Jewish Democrats have been trying to sound two themes simultaneously this year. On the one hand they have been saying what they have repeated for the past few election cycles: that Israel is not a major issue for most Jewish voters and that their party — and its presidential candidate — has nothing to worry about in the fall. Yet out of the other side of their mouths come equally fervent assertions claiming Barack Obama is Israel’s best friend ever to sit in the White House and that those who observed the endless fights he picked with the Jewish state during his first three years in office should not pay any attention to the man behind the curtain. While the claim about Obama’s status as Israel’s buddy is risible, it’s true that the majority of Jews will vote for the Democrats no matter what the Obama administration has done — or might do in a second term.
But though the discussion about the implications of the administration’s attitude toward Israel on the Jewish vote is not without substance, the issue may have far greater implications for an entirely different demographic: evangelical Christians. Support for Israel is a key issue for many religious conservatives and with Mitt Romney needing to be assured that this generally reliable Republican voting group will turn out in force for him in November, the GOP candidate is making it clear that the next administration will look and sound very different on the Middle East. That was the message Romney was sending yesterday when he told the Faith and Freedom Coalition, an evangelical Christian group, that he would do the “opposite” of Obama on Israel. The loud applause he garnered for his statements showed that there is an eager audience for a strong Republican stand on Israel even if those interested in hearing it aren’t Jewish.
Romney cut straight to the heart of the most important current issue for the U.S.-Israel alliance: Iran.
You look at his policies with regards to Iran. He’s almost sounded like he’s more frightened that Israel might take military action than he’s concerned that Iran might become nuclear.
Though President Obama has also stated that he will not accept or be content to “contain” a nuclear Iran, Romney is right when he notes that America’s priority has been to try to deter Israel so that a dead-end diplomatic process will not be disrupted.
He also complained that Obama’s public spats with Israel’s government have undermined the alliance and vowed that any disagreements between the two countries would be conducted in private on his watch.
But perhaps overarching is this: I would not want to show a dime’s worth of distance between ourselves and our allies like Israel. If we have disagreements, you know, we can talk about them behind closed doors. But to the world, you show that we’re locked arm-in-arm.”
Though this is exactly what many Jews want to hear from the Republican, it may have far more traction with evangelicals who see the administration’s lukewarm attitude toward Israel as part of a raft of religious issues on which they feel the president is wanting. That’s why Romney used the same speech to denounce the administration’s attempt to force the Catholic Church to pay for services their faith opposes as part of what he rightly decried as the administration’s war “our first freedom, religious freedom.”
Romney needs a huge turnout of evangelicals — a group that often fails to maximize its numbers at the polls — this fall if he is to beat President Obama. As conservatives work to register and mobilize conservative Christians, expect to hear more about Israel from Romney. It may be that most Jews don’t care if Romney is more sympathetic to the Jewish state, but support for Israel is an issue that a great many Christians believe is a deal breaker.
The majority of left-wing Jews are similar to their counterparts in Protestantism and Catholicism. They have bought into the naive belief that the Western world is better off by embracing appeasement policies towards its existential enemies. The Palestinians only need some warmth and understanding and everything will be fine in the Middle East. Evangelical Protestants instinctively reject these absurd notions.
"As conservatives work to register and mobilize conservative Christians, expect to hear more about Israel from Romney." nAnd expect to hear more and more from the secularized self appointed leaders of the Jewish community about how dangerous Romeny must be if he wants or received support from the dread bogey man (excuse me, bogey person) Christian Right.
Abortion and gay marriage are the issues of great interests to avowed secularists—Jewish and non-Jewish. Many of these people voted for politicians that have hurt their economic interests. The odds dramatically favor Mitt Romney if they finally wake up and cease ignoring this harsh fact.
1st response eaten by the Machine. let's try again: n nyou are 100% right about this. I'm on the email list for the NJDC, the National Jewish Democratic Committee, and every week I get an e-newsletter with stories about Romney's awfulness. they also of course include stories about all the wonderful things Obama has done for Israel. it's just such a crock. I hope my fellow co-religionists are not buying this.
As a liberal Jewish voter that supports Obama's domestic policies, I have switched sides from Obama to Romney because I care about Israel. Aside from the major issue of Iran, and the pressure against Israel, is the very important change of policy about borders for Israel. Before Obama the US held that Israel's border was to be decided in negotiations. It was understood that at a minimum Israel would keep the Western Wall, the Jewish Quarter, and other areas even without any land swap. Now Obama holds the 67 lines should be the starting point of negotiations. Aside from nuking Israel (G-d forbid) there is no greater way of throwing Israel under the bus.
as a Jew who converted to Christianity at age 40, I am often frustrated by the liberal Jewish reaction to evangelicals. "they only care about Israel because they think it has something to do with their crazy end-times beliefs," people have told me. n nthere's a great deal of suspicion on the part of even pro-Israel Jews toward Christians, and I think it's a shame. I mean, I get it: Christianity doesn't have the greatest record vis a vis Judaism. but it's the 21st century now; there are other challenges. n nAmerican Jews would do well to remember our Middle Eastern forefathers' saying: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Jews and Christians should be partnering against the real enemy–radical Islam.
The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily a "friend"–just an ally of convenience. The source isn't Jewish for the sentiment–Jewish forefathers didn't say this necessarily, it's thought to be an Arabic or Chinese saying. n nIn Exodus chapter 23:22, HaShem said: n nI will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. n nWhich isn't the same thing as saying hey we share a mutual beef with that other guy so let's work together. Rather it is a Divine promise to bless the children of Israel if they follow the divine guidance of his messenger.. It is a pledge of protection in exchange for fealty and right conduct. I am skeptical that a healthy spiritual understanding that parallels the depth of your own commitment expressed through baptism can be reached between American Jews and Americans sharing in the fellowship of Christ based on mutual enmity towards somebody else. n n
The Evangelical leadership are quite advanced in their understanding of Israel’s unique position in the world. They also understand the ramifications of a nuclear armed Iran.
So why then do our president and sec’y of state not get it. With Egypt going MB, who in their right mind think American and EU money and time would be best served at this horrific time hosting a summit between Netanyahu and Abbas. Clinton has to be a dolt. Hiliary listen, Oslo is dead. Besides, it was built on the foundation of The Israel/Egypt Peace Treaty. What value does it have today?
Barak made a statement demanding Egypt end the attacks from Sinai. I urge Jerusalem to re-take the Sinai, as absolutely soon as possible. That will have the benefit of securing Gaza at the same time.
Israel is building a fence between Sinai and south Israel. They do not want to make huge strategic offensive moves. Not against Hamas in Gaza, not against Abbas on the West Bank, not to fill the vacuum in Sinai. They prefer right now to play proactive defense. And with the new military decrees in Egypt nullifying Parliament and clipping the Egyptian President's wings an MB takeover may not be imminent, whether or not that offends the President or Hillary or the Department of State.
Well, New York remains a blue state in any event. California probably so. Where do the tiny percentage of American who are Jewish matter at all? Florida? Is Jersey in play? About 40 percent of the world Jewish population equals out to 2.1% of the American population. Nervous (and anti-Semitic) goys obsess over Jewish neo-con power but numbers tell. & a lot of the big Jewish $$$ seems mostly liberal-Hollygay anyways, not to mention Soros. Do Wall Street Jews care about Israel?
Somehow, and for reasons which no one really understands, the Jewish vote is very significant and influential in American politics. It's not the numbers, obviously. n nI believe it's the powerful positions that many Jews have achieved in U.S. society–academics, corporate executives, writers, critics, television and movie producers. n nThe evangelicals are not a welcome group in liberal Jewish circles; they're considered backward, unscientific, anti-birth control, and let's admit it, anti-Semitic up until very recently when they decided Israel was being abandoned by the West. n nBut here they are, and I for one welcome their support. They are not my enemies; I know some of them and they're good people, yes a bit anti-science, but that's an old American tradition. Romney would do well to court these people without caving to their more extreme views. He needs to win the center, too.
U need to get an education.
Most American Jews want to protect their dhimmi status at any cost even if it damages Israel. Many do not care.
Most Christian evangelicals have read what Christians call the Old Testament and Jews call the Torah and the Tanakh. They have become aware because of leaders like Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham that Christianity is a continuation of Judaism. It is not inaccurate to describe Christianity, in its early stages, as a Jewish sect which outgrew its parent. The idea of a Messiah is a Jewish idea articulated most clearly in the book of Isaiah. Christians believe that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. Jews don't. Christ, a Jew, said he was come to fulfill the law not change the law. And the law he was talking about was Jewish law. Names like Judea and Samaria and Galilee are very familiar to Bible reading Christians. They are, probably, more intensely aware of the historical ties of Jews to Israel than many secularized Jews. They are aware that the first Christians were nearly all Jews. They tend to see any claim that Jews have no claim to the land that was historically Israel as simply absurd on its face. I point out these facts because many Jews do not understand that there is depth to the Evangelical Christian loyalty to Israel. It is a land whose ancient origins they have studied. They feel a kinship with it. If this is so, one might ask, why was there so much anti-Semitism coming from the Medieval church? A short, and not really sufficient answer is that people in the Middle Ages didn't know how to read and did not read the Bible. Their familiarity with the Bible was through priests and other learned persons. There were, of course, many other factors, one of which was the idea often called "replacement" theology which theorized that Christians had become the inheritors of the promises God made to the Jews and replaced them in His favor. This is a pernicious idea that has been resurrected and is popular among leftist and some Arab Christians now. The theological issues may seem arcane and silly to those no accustomed to caring about theology, but they are important to Evangelical Christians and even many non-Evangelical Christians. I am not an Evangelical Christian, but I lead what might be called a bible study class at my mainline Protestant church. One of my students said to me, well into reading the Old Testament, that he had come to the shocking awareness that the God we Christians worship is a Jewish God. That is indeed the case. And that awareness begins to affect what we think about Israel.