Bloomfield: GOP “Trying to Turn Support for Israel into a Wedge Issue”

David Streeter — July 27, 2011 – 1:56 pm | Barack Obama | Israel | Republicans Comments (1) Add a comment

Douglas Bloomfield, The Jewish Week’s new “political insider,” made two very important observations in his blog post earlier today. He first wrote [emphasis added]:

It’s nice to be popular and have your admirers compete to be your BFF.

That’s what’s going on in the House subcommittee on foreign operations appropriations this week….

Republicans are trying to turn support for Israel into a wedge issue for next year’s elections even though polls show it only ranks eight on the priority lists of most Jewish voters.

He then wrote [emphasis added]:

Meanwhile, former Mayor Ed Koch is trying to turn the September 13 special election to replace former Rep. Anthony D. Weiner into a referendum on President Obama’s support for Israel. Hizzoner has endorsed Republican Bob Turner, 70, a retired cable TV exec, over David Weprin, 55, a Sabbath-observant Modern Orthodox Jew, ‘as a rebuke to Mr. Obama for saying that Israel’s pre-1967 border should be the basis for a peace agreement,’ reported the New York Times.

Does that mean a Weprin victory is tantamount to an endorsement of Obama’s position on borders, which just happens to be essentially the same as that of all presidents dating back to LBJ?

Click here to read Bloomfield’s full post.

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