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The Spectacle Blog
A story my father likes to tell: It’s the 60s, during his years in college in Chicago, and he’s with his parents in Highland Park, Illinois for a High Holiday service at Congregation Solel (where I would become a bar mitzvah a few decades later). The rabbi announces from the bema that he will not be paying the portion of his taxes that pay for the Vietnam War. My grandfather bursts out laughing, and turns to his son to explain that the IRS would most likely end up taking more from the rabbi than they would if he’d paid his taxes on time and in full.
The rabbi was Arnold Wolf, who would later invite the Chicago Seven to speak at the temple (a costly decision — the wealthiest member of the congregation, part of the prominent Pritzker family, responded by quitting and withdrawing his generous financial support). I bring this up because of reports of Obama asserting that he probably knows more about Judaism than any other president, and wondering why people question his support for Israel, and not John Boehner’s or Mitch McConnell’s, when he had so many Jewish friends in Chicago. Bill Kristol has an apt response to this, and John Podhoretz expounds upon how preposterous his boast about his knowledge is. But what neither of them focus on is who exactly Obama’s Jewish friends in Chicago were.
As Adam Kredo detailed at the Washington Free Beacon in March, Obama was close to Rabbi Wolf (who lived in Hyde Park by the time Obama moved there) and his extremely left-wing milieu. The prevailing views on Israel in this circle were as far out as the prevailing views on everything else — Wolf had advocated negotiating with the PLO long before its ostensible renunciation of terrorism — and this influence on Obama’s thinking has had real consequences:
Political insiders and Jewish thinkers believe that Obama’s early foray into the world of Jewish radicalism led him to take an aggressive and hostile stance against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu early in his presidency.
“If you’re a non-Jew, as is the case of President Obama, and you’re in the progressive movement and meet progressive Jews who are ready to throw Israel under the bus, it can be hard for you to realize how pathological these people are, how out of the mainstream they are, how damaging they are even to non-Jews in their pursuit of moral perfectionism at any cost, including their own people,” explained Richard Landes, a historian and professor at Boston University.
So yes, Obama had a lot of Jewish friends in Chicago. But his citation of the “some of my best friends are Jewish” trope as evidence of his pro-Israel cred is not only slightly offensive, it is, given who those friends actually were, completely nonsensical.
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More Blog Posts by John Tabin
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/05/30/about-those-jewish-friends-of
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Occam's Tool| 5.30.12 @ 5:54PM
You know, Obama should have Hillary as VEEP this next go around, and nominate Ron Paul as SecState. If he did that, Jack and Clint and their ilk would vote for him right away, and he would exceite the party a bit more.
They question your support for Israel, Mr. President, because you hang around scum, hung around scum, and are scum. Every Jew you knew hated Israel, and your knowledge of Judaism---that most intricately complex of all religions in terms of its writing (I doubt he's read the Talmud in its entirety) is pathetically small.
spike59| 5.31.12 @ 5:56AM
WiddleCwint and JackieinWI are already planning to vote for ObaMao...right before they tie the knot in Haight and drive off in their blue Prius
Oldefarte| 5.31.12 @ 12:04PM
Jack, Clint and the gang will vote for Obama regardless, because he is ultimately where their paychecks come from. Granted they're probably located in the basement of the USJD's office in DC and they receive a Media Matters check, but the ultimate head of that snake is at 1600, and to not vote for same would result in a dead horse's head in their bed no doubt!!!!!!!
hook| 5.30.12 @ 6:34PM
Rabbi Wolf is typical of a self hating Jew who buys all the current chic anti-Semitic stuff on left wing blogs, campuses, and organizations designed to show "moral equivalence." They remind me of Jews who trusted Hitler.
LiveFreeOrDie| 5.30.12 @ 7:46PM
Revelations Chapter 3, verse 9.
One Mediator 1 Tim. 2:5. | 5.31.12 @ 11:37AM
It's Revelation, brother. :^).
CJW| 5.30.12 @ 8:48PM
Obama's terrorrist buddy, Bill Ayers, wrote an intro for a book by/about Sirhan Sirhan. Sirhan killed RFK because of Kennedy's support for Israel. Rev Wright is an anti-semite. These are Obama's friends.
Maxwell| 5.30.12 @ 10:14PM
The Jews will vote for Barry up and until the box cars pull up ready for their human load to get on board.
Red Phillips | 5.30.12 @ 11:50PM
The President of the United States of America must demonstrate "pro-Israel cred" why? I would think that it would be the Prime Minister of Israel who would need to demonstrate pro-Israel cred. The President of the United States should demonstrate pro-America cred.
One Mediator 1 Tim. 2:5. | 5.31.12 @ 11:38AM
Red,
The President of the United States must demonstrate pro-Israel-is-our-only-ally-in-the Mid-East cred.
Who is such a fool that he cannot see this?
Occam's Tool| 5.31.12 @ 8:54PM
No, the POTUS must demonstrate anti-terrorist cred. That happens to be pro-Israel cred to an overwhelming degree.
Red, if the unthinkable happens (as it often does), just clean it up without protective clothing, that's all.
Kingofthenet| 5.31.12 @ 12:55AM
Israel in NOT a key ally, they are a 'White Elephant' friend that cost us Billions in treasure and blood.
One Mediator 1 Tim. 2:5. | 5.31.12 @ 11:40AM
So wrong, "King". The enemies of Israel are the ones who have cost us those things that you mention, not Israel.
But then, you're a Lefty and Lefties think all wrong.
Hopefully, that will change one day, for your own sake. :^).
hook| 5.31.12 @ 5:21AM
Hey KING, How has Israel cost us blood and treasure? Muslims would be killing each other in Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Pakistan if Israel didnt exist. Iran's ambitions have little to do with Israel except lip service. Israel has actually saved American lives through its intelligence. It is in fact like a huge aircraft carrier in the Mideast which up until now has been totally on our side.
There are 32 wars in the world I believe and 28 of them have at least one Muslim component. JORDAN has killed more Palestinians than were killed in all the Arab Israeli wars combined. If the Arabs want peace they can have it any time they stop the terror and concentrate on peaceful pursuits.
spike59| 5.31.12 @ 5:53AM
you're wasting your time and facts on queenofthenuts...typical antisemitic Leftard, reliably spewing out the Kos-generated, PuffHo-approved talking points
cali| 5.31.12 @ 5:39AM
If the LA Times would just release the hidden tape of obama toasting to the destruction of Israel, it would be over.
I know that I'm dreaming, it'll never happen, the water carriers of obama would never do it!
spike59| 5.31.12 @ 5:51AM
well, in a way, he has a point; both Marx and Lenin came from Jewish families
RAM| 5.31.12 @ 10:32AM
Lenin? Prove it.
RAM| 5.31.12 @ 10:31AM
Those who basically ditched their ancestral religion for socialism are the last to be able to properly define Judaism for Obama.
One Mediator 1 Tim. 2:5. | 5.31.12 @ 11:43AM
The huge difference between my conservative Jewish friends and the likes of Obama?
My Jewish friends actually believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They're already half way there.. to believing in the Messiah.
Obama's god, isn't it the one of the koran?
Oldefarte| 5.31.12 @ 12:06PM
Yeah, SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE JEWISH. Where have I heard that old joke before??????
One Mediator 1 Tim. 2:5. | 5.31.12 @ 1:02PM
Is this comment directed at me, Oldefarte?
Occam's Tool| 5.31.12 @ 8:52PM
No, Margie, it isn't. It's about the False messiah.
By the way, Paul voted to Kill babies today.
One Mediator 1 Tim. 2:5. | 5.31.12 @ 1:08PM
It's me, Margie, by the way.
Occam's Tool| 5.31.12 @ 8:53PM
Red, Bowen, etc.---all I ask is that if your policies are adopted in any way, WHEN the WMDs hit, you go to clean things up without protective gear. I'll supervise with protective gear.
hook| 5.31.12 @ 9:35PM
If Obama is re-elected, war is certain. The press has convinced this anti Semitic idiot that he is some kind of genius and as McCain's brother said recently: "This time the Jews won't go quietly."