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Special Comment: There is literally nothing that neo-conservative Republicans aren’t wrong about when it comes to Israel

From time to time I’ll post a comment as an article, either by request, or because something happened and made the comment unavailable. In this case, the seed this comment belongs on was taken down by the community; a link to “American Thinker” for a story titled “Kill the Jews, Save the World“. With a title like that it’s surprising that the seed remained up since October 10th. The first blockquote belongs to the seeder, to which I respond thusly:

Obama and the American left are a clear and present threat to the security of American Jews

This neo-conservative garbage has been debunked time and time again:

A new survey of American Jewish opinion, released by the American Jewish Committee, demonstrates several important propositions: (1) right-wing neocons (the Bill Kristol/Commentary/ AIPAC/Marty Peretz faction) who relentlessly claim to speak for Israel and for Jews generally hold views that are shared only by a small minority of American Jews; (2) viewpoints that are routinely demonized as reflective of animus towards Israel or even anti-Semitism are ones that are held by large majorities of American Jews; and (3) most American Jews oppose U.S. military action in the Middle East — including both in Iraq and against Iran.

It is beyond dispute that American Jews overwhelmingly oppose core neoconservative foreign policy principles. Hence, in large numbers, they disapprove of the way the U.S. is handling its “campaign against terrorism” (59-31); overwhelmingly believe the U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq (67-27); believe that things are going “somewhat badly” or “very badly” in Iraq (76-23); and believe that the “surge” has either made things worse or has had no impact (68-30).

And here’s the kicker for the rabid warmongers:

When asked whether they would support or oppose the United States taking military action against Iran, a large majority — 57-35% — say they would oppose such action, even if it were being undertaken “to prevent [Iran] from developing nuclear weapons.”

On American Jews overwhelmingly trusting Barack Obama, roughly this time last year:

Jewish voters nationwide have grown increasingly comfortable with voting for Barack Obama for president since the Illinois senator secured the Democratic nomination in June. They now favor Obama over John McCain by more than 3 to 1, 74% to 22%. . .

The current proportion of U.S. Jews backing Obama is identical to the level of support the Democratic ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards received in the 2004 presidential election (74%)

Not only did American Jews trust and prefer Obama’s stance on Israel over that of McCain – the latter of which largely represents the views on this page, the need for preemptive war that is roundly rejected by American Jews – they did so with both John Kerry and John Edwards of George W. Bush.

American Jews are largely liberals and Democrats. They overwhelmingly vote Democratic and are one of Barack Obama’s strongest bases of support. They, like most other Americans, believe that the welfare of their own country — the United States — ought to come first and foremost, not the welfare of a foreign nation.

Want more?

The University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes — the premiere organization for surveying international public opinion — released a new survey a couple of weeks ago regarding public opinion on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, including opinion among American citizens, and this is what it found:

A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of 18 countries finds that in 14 of them people mostly say their government should not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Just three countries favor taking the Palestinian side (Egypt, Iran, and Turkey) and one is divided (India). No country favors taking Israel’s side, including the United States, where 71 percent favor taking neither side.

I really could go on and on about how completely backwards the right’s views towards Israel are when compared to what American Jews and Americans in general think and feel. There are many instances when even neo-conservatives believe themselves more “on the side” of Israel than actual Israelis are when it comes to the war in Gaza and peace talks with Hamas.

It’s impossible to understate how far out on the fringe people like DanaR are when it comes to Israel, in complete disagreement with nearly 3-in-4 Americans and nearly as many American Jews about how the U.S. should behave towards Israel.

The far right believes there is no middle ground between Jews and Palestinians, but 71% of Americans disagree and want even-handed treatment. The far right thinks that Barack Obama represents a threat to American Jews, but 74% of American Jews voted for him and clearly disagree.

Is there anything the right isn’t wrong about?

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