“Putting Politics Above Israel”

Aaron Keyak — October 2, 2008 – 11:00 pm | Barack Obama | Election 2008 | Israel | Stop the Smears Comments (1) Add a comment

In today's Forward Mel Levine wrote and op-ed titled, "Putting Politics Above Israel."

As the op-ed's title reveals Levine's piece is about the disturbing trend by Republicans and McCain supporters to put politics above Israel's best interest. Here’s a part of what Levine has to say.

Unfortunately, the Republican Jewish Coalition recently has placed divisive partisanship above Israel’s long-term interests by engaging in reckless assaults against two proven friends of Israel — Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Obama believes Israel’s security is “sacrosanct,” and he has stressed that America’s commitment to it is “non-negotiable.” Biden, for his part, has a long record of leadership in supporting Israel on Capitol Hill. Yet because Obama and Biden are the Democratic nominees for president and vice president of the United States, the RJC has engaged in a relentless series of unfair attacks against them.

Traditionally, analysts who care about Israel evaluate the record of public officials and provide a fair assessment, based on facts. Instead, the RJC has distorted the records of the Democratic nominees.

You should take a look at the rest of his piece by clicking here, but here's the ending where Levine gets right to the point.

We should be thanking our friends, not vilifying them — and deepening the bipartisan heritage of leaders like Jacob Javits and Abe Ribicoff, who would have repudiated the disreputable tactics employed in this election cycle by the RJC.

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