Justin Elliott: Obama's Israel Shuffle

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2008/01/obamas-israel-shuffle.html

Last week, when Barack Obama became the first major candidate to break the silence on the situation in Gaza, he didn't criticize Israel, whose blockade of a civilian population has been roundly condemned by human rights organizations, nor did he call for restraint from the United States' top ally in the Mideast. Instead, he fired off a letter to U.N. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad with a resounding message—one that could have been mistaken for words straight from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) website. "The Security Council should clearly and unequivocally condemn the rocket attacks against Israel.… If it cannot...I urge you to ensure that it does not speak at all," Obama wrote, adding he understood why Israel was "forced" to shut down Gaza's border crossings.

The letter was notable not only because Obama had distinguished himself from the rest of the field (John McCain later sent a similar letter to Condoleezza Rice), but also because it was a far cry from the Obama of last March, who let slip a rare expression of compassion for Palestinians by an American politician: "Nobody's suffering more than the Palestinian people" he famously said at a small gathering in Iowa. What ensued in the 10 months between then and now is an object lesson in the intense pressure under which presidential candidates stake out ground on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the extraordinary effectiveness of the self-styled "pro-Israel" movement. This high-pressured atmosphere goes a long way to explaining why the candidate with the most liberal foreign policy views went out of his way to take a hard line on Gaza.


Ali Abunimah said much the same thing on DemocracyNow! last week.

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/24/where_do_the_presidential_contenders_stand

ALI ABUNIMAH: I don’t know if they’ve been asked in a debate, but whenever they have been asked, they have all gone out of their way to express full support for what Israel is doing. Barack Obama is not distinguished from the rest of the pack, except by for how far he has moved to try to appease AIPAC and pro-Israel movements. I remember, Amy—I knew Barack Obama for many years as my state senator—when he used to attend events in the Palestinian community in Chicago all the time.

One ounce of faint support for Palestinian rights, then AIPAC grumbles, then they snap right back into the same, sad dogma that has been a part of American politics for 60 years now. A remarkably similar thing happens in regards to the Cuban embargo and the Floria exile community, although that is finally starting to crack a small bit.

For once though, this isn't something to lay on Obama alone. They all do it, Republican and Democrat alike.

at least according to another thread here. Israel is an important issue for Kristol, and I don't think that he'd mention favorably any candidate who didn't take a hawkish stance.

Just sayin'.

any sort of sanity on the "war on drugs", same thing.