I accuse obama of antisemitisim against arabs

[NYBURBS]

The bottom line is that it is political suicide for any American Politician to go against Israel. Its a shame that such a young & tiny country would have so much influence over us, but thats the way its been for the last 60 years and thats the way its going to stay.

So you live in Hymietown New York ? Now I think I get the resentment. Stay strong, whatever's wrong with your life, I'm sure you'll get through it.

I think the resentment referred to is because you do not see our politicians so feverishly pledging their support to any other nation as much as they do Israel. You don't turn on the TV and see such and such candidate stating that they are ardent supporters of Canada or England. Even Obama had a section of his website dedicated to his support of Israel.

I will not try to argue against the notion that some resent this because they dislike Jews to begin with. Yet I think one could resent this for other logical reasons, such as our politicians should not pledge a loyalty to anything but our own Nation and its interests.

From:
http://origin.barackobama.com/issues...licy/#onisrael
On Israel

* Ensure a Strong U.S.-Israel Partnership: Barack Obama and Joe Biden strongly support the U.S.-Israel relationship, believe that our first and incontrovertible commitment in the Middle East must be to the security of Israel, America's strongest ally in the Middle East. They support this closeness, stating that that the United States would never distance itself from Israel.
* Support Israel's Right to Self Defense: During the July 2006 Lebanon war, Barack Obama stood up strongly for Israel's right to defend itself from Hezbollah raids and rocket attacks, cosponsoring a Senate resolution against Iran and Syria's involvement in the war, and insisting that Israel should not be pressured into a ceasefire that did not deal with the threat of Hezbollah missiles. He and Joe Biden believe strongly in Israel's right to protect its citizens.
* Support Foreign Assistance to Israel: Barack Obama and Joe Biden have consistently supported foreign assistance to Israel. They defend and support the annual foreign aid package that involves both military and economic assistance to Israel and have advocated increased foreign aid budgets to ensure that these funding priorities are met. They have called for continuing U.S. cooperation with Israel in the development of missile defense systems.

PS- About the other issue, the semantics over what is an anti-Semite is a little out of control. The usage is clear and deals with Jews, even if others are technically included in the group.

[broncofan]

It's an issue that gets exploited by both parties. McCain says he wants to "prevent another Holocaust", and Obama says he's "strong on Israel." It reminds me of when some Republican congressman from Wyoming was on the Bill Maher show and said, "nobody has more gays than us" at which point the audience laughed at this man's attempt to establish his bonafides.

Hey we even saw Joe the Plumber get in on the action and say that a vote for Obama would be a vote for the death of Israel. Why do they make it an issue in their campaigns (and furthermore use laughable hyperbole)? Well cause there are Jewish populations in Florida and New York that they wanted to capture I guess and they felt there was nobody in the electorate they would alienate by being pro-Israel. In other words, 3% of people care a lot about that issue and might be influenced by the rhetoric, and 97% is indifferent. If being pro-Guatemala could capture a risk-free 2% of the votes and the opposing view could lose those votes, we'd hear viva Guatemala quite frequently.

I don't protest your analogy about Britain and Canada except to say that they're allies of us that don't face nearly the same existential threat. That's not to say that if they did, it would be just as much of an issue. I'm just saying that it's a complex issue that transcends the usual theories. There are some who say that Israel is just as an outpost to advance U.S interests in the region. Do I think that's effective? No, I'd prefer we stay out of the region altogether and invest in alternative energy. But I just love how some people think Israel is more of an influence on our policy than energy interests.

The last thing I want to say is, if being anti-Israel destroyed a politicians career then how do we explain Pat Buchanan? He's a marginal figure now, but he's not just anti-Israel, but anti-Mexican, anti-black, and anti-gay. That's perhaps a bridge too far. But he's on tv every week and is pretty mainstream.

[Ackbar]

Chefmike is right. Arabs are semites, but antisemitism means hatred of Jews.

The recently deceased Dr. Alfred Lilienthal, (who was a jew) wrote the following statement on anti-Semitism; "It used to be than an antisemite was anyone who hates Jews, but unfortunately today...an antisemite is anyone whom Jews hate."