Barney Frank said WHAT?

As a follow up to my last post, in which I was wondering if American Jewish voters fundamentally disagreed with Israeli Jews on the right of Israel to defend itself, we have yesterday's comments from none other than Bumbling Barney Frank:

“Once you have a combat situation and innocent people die, I mean, you know, look at our problems in Afghanistan, and we have an obligation to try and avoid it.”

Innocent people die? Really? It seems pretty obvious from the video that the Israeli soldiers acted in self defense. It was the sixth boat they had boarded that day, and no shots were fired on the other five. Israel has a right to prevent the re-arming of Hamas. That Barney Frank would not understand the dynamic is astonishing. That the Obama administration would not support Israel at the UN is just a disgrace.

Barney Frank is Jewish, which speaks to my profound confusion as to why US Jews support President Obama’s anti-Israel policies. From the standpoint of Obama, his policies regarding Israel are completely consistent with his statements and previous actions. I do not wonder what Obama is doing, he has been clear: Israel is at fault for tensions in the mid-east, and will be punished accordingly. What I don’t understand is why US Jews such as Barney Frank support those policies.

Helen Thomas: Get the hell out of Palestine and go back to Germany & Poland!

Israel on the brink

Thanks to misguided foreign policy decisions by the Obama administration, Israel finds itself isolated and on the brink of war. The path from President Obama’s election to this point has been fairly clear since well before the 2008 election, with Obama’s lack of commitment to our mid-east ally well documented. With US Jews supporting Obama with 77% of their votes in the election, the question arises: did US Jews really intend to put Israel on the path to destruction, or did they just not realize who they were voting for? Either way is scary.

The November 2010 elections will answer the question. If US Jews support the Democrats in large numbers as usual, it will be clear that there is a huge divide between Israel and its diaspora in the US, and that US Jews are ready to sacrifice territory (Israel) for the sake of ‘peace’ with Muslims. If US Jews switch in large numbers to the Republicans, who are staunch supporters of Israel, it will be clear that US Jews just fundamentally mis-judged Barak Obama.

Unfortunately, events have been put in motion that are likely to come to a dramatic flash-point before the November elections. Israel’s enemies are emboldened by Obama’s weak support for Israel, but they know the clock is ticking, and need to move NOW, while they have an ally in the White House, to crush the Jewish state. My bet is that Israel will be at war on multiple fronts by September, and will be fighting alone, without the support of the US government, probably with and against nuclear weapons. The flotilla attempting to run the Gaza arms blockade may just be the trip wire, but if not, it will be something else that causes the Mideast meltdown.

I hope that’s the outcome US Jews were hoping for from the 2008 election, because that’s what is coming. And it was clear then for anyone paying attention that the election of Barrak Hussein Obama would not be a good thing for Israel. For Unions, tort lawyers, and Wall Street yes, for Israel no.

Author: Mark