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Jewish backing for Obama good for Israel
Jerusalem Post ^ | 11-8-12 | ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ

Posted on 11/08/2012 5:36:08 AM PST by SJackson

Let us all now join together in helping Obama in his efforts to assure Israel’s security.

President Barack Obama won reelection by a significant majority of the electoral college. The Jewish, pro-Israel Democratic vote helped him in Florida, Ohio and even Virginia, but he might have won at least some of those battleground states without Jewish support.

Even those Jews who berated Democrats like me for supporting President Obama’s reelection, must now realize that our support for the president will be good for Israel over the next four years. Recall what former Secretary of State James Baker, who served under the first George Bush, reportedly said in the early 1990s: “F––– the Jews, they don’t vote for us.”

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Well that’s no longer true. Today, Jews vote for both parties. Nobody is ignoring us. Every rational candidate knows that they and their party must earn our votes in every election.

This is not to suggest that Jews as a group are single issue voters.

Most Jews care deeply about Israel’s security – as distinguished from Israel’s settlement policies. They also care deeply about social and economic issues. The difference is that most Americans, regardless of religion, are united in support of Israel’s security, but divided about social and economic issues. It is critically important that support for Israel’s security remains a bipartisan issue, and never becomes a wedge issue that divides voters along party lines, as it has in some European countries.

It is true that there is more division about Israel’s security within the Democratic Party than within the Republican Party.

More Democrats than Republicans oppose Israel on a wide range of matters, as was evident by the loud booing from some delegates to the Democratic Convention when the Democratic Party changed their platform to include a positive reference to Jerusalem.

I, and other Jewish Democrats, helped to get that change made, just as we repeatedly helped to marginalize those anti-Israel elements within the Democratic Party.

The fact that those anti-Israel Democrats are trying to use their influence against Israel is a good reason why Jewish Democratic supporters of Israel must remain within the Democratic Party to keep fighting the good fight, just as Jewish Republican supporters of Israel fought the good fight against Patrick Buchanan and other right wing Israel-bashers within the Republican Party.

Barack Obama will be the president of the United States for the next four years. That is the reality. It is also the reality that I and others who support him will have his ear over the next four years.

We will not always agree with every position he takes on Israel, and he will not always agree with every bit of advice we offer him.

That is the nature of democracy and governance.

But it is a good thing that he was reelected with significant Jewish, pro-Israel support. And it is a good thing that support for Israel’s security remained a bipartisan issue, and that President Obama’s reelection is not seen as referendum over support for Israel. A referendum that Israel would have lost if some Jewish supporters of Israel had been successful in turning this election into a false litmus test over Israel.

Israeli political leaders should not try to influence the outcome of American elections, any more than American political leaders should try to influence the outcomes of Israeli elections. Both nations, steeped in the traditions of contentious democracy, should elect leaders who serve the interests of their people. In my opinion, the interests of both Americans and Israelis are well served by a strong and enduring alliance between two great democracies that have common interests in a peaceful and secure resolution of the Middle East conflicts than endanger the region and the world.

Let us all now join together in helping President Obama in his efforts to assure Israel’s security, to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and to help bring about a secure peace between Israel and the Palestinians.


TOPICS: Editorial; Israel; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: dershowitz; election; israel; obama
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1 posted on 11/08/2012 5:36:10 AM PST by SJackson
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

2 posted on 11/08/2012 5:37:13 AM PST by SJackson (none of this suggests there are hostile feelings for the US in Egypt, Victoria Nuland, State Dept)
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To: SJackson

Dershowitz is delusional. Typical collaborator.


3 posted on 11/08/2012 5:38:59 AM PST by headstamp 2 (What would Scooby do?)
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To: SJackson
Let us all now join together in helping Obama in his efforts to assure Israel’s security.

LOL! That was the best one-liner I have heard in a long time!

4 posted on 11/08/2012 5:39:46 AM PST by Thane_Banquo
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To: SJackson

is this for real? Doesn’t this guy know that Obama is a Moslem and Moslems hate Jews? Unbelievable!! I thought the article was sarcasm at first. So sad - what a wake up call Dershowitz has coming.


5 posted on 11/08/2012 5:40:30 AM PST by stonehouse01 (Equal rights for unborn women)
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To: SJackson

Talk about being a flip flopper!


6 posted on 11/08/2012 5:41:26 AM PST by pietraynor (Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. Ronald Reagan)
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To: SJackson

Netanyahu knows better than Dershowitz. Obama is setting up Israel’s destruction. That and the birth of the World Caliphate are the guiding principles of the Arab Spring.


7 posted on 11/08/2012 5:43:53 AM PST by RoosterRedux (Obama: "If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.")
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To: SJackson

“They cry Peace, Peace, when there is no peace.”


8 posted on 11/08/2012 5:43:59 AM PST by circlecity
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To: SJackson
It is also the reality that I [Dershowitz] and others who support him will have his ear over the next four years.

It is well-known that Obama 'does NOT listen' .... he is cold, distant, rarely meets even with the Democrats. He is PRO-Muslim .... not by his words, but by his ACTIONS which is even worse. Dershowitz and his fellow Jews who "care" so much for Israel have signed her death warrant. 6 million Jews left to swing in the wind before Islamists who have stated they want Israel wiped off the map. The telephone won't be answered when it rings & the door will be barred ..... the Butcher of Benghazi doesn't need American Jews any more - he's in for 4 more and can do what he pleases. The mask will will be off the Muslim wolf who already has blood on his hands ... now Mr. Dershowitz, you are going to have Israeli blood on yours.

9 posted on 11/08/2012 5:45:47 AM PST by MissMagnolia ("It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains" - Patrick Henry)
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To: SJackson

....And what has he been smoking?


10 posted on 11/08/2012 6:07:05 AM PST by Biggirl ("Jesus talked to us as individuals"-Jim Vicevich/Thanks JimV!)
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To: MissMagnolia

The good news is that Israel has support from a much greater and higher power who will take care of those who oppose her.


11 posted on 11/08/2012 6:08:37 AM PST by Biggirl ("Jesus talked to us as individuals"-Jim Vicevich/Thanks JimV!)
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To: RoosterRedux

...Which will set the stage for the anti-Christ.


12 posted on 11/08/2012 6:10:09 AM PST by Biggirl ("Jesus talked to us as individuals"-Jim Vicevich/Thanks JimV!)
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To: Biggirl
Absolutely.

And I am still not convinced that's not Obama (he is after all...the most arrogant man in the world).

13 posted on 11/08/2012 6:19:20 AM PST by RoosterRedux (Obama: "If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.")
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To: Biggirl

Exactly.


14 posted on 11/08/2012 6:20:00 AM PST by MissMagnolia ("It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains" - Patrick Henry)
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To: MissMagnolia
The mask will will be off the Muslim wolf who already has blood on his hands

Yep.

It'll take a little while for this electoral victory to sink in, but once it does, Obama's ego will shift into overdrive.

And yes...he will reveal his pride in his muslim faith.

15 posted on 11/08/2012 6:24:02 AM PST by RoosterRedux (Obama: "If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.")
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To: SJackson

They are the eggs to be broken, but they never seem to catch on.


16 posted on 11/08/2012 6:25:11 AM PST by LucianOfSamasota (Tanstaafl - its not just for breakfast anymore...)
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To: SJackson

Thanks for your opinion professor, but I’ll wait until I hear from Jews who actually live in Israel and not on the upper east side if you don’t mind.


17 posted on 11/08/2012 6:34:57 AM PST by skeeter
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To: stonehouse01
The Dersh is a liberal.

They spend their entire lives in dream world, they don't wake up.

18 posted on 11/08/2012 6:39:54 AM PST by IMR 4350
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To: SJackson

Israel is on its own now. A Palestinian state with no security for Israel is going to inevitably lead to war in the Middle East. We all know what the left won’t admit - the muzzies will settle for nothing less than the destruction of Israel. Israel may have to do the unthinkable and use nukes.


19 posted on 11/08/2012 6:47:58 AM PST by doug from upland (I don't like RINOs, but I love my country more than I hate Romney...Muslim marxist, get out!)
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To: SJackson

dumbshowitz... no... Heaven knows not that name.

LLS


20 posted on 11/08/2012 6:49:15 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (OUR GOVERNMENT AND PRESS ARE NO LONGER TRUSTWORTHY OR DESERVING OF RESPECT!)
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