically, some Jews changed their names so as not to be identified as such. Perhaps they have divorced themselves from their heritage just as offspring of practicing Christians no longer identify with the church or its teachings. Perhaps these leftists Jews are so “successfully” assimilated that they no longer identify with being Jewish and are simply “Amerikans.”

Jul 11, 2009 - 1:49 pm 60. Irv Cohen:

I have read reams of assorted brands of rubbish in my long life, but nothing to compare with the unmitigated crap in this column, including the swill of so many of the people who saw fit to add their own brand of hate to that of the writer, Abraham Miller.

The truth of the matter–the reason for the popularity of Obama among many American Jews–is that those of us who voted for Obama could not stand the prospect of the further destruction of our beloved democratic nation by another Republican administration. Suddenly, noone remembers that, toward the end of the Bush presidency,the USA policy toward our beloved Israel was very evidently souring, and the choice of McCain and his unbelievably inept and ignorant VP candidate added to the impossibility of our voting for anyone but Obama. We considered the many issues confronting the United States–and one of the most important–but not the only one, was the well-being of Israel. We did not believe that ANY American president could, including Qbama, abandon Israel, and we still don’t believe it is happening. We know that he pandered to the Muslim world in his Cairo speech, and many of his appointments, including that of Brezhinski, are very questionable, but we think that it was all window-dressing to display to the Muslim world that we did not hate them and would be “honest brokers” in peace discussions. Personally, I believe the approach was the wrong one, but I have long ago concluded that the only wisdom-based behavior of this country and Israel should be a show of strength, replying to attacks with “disproportionate” military action. However, we have been willing to see for ourselves the long-term results of Obama’s policies; if pandering a bit can be influential in safeguarding Israel, then so be it. We do NOT believe the Mcain idea of “Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran!” would safeguard Israel, and the destruction of the very principles that democratic people in the USA stand for would be assured under another Bush-like federal government. I do not dwell on the posibility of Sarah Palin becoming the POTUS because, on that issue, I have already lost a friendship that I valued greatly, and I have been wrongly accused of being a “sexist” because I sincerely believe she is unbelievably inept and cannot express any ideas she might have any better than Dubya could.

I am a proud Jew, and I voted for Obama, and I will measure my love of Israel against that of any of the Republican blowhards and bloviators in this country who are so willing to attack people who think as I do. I have been to Israel, and if health permits, will visit there again, and I have contributed financially to Israeli causes until it hurts. I have tasted war–as an infantryman in World War 2–and I am not anxious to see tiny Israel involved in an atomic war. I have not migrated to Israel because I was born, bred and raised in this country, but it doesn’t make me any less a Jew or a lover of Israel, and aware of the existential danger faced by Israel at the hands of Muslim terrorists. I refuse to be labelled a traitor, a coward or a self-hating Jew by people who should know better, but who allow their emotions to make ridiculous accusations.

Irv ohen

Jul 11, 2009 - 3:07 pm 61. genghis kohn:

Basically they (Liberal American Jews) are cowards. They are affluent, comfortable, and assimilated, and do not want to jeopardize their social position in defense of Israel. Much like the assimilated German Jews during the 1930’s. And like their predecessors, they will eventually learn that such a position is myopic and fatal…….

Jul 11, 2009 - 3:11 pm 62. Stevemmn:

It makes a person wonder if American Jews are really so stupid as to think Obama is doing the right thing by selling Israel up the river. I wonder what American Jews will say if the Palestinians and Iranians get their wish and really do wipe Israel off the map and they what will say at the carnage that is sure to follow??

Jul 11, 2009 - 3:23 pm 63. Irv Cohen:

I am willing to bet that #61, Gengis Kohn, has never been near, or even heard a shell exploding, anywhere in his vicinity. The only people I have ever known who accuse others of cowardice are those who have soiled themselves at the very thought of combat.

Jul 11, 2009 - 3:26 pm 64. David Thomson:

“…could not stand the prospect of the further destruction of our beloved democratic nation by another Republican administration.”

This is almost certainly another way of saying that abortion anchors your political philosophy. At the end of the day, this is the single most important issue that defines you existentially. Furthermore, you are not merely rejecting evangelical Christian theology—but the very values underpinning traditional Judaism. Let’s face it, you are now a secular humanist. You are similar to the less than enthusiastic Episcopalian who attends occasional church services purely out of habit.

Jul 11, 2009 - 3:47 pm 65. fear Obama:

60. Irv Cohen:

My father served in World War 2 and helped put Jewish children/babies into body bags, as many as 3-4 bodies in one bag.
The American army didn’t have enough bags to cover all the dead Jews.
But he demanded that the little ones at least be covered before being put carefully into the burial pits.
Every time he told that story he cried.
I hated to here him tell it over and over when he got drunk because it made him angry-
But now I understand how/why he hated Germans so much.

Why would you even think to appease the Arabs- Iranians with Obama?

Amadinerjerkoff will destroy Israel with a nuclear weapon if given the chance. Go ahead and let Obama appease him another year and find out why.

And also your comment makes me understand American Jews even less.

Jul 11, 2009 - 4:01 pm 66. miriam j.:

I’m not that religious but I can’t even send my kid to a conservative or reform jewish school, because I can’t get past all the Obama bumper stickers and global warming propaganda on the walls, without throwing up.

Jul 11, 2009 - 4:06 pm 67. miriam j.:

So we use an orthodox school, which is fine on politics, but the amount of praying that goes on is a lot more than what are kids are otherwise used to.

Jul 11, 2009 - 4:07 pm 68. Strawman:

64, all true, but the crazy thing about it is that their “choice” isn’t in any real danger. People like that remind me of the global warmitlolgists; all in a cold sweat over a non-threat.

Do they sit up at night with tinfoil hats wondering if the ghost of Nixon is listening to their thoughts?

Jul 11, 2009 - 5:07 pm 69. david levavi:

60. Irv Cohen:

“…if pandering a bit can be influential in safeguarding Israel, then so be it…

You’re double-thinking yourself into knots, Irv. National leaders can generally be counted on to speak honestly in major speeches. Even Hitler, who lied, cheated and betrayed freely to achieve tactical ends, was entirely honest in expressing his core beliefs. No one who wasn’t willfully dense could miss his motivating prejudices and broad intentions.

Obama is a radical Chicago pol who slithers and slides to conceal elements of his radical past but in matters of opinion and policy he generally says what he means and means what he says. There is no reason to doubt that his pandering in Cairo was anything but sincere. Your baseless assumption that he was just shucking the Arab world is pathetic self-delusion.

“Dubya”, whom you hold in such contempt, demonstrated genuine character and grace throughout his presidency. That he went wobbly at the end of his second term is indisputable but the anklebiters were out in force.

The Cheneys are true and stalwart Christian friends of Israel. Donald Rumsfeld was by far the most knowledgeable and forward-thinking Secretary of Defense this nation has been blessed to have since you were in uniform.

I don’t doubt your sincere love for Israel. I agree with you that proportionate response in combat is a formula for defeat. But your perverse contempt for Republicans is mind-boggling–exactly what brings Rabbi Miller to scratching his head in wonder and posting this “column.”

Jul 11, 2009 - 5:11 pm 70. scott:

Well Irv I guess you’re just plain deluded then. You are obviously not stupid … excepting the idiot factor contained in your sickening pride. If you can look at Jeremia Wright and Bill Ayers and not know that these are major influences in Zero’s life then there is something sick about you. Or you are one of ‘them’ and ‘them’ and us cannot long live together in the same land.

Jul 11, 2009 - 5:18 pm 71. scott:

Bravo Sid Weiner!

Write a book man. You are good.

Jul 11, 2009 - 5:31 pm 72. reader:

It has long been incomprehensible to me why liberal american jews support policies that are so harmful to Israel. I do not believe they hate Israel. But they favor policies and actions that are so obviously harmful to Israel.

It is easier for me to understand why liberal americans support policies harmful to America. They do hate America. It is their hatred of America that I do not understand. . .

Jul 11, 2009 - 6:01 pm 73. Rachel Peepers:

Jul 11, 2009 – 4:20 am

6. Realist:

“American Jews voting for Obambi are like turkeys longing for Thanksgiving.”

Honey, where have you been hiding yourself? Beautifully stated.

Actually, I think the phrase, liberal jew, is a contradiction in terms.

It reminds me of lambs volunteering to sharpen the knives that’ll soon be held by slaughtering hands.

Rachel’s RX for any liberal non-goys who think Obama is their personal savior. Get a grip.

Preferably on a new pair of glasses.

Because the light you see at the end of the proverbial tunnel isn’t your heavenly, glowingly-glorified-with-goodness Messiah coming to save and protect you.

They’re lights emanating from an oncoming Israeli-hating, bloodthirsty, weaponized uranium filled freight train.

Jul 11, 2009 - 6:07 pm 74. Rosita:

This was a great article. And there have been some great comments too.

Simone Weil, who was a Jew who converted to Catholicism (died while fighting in the Resistance, I believe, of pneumonia) said, “One has only the choice between God and idolatry. If one denies God … one is worshiping some things of this world in the belief that one sees them only as such, but in fact, though unknown to oneself imagining the attributes of Divinity in them.”

Jul 11, 2009 - 7:57 pm 75. Brian:

Sorry there,Irv but humanity simple isnt learning from past mistakes.The US has held veto power in Israels favor since 1972.Why?Because anti-semetism is still alive and multiplying thanks to the PLO,Hamas,Hezbollah,Iran and countless other hateful countries.Venezula,Europe,Mideast,and North America.Palestinian rights?Since when are they a country and therefore have access to the UN charters?UN charters i might add that arent enforced in Russia,the Mideast,China or South america despite 192 UN membership countries.I live my life in accordance to those rights set out by the UN,Canada,US and a code of native ethics and im doing just good.But it will be a cold day in hell before i allow some Islamist/screweduphardcoreleftist.righty to twist our democracies and republics against us.Yes im well aware of Christians who are also anti-semites and bigots.Freedom once lost is extremely difficult to regain.
Smarten up humanity or there wont be a humanity left on this world.No pun intended.Want to solve the world problems?Stop hating each other for retarded,party line reasons.

Jul 11, 2009 - 7:59 pm 76. blotto:

Irv: “toward the end of the Bush presidency,the USA policy toward our beloved Israel was very evidently souring…” It was not Bush or his administration changing their views on Israel, it was Israel’s liberal leaders changing theirs.

“…is that those of us who voted for Obama could not stand the prospect of the further destruction of our beloved democratic nation by another Republican administration.” You are kidding, right? The only way you can possibly think and believe this crap is that you are a staunch marxists and you do hate America. America was the strongest it has ever been under Bush and safe in spite of the Dems and their constant challenging of his policies and ther release of secrets by the MSM. I suppose that the govenrment now owning private industries is okay with you, owning banks, okay, too, and running up the debt to levels never known before all okay with you???

I have no respect for you when you post your obvious hatred toward those (Christians) who gave their lives for Jews to live and prosper, and for someone who is so blindly loyal to the very party and person who has nothing but contempt for you.

Jul 11, 2009 - 8:27 pm 77. Elle:

The fundamental truth is that people hate being excluded from “the club”. Upwardly mobile Christians shun the evangelicals except for the left leaning pastors who have accommodated to Obama and his pro abortion stance up to and including infanticide.
Upwardly mobile individuals of all religious denominations, and even those who are not religious, are afraid to admit their conservatism if they are careerists in government. I saw this phenomenon at work first hand in the government and non-profit organizations for which I worked.
People want to prosper and be left alone. Obama is seeing to it that our nation will be neither properous nor successful against our enemies-in other words we will not be left alone to live in peace. Jews, and for that matter Christians, don’t have to look at Israel to measure Obama. How do those who love OUR country support this enemy who is now our president.

Jul 11, 2009 - 8:29 pm 78. ltw:

Eopithecus, comment 29 – when you say Israel is on its own you mean you won’t restrain them any longer? They’re not really asking for help (other than equivalent aid to that that Egypt gets, basically the basis for the peace deal between them), but all they’re really asking for is non-interference in defending themselves. For crying out loud, they left Gaza and all they got was attacks in return, when they struck back everyone condemned them. So in what way do you see them as a 51st state? I don’t see any U.S. troops there, just relief when they bomb nuclear reactors in Iraq and Syria. God help us all if you do abandon them and the gloves come off completely, so far fundamental decency and the conditions you impose on your aid have restrained them, if that goes away then the issue will finally be finished – but not in a way that any of us will like.

Jul 11, 2009 - 8:56 pm 79. jerryofva:

Irv:

I don’t know what to say about your post other then that it should be obvious by now that Sarah Palin has exhibited a better understanding of economics then Obama; has shown herself to be more ethical then Obama; and in the end is a better friend of the Jews everywhere then Barak Obama. Friends of Jews to not sit in silence for 20 years and listen to a minister spout Der Sturmer-like sermons about Jews.

After the Molotov-Ribbentrop pack was signed many people left the Communist Party. However, for the most part Jews stayed loyal to Comrade Stalin and those who didn’t came running back to the Party after June 22,1941. Non Jews who left didn’t come back. Jewish history is replete with examples of worshiping other gods. Starting with the Golden Calf in the desert, through the worship at the hill shrines in the Book of Kings down through the ages to our present time. The Jewish people have always fallen into idolatry and today instead of worshiping a Golden Calf they worship the all powerful socialist state. No matter how much you dress up your loyalty to socialist ideology with Bush Derangement Syndrome it comes down to your slavish devotion to an ideology that has always been and will continue to be anti-Semitic.

Jul 11, 2009 - 9:12 pm 80. vivo:

Obviously Pajamers just don’t get it!!

Liberal American Jews are:

AMERICANS!

They want to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and know that Obama is going in the right direction. There is a fringe in Israel that could get their country destroyed more than their enemies could. They know exactly what’s going on. But Pajamers . . . ummmh . . . can’t think outside the box?

Jul 11, 2009 - 10:27 pm 81. Jeffrey:

Israel will have to find a way to survive without the largess of the United States government. Fine, they can do it. The US government uses money as the big stick. Soon the big money stick won’t be there for anyone. One thing to keep in mind is that the real Christians in the US will stand up to support Israel in any way they can because God has willed it to be so and they know it. The days of Israel being overrun and beaten down by outside oppressors are gone forever. The time of the Gentiles is over for good. That the US is being humbled these days is a painful but good thing because many are waking up to just what it is they have lost. Sure the morons are in charge now but it won’t last because they are extremely destructive and will ruin the very source wealth and therefore lose their power. Just witness how many right thinking individuals can now predict the future and it’s not a pretty one. The only question for citizens in the US is will we survive a government that no longer represents the values of its people or the Godly principles this nation was founded upon. Those living in Israel
must know the true source of their strength and act accordingly. God has made Israel a stone too heavy to lift and impossible to move much to the consternation of the nations surrounding it.

Jul 11, 2009 - 11:46 pm 82. stuart Williamson:

Does “jewish” refer to religious faith or ethnicity?

Marxism has long had an attraction for people who identified themselves as Jews. But Marx rejected all religion. That Mr. Miller describes the 80% of “Jewish” voters as rabidly pro-Obama indicates that these voters are not really Jews; they are socialist atheists whose predecessors were of the Hebrew faith. It cannot, therefore be said that the “Jewish” voters have made common cause with Leftists: They ARE Leftists. Even if they do not reject or attempt to hide their Jewish ancestry.

The irony is that they are still perceived as “Jews”, not only by conservative practicing followers of Abraham but also by their frequently anti-semitic socialist associates, and subjected to the same vile contempt.

If they are irreligious Socialists, why should one be surprised they do not support Israel? Then why do these socialists form organizations that are identified as “Jewish”?

Because that is part of he approach of the” Jewish” strategical genius, Saul Alinsky.

Jul 12, 2009 - 12:19 am 83. Moshe N.Friedrich, D.T.:

I’m an Israeli, made aliya from Czechoslovakia in 1934 after being jailed and persecuted by the Communists.
I can’t understand my Jewish brethren in the USA voting for Hussein Obama. It is so clear reading the biography of this man, who was financed by the Moslems and Soros, that he is implanted by the Moslems to destroy not only the Jews including Israel, but the whole Western civilization. Don’t the Jews can see it?

Jul 12, 2009 - 1:15 am 84. Hyphenated American:

My reply to this article cna be read here:
http://hyphenatedamericans.blogspot.com/2009/07/concerning-american-jews.html

Jul 12, 2009 - 2:02 am 85. Hyphenated American:

For Irv Cohen, a Jewish supporter of Obama:

“I refuse to be labelled a traitor, a coward or a self-hating Jew by people who should know better, but who allow their emotions to make ridiculous accusations.”

You voted for the graduate of Jeremiah’s Wright school of anti-semitism, Barack Hussein Obama. You are a traitor to America, and you are a self-hating Jew. When America abandons Israel in the next 4 years, don’t blame Obama or the moslem lobby or whoever happens to be at the wheel of American foreign policy. It is YOUR FAULT, YOU CAUSED THIS, just like the germans who voted for Hitler.

Jul 12, 2009 - 2:11 am 86. Robert Vincent:

While I certainly agree with the fact of what Obama represents as described by Mr. Miller, I tend to think the author is somewhat oversimplistic in describing Jewish American attitudes.

If Jewish Americans really did not care about Israel, there would have been no need for Obama to engage in the PR charade he did during the campaign to assuage their fears about him concerning Israel (e.g., visiting the Western Wall, the speech before AIPAC promising an “undivided Jerusalem”, etc.).

Past Arabist anti-Israel stooges, such as Pat Buchanan, were just too obvious. They were open anti-Semites. In Obama, we have a far more sophisticated enemy.

He pushes the hot buttons of Jewish Americans on just about every domestic policy issue, such as abortion rights, social programs, etc. Moreover, he plays to Diaspora Jews’ need for acceptance by appointing many to key policy positions (as long as they don’t have anything to do with policy towards Israel). I liken such Jews to the “Jewish Police” of the Warsaw Ghetto; they are being used. This is Obama’s “camouflage”, if you will. That Passover Seder in the White House was a nice touch.

This tactic is meant to ensure that as he goes after Israel, he will receive minimal resistance from Jewish Americans. His subliminal message to the same: “Why do you need Israel when you can have everything you want here?”

It also helps Obama that he is an incredibly talented liar, even for a politician. The gulf between how he represented himself during the campaign and the reality of his administration – that everyone with half a brain should have seen coming given his background (“..but no, that’s guilt by association!…” sophistry at its finest) – is enormous on many issues, not just Israel.

Thus, I think it would be more accurate to say not so much that Jewish Americans want to be “victims”. Rather, he offered them the bait of just about everything they want – or think they want – here at home, as a bribe in exchange for getting a pass to stick it to Israel. Still, many Jews weren’t buying initially; for a while, McCain was doing better among Jews than any Republican since WW2. So, those that needed “reassurance’ on Israel gladly lapped up his transparent pack of lies and PR stunts.

Remember, thanks to centuries of persecution, Diaspora Jews are deathly afraid of being labeled as “un-American”, of having “dual loyalties”. This fear has been reinforced here in the U.S. by events such as the Rosenberg case, and in more recent times, by the Pollard affair and the even more recent trumped-up attacks on the activities of some AIPAC lobbyists back in 2004. These are the shrunken heads the anti-Semites in the Gentile American establishment hold up to keep Jewish Americans “in line”. So, if Obama is supposed to be “better for America” than “four more years of Bush”, far be it for Jews to dare to object to him over Israel.

Jewish Americans aren’t nearly as up in arms as they should be, that is for sure, but I think we are at least beginning to see a “whimper” of protest. I can tell you that anecdotally, I have been hearing murmurs of regret from a number of Jews who supported him.

We can’t re-fight the election. But those of us who knew better need to tactfully remind our ethnic brethren that we “told them so”…and we need to make damn sure our community does not make the same mistake again in 2012.

Jul 12, 2009 - 2:35 am 87. Rebacca, Israel:

Good article.
A few points:
1. It is important to distinguish between orthodox Jews and Reform/”conservative” Jews. Orthodox Jews (including the nonreligious ones) recognize G-d’s divinity and so see Israel as the Holy Land given to the Jews. American Orthodox Jews feel closeness to Isreal and to their brethern there (voted for MaCain). On the other hand reform and conservative Jews in America are people who deny G-d and they could care less anout the Jewish Poeople as a nation (hence the incresed numbers of intermarriage among them)and could care less about the state of Isreal(voted for Obama). The notion that Obama is pro-Israel (or even Objective) is laughable. And his Jewish supporters know this, of course. Only they don’t care: they are impartial, they look at the MidEast and reached the stupid, crazy, Weastern BS-based approach that says: strong=evil weak=good. Since Isreal is (for now, at least, thank G-d) stronger then the Arabs they are the bad guys. And that’s how we come to see crazy American Jewish moonbats coming to Isreal to harm and disturb IDF soldiers, hugging murederous Hamas thugs and saying that America should make friend with Iran any chance they have. The article shouldn’t deal with the Jewish supporters of Obama, and wondering “how come” but should be dealing insread with the sick and sickening self-hate of the democretic American Jews and their sucidal tendecies.

Jul 12, 2009 - 3:33 am 88. Mongoose:

DAVID THOMPSON: Americans Catholics do not “define themselves existentially by abortion”, they just know that it is a profound sin and must be resisted. They define themselves by their relationship with God and and what we deem to be his Church. Stop putting words in our mouths, please, your comments border on bigotry.

Perhaps, you should spend sometime educationg yourself about Catholics before you, er,ah, start pontificating about them.

Jul 12, 2009 - 4:24 am 89. Mongoose:

educating^

Jul 12, 2009 - 4:25 am 90. genghis kohn:

Wrong again, Irv. And that’s Mr. Genghis to you. Go polish your medals.

Jul 12, 2009 - 4:56 am 91. afraid:

My name says it all. I just cannot understand how so many highly educated jews (and non-jews!) fell for Obama’s rhetoric. They will be rewarded with czars, higher taxes and will be supporting those who expect to be highly rewarded for merely existing.

My parents (my father fought in WWII, came back to start a small business and lived the American dream) promised us ‘a better world than they had’. They delivered on their promise! Sadly, I can’t make the same promise to my 20-something daughter. Instead, I am afraid–afraid that she will not have the same opportunities that her father and I have had, no matter how hard she is willing to work for them. For the first time in history, we will leave our children a worse place, not a better one. Thank you to all who voted for the very scary person. I’m proud to say that I didn’t.

Jul 12, 2009 - 5:02 am 92. tanarg:

It’s not love of Israel that’s really the issue: It’s love of God. Obama is a Christian like Islam is a religion of peace. American Jews by and large do not know God and truly have no use for him except to manipulate Him as a symbol they can use to achieve temporal social and economic status. They are worshipping the golden calf yet again.

Jul 12, 2009 - 6:22 am 93. ricpic:

No enemies on the left! No Enemies On The Left!! NO ENEMIES ON THE LEFT!!!

Jul 12, 2009 - 6:54 am 94. david levavi:

86. Robert Vincent:

“…If Jewish Americans really did not care about Israel, there would have been no need for Obama to engage in the PR charade he did during the campaign to assuage their fears about him concerning Israel…”

If the gun was clearly visible at Israel’s head as it was in i973 most Jews would, indeed, be concerned. The issues at hand are cowardice, willful ignorance and self-delusion by American Jews when those plainly hostile to Jews and the Jewish state claim to be friends acting for the good of Israel and the welfare of the US and the world.

82. Stuart Williamson:

“…why do these socialists form organizations that are identified as “Jewish”?”

Because such folk see themselves as culturally and ethnically Jewish. They have contempt for the Bible and for all religion (save, strangely, for Islam which they view for a radical ally.) They imagine themselves intellectually superior and more sophisticated; first of their fellow Jews and second of Americans at large.

These are “kosher style” Jews who think Jewish history begins with the Holocaust and Judaism translates to bagels and lox and the Sunday Times. Biblical illiteracy is a point of pride and sophistication for this leftist Jewish elite. Straight-talking, physically and psychologically muscular Israelis are an embarrassment. Christian Evangelicals who venerate the Hebrew Bible and respect the Jewish claim to their tiny ancestral homeland are ignorant yahoos whose end-of-world eschatology is more threatening than Islamic terrorism.

Leftist Jews are a corrosive influence on Judaism and America–unworthy of the Patriarchs and the Founding Fathers alike. Nonetheless, they style themselves “American Jews.”

Go know.

Jul 12, 2009 - 7:41 am 95. jerryofva:

Vivo:

Your post reflects your allegiance to the new neo-Nazi narrative that the Jews are the cause of all our Middle East problems and if only they would give the Palestinians what they want then all would be peace, love and happiness, i.e., if the Jews would just disappear then the world would be a better place. Of course the term narrative is just the modern word for myth as used by George Sorel to describe a central organizational principle in a collectivist state.

In the real world Middle Eastern States seeking hegemony have used Israel as a boogieman to stir up hatred against someone else while they go about their business of trying to seize control of the region. Progress toward peace has always occurred after the fall of an hegemonistic power…the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty occurred after Nassir’s dream died and Oslo happened only because Saddam’s dreams were crushed in Operation Desert Storm. The latest round of attacks started around 2000 when Iran stepped up it’s drive for regional supremacy and enlisted Hamas to do their dirty work. The region will not see peace until the illegal and illegitimate regime in Tehran has be replaced. Everybody in the region sees this but our President believes in the narrative that he learned after twenty years of listening to Reverend Wright’s anti-Semitic ravings.

Obama has accomplished little in his first six months in office besides becoming a laughing stock among the world’s leaders.

Jul 12, 2009 - 8:31 am 96. Joe Bison:

The Jews I know are a strange breed. Mostly
men, many never married and never fathering
a child. They are also liberal to the core.

They are interested and supportive of Israel
in words. In relations with Muslims, who
typify Israel as a blood spattered evil entity,
they project a concilliatory pose.

They also make the argument(to non-Muslims)
that Islam has to “change”. To them Islam
in its present form is “outdated”. It has
to get in tune with the times. Inspired by
their liberal example the ordinary Muslim
will see the light and change the practice
of their religion.

My ears still ring from a liberal Jew raising
his voice ever louder as he repeatedly made
his point that practicing Muslims will have
to accept gays and gay marriage in their faith.
It only makes sense of course idiot can’t you
understand it!

When it was pointed out that they really
don’t have to do anything you want them to and
to suggest this is extreme cultural arrogance
he flew off in a rage.

The real effect of liberal American Jews is
two fold. First it suggests to Muslims that
Jewish resolve is wavering in regards to
Israel while they remain united. They see
America as the key to the survival of Israel
and therefore the tide has turned. Obama
is also a sign. To show their goodwill many
will tell you the Jews can remain in Palestine
(under their rule) when they win-very generous.

Secondly the policies that American Jews support
(real and imagined) illustrate to practicing
Muslims the moral perversion that Jews embrace
and are trying to infiltrate into their
religion in order to destroy it. These are
things like female promiscuity, homosexuality
etc. Sorry Mr. Liberal American Jew but you
do not inspire them you infuriate them though
a useful idiot you may be.

Good ultimately conquers evil they believe
and that is why you waver and why the Jewish
State will fall. The liberal Jew really
does not know his enemy.

Jul 12, 2009 - 9:16 am 97. Freemarketguru:

A brilliant article! I fear that God-Forbid their is another Holocaust, a Liberal Jew will be driving the cattle car and happily walking into a gas chamber after he unloads his cargo.

Jul 12, 2009 - 10:13 am 98. Andrea Freiboden:

Yes, most Jews love Obama BUT they are not sacrificing Israel. As some rightwing commentators have said, Jews support Obama precisely because they think he is good for Israel. Jews overlook Obama’s ties to Wright and Khalidi because they understand it was to win street & radical cred. Moreover, Jews even like the fact that Obama had ties to such men, if only to fool people into thinking Obama isn’t beholden to (liberal)Jewish power.

As altnerative rightwing commentators have noted, Jews supported Obama because the hardline Zionist-neocon approach made things worse for Jews in the US, Europe, and Israel. Iraq War was supposed to bring Light to the Middle East but brought darkness–at least in the shortterm. People around the world began to say “Jews control US which is a puppet of Israel”. European Jews came under attack by Muslims and Euro-Left. So, Jews in US and Israel are faking tensions between themselves, when behind the scenes, they know are using Obama to fool the world.

Jul 12, 2009 - 11:59 am 99. David Thomson:

I wrote earlier that Alan Dershowitz’s pro-abortion views were probably the main reason why he supports Barack Obama. In no, way shape, or form, was I aware of his comments to Melanie Phillips! Take a look:

“Dershowitz writes:

The major difference between Melanie Phillips and me is that I want Jews to remain Democrats – if they support, as I do, liberal principles such as a women’s right to choose abortion, the rights of gays and lesbians to equal justice, and other progressive policies.”

http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/guest/entry/alan_dershowitz_still_doesn_t

Abortion existentially defines today’s left-winger. This is their number one issue. Nothing else comes close. Theologians might suggest that they feel guilty concerning their sinful lifestyle. Whatever, this is how they perceive the matter.

Jul 12, 2009 - 1:07 pm 100. Elle:

American Jews who are liberals are the same as non Jews who are liberals. They think the government of the country and/or the international government which is under construction, will yield a better world for all.
Interestingly the Muslims believe the same thing. For them the State is Islam and Islam is the state. There is no such thing as an individual in the sense that is generally understood in the West. The global Islamic state is viewed as heaven on earth.
Obama comes to statism naturally both as a leftist and as a “non-practicing” Muslim.
He is the enemy of THIS nation as well as Israel and of all those who value freedom of thought and liberty.

Jul 12, 2009 - 1:14 pm 101. jerryofva:

Congratulations Andrea. Your post confirms my assertions about the Jewish masochistic relationship with so-called Progressives. Your statement is exactly the same type that Jews made about Stalin in 1939 when he became a Nazi ally and they refused to believe that the Soviet Union sold out the Jews of Europe to the Nazis. Just as Stalin became the final enabler of the Holocaust, Obama’s pro-Muslin/anti-Semitic impulses could well be the enbabler for a second Holocaust. It never ceases to amaze me how Jews delude themselves into thinking that Progressive anti-Semitism is good for Jews.

Jul 12, 2009 - 3:02 pm 102. Crusader:

Can anyone explain me why abortion is the #1 issue for liberal Jews? One would think in the wake of the Holocaust, abortion would be WAY down the list of essential issues, no?

Jul 12, 2009 - 4:34 pm 103. WestWright:

IMO, the real problem is that the American secular Jews seem to have forgotten history from the mid 1800s to 2001. They fled persecution and progroms in Sutope & Russia. They actually supported Hitler pre & during the earlier part of WWII as long as he was aligned with their Messiah of the day, Stalin. Many of the Jewish American atomic scientist were actually agents for Soviet Russia during and after WWII. Their were a few patriotic Jews in Hollywood until the anti-Communist trials smoked them out after which the Jewish Media along with the US Communist Party destroyed the effort to expose these internal Communist enemies. They have continued to prosper and their dream has been to destroy our country. Obama is the end game for these traitors. It will not be allowed! Karma is coming….No more Progressives!

Jul 12, 2009 - 4:38 pm 104. Strawman:

If Jewish Americans really did not care about Israel, there would have been no need for Obama to engage in the PR charade he did during the campaign to assuage their fears about him concerning Israel (e.g., visiting the Western Wall, the speech before AIPAC promising an “undivided Jerusalem”, etc.).

Horseshit. Just like the woman who wants to get screwed but doesn’t want to openly admit it, they don’t care about Israel, but still feel some sort of need to be seen as caring. They’re not quite ready to come out of the closet and say that they don’t give a flying fig, but they don’t. Kind of like democrats who continue to pretend to be patriotic, and go into an act of indignation if their patriotism is questioned.

Jul 12, 2009 - 6:53 pm 105. david levavi:

102. Crusader:

The holocaust doesn’t enter into it. Abortion, gay rights and gun control are issues that don’t viscerally trouble most Jews. Mush-minded Jewish liberals like Allan Dearth-of-wits who base their vote on these personally inconsequential issues are scratching where they don’t itch.

Voting this way makes financially fat and comfortable Jewish lefties feel altruistic, virtuous and fashionable. To vote for less government interference in business, merit based education and employment, unambiguous and robust support of Israel based on shared democratic, moral and religious values would be sheer selfishness.

Jul 12, 2009 - 6:57 pm 106. Robert Vincent:

Rebecca in Israel (#87):

Thanks for the compliment on my article. However, with all due respect, I consider your appreciation of Jewish Americans to be rather extreme. For example, I visited Israel in 2007 as part of a “mission” that included 51 fellow Jewish Americans. We all had a great time, and none of us were there to harass IDF soldiers.

Thousands of Jewish Americans visit Israel every year. Please do not judge us based on the craziness of a loony few.

I belong to a Reform Temple. I can tell you that in terms of Jewish support for Obama, beyond what I wrote in my original comment (#86), there is a heavy dose of what I would call “generational tradition”, not “self-hate”. As my Rabbi – also a McCain supporter – pointed out to me in exasperation before the election, “..If the Democratic Party put Hitler on the ticket, the Jews would vote for him!…”

Because of FDR and the sixties era, Jews tend to be overwhelmingly Democratic. This has nothing to do with “self hatred” or disdain for Israel. Most Democratic leaders over the years have been at least reaonably supportive of Israel. In more recent times, the bad guys have carried out a strategy to co-opt the Democratic Party on this issue (more on this in a moment). With Obama, they have been very successful. Jewish American Democrats, to a great extent, are still in denial over this.

I used to be a Democrat. I used to be a “liberal”. With age, education, experience, and just seeing what the heck has been going on in recent years with the Democratic Party with open eyes – particularly with respect to, but not limited to, Israel – I changed. I voted for McCain, but this was the first election that I ever voted for a Republican for president. I’ve been voting since 1980.

I don’t deny G-d. But in my case, I don’t use G-d to justify Israel. For me, it is a matter of civil rights for Jews. We deserve the same right to self-determination, and the same consideration and treatment in the court of world opinion, as anyone else. This is clearly not the case today with respect to Israel. I know full well that how Israel is treated will set the tone for how Jews are treated everywhere.

We will get what we allow. If Israel is treated like garbage, Jews will be treated like garbage. This is all the motivation I need. In my opinion, this by itself should be plenty of motivation for anyone. Unfortunately, as others have pointed out in this forum, there is terrible cowardice among many Jewish Americans. I am very active in Israel advocacy here, and among other things, I try to inspire my fellow Jews to be willing to stand up and fight instead of taking this crap lying down. Sometimes, I am successful. I am sure not giving up.

So, Rebecca, don’t write us off, and don’t think that we’ve written you off. I sure haven’t!

David Levavi (#94):

Yes, you are exactly right about the comparison with 1973. As long as the fight was between uniformed armies in shooting wars, as long as these wars were clearly – as the bad guys represented themselves – about extinguishing Israel, Israel got support and sympathy. The bad guys figured out by 1982 that they simply could not defeat Israel by conventional means.

So, the war against Israel entered a new phase with warfare waged at two extremes:

1. The threat of WMDs (Iraq until 1991, now Iran).

2. A guerrilla war Viet Cong-style. Many do not know that Arafat actually went to Hanoi to get advice on how to defeat a materially superior foe. They advised him to turn his “war of annihilation” against Israel – which made him look bad – into a “war of liberation for the oppressed”. This was backed up by a demonization campaign – largely funded by rich Gulf Arab states – that was propagated thoughout the Western world, centering on academia. Billions of dollars were spent on “Departments of Middle Eastern Studies” at all the best schools (and many more not-so-best schools), with the benefactors calling the shots as to who taught, and what was taught. They have brainwashed a whole generation to hate Israel.

Back in the early 1980s when I started college, I saw the beginnings of these efforts, and foolishly, I did not take them seriously. At that time, an Israeli paratrooper shoulder bag was an article of “chic” attire; today, on a college campus, one can be beaten up for being caught with one of these.

Jews go to college, no? Isn’t higher education one of the highest priorities in Jewish culture? And what have these kids been subjected to for the past two-plus decades? It would take tremendous intellectual courage and strength of character to overocome this.

So, no, we do not have a gun held to our head in the form of Syrian tank divisions on the Golan. It is far more insidious than that. But while there may be an element of cowardice and self-hatred involved on the part of some Jews, I say give them a break, AND EDUCATE! They – the whole of the West – is the target of a propaganda campaign of historical proportions. Throwing darts at each other across the ocean will not help us fight this.

Joe Bison (#96): Where do you encounter Jews? Is there some kind of secular Reform Jewish monastary I’ve never heard of?

Of course, I have known a number of Jews of the sort you describe, but most of the Jews I know have families, and as would naturally follow from this, many woman are included (and they are also usually liberal…).

Joe, I’m sure there is a a synagogue in your area. Check out their Friday night services. I’ll bet you’ll meet a lot of Jews who live like “normal” people. Really.

Andrea Freiboden (#98): I only wish Jews were as powerful as you imagine them to be. If you can give me some names and phone #s for the heads of the Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy, please clue me in because I’ve been tirelessly advocating for Israel for over a dozen years now, and I could use a better paying and more upwardly mobile job than my present one (steelworker). Just tell me where to send my resume, and if I can get in on this gravy train, I’ll thank with a nice dinner out. It’s the least I could do for you, since, along with my cohorts, I control the whole world, apparently…If you’re REALLY nice to me, maybe I’ll even show you my horns and my tail!

And last but not least….

Crusader (#102):

It has nothing to do with being Jewish, and everything to do with being “liberal”.

Abortion is the biggest hot-button issue for liberals of just about every background. Unfortunately, with respect to this discussion, it would seem that for many Jews, this even eclipses Israel.

As I mockingly say to such individuals, in terms of the consequences of their support of the likes of Obama:

“Israel is on the verge of being destroyed either by an incredibly unjust South Africa-style strangulation, that will result in them being treated like Biafrans if the Arabs get their way, or they will be annihilated in a second Holocaust by an Iranian nuke. In the first case, hundreds of thousands will be murdered and raped and turned into refugees, and in the second case, millions will die in a couple of hours. You, Diaspora Jew, will once again have the status of the perpetual minority, the permanant “martyr class” to be beaten and terrorized by every bully that comes along, as is the case for stateless people throughout history, but especially Jews….BUT THAT’S ALL OK, ‘CAUSE AT LEAST YOU CAN STILL GET AN ABORTION. CONGRATULATIONS!”

I can only hope that a lot of Jews who voted for Obama in order to safeguard their precious abortion rights read the above, and that they can start to see the absurdity of their position.

Jul 12, 2009 - 7:13 pm 107. vivo:

95. jerryofva:

“Your post reflects your allegiance to the new neo-Nazi narrative that the Jews are the cause of all our Middle East problems and if only they would give the Palestinians what they want then all would be peace, love and happiness,”

You COMPLETELY MISUNDERSTOOD what I wrote. Please read it again @ 80.

Jul 12, 2009 - 8:09 pm 108. scythe:

They hate America too. They are like Dracula who screams in terror when confronted with goodness and morality. And they will destroy us all.

Jul 12, 2009 - 8:15 pm 109. David W. Lincoln:

I guess it depends on the definition of Jew. An apostate that has been bar-mitzvah’d or bat-mitzvah’d can meet the definition for some of what a Jew is.

But, when you have Jews like David Klinghoffer who
can run circles around their apostate poseurs, that
is a stronger demonstration of Judaism, rather than
those who meet the definition of an apostate.

Jul 12, 2009 - 8:36 pm 110. JFM:

Nobody sufers as lmucxh as the Palestinians? You mena those people who for sixty years have been living at our expenses without working and who my untrained eye look quite fat all while people starve in Darfur?

It look like Hussein Obama cares much more about Arabs than about Blacks. Or is it because of the Joooooooos?

Jul 13, 2009 - 1:10 am 111. JMC:

“For Liberal Jews, Obama is the Messiah” is the absolute truth. The way that the far Left Jews worship this man makes me sick. I don’t know of anyone who even occasionally shows up to shul that voted for him, supports his large social engineering programs, or his plans to dismantle Israel.

This past Shabbos a large dinner table conversation turned to how much he has spent on lawyers to hide his birth records. Not one person offered up a defense, although several people did have new details on the controversy. Clearly there is no love for the man in this small Observant community.

Thanks so much for writing.

Jul 13, 2009 - 5:38 am 112. jerryofva:

Vivo:

I did read your comment and it is clear that you support Obama’s pro-Muslim/anti-Semitic approach to the problem. Israel is not the cause of instability in the region. Instability comes from specific Arab/Muslim nations which seek regional hegemony, Egypt from 1955-70, Iraq from 1979-91, and Iran from approximately 2000 on. These three nations have used the Palestinians as a weapon to gain regional supremacy. Obama’s approach to the problem is to reinforce the newest hegemonic power (Iran) to “solve” the Jewish question in the Middle East. Obama is an eliminationist.

Jul 13, 2009 - 5:52 am 113. Strawman:

Abortion is the biggest hot-button issue for liberals of just about every background. Unfortunately, with respect to this discussion, it would seem that for many Jews, this even eclipses Israel.

I’m unconvinced. The left is a hodgepodge of all kinds of interest groups, and only the feminists (and not even all of them) put that at the top of the totem pole.

Here’s the thing: all of these other interest groups act like interest groups. Whether Black, Hispanic, Gay, environmentalist, feminist, or whatever, they apologetically ask what’s in it for them. But not the Jews. Why?

Jul 13, 2009 - 10:17 am 114. Strawman:

Dammit, unapologetically.

Jul 13, 2009 - 10:19 am 115. ahad ha'amoratsim:

Al – Obama enjoyed support from plenty of American Jews whose parents, grand-parents and great grandparents came here from Tsarist Russia. But if you mean Jews who came here from the FSU (and not just Russia, but also from Belarus, Lita, Latvia, Ukraine) I would say you are 100% correct.

Jul 13, 2009 - 10:51 am 116. ahad ha'amoratsim:

David, “If young Jews weren’t drafted to fight Hitler in WWII, they would have happily left the fate of their European brethren to their Christian neighbors.” I seem to have read that despite the charges by anti-Semites of the day, Jewish Americans enlisted in WWII in disproportionately greater number than gentile Americans. Was I misinformed?

Jul 13, 2009 - 10:54 am 117. ahad ha'amoratsim:

Sigemund, “These so-called “secualar” Jews are no more Jewish than “secular” Christians are Christians.” What secular Jews believe is not Judaism, but any secular Jew born to a Jewish mother is every bit as Jewish as an observant Jew. (By Jewish mother, I mean a woman who was born Jewish according to Jewish law, or who validly converted in accordance with Jewish law.) No observant Jew would say otherwise. To say otherwise is itself a denial of the Jewish religion.

Jul 13, 2009 - 10:58 am 118. jw:

#60, Irv Cohen, makes clear why many Jews voted for Barack Obama. They are loyal Democrats, regardless of what Democrats do. Obama was a member of the church of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, a racist Marxist (Black Liberation Theology), viciously anti-Jewish; close friend and associate of Rashid Khalidi, former PLO leader; close friend and associate of Bill Ayers, terrorist, bomber, antidemocratic, who wants to kill at least 25 million Americans in order to establish his tyranny. But Irv Cohen is blind to all this, because he wants to support Democrats, no matter how bad they are.
Irv Cohen was worried about Sarah Palin? He thinks she was ignorant. Perhaps she is, but not anywhere so ignorant as Barack Obama, who thinks that there are 57 states in the Union, that the Austrians speak a special language called “Austrian;” who says that Mohammedans were involved in the American Revolution and fought in all the wars of the United States; who says that Mohammedans invented the printing press (the Chinese and Gutenberg in Mainz did that), the pen (no one knows, since it has been in existence since the beginning of writing, at least 4000 years), the magnetic compass (Chinese), etc.; who thinks that the Jews just sprouted from nowhere to claim the land of Israel, while the “Palestinians” (Arabs) suffer; who thinks that Honduras kicked out Zeyala as President because of ??? but does not know the facts, including the constitution of Honduras; who supports tyrants instead, like Hugo Chavez and the Mullahs of Iran; who does not understand the value of liberty and calls democracy merely a form.

Jul 13, 2009 - 11:05 am 119. Robert Vincent:

Strawman (#113):

Perhaps I overreached in proclaiming abortion rights to be the #1 hot-button issue for liberals. But perhaps not.

I’m sure it is in the top five.

I know there may be a few “pro-life” liberals out there, but I challenge you to find anyone who is a self-described “liberal” who is not pro-abortion rights.

Anecdotally, I can tell you that in my exposure to numerous liberals leading up to the election, Jewish or not, the fear that a McCain/Palin adminstration would overturn Roe v. Wade was brought up without fail.

Jul 13, 2009 - 11:42 am 120. Strawman:

Actually Robert, I wasn’t challenging your assertion that liberal Jews have an abortion fetish, for whatever reason, that does appear to be the case. What I was getting at is that it’s not a universal fetish among the constituent groups, and Blacks and Hispanics in particular don’t seem to buy into the post-modern abortion/gay rights/etc. thing at all, much less as top priority.

It doesn’t make any sense politically, but it does make sense socio-culturally; i.e. liberal Jews tend to be of a culture that places these issues at the top of the totem pole. Why that is is a whole other long winded discussion.

But it’s certainly NOT the case, as Dershowitz claims, that supporting this social liberalism is the way to prevent Zionism from becoming a partisan issue; if anything, it annoys people on both sides, and tends to give credence to those who claim that Jews have dual loyalties (not to Israel, but to an international ideology).

Certainly there are ethnic groups strongly loyal to a party, but I challenge you to find another ethnic so strongly loyal to an ideology. Back to Abe’s original point, it’s obviously not in the genes (because the Israelis are so different), so there must be some very peculiar socio-cultural-political dynamics involved with, specifically, the American Jews.

Jul 13, 2009 - 12:56 pm 121. Strawman:

Anecdotally, I can tell you that in my exposure to numerous liberals leading up to the election, Jewish or not, the fear that a McCain/Palin administration would overturn Roe v. Wade was brought up without fail.

Something else I don’t get. I don’t doubt you on this, I’ve heard much of the same. But it’s so illogical!

1) The POTUS doesn’t have the power to overturn anything,
2) Overturning Roe doesn’t outlaw abortion, and
3) Even if it does, is this worth turning everything else upside down over?

Jul 13, 2009 - 1:05 pm 122. Snorri Godhi:

Strawman #121:
may I add to your list:

4) why don’t American “liberals” learn from their beloved Europe? in Europe
a. every state has its own abortion legislation;
b. this legislation is decided democratically;
c. I might be wrong on this, but I believe that, in most states, abortion is more restricted than in the USA.

Jul 13, 2009 - 2:07 pm 123. Strawman:

Indeed. They would prefer, like their European betters, to not have a constitution, but will abuse the one they have if it suits them. But rape of the constitution known as “Roe” is yet another topic.

Jul 13, 2009 - 3:15 pm 124. Robert Vincent:

Strawman:

The reasons why Jewish Americans are so loyal to the Democratic Party in particular and “liberalism” as an ideology in general is a very large subject.

Briefly, it has to do with a) FDR’s status as something of a saint among at least two generations of Jewish Americans (the New Deal,FDR being very “pro Jewish” by the standards of his day when compared with other figures such as Henry Ford and their ilk, the defeat of the Nazis, etc.), and b) the degree to which Democrats came to be associated with the “progressive” causes that were championed by many Jews during the sixties era (the anti-Vietnam war movement, civil rights; think JFK, Bobby Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, George McGovern).

As to the three points you raise in post #121 regarding abortion, I couldn’t agree with you more, and I am as mystified as you are as to why this is such a big issue for liberals, Jewish or otherwise, to the exclusion of so much else.

Jul 13, 2009 - 3:18 pm 125. Joshua:

American Jews are irrelevant . . . and that’s the nicest thing you can say about them.

Jul 13, 2009 - 6:27 pm 126. antonio:

On my few visits to the “golden ghetto” in the burbs NW of the Baltimoron metro area, I am struck by irony of all the Obama stickers affixed to the bumper of expensive *GERMAN* luxury automobiles. American Jews are such deniers of the Holocaust (except when Steven Speilberg makes a movie about it); yet they continue to vote for those who will gladly sell them out to the next bunch of facists.

Jul 13, 2009 - 10:26 pm 127. Spindok:

Do not be so hard on Irv Cohen my friends.

No matter what Jews do they are castigated by all sides. That is a given in Jewish history and the mindset which has evolved at this point.

There is the party of Pat Buchannon and the party of Jimmy Carter here in the USA. Anyone wanting to talk about the history of the holocaust and WWII in order to get Jews to pledge Republican is barking up the wrong tree.

What Obama means in the long run has yet to be seen. If he thinks that charisma can make a solution he is sorely mistaken. Yet he is the current reality and Bibi Netanyahu is his dance partner now. He is no less contraversial in Israel than Obama is here.

I had the privilage to speak with a very religious man, a mystic, in T’vzat (Safed)in the northern hills of Israel one week ago. His central message was that nothing happens by chance – coupled with the idea that reality cannot be ignored.

The elections are over. I am not an Obama supporter but lets face facts. McCain/Palin ticket was a disaster for Republicans. GWB only slightly less so, having achieved a military victory over Al-Queda for which he actually lost political ground.

Folks I travelled with in Israel, many of them were big-time liberal American west or east coast Jews sporting Obama T-Shirts on the trip. Most of them have a whole different perspective now. I hope they will go back to their Democrat meetings and fight strongly there as Jewish Republicans must do the same.

If you have seen Jerusalem you know that there is an obsession with preserving the unique character of the city. To the eastern side stands an ugly concrete wall like a sore thumb. Stones and walls have a special importance there. This does not belong and someday it will not be needed.

Joe Bison has some insight:

“The Jews I know are a strange breed. Mostly
men, many never married and never fathering
a child. They are also liberal to the core.”

Heh,

Spend a weekend, maybe Passover here with my Jewish family in heartland Ohio. Stange? well maybe. Mostly men? You havent met our women yet perhaps…just be prepared.

We do get married and make babies. Not enough except for the orthodox branch, but this is broader cultural issue in the west. This is a good time to look at our young adults and encourage them, “take chances, get married to the one you love and have children together. We did and look how terrible you turned out. Are you hungry?”(smile lovingly and make something for everyone to eat). Post-modernism is antithetical to such basic human existential realities. So, eat something…you will feel better.

This is a matter of the spirit of the next generation. They are hesitant and fearful because they have been given too much and take too much for granted. If they fail it is because we have failed them.

“Good ultimately conquers evil they believe
and that is why you waver and why the Jewish
State will fall. The liberal Jew really
does not know his enemy”

Yes it does, or it will, but not without effort, sweat, tears, love and joy. Human beings are flesh and blood but also posessed of a divine spark and a historic mission. Only faith will see us through.

You are right about the second part. They do not know. How could they? If you had been brought up the the typical Reform/Conservative bar/bat mitzvah mill why would you think otherwise?

The Jewish state will not fall Joe. If it does this time than the Jewish people will perish with it for eternity. Lots of water under that bridge.

The Jews still live, even thrive, despite far worse circumstances than electing another liberal Democrat as the US president. Small stuff in the big picture.

“I will put My breath into you and you shall live again, and I will set you upon your own soil”
Ezekiel 37:14

Shalom,

Spindok

Jul 14, 2009 - 5:24 am 128. Kay:

Liberal ‘Jews’(as so labeled and defined by Dems as a separate group of humans) and most minorities continue to vote time and time and time again for the party that despises them(other then for the consistent vote count of course). ‘This is a white man’s government!’ is a past Democratic campaign slogan after all… Then again, the vast majority of Democrats can’t tell you why they are one in the first place…The party of segregation and slavery for some reason has become embraced by ‘minorities’(as so labeled and defined by Dems as a separate group of humans).

Believe in freedom of speech? The right to pursue you religion of choice(or none)? Believe that all men are created equal? The ability to make a living and being taxed fairly and rewarded for your efforts? Believe in the US Constitution? If yes to any or all, then you are not a Democrat.

Jul 14, 2009 - 7:38 am 129. Kay:

“progressive”watch:

Miller has the right facts,wrong motives. These liberal Jews are almost all leftists,not liberals,and they don’t want to be victims. They are leftist ideologues with leftist answers. They are more leftists than they are Jews. They don’t see fellow leftist Obama as harmful,but as a powerful force for good.

And in the same time, they vote FOR being labeled a ‘victimized class’ such as ‘Jewish-Americans’. Liberals love to have check boxes for every ‘kind’ of human the believe you can be divided into, and have a value-scale for each.

Jul 14, 2009 - 7:56 am 130. Kay:

And King Hussein Obama has ‘Jewish-America’ quite low on his list, probably just one notch above ‘Gay-America’. Right now he is too busy promoting ‘Latina-America’ and ‘Muslim-America’.

Jul 14, 2009 - 7:59 am 131. Robert Vincent:

Spindok (#127):

Nice post overall, but take it from a fellow Reform Jewish Ohio Heartlander:

Obama isn’t just “another liberal Democrat”. This is not Jimmy Carter (or at least the Jimmy Carter of the 70s, before he took all that money from the Arabs to build his foundation and prostitute himself for them). This is not George McGovern.

I am about the same age as Obama, having been born within two months of him. I went to schools of comparable prestige during comparable time frames as was the case for him. I went to U of Michigan Ann Arbor when he was at Columbia, I served in the army when he was a “community organizer” (and I had summer jobs in college working for such people, so I know their ilk well), and I was at U Chicago while he was at Harvard.

I had umpteen roommates, housemates, colleagues, professors, who thought like him. He is not a mystery to me, but instead is very much a known quantity. He is supremely dangerous.

I’ve met Rashid Khalidi. He was a guest lecturer for one of the classes I took at U Chicago back in 1989. He was a world-class jerk, and I can tell you that as dedicated as I am, as most of the people in this forum are, to the preservation of Israel, Rashid is similarly dedicated to her destruction.

Rashid not only was a “good friend” and frequent dinner companion of Obama, but also raised $70,000 for Obama’s senate campaign. As we have seen on many issues during the first six months of his administration (e.g., a “transparent” government, a “bipartisan approach”, a “fiscal conservative”, a “FRIEND OF ISRAEL”, all things he campaigned on), he has proven to be an incredible liar, though none of this surprises me in the least. Like Hitler said back in the day, one shouldn’t bother with “small lies”…if you are going to lie at all, tell BIG ones so as to make it that much more difficult for people to comprehend just how far you are going to take them for a ride, until it is too late!

People like Obama are, in the end, snobs who pretend to care about “average” people, but who in fact have contempt for them. In the pursuit of their own perceived “agenda”, they are perfectly comfortable with lying to any degree they can, as this is for “our own good”. In their estimation, we peasants can’t understand or handle the truth anyway.

Finally, my major exception to your post is your description of McCain/Palin as a “disaster” for the Republicans. McCain was the first of the two finalists to breach the 50% barrier in polling, which he did in the wake of his selection of Palin as his running mate. You might recall that while Obama led during the summer, he still stayed below 50% overall, and commentators were confounded as to the fact of Obama being unable to “close the deal” with the American voter.

McCain held his lead solidly for about three weeks until the market crash of mid-September. Even then, he managed to pull ahead a couple of times, but his inability to come up with a convincing, reassuring message on the economy to counter Obama is really what did him in. I think I got a cramp in my jaw from cringing as he wasted his precious campaign $$$ in the final weeks on Bill Ayers ad after Bill Ayers ad, long after the public ceased giving a fiddler’s fart about Bill Ayers.

It was amazing what McCain had accomplished, though immediately prior to the crash, given what was already a sluggish economy, a press that, outside of FOX and the Wall Street Journal, was positively salivating over Obama, and Obama’s ability to outspend McCain at least two to one (or was it four to one?).

Who would have been a better Republican candidate? Huckabee? Who could not really appeal much beyond his political/cultural zip code (i.e., the deep south)? Romney, with all the steely leadership aura of Daren Stevens from “Bewitched”? It is easy to be a Monday morning quarterback. Whatever his faults, I really did think McCain was about the best available from either party in terms of who was running.

As for Palin, yes, she did turn off many Jewish voters. However, I feel she did not cost McCain the election (unlike the backbiters of the McCain campaign who are now trying to cover their butts with her political carcass). What she did cost McCain was the better part of that segment of the Jewish vote who ran from him to Obama at the eleventh hour (he was at 38% among Jewish Americans by mid-summer; Palin torpedoed that).

That Palin turns off Jews can be put down to one major issue: shallow snobbery on the part of Jewish Americans. Jews eagerly bought up the media smear that she was little more than “trailer trash”, and if there is one thing Jewish Americans are uncomfortable with, it is a “red neck”. It was NOT Palin’s pro-life agenda…McCain has one of the most pro-life voting records in Congress. If that were the issue, McCain himself never would have gotten even close to the 38% he peaked out at among Jews in the first place.

Palin is in fact, objectively, a far more capable and proven political leader than Obama. Consider that she started with NOTHING. She didn’t come from money, had no political connections. She was a small town mom who started her political life on the PTA, and by the age of 42, running against the Alaskan Republican Party establishment as much as against anything else, she became governor of Alaska. That says something.

She also did this without an ivy league degree on her resume (and having come from such schools, believe me, this is an overrated characteristic). However, this was probably the real objection Jews had to her: she wasn’t “intellectual” enough. It certainly is true that Palin is NOT an intellectual. But she had earned her spurs – where it counted – to a far greater degree than Obama ever had before the fact (and likely, after the fact in his case). If she needs help on the “intellectual” front, that is what advisors are for.

So, as a sidenote to my fellow American Jews who are participating in this forum, who are as horrified by Obama as I am, you’d best learn to get over your own prejudices against Palin and learn to like her. We have not seen the last of her by a long shot, and while it is still very early, among the various personalities that are being talked about as potential standard bearers for the GOP in 2012, in my humble opinion, she is the one who stands the best chance of smashing Obama.

By the way, all of the Israelis I know thought she was fantastic. More food for thought.

‘Nuff said for now.

Jul 14, 2009 - 2:49 pm 132. JFM:

Mr Vincent

Obama outspent McCain not tow tone or four to one but seven to one. And some of this money looks like it wasn’t kosher: foreign sources for instance.

Jul 14, 2009 - 11:14 pm 133. ahad ha'amoratsim:

Robert Vincent – I agree with your #131. As an Ohio heartland Orthodox Jew, I will add that many Orthodox Jews liked and respected Palin, and felt that she shared many important values with the Orthodox community.

Jul 15, 2009 - 7:30 am 134. Robert Vincent:

JFM (#132):

I was not aware the disparity was that high, but it also does not surprise me.

I am aware of the “foreign sources” issue.

Back in ‘96, the press made a big stink over money Clinton got from Chinese sources, and he had to give it back.

This was peanuts compared to what the FEC believes Obama got from Moslem SW Asia, but it was cleverly funneled through a lot of local “front” donors.

I personally believe this is the tip of the iceberg. I expect that whenever the full truth comes out about this man, Obama, he will be revealed to be the most corrupt president we’ve ever had, at least in living memory, perhaps ever. That’s saying a lot, I know, but I stand by what I say.

Jul 15, 2009 - 5:31 pm 135. Andrea in NY:

Could the concern about abortion really be concern with Evangelicals?

I always suspected Bush’s problem was not his tortured speech or actions but his religious base. I sensed a real fear of Christian “zealots”.

As a Catholic, I never found them frightening or threatening. My Jewish friends seemed very bothered by them.

I never thought it might be snobbery.

Jul 15, 2009 - 8:51 pm 136. Patti:

Mr “COHAIN”,
We are a REPUBLIC (law rules).
NOT A DEMOCRACY (majority rules).
We are becoming socialist (Tyrants rule).
“There is none so blind as he who WILL not see”.

I am a Ex-New York,”recovering” pro-choice liberal who is now a Zionist, a conservative & pro-life. My father-in-law fought in WWII & liberated concentration camps & I’d really hate for us to HAVE TO DO THAT AGAIN!(And yes I have BEEN to Israel)

Jul 16, 2009 - 9:09 pm 137. Jo:

The stupidity of any Jew who supported Obama, indeed like turkeys eagerly awaiting Thanksgiving, would be laughable if not so sad. But, there will come a day of extermination again and perhaps this time in the form of passive euthanasia under Obama’s disastrous Socialist health care takeover. Anyone, Jewish, Christian, black, white, Hispanic, etc., deemed as costing too much to sustain by the Socialist beur-O-crats will be allowed to die and get out of the way (although His Hollowness is on record as saying they will be given painkillers, merciful Messiah that he indeed is). Unless, of course, you are are a wealthy elitist like Obama who will get the best of care. Those old Jews who gleefully supported the Big O embody the statement, ‘There is no fool like an old fool.’

Jul 28, 2009 - 5:47 am