Jonathan Tobin already covered the basic incoherence of the “Unity Pledge” being pushed by the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee, but the sheer gall of the move is still striking.
Having shilled for Obama during the crucial months when coverage of his radical anti-Israel mentors might place doubt on his pro-Israel intonations – the ADL specifically declared in 2007 that there was no evidence of any anti-Semitism from Jeremiah Wright, before discovering otherwise a year later – they now don’t want anybody to talk about it. If the classic definition of chutzpah is the kid who kills his parents and then asks the judge for sympathy because he’s an orphan, a close second has to be the Jewish organization who helps Obama get into office and then asks the Jewish community not to talk about it because unity is important.
But why be negative when one can be positive? Why divide when one can unify? Instead, let’s have pledges for everyone. No more politics or deliberation or disagreement. It could work.
For instance, somebody forward this one to J Street:
We will – and we will encourage national organizations, elected officials, religious leaders, community groups and individuals to also – rally around bipartisan support for Israel while preventing the Emergency Coalition for Israel from becoming a wedge issue in the upcoming campaign season. Join me in taking the “National Pledge for Unity on the Genuinely Funny Ads Of The Emergency Coalition for Israel” — and sign our pledge.
And here’s one for the National Jewish Democratic Coalition which, like the ADL, went out of its way to suppress public debate over Obama’s anti-Israel associates and advisers:
We will – and we will encourage national organizations, elected officials, religious leaders, community groups and individuals to also – rally around bipartisan support for Israel while preventing Republican criticism of Obama from becoming a wedge issue in the upcoming campaign season. Join me in taking the “National Pledge for Unity on the Consensus That Obama Is Trying To Detonate the U.S.-Israel Alliance” — and sign our pledge.
And here’s one especially for the ADL, which can’t seem to help itself in attacking Evangelical Zionists who just happen to be conservatives. It’s a veritable obsession with them:
We will – and we will encourage national organizations, elected officials, religious leaders, community groups and individuals to – rally around bipartisan support for Israel while preventing evangelical support for Israel from becoming a wedge issue in the upcoming campaign season. Join me in taking the “National Pledge for Unity on the Need For and Moral Clarity of Christian Support” — and sign our pledge.
Hopefully, the relevant organizations will sign these pledges–for the sake of unity.
