Should Jews Worry about Barack Hussein Obama?

Let’s put to rest once and for all the false rumor that Barack Hussein Obama is a Moslem. He is not. There is no evidence that he has ever been a Moslem even though his father and paternal grandfather were. His mother and his maternal grandparents raised him. He did attend a Moslem school in Indonesia briefly after his mother, an atheist, married another Moslem. However, he also attended a Catholic school as a child. He has been a member of the United Church of Christ for over twenty years. He says he is a Christian and prays to Jesus “every night.” I take him at his word.

Jews do not need to worry that a Moslem may soon be President. However, Jews have plenty to be nervous about if Barack Hussein Obama is elected President. They should be concerned about his church membership, his financial backers, his advisors, and some of his public statements. Marc Zell in The Jerusalem Post on February 21, 2008, wrote the facts about Obama “should switch on a big red light in most peoples' minds.”

First, we have to look more closely at that Christian church, Trinity United Community Church, that he has belonged to for over twenty years. He joined it when he was a community organizer, and he was married there. Located in Chicago’s predominantly black Southside, its pastor is the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. Its motto is "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian" and has 8,000 members, making it the largest black church in Chicago and the largest church in the United Church of Christ. Wright will retire effective May 2008 and has been on sabbatical since February 10, 2008. His successor will be Rev. Otis Moss, III.

This pastor is a former member of the Nation of Islam and is famous for “his anti-Israel rants,” according to Ed Lasky in an American Thinker article. Wright traveled with Louis Farrakhan to Libya to meet with Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi who is a known Israel-hater. Libya has been a state sponsor of terrorism. Farrakhan was honored recently with the Trumpeter Award from the church’s magazine, edited by Wright’s daughter, and has endorsed Obama. For those who have forgotten, Louis Farrakhan named Judaism a “gutter religion” and Jews, “bloodsuckers.”

Wright has compared Israel to apartheid South Africa, advocating an embargo of business with Israeli firms. He has preached, “The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for almost 40 years now.” He has advocated a divestment program against Israel because of the "injustice and the racism under which the Palestinians have lived because of Zionism." Wright also has called blacks “the chosen people.” He blamed 9/11 on America’ support of the state of Israel.

The United Church of Christ itself has taken anti-Israel positions as well. Jews have been very vocal in their criticisms of the denomination’s proclamations on the subject.

Is it fair to criticize Obama for the words of his pastor and church? I believe it is. As Lasky asks, “If a white candidate belonged to a church where the minister promoted an anti-black, anti-Semitic theology he would be roundly subject to criticism. Why should Obama get a pass?”

Speaking of Wright, Obama called his pastor “his spiritual mentor, his moral compass and his sounding board.” Obama took the title of his autobiography, The Audacity of Hope, from a Wright sermon. If you want to understand where Barack gets his feeling and rhetoric from," says the Rev. Jim Wallis, a leader of the religious left, "just look at Jeremiah Wright." Trinity United Community Church receives the bulk of Obama’s charitable contributions. Furthermore, Obama has never publicly criticized the United Church of Christ’s positions on Israel, although he has been a frequent speaker at its national gatherings.

In politics, it is always wise to “follow the money.” In Obama’s case, it leads straight to multi-billionaire George Soros. He has proven to be a lucrative “sugar daddy” to Obama. Soros, his family members and associates have funneled funds to Obama’s campaigns since he first ran for the Illinois Senate. In the process, they have manipulated, if not outright violated, campaign finance laws. What attracted Soros to an unknown Illinois civil rights’ lawyer? On Meet the Press on Sunday, February 24, 2008, Ralph Nader criticized Obama for being "pro-Palestinian when he was in Illinois before he ran for the state Senate."

Why should Jews care if Soros funds Obama’s campaigns? Soros is rabidly anti-Israel. He has funded 527 groups that bash Israel. He has supported Hamas, calling for concessions to this terrorist group. This caused other Democrats to condemn Soros. He wants America to cease support of the state of Israel. Soros believes Jews and the Israel Lobby have too much power over America’s foreign policy.

Another financial support of Obama is former Knicks’ player Allan Houston. He called Jews "stubborn" and that they had "blood on their hands" because of the death of Jesus. Obama refused to return campaign contributions from a gathering held in Houston’s home, despite the protests of the American Jewish Congress.

Obama is also linked to William Ayers, now a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago but once a leader in the Weather Underground, which declared war on the United States in the Seventies. “Obama visited Ayers’ home as a rite of passage when launching his political career in the mid-1990s,” according to an article in The National Review. The two served on the board of the Woods Fund of Chicago, which gave money to Northwestern University Law School’s Children and Family Justice Center. Bernardine Dohrn, Ayers’ wife and former Weather Undergrounder, is its director. In Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning, author Jonah Goldberg states:
“Ayers is unrepentant about his years spent waging war against the United States. ‘Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home, kill your parents, that’s where it’s really at,’ Ayers was widely quoted as saying at the time.”

Tony Rezko, the Chicago developer and slumlord, has been Obama’s neighbor and a donor for years. He was instrumental in Obama’s purchase of his Chicago home for $300,000 less than market value. Rezko is under indictment for his financial dealings; his trial began on March 3, 2008.

Obama’s choice of foreign-policy advisers is another cause for grave concern for Jews. The Jerusalem Post is correct to point out that a candidate’s choice of advisers has proven to be a reliable predictor of what his policies will be if elected. Lasky asserts, Obama “has assembled a body of foreign policy advisers who signal that a President Obama would likely have an approach towards Israel radically at odds with those of previous Presidents (both Republican and Democrat).”

Obama’s foreign-policy team includes Anthony Lake, Susan Rice, Robert O. Malley, Mark Brzezenski, and Scott Lasensky. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Mark’s father, has met with Obama and advised the campaign as has Ivo Daalder and Samantha Power. Martin Peretz of The New Republic and an Obama supporter has written that most will be part of Obama’s transition team, if elected. Who are these people?

Lake and the elder Brzezenski were members of President Jimmy Carter’s administration. Carter, in recent years, has made several statements that blast Israel, comparing it to apartheid South Africa. Formerly with the Clinton administration, Lake is an “ambassador to the Arab-American community,” according to Lasky. Brzezenski is one of Israel’s staunchest foes. His condemnations of the state of Israel go back decades. He has been especially critical of the Israel Lobby and its influence on United States foreign policy. He advocates negotiations with Hamas, the terrorist group sworn to Israel’s destruction. Obama is on record calling for the same, and Brzezenski accompanied Obama to Iowa, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. His son Mark has called for establishing diplomatic ties with Iran.

Rice was John Kerry's chief foreign policy adviser during his presidential run and served in the Clinton administration. She recommended the appointment of James Baker and Jimmy Carter as Middle East negotiators. Both have been so critical of Israel’s positions that Kerry had to distance himself from them during his campaign.

Malley was on the negotiating team that met with P.L.O. leader Yasser Arafat at Camp David. Since then, Malley has co-authored a number of articles for the New York Review of Books with former Arafat adviser Hussein Agha, blaming Israel for the failures of the Camp David Accords. Malley has pro-Palestinian sentiments and has condemned Israel as a “colonial state.”

Scott Lasensky is another vocal critic of the “Israel Lobby.” He called for the inclusion of “Islamists and Hamas” in the peace process. He decried Jewish settlement dwellers as “obstructionists.” Lasensky has backed Brit Tzedek v’Shalom and Americans for Peace Now, two anti-Israel groups, according to Lasky.

Ivo Daalder, another Obama advisor, spoke off the record about Presidential candidates and Israel to The Financial Times: "The plain fact is there is no upside for candidates to challenge the prevailing assumptions about Israel. The best strategy is to win the White House and then change the debate."

Perhaps this is why Obama, referring to his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign, apologized to Electronic Intifada founder Ali Abunimah: “Hey, I’m sorry I haven’t said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race. I’m hoping when things calm down I can be more up front.” Abunimah is a proponent of the “one-state solution” to Middle East peace.

Daalder singled out two Jews, Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz, of “manipulating the levers of power to serve the interests of other countries.” He wants the U.S. to negotiate with Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran. He condemned Israel's bombing of Qana, where Hezbollah had missile batteries.

Samantha Power also believes the Israel Lobby has to lose power to cut America’s ties to Israel. She is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. She advised Obama on the crisis in Darfur. She believes the greatest threat to America will come from failed states such as Afghanistan, the Congo, and Sierra Leone.

Looking at these foreign policy advisors, Eric Trager in Commentary Magazine wrote, “Obama and his posse view American Jewry as a stumbling block in the way of promoting U.S. interests in the Middle East.”

Obama told Tim Russert on Meet the Press that support of Israel was "sacrosanct." He told 100 Jewish leaders in Cleveland that he had "an unshakable commitment to the security of Israel and the friendship between the United States and Israel." What other words has he spoken? What actions has he taken? Are they cause for concern for Jews? Readers can draw their own conclusions.

Obama is “proud of his pastor and his church,” according to the New York Times. When Soros was criticized for his support of Hamas, a campaign staffer quoted Obama, "Mr. Soros is entitled to his opinions."

As a freshman Senator, he has had a few opportunities to vote for bills of interest to Israel, such as foreign aid. When he has chosen to vote, he has supported most of them. "Senators Clinton, Obama, McCain and Governor Huckabee have demonstrated their support for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship," AIPAC president Howard Friedman wrote to Newsweek.

However, Obama has a penchant for voting “present” or being absent on critical votes to avoid controversy. An example of one such vote was a bill sent to the Senate from the House to name the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terror group. They have been involved in terror attacks around the world, including against Jews in Argentina and Americans in Iran. Obama was absent on the day the vote was taken, but he vigorously criticized those who voted for the bill afterwards.

Moreover, Obama submitted a bill to prohibit President Bush from taking military action against Iran if they continue their pursuit of nuclear weaponry. If Iran develops an atomic bomb, Israel is its primary target. He has called for a ban on the use of cluster bombs, which Israel uses in its defense against Hezbollah’s attacks from Lebanon.

Obama acknowledges, "The biggest threat to Israel today comes from Iran.” Still, he says, “The time has come to talk directly to the Iranians.” Iran’s president has called the Jews "filthy bacteria" and desires to “annihilate Israel.”

In 2000, when Palestinians started the Second Intifada after Camp David, Obama called for an “even-handed approach” to the conflict. Obama wants "an honest discussion about ways to bridge the gap that grows between Muslims and the West," according to a Paris Match interview on January 31, 2008. According to Obama, "Nobody has suffered more than the Palestinian people."

Obama has made it clear that he expects Israel to make more concessions to the Palestinians. He opposes Israel’s building a wall to protect her people. At the same time, he has said negotiations with Palestinian leadership, which includes Hamas, are needed. Furthermore, Obama has called for “a Muslim world summit.” He has said, “I think there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt an unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel, then you’re anti-Israel, and that can’t be the measure of our friendship with Israel…” and “It is possible that my level of understanding will allow me to conduct better diplomacy in the Arab world.”

Obama has opposed the Iraq War from the beginning. He called our foreign policy in the Middle East " all bluster and saber-rattling and continued mistakes.”

Obama praised Reverend Al Sharpton as “a voice for the voiceless, and a voice for the dispossessed.” This was when Sharpton’s National Action Network was organizing a march against Jewish-owned Freddy's Fashion Mart in New York. During it, picketers and Sharpton himself “repeatedly screamed epithets about ‘bloodsucking Jews’ and ‘Jew bastards.’”

The Jerusalem Post wrote, “Barack's problematic and unrecanted public statements and associations raise enough serious questions that should cause Jewish voters and friends of Israel to think twice about supporting him in November.” I report. You decide.

Sources:

Marc Zell, “Obama and the Jews,” The Jerusalem Post, February 21, 2008 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1203589810710&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

Ben Wallace-Wells, “Destiny’s Child,” The Rolling Stone, February 22, 2008 http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/13390609/campaign_08_the_radical_roots_of_barack_obama

Wikipedia, “Jeremiah Wright”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Wright

Allison Kaplan Sommer, “’I Am Not A Muslim’: Obama Woes the Jews,” Pajamas Media, February 27, 2008. http://pajamasmedia.com/2008/02/i_am_not_a_muslim_obama_woos_t.php

Jonah Goldberg, “Radicals Never Say Sorry,” The National Review, February 28, 2008 http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZGJiYzMzNjY3NTlhNzI4MDFkMjAzOTI1ODY3OGI5MDk=&w=MQ==

Jonathan Weisman, “Obama Rebuffs Challenges on His Israel Stance,” The Washington Post, February 28, 2008
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/27/AR2008022703512_2.html?nav=rss_politics&sid=ST2008022703658

Lynn Sweet, “Still Something to Explain,” Chicago Sun Times, February 25, 2008
http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/811251,CST-NWS-sweet25.article

Martin Peretz, “Can Friends of Israel-and Jews-Trust Obama?,” The New Republic, January 31, 2008
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=6bd11ed5-bf80-44a0-b683-a0563e11ab89

Michael Hirsh and Dan Ephron, “Good for the Jews?,” Newsweek, March 3, 2008
http://www.newsweek.com/id/114723

Eric Trager, “Obama and American Jews,” Commentary Magazine, January 29, 2008
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/trager/2123

Ed Lasky, “Barack Obama and Israel,” American Thinker, January 16, 2008
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/barack_obama_and_israel.html