By Marshall Spevak and Josh Pasek
The Republican Jewish Coalition needs to stop the smear campaign they are running against Senator Barack Obama. In an interview the Atlantic, Barack Obama repeatedly reiterated his support for Israel and his belief that Israel’s enemies are America’s enemies (1). But in typical Republican Jewish Coalition fashion, the RJC released a press statement accusing Senator Obama of not standing with Israel against Hamas and question him on his “questionable grasp of foreign policy” (2). Time and time again Senator Obama has proven that he understands that in order to achieve peace you need not to just talk to your friends, but talk to your enemies. Indeed, in that very interview, Obama said: “I welcome the Muslim world’s accurate perception that I am interested in opening up dialogue and interested in moving away from the unilateral policies of George Bush, but nobody should mistake that for a softer stance when it comes to terrorism or when it comes to protecting Israel’s security or making sure that the alliance is strong and firm.” The sentiment is well reflected in a statement of Harry Truman’s: “The United States is not so strong, the final triumph of the democratic ideal is not so inevitable that we can ignore what the world thinks of us or our record.”
The Republican Jewish Coalition is making quite a stretch in trying to turn a clear and decisive denunciation of Hamas and the statement that “we should not be dealing with them until they recognize Israel, renounce terrorism, and abide by previous agreements” (3) into “excus[ing] the inexcusable actions of anti-American militant jihadists” (4). We don’t think many other individuals reading the Atlantic article will come to the same conclusion as the RJC.
