Israel's Best Interest is a Morally Strong America

I am supporting Obama for president for two reasons: one is my disdain for the McCain-Palin ticket, and the other my respect and admiration for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Among Jewish voters, some feel the basic question is which candidate will act in the best interest of Israel. The answer is Barack Obama. As an American Jew who loves Israel, I cannot support John McCain. He cannot provide what Israel needs most--a respected, credible, morally strong America. To have the United States and Israel both regarded by the rest of the world as unreliable and in isolation is no way to solve the problems that plague both countries. This has been the effect of the Bush policies, and these are the policies that John McCain has promised to continue. Barack Obama is the candidate who can restore America's moral authority in the world and position our government to help negotiate peace.

The most vexing problem Israel faces is its relations with its neighbors. From the inception of the state until today, Israelis have felt besieged, surrounded by enemies who want to make them disappear. The constant security threat has made it very difficult for Israel to address the long list of problems that for the most part have been swept under the rug while awaiting peace. These include a disastrous educational system, a widening gap between rich and poor, and bitter division between secular and religious Jews. Israel desperately needs peace if it is to come anywhere close to being the "light unto nations" of Jewish dreams.

I quarrel with the oft-heard assumption that "George W. Bush is good for Israel." He gleaned many Jewish votes on that slogan, but I take a contrarian's position. Israel is further from peace than it was at the end of the Clinton administration. The smoldering hatred between Iraq's Sunni and Shi'a has burst into flames as a result of the American occupation. An emboldened Iran, with its Shi'a majority, has strengthened and armed Israel's enemies Hamas and Hezbollah. But Israel's most immediate danger comes from a nuclear Iran. Under the Bush administration, conversations with the Iranians began only at the end of May 2007 and have been badly mishandled. The result of the Bush doctrine in the Middle East has been an America and an Israel that are regarded with hatred and fear.

The region requires an honest broker that will push both sides towards a workable solution and a two state outcome. I remember the scene at the White House when President Clinton helped Prime Minister Rabin to shake Arafat's hand. Whether an American president is prepared to preside over another handshake--one that could build lasting peace--should not be measured by his professed love for one side or the other, but by his judgment.

John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as running mate is the towering example of his poor judgment. Palin's ignorance of public affairs is monumental. Especially disturbing to the Jewish voter should be her willing acceptance of the campaign assignment of demagogy, which has stirred up racism and hate. The prospect of our having a 72-year-old president in poor health raises the real possibility that Palin could be our president, a thoroughly frightening thought. (I am well aware, in my eightieth year, of the flagging energy of any 72-year-old.) McCain's choice of Palin was a bid to the extremists in the Republican party, not the considered choice of a man who puts his country first.

Barack Obama is the leader who can begin to undo some of the damage done by Bush's policies. His background as an American who has lived among diverse cultures makes him sensitive to the cultural and religious motives that shape conflicts. He is cerebral, measured, calm, and pragmatic. By his character, he will engage these issues with more than stonewalling and weapons. He is brilliant in his choices of advisors. He is a tough idealist who has the courage to imagine an America that may inspire hope, not fear, in the Middle East and around the world.

Voters who care about Israel's welfare should ask which candidate will help sustain the ties between Israel and American Jews. Those of us who were alive at the creation of Israel have a love for Israel that is tied to the Holocaust, to the displaced persons camps and to the early struggles for a Jewish homeland. We were all as generous as we could be in support of Israel, as donors and as advocates. Now there is a generation growing up that is more distant from Israel than I should like. Young Jews do not automatically support Israel, and many are rightly troubled by what they learn about the ill treatment of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation. No longer motivated by fear of anti-Semitism, they seek to understand what Israel stands for, not to say "my Israel, right or wrong." Without strong support among the younger generation of American Jews, Israel may lose its vital relationship with the US government.

Obama can inspire much-needed support for Israel among this next generation of American Jews. He reflects their idealism and speaks in the language of hope they understand. His approach to international affairs shows a commitment to restoring America's reputation and to working with our allies to combat war, poverty, disease, and environmental destruction. He has articulated a vision for American society that does not ask us to ignore our differences--religious, racial, or economic--but to set aside divisive rhetoric and acknowledge that we all have a stake in building a more ethical society. Under his leadership a renewed America can help to foster a renewed Israel. Barack Obama is an inspiring American, willing and able to lead this nation and the world to new heights in very perilous times. I will vote for him with enthusiasm.

Edgar M. Bronfman is the former president of the World Jewish Congress. He is the author, with Beth Zasloff, of Hope, Not Fear: A Path to Jewish Renaissance (St. Martin's Press, 2008).

Comments

[mk610]

Amen, Mr. Bronfman. Now how do you get your article to be mandatory reading for every Jew in Southern Florida and every other Jewish enclave in the United States?

[elcopone]

Brilliant, simply brilliant. Thank you for articulating this for me better than I ever could have. As a 29 year old American-Jew, who grew up Orthodox, but is not anymore, I couldn't agree more with this memo. I have many Orthodox friends who have berrated me for my support of Obama as being "self-hating", "anti-Israel", "pro-terro­rism." I contend that I am just as pro-Israel as they are, and make this exact argument. Unfortunately, it usually falls on def ears.

[libsRchildren]

Only time will tell but I suspect your friends have a bit more insight then you do. Maybe you should stop and listen to them?

[berkeleygirl1962]

Be strong, sweetie. YOU--and the rest of us in the silent majority of the diaspor--are right, and THEY are the self-hating, palestinian hating Jews who would see us keep to a path that is destroying israel morally and politically.

[dessertsfirst]

From a "Christian­".... you are right on, elcopone.
Keep the faith.

[Skye]

"My Husband (who is an Israeli Jew) and myself (Jewish by Conversion) tend to Vote for Liberal and or Progressive Candidates and Policies that favor Solutions and Peace for ALL PEOPLE.. and I think that if People such as yourself truly knew what it was like to live in actual Fear instead of this Existential Political Facsimile of Fear you would understand that desire.

Perhaps you might also understand that many Jews, Secular and Religious as well as Muslims and Palestinians are not blind to the suffering of Each. . We realize that our fates are irrevocably intertwined now and The Entire Middle East is being held Hostage by US Policies that only seem to spread the Misery around and foster resentment between the Numerous Factions that are in play. I am not sure how Anyone of Sound Mind could believe that if the US were to "Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran"... Israel would benefit .. from what would undoubtedly be the precursor to the Complete Annihilation of Iran.. Israel and Everything Around and In Between.

In Obama, we see a willingness(among other stellar qualities) to confront the Disastrous Middle Eastern Reality that has been exacerbated by the Neo-Con Ideology..­. almost to the Point of No Return"





Great post.

[DC]

Fear is used to control and conflict is an industry. It is in the interest of too many to keep all afraid and conflict going.

[edayres]

You know what? I am really tired of American Jews making their decisions about domestic matters based on what is or is not good for Israel. The two countries are allies but have different national interests. I wish Mr. Bronfman, Joe Lieberman, people at AIPAC, and others like them would make up their minds about which country comes first.

[BARRISTER]

edayres, I regret that you have not understood Mr. Bronfman's treatise. It is not about "Israel" only: he is postulating that Mr. Obama will bring all those virtues to American Foreign Policy and that would be better for the World. He is addressing this postulate to supporters of Israel and to Jews because the McCain, Palin and Republicans are trying to sow fear in the Floridians who are supporters of Israel, and if they succeed Obama loses Florida and possibly the Election.

Mr. Bronfman's article is a superb essay on the state of affairs of US Foreign Relations in microcosm, and clearly is well intentioned. Mr. Bronfman is obviously a very knowledgeable and intellectually brilliant person.

Honestly, I think you should apologize to Mr. Bronfman.

Trust me, do it.

[dessertsfirst]

Well said, and I couldn't agree more.

[sinope]

I agree. I'm a second-generation European Jew, and I feel a much closer connection with my father's native country (Czech Republic) than with Israel. I've never been to Israel and I have no plans to go. I am no more personally invested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than I was in the Rwandan genocide or I am in the Sudanese genocide. That doesn't mean I'm not interested, but this knee-jerk defense of Israel on what amounts to a tribal connection is ridiculous. We could have achieved peace if conservative Americans, working to LITERALLY bring about the Apocalypse, weren't irrationally concerned with defending Israel in all things it's done. Modern Israel is a 50-year-old political entity; Judaism is a six thousand-year-old religion. If Israel were to disappear today, would the Jewish diaspora also die? Why do we continue to shed blood our blood and others' over that patch of land?

Of course, the same argument applies to Palestine. Both sides have committed atrocities. The US needs to let the UN resolve this without constantly intervening on Israel's behalf for absolutely no reason other than "the Bible sez so." Madness!

[Artos]

sinope,

People want to fight over that piece of land because their ancestors died there and they want to die there too. Amazing what people will want to do just to die.

[mommamia526]

Obama's birthcertificate. One issue that has keept tails wagging and computer keys flying is the issue of Obama's birth certificate. It MUST be certified, and the fight that it be CERTIFIED, will go on, as one commenter on an Israeili website kept insisting. I know about certifying birth certificates. I am an U.S. citizen born in The Netherlands. Even after becoming a citizen and being here longer than in my native country, with an original birthcertificate and an attache case full of other documentation, I had to have my birthcertificate certified in order to get my well earned social security . It was an easy proces:you take the original to a notary public, I like my bank's notary, if necessary, you also have a validated translation, and other proof of ID, such as a passport. You have a copy made of your birthcertificate, have it validated on the spot. You can also ask for an Affidavit, that the notary has seen your birthcertificate, other proof of ID, etc. and have that signed and an seal placed on it as well. All those *arguments* that McCain has brought up, are talking down points and show his contempt, not for Obama, but for Americans and the American Electorate. Remedy? Get educated. Get degrees. Give backtalk with proof and evidence.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

"Obama's birthcertificate. One issue that has keept tails wagging and ..."

Respectfully, your response completely misses the point made by Mr. Bronfman.

It's clear that instead of posting a response related to his specific comments, it is obvious that you simply want to either convince him or others to not vote for Obama because of some issue relating to his "birth certificat­e."

The problem that you have is that anyone who is born of a mother who is a U.S. citizen is automatically a U.S. citizen even if they are born outside the continental United States, including Hawaii, the Panama Canal, or the Netherlands. Such children don't even need to have birth certificates, certified or otherwise. If you really want to raise a false issue about a birth certificate, you need to be a little more creative and ask whether his mother had a certified birth certificate for herself. It really won't matter, but at least you will have a little more interesting bogus issue.

[Bitsko]

You do realize that what you're saying makes no sense, right?

[NoNotAgain]

Where was the Songbird born ??????? If you do not know who the Songbird is why don't

you goggle it..

[dessertsfirst]

So, you'd rather cast your lot with a candidate whose campaign has spread lies, created dissention, has divided not only all Americans, but also the republican party, and is mean-spirited, and disrespectful? An extension of the past 8 years of bellicose language, my-way-or-­the-highwa­y position, who has shredded the reputation of the USA in the global community.­...
Sorry, I can't go that route.
Vote OBAMA.

[mommamia526]

McCain himself does not believe that Obama is a*socialist* or any of the epitheths he keeps on trying to see if they stick. He said so publicly, more than once, a.o. this week on Larry King. McCain wants to win. It is a personal thing with him. It is a personal thing with Republicans. For them it is not about country, morality, standing, making a decent living, being able to fulfill the American dream. Religion is just a ramming horn. God is a sword used in battle. Bush has denied that Jerusalem is in Israel, even West Jerusalem. This appears from a lawsuit going on in the courts, where a father wants to add the designation Israel to his child's birthcertificate. I add just another word" *roadmap*. I have seen many smiling appearances of Bush and Rice with Mahmood Abbas. Maybe I was hallucinating? Inside Israel a muslim can be elected to public Office, even the Knesset. But some Israelis want to use inuendo that Obama is a muslim which is a LIE, to prevent him from competing for Office. Also in Israel a family can be bulldozed out of its home, twice in one week, without warning, in the middle of the night. It is as one rabbi commented and as I remember from personal experience, just like WWII under the nazis.

[Artos]

mommamia526,

Unfortunately sometimes the former victims learn too well the lessons from their former oppressors. It's somewhat similar to the Stockholm Syndrome, Only rather than sympathizing with the abductors one instead takes on similarities to that abductor when they find themselves in a position of Power. It could even be similar to the child who once abused by the parent later becomes an abusive parent themselves.

[NoNotAgain]

If palin/McCain wins how will First Dude receive Security Clearance ???

Remember he is/was a card member of the Seccessionist (AIP )

Party for many years.Why has the Media not carried this ??????????

[dessertsfirst]

Cute: actually it is McCain/Palin, but I'm sure that Sarah would appreciate your thought.
And actually you have asked a very good question..­.
wonder what the answer is?

[Garvagh]

Twenty-two Arab and other Muslim countries have offered peace to Israel in exchange for a complete evacuation of the West Bank and the Golan Heights. With the entire West Bank and Gaza, the Palestinians would receive only 22% of what was Palestine before Israel was created.

[Debbie1996]

Palestinian's campaign for Obama:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/3330446/Palestinians-toil-for-Barack-Obama-win.html

Only in Obama land does that translate into support for a strong Israel.

[timmmahhhh]

Very well written, it echoes my thoughts for voting Obama as well.

I would add that if we want real peace in the Middle East that Obama, the Jewish community, and the world needs to additionally love a Palestine alongside Israel. If they do not the turmoil will never cease.

[queeng]

I truly can't see McCain being tolerant with any group he is a divider not a uniter. Israel is the holy land Obama knows that.

[Debbie1996]

Obama spends 20 years in the pews of Trinity church - a snippet of his unifying sermon:

"I must tell you that Israel was the closest ally to the White Supremacists of South Africa. In fact, South Africa allowed Israel to test its nuclear weapons in the ocean off South Africa. The Israelis were given a blank check; they could test whenever they desired and did not even have to ask permission. Both worked on an ethnic bomb that killed Blacks and Arabs."

[libsRchildren]

There you folks go again.

In McCain you've got one of the most liberal republicans going. I'm sure you've read about the times he thought of going over to democrat side but here you are demonizing him as you do with everybody you don't agree with.

McCain wasn't my initial choice but at least I call a spade a spade. You betcha!

[dessertsfirst]

Beg to differ... it isn't "us folks"... the McCain/Palin campaign has at times been divisive, and mean-spirited. The tone has not only divided the American people, it has split the republican party. If McCain wins, he will be hard pressed to bring everyone together after running such an inciteful campaign. It is McCain who has left the people who used to support him. And I think that's part of what Mr Bronfman was saying.

[fdgsr]

I, too, support Barack Obama for the same reasons. Yet, I question his 'love for Israel'. I do believe that with all the facts available, Barack Obama can formulate a far better policy toward Israel and Palestine that could John McCain.

With any 'old' man (I am 80), 'The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.' We feel like 16, but do not function even as a 60 year old.

I am for a single state in the Holy Land with liberty and justice for all. Palestinian Muslims, Christians, and Jews need not denial of rights, but can guarantee rights under a democratic constitution along the lines of the American constitution where slavery could be abolished, women could be given the right to vote, and equality under law could be guaranteed.

There are certainly Americans who would change that, and deny some Americans their rights based no their religion, gender, or private freedom. Americans range from those who would impose a fascist regime to those who would impose a communist regime in this country. Fortunately we have a constitution that helps protect Americans in minorities as well as those in the majority. That is why I am for a single state of Israel, Palestine, or Canaan. It matters not what it is named, but the name should be neutral in religion, politics, and ethnic reference.

[mommamia526]

fdgsr. It matters a great deal what the country is named. For jews it means having a country of origin they can find refuge in when persecuted. Everyone else has a country. Palestinians already have a country: Jordan. But they can live in Israel, even participate in government, and there are Palestinian Arabs who are members of the Knesset. The issue is that a number of Palestinians and other Arabs do not wish jews to live in Israel, that the country has a name, Israel, and they want to continue terrorism ad infinitem. Three religions claim Jerusalem as their capital, and will not accept even part of it to be the capital of Israel. Even Mr. Bush does not accept Jerusalem as even being part of Israel! Palestinians, however, want Jerusalem to be the capital of THEIR separate nation (a second nation next to Jordan). That causes real problems for innocents. Example, a child born in Jerusalem has no country!!! and is born as a dp? Arab countries, darling, are NOT neutral in religion, politics and ethnic preference. And muslims (arabs) insist that their system of justice be adopted in formerly neutral countries, such as...Gr. Britian, and are already partially succeeding in this. In the U.S. we have separation of Church and State, and therefore we can not deny anyone the right to run for Office based on religion.

[eztempo]

Wow. Sometimes a succinct truism -- "Israel needs most--a respected, credible, morally strong America" -- has the impact of a stunning flash of insight.

Thanks for putting the bottom line into words.

[libsRchildren]

And you claim a leftist America is a moral improvment?
Wow! Am I glad I'm not one of you.

[Zork4]

Don't worry, Obama isn't a leftist. It's just propaganda, he's as business-friendly as Clinton was.

[dessertsfirst]

It isn't only Israel who needs a respected, credible, morally strong America... America needs a respected, credible and morally strong America, and actually so does every other nation in the world. The world needs a respected, credible and morally strong America. That is the whole point. The problem is, it doesn't appear that McCain can accomplish this any more that GWB did, and as everyone knows, GWB dimished the stature of American in the world. America can't afford 4 more years of GWB's policies.
VOTE OBAMA

[TexasHorns]

wonder how EDGAR would feel if it was determined that $300,000,000 of the Obama campaign contributions were from foreign radical groups opposed to democracy and / or ISRAEL?
Those "small" online unaudited contributi­ons....
....Counci­l of American Islamic Relations, Rashid Khalidi, PLO, (illegal foreign contributions) racists anti-semetic Rev Wright....­who else?

LOS ANGELES TIMES - APRIL 10, 2008 - KHALIDI DINNER - VIDEO

'Allies of Palestinians see a friend in Barack Obama
Joe Raymond / Associated Press
By Peter Wallsten, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 10, 2008 "

......At Khalidi's 2003 farewell party, for example, a young Palestinian American recited a poem accusing the Israeli government of terrorism in its treatment of Palestinians and sharply criticizing U.S. support of Israel. If Palestinians cannot secure their own land, she said, "then you will never see a day of peace."

........In the 1970s, when Khalidi taught at a university in Beirut, he often spoke to reporters on behalf of Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization. In the early 1990s, he advised the Palestinian delegation during peace negotiations. Khalidi now occupies a prestigious professorship of Arab studies at Columbia.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-obamamideast10apr10,0,1780231,full.story

OBAMA - Cons Israel & PLO into thinking he supports both, Cons Americans PISSED at Bush and the state of our economy, CONS 90% of Americans into thinking the mortgage crisis was 8 yrs of failed economic policy....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxMInSfanqg

BIGGEST CON JOB IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD

[ElBruce]

I wonder how TexasHorns would feel if it was determined that 80% of McCain's contributions came from, um... Satanists, yeah. This is a credible form of argument.

Also, McCain funded Khalidi's efforts to the tune of a half a million dollars, if you want to bring that up. But then again, Khalidi isn't opposed to the existence of Israel or in any way anti-Semitic, so there's no point.

As for the mortgage crisis, the simple fact was that it was the result of 8 yrs of failed economic policy.

[libsRchildren]

We'd probably feel "special".

As for your last statement; the mortgage crisis being the result of 8 years of failed economic policy, whenever you're forced by Carter's/Clinton's and by extension Bush's rules to lend money to someone you know can't pay it back you might have a tiny bit of a problem developing, dontcha think?
Had Barney Frank and that other nutcase Maxine from CA listened to McCain's warning back in '05 we might not have to listen to idiots like Bruce.

[JHawkKC]

I want some of whatever Koolaide you have been drinking. You must live a blissful life when you ignore reality and live in a hatefield world of onesided ideology. In the La Times they reported the hate that Khalidi had for Israel, but you ignore that. 8 yrs of failed policy? What policy failed? The Dems got low income housing at the expense of the rest of the World wasn't that what they had in mind? Share the wealth, well we are sharing it now.

Enjoy your Koolaide and maybe you will get your government check you are hoping for as we sink further into debt. At some point after people figure out they can vote themselves dollars, the source of those dollars run dry and there is no more wealth to spread around thus the society perishes. I hope we are not headed there but this surely looks like we are headed in that direction.

[joekutz]

You are obviously not a Jewish voter or you have realized that anytime the politics of hate becomes the fashion as in McCain-Palin it is time for Jews to watch out because like it or not when this kind of thing is happening it is only too soon that the 'Jews' are next.

There you go again hating. Do you make over $250K a year. Are your taxes going to be raised?

Don't you care about those of us who struggle to make a living pay health care count on Social Security etc. Of course you don't because you won't think past your hate. Maybe you are a Christian in which case step aside and turn the other cheek. Jesus is watching this election and is voting for Obama

[antiprop1]

Why would Palestinians not work to support their interests. They were thrown off their land. I dont support terrorism to reach their goals, but the sad truth is the whole world ignored their plight untill terrorism brought attention to it. All most every Texas conservative who I know (and will always consider friends) just seems to think that if we kill enough arabs, all our problems will go away. This attitude just will not work in today's world. It compounds Isreal's problems. Do people have this attitude because they think unlimited support of Isreal will let them just rapture up and away, escaping all their problems? This is a dangerous and ridiculous delusion.

[mommamia526]

Pull in your *horns*. A raging bull usually is not distracted by reason. Now, both the U.S. and Israel must regain respect, and both must do so internally as well as externally. Inside Israel this week the home of a jewish settler, Federman, was demolished, not once, but twice. And the way it was done is exactly, as one Rabbi desribes, the way the nazis came to round us jews up in Europe. In the middle of the night, unannounced, and with destruction.

In Israel there are muslims in the Knesset and in other places of authority. They are not prevented from running for Office. The only requirement is that they be Israelis. Yet, certain groups inside the U.S. and acting out of Israel, want to set a different agenda, their Agenda, for the U.S. McCain and the Republicans want to damage anyone in their way of electing this one man, McCain. It is not about the U.S., it is not about the electorate. It is not about international and moral standing. It is McCain. McCain has lost moral standing if he ever had it. Dole has lost moral standing if she ever had it. The Republican Party has lost any standing if it ever had it.

[mamacat]

In McCain I have seen nothing that indicates that he will bring wisdom to the job of President. The job of POTUS requires someone with the wisdom of Solomon, not an old, nervous, foul mouthed Rambo with a half-baked nut-case for a sidekick and likely successor. McCain/Palin? Thanks, but no thanks!

In Obama we have someone who looks like he will be one of the greatest Presidents of all time, but, even if he were Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul, he would be infinitely preferable to what the hard-liner Republicans have chosen.

[libsRchildren]

Jees are you dense or what? Do you make this sh*t up? The hardliners didn't choose McCain. I bet your dog even knows that.
In Obama you have an intelligent person that needs about ten more years actually doing something before he has the nerve to run for the presidency. Come back in 10, I might even vote for you.

[robiform]

This country doesn't have ten years to wait, thanks to the mess that your hero Bush has left!! Oh, and by the way, your check from the Swift Boaters will be late--they have to buy Sarah Palin some more clothes!!

[Sundalecat]

McCain gave huge amounts of money to the same Palestinian Leader that they accuse Barack Obama of being friends with. Obama would be great for Israel as he speaks before and thinks before attacking. John McCain is very irresponsible and should not be elected under any circumstances. McCain will cause problems by showing aggression to Iran and other countries in the Middle East, as Bush has. We must speak to people before pulling the trigger. Israel is great country but has issues that can be better served at the table rather than with a gun. Obama realizes this and McCain does not.