NY-9 and Obama's "Anti-Israel" Politics

I guess Israel was a significant factor in the Republican victory in the race for Anthony Weiner's House seat.  Ed Koch made some serious statements about the Democrats' lack of support for Israel, and in this heavily orthodox Jewish district, that might have made a difference (along with a weak Democratic candidate, a bad economy, and a recent state assembly vote in favor of gay marriage by the Democrat).

The result is worrisome for Democrats.  It seems that Obama has been successfully tarred as an Israel-hater by many in the Jewish community.  I think this is driven by the neocons, who have lots of reasons to oppose Obama, but it has seeped into the rest of the community.

Now I yield to nobody in my own support of Israel.  I've traveled there three times, I speak a little Hebrew, and I'm a fervent Zionist.  It's my favorite place on Earth.

And I've got to tell you: Obama is not anti-Israel.  He's just not.  Military cooperation is as strong as it's ever been.  Aid is flowing as generously as ever.  The US is about to veto a Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN.  The list goes on.

Yes, the President has made mistakes; he has dealt naively with the situation at times.  His criticism of West Bank settlements, while appropriate at some level, was clumsy and did not advance peace.  But to call him anti-Israel is just silly.

I guess you can say that Republicans are more pro-Israel than Democrats, if you define pro-Israel as blindly supporting whatever that country does.  I don't think that serves Israel very well.  Netanyahu clearly can't stand Obama, but it should be kept in mind that the two are on opposite ends of the political spectrum.  Obama's counterpart in Israel is really Tzipi Livni, not Netanyahu- she's the leader of the more liberal party, and she has encouraged Obama to speak out. 

Feels like a losing battle in traditional Jewish public opinion.  But the truth is that Obama's policies are better for Israel than Bush's were.

UPDATE- Links: This Tom Friedman op-ed makes the point that Israel's government has been squandering opportunities for the past several years, giving the US nothing to work with.  Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper, urges Netanyahu to engage with Abbas and the Palestinian Authority. A Haaretz news story points out that the Obama administration is working hard to stop the PA from winning a UN vote for statehood.