To Get Elected

Want to get elected, especially to a national office? It seems that all you have to do is to “out-Israel” your opponent.  Sell out the Palestinians. Never try to be neutral or talk about the facts on the ground.  Forget being fair and ignore such things as murder, torture and terrorizing innocent kids. It will not be enough to refrain from criticizing Israel, you have to be pro-Israel, no matter what Israel does, even if Israel’s actions put Americans at risk or gets them killed, you have to “out-Israel” all your opponents.

Of course, those running against you know that they have to “out-Israel” you.  But, there is no limit to how “Israel” you can be.  Never mind that Israel has become a paranoid nation. Never mind the unbelievable massacres unleashed on the people of Gaza over the past decade, and the thousands of Palestinians, including children, who have been put in prison without charge. Never mind the children who have been abused, the thousands of homes demolished, the trees uprooted, the water and property stolen.  Just declare Israel a democracy with whom we share moral and pious values.  Such is the approved program for the day and our politicians have caught on.

Allison Deger writes:

Carly Fiorina promises to make Israel her first phone call as president. Mike Huckabee is “just nuts” about Israel. Jeb Bush calls settlements “apartments.” Ben Carson wants to transfer the Palestinians to Egypt. Marco Rubio has taken to dining with top-donor Sheldon Adelson. Ted Cruz is making the rounds with Fire Island’s pro-Israel community. And, Lindsey Graham who  has not announced his bid, said if he is president he will have the first “all-Jewish” cabinet.[1]

Mike Huckabee said on his campaign website, “In a world of uncertainty, evil, and moral insanity, Israel is a shining light of moral clarity. The enemies of Israel are the enemies of America… There is no Christian faith without a Jewish state”[2] 

He just wiped out the faith of millions of Christians including Saint Frances, Martin Luther and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. But, he knows the mind of God and according to him, God wants those Palestinians out of there.  And how does Huckabee know this?  Because a Jewish scribe heard a voice that only Jews could understand and wrote that a Jewish god, named Yehweh, said that the non-Jews had no value, and that he wanted the Jews, and no one else, to have the land of Palestine, now and forever.  How about that? And because Huckabee knows all this, anything the state of Israel does to the Palestinians is OK.  It’s all about what God’s wants. Huckabee believes that the Jewish people have God’s blessings upon acts of immorality and injustice against a weaker people, including terrorism, ethnic cleansing, occupation, oppression, and torture.  All of them are acceptable because the Jews of Israel are doing them.

Ted Cruz, got a 30-second ovation at Liberty University when he said, “Instead of a president who boycotts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, imagine a president who stands unapologetically with the nation of Israel.”

Cruz, the tea party icon became angry and walked off the stage in the middle of a speech hosted by a Christian organization because they did not see Israel through the same narrow  blinders that limit his vision.

I will say this: “If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you. Thank you and God bless you,” he said walking off the stage…”Anti-Semitism is a corrosive evil, and it reared its ugly head tonight.[3]

Marco Rubio in a speech to Congress said, “How much better would the middle east be if more countries looked like Israel and less like Iraq and Syria.” Rubio’s biggest backer, Norman Braman is said to have committed at least $10 million to the campaign, says, “U.S. must be a ‘global military power’ so that we can sustain Israel.” He did not say to sustain  the security and safety of America, but, so we can sustain Israel.”[4]

Ben Carson, advocates transferring all Palestinians to the Sinai desert and then taking over their property. He claims that the criticism of the settlements “has been exaggerated,” and that Palestinian hostility toward Israel is what is preventing peace. The Guardian reports him as saying, “I would make sure that Israel knew that we had their back. Because if their neighbors know that we’re backing them up, they’re not going to be anywhere near as aggressive.”[5]

Carla Fiorina states, “This administration has made the world a more dangerous place by the way they have treated Israel” She said this with a straight face as her former company, Hewlett-Packard, makes money off of the occupation of Palestinian lands.[6]

Rand Paul vows “that any attack on Israel will be as an attack on the United States.”[7]

These kind of comments are not “slip ups” heard only when the mike is “left on” by mistake. They are main line headlines for our politicians. It has been said that Benjamin Netanyahu has become the leader of the GOP and support for his militaristic policies has become a Republican litmus test.

Want to get elected? Then cheer the Prime Minister of Israel and swear loyalty to his state. Vote for everything he demands.  Of course, doing so will probably get the US engaged in another war with yet another Muslim nation. Never mind that following his leadership has given birth to Islamic Jihad and ISIS. He is to be hailed and heeded. Want to be elected, then puff Israel.  It’s the only way.

Even though support for Israel has become the Republican party line, it is not limited to Republicans. I wish it were. Peter Beinart calls Hillary Clinton, “Israel’s new lawyer.  Haim Saban,  Israel’s Channel One’s interviewer  said of Hillary Clinton, “Everything that she thinks and everything she has done and will do will always be for the good of Israel.[8]

Because she is so eager to see the world through the eyes of Benjamin Netanyahu, she blames Hamas for all conflicts between Israel and Gaza.  “Hamas just wanted to pile up dead civilians for the cameras… the Palestinians stage-manage civilian deaths to win the sympathy of an anti-Semitic world.”[9]

You start a war with Hamas with a lie about the murder of three Israeli teenagers. You fought the war with exceptional brutality, killing hundreds of children and civilians, leveling whole streets and bombarding hospitals and United Nations shelters with indiscriminate artillery fire…and when world opinion turns against you, what do you do?   You turn to Hillary Clinton.[10]  “If I were the Prime Minister of Israel, you’re damn right,” she says. “I would expect to have security.”

Peter Beinart says in Haaretz: “Clinton offered the most articulate sophisticated, passionate defense of Netanyahu’s conduct I’ve heard from a government official on either side of the Atlantic. Unfortunately, important chunks of it aren’t true.”[11]

It might be easier and surely would save a lot of money if we would skip the primaries.  In fact, we might just skip the election altogether and just ask Benjamin Netanyahu who he wants in the White House to jump through his hoops. Why not just ask him to appoint the next President of the United States. What do you think?   

Thomas Are

May 16, 2015

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[1] Allison Deger,  As Presidential Field Broadens, GOP candidates Race to Show Their Love for Israel, Mondoweiss, May 7, 2015.

[2] Same article by Allison Deger.

[3] Johnathan Topaz, Ted Cruz booed, Walks off Stage. Politico.com  March 24, 2015

[4] Philip Weiss, Rubio’s Backer says U.S. must be “global military power” so that We can Sustain Israel. Mondoweiss, May 12, 2015

[5] Associated Press, Republican Presidential hopeful Ben Carson Seeks to buff Image in Israel, The Guardian , Dec.  10, 2014.

[6] Allison Deger,  As Presidential Field Broadens, GOP candidates Race to Show Their Love for Israel, Mondoweiss, May 7, 2015.

[7] Also from Allison Deger, Mindoweiss, May 7, 2015

[8] Philip Weiss, Everything Hillary Clinton will do will always be for Israel – Saban warns the Republicans. Mondoweiss,  April 18, 2015.

[9] Interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, Tough Hillary Clinton says, “Dreadful” pictures of dead women and children make it hard to get at truth – Hamas is to Blame.

[10] Ed Moloney, Hillary Clinton’s 11^th-hour Diplomacy.  August 17, 2015

[11] Tough Hillary interview with Jeff Goldberg.