Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Unintentional Irony Department

In the course of a sustained attack on J Street and Barack Obama, Jonathan Mark has this to say about the latter's continued Jewish support: "On the left, and on the right, having plenty of Jewish supporters doesn’t always equate to being on the right side of history." This presumably is the first time the New York Jewish Week has warned against listening to Jewish opinions.

The rest of the piece compares Obama to Shabbtai Tzvi, Lenin, and the Golden Calf (really). As for J Street, they come under fire for not being huge fans of the Christian Zionist movement, who we all know just have the Jews' best interests at heart (see also Mr. Kirchick). One doesn't have to believe that John Hagee is really thinking eschatologically when supporting Israel to think that his brand of support is an awful, awful idea. If you think (as I do) that the settlements are both a) an impingement on Palestinian rights and b) an existential threat to Israel's existence as a Jewish, democratic state, then someone encouraging them to continue shooting up cocaine building as they see fit would be accurately described as "unhelpful".

I have to say, I'm heartened by the generally poor quality of the anti-J Street opposition. With enemies like this, who needs friends?

No comments: